Josiah Hunt, How He Made His Secret Camp-Fires, Part Two©

 

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In “Part One” we answered the question of how deep and wide Josiah Hunt dug his ‘coal pit’.  This week we are going to answer the remaining two questions:

 

Why did he use the “roth”, the bark from a dead and dry, white oak tree, specifically? 

  

And, how did he know, in the dark, in the winter, which trees were white oaks?

 

“... ‘Roth’, meaning thick white oak bark, from a dead tree, ...”

 

There is no such thing as a truly smokeless fire, only fires which are at best ‘nearly smokeless’, or just less smoky, and here we come to another question.  Josiah Hunt describes using the ‘roth’, or bark, of dead white oak trees, Benjamin Kelly told of using hickory bark; this leaves me wondering, does it matter, is one better than the other or are they interchangeable?  Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find a definitive answer, one way or the other.

 

‘Roth’ or ‘Ross’ as it was also known, is the outer, rough, corky, external part of the bark.  A dead tree would be dry and have less moisture content than a living tree.  The less the water content, the less smoke and steam and the hotter the fire.  Also dense hardwoods, such as hickory or members of the oak family burn more slowly and produce a hotter bed of coals, so perhaps their bark does as well.

 

In fact, the writers of the Luce Creek archaeological field report described Native Americans using hickory nut shells to make a hot, virtually smokeless fire.  And Vladimir Fewkes, writing about the Cherokee and Catawba pottery making tradition, recorded that they fired their pots with oak bark, as it produced considerable heat.

 

Shagbark Hickory or White Oak

 

But the last question remains, in the dead of night, in the middle of the winter, how did Josiah Hunt know which trees were white oaks? 

 

According to the US Forest Service, Red Oak (Quercus rubra), White Oak (Quercus alba) and Shagbark Hickory (Carya ovata) all share the same native ranges covering almost the entire Eastern United States and southeastern Canada.  Also all three broadly overlap across their native ranges, making them frequent companions in deciduous forests.  So at night in the winter how do you tell them apart?

 

Identifying trees in winter relies on their highly distinct bark textures and leaf-retention habits.  

 

The Shagbark Hickory is one of the easiest deciduous trees to identify in winter.  Its bark peels away from the trunk in long, loose, thick vertical strips that curl outward at the ends, leaving a highly visible and unmistakable shaggy look against the winter snow.  Also shagbark hickories shed their leaves, a practice called ‘abscission’, hickories lose theirs and are completely bare in winter.

 

The first thing to look for when identifying winter trees is to look to see if there are still leaves on the tree.  If there are leaves, then you know it isn’t a shagbark hickory, which loses its leaves.  White oak and red oaks are one of the few tree types that often retain their dead leaves through winter (a phenomenon called marcescence). 

 

The leaves of white oaks have lobes that are rounded with no sharp tips.  The leaves of red oaks have pointed lobes are pointed and are tipped with tiny, stiff bristles.

 

Another way to tell a red oak from a white oak is to look at the trunk.

 

White Oaks have tight, light whitish-gray bark with a scaly, flaky, or ‘shingled’ look.  The bark ridges are usually not very deep.

 

Red oaks have darker bark, brown to dark grayish-brown, that is deeply furrowed.  Mature red oaks also often have distinct, smooth, shiny strips running up the center of the furrows, resembling ‘ski tracks’.

 

So now we have answers to our three questions and know why Josiah Hunt chose ‘roth’ as fuel and how to tell the difference between shagbark hickory, white and red oak trees in winter.

 

So tune in next week for “Nearly Smokeless Fires, Experimental Archaeology 102”, where we will make a fire and see just how much it smokes.

 

I hope that you enjoy learning from this resource!  To help me to continue to provide valuable free content, please consider showing your appreciation by leaving a donation HERE.  Thank you and Happy Trails!

 

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That is all for now, and as always, until next time, Happy Trails!

 

 

Notes

 

Sources

 

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Howe, Henry; Historical Collections of Ohio, [Derby, Bradley & Company, Cincinnati, 1847], page 199 to 200, https://books.google.com/books?id=ri8WAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA199&lpg=PA199&dq=%22josiah+hunt%22+roth&source=bl&ots=M7iiOgL5Xj&sig=WXic_CR-GpPKHcgxxeXT3oCTcz4&hl=en&sa=X&ei=noyDU8XEDuilsQTX7ICQCw&ved=0CEQQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=%22josiah%20hunt%22%20roth&f=false, accessed May 7, 2026

 

Mitchell, Charlie; “Phenology Report: Winter tree ID tips help you bark up the right tree”, KAXE or KBXE, [© 2026], https://www.kaxe.org/show/91-7-kaxe-90-5-kbxe-morning-show/2024-12-19/phenology-report-winter-tree-id-tips-help-you-bark-up-the-right-tree, accessed May 30, 2026

 

Rapacz, Andrea; Connecticut Historical Society Museum and Library, Personal conversation regarding The Phineas Meigs’ Hat, May 01, 2016, 10:51 am

 

S.J.R.; “Fuel Value of Wood”, Hardwood Record, October 10, 1912 [Chicago], page 32 to 33, https://www.google.com/books/edition/Hardwood_Record/7QQ3AQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=does+dry+oak+bark+burn+without+smoke&pg=RA12-PA33&printsec=frontcover, accessed May 16, 2026

 

Thomas, Laurie and Morris, Darren; “Landowners Guide to Identification and Characteristics: White Oak (Quercus alba)”, FOR-139, University of Kentucky Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, https://forestry.mgcafe.uky.edu/sites/forestry.ca.uky.edu/files/white_oak_factsheet.pdf, accessed May 30, 2026

 

Thomas, Laurie and Morris, Darren; “Landowners Guide to Identification and Characteristics: Northern Red Oak (Quercus rubra)”, FOR-141, University of Kentucky Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, https://forestry.mgcafe.uky.edu/sites/forestry.ca.uky.edu/files/northern_red_oak_factsheet.pdf, accessed May 30, 2026

 

University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; “N. W. Territory Map, 1801”, by William Barker, [© 2026], https://digital.library.illinois.edu/items/9d2ba5e0-994e-0134-2096-0050569601ca-2, accessed May 9, 2026

 

Webster, Noah; A Dictionary of the English Language: Compiled for the Use of Common Schools, [George Goodwin & Sons, Hartford, 1817], page 275, https://books.google.com/books?id=fJ8RAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA275&dq=ross+bark+dictionary&hl=en&sa=X&ei=T5kXUu-ZAcTd4QTxtYCQCw&ved=0CC4Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=ross%20bark%20dictionary&f=false, accessed May 9, 2026

 

Westmore Arboretum; “Shagbark Hickory, Carya ovata”, https://westmoorarboretum.org/shagbark-hickory/, accessed May 16, 2026

 

Wikimedia, “An engraving of Simon Kenton, by Richard W. Dodson, after Louis M. Morgan, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts”, ca. 1834-39, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Engraving_of_Simon_Kenton,_by_Richard_W._Dodson,_after_Louis_M._Morgan.jpg, accessed May 16, 2026