Canada's History

HOW TO MAKE AN IGLOO

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It’s 1847, and you’re part of a Hudson’s Bay Company exploratio­n mission to the Melville Peninsula in the Canadian Arctic. Caught by a storm while away from your base camp, you need shelter fast. Fortunatel­y, you’ve learned the art of igloomakin­g from Inuit you have encountere­d on your journey. They have built these architectu­ral wonders for millennia.

The igloo’s parabolic shape provides support for the structure and prevents it from collapsing. The building material — snow — acts as an insulator, so any heat generated inside the dome mostly stays there.

The Inuit would dip their savgut, a probe made of a thin piece of bone, wood, or antler, in and out of the snow to determine its depth and quality. The snow should be solid but not too dense. They would then use their pana, a longbladed snow knife, to cut blocks of snow.

1. Draw a circle in the snow marking the perimeter of your igloo. Your building blocks will come from within this circle, making the inside of the igloo deeper than the snow on the outside.

2. Cut blocks of snow from within the circle. The blocks can vary in size but usually measure roughly one metre by sixty centimetre­s by ten centimetre­s.

3. Place the blocks in a ring around the perimeter of your circle. Once the first ring has been laid, shave the edges of the first few blocks so that they form a ramp. Start the second layer from this slope, shaving the blocks as you go. As you continue to build, the blocks will spiral upwards. Bevel the tops of the blocks inwards, so that the structure will dome. The keystone block will be placed directly above you. Shove a block through the narrow opening, trimming its sides until it wedges snugly into the space.

4. Since you built the igloo around yourself, use your knife to carve a small entrance. Do this before you suffocate.

5. Using loose snow or smaller slices, fill any gaps between the blocks.

6. Carve a hole in the side of the igloo and replace it with a block of ice. This will serve as a window. Cut a hole near the apex of the igloo for ventilatio­n. Bring in caribou sleeping robes and extra skins to cover the sleeping platform and to provide more warmth. Insert a block of snow in the entrance to act as a door.

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