- Joined
- Feb 9, 2004
- Messages
- 1,447
Moccasinman recently posting a small quote from Nessmuk (George Washington Sears)
I have been a big fan of Sears, ever since I read Woodcraft & Camping. For those of you who do not know who George Washington Sears is here is a brief history. Sears under the pen name of "Nessmuk," wrote many letters to Forest and Stream magazine in the 1880s. These popularized canoeing, the Adirondack lakes, self-guided canoe camping tours, the open, ultra light single canoe, and what we today call environmentalism. It was a happy union of technology and art, nature and life. When Nessmuk ventured into the wilderness with his ultra-light solo canoe and his minium gear. Here is a list of his gear.
Nessmuks Camp Kit
Clothing
Soft thick woolen shirt
Pair of fine, but substantial, woolen drawer
Pair woolen socks
Fine woolen cassimere medium thickness coat
Blanket Bag
Soft, warm, open at the ends, just long enough to cover the sleeper.
Shelter Cloth
Simple lean-to. Sheet of strong cotton cloth 6x8 feet, soaked in lime and alum-water.
Knapsack (oil-cloth)
Rod with reel, lines, flies, hooks, and fishing gear
Pocket-axe "double-barreled"
Strong double-bladed pocket knife
Sheath Knife
Thin blade, handy for skinning, cutting meat, and eating with.
Tin ware
One dish six inches on bottom, 6 3/4" on top, side 2" high. The 2nd dish to be made the same, but small enough to nest in the first, also to fit into it when inverted as a cover
Buckskin bullet pouch with sheath sewed on the backside of it.
2 oz vial of fly medicine, vial of "pain killers", 2or 3 gangs of hooks on brass wire snells, water-proof match safe, strings, compass, bits of linen and scarlet flannel (for frogging), copper tacks.
"Ditty-bag" sack of chamois leather about 4" wide by 6" in length.
A dozen hooks, 4 lines of 6 yards ( up to 10 lbs. Fish), sinkers, very fine file for sharpening hooks, 3 darning needles & common sewing needles, dozen buttons, sewing silk, thread, small ball of strong yarn, sticking salve, bit of shoemaker's wax, beeswax.
Two days of rations
I have been a big fan of Sears, ever since I read Woodcraft & Camping. For those of you who do not know who George Washington Sears is here is a brief history. Sears under the pen name of "Nessmuk," wrote many letters to Forest and Stream magazine in the 1880s. These popularized canoeing, the Adirondack lakes, self-guided canoe camping tours, the open, ultra light single canoe, and what we today call environmentalism. It was a happy union of technology and art, nature and life. When Nessmuk ventured into the wilderness with his ultra-light solo canoe and his minium gear. Here is a list of his gear.
Nessmuks Camp Kit
Clothing
Soft thick woolen shirt
Pair of fine, but substantial, woolen drawer
Pair woolen socks
Fine woolen cassimere medium thickness coat
Blanket Bag
Soft, warm, open at the ends, just long enough to cover the sleeper.
Shelter Cloth
Simple lean-to. Sheet of strong cotton cloth 6x8 feet, soaked in lime and alum-water.
Knapsack (oil-cloth)
Rod with reel, lines, flies, hooks, and fishing gear
Pocket-axe "double-barreled"
Strong double-bladed pocket knife
Sheath Knife
Thin blade, handy for skinning, cutting meat, and eating with.
Tin ware
One dish six inches on bottom, 6 3/4" on top, side 2" high. The 2nd dish to be made the same, but small enough to nest in the first, also to fit into it when inverted as a cover
Buckskin bullet pouch with sheath sewed on the backside of it.
2 oz vial of fly medicine, vial of "pain killers", 2or 3 gangs of hooks on brass wire snells, water-proof match safe, strings, compass, bits of linen and scarlet flannel (for frogging), copper tacks.
"Ditty-bag" sack of chamois leather about 4" wide by 6" in length.
A dozen hooks, 4 lines of 6 yards ( up to 10 lbs. Fish), sinkers, very fine file for sharpening hooks, 3 darning needles & common sewing needles, dozen buttons, sewing silk, thread, small ball of strong yarn, sticking salve, bit of shoemaker's wax, beeswax.
Two days of rations