First look around for an old dead top of a pine or cedar

First look around for an old dead top of a pine or cedar. If you
cannot find one, chop down a cedar tree. Whittle a handful of
splinters and shavings from the dry heart. Try to find the lee side of
a rock or log where the wind and rain do not beat in. First put down
the shavings or some dry birch bark if you can find it, and shelter it
as well as you can from the rain. Pile up some larger splinters of
wood over the kindling material like an Indians wigwam. Then light it
and give it a chance to get into a good blaze before you pile on any
larger wood and put the Snow Wars whole fire out. It sounds easy but before you
try it in the woods I advise you to select the first rainy day and go
out near home and experiment.
To make a fire that will burn in front of the tent all night, first
drive two green stakes into the ground at a slant and about five feet
apart. Then lay two big logs one on each side of a stake to serve as
andirons. Build a fire between these logs and pile up a row of logs
above the fire and leaning against the stakes. You may have to brace
the stakes with two others which should have a forked end. When the
lower log burns out the next one will drop down in its place and
unless you have soft, poor wood the fire should burn for ten hours.
With this kind of a fire and with a leanto, it is possible to keep
warm in the woods, on the coldest, night in winter.
[Illustration: The frame for a brush leanto]
This is the way to build a brush leanto: First cut two sticks and
drive them into the ground. They should have a point on one end and a
fork on the other. Lay a stout pole across the two forks like a gypsy
fire rig. Then lean poles against the crosspiece and finally thatch
the roof with spruce, hemlock or other boughs and pile up boughs for
the sides. A brush camp is only a makeshift arrangement and is never
weather proof. It is simply a temporary shelter which with the
all-night fire burning in front will keep a man from freezing to death
in the woods. Any kind of a tent is better or even a piece of canvas
or a blanket for the roof of the leanto will be better than the roof
of boughs. Be careful not to set the leanto on fire with the sparks
from your camp fire.