The Scientific American Boy; Or, The Camp at Willow Clump Island

There is one more piece of work done by our society which yet remains to be described, and that is the cantilever bridge. This we all voted to be the greatest of our achievement...

Immediately after fitting out Jim Halliday with his water wheel we set to work on our log cabin. As a model we had a photograph of a log hut which Uncle Ed had sent us. As the c...

Our tramp adventure was really quite a blessing to us, for it taught us the necessity of a good signaling system between the Goblins' Platform and the island and led to our lear...

As our vacation was drawing to a close, we began to make plans for the Christmas holidays. Our previous Christmas vacation had been so completely taken up with preparations for...

Like all inhabitants of islands, we early turned our attention to navigation. Our scow was serviceable for transporting materials back and forth across the strips of shallow wat...

Summer found us again on Willow Clump Island with heads full of new ideas. Bill had come across an old copy of Ewbanks' "Hydraulics" in the school library. It was a book describ...

Just before Easter that year Bill's Aunt Dorothy invited him to spend Eastertide with her and bring along his roommate. I accepted the invitation with alacrity. Bill had once sp...

I am afraid we were not very glad to get back to school that fall. It seemed very hard to give up the sport we had been having, and our heads were brimful of new schemes which w...

One afternoon Fred, who had waded over to Lumberville after some provisions, came splashing back holding aloft a large square envelope. It was from Uncle Ed and contained a phot...

Lake Placid was a favorite swimming place for us. We used to plunge in from the branches of a tree which overhung the water a little ways above the lagoon and made a natural spr...

As soon as our scooter canoe was completed we prepared for the long-planned winter expedition to Willow Clump Island. The weather conditions were ideal. We had had ten days of s...

One of the first things we did after getting fairly settled in our new quarters was to make a complete survey of Willow Clump Island and its immediate surroundings. Our surveyin...

Willow Clump Island was, for the most part, a trackless wilderness, and as soon as we had made our map we laid out roads to the different important points. Our main highway ran...

It was Bill who spoke. We were on our way home for the winter holidays, and had been held up at Millville by Reddy Schreiner, who had informed us that Dutchy was down by the riv...

"Bill," he was it, the Scientific American Boy, I mean. Of course, we were all American boys and pretty scientific chaps too, if I do say it myself, but Bill, well he was the wh...

School closed on the 21st of June that year, just ten days before the expected arrival of Uncle Ed. The first thing we did was to set up our tent in the back yard and camp out s...

Our winter expedition to Willow Clump Island filled us with a wholesome respect for Arctic explorers. If we could find it so uncomfortable with the thermometer only at 10 degree...

The morning of July 2d dawned bright and clear, but long before daybreak the members of the S. S. I. E. E. of W. C. I. were astir. The jolly red sun peeping over the eastern hil...

"A gravity railroad. Oh, you know what that is--a roller toboggan--the kind they have down at Coney Island." And he went on to explain how we could rig up a simple roller tobogg...

The next day, Sunday, it began to snow, and we realized that our chance of skating up to Willow Clump Island was spoiled. All the afternoon it snowed, and the next morning we wo...

We had a farewell meeting of the society the evening before Bill and I had to return to boarding-school. At this meeting plans were made for the Easter vacation. We also conside...

When our log cabin was completed we immediately transferred our camp from the tent to the hut. But at the very outset we were confronted with the problem of getting drinking wat...

Only one thing of importance occurred between our Christmas holidays and Eastertide: this was Bill's invention of the tricycle sailboat or land yacht. We had returned to school...

The duties of the secretary, as defined in the constitution which Dutchy Van Syckel drew up, were to keep a record of all the acts of the society, the minutes of every meeting,...

We were a proud lot when the house was finally completed. From the veranda we had an excellent view up and down the river. We could see our camp on the island and keep watch of...

Foundation of Log Cabin. A Logging Expedition. The Log Raft. The Sail-Rigged Raft. Building the Log Cabin. The Roof of the Log Cabin. Door and Window Frames. The Fireplace. The...

The Water Wheel. Surveying for the Water Wheel. Towers for the Water Wheel. The Wheel. The Buckets. The Paddles. The Receiving Trough. Setting Up the Towers. Mounting the Water...

Frames for the Cantilever Bridge. Erecting the Towers. Setting up the Frames. Binding and Anchoring the Structure. The Center Panels of the Bridge. A Serious Interruption. Dispo...

Chair Seat Snow Shoe. Barrel Stave Snow Shoe. Barrel Hoop Snow Shoe. The Sioux Snow Shoe. The Iroquois Snow Shoe. The Ainu Snow Shoe. The Norwegian Ski. The Swamp Shoe or Swiss...

Willow Clump Island in Winter. Kindling a Camp Fire. The Outdoor Fireplace. A Stone-paved Fireplace. A Cold Night in the Hut. Mountain Climbing. A Poor Shelter. A Costly Camp Fi...

Bill's Cave. The Barrel Stave Hammock. The Barrel Armchair. The Summer Toboggan. Tailless Kites. A Five-foot Malay Kite. An Eight-foot Malay Kite. The Elastic Belly Band. Puttin...

Wigwag Signals. The Wigwag Alphabet. Abbreviations. Wigwagging at Night. The Heliograph. The Single Mirror Instrument. The Sight Rod. The Screen. Focusing the Instrument. Heliog...

A Sail in the Scow. Our Craft Strikes the Ice. The Scooter Scow. A Sprit Sail. Scooter Sailing. A Meeting of the Society. An Interview with Mr. Van Syckel. The Scooter Canoe.