The blazed trail is especially designed for those who travel in the deep
woods, where these simple guide-posts are necessary at times, if only
for temporary use. The Indian hunter sometimes finds himself with a
limited time in which to provide his winter's supply of meat, before the
opening of the trapping season. In such an event, he would not take time
to carry all his game home, but would blaze connecting trails to where
he had killed and hung up the different animals, and a direct road home.
There is also the trapper's trail, the regular path between established
camps, and the concealed or secret blazed trail. We shall consider each
of these varieties in order.
The blazed trail meant for general use--the public highway, as it
were--may not always be the shortest road, but it will be the easiest
and most convenient. You may blaze such a trail to the mountain-top for
the finest view, or to your cabin in the woods. The blazes on the trees
will be obvious and near together, about three inches long and three
feet from the ground. At every turn a sapling is felled, at the same
height as the blaze, the felled top hanging on its stump and pointing in
the desired direction.
The game trail differs from the above in several respects. The blazes
are smaller and are about five feet high; they are also further
apart--about twenty to twenty-five paces. At each turn the hack is
deeper, and if to the left, it is made on the left side of the tree, if
to the right, on the right side. The blazes are more open to view when
coming from the camp, as when the scout has gone over it once, he can
always follow it back home. An Indian game trail is very indistinct to
one who is not looking for it, and even then it requires training to
follow it readily. To one who is a thoroughly competent woodsman, each
mark is a real blaze of light, quite unmistakable.
If you wish to blaze a trail correctly, you must place your mark
accurately on the right tree and on the right side of the tree. You
should not disfigure the trees, and you will not, if you do your work as
well as the Indian. If you go about gashing them indiscriminately, your
work will be an eyesore, and besides, everybody will know your trail. It
should be just enough guide for your friends, neatly done, and courting
no unnecessary publicity.
The trapper's trail is one more degree nearer a concealed blaze. It is
blazed on each noteworthy tree, twenty to thirty paces apart, and even
higher than the game trail. At a point opposite the first trap, there is
a peculiar hack, a double hack, or a twig clipped, varying with the code
of the individual. In any case, you are directed toward the lake shore
or river bank, where you find an upright stick broken off two feet from
the ground and bent over until it touches the water. This means the trap
is in the water. If the broken part does not reach the water, it means
look for it on shore, and if a birch-bark ring is added, it means the
trap is in a hole. At each point a certain sign leads you approximately
near the trap, where you get a hint as to its closer whereabouts.
This kind of trail does not begin at the camp, but at a point which may
be orally described, in case the trapper is unable to visit his traps
and must send his wife or some member of his family. He then entrusts
the messenger with his personal code, which sometimes includes the sign
for the animal he is trapping.
The concealed blaze is used by a party on the war-path, so that another
war-party of the same tribe may overtake them or discover their camp. It
was not usual to blaze a war-path unless another party was likely to
follow. In such a contingency, the first party leaves an occasional
blaze high up on the tree and pointing in the direction in which they
are traveling. Such blazes are only made at well-known points and are
looked for by those who come after. When the high blaze is found, other
information is sought for, which may be given by means of signs or
hieroglyphics in a concealed place.
If a party of boys are out for a hike over roads which are not well
known, and there are stragglers, the leader may indicate the trail by
Indian signs. At the cross-roads he may tie a bunch of grass to a low
branch on the right side of the road he takes. If he leaves the path
entirely, he must stick up a rod with a knot of grass tied to the top,
bending it in the right direction. If at any point he desires to return
and meet the others, he breaks two opposite twigs toward one another, as
a sign in case he misses them. If he wishes his party to camp there, he
draws a circle on the ground. This system is used a great deal by the
Indians when two or three families are roving together in the deep
woods, hunting or trapping game. When there is only one family, and they
are within the danger-line from tribal enemies, the hunter uses a
concealed blaze for his wife to follow, and he may adopt a special code
whose meaning is known to no one but the two. When he wishes to be
particularly obscure, he makes his blaze inside a group of trees. It is
a right-angled gash pointing straight to the next blaze.
I remember that I was once instructed to follow a hunter's trail,
together with several other boys. We were in the country of the Crees,
who were at war with us; but game was abundant, and there was no better
location, therefore our hunters took extra chances of danger. However,
every precaution was observed.
One of our men had killed a moose late in the afternoon, and on the next
morning we boys were instructed to find it and bring home the meat. The
first blaze was perhaps half a mile from our camp, on the inside of one
of four large birch trees. Above the blaze were two hacks, and above
this the mark of an arrow-head. This meant to follow the blaze two
hundred paces in the direction of the arrow, and then search for another
mark. The next arrow pointed diagonally toward the lake, and two hundred
paces further we came out upon the lake shore. We followed the shore to
a conspicuous tree, upon the bark of which we discovered a small blaze
and the figure of an animal. About fifty paces from this last blaze, we
found the moose.
In a prairie country, where there are no trees, stones are piled upon
the hills or buttes in a manner to give information to those who come
after. Many of these large boulders or cone-shaped heaps of stones were
discovered in the prairie states when settlement was made, and some
well-known ones have been preserved for many years as historic
landmarks.
We Indians never stand boldly out upon a hilltop without having first
lain flat and surveyed the country from a concealed position to see that
no danger is in sight. We then place the stones so as to convey
intelligence to our friends. One is placed with the apex pointing in the
direction in which the traveler is going, and several more behind the
main pile show from whence he came. If he has seen signs of the enemy,
he places two small stones on either side of the central stone. If he
cannot go further, he puts these in front of the central one, meaning an
obstacle in the path, or reverses the three on the opposite side,
meaning that he will return. An old stone pile may be used again and
again by slightly displacing the stones. This is the prairie "blazed
trail."