Scouting, Volume 8, Number 14, September 16, 1920 Page: 7
16 p. : ill. ; 31 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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SCOUTING, SEPTEMBER 16, 1920
Learning
AN experiment on a large and costly
scale and of extreme importance
to all scout leaders, has just been
completed by the Far Western Travelers'
Association in conducting a group of five
scouts from Greater New York in
charge of a Washington scoutmaster,
through our National Parks. This
fortunate group of scouts reached New
York at the end of their 7,000 mile
journey just as this issue of Scouting
was going to press. Fortunately their
experiences and what they mean to
Scouting and to boyhood are lasting, and
so do not have to be presented at once.
The party brought back voluminous
notes and a great many pictures. In
early issues of Scouting the significance
of these remarkable and generous re-
sults will be made available to the field.
Only a brief introductory summary given
below by the scout leader of the party
is possible at this time. Not only
Scouting but the entire educational world
is under a debt of gratitude to Mr. John
D. Patton, President of the Far Western
Travelers' Association, and his associates,
for the public-spirited generosity which
made possible the carrying out of their
own broad vision. Scoutmaster F. E.
Matthes of Washington, D. C., of the
U. S. Geological Survey, has been one of
the moving spirits in this splendid idea
from the start, and as a leader of the
party itself is largely responsible for the
successful and highly gratifying out-
Geography
THE five New York Scouts who
visited the National Parks under
the auspices of the Far Western
Travelers' Association, returned Sep-
tember 6th in the best of health and full
of enthusiasm about their trip. In the
two months that they were gone, they
covered 7,000 miles by rail and at least
another 1,000 miles by automobile, on
horseback and on foot. The itinerary
was so planned as to give them a chance
to visit five of the larger National Parks
and to see something of each of the
great natural features of the Far West.
It took them over the great plains,
through the Rockies, the alkali lands of
New Mexico and Arizona, the Grand
Canyon of the Colorado, and the Mohava
Desert to the Pacific Coast; through the
coast ranges and the great valley of
California to the Sierra Nevada, the
greatest mountain range in our country;
to San Francisco Bay and the Golden
Gate; to Mount Shasta and the Colum-
bia River, Puget Sound and Mt. Rainier,
the vast lava plateaus of the North-
west, the famous Yellowstone Region
and finally the Great Salt Lake.
Wherever they went they were received
with the utmost cordiality both by the
local scout officials and the representa-
tives of the Far Western Travelers'
Association; indeed, they were treated
I
On Foot
PEAK RESULTS OF THE
FAR WESTERN TRIP
Scouting proven a sufficient
preparation for an educational
journey of such great extent.
Such a journey proven to be of
exceptional educational values to
youth.
Existence of real bond of fellow-
ship between boys of scout train-
ing everywhere.
The trail into this new and fas-
cinating method of studying geog-
raphy and allied subjects blazed
for scouts and for all youth for all
time.
The significant fact established
that Scouting is not an end in it-
self but a means to an end.
Educational circles and public
officials aroused to the desirability
of such excursions as the most di-
rect form of Americanization.
Immediate positive benefits to
others sure to come from the expe-
riences of these five boys.
Accentuation of the fact that
Scouting is a positive force in the
building of character and training
for citizenship.
The successful inauguration by
the Far Western Travelers' Asso-
ciation of this epochal advance in
educational methods.
like distinguished guests throughout the g
journey. Whatever doubts they may j|
have had at the start as to the hospitality g
and the warm neighborly spirit of the g
West, they certainly came back without g
any such doubts. They have come back M
with a new and better appreciation of |g
what the West really is and why it is M
the most virile, most promising, if still g
the youngest part of our good country, g
They have learned to like the West and g
its spirit, and it is not improbable that M
more than one of the boys will ulti- M
mately choose it as the place where he if
will wish, to live. §|
Among the features of the trip that J
most impressed the boys was the rapid g
progress and the high standards attained g
by the Scout Movement along the Pacific g
Coast and throughout the Far West gen- |g
erally. It seemed most gratifying and m
encouraging to them to meet scouts and g
scout officials, members of their own j|
brotherhood wherever they went. An- m
other fact that was borne in upon them j|
by this truly great trip is that Scouting g
is not an end itself, it is a means to an ||
end. g
In a National Park, which invariably g
consists of exceedingly rugged country, J
one can scarcely undertake anything g
away from the beaten path unless §§
accomplished in Scoutcraft. To be sure, §
the tourist who visits the National Parks j|
does not indulge in anything that can M
properly be called Scouting. He sees M
what he does see as a rule from auto- g
mobile buses and hotel porches. But g
the tourist, after all, sees very little and jl
his enjoyment is correspondingly cir- g
cumscribed. The scouts saw the parks g
as only scouts can see. They hiked and jjj
climbed and rode horseback, camped out g
in all manner of places and under all g
sorts of conditions. As a consequence, g
they saw vastly more and derived in- g
finitely greater enjoyment from their g
visits to the National Parks than any g
tourist possibly could. g
What's Wrong With These Scout
News Items?
BOYS' LIFE once ran a famous
series of drawings entitled,
"What's Wrong With These Pictures?"
which had real educational value in ob-
servation. It is not pretended that these
word pictures have equal value, but they
are not without value.
"When we got to the top of the moun-
tain, some of the scouts carved their ini-
tials on several trees, and also Troop
17." (Carving their initials merely on
Troop 17 might be forgiven.)
" One of the group was an eagle scout,
so each of the other seven borrowed his
eagle scout badge and was photo-
graphed wearing it—which gave us a
complete patrol of eagle scouts."
"The troop distributed over 10,000
tooth-paste and talc powder samples."
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Boy Scouts of America. Scouting, Volume 8, Number 14, September 16, 1920, periodical, September 16, 1920; New York, New York. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth283179/m1/7/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Boy Scouts of America National Scouting Museum.