Tents should always be pitched over wooden floors which are raised well from the ground. (p. 16.) They should be built with square corners and braced on the under side. The dimensions of each floor should be the same as the length and width of the tent to be pitched over it. They should only be put into place after considering the direction of the sun, the prevailing winds, their relation to each other and the general camp plan.
Large floors should be raised several inches from the ground and supported with posts or flat stones at each corner, at the center of each side and at intervals under the center of the floor to keep them from sagging. When putting up a wall tent instead of using pegs, build a frame work running parallel to the sides of the tent to which the guy ropes can be fastened. (p. 18) This frame is made by driving into the ground opposite the two sides of the tent floor, and 3 feet from it, three posts, each 3 or 4 inches in diameter, and long enough to extend when set, above the tent floor a distance equal to the height of the tent wall, plus five inches. One post should be placed opposite the center of each side, the others on a line with it and opposite the corners of the floor. Nail securely to the outside of the posts and two or three inches from the tops a strip which will extend beyond the end posts 6 or 8 inches. Unless the ground is rocky the posts need not be braced. If care is taken to measure and place the posts correctly the frame will be evenly made and look trim. Small tree trunks can be used for posts and strips, where wood is plentiful; otherwise 2 x 4"s can be used.
Where tent floors are found to be prohibitive, tents must be pitched over dry, well drained ground. In addition a ground cloth should be used and a ditch dug on either side of the tent to carry off rain water.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Camp for a single Scout Troop. Three tents and simple accessories enough for week-end trip.]
Tents without floors are of course used when hiking or camping for a short time only, or in exceptional climates. (p. 20.) Specific directions for pitching tents are given in a later section.
A small group of girls wishing to build their own camp could make two or three lean-tos, using trees five or six inches in diameter, saplings, boughs and vines, the latter for binding the thatch roof to the beams.
The lean-tos should be faced so the sun will shine into them some part of the day, turned away from the prevailing winds and each one should have in front of it a fireplace to be used for cooking as well as for keeping the lean-to dry and warm. (pp. 105, 110, 112.)
A group of girls could also build a slab house with a good floor, a wooden roof covered with tar paper, windows, door and even build a fireplace, the completed building giving them permanent camp quarters.
(pp. 96, 118, 122.)
LOG HOUSES
Whenever possible it is most desirable to erect for the main camp building a house, rustic in design if built in the woods, (p. 23.) which includes a large room for mess hall and recreational purposes, kitchen, store closet, ice room. (Cut A.) The types and floor plans of such houses vary greatly, but certain things are essential in all. They should afford protection in bad weather, some warmth in cold weather, ample s.p.a.ce for serving mess, room for entertainments, meetings and so forth; a conveniently arranged kitchen, and proper facilities for the care of food. Some of these houses are built with the main room simply roofed over and railed in. As delightful as these open mess halls are in pleasant weather, they are not altogether practicable in all climates, and under all weather conditions.
Some protection is gained by enclosing the room to a height of 3-1/2 or 4 feet and having the eaves overhang for 3 feet, or by having canvas curtains which can be raised or lowered in bad weather. If the room is enclosed entirely it should have many large windows, and wide outside doors.
The main feature in the room should be the fireplace. (p. 27.) The larger it is the better so long as it is in keeping with its surroundings. The benches and tables should be made and arranged so they can be easily moved out of the way when extra floor s.p.a.ce is needed.
There should be a door leading into the kitchen and a serving window near the door, with a broad shelf on either side of it. The kitchen needs many windows and a back door conveniently placed. (p. 29.)
[Ill.u.s.tration: A. Floor Plan for Mess Hall for Camp of 150 to 200 Girls]
The kitchen should be equipped with a good stove having ovens and hot water tank and be large enough to admit of holding big boilers and kettles. If there is no hot water tank a large boiler can be kept on top of the stove in which to heat water. Better still, when possible, use a Standard Oil oil heater and boiler, and have hot water pipe connections.
This of course is only possible when there is a tank and power of some kind to pump up the water. There should be in the kitchen ample table s.p.a.ce, convenient places for keeping all pots and kettles, hanging spoons and other small articles, a generous wood box that there may always be dry wood at hand, and if there is running water a sink conveniently placed.
The store closet should open out of the kitchen and be on the north side of the house. It should have a raised platform 18 or 20 inches wide, against the wall on one side of the room, on which should be placed all barrels, large boxes, etc. holding food. There should be ample shelf s.p.a.ce, a broad table, plenty of ventilation, and all windows should be covered with netting.
If possible to have an ice box it can stand in this room. Better than a portable ice box is an ice room which is built into one corner of the store room, the walls, floor and ceiling of which are double, lined with tar paper and the s.p.a.ce of four inches between them filled with sawdust or cork. The door into the store room should be very heavy, made double and fitted closely. The small ice door can be on the outside of the building, made like the large door, fitted closely and opening into the ice compartment. The ice compartment should be lined with zinc and a slatted door should open into it from the ice room. The bottom of the ice compartment should tip slightly to one corner from which an overflow pipe should be run to the outside of the building. A slat bottom made in sections and placed in the compartment protects the zinc and helps to preserve the ice. The ice compartment can be high enough from the floor to admit of large milk cans, tubs of b.u.t.ter, etc., being stored under it. Shelves can be placed along the sides of the walls. The ice room should be ventilated by means of a vent pipe up through the roof to the open.
Such a building as described makes housekeeping for a family of one hundred and fifty or two hundred possible, with only one cook and a squad of Scouts.
In place of tents for sleeping quarters small cabins made of wood and screening, or wood, canvas and screening, can be used. They add greatly to the expense of building the camp, but being permanent do away with the expense and labor of taking down and storing.
It is sometimes possible to find an old house or a barn which can be utilized for camp quarters, and with a little ingenuity made most attractive and practical.
There is a great deal to be learned by living in a well-planned, well-ordered house or camp, much of which is of lasting value. For this reason no opportunity should be lost to give these advantages to the Scouts.
Wash House
A wash house for general use is most desirable. Where there is no running water a long table covered with zinc and placed under a tent fly, a board walk either side of the table, and three or four large pitchers for water is a good arrangement. This equipment should be placed in an open, sunny spot where the drainage is good, and away from the tents if the waste water is to be thrown out on the ground.
Where a group is small every six or eight girls may have a shelf placed between two trees, which would serve as a wash stand. Pitchers must be provided for each stand and a system for keeping them filled worked out.
A type of wash house which is most satisfactory where there is plumbing, is made as follows. (p. 31.) Build an oblong platform and over it a roof supported by posts and covered with tar paper. Through the center of the house build a trough, with inclined bottom, and a shelf slightly tipped toward the trough, either side of it. Cover the inside of the trough and the shelves with zinc. At the lower end of the trough have a waste pipe which runs into a cesspool. Over the trough supported from the roof run a water pipe from which depend at intervals, pipes with automatic faucets. At the low end of the trough two wash tubs can be placed at right angles to the wash table both of which should connect with the trough drain pipe. Enclose the other end of the house and make two small private wash rooms, the part.i.tion between them being over and under the center of the trough, a faucet in each. These rooms are to be used by counsellors, or by children when given special permission.
[Ill.u.s.tration:
Name_____________________________ Age____ Address__________________________________ Parent"s Name____________________________ Telephone No.________________ Arrives_____________ Leaves______________ Tent____ Cot____ On Entrance On Leaving Height ____ins. ____ins.
Weight ____lbs. ____lbs.
B. Tag for Scouts arriving in Camp. Should be 5" by 3" and filed for use in camp record.]
CAMP REGULATIONS
The Scout Laws are the Laws of this camp: apply them at all times and see what happens.
Camp boundaries are for a purpose, do not go beyond them without permission from a counsellor or the Director.
Rest hours, from taps to reveille and after dinner, are a necessity to health; observe them by sleeping. Do not talk, it disturbs others.
For the sake of cleanliness take no food of any kind, or liquids of any kind into any tent used for sleeping quarters.
Keep the Health Record of the camp high by reporting at once to the nurse or Director any sickness, accident or ill health.
First aid supplies when required can be obtained from the nurse, no one else is to touch them.
Trash boxes are labor saving devices, use them for all trash, rather than throwing the trash on the ground.
Food sent or brought to camp for individual Scouts will not be delivered.
V
GENERAL ROUTINE FROM OPENING TO CLOSING CAMP
After the site is obtained, necessary buildings finished, grounds cleaned, stove in place, water tested and connections made if there is to be plumbing, the equipment and provisions should be sent in to camp.
A week is none too long a time to allow, even if there are many hands to unpack, put the camp in running order, make out the program, camp regulations, etc., and select sites for cla.s.ses.
If possible have the counsellors spend this week in camp with the Director and help in doing this work. Being together for work and some play will prepare them to take up the duties of the summer and if any of them are not Scouts then is the time to tell them of the Scout work, its aims and so forth. Without this information it is difficult to have true cooperation.
When opening a large camp be sure, when the campers arrive, to have it in the condition in which it is to be kept. First impressions are deep impressions as a rule, even though unfair many times.
Pitching Tents
Perhaps the most difficult work to be done, especially for one who knows little about it is the pitching of the tents, yet when simple rules are followed the task is not beyond a group of young women even when the tents are large. Remember that the beauty of a tent lies in its trimness. It should look smart. The canvas must have no wrinkles, poles must be straight, ropes taut and properly fastened.
First of all see that the tent floors and frame work are as they should be, or lacking a frame work, that pegs are at hand. Examine poles and make sure they are of the right height and length for the tent. If a wall tent is to be pitched lay it on floor, inside down, the fly on top of it. Run the ridge pole under the center of the tent from end to end curved side next to the canvas; at either end of the tent at right angles to the ridge pole and parallel to each other place a tent pole which is the right length for the height of the tent. Put the spindle in the end of each pole through the holes in the ridge pole, and the eyelets in the tent and tent fly ridge.