CHAPTER XV.

HOW TO BUILD A TOBOGGAN-SLIDE IN THE BACK-YARD.

Toboggans and sleds are not always used on snow and ice, neither is coasting confined to winter weather.

At most of the summer resorts you may coast down an artificial hill, upon real toboggans, over a slide of hard-wood rollers, and end with a whoop and a splash in the water of the bathing-pool.

Slipperies.

All through the southwestern part of this country the summer drought causes the rivers to subside, leaving more or less high mud or clay banks, which are utilized by the youngsters as mud-slides, and called by them “slipperies.” The boys use neither sled nor toboggan, but make a slide by pouring water over the dry mud until they have a long, slippery track, down which they coast, ending with a splash in the river.

A War-Time Slippery.

A good many years ago a battalion of Union soldiers were camped on the river-bank, near where some Kentucky boys were having fun on a long slippery, and one day, before the lads knew what had happened, two thousand naked men suddenly made their appearance, jostling each other, for a slide down the mud-track. It was a great sight to see these men-children coasting down the mud-bank, and the show the soldiers made for them repaid the boys for their labor in building the slide.

Tropical Toboggan-Slide.

Under the torrid zone, away out on the Islands of the Pacific Ocean, the natives coast down-hill, in the hottest weather, on the dry grass, and where that does not exist they build themselves toboggan-slides, with slabs of smooth lava. Hundreds of these tracks line the mountain-sides near the native villages. The sled these daring coasters use is from seven to twenty feet long, and as narrow in proportion as a shell-boat, there being only a few inches of space between the very hard, polished wooden runners. It takes both skill and pluck to ride one of these cranky tropical sleds, or toboggans, but the natives possess both of these qualities, and without a thought of failure pick up their primitive machine, take a short, swift run, and throw the sled and themselves together, headlong down the lava-slide. There follows a wildly exciting and breathless ride down the incline, and a scoot over the level country, until gradually the queer sled slows up and comes to a stop; and then there is a long climb back, for another daring coast to the quiet valley below.

In the United States we have no smooth lava with which to build slides on our native hills, and if we did have the lava-slides only a few of our boys would have an opportunity to use them.

When the snow covers the ground it is not every boy who can find a convenient hill where he may enjoy the healthful fun of coasting. A great many boys live in a level country, and hundreds and thousands of others have their homes in cities and towns, where heavy carts, policemen, and trolley-cars, make coasting a forbidden pleasure. However, with a real toboggan-slide in the back-yard, a boy may snap his fingers at a level country, lumbering carts, death-dealing cars, and meddlesome guardians of the peace.

In a day’s time three boys can build a slide; but, of course, it cannot be built without some labor. If it could, it would be of no value. The labor consists only in sawing a few pieces of timber and driving a few nails to hold the frame together, and it is effort well-spent.

If Your Back-Yard is Wide

enough you can run the toboggan-track alongside the back fence, with the starting platform built in the fence-corner, backing against the side fence. In this way your slide will occupy but little space.

But if Your Yard is Long and Narrow,

build your platform against the back fence (as described in Chapter XIV.), and let the track run along one of the side fences.

The most difficult part of the work is now finished. Make

A Frame,

on the pattern of C, E, D, G (Figs. 133 and 134, Chapter XIV.), and about half the height of the platform (see L, M, N, Fig. 138).

Erect this frame in front of the platform, and at such a distance from it as will allow your longest boards to span the intervening space, as in Fig. 138. Nail two diagonals--one at each top end of the frame M, L, N, and fasten the opposite ends of the diagonals to the bottoms of C and D.

Long boards may be laid from the ground to the top of M, N, L, and nailed securely to the frame, and other boards laid over the upper ends of the first, and the top of E, where they can be securely nailed, and the slide is ready for use.

The Incline May be Lengthened

by using a carpenter’s wooden horse for another frame, and allowing the boards from the ground to rest on this, and another set of boards run from this to L, M, N, as in Fig. 138, or as described for the switchback, in the preceding chapter.

With plenty of snow on the ground it will not hurt a strong boy to fall from this track. But there may not be much snow on the hard, frozen ground, or your little brothers and sisters may be fond of coasting. To prevent any mishap, a guard-rail, such as is shown on one side of the slide in Fig. 138, should be nailed on each side of the inclined plane, as shown in the diagram.

The posts for the railing around the platform are “toe-nailed” to the floor, and the rail is nailed on top of them. In case the rail seems weak, a diagonal or two, like those on the slide-frames, will make it sufficiently strong.

A Toboggan Room.

By boarding up around the posts, under the platform, a small room will be made, at a trifling additional cost and labor, which can be kept warm, and will afford a means of shelter and a place to lock up the sleds.

An excellent plan for

“Packing” the Slide, or Chute,

is to mix sawdust and snow together, in equal parts, using just enough water to cause it to pack solidly, as a foundation for the top crust of snow or ice. This foundation will make the top ice or snow last much longer, in thawing weather, than it would if spread directly on the wooden bed of the slide. If the snow in the chute is properly and smoothly banked up on this composition foundation, moistened and frozen hard, with the addition of half an inch of fresh snow on top, the slide, in ordinary weather, will last all winter.

It is a Wise Plan

to be ready for any emergency. You may have visitors who come without sleds, and who would have but a chilly time watching the others coast down the wonderful toboggan-slide. To prevent the chance of any such disagreeable occurrences, knock an old barrel to pieces and build yourself a supply of toboggans with the staves. Two barrel-staves, fastened together by a cross-bar in front and a piece of board for a seat in the rear, will make a most excellent toboggan.

The boy in the foreground of Fig. 138 is building toboggans of barrel staves, and a glance at this cut will tell you how they are made.