The rope ladders were made of two parallel side straps, tightly stretched between the fixed sticks, and then at intervals of fifteen inches we inserted the ends of the ladder rung between the strands of the rope. Below and above each rung the rope was bound with cord. The rungs were notched at the ends to prevent them from slipping out.

Fig. 134. Rope Ladder.

Fig. 135. A Ladder Ring.

After providing a means for scaling the cliff (we called it the Jacob's Ladder), we were still confronted with the problem how to cart our building materials to the top. It was a very hard task and you couldn't have hired us to do it under any other circumstances. First, Bill planned out on paper just how the house was to be built, and we cut all the pieces to the right size so as not to carry up any superfluous matter. When all was ready the boards and sticks were loaded on the scow, and ferried over to the cliff. Then we carried them on our backs, three or four at a time, up the slanting hillside to the first ledge. From there up, owing to the steepness of the ascent, we had to employ different tactics.