Scouting For Girls, Official Handbook of the Girl Scouts Part 54

1. Pure water.

2. Wood that burns well. In cold weather there should be either an abundance of sound down wood, or some standing hard wood trees that are not too big for easy felling.

3. An open spot level enough for the tent and camp fire, but elevated above its surroundings so as to have good natural drainage. It must be well above any chance overflow from the sudden rise of a neighboring stream. Observe the previous flood marks....

7. Exposure to direct sunlight during a part of the day, especially during the early morning hours.

8. In summer, exposure to whatever breezes may blow; in cold weather, protection against the prevailing wind.

9. Privacy.

"Water, wood, and good drainage may be all you need for a 'one-night stand,' but the other points, too, should be considered when selecting a site for a fixed camp.

"_Water_--Be particularly careful about the purity of your water supply.

You come, let us say, to a mountain brook, that issues from thick forest. It ripples over clean rocks, it bubbles with air, it is clear as crystal and cool to your thirsty throat. 'Surely that is good water.'

But do you know where it comes from? Every mountain cabin is built close to a spring-branch. Somewhere up that branch there may be a clearing; in that clearing, a house; in that house, a case of dysentery or typhoid fever. I have known several cases of infection from just such a source.

It is not true that running water purifies itself.

"When one must use well-water let him note the surrounding drainage. If the well is near a stable or out house, or if dish water is thrown near it, let it alone. A well in sandy soil is more or less filtered by nature, but rocky or clayey earth may conduct disease germs a considerable distance under ground. Never drink from the well of an abandoned farm: there is no telling what may have fallen into it.

"A spring issuing from the living rock is worthy of confidence. Even if it be but a trickle you can scoop out a basin to receive it that soon will clear itself.

"Sometimes a subaqueous spring may be found near the margin of a lake or river by paddling close in sh.o.r.e and trailing your hand in the water.

When a cold spot is noted, go ash.o.r.e and dig a few feet back from the water's edge. I have found such spring exit in the Mississippi some distance from the bank, and by weighting a canteen, tying a string to it and another to the stopper, have brought up cool water from the river bed.

"Disease germs are of animal, not vegetable origin. Still waters are not necessarily unwholesome, even though there is rotten vegetation in them.

The water of cedar and cypress swamps is good to drink wherever there is a deep pool of it, unless polluted from some outside source. Lake water is safe if no settlements are on its border; but even so large a body as Lake Champlain has been condemned by state boards of health because of the sewage that runs into it.

"When a stream is in flood it is likely to be contaminated by decayed animal matter.

"_Alkaline Water_--When traveling in an alkali country carry some vinegar or limes or lemons, or (better) a gla.s.s stoppered bottle of hydrochloric acid. One teaspoonful of hydrochloric (muriatic) neutralizes about a gallon of water, and if there should be a little excess it will do no harm but rather a.s.sist digestion. In default of acid you may add a little Jamaica ginger and sugar to the water, making a weak ginger tea.

"_Muddy Water_--I used to clarify Mississippi water by stirring corn meal in it and letting it settle, or by stirring a lump of alum in it until the mud began to precipitate, and then decanting the clear water.

Lacking these, one can take a good handful of gra.s.s, tie it roughly in the form of a cone six or eight inches high, invert it, pour water slowly into the gra.s.s and a runnel of comparatively clear water will trickle down through the small end.

"_Stagnant Water_--A traveler may be reduced to the extremity of using stagnant or even putrid water; but this should never be done without first boiling it. Some charred wood from the camp fire should be boiled with the water; then skim off the sc.u.m, strain, and set in water aside to cool. Boiling sterilizes, and charcoal deodorizes. * * *"

[Ill.u.s.tration: COOKING THE FIRST MEAL]

Arriving at Camp

As soon as the camp site is decided upon locate the tent. (This should be done in advance when the party is of any size). Each tent should be about twenty-five feet from the next, on a dry place and easy to drain in case of rain, and so placed as to have the sun in the morning and the shade in the afternoon. Each tent should be trenched and placed some distance from the water supply and from the latrine.

Tents

"For fixed camps, situated where there are wagon roads or other adequate means of transportation, the best cloth shelter is a wall tent, rectangular or square, of strong and rather heavy material. * * * The best all-round size of wall tent for two people, if weight and bulk and cost are of any consequence, is the so-called 9 9 or a 9 12, built with 3-1/2-foot walls, instead of 3-foot, and 8-foot center, instead of 7-1/2-foot. For four persons a 12 14 is commonly used; but a 14 14 with 4-foot walls and a 9-foot center has double the head-room of the standard 12 14, and 2-1/2 feet more s.p.a.ce between cots, if these are set lengthwise of the tent, two on a side.

"Before selecting a tent, consider the number of people to occupy it and their dunnage, and the furniture. Then draw diagrams of floor and elevation of various sizes, putting in the cots, etc., according to scale; so you can get just what you want, no more, no less.

Camp Sanitation

"Nothing is cleaner, sweeter, wholesomer, than a wildwood unspoiled by man, and few spots are more disgusting than a "piggy" camp, with slops thrown everywhere, empty cans and broken bottles littering the ground, and organic refuse left festering in the sun, breeding disease germs, to be spread abroad by the swarms of flies. I have seen one of nature's gardens, an ideal health resort, changed in a few months by a logging crew into an abomination and a pest hole where typhoid and dysentery wrought deadly vengeance.

"_Destroy at once all refuse that would attract flies._ Or bury it where they cannot get at it.

"Fire is the absolute disinfectant. Burn all solid kitchen refuse as fast as it acc.u.mulates. When a can of food is emptied toss it on the fire and burn it out, then drop it in a sink hole that you have dug for slops and unburnable trash, and cover it with earth or ashes so no mosquitoes can breed in it after a rainfall.

"The sink should be on the down hill side of camp, and where it cannot pollute the water supply. Sprinkle kerosene on it or burn it out frequently with a brush fire. * * *"

The Latrine

One of the first tasks of the camper is to dig a trench for a latrine and build a screen around it. The latrine should be on a lower level than the camp, away from the water supply and in the opposite direction from which the prevailing winds come toward the camp, two hundred feet from sleeping and mess tents. Bushes or a tent fly may be used as a screen and shelter. A small lean-to serves admirably. Dig trenches four feet long, one foot wide and two feet deep. Allow six inches (length) per day for a Scout. Cover after using with fresh dirt. It is imperative to fill and re-sod all trenches dug. Whether you camp only for lunch or for the summer leave no trace that you have been there. Remember the animals how they scratch the soil and cover up any waste that they leave, and be at least as clean as they.

Lime does not keep the flies away. Plenty of fresh dirt is better.

Team Work

Only as each and every member does her part will the camp be a complete success. The daily tasks should be a.s.signed to individuals or groups, as in:

The Pine Tree Patrol System

The chief advantage of this system is that whenever the need for work of any description arises, there is always someone whose duty is to perform that particular task, thus avoiding the inevitable question of "Who will do it?" The Pine Tree Patrol system does not in the least interfere with regular schedule of Scout activities; on the contrary, it saves time since more than one hand on each spoke of the wheel keeps it in continual motion. When the system seems too complicated for a small camp, the captain can simplify it to suit the circ.u.mstances.

Each girl in the Patrol is a.s.signed a number which requires of her:

1. Certain well defined duties to perform for her Patrol.

2. Certain specific knowledge expected of her in the exercise of her "specialty."

3. Proper care of her special "station gear."

4. Willingness to teach her understudy all she knows.

5. Willingness to learn the duties of the next higher numbers.

[Ill.u.s.tration: --THE PINE TREE PATROL--

REAR RANK: "THE BLUES"

Water Wood Junior Baker Scout Scout

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