Learn Early American Pioneer Living Skills
Since the beginning of time, outdoor living and family tent camping has been the foundation of human existence - and - it played an especially important role in the creation of our nation. Between 1775 and 1900, thousands of families left comfortable homes on the east coast and traveled into the American frontier wilderness. At first, into The Northwest Ohio Territory, then into Kentucky, southeastern territories, Louisiana Territory, the Great Plains, and the far west. During these years, pioneer families traveled in small farm wagons, slept on crude pads in canvas tents, and cooked all of their meals over open campfires. When they arrived at their destination, they built crude log or sod cabins - but living in these cabins was not much better than camping in tents. Although the cabins offered better protection from wild animals and bad weather, they did not have electric lights, refrigeration, cook stoves, indoor running water, indoor bathrooms, or other modern conveniences. Each person spent most of their time outdoors - hunting, gathering food, growing food, preserving food, gathering firewood - and cooking all of their meals over open fires. The “Little House” books written by Laura Ingalls Wilder describe the life of one such family.
In 1843, large numbers of immigrants began moving out to the west coast along the treacherous 2,000 mile-long Oregon and Mormon Trails. Over the next 25 years, about 400,000 people made this trip. The trip began near Kansas City, traveled along the dangerous Platte River for a few hundred miles, crossed the great plains, then the Rocky Mountains, and finally down the powerful Columbia river. It took about 6 months - if they were lucky. Since their wagons were filled with food needed for the trip, these families camped out in tents or under the stars every night. And every day, they had to find enough firewood and cook their meals over an open fire with cast iron pots, pans, and bake ovens.
Families camped out every night for over four months while traveling from Independence Missouri to Utah and Oregon on the Oregon Trail.
Cowboys camped out every night while hearding cows from south Texas up to Kansas on the Chisholm Trail.
After the Civil War, ranchers in southern Texas had a lot of cattle but no local market to sell them. To get the best prices for their cattle, ranchers had to to get the cattle to Chicago where meat processing plants could butcher and preserve the meat for shipment to large east coast cities. So, the ranchers hired crews of 10 to 15 young cowboys to herd about 2,000 cattle at a time from south Texas up the Chisholm Trail through the Oklahoma Indian Territory to railroad stops in Kansas, Nebraska, and nearby states. Once loaded on railroad cars, the cattle could be easily shipped to Chicago. Typically, the trip from south Texas to Kansas rail towns took about 3 months and the cowboys camped out every night. They slept in simple tents and ate meals that were prepared for them by a cook that accompanied the drive. The cook drove a chuck wagon that carried the cowboys’ bed rolls, tools that might be needed during the trip, food supples, and cooking supplies. Meals frequently consisted of coffee, beans, salt pork or bacon, rice, molasses, dried fruit, sourdough biscuits or cornbread, and occasionally fruit pies. And these meals were typically cooked in large cast iron pans and Dutch ovens. Some of these recipes are still popular among tent camping families today.
Recreational family tent camping began shortly after 1900 when motorcycles and automobiles became affordable and widely available. Families had read about beautiful places in the United States and now had the means to easily travel to some of them. And these families realized that tent camping offered an economical way to travel, vacation, and visit interesting attractions located many miles away from their homes. So, every summer, thousands of families packed their camping kits in their cars and drove to exciting destinations. After arriving at their destinations, these families set up their sleeping tents and kitchen shelters in designated camping areas and spent a week or longer relaxing, eating great campfire meals, and enjoying the great outdoors. Children played with new friends, swam almost every day, engaged in various recreational activities, and learned about the relationship between plants, animals, and our environment.
The objective of those tent camping vacations was (and continues to be) to live in the outdoors as comfortably as possible - with just the clothing and equipment that could be transported to the campsite in the automobile (or on a motorcycle). To help families enhance their comfort, several books and magazine articles were published in the early 1900s explaining how to eat, sleep, and relax in the wilderness.
In the 1920s, many families enjoyed traveling in their new automobiles and camping along the road.
Families wanted to visit scenic places - such as Yosemite National Park California - that they read about in weekly magazines.
During the late 1900s, family tent camping continued to be a popular travel and vacation strategy but few books provided up-dated information about camping equipment and procedures. And the few books that were written omitted a lot of important information and frequently presented incorrect or debatable information. Some families read these books but many did not - and undertook camping trips with inadequate knowledge, clothing, and equipment - and consequently suffered unpleasant experiences. Many children were especially traumatized by these ill-prepared camping trips because they got cold, hungry, or uncomfortable - and when they complained, they were admonished and told that camping was supposed to be "roughing it." But, nothing could be further from the truth. Camping is supposed to be comfortable and fun.
Over the past 50 years, the combination of poorly planned trips - plus exaggerated stories about human and animal attacks, lack of familiarity with modern camping equipment, heavy marketing of motels and RVs, and the difficulty of identifying safe campgrounds in unfamiliar regions of the country - have negatively impacted the popularity of family tent camping vacations in some regions of the country. Although a few recent books have tried to explain how to make tent camping more comfortable, these books have failed to include up-to-date information about where to find the best equipment, how to find the safest and most comfortable campgrounds, and how to live comfortably in the great outdoors.
Henry Ford and his friends enjoyed several car camping trips throughout the country.
This family set up a very nice campsite in the Nicolet National Forest, Wisconsin.
To fully appreciate this American camping heritage and the blessings we currently enjoy, every American family should learn more about tent camping skills and pass this knowledge on to their children. Therefore, I have developed this web site, published over 150 YouTube videos, posted hundreds of up-to-date articles and videos on a Facebook page, and written four books to provide detailed up-to-date information about family tent camping history, equipment, procedures, destinations, and ethics. Much of this information cannot be found in any other single source. Hot links to these resources can be found by clicking either of the MORE INFORMATION links posted in the top right corner and the bottom of this page.
Autographed copies of my books can be ordered from me, or un-autographed copies can be ordered directly from Amazon.com.