Scouting, Volume 48, Number 2, February 1960 Page: 15
80 p. : ill. ; 28 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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W E Ft
National Executive Board; Gifford
Pinchot, dhief Scout woodsman (and
my predecessor as chief of the For-
est Service); and others of reputa-
tion and influence.
Murray, Seton, and Robinson
planned and led the first experi-
mental camp of the Boy Scouts of
America from August 16 to Septem-
ber 1, 1910, at Silver Bay, New
York. Boys lived in tepees, did their
own cooking, and gathered around
the council fire at night — a proto-
type of today's Scout camping.
i
For all boys
In the decade following Silver
Bay, the Scout program made camp-
ing available for the first time to
thousands of boys. Several other
organizations had preceded us in the
development of camps, but it took
Scouting to put the outdoors within
the reach of every boy. Trained vol-
unteers offered low-cost camping to
boys of all economic strata and
fostered the idea that boys can be
depended on to take care of them-
selves on thfe trail or in camp.
In the summer of 1914, camping
trips involved 50,000 Scouts. A Wil-
mette, Illinois, Scout earned the first
Camping merit badge in 1911, and
500 Scouts were proudly wearing it
by 1914.
A department of camping was
created when the National Constitu-
tion and Bylaws were adopted in
1917. L. L. McDonald, Scout execu-
tive at Chicago, was appointed first
national director of camping and he
immediately undertook an ambitious
program to improve and expand
camping. Working with the newly
created national committee on camp-
ing, McDonald's was the guiding
hand in those formative years.
Early trends
By 1919, many troops were camp-
ing independently under their own
leadership on a year-round basis.
Winter camping was a much-dis-
cussed topic as increasing numbers
of Scouts spent holidays and week-
ends pitching tents in the snow.
The largest Scout encampment of
our first decade was held on a re-
gional basis at Interstate Park, New
Jersey. About 9,000 Scouts and
leaders from the New York City area
enrolled for the week's experience.
This stimulated camping and fa-
thered later mass encampment.
The year 1920 recorded two major
achievements. We sent 300 Scouts to
represent us at the First World
Jamboree in London. The National
Council adopted definite standards
in camp health, safety, sanitation,
and program and published these in
a book. Minimum Standards for Boy
Scout Camps.
The standards were carefully up-
held as more and more councils pur-
chased property and began operat-
ing camps for their Scouts. In 1921,
there were 322 council-owned camps
15
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Boy Scouts of America. Scouting, Volume 48, Number 2, February 1960, periodical, February 1960; New Brunswick, New Jersey. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth329284/m1/17/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Boy Scouts of America National Scouting Museum.