Boiling Beans

A camp was simply a half dugout, made in the side of the bank, located usually near a spring or running water. There were a few camps located “on top” where water had to be hauled for camp use, as there were few windmills. Water was sometimes hauled to the canyon camps, when water there would be too “gippy” to use. Soap will not lather in gyp water, and the beans could be boiled in it all day long and still rattle in the pot. We learned, though, that by adding baking soda to it when the water reached the boiling point, and then skimming off the top, it was fit to use. You had to have a large vessel though, or it would boil all over everything.

From The Camp Life of a Cowpuncher by Carroll Doshier as told by Jim Christian