a sort of an
encyclopedia in which several different kinds of snow shoes were
illustrated. Reddy, whose father owned a sawmill, volunteered to provide
us with strips of hickory from which to make the frames.

THE SIOUX SNOW SHOE.

[Illustration: Fig. 25. Sioux Shoe.]

[Illustration: Fig. 26. Frame of the Sioux Shoe.]

[Illustration: Fig 27. Web of the Sioux Shoe.]

[Illustration: Fig. 28. Weaving Needle]

The Sioux snow shoe was the first type we tackled. Two strips of hickory
4 feet long and 3/4 inch square in section, were bent over a pair of
spreaders and securely fastened together at each end. The spreaders were
about 12 inches long and located about 15 inches apart. They were
notched at the ends, as shown in Fig. 26, to receive the side strips,
which were not fastened together until after they had been nailed to the
spreaders. We found that the most satisfactory way of fastening together
the ends of the hickory strips was to bolt them together. When the frame
was completed, we began the tedious process of weaving in the filling or
web of the snow shoe. First we cut notches in the edges of the
spreaders, spacing these notches an inch apart. Then we procured several
balls of heavy twine at the corner store. Tying one end of the cord to
the right side stick about three inches below the forward spreader, we
stretched a strand down to the notch at the left end of the lower
spreader. The strand was drawn taut, and after making several twists
around it the cord was tied to the left side stick three inches above
the spreader. From this point the cord was stretched to the notch at the
right end of the upper spreader, twisted several times and brought back
to the starting point. The cord was now wrapped around the side stick
for a space of about an inch, and then carried down to the second notch
on the lower spreader, whence it was woven through the other two strands
and tied about the left side stick about four inches from the spreader.
Thus the weaving continued, passing the cord alternately over and under
any cross strands encountered. In order to make the left side correspond
with the right, a separate cord was wound around it, filling up the
space between the strands of the web. The filling above and below the
spreaders could not be so methodically done, but we managed to weave the
strands quite neatly with about the same mesh as used at the center. To
facilitate the weaving we improvised a rough needle of a pie