The Plains Indian Tipi

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Ditch around the tipi to lead water away, make a couple of willow rod backrests, hollow out and line a fireplace circle with rocks and you're ready to dedicate your lodge. If you want to make sure the fire draws exceptionally well, you might dig a trench, remove the tops and bottoms from some tin cans and bury them in line to make a vent pipe leading from outside the tipi to the bottom of the fire pit.

So, hang your shield and other medicine articles from a pole behind the altar of your lodge and move in. Forget storm windows, leaky faucets, plugged eave troughs, water in the basement, sticking doors, cracked sinks, missing shingles, compound interest and forty year mortgages.

You're home.

TIPI MATERIALS

POLES:

15 poles 25 feet long, approximately 3-4 inches in diameter at the butt and 2 inches across at the tie point.
2 poles, somewhat shorter than above (cut to length during first pitching), 2 inches in diameter at butt.

COVER & DOOR:

70 yards of 8 or 10 oz. waterproofed duck canvas, 36 inches wide*.

LINING:

36 yards of 36-inch wide* muslin or 8-10 oz. duck canvas.

ROPE:

45 feet of 1 /2-inch Manilla rope (for anchor).
20 feet of 1 /4-inch rope is the alternate method of hanging liner is used.

CORD:

200 feet of 3/16-inch cotton cord.
10 feet of tie tapes (which you can make, or buy as "twill tape").

PEGS:

25-30 hardwood pegs (chokecherry or ash are best), 18 inches long and about 3/4-1 inch in diameter.
One or two anchor pegs 1 1 /2 to 2 inches in diameter and 30-36 inches long.

LACING PINS:

Eleven to fourteen pointed and seasoned hardwood sticks completely peeled except for the final 3-4 inches on the butt end. These pins should be 12-14 inches long and 3/8-inch in diameter. Dowel rods can be substituted.

WATERPROOFING:

If your fabric has not been waterproofed during manufacture, about 6 gallons of a chemical waterproofing
solution will be needed for the cover. Three gallons of a wax or chemical solution will also be used on the
liner. Allow about 5% for shrinkage of the fabric.

MISCELLANEOUS:

Thread, needles, paint (if you decorate the finished, use ordinary house paint or enamel applied to a damp - but not wet - canvas), streamers or swatches of hair to hang from pole tips and other odds and ends will vary from individual to individual. Read through the directions and make your own list.

*Other widths of material may be used if you refigure yardage.

TRANSPORTING THE TIPI

It's not hard to roll up a tipi cover and liner for transportation in a station wagon, car trunk, trailer or truck. Seventeen poles - 20 to 25 feet long and weighing a total of approximately 300 pounds - is a little different matter. But don't sweat it: The problem has been faced and solved before.

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