SNOW SHOES, SKIS AND SWAMP SHOES.
The next day, Sunday, it began to snow, and we realized that our chance
of skating up to Willow Clump Island was spoiled. All the afternoon it
snowed, and the next morning we woke to find the ground covered to a
depth of eight inches and snow still falling. But who ever heard of a
boy complaining because there was snow on the ground? Here were new
difficulties to overcome, new problems to solve, and new sports provided
for our amusement. There was no disappointment shown by any of the
members of the S. S. I. E. E. of W. C. I., as they met in the woodshed
immediately after breakfast to discuss proceedings for the day. There
seemed to be but one way of reaching the island, and that was by means
of snow shoes. Bill had only a vague idea of how snow shoes were made.
CHAIR SEAT SNOW SHOE.
[Illustration: Fig. 22. Chair Seat Snow Shoe]
The first pair was made from a couple of thin wooden chair seats which
we found in the shed. They proved quite serviceable, being very light
and offering a fairly large bearing surface. The chair seats were
trimmed off at each side to make the shoes less clumsy, and a loop of
leather was fastened near the center of each shoe, in which the toe
could be slipped. This shoe possessed the disadvantage of being too flat
and of picking up too much snow when used.
BARREL STAVE SNOW SHOE.
[Illustration: Fig. 23. Barrel Stave Snow Shoe.]
Another pair of shoes was made from barrel staves. At first one stave
was made to serve for a shoe, but we found that two staves fastened
together with a pair of wooden cleats were much better. Jack was the
proud inventor of these shoes and insisted that they were far more
satisfactory than the elaborate ones which were later devised.
BARREL HOOP SNOW SHOE.
[Illustration: Fig. 24. Barrel Hoop Snow Shoe.]
Now that Jack had shown his ingenuity, Fred thought it was his turn to
do something, and after mysteriously disappearing for the space of an
hour we saw him suddenly come waddling back to the shed on a pair of
barrel hoops covered with heavy canvas. He had stretched the canvas so
tightly across the hoops that they were bent to an oval shape. It was
claimed for these shoes, and with good reason, that they were not so
slippery as the barrel stave shoe, for they permitted the foot to sink
slightly into the snow.
After dinner, Dutchy came back with a book of his father's, a sort of an
encyclopedia in which several different kinds of snow shoes were
illustrated. Reddy, whose father owned a sawmill, volunteered to provide
us with strips of hickory from which to make the frames.
THE SIOUX SNOW SHOE.
[Illustration: Fig. 25. Sioux Shoe.]
[Illustration: Fig. 26. Frame of the Sioux Shoe.]
[Illustration: Fig 27. Web of the Sioux Shoe.]
[Illustration: Fig. 28. Weaving Needle]
The Sioux snow shoe was the first type we tackled. Two strips of hickory
4 feet long and 3/4 inch square in section, were bent over a pair of
spreaders and securely fastened together at each end. The spreaders were
about 12 inches long and located about 15 inches apart. They were
notched at the ends, as shown in Fig. 26, to receive the side strips,
which were not fastened together until after they had been nailed to the
spreaders. We found that the most satisfactory way of fastening together
the ends of the hickory strips was to bolt them together. When the frame
was completed, we began the tedious process of weaving in the filling or
web of the snow shoe. First we cut notches in the edges of the
spreaders, spacing these notches an inch apart. Then we procured several
balls of heavy twine at the corner store. Tying one end of the cord to
the right side stick about three inches below the forward spreader, we
stretched a strand down to the notch at the left end of the lower
spreader. The strand was drawn taut, and after making several twists
around it the cord was tied to the left side stick three inches above
the spreader. From this point the cord was stretched to the notch at the
right end of the upper spreader, twisted several times and brought back
to the starting point. The cord was now wrapped around the side stick
for a space of about an inch, and then carried down to the second notch
on the lower spreader, whence it was woven through the other two strands
and tied about the left side stick about four inches from the spreader.
Thus the weaving continued, passing the cord alternately over and under
any cross strands encountered. In order to make the left side correspond
with the right, a separate cord was wound around it, filling up the
space between the strands of the web. The filling above and below the
spreaders could not be so methodically done, but we managed to weave the
strands quite neatly with about the same mesh as used at the center. To
facilitate the weaving we improvised a rough needle of a piece of wire.
The latter was bent double to receive the cord which was wedged in
between the two arms of the needle.
THE IROQUOIS SHOE.
[Illustration: Fig. 29. Bending the Hickory Strips.]
[Illustration: Fig. 30. Frame of Iroquois Shoe.]
[Illustration: Fig. 31. Iroquois Snow Shoe.]
But the best snow shoe we made was the Iroquois shoe. The frame of this
shoe was made of hickory strips of the same width and thickness as used
in the Sioux shoe, but 8 feet long. The strips were bent in a loop and
the ends were bolted together. How to bend the wood without breaking it
seemed a very difficult problem. Wood, we knew, could be easily bent
without breaking if boiled or steamed for a while; but we had nothing
large enough in which to boil a strip of wood 8 feet long. Bill hit upon
the plan of wrapping the stick with burlap and then pouring boiling
water on it until it became sufficiently soft to bend easily. An old
oats-sack was cut up into strips and wound onto the hickory sticks for a
distance of 18 inches at each side of the center. We then repaired to
the kitchen to do the steaming. The hickory stick was held over a large
dish-pan filled with boiling water, and from this we dipped out the
water and poured it slowly over the burlap wrapping of the stick. After
a little of this treatment the stick was sufficiently steamed to permit
of bending to the required shape. The ends were then firmly secured by
means of bolts passed through bolt holes which had been previously
drilled. The frame was completed by fitting the spreader sticks in
place, after which it was laid away to dry. When the frame was perfectly
dry we started weaving the web. In this case, however, instead of cord
we used cane strips, which we had bought from a chair caner. This
necessitated drilling holes in the side sticks to receive the cane
strips. The web consisted of strands crossing each other diagonally, as
illustrated. Our second pair of Iroquois snow shoes was made with a web
of rawhide which we bought from a hardware store at Millville.
THE AINU SNOW SHOE.
[Illustration: Fig. 32. Ainu Snow Shoe.]
One of the snowshoes described in the book was very much like Fred's
barrel-hoop snow shoe in appearance. According to the description, it
was a type used by the Ainus, a peculiar people living in the cold
northern islands of Japan. As the shoe seemed quite simple and rather
unique, we thought we would make one like it. Two hickory strips each 4
feet long were bent to a U-shape and lashed together, forming an oval
about 2 feet 6 inches long by 18 inches wide. The frame was held to oval
shape by tying the sides together. Then the filling was woven in,
running the strands diagonally, as shown in Fig. 32.
We had excellent weather for snow shoes after that snowstorm. A thaw
followed by a cold spell caused a thick crust to form on the snow which
would nearly hold us up without the aid of our snowshoes. We were rather
awkward with those shoes for a while, trying to keep them clear of each
other, and we found it particularly hard to turn sharply without causing
one shoe to run foul of the other. But with a little practice we soon
felt quite at home on them. In order to prevent cutting the web with our
heels, we found it necessary to wear rubbers.
[Illustration: Fig. 33. The Norwegian Ski.]
Our vacation came to an end before we were prepared for the expedition
to Willow Clump Island. But before leaving the subject on snow shoes,
two more shoes remain to be described, namely the Swiss snow shoe and
the Norwegian ski. The Swiss shoe was made during the summer and the ski
during the following winter.
THE NORWEGIAN SKI.
[Illustration: Fig. 34. Bending the Ski.]
[Illustration: Fig. 35. The Ski Stick.]
The Norwegian ski was made of close-grained wood, 1 inch thick, 3-1/2
inches wide and 6 feet long. About 18 inches from the forward end the
wood was planed down to a thickness of 1/4 of an inch. This end was
placed in the dish-pan of boiling water, and in a short time it was
pliable enough to permit of bending. It was secured in the proper bent
position by slipping the toe end of the shoe between the banisters on
the back porch and nailing a cleat back of the heel end. When the ski
was perfectly dry the toe strap was nailed on just back of the balancing
point, and also another strap, to be secured about the ankle. Then a
cleat was nailed onto the ski to fit against the heel of the shoe. In
use we found it best to cut a groove in the bottom of the ski, so as to
give us a better grip on the snow in climbing up hills. With the skis we
had to use short poles or "ski sticks" to assist in starting, stopping
and steering when coasting. The ski stick was a bean pole provided with
a wooden block near the lower end, to prevent it from being forced too
far through the snow.
THE SWISS SNOW SHOE OR SWAMP SHOE.
[Illustration: Fig. 36. The Swiss Snow Shoe.]
The Swiss shoe was made primarily to assist us in exploring some boggy
land a short distance up the river from our island. The original swamp
shoes were made from the bottoms of two old baskets, and they worked so
admirably that it was decided to equip the whole society with them.
Uncle Ed, when told about them, informed us that that was the kind of
snow shoe used in Switzerland. Of course, we could not afford to destroy
a pair of baskets for each member of the club, and so we had to weave
the shoes from the willows which grew on the island.