Our Boy Scout Home in Logan Canyon

Our Boy Scout Home in Logan Canyon By M. C. Merrill, Horticulturist, Utah Agricultural College "0 Boy Scout Home, dear Boy Scout Home, Thy timbered walls are dear to me, In grateful praise throughout our days, You're an inspiration, dear old Boy Scout Home." To the well-known tune for this song the hundreds of fath- ers and sons from Logan and Cache stake sang with hearty spirit when they were assembled within the timbered walls of their new Boy Scout Home, on that frosty night in Septem- ber. As they sang, the crackling logs in the fireplace furnished the accompaniment. It was their second annual Fathers and Sons' Outing, and they were happy. Furthermore, they had just completed the fine, large, log building which was to be the home of the boy scouts and the center of their activities in the mountains, and they were proud of their accomplishment. Now that our boy scout home is a realized fact, has already become such a center of community interest, and has aroused so much enthusiasm in boy scout work throughout the Cache and Logan stakes, to the extent of bringing high praise and na- tional recognition to this community, it has been deemed de- sirable to have an account of the movement written up for the information of other stakes that are now contemplating similar work. This splendid movement took definite form before the old Cache stake was divided into the Logan and Cache stakes, in June, 1920. During the year 1919-20 the Cache stake officers of the Y. M. M. I. A. and Y. L. M. I. A., after much earnest study and fruitful discussion as to the ways and means of most effectively aiding in the spiritual development of the M. I. A. boys and girls, decided that a Boy Scout Camp and a Beehive Camp, in Logan Canyon, would be one of the best things that could possibly be done along this line. The consent of the Stake Presidency and the First Presidency being readily se- cured, a .campaign, was immediately launched for securing funds for building these camps. The stake and the wards were thoroughly organized, and a systematic house-to-house canvass was made. Individual con- tributions, ranging in amounts from fifty cents to one hundred dollars, were secured from people of all sects and denomina-

216 IMPROVEMENT ERA lions. Special entertainments were given which swelled the fund. By June, 1920, when the stake was divided, the sum of about $6,500 had been raised. The two new stakes continued co-operatively with the splendid program that had been under- taken by the old stake. It was decided that it would be advantageous at this point for the collected fund to be divided equally between the Boy Scout and Beehive camps, and for each organization (the Y. M. M. I. A. and the Y. L. M. I. A. of the two stakes) to work independently for the collection of additional funds, and for the erection of their respective buildings. This plan was very satisfactorily carried out. But during the year 1920-21, the Y. M. M. I. A. organization de- cided to solicit no funds for the Boy Scout Camp that year, but to support the drive made by the stakes and also the wards, by dramas and socials, for funds for the Beehive Camp. The result was that about $1,500 additional was raised for that purpose. About the time of the division of the old Cache stake, Logan and her surrounding communities in that stake made a notable advance in the interest of her boys, by organizing a local Boy Scout Council, in close affiliation with the National Boy Scout Council, and by employing a Scout Executive on full time. To finance this organization the business men of Logan and vicinity raised about $2,000 for the last six months of the year 1920. With this organization in full force and with about 550 registered boy scouts, and 150 men aiding in various capacities in the Boy Scout work, all in close affilia- tion with and in reality a part of the M. I. A. organization, it was decided, in the spring of 1921, to proceed with the building of the Boy Scout Camp during the summer. The central committee in charge of the funds and the erection of the building was composed of the Y. M. M. I. A. Superintend- ences of Cache and Logan stakes. Associated with them, in an ex-officio capacity, were the Boy Scout Executive and the Superintendent of Construction, who had been employed. Numerous and frequent committee meetings were held, and advice and counsel were sought from many sources. For instance, in deciding just where the camp should be located, and just where the building should stand, the camping com- mittee of the Boy Scout Council was asked to go into the canyon with us and determine the matter upon the ground. The Camping Committee of the Boy Scout Council also formu- lated plans for the building which were then given to the architect for technical elaboration and final drawings. A big convention of both stake and ward workers in the Y. M. M. I. A. of Logan and Cache stakes, and also representatives from the

OUR BOY SCOUT HOME IN LOGAN CANYON 217 Photo by J. Karl Wood, Scout Executive Top: View of Boy Scout Camp in Logan Canyon, September, 1921. Bottom: A group of fathers and sons at the Boy Scout Camp, in Logan Canyon, on their second annual outing, September 24, 1921. Boy Scout Council, met in the early spring of 1921 and dis- cused various phases of the proposed camp and made valu- able suggestions. One of the important decisions made was to construct the building of logs. The central committee having only about $3,200 in avail- able cash, and it being realized that the building would cost about $9,000 or $10,000, the next step was to organize each ward thoroughly for the mobilizing of volunteer labor. This decision was made at a big community gathering of repre-

218 IMPROVEMENT ERA sentatives of the Stake Presidencies, the Y. M. M. I. A. Stake Boards, Y. M. M. I. A. of the wards, the Bishoprics, Boy Scout Council, Troop Committeemen, Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Club, and Kiwanis Club. An enthusiastic community spirit of getting back of the movement and helping to put it over was manifest and was highly gratifying and commend- able. The mobilizing committee of each ward was composed of the bishop, the president of the Y. M. M. I. A., the scout master, and the troop committee. These mobilizing commit- tees in the various wards functioned very satisfactorily under the general direction of the central committee and organized the volunteer workers of their respective wards for service as their turn came. In general, three wards went together to the canyon, and they were rotated in turn until the twenty wards had all served. Each worker was called upon for three days1 free service, or one day if he furnished a team. It was estimated that twenty men and boys from each ward for a period of three days each would be sufficient to complete the building. Each ward provided its own transportation and food. An experienced cook, either a man or one of the advanced scouts, was selected to do the cooking for each group, with several scouts assisting. The general camping activities and sanitation were in charge of the scout executive who was present at the camp each day during the building season. He was a vitaliz- ing personality for the camp songs and stories around the camp fire each night, and for the games between working hours. Before the work would begin each morning he called the group together for prayer, and again the last thing before retiring for the night. As a result of his splendid work and the cordial association of the men and boys in this fine, big piece of unselfish work, a wonderfully fine spirit prevailed at the Camp at all times. And why should that not be the case? For were they not erecting in very deed a temple of religious worship in the heart of the mountains dedicated to the cause of real, true embryonic manhood in the boys of this vicinity for the present and many generations to come? The realiza- tion of that fact was a genuine source of inspiration to the earnest workers there and a real cause for being both happy and good. The actual work started about June 15, and on September 15, the monument to boyhood stood completed. On June 15 the tall, stately beautiful trees were growing on the mountain tops five miles distant from the camp site. The first work was to construct a road up Cowley canyon to the timber.

OUR BOY SCOUT HOME IN LOGAN CANYON 219 Counting both voluntary and paid labor this cost about $2,000. The trees were soon cut, and the Rotary Club, of Logan, gen- erously offered to pay for having them hauled down to the camp, the cost for that amounting to $275. One of the noteworthy and remarkable things about the Photo by J. Karl Wood, Scout Executive Top: George Albert Smith, General Superintendent Y. M. M. I. A., before the fireplace in the Boy Scout Camp in Logan Canyon, addressing] the audience on the occasion of the second Fathers and Sons* outing, Sep- tember 23, 1921 Bottom: Front view of Boy Scout Camp in Logan Canyon, Septenu her, 1921. (Note the fireplace on the outside.)

220 IMPROVEMENT ERA contributions and labor donations to the Boy Scout Camp is that it represents a genuinely fine spirit of co-operative and helpful community enterprise. It was not built by an indi- vidual, any one organization, or any one group. While the Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association initiated the movement, and had active directing charge of the program of construction, yet it was most generously supported by individ- uals of various denominations belonging to the other churches in Logan and by numerous clubs and organizations. Almost every male member of the Utah Agricultural College faculty donated both money and labor to the enterprise; the Federal men students of the Agricultural College, who have been gathered at this institution from all over the United States for special vocational and college training, volunteered readily and helped enthusiastically with the construction work on certain days; the Chamber of Commerce and the American Legion initiated a big movement which resulted in getting one hundred men and boys to work at the camp, on Labor Day; the Logan Kiwanis club generously donated $200 toward the payment for the shingles. Thus it has been a community enterprise of almost universal character. The total cost of the camp to date has been $8,775. Of this amount there was $3,200 cash on hand when the work started; the voluntary labor aggregated $2,400; tLei? the cash contributions from the Rotary and Kiwanis clubs to help pay for certain operations or costs helped considerably. There is still, however, a debt, for materials and labor, on the build- ing of about $2,500. But with the present interest in the buildings and in the Boy Scout work, it is confidently expected that this sum can easily be raised. Though the building has been completed only so recently, it has already been used many times this fall by various groups. The first big occasion at the Camp was the entertain- ment of the two hundred railroad officials and their wives from all over the United States and Canada, and loud they were in their praises of the marvelous beauty of the site, the splendidly unique and appropriate building, and the com- munity spirit which built it. Then there were about one thousand who visited the camp during the Fathers and Sons' second annual outing on September 23 and 24. The Kiwanis club entertained their wives at a banquet at the camp one night in October, and last but not least the scout commissioners and scoutmasters have held some important meetings there and several boy scout troops have already camped in their mountain home since it was completed. Though the camp is fourteen miles from Logan, the boy scouts plan to make good

OUR BOY SCOUT HOME IN LOGAN CANYON 221 Photo by J. Karl Wood, Scout Executive Top: The Boy Scout Camp in Logan Canyon nearing comple* tion, August, 1921. Bottom: Boy Scouts hearing a story before the fireplace in their camp in Logan Canyon, October, 1921. use of it frequently, all winter, and enjoy the glories of moun- tain life during that picturesque season. As the years come and go, our Boy Scout Home, of which we are all so proud, will become increasingly dearer to us as each year will add its happy memories of glorious days spent there, in true worship, and in the development of genuine boy- hood of integrity and worth. Logan, Utah