Bob:

We’re coming up on the 50th Anniversary and want to learn from you, how Troops came to Many Point.

Wint:

Just to put this into perspective, a lot of good things came together all at once. I grew up in a little prairie town out here in Minnesota. Got my Eagle badge and was a member what was called a Junior Officer on the Tonkawa staff when I was 15. There were always five Provisional Troops in Camp and the Junior Officer ran those Troops.

The reason I mention that is, a series of things followed. George Wyckoff, everybody responded to him as Chief Wyckoff. When I was seventeen, one night in the little prairie town where I grew up, the phone rang. My father answered it, and put his hand over it and said, it’s the Chief and he wants to talk with you. The Chief said, “Wint if you can you arrive at 4th Avenue and 8th Street, Citizen’s Aide building, at 7 a.m. day after tomorrow, I’ve made arrangements for you to go to the National Training School for Camp Directors. My response was, but Chief, I’m only seventeen, and his response was, “we are not going to talk about that, are we.”

The National Training School for Camp Directors was run by the top Boy Scouts of America personnel at Camp Lone in Duluth. Present were the following people: Deputy Regional Executive, Lee Cornel; Regional Representative, Paul Love; Personnel Director of the BSA, Al PoIt; Director of Health & Safety, Fred Mills; National Camping Department, Bill Russell; Governor Bird from Kit Scout Reservation; BSA National Director of Camping, L.L. McDonald. There were about 24 of us there, of which I was the youngest; but I didn’t talk about it then because the Chief didn’t want me to talk about it. After that, I got a succession of summer jobs on the Tonkawa Camp Staff.

I became associated with Lee Cornell, Deputy Regional Scout Executive, for two summers during the Depression. My job was moving and running Provisional Camps out in North and South Dakota.  Lee would go ahead of me, going to places like Watertown, South Dakota. He’d recruit about 100 kids; then I’d come along with two flatbed trucks containing the gear. We’d set up camp on Lake Campesta, and we’d run a two-week Camp. By that time, had gone to another town in North Dakota; then I’d come along with the trucks to set up another Camp.

Bob: Did Scouts come to the Camp as Troops or did individual Scouts come without their Troop to Camp?

Wint:

During the Depression, all those Council’s in North and South Dakota had gone bankrupt and couldn’t afford to operate Camps. Region Ten was running Provisional Camps. Individual Scouts would come and Troops and Patrols were formed at Camp.

Brent: Was this during the mid-thirties?

Wint:

Yes, it was 1934, and Franklin D. Roosevelt had just come into his presidency. Every year the Region had a Boy Scout Camp at the Minnesota State Fair. Lee Cornell was the Director of that Camp, and I was his Assistant. After that experience, I went to the University to became the men’s’ and boy’s director of the Saint Paul Neighborhood House. When John Children was the Scouting Executive, I was on the Tonkawa Camp staff in succeeding   summers. Those were all Provisional Troops, with creatively organized Patrols.

Brent: How did you organize Provisional Troops?

Wint:

As a Scout, you were assigned to a Patrol when you arrived at Camp. In my experience of going to camp as a camper, there were eight of us who came from this little town. We were the Flaming Arrow Patrol from the prairie. It was a structured Troop and Patrol Provisional Camp.  I was the Patrol Leader, and every morning, the High Council met in the lodge. I was to report on the health and welfare of my Patrol, as was every other Patrol leader. I told what my patrol was doing regarding various parts of the Camp program. If we had some non-swimmers, how soon before they were going to be swimmers. As a fourteen-year-old Patrol Leader, I had to stand up and say all those things, and I have to say, I was scared to death.

Brent: Did they form these Patrols into Troops at Tonkawa?

Wint:

There were five Troop campsites; Explorer, Voyager, Plainsman, Pioneer, and Frontiersman. There were four Patrols in each Troop.  Sometimes those were the names of the campsites. Provisional Troops had the option to change the name of their campsite. Down in the bowl, we would line up at night for a retreat, and the awarding of the scalps earned. The last year I was a Junior Leader, my Troop decided it was known as the Daniel Carter Beard Troop. When you went to retreat, you stood out in front of your Troop and the Camp Director, Bernie Lang, said, “Troop Leaders report.” You saluted, reported on the health, welfare, and what was going on in your Troop. Once, I reported as I saluted, I said, “I am from the Daniel Carter Beard Troop, and stroked my chin, “All present and accounted for, sir.”

Lee Cornell was a creative genius with great vision. Under his leadership, the Council had grown from 5,900 scouts to 10,000 Scouts.  He knew the twenty-nine acres at Camp Tonkawa wasn’t going to do the job for the Scouts. One day, asked me if I was interested in going to Shiff Scout Reservation to become a Professional Scouter. After the training at

Shiff, would I be interested in living at Tonkawa year-round? The new name for Tonkawa was to be the Tonkawa Scout Reservation.  Shortly after 1938, my wife and I moved and lived in an apartment at Tonkawa. It was then, Tonkawa ceased to a Provisional camp. The five Troop sites were available for Charter Troops. Each Troop would cook their breakfast and lunch.

Wint:

They would then get a heater stack meal prepared in the Camp kitchen for their evening meal until 1943.

During World War II, Tonkawa was called a Farm Camp.  We had more Troops than space for them to camp.  We rented 80 acres across from Stubs Bay on Lake Minnetonka where we had horses, chickens, and grew vegetables. The Minneapolis Area Boy Scout Council had a poster that said, “Two-hundred-thousand pounds of food for Freedom.” That was the Farm Camp.

Join the Boys Scouts and have a great time, was one of Lee’s promotions. Because of the limited size of Tonkawa, District Camps developed. The E.J. Stearns lumber company gave land for Camp Sterns. The deed for the property said, If the Boy Scout Camp ever left the property, it would revert to the Stearns family. The Minnetonka District had the Minnewaska Camp located in Waconia.  Scouts from Willmar, Montevideo, Olivia, camped at the Lake Ness Camp.

Brent: Was there a Camp Manomin?

Wint: Manomin was just an overnight Camp at Rice Creek.

Douglas: How   about Camp Cedar?

Wint:

After the land purchase for Many Point Camp; we bought 80 acres from Thorp Realty for Camp Cedar.  Sam Thorp was a member of the Camping Committee at the time.

Douglas; Did the Viking Council ever have anything to do with a Camp located on an island in Lake Minnetonka?

Brent: Little Scorpion’s Camp Maury?

Wint: Are you talking about Wawatasso or Robinson Caruso the Island Camp?

Douglas: I’m not sure.

Wint:

I don’t know whatever happened to the land of the Island Camp. There was a Camp   on an island, called Robinson Caruso and later was re-named Wawatasso.

Brent: Were there buildings there?

Wint: There was a cook shack, that’s all.

Brent: Was that the Camp   Maury Ostrander operated on Spray Island?

Wint:

After leaving Many Point, Maury operated an island Camp.

Lee Cornell said, “We’ve just got to do something about the lack of space at Tonkawa. We’ve got to find land for a new Scout Reservation. He visualized a vast acreage, and there would be many Camps within the Reservation. We set out to talk with realtors. In that day and age, you didn’t travel so much by automobile as you do now. I took many train rides into northern Minnesota, to Hibbing, Bemidji, Detroit Lakes, and so on, looking for a piece of land to develop. We were close to deciding that we’d purchase 800 acres near Bemidji belonging to a man named Nielson, a   member of the Council Board of Directors. A realtor by the name of Baker in Detroit Lakes contacted us and said Many Point Lake might be the right property for a Scout Reservation. (Brent passed a copy of the Many Point property title to Wint.) That’s it.

From Detroit Lakes, Baker took us to Many Point, over an awful, terrible road with a high center. He arranged for Sievert Rasmussen, who was then running Whaley’s Resort, to guide us. Sivert took us by boat across to what you know as Gaylord’s cabin. At the time, it was the Many Point Rod and Gun Club Lodge owned by a group of men who had hunted and fished there for probably forty years. We then met with caretaker, Chris Wick, who showed us the 800-acre property.

He took us from the lodge, out through the woods, to Beaver Lake to see the beaver dam. Walking on the way back, Chris wasn’t paying any attention to where he was going and got us lost. Until he got his bearings, we flounced around in the woods. We saw the lodge, some of the acreages, and the Ten Chiefs Beach where an Indian lived in a cabin. Baker said most of the Rod and Gun Club members, except for Gaylord, had either died or retired and resided in Florida. If we wanted the property, we had to go through Gaylord. We also realized a lot of shorelines belonged to other people. Baker told us that the Rod and Gun Club had always dreamed, they would buy up all the land on Many Point Lake. But this never happened because the natives and other property owners didn’t want to be taken over by a bunch of city slickers who hunted and fished their lake.

To get there by land, you used the Mannors farm road. I don’t know if that road is still in existence. You drove into Mannor’s farmyard; across the prairie to what became the Many Point Ten Chiefs beach. Time went on; I made a couple of trips up there alone and hiked around the land.  Lee had   gone down to Rockford, Illinois, where Gaylord was the president of a prominent big steel milling operation; the Rockford Milling Machine Company.  We made an appointment to see Bob Gaylord during his two-month   summer stint at Many Point. Before going over to see Gaylord; Art Larpenter, Council President, Lee and I went up to see Seifert.

Wint:

Gaylord was a very rough and profane man. It would be difficult to call him a friend. We learned most of the Gun Club members had turned their memberships over to him. Would he consider selling the land? Trying to get the conversation in the right place we visited through the afternoon.

Gaylord said, “I want you to stay for dinner and I always have cocktails about four o’clock in the afternoon. He brought out some glasses that were about that high, (Wint held his hand up indicating about 12 inches) containing the mixed cocktails. Lee Cornell was a non- alcoholic drinker; he just sipped his drink but didn’t drink. Gaylord finally said, “What the hell’s the matter with you Cornell, don’t you like my cocktails?” (laughter) Gaylord indicated the Rod and Gun Club once had a plan to buy all the lake property. He said, “maybe if you bought up the rest of the lake property, I would sell you the Rod and Gun Club property.” When we completed visiting, Chris Wick took us back across the lake and we talked about this opportunity.

It was late 1944, and World War II was still raging. Many Point was the twenty-sixth campsite we explored. The Council decided that a bank drawing account would be set up in Detroit Lakes. What was left of the summers in 1944 and 1945, I would go up there and canvas the land to see if I could buy property for the Council. The drawing account was there so that when I visited with people about buying their land; I was in a position where I could say; this is a cash deal; I can write you a check right now.

Besides the Council Board of Directors and Camping Committee, I have been eternally indebted Fred Paul, the Minneapolis City Engineer, who was instrumental in the areas of construction and supervision.  He taught me more about construction supervision than I ever guessed I would ever know.

Brent: How did you learn more about the property?

Wint:

The way that you would do that is by going to the Becker County Courthouse and look at the County records. I’d find out who owned what land, and the acreage size. I never bought it in a trade or necessary size; just so much for your piece of land and I bought the property.

All we had was Gaylord’s description, that was what this was about (holding a paper document) Gaylord didn’t know where his land was, where it began or where it ended. What Gaylord owned, was what the Rod and Gun Club held, was from the Ten Chief’s Spring.  The Rod and Gun   Club owned the land from that spring, located South of Gaylord’s cabin and North to the logging road that came into Fish Hook Bay where Buckskin Camp is today. Then it had an irregular boundary backing away from the lake.

The Rod and Gun Club had an option, to buy the land that was West of the channel that goes into Fish Hook Bay, up to the resort. We hired four men who did the survey, at Forty dollars a day, which was ten bucks for each man. (laughter) Not counting the Rod and Gun Club land, there were twenty-three parcels of land, that had to be purchased.

Wint: When the Gun Club property was ours, I installed a ram pump.

Douglas: That ram pump lasted way into the sixties.

Wint:

Yeah, kids enjoyed seeing the ram pump work. They’d stand there bug-eyed, whatever this thing was, it was pumping water. (laughter)

Douglas: This ram pump lasted a longtime, until the mid-sixties.

Wint:

I bought several parcels of land in 1944 and 1945. One of them was Christies Resort, located by the South dam. Right next to the dam, there was an old lodge known as Robber’s Roost.  Dog Pete, lived there with maybe thirty dogs. I also purchased Bill’s Point, where Family Camp now   is.

Brent: Oh wow, did you meet Dog Pete?

Wint: He was a squatter that didn’t own the land.

Douglas: Did he live on Many Point by the dam, or did he live on Round Lake?

Wint: No, no

Douglas: There was also a settlement?

Wint: There was a cabin there, and that property on Round Lake; long after I was gone; was

purchased when Joe Anglim was the Director of Camping.

Brent: Was Christies Resort in operation at that time?

Wint:

I bought that when it was an abandoned resort, and it was not in too bad shape. There were about eight or ten cabins and a more extensive building. The way you got there, was you took a branch off this terrible road that went into Sieverts, and you went up to where the dam is now, but the only thing that was across the Otter Tail River at that time, was two logs. Two logs and there were slab wood sides on the two the logs. If your car had the right wheelbase, you put it in that groove and drove across those two logs.

Wint:

We had a board meeting up there once, took all the board members across those two logs. One of the funny things about it was that the guy that owned Christie’s had a sense of humor.  So, you, came to the Ottertail River and you drove across these two logs, and you know there was nothing between the two logs, you understand. If you didn’t follow the logs, you’d fall in the river. You drove up, crossed these two logs, and there was a very challenging sandy road, that went up to Christies Resort. At the end of the road, there was a sign that said, “End of the concrete.” (laughter)

It was 1944 or 1945 when I bought Christies Resort. I was afraid that what remained of the resort would disappear. So, I visited Sievert, and said, “Sievert I bought Christies Resort for the Boy Scouts. Would you be interested in keeping a watch on it, especially in the winter time? Would you snowshoe down the lake and make a few tracks so that people could see that someone was watching the property? I asked  him much he would charge to do this. Sievert said, Oh, I don’t know, would ten dollars be too much? My response was, TEN DOLLARS!  And Sievert said, Yeah, yeah, is that too much? I said, No, I’ll give you ten dollars every time you go down there and check on the property. Sievert went down there twice a week, made some   tracks and watched the place. Siefert was the first employee of the camp. Other than Gaylord’s property, there were twenty-three parcels of land that we bought.

Bob: Was Bill’s Place operating at that time and were there cabins?

Wint:

No, it was abandoned. I lived in an old white cabin on the beach one summer. Is it still down on the beach?

Douglas: A cabin with a big porch? Bill’s Point faced toward the central area near Buckskin.

Wint: It was a white building and had a porch across the front.

Douglas: That was the CIT’s living quarters into the ’50s.

Wint: Maybe so, that was after my time.

Wint: Bill’s Point had a falling down shack where the Family Camp recreation building now is.

Wint: I moved up there in the summer of 1945 with my wife and son. He was, about seven years old. When we explained to him the outhouse was the bathroom; he was shocked because it didn’t have a door. (laughter)

Wint:

That was also the year we started the sawmill just below Christies Point. All the siding on the dining hall, health lodge, maintenance building, trading post and so on was cut and milled right there.

Brent:

Was the cost to buy Christie’s Point Resort in the thousands?

Wint:

I think it was $5,000.

Wint:

Some people living in Detroit Lakes owned property on Many Point. Norby owned a store in Detroit Lakes as well as the land located on the South side of the Ten Chief’s spring. There were five or seven pieces of land that I bought. We had a section that was called Pioneer, now called Flintlock. Beyond Flintlock there were two or three tracks of low land forming a beach area.  We had to battle the beavers that were always cutting down trees that fell across the road. (laughter)

Brent:

Did You cut lumber from the trees at Many Point?

Wint:

During the war, the government rationed lumber. You could operate a sawmill, but if you were cutting more than 50,000 board feet a month, the government would step in and ration your lumber. Luke Brothun ran the mill for me. He was very cautious so that we only cut 45,000 or 48,000 board feet. We never crossed the 50,000-board foot number because if we did, then the government could come in and we were not allowed to use the lumber.  Family Camp buildings, the Staff Family Camp buildings all used board siding from lumber milled at Many Point.

There were some   people on the Council board that thought it would ruin the forest if we cut the lumber. They thought we ought to be cutting lumber off somebody else’s land. I said, trees are a crop, like oats, barley and, corn. When they mature, and if you don’t cut them, they rot. Fifteen years from now, you won’t be able to see where we cut the trees.

Brent: Where did you cut trees?

Wint:

Below Christies Resort, there grew a lot of Norway and some White Pine. We cut all along to the East of that road, that was known as Hartman’s Horrible Highway. It was the road that leaves the Ten Chief’s Spring site and goes East towards a big hill, then goes down to the beach.

Douglas: Would you tell us about the architect Glen Wallace, and how he got started?

Wint:

Glen Wallace was a very close friend of mine. He was a Sea Scout Skipper, Boy Scout Troop leader, member of the City Council and was an architect. Lee Cornell and I agreed that besides being an architect, Glen knew the Scouting language. In other Council’s where I’ve been, the most important thing you do with an architect; you do with what’s called programming.  I can’t tell you how many hours I sat with Glen and we talked about; how the Maintenance Shed, Dining Hall, Administration building would look. We talked about the services each building provided. He came up with preliminary floor plans, and they were changed many times.  Ray Bland, the Assistant Director of Engineering at the National Council, would come in at regular intervals and assist with building suggestions.

A lot of the right things just happened to come together. Specifically, my experience with Lee Cornell and his experience with me. My association as a Tonkawa Staff Member. My relationship with Chief Wyckoff when he sent me to Camp Director School when I was only seventeen years old. Just a lot of the right things came together. When Lee left to become the Scout Executive in Chicago, Bob Billington came to take his place in the Minneapolis Council. Bob knew as much about Boy Scout Council’s as I do. New Scout Executives usually want to go in and undo everything the previous executives did, thinking they didn’t do it right. (laughter)

I took Bob up to Many Point and showed him what we were working on at the camp including, some road work. As we rode back, I said to him, “Well Bob, you’re the new Scout Executive, what are your plans about Many Point Scout Camp?” He said, keep doing what you’re doing. I’ve always appreciated Bob’s tremendous support.

Two things about Bob Billington and Lee Cornell is that they had an exceptional understanding, and loyalty to, Baden Powell’s awareness of what Boy Scouting is, and why you have Boy Scout camping.  Baden Powell said, “50 weeks of Scouting in preparation for the great adventure of two weeks in summer camp.”  Lee, Bob and I changed it a little bit, “50 weeks of Scouting, in preparation for the great adventure of summer camp; where you learn to work together as a Troop, for 50 more weeks of better Scouting. That’s the reason for Boy Scout Camping.”

Gene Russell, the head of Teachers College at Columbia University, said, your business is not to make swimmers, and campers, these are only the means to the end. The end is, to make men of character, trained for citizenship. That’s the reason Scout Camps exist.

Skip Stromberg wanted to get together and talk about Many Point. My time didn’t work out, so I wrote him a letter. It covered Many Point, how it came about, why it existed, and, what the objective of Boy Scout Camp is. I said, Skip, it’s important that a boy learn how to swim, but it isn’t as important as how he learned to swim.

Another thing that came together for me was Orley Thornsjo. As we put together the operating ideas for Many Point, we did it on the basis, that we were always going to work for the Troop and Patrol.

Wint:

That, if a kid came to Camp and was going to learn to swim; he was going to learn to swim because some older scout, a Life Scout or an Eagle Scout in his Troop taught him how to swim. He wasn’t going to be taught how to swim, by some member camp staff member. You build this kind of tradition in Troops like this: you belong to this Troop, you have the benefits of this Troop, and you owe the Troop. The way you pay it back is to help the kids that are coming in. Orley made a significant contribution to Many Point.

Douglas: In 1947, what kind of traditions came from Tonkawa to Many Point?

Wint:

In the first year, the War made some contribution to this; there was only one member from the Tonkawa.   There was an advantage to having mostly new staff. In my time, as part of the contract, before we started every season, the staff had to be there ten days before the opening. During those ten days, not only getting the Camp ready to open; we had actual training courses.

Brent: Tell us about the Gate Lodge.

Wint:

The Gate Lodge   was there to greet Scouts and Scout leaders when they came into Camp. Sievert built all the log work by himself, and Bob Blanchard built the split rock fireplace for the Gate Lodge.  Have you ever noticed that the fireplace at the Charles K. Velie Conservation   Lodge has two identical rocks, one on either side of the fireplace? Well, it was one rock split in two. I used to marvel at the way Bob could split a rock. One day, I said to him, you’ve got to teach me how to do that. Bob said, come on down, and I’ll show you. When he gave   me the instructions, I took the maul and hit the rock as he told me to do; it didn’t split, it broke into a million pieces. (laughter) Eventually, he taught me how to use the grain in the rock; to hit the right place and the rock split in half.

Brent:

What is your dream for Many Point?

Wint:

You’re living in a different time; the world, the country, the Boy Scouts are all different. Lee Cornell and I had an idea which we were never able to achieve. The idea was that Many Point would become a Regional Camp.   Not many people in Saint Paul wanted this. When Many Point was built, Fargo, Grand Forks, and so on, all made their Camps. They weren’t anything like Many Point. Today, North Dakota is all one Boy Scout Council with one Camp.

Brent:

Although the Camp   today is not the Camp, it was in 1947; it’s in Bob Gagner’s good hands.

Wint: None of us are the same as we were in 1947, including me. (laughter)

Brent: There are two of us that weren’t here in 47. (more laughter)

Wint:

The National Council had a policy when you start to build a Camp. The first building to be made is the   Maintenance Building, and that’s what we did.

Brent: I know that both you and Bob are active in the American Camping Association.

Wint: Bob is, I’m not anymore; I used to be President of the ACA.

Bob:

There is a world of difference between most of the camping that is out there and Scout camping.  Most of Scout camping relates to the Troop. Wint, what would you do differently today?

Wint:

One thing I would never do again is; I would never build another Troop Dining Hall. When I created the Camp for the Chicago Council in Michigan, I developed a big central kitchen with no Dining Hall. The Troops got three hot stack meals a day from the central kitchen. Usually, the Troops stayed in their campsites and ate the food that came prepared.  There was some variation for at times they’d BBQ or cook easy meals. I would never spend any money on another Dining Hall for the Scouts. It was vital that I always built a Staff Dining Hall. It’s essential for the staff to have some time away, at least at meal time from the wave of responsibility to the Camp. The Troop Dining Hall defeats everything you’re trying to do.

About the time I was leaving Minneapolis, Wes Krutchman, National Director of Camping, said, “Wint, now that you’re leaving, you must have some emotional feeling about Many Point. What are your thoughts?” I replied, “I’d like to do it all over again and do it right.” (laughter)

Brent: You did well the first time. How much of the Many Point vision are you?

Wint:

When Lee Cornell brought to the Minneapolis Council; sent me to Schiff Scout Reservation; he said he was hiring me because there   was a great need for leadership and development of a great Scout Reservation.  He gave me a copy of Baden Powell’s Handbook    and discussed what he did on Brown Sea Island.  For Lee Cornell and I, many of the ideas weren’t new, and only some were. The   Scout Leaders Family Camp was   new and innovative. There’s never been another one in America. Lee and I took a lot of flak about this. Charley Eastman, National Assistant Executive Director of Program, took me into his office and said, “Woman at Camp, what a terrible thing, it’s a disaster, they’ll ruin the movement.”  I said, “Charley, my response to you is to tell you a story.

Wint:

A couple of old ladies were coming home from Mass.  Martha said to Mary, “Wasn’t that a beautiful sermon that the Bishop delivered on marriage.” Mary said, “Faith that it was and I wish I knew as little about marriage as he does.” (laughter) That was the way it was with Charley. He wasn’t married, and he didn’t understand anything. The way I feel about the places I’ve been, the women in the Camp, the average woman that has a husband who is a Scout Leader, knows that he goes to some church basement during the week. She may wonder about this and sometimes have resentment.  What the Family Camp does, is, it convinces her, that her husband is a great guy.

Douglas:

I don’t know what it is today, but in 1962, Family Camp was always oversubscribed. There was never enough   room for all the families that wanted to go to Family Camp.

Bob: We’ve   added cabins and staff to Family Camp.

Wint:

That was one of the best investments we’ve made. Frequently my wife left our cabin in Main Area and went over to Family Camp to chat with the gals. I don’t think there’s any money better spent than that.

Wint: You don’t do the Scalp Program anymore, do you?

Douglas:  No.

Wint: Do you think they got too expensive?

Douglas:

In the late Fifties, there wasn’t support from the Council to continue the program. There was a change in Council leadership, and a change in the times. Kid’s didn’t want to wear the headgear.

Wint:

The Scalp Program was an excellent Camp tool; there’s an immediate recognition at Camp for something that the kid did. He didn’t have to wait until next December’s Court of Honor to get his recognition. You can’t do any better than folk wear. (laughter)

Brent:

The Devil Feed was another tradition that was gone by 1969 or 1970. Was that something you tolerated?

Wint:

When Brad Wades   was a staff member, he invented or embellished the Devil Feed. You probably remember more about it than I do. The moon over your left shoulder or something like that. (laughter)

Wint:

It’s rituals like that, whether you’re talking about a Boy Scout Camp or a Church Camp; the thing that enriches the experience is the ritual. It leaves people with a good feeling. You’re not preaching at them; you’re making them a part of the experience. (Wint, looking at the glass lamp on the table): I’m interested that you’ve got a lamp here and not a lantern because that was the way it was.

Brent:

I asked Boots and he said it was a glass lamp; not a lantern.

Wint: That’s right.

Brent:

I found a picture with an inscription on the back; David Menke: 1938.  The photo might have been the bridge you crossed at the South End of Many Point.

Wint: That’s it.

Brent:

Did the WPA (Works Progress Administration) install a newer dam as I don’t recognize that as being today’s dam?

Wint:

Shortly before Becker County put in those two large culverts, the State Conservation Department installed the dam.

Brent: Where did the road run?

Wint: It ran across from where the ducts are.

Brent: Did the road move off the lake slightly as it went up to Christie’s?

Wint:

It moved up and towards Round Lake, up a very sandy hill. The sign next to the road said, “End of the pavement.” (laughter)

Bob:

We are physically enclosing the Wood Lodge to house the Many Point History Museum.

Wint:

What motivated you to have the Many Point History Museum?

Bob:

Because Many Point history holds a special place in the hearts and minds of Scouts and

Leaders; knowing what happened beforehand enhances their experience.

Wint:

It’s vital that the museum is part of the program. History has to speak to the viewers. When the Troop goes there, you’ve got to have a staff person there to talk with them and answer their questions.

Bob:

It’s some of the vision you, Lee Cornell and others have expressed. By preserving History, others coming along might get sparked by that same type of concept. History is essential, not something that is lost.

Wint:

You have a good point.  I’m very serious when I said, it’s important that a boy learn to swim, but it isn’t as important as how he learned to swim.

Bob:

When I heard you speak those words   many years ago, I changed the program I was running, and that has made all the difference. I hope that the Camp Directors that follow me heed your words.

Wint:

It’s important for the Scout to know and appreciate everything the Troop has done for them. It’s more than achieving the Eagle rank. It’s an appreciation demonstrated by an older Scout giving back to the Troop. If you have that kind of Troop tradition, the older Scout will say, he taught me how to swim, and now, it’s my turn to teach others to swim. I’ve got to teach little Joe how to swim.

Whatever it is, it isn’t the swimming, but that which you build into a tradition. Every once in a while, you see this with people who have immigrated to this country. You hear them say, the country gave me a lot, and I owe the country. That’s the kind of citizen you would hope to raise in the Boy Scout room.

At the end of Camp, Troop leaders need an opportunity to talk with the Camp Director and tell him what was right; what they liked; what they didn’t like. If you are not already doing this, you might consider doing this.

Bob:

We are allowing Troop leaders to comment on their experience here. There is a photo of Boots working with the 1946 Pioneer Scouts.   1996 will be the 50th Anniversary of the Camp.   We plan to celebrate how the Camp originated.  We plan to have a cannon go off when we retire the flag. We want the kids to enjoy looking back on what came before. It might be interesting to know where “Secret Hill” was and have that as part of a display in the History Center.

Wint:

I’m reminding you that Many Point was once a Gun Club as well as a poker club. (laughter) When I retired from the Boy Scouts, I made a vow right here, that’s it. A lot of those executives became a member   of some board, not me.

Bob:  Thanks for our interview!

A special thanks to the Northern Star Scout Executive/CEO. John    Andrews and Assistant to the Scout Executive, Barb   Newman for help correcting personal names.    Thanks also for printing this

Bob:

Because Many Point history holds a special place in the hearts and minds of Scouts and

Leaders; knowing what happened beforehand enhances their experience.

Want:

It’s vital that the museum is part of the program. History has to speak to the viewers. When the Troop goes there, you’ve got to have a staff person there to talk with them and answer their questions.

Bob:

It’s some of the vision you, Lee Cornell and others have expressed. By preserving History, others coming along might get sparked by that same type of concept. History is essential, not something that is lost.

Want:

You have a good point.  I’m very serious when I said, it’s important that a boy learn to swim, but it isn’t as important as how he learned to swim.

Bob:

When I heard you speak those words   many years ago, I changed the program I was running, and that has made all the difference. I hope that the Camp Directors that follow me heed your words.

Want:

It’s important for the Scout to know and appreciate everything the Troop has done for them. It’s more than achieving the Eagle rank. It’s an appreciation demonstrated by an older Scout giving back to the Troop. If you have that kind of Troop tradition, the older Scout will say, he taught me how to swim, and now, it’s my turn to teach others to swim. I’ve got to teach little Joe how to swim.

Whatever it is, it isn’t the swimming, but that which you build into a tradition. Every once in a while, you see this with people who have immigrated to this country. You hear them say, the country gave me a lot, and I owe the country. That’s the kind of citizen you would hope to raise in the Boy Scout room.

At the end of Camp, Troop leaders need an opportunity to talk with the Camp Director and tell him what was right; what they liked; what they didn’t like. If you are not already doing this, you might consider doing this.

Bob:

We are allowing Troop leaders to comment on their experience here. There is a photo of Boots working with the 1946 Pioneer Scouts.   1996 will be the 50th Anniversary of the Camp.   We plan to celebrate how the Camp originated.  We plan to have a cannon go off when we retire the flag. We want the kids to enjoy looking back on what came before. It might be interesting to know where “Secret Hill” was and have that as part of a display in the History Center.

Wint:

I’m reminding you that Many Point was once a Gun Club as well as a poker club. (laughter) When I retired from the Boy Scouts, I made a vow right here, that’s it. A lot of those executives became a member   of some board, not me.

Bob:  Thanks for our interview!

A special thanks to the Northern Star Scout Executive/CEO. John Andrews and
Assistant to the Scout Executive, Barb Newman for help correcting personal names.
Thanks also for printing this interview!