IF my present reader happens to be a Boy Scout or a scout-master who wants
the scouts to build a tower for exhibition purposes, he can do so by
following the directions here given, but if there is real necessity for
haste in the erection of this tower, of course we cannot build one as tall
as we might where we have more time. With a small tower all the joints may
be quickly lashed together with strong, heavy twine, rope, or even wire;
and in the wilderness it will probably be necessary to bind the joints
with pliable roots, or cordage made of bark or withes; but as this is not
a book on woodcraft we will suppose that the reader has secured the proper
material for fastening the joints of the frame of this signal-tower and he
must now shoulder his axe and go to the woods in order to secure the
necessary timber. First let him cut eight straight poles--that is, as
straight as he can find them. These poles should be about four and one
half inches in diameter at their base and sixteen and one half feet long.
After all the branches are trimmed off the poles, cut four more sticks
each nine feet long and two and a half or three inches in diameter at the
base; when these are trimmed into shape one will need twenty six or seven
more stout sticks each four and one half feet long for braces and for
flooring for the platform.