By MAE SCHICK/author of The Lookout Woman
There you are on a remote mountain top where you will live for three months in the wilderness of Montana.
You’ve arrived at your towering perch on horseback coming up with the pack train and one month’s supply of provisions.
The scenery is breathtaking, the silence astonishing, the air intoxicating…and then there is the sudden jolting reality that you are far from a grocery store. That general store, the one you passed in Polebridge on the bumpy road before you got to the trailhead, might as well be a hundred miles away.
The packer has hauled you and your necessities up the steep winding path through thickets of magnificent ponderosa, but before you can absorb your new surroundings you must store away your goods, protect items that will spoil quickly, and put in containers anything the pests would soon make a meal of. In addition to chopping wood, collecting your water, getting acquainted with your surroundings and equipment, you are going to learn the knack of stretching goods that must last until you get your next delivery. That may or may not be in 30 days’ time.
If you were a spotter in 1939*, here’s the list of supplies you would have arrived with at your roost.
Take a look, and compare how your 30-day provisions compare.
CANNED VEGETABLES UNITS
1. Green Beans 2
2. Peas 2
3. Salad Dressing 1
4. Peanut Butter 1
5. Catsup 1
6. Pork and Beans 6
7. Corn 2
8. Spinach 3
9. Asparagus 2
10. Mixed Canned Soups 12
11. Potatoes 2
CANNED MEATS
1. Brown Gravy with Beef 6
2. Chicken with Dumplings 2
3. Corned Beef Hash 4
4. Spaghetti with Meat Balls 6
5. Beef Stew 3
6. Meat Balls and Gravy 6
7. Chili 3
8. Canned Bacon 3
CANNED FRUITS
1. Grapefruit Sections 2
2. Cherries (Sweet) 3
3. Pears 3
4. Fruit Cocktail 4
5. Sliced Pineapple 2
6. Peaches 4
7. Applesauce 2
8. Apricots 3
CANNED JUICES
1. Orange Juice 3
2. Apple Juice 1
3. V-8 Juice 3
4. Tomato Juice 3
CONDIMENTS
1. Cocoa 1
2. Coffee 3
3. Pepper 1
4. Salt 4
5. Kool-Aid Pkg. 12
6. Dry Milk 1
7. Brown Sugar 1 8. Sugar 10 lbs. 1
9. Pudding Mixes 6
10. Cake Mix (Assorted) 3
11. Baking Powder 1
12. Condensed Milk, Small 6
13. Pancake Mix 1
14. Flour 10 lbs. 1
15. Jello 6
16. Jam and Jelly 3
17. Syrup 1
18. Cooking Oil 1
19. Margarine 6
20. Honey 1
SOAP & MISC. ITEMS
1. Hand Soap 4
2. Soap Powder 2
3. SOS Pads, Box 1
4. Saran Wrap 1
5. Aluminum Foil 1
FRESH VEGETABLES
1. Lettuce 1
2. Tomatoes 4
3. Celery 1
4. Cabbage 1
5. Potatoes 10 lbs. 1
6. Bread (Fresh) 2
MEATS
1. Bacon 2 lbs. 1
2. Hamburger 2 lbs. 1
3. Sausage 2 lbs. 1
4. Chicken 1 5. eggs 2 Doz.
FRESH FRUITS
1. Apples 1 Doz.
2. Oranges 1 Doz.
3. Bananas 1 Doz.
*from the U.S. Forest Service Region One 1938 Cookbook