World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, American; World War, 1939-1945 -- Prisoners and prisons, German
We had a wood bin in the back of the cabin that came out into the room
a couple of feet and had a cover that lifted up. On the outside we had
a door on hinges that would raise up and thus we could fill the wood
box from outside. One time someone broke in through that woodbox and
stole a couple of my brother's guns, but that was the only time we
were ever robbed. We used to drink the water from the creek even
though there were cows pastured not far up stream. We thought that if
the water ran five hundred feet from the cows that it would be pure
again. It never hurt us but we soon found another way to get water.
There was a small gully next to the cabin that was wet most of the
year, so we drove an iron pipe back in the shale three or four feet
and put a pan under it to catch the water that dripped out. In the
summer it would drip about a gallon a day which was enough for
drinking.
I forgot to mention that the first thing we had to do before we built
the cabin was to build a bridge across the creek. We cut two trees
about the size of telephone poles and nailed boards on top. At least
twice during our years there, the bridge was washed out by the spring
floods. Usually it was found not very far downstream so we would drag
it back and renail the boards down. I mentioned before, the Scout
trips to Camp Woodcraft which usually took place on a Saturday. It
must have been nice to have all the energy that we had at that age.
After running all day at Scout Camp, Ray Smith and I would walk to
Berby Hollow after the rest of the troop left for home. We followed
the edge of the big gully down into Bristol Valley and then walked
south on the road until Mud Creek passed under the bridge to our side
of the road. It was too deep to cross anywhere else. Then we would
climb the hill to the west, which is about where Bristol Mountain Ski
Area is now located, then cross the top of the hill, which was fairly
flat, and Down into Berby. We Couldn't get lost because I knew this
area very well and when we came to the Berby Hollow Road I knew
whether to turn right or left to get to the cabin. It was about a six
mile walk and we could make it there by dark. We only did this when
Clarence was planning to be there and we could spend the night and
come home with him the next day.
After we got the cabin built we planted some pine trees in the yard
along the creek. I remember getting six pine trees from a nursery.
They were so small that I carried them inside a small cereal box. The
last time I was by there they were all living and about fifteen feet
tall. We named the camp "Hunting's End" and we had a sign on a post
out by the road near the gate we made to keep people from driving in.
When you crossed the bridge we had three stone and concrete steps up
the bank and Gordon cemented a sundial on top of a three foot high
stone and concrete base. It was accurate and we used it to tell time.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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