TO further illustrate the use of bark and tar paper, I have made the
sketches shown by Figs. 46, 47, and 48. Fig. 47 is a log shack with an
arched roof drawn from a photograph in my collection. To keep the interior
warm not only the roof but the sides of the house as well have been
shingled with bark, leaving only the ends of the logs protruding to tell
of what material the house is really constructed. Fig. 47 shows a
fisherman's hut made with a few sticks and bark. Fig. 48 shows a tar paper
camp, that is, a camp where everything is covered with tar paper in place
of bark. The house is made with a skeleton of poles on which the tar paper
is tacked, the kitchen is an open shed with tar paper roof, and even the
table is made by covering the cross sticks shown in the diagram with
sheets of tar paper in place of the birch bark usually used for that
purpose.
Personally I do not like tar paper; it seems to rob the camp of a true
flavor of the woods; it knocks the sentiment out of it, and, except to
sailors, the odor of the tar is not nearly as delightful as that of the
fragrant balsam boughs. Nevertheless, tar paper is now used in all the
lumber camps and is spreading farther and farther into the woods as the
birch bark becomes scarce and the "tote-roads" are improved.
When one can enter the woods with an automobile, you must expect to find
tar paper camps, because the paper is easily transported, easily handled,
and easily applied for the purpose of the camper.
Fig. 46. Fig. 47. Fig. 48.
[Illustration: Showing use of bark and tar paper.]
Practically any form of tent may be reproduced by tacking tar paper to
sticks arranged in the proper manner, but if you make a wigwam of tar
paper, do paint it red, green, or yellow, or whitewash it; do anything
which will take off the civilized, funereal look of the affair.
X