One man’s wilderness (23 page)

First thing, I would need a tub in which to mix mortar. That’s where the fifty-gallon drum made its contribution. With a wide Sears chisel, I cut the drum in two. Such a racket! The edges of the tub were rolled and hammered flat. The garden hoe completed the kit. Next a good gas-can carrier to pack the rocks and mortar in. I cut a gas can lengthwise a generous six inches deep, then fashioned a cradle of light poles with rugged handles. I set the gas-can tub into this and nailed it fast. Result—a sturdy rig.

After checking my plan several times, I marked the logs for cutting. I
almost hated the thought of cutting into those cabin logs that I had fitted with such care, but it had to be done.

I transferred my rock pile from the beach up to the back of the cabin, the colorful rocks laid out side by side so I could see them individually, the rest in two piles, one on each side of the fireplace location.

I dug out for the base, allowing for lots of rock in a solid footing to eliminate danger of it tipping in time or settling.

Tomorrow I will see the hole cut and some stone put into place. I’m not sure how it will go without the lime.

September 7th
. Temperature forty-three degrees at 4:30
A.M
.

The lake was moon still. A good morning to haul some sand. Up at the point was a good supply, two grades, fine and coarse. I loaded two gas-can boxes, my new carrier, and two gas-can buckets into the canoe and paddled through the thin fog. I could see tracks of caribou at the water’s edge.

Four loads of sand. That was enough for a start. I won’t cut that hole in the back of the cabin too high until I find out how this rock laying is going to go. I took out sections from the two bottom logs. That gave me plenty of room to lay the base. Took out some rock and dirt on the outside and I was ready for mortar. Three shovels of fine sand, two of coarse, and one heaping shovelful of cement, just about the right amount for a good mix. I dumped all the rock I could get into the six-inch-deep, four-foot by five-foot area. I used flat rocks on that part of the base extending inside the cabin. When the base was finished, I had used less than a sack of cement.

The yellow colors on the slopes of Falls Mountain are really budding up now. Those are mostly cottonwoods. They seem to prefer the sun-warmed slopes.

September 8th
. A white frost and a light crust on the sand of the beach. A trace of new snow on the peaks.

I hauled three loads of sand while the lake was still. I am not overly happy
with my cement. I have to screen it and then break up the hard lumps. I hesitated to take out more logs. Let’s see how the outside rocks stack up first.

I spent the day on the outside. Finished the sack of cement I opened yesterday and not quite half of the second one today. The chimney is a good twelve inches high and nine inches thick. I cleaned up the joints around the rocks. So far so good. Will it stand the test of time?

There was lots of flying activity at the boss hunter’s cabin and at the rough landing strip at the head of the lake.

The yellow colors across the lake are even brighter this afternoon, and with a dead-calm lake the reflections are a delight to see.

Ram stew sopped up with sourdough biscuits is mighty good eating.

September 9th
. The fine weather continues. I appreciate it.

I took the plunge today. I cut the other five logs out of the back of the cabin and let the sun shine in. I sawed the opening the full forty-eight inches wide and then made two splines, one for each side of the opening, and drove a twenty-penny nail through the spline and into each log end. The splines will be imbedded in the mortar. Nine-inch jambs—an opening thirty inches across, twenty-six inches high, and twenty-four inches deep.

A picture-perfect day to work. Big, puffy white clouds in a blue sky. The slopes golden in the sun.

This evening my fireplace stands fourteen inches above the base all the way around. About another ten or twelve inches in front, and I will be ready for the arch of the opening.

Much shooting over at the boss hunter’s cabin. Almost as if someone had missed a good shot because his sights were haywire, and he was making sure it wouldn’t happen a second time.

In the late afternoon I paddled out on the still lake to see the reflection of my cabin. When the sun is low, it is as if the cabin is being spotted with a very bright floodlight. I am anxious to get that fireplace chimney above the roof. Then I will build a smoky fire and take a picture of the action from out here.

September 10th
. Such weather I have never seen. Frosty and clear, with everything in extra-sharp focus. I should make good time today. No sand to haul, no logs to cut, no meat to cook, plenty of ram stew left and getting better all the time.

The fireplace now stands twenty-four inches behind and twenty-two in front. I must build the arch over the opening, and then on up to fill the opening. Nineteen inches to go and the hole in the back of the cabin will be plugged. At present I have a snug-fitting arrangement of corrugated cardboard that I wedge into the opening to shut out the cold air at night. I’ve used two sacks of cement and a third is gone from sack number three. If five sacks get me started up the chimney, I will be happy.

September 11th
. Temperature twenty-nine degrees and warming. Lake water at forty-four degrees.

Today is the day to build the arch. I had given a lot of thought as to how it can be done wilderness-style. I took one of the bigger log sections I had cut from the opening and bucked off a thirty-inch length, the width of the fireplace opening. I marked one side grid-fashion, lines one-half inch between lengthwise, and lines two inches apart up and down. Then I drove two nails, one in the center of the top line, the other eight inches away and toward the end on the second line.

Next I hooked the one-man cross cut sawblade at the handle under the outboard nail, and over the center nail I pulled the end of the saw down until it touched the bottom line. I traced a pencil line along the curve formed by the sawblade against the log. I moved the outboard nail to the other side of the center nail and repeated the procedure.

The result was a three-inch arch in a thirty-inch length. I roughed the log to the line with my ax and then finished it off with the jack plane. Next I flattened the ends on the underside to sit on posts I had cut from logs. I set the arch in place and spiked it to the posts. Then I braced and wedged them tight, and covered the arch with a piece of plastic.

Stones to outline the arch were on hand. The center one, pale orange and
about four inches square, I had found on Emerson Creek. The rest were roughly rectangular. I mixed rich mortar, and by eleven o’clock I had my face stones in place and some filled in behind. I was quite happy with the way it turned out, so I decided to let it set the rest of the day and work on the back side.

I am starting to close in on all four sides to the throat and smoke shelf. Once past that point the chimney should climb at a rapid rate. I still have three and a third sacks of cement, which should be plenty.

I watched a Supercub land in some rough water, then take off a few minutes later in a shower of spray. A pretty fair pilot I would say. I’m happy he can’t land up where the big rams are.

After supper I gathered more rocks of special shapes and sizes until it was too dark to see.

September 12th
. An overcast cutting off the tops of the mountains. The frost gives them a ghostly look.

I had no idea there are so many rocks in a small fireplace. About seventy-five percent of them don’t seem to fit until just the right situation turns up. One in particular I tried a dozen times before, and today it fell into place as if it was made for the spot.

Another row of stones above the arch is completed and filled in behind. That makes it a good six inches thick. I am taking it slow on the front side to let it set up properly. I’m using a stronger mixture there, too. All my stones in the front of the fireplace have been collected in my travels up and down both lakes, the high country and the low, so they are representative of the entire area.