Tent Making At Home
SHOULD one wish to try tent making at home, one is at once confronted with the choice of materials. Waterproofed 
balloon silk as a tent fabric stands in a class by itself. Superseding the antiquated heavy duck and flimsy drill cloth, 
balloon silk has been the chief item in revolutionizing tent making and thereby rendering extended hike trips at all 
feasible. It is really not a silk at all but a closely woven cotton cloth with a weight of but three and three-fifth ounces 
per yard. It is rot-, vermin-, and mildew-proof and exceedingly durable. Any large department store can supply you 
balloon silk, which can be handled on the ordinary sewing machine. Use good linen thread (No. 25), waxed, and for 
reinforcing use the tapes secured at the ten-cent store. All pieces to be sewn together are overlapped a half-inch 
and a one-inch hem is made around the edges. All points which are chosen for attachment to the ground pegs (one
at each hem) are reinforced with a small square of the tent material and then tape-ties are sewn on, or else 
grommets inserted, to receive rope ties. Coloring of the un-waterproofed tent is easily done with Diamond Dyes
according to the package directions, tan or green being preferable.

The model should first be made out of wrapping paper according to the printed diagram, and measurements are 
given in inches to represent feet in the finished product. The diagrams supply the areas required upon which we 
must figure the number of yards needed according to the width of the material needed. Lay the cloth on the floor 
and pencil-mark the cuttings and reinforcement lines to be made.

There may be used for grommet rings: A. One half-inch galvanized or brass grommets from the hardware store or 
tent and awning maker. Cut a hole in the form of an X in the tent goods, insert the ring between the layers of the 
goods, and sew with a double thread, working around the ring as in making a button hole. B. A three-eighths-inch 
thimble in the X hole, cutting in the hem, then slipping on the ring and turning over the edge of the thimble with the 
help of a sailor's fid or a No. 20 spike. This cinches the ring and holds the fabric firmly.

WATERPROOFING METHODS
Unless specially treated, cloth will start to leak upon touching the roof during a rain. Processing a tent to make it 
waterproof will avail little if the right kind of cloth is not used in the first place. Say you are using muslin of close 
weave or the so-called balloon silk. There are several grades on the market, some being so closely woven as to 
exclude water pretty well without any special waterproofing, while others are of loose weave and soak up water like 
a sponge and filter the liquid through like a sieve. But the close weave, when treated with the process, will envelope
the fibers so they cannot soak up water or let it through, the interstices between the fibers being filled up. Any cloth 
which, when held up to the light, allows pinholes of the weave to leak light will surely leak under water also. A 
satisfactory method of waterproofing is to use preserve or canvasek, or to put a pound of paraffin shavings into 
sufficient turpentine to liquefy. This is done with heat by setting the pail in a tub of boiling water away from a fire and
stirring well. Paint this over the cloth and hang it up to dry.

The Auto Shanty Tent
The "A" or Wedge Tent (#2) The Lone Cruiser Tent (#3)

Tips on Teepees
IF one could prevail upon Father Time to set back the clock a sufficient number of years, say to the epoch of the 
great fur-trading days on the upper Missouri or to the time when Cody hired out to the Union Pacific construction 
crews to keep them supplied with buffalo meat, we might visit the camps of the plains Indians when they were as yet 
unspoiled by the "educating" influences of the white man. Forced by primitive necessities they could have been 
found to have developed a skill in woodcraft which is, by common consent, conceded never to have been 
surpassed.

Living close to nature, their daily needs were sufficed by the simplest of utensils and, compelled by strong initiative, 
their handicraft developed to the highest degree of effectiveness. The camper of today can take many lessons in 
wilderness living from the American Indian. In fact, the farther we get from the ultra-civilization of our modern 
high-speed life and the deeper we penetrate into the wilderness, the simpler must be the outfit and the greater must
be our skill in woodcraft. For three things in particular are we indebted to the ingenuity of the Indian the canoe, the 
moccasin, and the teepee tent. We have made multitudinous adaptive improvements on these three in order to 
more nearly compensate for the needs which modern life now devolve upon us, but the footwear, the boat, and the 
home of the Redman yet stand alone as products best suited to the primitive uses for which they were intended.

The moccasin is undoubtedly the best footgear for woods wear, and the canoe is still the choice of rivermen on the 
northern lakes and streams. In spite of many arraignments of the teepee we can still find it in use by hunters and 
campers who know how to use it properly. It is particularly adapted for the outing which is taken in seasons prone to
bad weather, and with modifying improvements is particularly suitable to camping conditions found in a very wide 
traveling range from the timbered valleys of the mountains to the broad expanse of treeless plains. 

General utility would seem to be sufficient enough reason for the popular usage of this shelter, but also who would 
not enjoy the comfort of an open fire within his outdoor domicile or who would not allow his latent primitive instincts 
to revel in the picturesqueness of living in a real Indian teepee? From the standpoint of practicality, as has been
intimated, the teepee is under severe arraignment. The modern camper, acting as plaintiff, alleges it guilty on 
several counts. On the side of defendant for the teepee, which stands as Exhibit A, are retained the services of the 
reliable guide who speaks with the wisdom of experience. The jury is composed of hard-headed business men who 
are attired jauntily in smartly tailored outing duds and who for a time wish to change the effete, enervating life of the
city for the virile outdoors and want to live therein simply and comfortably, in a teepee if they are satisfied that it is 
the tent for their need.

The typical Indian tent with its various cognomens "teepee," "lodge," and "wigwam," is described as "a cone-shaped 
skin or cloth shell, supported by a many-poled framework, permitting the use of an open fire within, whose diffusible 
products of combustion gain ample exit through an opening in the peak." The principal objections to it are that it is 
apt to smoke its occupants out into the cruel, cold world, and that too many poles are required to pitch it.

In the proper construction and manipulation of such a tent lies the secret of successful use, and I am not so sure 
but that most of the failures with this shelter may be traced to improper pitching and the control of the air currents 
for draft. Once you get the theory of the thing, the objections vanish. As before noted, the peak is open and a wind 
hood is affixed so that it closes the top opening on the windward side, thus utilizing the wind as it sweeps by the top 
to carry away the heated, smoky air of the tent. The lower edge of the teepee cover is staked some three to four 
inches from the ground on the windward side to allow the outside air to enter. That it may not go directly upon the 
fire and bed, we provide a wind wall whose lower edge is confined to the ground around the edge of the tent like a 
sod-cloth and which [extends upward one-third of the way to the peak, where it is suspended by tape ties. Thus the 
draft principle is much like that of a common stove where we open the ash-pan door to let in fresh air which then 
rushes upward as a draft to the outlet flue.

The presence of the teepee fire provides comfort in all kinds of weather and is especially appreciated when rain or 
cold makes ordinary camping a misery. You manage the smoke by swinging the smoke flaps so the vent is down 
wind. A clear fire is imperative, and for this only the driest and best woods suffice. A mighty handy contrivance for 
use in fire-making is the inspirator described by Stewart Edward White, as follows: 

	"It consists of a piece of small rubber tube, two feet or so in length, into one end of which is forced
	a brass cylinder three or four inches long. The extremity of the brass cylinder is then beaten out so 
	that its opening is flat. To encourage a fire, you simply apply the brass nozzle to the struggling fire 
	and blow steadily through the rubber tube. The result is an effect midway between a pair of bellows 
	and a Bunsen burner."

The old teepees were made of buffalo skins impervious to weather and spark-proof. One of these old time lodges is
now preserved as a relic of the handicraft of the Blackfeet Indians, in the lobby of the Glacier Park Hotel. As now 
made these tents are of canvas or balloon silk. Imperatively this cloth must be fire-proof, and this effected by 
treating the tent to the solution recommended by J. B. Tighe. 

	"Immerse the fabric in a solution of thirty-five grains of ammonium phosphate and seventy-five grains 
	of ammonium chloride to each pint of water. (The size of the tent will, of course, govern the total 
	amount needed.) After soaking the tent well in this solution, hang up to dry." 

No fear now of burning the cloth and it is waterproof as well. Opponents of the teepee point to the smoke nuisance
as being one of the objectionable features, but this is obviated by the employment of the wind wall. The other 
serious objection is that so many poles are needed. In timbered country, poles are easily procured, but this 
becomes an irksome chore if the camp is moved often. On the plains it is necessary to carry the poles along. 
Various makeshifts have been evolved to obviate this difficulty. The Sibley tent is much like the teepee, but it 
eliminates all the poles except the one which rests on an iron tripod placed over the fire. We can simplify this still 
more by having but a single iron rod next the ground, extending upward three feet and continued to the peak as a 
wooden pole.

The peak attachment is by three ropes from the tip of the pole leading down to a wooden ring (such as a small
barrel hoop) which is attached to the tent as an integral part of it. From this ring reinforcing tapes extend down the 
tent cloth toward the bottom.

One can also pitch a teepee by making a tripod of poles outside and tying the top rope to the apex of the tripod, or 
one can stick the end on a pole in the ground and lean the other end against a tree and yet have a stable support 
for the top rope. Instead of poles at all, one can use the top rope fastened to the limb of a tree, the tent bottom 
being at all times well pegged down on the level piece of ground which has been chosen as a camp site. Whether 
one uses a single or several poles, it is of utmost importance to have them collapsible. 

Say you need a six-foot pole you cut it into two-foot lengths and have a tinsmith make for each joint a snugly fitting 
galvanized metal tube or ferrule just slightly larger than the diameter of the pole and six inches long. The hinge is 
simply a piece of galvanized sheet metal made as per diagram with holes in either end. The two poles to be jointed 
are sawed longitudinally three inches deep, the metal plate inserted, and nails driven through the wood and holes in
the metal and clinched. Fit this hinge with the poles lying side by side, then when they are extended and the slip 
sleeve is pulled down to cover the break, it becomes a rigid joint. The poles are of hard wood of small diameter (like
a broomstick) such as is sold at hardware stores as long handles for fish spearing or window swabbers.

The Indian tent is easily made. You will need twenty-two yards square of OXX muslin or spinnaker duck, fifty feet of 
three-sixteenths-inch brained cotton rope, a piece of beeswax, some strong twine, sail-maker needles, several rolls 
of cotton tape a half inch wide for use as reinforcements, and two dozen galvanized iron grommet rings. Sew the 
material into a piece 20x10 feet and lay it perfectly flat; at the center on one side (a) place a nail and run from it a 
non-elastic, ten-foot cord. Loop the other end of the cord and with a soft pencil draw a semicircle from (k) to (1) and
on to (m). Sew in a two-inch reinforcement strip around the border of the circle, which is to be the base of the tent, 
and every eight inches puncture the goods and sew in a grommet ring with the waxed thread. 

These are to be used with the tie ropes to attach the edge of the tent to the ground pegs. The hood and smoke flap
are patterned according to the diagram. Cloth tape strips are sewed in for attachment of the wind wall and along the
front edges from (k) to (b) and from (o) to (m) for closing the tent floor. The wind wall is a strip of cloth five and a 
half inches wide and as long as the outer circumference of the tent; on one side are sewed tapes every twelve 
inches for suspending from the corresponding tapes on the inside of the outer shell.

In pitching the tent, we lay it on the ground so that the doorway is leeward to the prevailing winds and tie the tapes 
(k) to (m). This makes a circle. Next we peg down at (k), (1), (e), and (f). Preferably use a single collapsible pole. To
its upper end we tie the rope found at the top of the hood and from this point attach two ropes which are to regulate
the smoke flaps, being tied to the ropes by their corner tapes. The Indians used poles which fitted into pockets in 
the corners of the smoke flaps and varied the position of the poles as the wind veered. The ropes are pegged down
away from the tent so as to adjust the smoke flaps where we want them. The pole is then raised and the lower end 
placed in the middle of the circle. Now we finish staking the tent down around the bottom and put up the wind wall, 
tying its top to the tapes provided one third of the way up from the ground, and tuck the bottom around the base of 
the tent, leaving space between it and the tent on the windward side and plenty of room at the bottom for the 
ingress of air.

Hold your hand near the top of the tent and you will note the air current shooting upward, which will carry off the 
smoke and gases of the fire, which can now be built.

The teepee is easily made, and one will, with this style of tent, have a decided advantage in being able to sit cosily 
at the fire and feel a certain independency of inclement weather.

Utilizing Balloon Silk in Camp
WATERPROOF balloon silk has revolutionized tent making and using. It is a boon to the camper, and it has made 
possible an efficient shelter without one's having to lug around a man-pound canvas affair. Probably this one item 
alone is more largely responsible than anything else for the increasing popularity of knapsack trips. The ingenious 
woodcrafter, in studying out the short cuts and simple ruses to get utility in maximum quantity out of a minimum of
outfit, has been able to find out that the balloon silk has many other uses than that of tent making, and the fabric 
should be credited with being indispensable wherever campers congregate to solve the problems of light outfitting.

In reality balloon silk, so-called, is not a silk at all, but a very closely woven unbleached muslin. It does not absorb 
moisture when treated to the waterproofing process, it is exceedingly durable, is rot-proof, and in every way 
desirable for the purposes for which it was designed.

The regulation balloon silk may be purchased already made up in the tent forms one may choose to use, or it may 
be bought by the yard at the stores of the largest outfitters, or it may be prepared at home by methods which will be
detailed later. It is sold in a trio of colors: green, tan, and white. Green is restful to the eye, is comparatively 
inconspicuous, modifies the sun glare, and does not beckon the myriads of forest insects to the human feast. Tan 
or khaki is now in the heyday of popularity, blends with the general color scheme of the autumn woods, is cool, and 
like the green does not display the trade-marks of usage so much as the white shade. When waterproofed, none of 
these fabrics increase the original pack weight, if transported after a rainy spell.

One may prepare similar cloth at home by buying unbleached muslin, No. OXX, or Egyptian Sail Cloth, utilizing 
Diamond Dyes to effect the desired color of green or tan, then waterproofing by the paraffin process, or both 
waterproofing and fireproofing by the lime and alum bath.

Waterproofing is most satisfactorily done by the following methods:

Paraffin Process. 
This one is used by most manufacturers and is most easily accomplished by the novice. Into a tin 
container is placed one gallon of gasoline and one and one-half pounds of chipped paraffin. The vessel is put out 
in the sun or other warm place (never near a flame) and when the solution is effected, outdoors, it is spread upon 
the stretched cloth with a brush or a sponge. The gasoline evaporates, leaving a thin coating of paraffin in the 
fibers of the cloth. 

Lime and Alum Process. 
Fireproof cloth is nearly as desirable as waterproof. Many camps have been burned by sparks which have fallen on 
the tent roof, which has been rendered hot by the heat of the nearby fire or sun. A spark falling on a fireproofed 
tent leaves, at most, but a small round hole, and not utter destruction. The tent is immersed overnight in a solution 
of four ounces of alum, ten ounces of lime, and ten quarts of water, which has been prepared by mixing and 
allowing to stand until clear. Only the clear solution is to be used. Rinse in lukewarm water, stretch and dry in the 
sunshine. The fibers of the cloth are filled with an insoluble lead acetate and alum and it is thus rendered efficiently 
fire- and water-proof.

These processes only add to the effectiveness of the cloth itself, for the ability of a fabric to shed water depends 
upon the fineness of the weave, and not upon the weight of the cloth. Balloon silk has a weight of but three and 
three-fifths ounces per square yard, while waterproofed twelve-ounce duck tips the scales at sixteen ounces.

Food Bags. 
Grub compounds of the camp outfit are most conveniently and safely carried in waterproofed balloon silk bags with 
tie strings near the top. The dimensions of the parts are: A disk, nine inches in diameter, which is to serve as the 
bottom, and a rectangular section, 10x27 inches. Overlap the edge for a half-inch from D to F, sew to reinforce, and
near the middle affix a ten-inch tape to serve as a tie string. To complete the bag, sew A to B, beginning at C, and
then the edges D and F.

Balloon Silk Bucket. 
Take one of the food bags and secure a wooden hoop nine inches in diameter (the hoop used by women in 
embroidering is the proper thing), and sew into the bag top by overlapping a half-inch. A heavy tape is securely 
affixed on either side to serve as a handle or carrier. To prevent water splashing out, it is well to sew in an extra top 
(B), which consists of a piece of balloon silk twenty-seven inches long and five inches wide, sewed in below the 
hoop and with a tie string at the top. Such a contrivance will add very little appreciable weight to an already heavy 
pack, and it is of undoubted value and utility.

The Hikers Rain Cape. 
Nature can in no way mar the pleasure of an outdoor trip so effectively as by rain. Decidedly, it is no fun to hit the 
trail, make camp, and cook when Pluvius decrees that he will take a hand in your outing. It is bad enough to have to
hunt burnable firewood, to have your pack soaked, and to 'have to seek a night's repose on the soaked bosom of 
our terrestial sustainer, but wet camps dampen the spirits of the ardent recreationist and effectively destroy that
morale which upholds one in overcoming the difficulties incidental to trail life everywhere.

The resourceful woodcrafter employs his unique artifices to replace luxurious appointments of civilized living, and 
when up against a wet spell the various uses of balloon silk have come to be the greatest kind of a boon. It protects 
one's camp by the shelter overhead, one's back from moist ground, and if one wishes to travel in a downpour he 
can elect to utilize a rain cape which, composed of balloon silk, will render the greatest service, yet encumber the 
pack by a very little added weight.

The army poncho is in common use, but the rain cape is far better, having all the good points of a poncho, it 
protects the arms better; it can be slipped on over arms and pack and yet leaves the arms free enough and is airy 
underneath.

You get a piece of the silk thirty-six inches wide and seventy-two inches long for the body of the cape, and lay it on 
the floor. Get another piece of silk ten inches wide and seventy-two inches long for the front flaps, and sew on a B 
to C. Before cutting the circle, measure twenty-two inches in from either end of the front flap piece; that is, in from D
and E. Now, at the center, put in a nail to floor and stretch from it, by a loop, a string which will extend to F, where 
another loop is made and pencil used to follow the semicircle around to B-G and C-R. Cut along this line, turn over 
a half-inch, and hem to reinforce. Draw a straight line from the center A to M and N, and cut. Make a circular 
opening six inches in diameter at A for the neck, sew in an upright collar one inch high, and on the neck piece sew 
a strap of double thickness balloon silk with button holes to secure the cape to buttons at Y; provide at XX small 
buttons and holes for them at RR in the front flaps.

Camera Cover. 
Trail dust is capable of working through almost inconceivable openings, and the camera shutter must be protected, 
or it will gum up and lag and your photos be ruined. On a recent motor trip to the coast from Kansas City, I stopped 
at the Grand Canyon, where I found my shutter absolutely gummed up with desert alkali dust. A balloon silk cover 
would have prevented this, for I made one in Portland later and even the fine alkali of eastern Oregon and Idaho
failed to work in and affect the working parts. Such a protection slipped over the carrying case kept out dirt particles
and kept the camera dry. I first cut out the sides, which were made one-fourth inch larger than the side of the 
camera cover and four inches longer; then I sewed in two loops on each side through which later is to be threaded 
the shoulder straps; next, I cut out in one piece the front and back, which were the same width as the cover, but 
eight inches longer (four inches for either piece of front or back). The sides were then sewed to the front and back
pieces, a piece of one-half inch tape attached near the top for a tie string, the shoulder straps removed from the 
regular leather cover and threaded through the cloth loops, and the affair was ready for business, which it did to a 
perfectly satisfactory degree.

Balloon Silk Pack Sack. 
The best pack sack and the simplest was originated and put out by Poirier, of Duluth, over twenty-five years ago, 
and it was really the white man's improvement on the Indian tump-line and pack cloth, so ingeniously folded and tied
as to serve as a sack suspension harness. The shoulder straps have the desirable single point suspension, and
the head strap enables the wilderness voyageur to ease up different sets of muscles while on the trail and in 
handling a load. The combined use of the neck and shoulder muscles are brought into play.

The pack should be carried so that the bulge fits the hollow of the back. As manufactured, it consists of heavy 
leather straps and double-filled canvas sack. I have made and used to my entire approval a sack made of 
reinforced balloon silk and a harness of cloth webbing which stands service, is waterproof, is very light in weight, 
and the harness does not stretch as leather does.

To make, procure a piece of balloon silk 18x54 inches. Reinforce by sewing a double thickness two-inch strip of
balloon silk through the middle from one end to the other. Sew in a 4x5 pocket for the axe, with one side open and 
located next the line A-B; a tape for axe handle security opposite this; two two-foot-long shoulder straps of 
two-inch-wide furniture webbing; a two-inch-wide head strap of the same material (two feet long), and three small 
tapes at one end for the closure of sack, and corresponding suspender clasps at the other end for their reception. 
Now fold the whole sack cloth at A-B, so that C and A coincide, sew together; do similarly on the other side, and the 
sack is done. The saving in weight in back packing, where every superfluous ounce must be eliminated, will be
appreciated; if not now, it will be after hours of real wilderness touring.

The Cruiser Tent. 
The most practical tent for lightweight camp outfits where full protection from the elements is needed is one of the 
cruiser pattern, made of balloon silk and then waterproofed. It has a sewed-in floor, ventilating mosquito-proof 
window, and it can be pitched with but one pole. It is the popular tent among the mountaineering clubs of our Pacific
Coast region, and they can use an Alpenstock for its support. It furnishes full protection for two men camping 
around snow line, where tents must be put upon uneven ground.

This tent, after thorough test, meets all the requirements of the ideal lightweight shelter. Were it not for the 
well-placed cheesecloth window, one would be enclosed in an almost air-tight, and certainly water-tight, storm-proof 
cell. Its shape is such as provides sufficient headroom and the floor is big enough for a double bed. Being so low, it 
is well braced and weathers severe storms well. The sewed-in floor protects the bed from rain, wind, snakes, 
insects, and the like. Its single peak makes the simplest form for suspension from an overhanging limb or single 
pole. It rolls up compactly and is very light. One gets the lean-to advantage of a front fire reflected into the tent and 
down upon the sleeper by simply throwing open the front flap.

The cruiser tent is made by cutting out the sections as per diagram. The pieces had best be reinforced, as marked 
at the corners and side, by sewing in a little 3X4-inch square of the tent stuff. A 6x10 window is cut out of the roof 
about a foot from the center line running from H to G. This is covered with cheesecloth sewed to the top, and tapes 
are so placed as to allow of its being rolled up when the window is to be open.

Begin assembling by sewing the small end triangular piece to the roof approximating H to B, K to G, and KI to GC. 
Then sew in the floor cloth, stitching AB to AA; BB and DC to DD-CC of the floor cloth. The door is then sewn in ; 
FG to HD and EG to EE-DD. Complete the tent by sewing HI of the end to BB-CC of the floor; add a strong tape 
loop at G and H of the roof; make eight-inch tie strings at A, B, C, D, K, L, and EE; provide several yards of strong 
tarpon line to lead from G and H for pitching the tent, and your balloon-silk home is ready for the trail.


End of Excerpt.
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