Part 5

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 space 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 space 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.)

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 space, 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 space, 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 space 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 butter, 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 partition 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.

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.

GENERAL ROUTINE FROM OPENING TO CLOSING CAMP