The Book of Knowledge, Camping and Camp Lore, 1957©

 

 

An excerpt from The Book of Knowledge, Camping and Camp Lore, 1957, page 1031.

Way back before the internet, in 1957, there were children’s encyclopedias full of interesting topics and trivia.  Now the internet has taken over that role and children’s encyclopedias have gone the way of the Edsel¹.

 

Much has changed in the world since 1957, everything is high-tech now, but there are times when high-tech solutions aren’t available and if you don’t know the low-tech solutions, then as the Apollo 13 astronauts said, “Houston, we have a problem”.

 

The Rule of Threes, graphic by the Author.

So, what low-tech tips, wrinkles and solutions are contained in The Book of Knowledge’s section on “Camping and Camp Lore”², that can help us solve the first two parts of the “Rule of Threes”, which states that you will die in three hours without a fire or a shelter and in three days without water?

 

An excerpt from The Book of Knowledge, Camping and Camp Lore, 1957, page 1037.

 

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

Besides building a platform to keep your tinder off the ground, you can use a fire pan or, if you don’t have a fire pan, a piece of dry bark.  The reason you use a platform, fire pan, or a piece of bark to keep your tinder and fire off the ground is, if the ground is wet or you are in a low spot, where the water table is close to the surface, as the fire grows it will warm up the moisture in the ground below it, drawing the resulting water vapor upwards and this can make it difficult to keep the fire going.

 

The Author’s firepan, after I extinguished the fire, photograph by the Author.

 

An excerpt from The Book of Knowledge, Camping and Camp Lore, 1957, page 1036.

Since you can never predict the weather or whether you will be able to find dry tinder when you need it, you should always carry a waterproof tinder-bag, which contains dry tinder, fire-starters, and fire-sustainers, like tea-candles or a small tube of Vaseline® Jelly.

 

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 a striker, (5) a mini-BIC^® lighter, (6) a Landmann Fire Starter and (7) petroleum jelly as a fire sustainer, photograph by the Author.

For more information on lighting firewood, kindling, tinder and making a fire in an emergency read “Survival Tips From Jack London, Part One©”, HERE, and “Survival Tips From Jack London, Part Two©”, HERE.

 

Making a bed roll, an excerpt from The Book of Knowledge, Camping and Camp Lore, 1957, page 1035.

 

In 1957, many people still camped only with blankets, today only experimental archaeologists, re-enactors or historical trekkers of the late 18th and early 19th centuries regularly do so.  For most modern explorers of the wild parts of the world, using a bed roll like this is something to learn only in case there is an emergency. 

 

In many ways a bed roll or sleeping bag is just a shelter from the weather and the cold, and according to the “Rule of Threes”, if you don’t make or find shelter within three hours, the extremes of the environment will probably kill you.  And as the recent and unfortunate events in Texas show, you should always know how to make a warm bed, even if you are at home.  And where there are blankets there is also, always therefore, a sleeping bag. 

 

So, if you have a blanket or two, a tarp, a reflective survival blanket, or even just a piece of plastic you can fold it to make a sleeping bag and shelter in it from the cold. 

 

Five-inch-long horse blanket pins, which can be used to pin your bed roll together, picture by the Author.

An excerpt from The Book of Knowledge, Camping and Camp Lore, 1957, page 1033.

 

Most people assume that after fire and shelter, you next biggest need is food; most people are wrong, it is water!  On average you can only live three days without water.

 

It is important to stay hydrated and you should always disinfect your water, whenever possible³.  Today, we have chemicals, such as halazone, iodine, Chlor-Floc, or AquaPure tablets, UV lights and advanced filters that can kill or remove dangerous bacteria, viruses, and parasitic protozoa from our water, and of course there still is the old-fashioned method, boiling!  All our modern high tech means to disinfect water are wonderful, although each has its own advantages and disadvantages.  And while boiling doesn’t remove dissolved pollutants, it is the best way to kill all the viruses, bacteria, and parasites in your water. 

 

In 1957, your choices for water disinfection were a limited to halazone or iodine tablets⁴ and boiling.  The best way to disinfect your drinking water is to boil it, provided you have the means and the fuel to build a fire, however I hope you like your water hot.  Also, you need to have a canteen or pot that can withstand the heat as your water comes to a boil.  The United States CDC recommends heating water to a rolling boil for one minute, and for an additional three minutes at elevations above 2,000 meters (6,562 feet), to ensure that the water has remained hot enough, for long enough, to destroy any dangerous pathogens.  Similarly, the National Wilderness Conference advocates bringing water to a rolling boil for one minute at sea level and boiling it for an additional one minute for every 1,000 feet (305 meters) above sea level, to ensure that dangerous pathogens are destroyed. 

 

Boiling water, video by the Author.

For more information on disinfecting your water by boiling, read “Water Disinfection: When is boiled, boiled enough…? ©”, HERE, and for what to do with all that hot water, read “Drinking Black Tea to Stay Hydrated...Say What?! ©”, HERE.

 

There are a lot of other great woodcraft tips buried in The Book of Knowledge’s, section on camping and camp lore, and so, for your convenience, it is posted below, enjoy!

 

 

All the above are from The Book of Knowledge, Camping and Camp Lore, 1957, page 1031 to 1038.

  

Don’t forget to come back next week and read “Scurvy, Native Americans, and the Tree of Life ©”, where we will talk about which tree is the tree of life and how the Native Americans used it to keep scurvy away!

 

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, HERE, and subscribe to BandanaMan Productions on YouTube.  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!

 

 

Notes

 

¹ The Edsel was a brand of car marketed by Ford Motoring Company from 1958 to 1960, when it was discontinued, because consumers thought it was over-priced and over-hyped.

 

² Incidentally, Wes H. Klusmann, who is the is the author of “Camping and Camp Lore”, was also the Assistant Director and later the National Director of Camping for the Boy Scouts of America during the 1930s and 1940s.

 

In part from A History of Wood Badge in the United States, by Boy Scouts of America.

 

³ “A doctor can fix giardia, but he can’t fix dead”, or “doctors can cure a lot of things, but they can’t cure dead” is a survival refrain that Peter Kummerfeldt teaches, and I have echoed since I first heard it in 2005.  When worst comes to worst, and you are facing dehydration, drinking actually or potentially infected water is better than not drinking any water at all. 

 

Peter Kummerfeldt is a 71-year-old survival expert who graduated from the Air Force Survival Instructor Training School and later was an instructor at the Basic Survival School, in Spokane, Washington, in the Arctic Survival School, in Fairbanks, Alaska, and the Jungle Survival School, in the Republic of the Philippines.  Also, Peter was the Survival Training Director for the United States Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, for twelve years (from Peter Kummerfeldt’s biography at “OutdoorSafe with Peter Kummerfeldt”, found HERE)

 

⁴ Halazone tablets are made of the chemical 4 dichlorosulfamyl benzoic acid, which is a white, crystalline powder made from a chlorine compound.  Iodine tablets are made from iodine and are more effective than halazone in warm climates. 

 

From “Military Canteen Water Purification”, Olive Drab

 

Sources

 

Boy Scouts of America, A History of Wood Badge in the United States, [Boy Scouts of America, Irving, Texas, 2009], http://archive.ctyankee.org/fs/page/001480/wb-book-part1a.pdf, accessed February 22, 2021

 

The Book of Knowledge, Children’s Encyclopedia, Volume 3, “Camping and Camp Lore”, by Wes H. Klusmann, [The Grolier Society Inc., New York, 1957], pages 1031 to 1038

 

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

 

“Military Canteen Water Purification”, Olive Drab, [© Copyright 1998-2021 by Olive-Drab.com LLC.], https://olive-drab.com/od_medical_other_waterpurif.php#:~:text=Halazone%20(4%20dichlorosulfamyl%20benzoic%20acid,used%20during%20World%20War%20I, accessed February 24, 2021