Story of the Disaster at the Scout Camp

STORY Of the Disaster at the Scout Camp on the North Fork of Ogden River By George Bergstrom, Field Executive of the Ogden Gateway Council [On the 13th of August, 1923, Mr. Bergstrom and a company of scouts were encamped on the North Fork of the Ogden river, nearly opposite Willard on the east side of the mountains, during the great storm that passed over Salt Lake City and along the Wasatch mountains north to Farmington and Willard, on that day. Their experience and miraculous escape from death are recounted in this story. — Editors.} Day dawned bright and clear, everything went off like clock work, Reveille at six, roll call, pledge of allegiance, setting ups. Breakfast at seven. Tent inspection. Ben Wright and three other boys were starting to work on Pioneering Merit Badges. At one o'clock, three boys, Fred Taylor, Don Foutz and Howard Alvord came into camp with their blankets, equipment, etc. They were going to camp above our camp, but I invited them to stay with us as we had plenty of room. We had all planned to hike up North Fork canyon that day. About two o'clock, black clouds started to gather so we stayed in camp. About three it started to rain and continued to do so all afternoon, off and on. Supper was late on account of rain. The dishes were soon cleared up and put away. Tent ropes tightened, everything battened down, dry fire- wood put in commissary tent for breakfast and preparations were made for a wet night. I followed the boys into their tents, six boys in one, three visitors in one of the other army pyramidal tents, of which there were six in a large semi-circle. The boys were happy, the tents were water proof, we were having a good time. Ambrose Merrill, Jr., handed me his harmonica. Outside the rain was coming down in torrents. The tents had been ditched properly so they drained very well. The boys all undressed and went to bed, each boy taking care of his equipment. I was still playing on the harmonica. The boys asked me to read a story but I had none seemingly to suit the occa- sion, but said I would get one from the headquarters tent and read. They assented and I went outside. The storm was at its height, lightning flashed, the thunder roared, but I had no idea but what we were all right as we were several hundred feet from the main channel of the stream. I went to headquarters tent, moved several things around, I saw that all tent sides were down, and that everything was protected. I locked the suit cases, moved equipment nearer the center of the tent, found the books I wanted and started back to the other tents. In the first tent were Ben Wright, Jas. Neil, Lorin Wheelwright, Ambrose Merrill, Jr., Clyde Bergstrom, Francis Simmerson, and myself. In the next tent to us were Fred Taylor, Jr., Don Foutz, and Howard Alvord. The boys were in high spirits. I started to read from Great Ghost Stories, "The House and the Brain." I had just got to the second paragraph when there came a lull, an abso- lute stillness, even the rain did not pour down. We were astonished, looked up surprised; then came a rush and a roar, a thundering crash, a sound like the rushing of a tremendous wind, then the flood! The torrent swept in

STORY OF THE SCOUT DISASTER 53 w * 4 f j***! <•-. # g£~ ' /^^ 6~K i^ £"* v^* v •- y The Company of Scouts in the North Fork Disaster. Front Row, Left to Right: Clyde Bergstrom, George Bergstrom, camp director; and Lorin Wheelright. Rear row, James Niel, Howard Alvord, Ambrose Merrill, Jr., Ben Wright, Fred Taylor, Jr., Donald Foutz and Francis Simmerson. on us so quickly we hardly had a chance to get to our feet when a wall of six to eight feet of water and debris hit us. The tent was pulled down upon us, and we were cast into a vortex of swirling water, amid tent cots, bed sacks, equipment, tent ropes and poles, and carried by the ice-cold water for several hundred feet, over rocks, brush, and undergrowth. How we ever escaped is a miracle! After fighting for air and freedom until it seemed my head would burst, being ducked again and again, I suddenly found a dash of rain in my face and found myself clinging to a choke-cherry bush in more than five feet of raging torrent. I had hardly come to my senses, I seemed stunned and shocked. My first thoughts were "Where are the boys?" and I started to call, yelling at the top of my voice. I heard an answer below me. It was Ambrose Merrill, Jr., hanging to a choke-cherry bush. "Hang on, Ambrose, for your life," I said, "let's see if I can locate the others." By this time, realizing the terrible damage that had been done, the predicament that we were in, the anguish of my soul was terrible. Were any caught beneath the tents, pinned on the brush, stunned by the trees, or probably mangled and crippled with broken arms and legs? Again I called loudly. I found Ben Wright, stunned and hanging on for dear life. I brought him and Ambrose together, then called again and again. I heard another answer, here I found two boys clinging to brush in the swirling water. I bade them hope and admonished them to stick together. We kept calling and locating one after another. The lightning flashed, the thunder roared, the storm still beat down upon us, and the raging torrent was impossible to ford or stand up in without assistance, but I continued to gather them together in one central place.

54 IMPROVEMENT ERA I counted my flock, then it dawned upon us that two were missing — Lorin and Clyde. Then came a frantic search, a tugging at brush and trees. Calling again and again, there was finally an answer, it was Lorin clinging to the brush below us. Oh! he was safe, but where was Clyde, my own boy? Another frantic search, another inquiring if he had been seen and if they had heard a cry. He could not swim, it would have done no good if he could, no one could swim in that torrent and debris. Oh, how I suffered. My own boy had perished, he was undoubtedly gone, I wis about ready to give him up! I frantically called, Clyde, Clyde! Then the boys spoke, saying: "Oh, we have prayed, prayed so hard; you'll find him! God won't let him die!" It gave me courage, new faith and hope, and so I started again through the torrent, flinging myself into the stream, and was carried swiftly down. I called and called; finally I heard him answer, and through me surged new life. Quickly letting go of the bush I held onto, I was carried and dragged by the stream, bumped into trees, thrown on piles of debris in darkness, but getting closer and closer to his wee, weak call in the darkness. It seemed I had traveled for a long distance, but actually only about seventy-five to a hundred feet or more. There he was. When the tent had struck the trees it had ripped open and torn, he had been cast free, and the tremendous cur- rent had picked him up and carried him down stream, lodged him in a pile of brush and drift wood, his legs and body pinned in by other debris that followed, his head barely out of water — and the first thing he said was, "Oh, Daddy, my legs are all tangled up." No other complaint. How my heart beat when I realized I had found him apparently unharmed. I frantically sought to free him, and then drew him close, hoisting him on my shoulder, and with his arms around my neck, I felt capable to cope with any danger. "Hold on, Clyde, for your life, we'll get out of this yet!" And he an- swered, "I will, Daddy, O, I will!" Then came the struggle to reach the others, among the trees and in the blackness. Fighting up stream against the current, holding first on one bush then another, being swept off our feet, then on again and again,, calling all the while, and finally we were an- swered and the boys' voices guided us to them. "Have you found Clyde, have you got Clyde?" was the chorus. Then came rejoicing. We were all safe, and silently our hearts went to our Maker for delivering us, for we knew we had all been close to death. Quickly I took an inventory, no extreme suffering only from shock and exposure, no broken bones or bad wounds that we could feel. But we could not stay in that water. We had been there it seemed for hours, but it had been less than a half hour. I said, "We must get out of this!" The boys answered, "O, we'll all drown if we let go of these bushes." But with Clyde on my back, Ben and Lorin hanging on my belt, for I was still fully dressed, we put the smallest boys next to us, and left our haven, seeking for my car and higher ground, which the lightning showed quite a ways above us to the right. There was no hanging back, no crying or whimpering. "Go," the boys said, "we know you will bring us out safe." So we started. We were all there, we held hold of hands, and de- cided either to perish all together, or all be saved. We entered the stream, but were swept off our feet, held on and tried again, making some progress. Soon we came to where the water was less swift and finally reached the car. A count in the dark showed we were all present. A streak of lightning gave us a look at the camp which was devastated, tents down, it was washed completely out. Most of the boys were naked and others had only part of their sleeping clothes on, or thin underwear. We got in the car, primed the motor, and though it stood in three feet of water, it started readily. The humming of the motor and the turning on of the lights gave us confidence. Though our teeth chattered and the rain was still pouring down, we had

STORY OF THE SCOUT DISASTER 55 a chance, but it was impossible to follow the road for mud and silt. Turn- ing the car so that its lights shone up the hill to the east of us we sought to drive the car forward, but it sank in the soft soil and became immovably- stalled. We took hold of hands as before and started over the hill that would lead us to safety and the main highway. We fought some minutes in a dense growth of underbrush and trees, lost our direction and wandered hopelessly. _ We saw two lights gleaming in the darkness which we thought was a coming car, but it turned out to be our own car. We had been going round in a circle. Reaching the car, the boys got quickly in, we put up all the side curtains, kept the motor running, and lifted the floor boards to get warmth. At this juncture it dawned on me that two more had been in the party, the cook and his wife! Where were they? Had they been washed away in the torrent? I then left the boys, started straight west toward the river, calling for Brown and his wife, fearing the worst. At last I found them clinging to brush in the water, having been swept completely out of , their tent, holding on for dear life. They had on only their night clothes. The North Fork some three or four feet away was a raging torrent with ten or twelve feet of water in it. Rocks were crashing and booming against one another. The rescue of Brown and his wife was a difficult task. Finally, they, too, were brought to the car. The cook and his wife were safe. All our people were now together. Looking at my watch it was 10:10 p. m. It seemed as if I had lived an age. We all huddled together in the car, our teeth chattering from the cold. It was impossible for us to remain all night in that wet and bedraggled state without fire or shelter. I went out and found three camp cots set up which had been washed on to the south side of the camp. On each were the regular army bed sacks half filled with straw. I carried these to the car, and used two of them for covering for the naked boys, and with the straw and other tick I sought to obtain a light from the car to build a fire, as our matches had all been swept away. Presently, after many failures, I was rewarded with a tiny flame in the rags saturated wifh gasoline from the car, and at length, after much anxiety, care, and coaxing, we had a roaring fire which changed our spirits. Then we cheered, the bovs sang and told jokes, looking fearfully behind them at their devastated camp. This was an unequalled adventure. Though they were naked, without shelter, plastered with mud so that one could hardly recognize them, their spirits soared high. All night we fed the fire. How the time did drag! It seemed ages, but the fire was our only hope. Not a boy showed the white feather or a yellow streak each did his part gladly and willingly without murmur. Slowly and gradually the dawn appeared. We could first make out the tops of distant trees, then closer objects. Our first thought was to get out without assistance, but it soon became apparent that it was impossible. I instructed all of the boys and the cook and his wife to remain together. I made my way out on the highway and at a considerable distance I saw a farm house. Going there and waking up these people I told them of our predicament which brought a hearty response. The lady rustled us some blankets and old coats; her three boys were called. They quickly got their team and chain, and we- made our way back to camp where the clothing came in handy, the boys slipping it on, but not until Mrs. Brown had been thoroughly fixed out first. To hook the team on the car was only a matter of minutes. We all got in and with the horses and power of the motor, we dragged it on to the main highway where we were able to proceed on our own power. When we came opposite the farm house the good Mrs. South- wick had ready a bucket of boiling chocolate. This was eagerly consumed amid the many expressions of thankfulness from the boys, and soon we were on our way to the city where every boy was taken home, given a hot bath and put to bed.

56 IMPROVEMENT ERA That afternoon I again journeyed to camp. The place we had learned to love was desolate and bare. The camp had been cleaned out from end to end. Our equipment had disappeared, much of it buried beneath the sand and debris. But we did not care much. Our lives, through the blessings of God, had been spared, and later we learned with sorrow that the same storm had taken a toll of eleven lives in Willard and Farmington, four of whom were Boy Scouts who had camped in Farmington canyon many miles below us. Ogden, Utah. OUR GOD, WE RAISE TO THEE Words by B. Snow Music by B. F. Pulham =q^^j^=q=4=td ./• j=1 I - ^E3 fct8: Our God, we raise to thee Thanks for thy blessings free Bless thou our Prophet dear; May health and comfort cheer So shall thy kingdom spread, As by thy Prophet said, O may thy Saints be one, Like Father and the Son, d 0 1 0 — .— H— t -\ 1 0 r t~ t ±: t=fc=t=t i t=: :ti I iS -0^-0 — 0-J-W — 0 — 03 t We here en - joy; His no - ble heart; From sea to sea; Nor dis - a - gree; ta: ±zd =£== In this far western land, A true and His words with fire impress On souls that As one u - nit - ed whole Truth burn in U - nit - ed heart and hand, So may they =t=t / Allesgrando Bit. XF~V chosen band, Led hither by thy hand, We sing for thou wilt bless; To choose in righteousness, The better ev - ery soul, While hast'ning to the goal We long to ev - er stand, A firm and. val - iant band, E - ter - nal joy. part. see. iy. w^^m^^^4mm