Scouting in Arizona has a long history, from the 1910s to the present day, serving thousands of youth in programs that suit the environment in which they live.
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Boy Scouting was founded by Robert Baden Powell in England and co-founded by the American Scout Major Frederick Russell Burnham.[1] Boy Scouting was brought to the United States by William D. Boyce. He incorporated the Boy Scouts of America on February 8, 1910. The Boy Scouts of America was chartered by Congress on June 15, 1916, This is the same year as the first Boy Scout Council in Arizona was formed in Prescott.[2] Burnham served as the Honorary President of the Arizona Boy Scouts throughout the 1940s until his death in 1947.[1]
The first two Boy Scout troops in Arizona Territory were organized in Prescott, in September 1910 and in Tombstone at almost the same time.[3] In Prescott, E.P. Cole of Whipple Barracks was the first scoutmaster.[2] Arizona Territorial Historian Sharlot Hall was an honorary member of the Tombstone troop.[3] Scouting came to Phoenix in the fall 1910 with Clarence R. Craig as the scoutmaster.[2] Other scout troops were formed; in Bisbee in early 1911.[3] and in St. Joseph and Snowflake about the same time.[4]
Harold Steele, principal of the then new Tucson High School, organized the first Scout troop in Tucson on April 20, 1911.[3]
On November 29, 1911 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) organized the MIA Scouts along the lines recommended by the Boy Scouts of America as part of their Mutual Improvement Association youth program.[5] In March 1912, the LDS Church published their first lessons for the MIA Scouts in the Improvement Era. On May 21, 1913 the LDS Church was invited by the Boy Scout National Council to become the first Chartered Sponsored Organization in their movement.[6] The Boy Scouts of America program was then adopted in all LDS Church congregations as part of their youth program. Each LDS Church congregation in Arizona organized a scout troop.
In April 1921 the eight LDS troops in the Maricopa (LDS) Stake and the Methodist troop met in at the Coffee Cup in Mesa to organize the Apache Council.[7] This was the second council in Arizona. George A. Johnson was the first Council President. Edwin M. LeBaron was the first Field Commissioner.[8] Their first summer camp was held on Sycamore Creek near Payson, Arizona.[9]
On September 16, 1921 the board of the Apache Council met with scouters from Phoenix at the Tempe National Bank to reorganized into the Roosevelt Council, to be headquartered in Phoenix. Tim Murray from Galveston Texas, was the first professional Scout Executive.[10] The 1922 summer camp was at Pineair [11] (now call Reavis Ranch located in the Superstition Wilderness Area about 45 miles (72 km) east of Mesa).[12] The name, Camp Geronimo, is still used by the Grand Canyon Council camp although the location has changed several times. Throughout the 1940s, Frederick Russell Burnham served as the Honorary President of the Roosevelt Council Boy Scouts.
The Roosevelt Council changed its name to the Theodore Roosevelt Council. In 1993 the Theodore Roosevelt Council (located in Phoenix) and the Grand Canyon Council (located in Flagstaff) merged with the Phoenix council assuming the current name, the Grand Canyon Council.
In 1936, Boy Scouts in Arizona mounted a state-wide campaign to save the Bighorn Sheep. The Scouts first became interested in the sheep through the efforts of Major Frederick Russell Burnham. Burnham observed that fewer than 150 of these sheep still lived in the Arizona mountains. He called George F. Miller, then Scout Executive of the Phoenix Scout Council, with a plan to save the sheep. Burnham said,
I want you to save this majestic animal, not only because it is in danger of extinction, but of more importance, some day it might provide domestic sheep with a strain to save them from disaster at the hands of a yet unknown virus.[13]
Several other prominent Arizonans join the movement and a save the bighorns poster contest was started in schools throughout the state. Burnham provided prizes and appeared in store windows across Arizona. The contest-winning bighorn emblem was made up into neckerchief slides for the 10,000 Boy Scouts, and talks and dramatizations were given at school assemblies and on radio. The National Wildlife Federation, the Izaak Walton League, and the Audubon Society also joined the effort.[13]
These efforts led to the establishment on of two bighorn game ranges in Arizona: Kofa National Wildlife Refuge and Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge. On January 18, 1939, over 1,500,000 acres (6,100 km2) were set aside and a civilian conservation corp side camp was setup to develop high mountain waterholes for the sheep. The Desert Bighorn Sheep is now the official mascot for Arizona Boy Scouts.[13]
There are two Boy Scouts of America local councils in Arizona, and other multi-state councils that serve portions of Arizona:
Formerly Boulder Dam Area Council, Las Vegas Area Council serves Scouts in Nevada, California and Mohave County, Arizona.
Catalina Council serves the southeastern portion of Arizona, from Ajo, Arizona to the Mexican Border in the south, and all the way east to the New Mexico boarder. Catalina Council is headquartered in Tucson, Arizona, has four Districts, and two camps.
The Grand Canyon Council serves Scouts in Arizona and New Mexico, offering Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts to boys ages 7 through 18. Both girls and boys ages 14 through 21 can be involved with Venturing, a high adventure outdoor program or in Learning for Life, a career-based program.[14] Districts are:
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Camp Geronimo sits on 200 acres (0.8 km²) of forest and meadows, and is surrounded by over 5,000 acres (20 km2) of ponderosa pine forest at the edge of the Colorado Plateau. It primarily serves as a one week summer camp for Boy Scouts, but also has limited accommodations for families to stay the summer in cabins.[15]
The camp has 29 campsites, 3 chapels, a lake, craft lodge, obstacle course, swimming pool, climbing tower (Temporary), nature lodge, dining hall, rifle range, Low C.O.P.E. program, archery range, and a muzzleloading range. Every area has a department that teaches classes over the summer. Scouts enrolled in the summer program are able to take four classes at the camp, and can earn merit badges with their achievements.
The Spade Ranch house, located in Camp Geronimo, has been around for over 100 years. Every year during the boy scout summer camp, older scouts participate in high adventure activities. The Spade Ranch house was built by the Spade family on the basis of Webber Creek just beneath the Mogollon Rim. The Spade Ranch house is also the home to the Mogollon Monster story, which is a classic traditionally told for every group of campers that come through each week during the summer camp.
The Great Southwest Council of the Boy Scouts of America is headquartered in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and provides Scouting to youth in northern New Mexico, northeast Arizona, Utah south of the Colorado River, and the Durango and Mesa Verde areas of Colorado.
The San Diego-Imperial Council is headquartered in San Diego, California, and serves youth members and volunteer leaders through Scout units in San Diego and Imperial counties of Southern California, as well as a portion of Arizona. Desert Pacific Council was renamed to San Diego-Imperial Council on January 3, 2005.
There are two Girl Scout councils in Arizona.
Girl Scouts-Arizona Cactus-Pine Council serves over 23,000 girls in northern Arizona as well as in the Utah and New Mexico sections of the Navajo Nation and in a small part of California.
In Arizona, Girl Scouts was started in Prescott in 1916 by Maxine Dunning though her troop was not formally recognized until 1918.[1]
Headquarters: Phoenix, Arizona
Website: http://www.girlscoutsaz.org
Camps:
Sahuaro Girl Scout Council serves more than 13,000 girls in southern Arizona in Pima, Cochise, Greenlee, Yuma, and Santa Cruz counties and southern parts of Graham, Maricopa, and Pinal counties [3].
Headquarters: Tucson, Arizona
Website: http://www.sahuarogsc.org
Camps:
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