As another Lame Cherry exclusive in matter anti matter.
While I do not amuse myself with hick, rube and patrician comedy, the following is a fitting necessity to remember for survival.
The Washita Campaign, as so noted was brought on by the gang rape of 2 white women by 200 Indians in Kansas, along with other predations, was one in which God provided plenty of cold, snow and blizzards to pin down the Indians for effective punishment and capture.
In it though, the men and animals were ill prepared for this kind of Arctic winter existing or fighting.
Humans in America though tend to be led in invention, and one of these which General Custer learned from his men, was Libby Custer's much loved, 'snug little dugout".
A dug out is what it sounds like, in one finds a hill and digs out the dirt. You would know it as a root cellar. The point being that mean temperature is 58 degrees in the earth soil, so it is why gophers, bears and snakes hole up and survive.
I have been in snow shelters, and you can have them. Snow is always cold, and besides keeping you from winds and zero degrees it is still radiating cold in them and there is no comfort in an igloo.
I place here General Sheridan's account of the gopher troops with there "cleverness" of barking at each other like prairie dogs, which I find just idiotic like most things Jon Stewart and David Letterman.
"For this they had contrived many devices, the favorite means being dugouts— that is, pits dug in the ground, and roofed over, with shelter-tents, and having at one end a fire-place and chimney ingeniously constructed with sod. In these they lived very snugly— four men in each—and would often amuse themselves by poking their heads out and barking at the occupants of adjacent huts in imitation of the prairie-dog, whose comfortable nests had probably suggested the idea of dugouts. The men were much better off, in fact, than many of the officers, for the high winds frequently made havoc with our wall-tents."
Personal Memoirs of P. H. Sheridan, General, United States Army
If one uses a spade to cut cleanly the dirt, it will wall off quite smoothe and compared to freezing to death, the shelter is quite acceptable.
Of course improvments are using poles, covered overwith cottonwood bark on the plains, and then sod placed on top. The tent would help in times of thawing and snow from dripping on the occupants.
The door should be on the side, and with care can be cut out retangular so as to build up the front slope with sod.
Always and I mean always place these structures a few feet higher than the bottom of the slope for two reason. One so they do not flood and two, cold air sinks. You do not want cold air pooling into your dugout but naturally flowing out.
The sod fireplace and chimney I will go into a bit more detail as there is million dollar knowledge in them. In the Civil War the Soldiers often made their own ovens, which were interesting in taking a wooden keg, they would pack clay around it, and then fire it, which the staves would burn away and leave a hard pottery oven.
I realize that winter is not a fun time to be playing with damp earth, but packing clay around bark or a hollow log which will burn out will provide a fireproof oven and chimney.
If you are astute in digging, with a spade you can place a bench to sit on and a bed bench to sleep on, providing of course insulation under your butt or body as the earth is cool.
All of the above sounds like I have experience in this type of warfare does it not eh?
I have noticed that even at this 58 degree temperature that entering such an area, it almost feels like it burns your face compared to below zero cold one is used to. Yes in long term you make better accomidations, and that includes either split boards or a clay lining woven with willow shoots or grass......recall the Israelite's bricks without straw. I would suppose with the soot and all if it could be cleaned out, one could fire a dugout like an oven and it would seal up like a porcelain dish to water.
I would not trust the roof though unless it was arched, as that would mean strength while a flat roof would be weaker.
If you have cement which is lime and sand, you can make a ferrel cement roof and interior out of chicken wire and thin sheets of cement. You would be surprised how strong this material is.
Too much priceless information again to have you surviving.
I guess one barks like prairie dogs or watches Jon Stewart when you have nothing intelligent to do.
I was just thinking of General Sterling Price due to the word Priceless. It would have been interesting if the General would have named his children Platinum Price, Gold Price, Silver Price and Priceless Price......I think Chromium would be better though than Silver and Paladium nicer than Gold.
Yes my children over there in the gopher barking are Captain Paladium, Majors Palatium and Chromium and you know my cousin, Stainless Steel Price who is a Colonel.
People have always had odd names, but in the 19th century their names were nicer odd than the 21st Barack names.
Enough of this prairie dog barking in trying to educate you to save your lives. What do you think you are in the army?
Oh if you have stock, you can do the same thing for them so long as the wind does not hit them, that is what is important and not being a closed space or they get pneumonia.
Posts in the ground with just sticks across them like a corn crib will keep wind off them. Pretty simple and is what Sheridan did not do for his stock and numbers of them died....shelter an animal and they do not have to eat as much.
agtG
