Algonquin dreaming, summer memories

Survival Tips From Jack London, Part Two©

 

“As he looked apathetically about him, his eyes chanced on the dog.” An illustration by Frank E. Schoonover¹, which appeared in “To Build A Fire”, The Century Magazine, August 1908, Vol. LXXVI, No. 4, p. 531

 

An excerpt from “To Build A Fire”, The Century Magazine, August 1908, page 525

  

Last week in “Survival Tips From Jack London, Part One”, HERE, I discussed how the unnamed main character of Jack London’s short story To Build A Fire, did several things right during his struggle for survival in the Alaskan wilderness and the lessons we could draw from him.  In part two of “Survival Tips From Jack London”, I am going to explore the mistakes he made and what we can learn from them.

Just as the main character of To Build A Fire did five things right, he also made five mistakes during his journey to meet the “boys”, who were camped at the old claim on the left side of Henderson Creek: two of the mistakes were more critical than the rest.  So just what did he do wrong and what can we learn from his mistakes?

Excerpts from “To Build A Fire”, The Century Magazine, August 1908, page 525 and 529

  

The main character of To Build A Fire lacked imagination and was arrogant, and his first and biggest mistake was his general attitude of “…it can’t happen to me…”.  As a matter of fact, it can, and probably will happen to you, just as a series of accidents happened to the unnamed character.  It can happen to you and you need to take steps to prepare for emergencies.  Whether you are travelling through the wilderness, or just through life, it always pays to follow the Boy Scout motto of “Be Prepared”!

If it does happen to you and you have a survival emergency, remember, just like with anything, survival is 80% mental.  You have to know that survival emergencies can happen to you, and remember boy scouts, you have to “Be Prepared”; also when the worst happens, you have to stay calm, don’t panic; and keep a positive, can-do mental attitude.

 

Excerpts from “To Build A Fire”, The Century Magazine, August 1908, page 529 and 530

  

His arrogance and his belief that it couldn’t happen to him, lead him to break “…the law that no man must travel alone in the Klondike after fifty below”.  He didn’t listen to the old-timer’s advice to always travel with a trail-mate and this was his second biggest mistake.  Summer or winter, wherever and whenever you are travelling in the wilderness, you should always have a partner, a trail-mate or buddy with you: better yet you should always have two buddies with you.  I recently took a survival class, taught by Craig White, a Canadian survival expert who used to train the Canadian Military, and he emphasized that you should always be in a three-person buddy group, (for more on the buddy-system, see “The Buddy System”, HERE.

 

An excerpt from “To Build A Fire”, The Century Magazine, August 1908, page 529 to 530

  

The unnamed main character of To Build A Fire knew how to build a fire.  However, in his haste to get a fire going after his feet got wet, either he forgot to place his fire in the open, out from under any snow covered branches; he was lazy or careless; or maybe he just never imagined that the snow on the branches could avalanche down onto him and his fire: probably it was a combination of all three. 

 

An excerpt from Arctic Survival Guide, by Alan Innes-Taylor, page 66

Never build your fire under snow covered boughs, always build it out in the open.  If you need a wind break, look for an open spot in the lee of a thicket or stand of trees, as Alan Innes-Taylor explains in the excerpt from Arctic Survival below:

 

An excerpt from Arctic Survival Guide, by Alan Innes-Taylor, page 63

  

Obviously in the winter it is important not to build your fire under a tree, but it is just important not to build your fire under a tree in the summer as well.   Shrubs, overhanging branches, trees and sparks from a campfire, these things do not go together and no one wants to be that guy, you know the one who is responsible for starting a forest fire!

 

Excerpts from “To Build A Fire”, The Century Magazine, August 1908, page 526

The unnamed main character of To Build A Fire thought that it was 50^oF below zero (-45^oC), when it was actually 75^oF below zero (-59^oC).  He simply couldn’t imagine just how cold and dangerous 75^oF below zero (-59^oC) truly was. 

 

An excerpt from Arctic Survival Guide, by Alan Innes-Taylor, page 76

When you are in the wilderness, your clothes are your primary shelter from the elements, and you should always dress for the worst possible weather.  This is something that the main character of To Build A Fire did not do.  And while our unnamed main character was dressed warmly, wearing thick socks, warm moccasins, mittens, a jacket and a hat with ear flaps, he simply wasn’t dressed warm enough for the conditions.  Also, because he didn’t wear a parka with a hood or a scarf over his nose and cheeks, he was at risk of freezing his face.  

Winter or summer, you should always dress for the worst possible conditions and bring extra warm clothes.  In the summer this would mean an insulating layer and a windproof and waterproof outer layer.  In the winter you would want to dress in multiple layers, so that you can put on or take off layers as you warm up or cool off.  Your outer layer in the winter, just like in the summer should be windproof and waterproof.  Always take off layers as you get too warm and before you begin to sweat, damp clothes can kill you in a wilderness emergency.  You should always try to be comfortably cold, no sweating!

 

An excerpt from Arctic Survival Guide, by Alan Innes-Taylor, page 77

Also, you should always have a hat.  In the summer a wide-brimmed, waterproof hat that will protect you from the sun, rain and bugs is a must.  In the winter a knit cap or hood and a windproof and waterproof outer layer for your head is a must, as you can lose a great deal of heat from your bare head: it can be as much as 50% at 40^oF (10^oC) and 75% at 5^oF (-15^oC). 

 

An Excerpt from “To Build A Fire”, The Century Magazine, August 1908, page 529

In addition, the only way the unnamed main character could stay warm, without a fire, was by walking at a four mile an hour pace (6.4 km per hour), as soon as he stopped, his feet and hands began to grow numb from the cold.  During winter journeys you should always bring extra warm clothes to put on when you stop for a meal or to rest, something that the main character did not do

 

Excerpts from “To Build A Fire”, The Century Magazine, August 1908, page 526 to 529

The unnamed main character of To Build A Fire was going to thaw his frostbitten feet by rubbing them with snow before warming them at the fire, he also struck his frostbitten fingers against his leg or chest to get the blood circulating again and he constantly rubbed his frozen nose and cheeks: in 1898 these practices were considered medically sound.  In fact, rubbing frostbitten areas with snow was considered by experts to be medically sound until 1956, when H. T. Merryman proved that is was harmful and that rapid rewarming was more beneficial.  So, with the medical understanding that existed at the time, he wasn’t doing anything wrong; however, with today’s medical knowledge we would consider it to be a mistake.  Today we know that by rubbing a frozen spot roughly with your hands or with snow or stomping or banging frozen hands or feet, you damage the already damaged body parts.  The most important thing to remember with frostbitten or frozen body parts, is not thaw them until you can be sure that they won’t be frozen again.  While the initial freezing damages the tissues, re-freezing, after thawing, does a great deal more damage.  Also, rewarming frozen parts in front of a fire or by submerging them in hot water, can burn the frozen areas, because the circulation is impaired and excess heat can not be carried off.  Since field rewarming techniques to treat frostbite have changed very little since the 1950’s, and in keeping with the other 1950’s era arctic survival tips in this article, I have included some great tips from Arctic Survival: The Air Ministry Pamphlet 226, circa 1950, below.

Excerpts from Arctic Survival: Air Ministry Pamphlet 226, pages 51-53

  

In the end as the weather conditions and all his prior mistakes caught up with him, the unnamed main character of To Build A Fire, panicked and ran down the trail, before falling and collapsing in the snow.  In the end he accepted his fate, sat down and froze to death. 

 

An excerpt from “To Build A Fire”, The Century Magazine, August 1908, page 534

  

Jack London, the story’s author, clearly understood the Five Stages of Woodshock and accurately described the unnamed main characters progression from the Urgency stage, to the Panic stage, to the Planning stage, followed by the Fatigue stage and finally to the Resignation and Death stage; for a more in depth discussion of Woodshock, see “Getting Lost And What To Do About It”, Circa 1915”, HERE.

Hopefully we have all learned something from the mishaps, mistakes and things that that the unnamed main character of To Build A Fire does right, as he blunders through the final hours of his fictional life.  I hope that, if nothing else, I have inspired you to read Jack London’s short story To Build A Fire. 

I hope that you continue to enjoy The Woodsman’s Journal Online and look for me on YouTube at Bandanaman Productions for other related videos, HERE.  Don’t forget to follow me on both The Woodsman’s Journal Online and subscribe to BandanaMan Productions on YouTube, and if you have questions, as always, feel free to leave a comment on either site.  I announce new articles on Facebook at Eric Reynolds, on Instagram at bandanamanaproductions, and on VK at Eric Reynolds, so watch for me.

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

Sources

Air Ministry, Arctic Survival: Air Ministry Pamphlet 226, [Penguin Books, Bungay, United Kingdom, 2017, (reprint of 1953 original)], p 51-53

Innes-Taylor, Alan; Arctic Survival Guide, [Scandinavian Airlines System, Stockholm, 1957], page 64-65

London, Jack; “To Build A Fire”, The Century Magazine, August 1908, Vol. LXXVI, No. 4, [The Century Company, New York, 1908], p. 525-534, https://books.google.com/books?id=8XkAAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA518&lpg=PA518&dq=%22to+build+a+fire%22+%22jack+london%22+1908+%22century+Magazine%22&source=bl&ots=Erpfoe9twm&sig=ACfU3U2hNB3BlOJWvbrdE1Lr4ctAFaxIHQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjhsNTjjLHlAhXhQ98KHTfiBwU4MhDoATAIegQICBAB#v=onepage&q=%22to%20build%20a%20fire%22%20%22jack%20london%22%201908%20%22century%20Magazine%22&f=false, accessed 11/02/2019

Survival Tips From Jack London, Part One©

 

“As he looked apathetically about him, his eyes chanced on the dog.” An illustration by Frank E. Schoonover¹, which appeared in “To Build A Fire”, The Century Magazine, August 1908, Vol. LXXVI, No. 4, p. 531

 

An excerpt from “To Build A Fire”, The Century Magazine, August 1908, page 525

It is supposed to snow hard tonight, and while where I live, between the Great Lakes and the foothills of the Alleghenies, it doesn’t usually drop below 0^oF/-18^oC, the first big snowfall made me think of the story To Build A Fire, by Jack London.

Have you ever read To Build A Fire?  It is a great story by someone who lived what he wrote about.  Have you ever thought to read it as a winter survival manual?  There are some good winter survival tips buried in what is a great outdoor adventure story.

The unnamed main character of To Build A Fire does a few things wrong and several things right, and by studying what he does right and what he does wrong we will be able to discover some winter survival tips that can help us today. 

In this article, I am going to explore what the unnamed main character of To Build A Fire, does right and what survival tips we can learn from him.  In “Survival Tips From Jack London, Part Two”, coming next week, I am going to discuss what he did wrong and what winter survival tips he can teach us.

So just what does he do right?  The unnamed main character does five things right as he travels down the trail to meet up with “the boys” who were camped at the old claim on the left bank of Henderson Creek.  These five things are things that everyone who travels in the wilderness should do, winter or summer, rain or shine.

 

An excerpt from “To Build A Fire”, The Century Magazine, August 1908, page 526

The first thing that he did right, was that he told “the boys” in camp on Henderson Creek, what route he was traveling and what time they should expect him to arrive.  The most important thing that you can do for your survival, in case you have an emergency is to tell someone, before you leave; where you are going, when you are going, what route you are taking and when you should arrive at your destination.  Also, never change your plans or your route without letting someone know.  Remember searchers can’t find you if they don’t know you are lost or where to look. 

 

An excerpt from “To Build A Fire”, The Century Magazine, August 1908, page 527

The second thing that he did right was to keep his feet dry.  In the winter, wet feet are frozen feet, and frozen feet spell disaster!  Even if it isn’t below freezing, wet feet can lead to blisters or to the much more serious condition called “immersion-foot”.

 

Pictures of the author’s right foot after canoeing all day on a windy 70^oF/21^oC day.  Note the blanched appearance of my foot and how the area below the sock line is whiter than the area above it.  Also notice how my toenails are white and not a healthy pink.  Both of my feet were in the early stages of immersion-foot.  Pictures by the author.

Immersion-foot is a warm weather, cold injury caused when wet foot gear and evaporation combine to cool the surface of your feet and ankles.  If it is windy, the wind will speed the evaporation and cool the feet even more.  This cooling causes the body to shut-off the blood flow to the skin surface and to the tissues just below the skin, causing the feet and ankles to look white, waxy and dead.  If untreated, immersion-foot can lead to serious and painful complications.

As a guide in Algonquin Provincial Park, the first thing that I teach the scouts to do after they get off the water for the day and put the rain fly up, is to take off their wet canoe shoes and socks, dry their feet and then change into dry camp shoes and socks.  That is what I was doing when I took the pictures above.

 

An excerpt from “To Build A Fire”, The Century Magazine, August 1908, page 528

  

The unnamed main character was traveling light, and only carried a sheath knife; 70 strike-anywhere matches, loose in his pocket; a couple of pieces of birchbark tinder in his other pocket and a bag of food, kept inside his shirt and jacket.  What he carried wasn’t anywhere near the complete set of the Ten Essentials, however it is more than many people carry with them when they venture into the wilderness.  And so, the third thing that he did right was that he carried with him food and the two most important things for a wilderness journey: a knife and the means to make a fire.

The author’s knives and hatchet: (1) a butchers boning knife, that I have used as a utility sheath knife for 15 years, (2) a small hatchet, (3) a utility pocket knife that I keep with my survival kit, and (4) a pocket knife that that can be opened, one-handed, which I wear in a sheath around my neck.

 

An excerpt from Arctic Survival Guide, by Alan Innes-Taylor, page 65

 
A knife is vital for almost every task in the wilderness, such as building a shelter or preparing tinder, and it doesn’t matter if it is a sheath knife or a pocketknife.  Never, ever travel in the wilderness without a knife!  Personally, I always carry two knives with me when I travel in the woods; a pocketknife that can be opened one-handed, which I wear in a sheath hanging around my neck and a utility pocketknife that is rubber-banded to my survival kit.  In the northern woods, you should also always carry either a sturdy sheath knife or a small axe.  Both can be used to cut saplings for tools or shelter, and branches for firewood². 

 

The author’s tinder-bag, clockwise, (1) Ziploc® bag with birchbark, dryer lint old jute twine and cotton pads, (2) my waterproof tinder-bag, (3) a tea candle, (4) strike-anywhere and UCO Stormproof matches and striker, (5) a mini-BIC^® lighter, (6) a Landmann Fire Starter and (7) petroleum jelly as a fire sustainer

Just like you should always carry a knife, you should also always carry tinder and a way to start a fire with you when you venture out into the wilderness.  I always carry two BIC^® lighters with me, one in my pocket and one in my tinder-bag.  In my tinder-bag, in addition to the BIC^® lighter, I also keep strike-anywhere and UCO Stormproof matches, tinder, petroleum jelly, tea-candles and a Landmann Fire Starter: the last three are for those rainy days when everything is wet and it is difficult to get a fire going.  I keep my tinder-bag in my pack; but in my survival kit, which I always have in my pocket, I also carry a Ferrocerium rod (or as it is sometimes called, a Ferro rod), some trick birthday candles that don’t blow out, extra strike-anywhere and UCO Stormproof matches and a spare mini-BIC^® lighter.

 

An excerpt from Arctic Survival Guide, by Alan Innes-Taylor, page 64

 
Also, as you travel through the woods, you should always be the lookout for dry tinder to replenish the supply in your tinder-bag: you never know when you will need it and you never know when it will rain.

 

An excerpt from “To Build A Fire”, The Century Magazine, August 1908, page 526

In the winter it is vital to keep your furnace fueled and your heat production up.  The unnamed main character’s lunch biscuits would have provided him with carbohydrates for quick energy and fats and proteins to keep his furnace going for the long haul.  Even though most people can go for three weeks without food and live, you should always bring high energy snacks or emergency rations with you when you wander in the woods.  For a good recipe for an emergency ration bar, see “Survival Rations … 1962 Civil Defense Style”, HERE, and “Further Thoughts on Survival Rations … 1962 Civil Defense Style” HERE.

 

Excerpts from “To Build A Fire”, The Century Magazine, August 1908, page 529

The fourth thing that the main character did right was that he knew how to build a fire.  He knew to place several large pieces of firewood on top of the snow as a foundation, to protect the young flame from melting snow.  He also knew to start with the smallest and finest of dry grasses and twigs as tinder and to slowly and carefully, as the flame grew, work his way up to sticks the size of his finger and then, as the fire began to burn fiercely, to the size of his wrist.

It always amazes me, when I am teaching outdoor skills to adults, how few modern people know how to build a fire and how to feed it.  Maybe this is because, unlike in 1898 when To Build A Fire takes place, when building a fire was a daily requirement, rain or shine; today fire building is a recreational skill only practiced occasionally in good weather on weekends.

 

Excerpts from Arctic Survival Guide, by Alan Innes-Taylor, page 64 to 66

The excerpts above, from the Arctic Survival Manual by Alan Innes-Taylor, are an excellent introduction to fire building.  While the need to build a foundation or platform when lighting a fire on top of snow is obvious, because of the need to protect the flame from melting snow, a platform can also be useful when there isn’t any snow.  As your fire burns it will draw moisture from the ground below; so if the ground is wet, or if it is or has been raining, make a platform to build your fire on.  Also, I like to hold my handful of tinder against a piece of bark as I light it; this protects my fingers from the flames and allows me to turn the handful of tinder so that the flames spread through it.  And when I place the lit tinder into my kindling square, the bark will shield the young flame from ground water, particularly if I have built my kindling square on a foundation of firewood. 

There are two rules of thumb that I have found to be the most useful when it comes to fire building 101.  The first one is from “How To Build A Campfire”, by ScoutmasterCG.com, found HERE, and the second is from Craig White, a Canadian survival expert, who teaches that you will burn through a generous armload of wrist-size sticks in only an hour.

 

A section of “How To Build A Campfire”, from Scoutmastercg.com

 

Excerpts from “To Build A Fire”, The Century Magazine, August 1908, page 529 to 530

The fifth and final thing that the unnamed main character of To Build A Fire does right, is he doesn’t panic, when the worst happens, he calmly and coolly sets about rebuilding his fire.  I always teach that if something bad happens when you are in the wilderness, or anywhere for that matter, if you panic it will only make it worse.  Never, ever panic!  It can kill you if you do.

Hopefully we have all learned something from the mishaps that the unnamed main character of this tragic story blunders through, and I hope that, if nothing else, I have inspired you to read Jack London’s short story To Build A Fire. 

In next week’s article “Survival Tips From Jack London, Part Two”, I am going to talk about what the unnamed main character did wrong and what winter survival tips we can learn from his mistakes.

That is all for now and until next week “Happy Trails”.

I hope that you continue to enjoy The Woodsman’s Journal Online and my videos at BandanaMan Productions and don’t forget to follow me on both The Woodsman’s Journal Online and subscribe to BandanaMan Productions on YouTube, and if you have questions, as always, feel free to leave a comment on either site.  I announce new articles on Facebook at Eric Reynolds, on Instagram at bandanamanaproductions, and on VK at Eric Reynolds, so watch for me.

Notes

¹ Frank Earle Schoonover was a student of Howard Pyle art school and subscribed to Pyle’s philosophy that an artist should “live what he paints”.  As such in 1903, with inspiration from Pyle, Schoonover traveled north to the Hudson Bay to experience the wilderness so that he could illustrate it.  Schoonover journeyed to both Canada and Alaska and on one trip in 1903 he traveled 1,200 miles entirely by snowshoe, canoe and dog sled.

For more information on Frank Earle Schoonover, visit https://americanillustration.org/project/frank-schoonover/

² Remember in a pinch you can use a baton-sized stick or wooden club to pound your knife through saplings or branches, by repeatedly strike the spine of the knife; this is called batoning. 

Sources

Innes-Taylor, Alan; Arctic Survival Guide, [Scandinavian Airlines System, Stockholm, 1957], page 64-65

Green, Clarke; “How to Build a Campfire”, November 7, 2012, [Dynamik-Gen, 2019] https://scoutmastercg.com/how-to-build-a-campfire/

London, Jack; “To Build A Fire”, The Century Magazine, August 1908, Vol. LXXVI, No. 4, [The Century Company, New York, 1908], p. 525-534, https://books.google.com/books?id=8XkAAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA518&lpg=PA518&dq=%22to+build+a+fire%22+%22jack+london%22+1908+%22century+Magazine%22&source=bl&ots=Erpfoe9twm&sig=ACfU3U2hNB3BlOJWvbrdE1Lr4ctAFaxIHQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjhsNTjjLHlAhXhQ98KHTfiBwU4MhDoATAIegQICBAB#v=onepage&q=%22to%20build%20a%20fire%22%20%22jack%20london%22%201908%20%22century%20Magazine%22&f=false, accessed 11/02/2019