History buff highlights Boy Scouts campground and lodge at Lone Pine
Jun. 15—Seventeen-year-old Atreyu Oxford has uncovered a little-known piece of history of Lone Pine State Park's connection to the Boy Scouts and is preserving it through an Eagle Scout project.
Oxford learned there was a Boy Scouts camp at Lone Pine from his mother, Barbara, who wrote a book about the early history of scouting in Montana. As she was researching Boy Scout camps across the state, she came across one at Lone Pine.
After asking around, he found that Scout leaders and Lone Pine staff weren't aware of the campground's existence, which piqued his interest to delve into the history. With the information, he is having an interpretive sign designed and constructed that will be installed at Lone Pine.
Sitting down at a picnic table near the Lone Pine visitor center, Oxford opened a thick binder, leafing through plastic sheet protectors containing his research: reprinted newspaper articles, a few black and white photos, a society page snippet, maps, a timeline dating back to the 1800s and deeds. The documents helped him track the different landowners of what was formerly known as Plume Hill and then Lone Pine Hill, over time.
"The entirety of this hill was owned by different settlers at different times. We found all of those records as well," he said.
Oxford compiled the various documents from online newspaper archives, the Flathead County Plat Room, the Bureau of Land Management and the Northwest Montana History Museum.
It wasn't until 1937 that sheep rancher, Ernest White, and his wife, Hazel, donated 6.7 acres to the Boy Scouts to be used as a weekend or overnight campsite, Oxford said, showing a copy of the grant deed.
"The [more than] six acres to the Boy Scouts covered the land that we are on right now," Oxford said.
With the property, he learned the Boy Scouts had a 20-by-30-foot log building constructed in 1938 that was designed by well-known Kalispell architect, Fred Brinkman.
"It [the dedication ceremony] was attended by a large amount of people, including Ernest White," Oxford said, and roughly 250 Boy Scouts.
He said the lodge featured a main hall, kitchen, storeroom, fireplace and a 10-foot rock terrace and was situated "just below the top of, and to the west of, the top of Lone Pine Hill."
"It was meant for like day activities ... overnight camps," he said.
The lodge was enjoyed by Boy Scouts and other groups, including a ski club, until it burned down in 1943.
"It was kind of a symbol of Kalispell for a long time," he said, noting a group of travel editors from the Midwest and East coast were brought to Lone Pine as part of a tour that included Glacier National Park.
According to a July 8, 1943, Daily Inter Lake article, the building was "in constant use until recently" and was in a state of neglect, likely from incidents of vandalism, prior to the fire.
"Most everybody seemed to have access to the building and the window glass had been shattered." The article also said, "Three youngsters are supposed to have spent the night there, just previous to the fire, and were seen leaving the hill Friday morning. They had their packs and one bicycle when they rode into town."
Aside from one photo from an article about the dedication ceremony, Oxford said it was challenging to find more, including from a couple of people he spoke to who were involved in scouts before the fire.
"We also have a picture of what is believed to be the chimney that remained because everything burned but the chimney," he said, which by some accounts remained until the visitor center was built.
Why wasn't the lodge rebuilt? Oxford surmises one reason may be because World War II was going on and many tradesmen were off serving in the military.
"No one was coming out to rebuild it anytime soon," he said. "My troop, we had a break in our charter for World War II because the majority of our scouts, especially our older scouts, who were supposed to lead meetings, went off to World War II. We had the same thing with Vietnam as well."
Preserving the history of the Boy Scout campground's existence was enjoyable for the young history buff, who said it was learning about the Revolutionary War around age 6 or 7 that sparked his passion for the subject.
"If we're just looking at Lone Pine Hill. It was Native [American] land. Then it became homesteader land, right? And then from homesteaders, it became sheep land. And from sheep land, it became a Scout camp, and then from a Scout camp, it became a visitor center, right, talking about all the beautiful wildlife we have here. Knowing that history, I think, can add to people's enjoyment of this place," he said.
The sign will be installed sometime this summer, according to Dillon Tabish, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks regional communication and education program manager.
Oxford is a member of Troop No. 1933, which was chartered by the Rotary Club of Kalispell more than 50 years ago.
In August, Oxford will formally be inducted into the ranks of Eagle Scouts during a special ceremony called the Eagle Court of Honor. Eagle Scout is the highest rank a Boy Scout can attain.
Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.
A rendering of what an interpretive sign detailing the Boy Scouts' history at Lone Pine will look like. The sign is part of Atreyu Oxford's Eagle Scout project. (SnowGhost Design)
Atreyu Oxford, 17, shows two articles that were part of his research for his Eagle Scout project to create an interpretive sign at Lone Pine. The 1936 "Daily Inter Lake" article on the left reports on Ernest White's purchase of a tract of land on "Lone Pine bluff," stating, "He will build a road from Foys lake to the top of the bluff, which will be open to the public." A 1937 article by "The Flathead Monitor," on the right, reports that White, "a well-known sheep rancher," has donated a site for a "week-end Boy Scout camp." (Hilary Matheson/Daily Inter Lake)
Visitors check out one of the overlooks at Lone Pine State Park on Tuesday, June 10. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider
Signs and caution tape mark an Eagle Scout project at Lone Pine State Park on Thursday, June 12. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider
The Lone Pine State Park Visitor Center on Thursday, June 12. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider
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