AY Honors/Pioneering/Answer Key

1. Describe in writing, orally, or with pictures how the early pioneers met the following basic living needs:

a. Housing and furnishings

Housing

Log Cabin

Sod House

The first European settlers in the New World came from England, and brought English building practices with them. In England, timber was scarce, and the building techniques reflected that scarcity. This really made little sense, because the East Coast of the New World where they settled was literally covered with timber. When the Swedes arrived around 1640, they introduced the log cabin. Compared to other house-building techniques, log cabin construction saved a lot of labor. Logs needed to be debarked, cut to length, and notched where they made joints. They did not need to be sawn into planks.

The log cabin served the pioneers well until they pushed into the Great Plains where trees again were scarce. Settlers in the plains turned to the most abundant building material available to them - sod. They would cut from the ground rectangles of sod measuring about 600×300×150mm, and pile them into walls. The resulting structure was a well-insulated but damp dwelling that was very inexpensive. Sod houses required frequent maintenance and were vulnerable to rain damage. Stucco or wood panels often protected the outer walls. Canvas or plaster often lined the interior walls.

Furnishings

In the early nineteenth century it became increasingly popular for rural Americans of modest means to take the decoration of their homes and furniture into their own hands. Rather than hauling a lot of furniture into newly settled areas, the pioneers frequently made their furnishing at the new homestead site from materials available there.

b. Clothing

A bonnet

Buckskins

Buckskins are clothing, usually consisting of a jacket and leggings, made from buckskin, a soft sueded leather from the hide of deer or elk. Buckskins are often trimmed with fringe (originally a functional detail, to allow the garment to dry faster when it was soaking wet because the fringe acted as wicks to soak away the water, or quills. Buckskins derive from deerskin clothing worn by Native Americans. They were popular with mountain men and other frontiersmen for their warmth and durability.

Breeches

Breeches (pronounced britches) are an item of male clothing covering the body from the waist down, with separate coverings for each leg, usually stopping just below the knee, though in some cases reaching to the ankles. The breeching of a young boy, at an age somewhere between six and eight, was a landmark in his childhood.

The spelling britches reflects a common pronunciation, and is often used in casual speech to mean trousers or "pants". Breeks is a Scots or northern English spelling and pronunciation.

Bonnets

In the mid-18th century "house bonnets" worn by women and girls were generally brimless headcoverings which were secured by tying under the chin, and which covered no part of the forehead. They were worn indoors, to keep the hair tidy, and outdoors, to keep dust out of the hair.

Aprons

An apron is an outer protective garment that covers primarily the front of the body. The apron was traditionally viewed as an essential garment for anyone doing housework. Cheaper clothes and washing machines made aprons less common beginning in the mid 1960s.

Dresses

Dresses were normally made at home from calico or some other inexpensive cloth imported from the east (either the Eastern U.S. or Europe).

c. Food

The first priority of a pioneer family when arriving in a new area was to build a house and a barn. If possible, they would also set out a garden, however, that depended on their season of arrival. Before crops on a large scale could be planted, land had to be cleared. It was usually not completed during the first year of settling. First the settlers needed to clear the property of trees and stumps. In many areas (notably New England) clearing the trees and stumps would reveal a field full of large rocks which would also have to be cleared. They would build large bon fires over the largest rocks so that the heat would crack them. Then they could extend the fractures by hand to render the boulders into smaller rocks that could be dragged out by horses. The rocks cleared from fields were generally used to construct stone walls along the borders of fields and to mark property boundaries. Clearing fields was a highly laborious process, requiring hours of back-breaking work over an extended period of time.

During the first year of settling, pioneers mostly relied on wild game for food. They also gathered wild plants to eat and used their gardens to the extent that they could. In spring they would tap the maple trees for syrup. They also kept livestock and poultry to ensure a steady supply of milk and eggs.

d. Cooking

The Pioneers cooked over open fires using dutch ovens and kettles. If they had one, they would use a Franklin stove (see below).

e. Warmth and light

Candles

Prior to the mid-19th century, candles were made from tallow (a byproduct of beef-fat rendering). They were rarely made from beeswax as that was a very expensive commodity. Candles were not used very frequently because they were so expensive.

Oil lamps

Oil lamps were more common than candles because they could use a wider variety of fuel which was generally cheaper to boot.

Fireplaces

A hearth fire was probably the first form of winter heat used by the Pioneers. It not only heated a cabin, it was also used for cooking. However, fireplaces are not very efficient as most of they heat they produce goes right out the chimney. Fireplaces also helped to light the home.

Franklin Stove

The Franklin stove (named after its inventor, Benjamin Franklin) is a metal-lined fireplace with baffles in the rear to improve the airflow, providing more heat and less smoke than an ordinary open fireplace. It is also known as the circulating stove. Although in current usage the term "stove" implies a closed firebox, the front of a Franklin stove is open to the room.

f. Tools and handiwork

Tools were an essential element to the pioneers moving into a new area, but they often only brought the most basic ones with them. Among these would be an ax and a drawknife. They first thing they would do with these tools was fashion handles for all their other tools (shovels, hoes, etc). They usually only brought the metal portions of such tools because the handles were big and bulky, and they had limited cargo-carrying capacity.

g. Sanitation

Once they arrived in an area, the pioneers would establish a permanent latrine, or an outhouse. This consisted of a hole dug into the ground (three-to-six feet deep). They would then erect a structure over the hole and furnish it with one or two seats positioned over the hole. When the hole was nearly filled with human waste, they would dig another latrine elsewhere and relocated the outhouse over it, burying the old hole with dirt removed from the new one. They did not have toilet paper, but rather used corn cobs, tree bark, leaves, or if they were lucky, the pages from catalogs.

Bathing was done indoors (and perhaps infrequently) in a large wash tub. Water was drawn from a well to fill a large metal wash tub. They would then boil a smaller amount of water in a kettle and add that to the tub as well to warm it up.

Wash basins were kept in the bedrooms, and normally, a person would only wash the hands and face on a daily basis.

Food scraps were fed to animals (cattle, pigs, dogs, etc).

h. Transportation

Trails

When the pioneers arrived in the New World, there were no roads at all. There were trails, but these were made for horses and for people on foot, so they were not suited for wagons.

Roads

The first roads were built by felling logs and laying them side-by-side across the "road" and then covering them with earth. After a heavy rain, the earth would be washed away leaving dangerous gaps between the logs. It was not uncommon for a horse to step into one of these gaps and break its leg.

Pioneers Crossing the Plains of Nebraska

Wagon Trains

A wagon train consists of a long chain of wagons moving together and forming a line. Whereas wagon trains were common in the Old West, in other places of the world different forms of caravans and convoys were often used, such as camel trains in Australia. A wagon train allowed pioneers to travel together for safety and supply sharing.

When wagon trains travel, a chuckwagon is included for meals and carrying supplies from one destination to another. At night time, wagon trains were often formed into a circle, for defensive purposes, for shelter from wind/weather and to put the animals that pulled the wagons in the center to prevent them from running away. Today, covered wagon trains are used to give an authentic experience for those desiring to explore the West as it was in the days of the pioneers and other groups traveling before modern vehicles were invented.

Rivers

A quick glance at a modern map of the Eastern United States will show you that Interstate 95 runs up the Atlantic seaboard from one major city to the next. Why are these cities there? A closer inspection will reveal that most of these cities are situated on rivers, and usually at the fall line. The fall line is the place on the river where the first waterfalls are met when traveling upstream. Cities were built here because that's as far as the pioneers could travel by river before they had to get out of their boats. Usually they would haul their cargo overland above the falls and load it onto barges so they could continue the trip by river.

The Sea

It was often more economical to travel from one city to the next by getting on a ship and sailing down the coast than it was to ride a horse or walk.

2. Construct a piece of useful furniture by lashing. Learn the following lashings:

Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Lashing/Square
Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Lashing/Diagonal
Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Lashing/Sheer
Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Lashing/Continuous

3. Do one of the following:

a. Weave a basket using natural materials.

See the Basketry honor for instruction.

d. Make a simple toy used by the pioneers.

Corn husk doll

A corn husk doll could be made by turning a corn husk inside-out and then binding it at the neckline. It was then dressed in miniature clothing.

Whimmy diddle

A gee-haw whammy diddle is mechanical toy consisting of two wooden sticks. One has a series of notches cut transversely along its side and a smaller wooden stick or a propeller attached to the end with a nail or pin. This stick is held stationary in one hand with the notches up, and the other stick is rubbed rapidly back and forth across the notches. This causes the propeller to rotate. Sometimes also known as a "Hooey Stick" or a "VooDoo Stick". The word "Whammy" is sometimes "Whimmy" and the word "Diddle" sometimes "Doodle", giving it a possible 3 other names, and the "Gee-Haw" may also be dropped.

"Gee-Haw" refers to the fact that, by rubbing your finger against the notched stick while rubbing, the direction of the spinning propeller may be reversed. The operator may do this surreptitiously and yell "Gee" or "Haw" to make it appear that the propeller is reacting the commands. If you call it a "Hooey Stick", you would yell "hooey" each time you want the direction to change.

Hoop and stick

A large wooden hoop is rolled along by means of a stick. Skilled players can keep the hoop upright for lengthy periods of time and can do various tricks.

Whistle

See the Whistles honor for instruction.

4. Know how to make flour from at least one wild plant for use in baking.

Flour can be made from clover blossoms. Gather about 8 liters of them and let them dry for two weeks. You can also put them in a low temperature oven for an hour or two. Once they are dry, grind them to powder with a mortar and pestle. This will make about 250 ml of flour. Mix half-and-half with wheat flour. It makes good pancakes.

You can also make flour with acorns (it's a lot of work), and the roots or pollen of cattail. See the answers to the Edible Wild Plants honor for details.

5. Build a fire without matches. Use natural fire building materials. Keep the fire going for five minutes. You may use the following to start your fire:

a. Flint and steel

Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Camping/Fire/Flint and steel

b. Friction

Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Camping/Fire/Friction

c. Electric spark

Note: This technique, though listed as an option in the official requirements, was not available to the pioneers. We therefore recommend that it not be used for teaching this honor.

Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Camping/Fire/Electric spark

d. Curved glass

Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Camping/Fire/Curved glass

e. Metal match

Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Camping/Fire/Metal match

f. Compressed air

Note: As with the "Electric spark" technique, this method of fire-building was unknown to the pioneers. Again, we recommend against using this option for meeting the requirement.

Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Camping/Fire/Compressed air

6. Show axmanship knowledge in the following:

Parts of an axe

a. Describe the best types of axes.

The "best" type of axe depends on what you're trying to do with it.

• Felling axe — Cuts across the grain of wood, as in the felling of trees. In single or double bit (the bit is the cutting edge of the head) forms and many different weights, shapes, handle types and cutting geometries to match the characteristics of the material being cut.
• Splitting Axe — Used to split with the grain of the wood. Splitting axe bits are more wedge shaped. This shape causes the axe to rend the fibres of the wood apart, without having to cut through them, especially if the blow is delivered with a twisting action at impact.
• Broad axe — Used with the grain of the wood in precision splitting. Broad axe bits are chisel-shaped (one flat and one bevelled edge) facilitating more controlled work.

b. Show how to sharpen an ax properly.

It is best to sharpen an axe by hand rather than using an electric grinder. A grinder will heat the blade and ruin the axe's temper. This will cause the bit to soften making it impossible for the axe to hold a sharp edge during typical use. If the axe is very dull or has visible notches in the blade, start sharpening with a file. The file should be held at an angle and run over the length of the blade. Sharpen both sides until the notches are gone. If the axes just needs a touch-up, you can use a sharpening stone. Wet the stone with water (or if you have an oilstone, with oil). This will cause the filings to "float" away an prevent them from clogging the pores in the stone (making it smoother and thus, less effective at sharpening).

c. Know and practice safety rules in the use of an ax.

Be sure you have firm footing before swinging an axe or a hatchet, and be sure no one is within six feet of you to the sides or to the rear, and within twelve feet of you towards your front. Axe heads have come off before (2 Kings 6:5), and they are very dangerous when they do. When handing an axe to another person, offer them the handle. Carry the axe so that if you were to trip, the blade would point away from you. Put the axe in a sheath (if it has one) when it is not in use.

d. Know the proper way to use an ax.

Do not hammer an axe into a piece of wood. An axe is for cutting, and should not be used as a wedge. It should also not be used as a sledge hammer. Practice aiming the axe until you get good at it. When you can hit what you aim at, your use of the axe will be far more efficient. Do not chop into the ground - this practice will quickly dull an axe. Apply a bit of oil to the axehead to prevent rust.

e. Properly cut in two a log at least eight inches (20.3 cm) thick.

Do not lay the log directly on the ground. Otherwise the axe blows will push the log into the ground. Instead, lay it on another small log (three inches in diameter is good). Strike the log to be cut at the point where it is in contact with the supporting log. Otherwise, the log may flip up and strike you or a bystander. This can cause a serious injury, so be watchful. Proceed by chopping a "vee" into the log, alternating cuts on the left and on the right. The width of the vee should be equal to the diameter of the log. Once the vee penetrates halfway through the log, turn it over and cut another on the opposite side until the two vees meet.

f. Properly split wood that is at least eight inches (20.3 cm) in diameter and one foot (30.5 cm) long.

Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Camping/Splitting firewood

7. Do two of the following:

a. Make a ten-foot (3.0 meters) rope from natural material or twine.

Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Knots/Making rope

b. Tie ten knots useful to the pioneer and tell how they were used.

Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Knot/Bowline

Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Knot/Bowline on a bight

Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Knot/Clove hitch

Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Knot/Double fishermans

Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Knot/Figure 8

Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Knot/Prusik

Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Knot/Sheepshank

Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Knot/Square

Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Knot/Taut-line hitch

Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Knot/Two half hitches

c. Using rope and natural materials, make one device for moving heavy objects.

You can make a make-shift block and tackle with nothing more than two sturdy ropes and a tree (or other stationary object). First, take a short length of rope and tie one end around the object you wish to move. Then tie a loop at the other end.

Tie one end of the longer rope around a tree using a bowline. Then tie a slip knot in this rope near the tree. Take the running end of the rope and thread it through the loop you made in the first rope. Then thread it through the slip knot you tied near the tree.

All that remains is to pull on the running end of the longer rope. This setup provides a two-to-one mechanical advantage. For every two meters you pull on the long rope, the object will move one meter closer to the tree.

d. Construct an adequate and comfortable latrine.

Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Camping/Latrine

8. Explain the need for proper sanitation relating to solid and human waste and the washing of body, clothes, and dishes.

If human waste is not dealt with properly, it can cause disease. It is a small matter for uncontrolled human waste to enter the water supply where it will cause harmful bacteria to multiply. When this happens, anyone using the water internally (i.e., drinking, washing dishes, brushing teeth, etc) will ingest the bacteria and get sick. Dysentery is a medical condition caused by improper sanitation, and it involves uncontrolled, bloody diarrhea. This causes the body to dehydrate leading to death.

Keeping your body clean is also very important. If you are filthy and you injure yourself, breaking the skin, the filth will readily enter your bloodstream where it can make you sick and cause a painful infection. Infections can kill you if they left untreated.

Dirty clothing can lead to parasitic infestations, such as lice.

Dirty dishes breed bacteria which feast on any food left stuck to the dish. It is then easily transfered to the body when the dish is used for cooking or for eating.

9. Assist in the construction of a ten-foot (3.0 meters) long log or rope bridge, using lashings.

Log Bridge

The simplest way to make this bridge is with poles. Cut two long poles at least 15 cm in diameter and long enough to span the item to be bridged. Then cut several smaller poles at least 5cm in diameter and approximately 60 cm long. Place the long poles over the gap to be spanned such that the short poles can lay across them, overhanging by 3-5cm on both sides. Then use continuous lashing to attach the short poles to the long ones. A rope hand rail can be added for additional balance.

10. Know four ways to keep the wilderness beautiful.

• Pick up litter.
• Stay on the trail.
• Use "Leave no Trace" camping techniques.
• Write letters to your elected government representatives about environmental issues.
• Prefer pollution-free recreation activities (biking and hiking over ATV's, canoes and kayaks over motor boats and jet skis, cross country skis over snow mobiles).
• Take only pictures, leave only footprints. That means you don't pick wildflowers or destroy plants. It's generally OK to harvest the fruiting body of a plant (i.e., berries).
• Use a camp stove instead of a campfire when camping. This will eliminate the need to gather firewood and will not leave a fire ring.

11. Do two of the following:

a. Make a wax candle or other form of pioneer light source.

See the Candlemaking honor for instruction. Why not earn it while you're at it?

b. Make a batch of soap.

Note that this is also a major requirement for the Soap Craft - Advanced honor.

Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Making soap

c. Milk a cow.

Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Milk a cow

d. Churn butter.

This can be done when sitting around the campfire. Get a half pint of heavy cream and place it in a sealable container with a wide mouth, such as a Tupperware vessel. Place a marble (or similar object) in the container with the cream and seal it up tight. Then pass it around the campfire having everyone shake it for a minute or two. After ten to fifteen minutes, the container should have two things in it: butter, and buttermilk. You can pour off the buttermilk (save it for biscuits or pancakes in the morning) and you are left with solid butter. Delicious!

e. Make a quill pen and write with it.

Quill pen

If you don't happen to have a flock of geese from which to pluck feathers, you can always buy them at a craft supply store. Select a feather that is about 30 cm long. The first step in making a quill pen is to temper the shaft. This can be done by heating a tin can filled with sand in an oven at 175°C for 15 minutes. If camping, you can do this in a campfire as well. Carefully remove the can from the heat and jam the end of the feather into the sand as far as it will go. Let it sit there until the sand cools. This will cause the transparent shaft of the feather to become opaque.

Strip some of the "hair" off the feather so that it will not get in the way of the writer's hand. 5 to 7.5 cm will do fine. Hold the feather in your hand to see how it wants to orient itself. Unlike a modern pen, one portion of the feather's shaft will be the "top". Usually, the feather will curve over the hand as you hold it.

This page has a good description, but we'd need to put it in our own words. http://www.flick.com/~liralen/quills/quills.html

f. Make a corn husk doll.

For this you will need an ear of corn, still in the husk, a bit twine, and some cloth. Choose one with as much stem attached as you can, up to the intended height of the doll.

Peel the husk back, trying to tear as little of it apart as you can. Fold the husk over the stem. Once all the husk has been folded back, you can chop the corn cob off with a sharp knife. Discard the silks. Tie a piece of twine around the husk an inch or so below the point from which the cob was cut. Tighten it up as much as you can. This will form the neck line. Tie another piece of twine about the middle to form a waist. Then use the cloth to make a dress for the doll. (A bonnet conceals the unfortunate fact that your doll is bald.) Draw some eyes, a nose, and a mouth on the doll's face using a marker, or for a more authentic look, use a piece of charcoal.

g. Assist in making a quilt.

For instruction, see the Quilting honor.

12. Know five home remedies from wild plants and explain their uses.

Warning: We recommend that extreme caution be exercised with regard to these remedies. Some of them are harmless enough (jewelweed, balsam fir, coltsfoot, and garlic), while others are potentially fatal (boneset, feverfew). All medicines are poisonous if the dosage is exceeded, and the amount of the active ingredient found in wild plants is obviously not labeled.

Jewelweed

The juice from this plant was used as a treatment for poison ivy.

Willow

The bark from the willow tree contains salicylic acid, an ingredient in aspirin. Chewing on willow shoots, twigs, branches, or bark was used as a pain reliever.

Balsam fir

The resin of the balsam fir is used to produce Canada balsam, and was traditionally used as a cold remedy.

Coltsfoot

The leaves of the coltsfoot plant were used for making tea or hard candy. Both were used as a cough medicine.

Boneset

Boneset, although poisonous to humans and grazing livestock, has been used in folk medicine, for instance to excrete excess uric acid which causes gout. It has many more presumed beneficial uses, including treatment of dengue fever, arthritis, certain infectious diseases, migraine, intestinal worms, malaria, and diarrhea. Boneset infusions are also considered an excellent remedy for influenza. Scientific research of these applications is rudimentary at present, however. Caution is advised when using boneset, since it contains toxic compounds that can cause liver damage. Side effects include muscular tremors, weakness, and constipation; overdoses may be deadly.

Feverfew

Feverfew has been used for reducing fever, for treating headaches, arthritis and digestive problems.

Garlic

Garlic has been used as both food and medicine in many cultures for thousands of years, dating at least as far back as the time that the Egyptian pyramids were built. Garlic is claimed to help prevent heart disease including atherosclerosis, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and cancer.

13. Do one of the following:

a. Assist in constructing a raft, using lashings. Take a five-mile (8.3 km) trip on a river with this raft.

A raft can be constructed using continuous lashing (as with the log bridge described previously). The logs should be no less than 25cm in diameter. We recommend that the raft be accompanied by other watercraft, such as canoes or john boats. You should also carefully scout the river before committing the raft to it, ensuring there are no rapids.

c. With an experienced leader, participate in a two-day, 15-mile (25 km) canoe trip, carrying all needed supplies properly. A short portage should be done.

Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Canoe trip

d. With an experienced leader, participate in a two-day, 15-mile (25 km) backpack trip, carrying all needed supplies.

Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Backpack trip