Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1908-03-12
WILD WEST FOR BOYS
Vast Country Fairgrounds Plan
ned For City Youngsters.
FIRST ONE TO BE IN MICHIGAN

nance Captain Jack Crawford's
Scheme to Make Boys Self Reliant.
Poet Scout to Boss First Playground.
Great summer Fairgrounds in the
country for city children is the latest
philanthropy in which John d. Rookie
feller intends to use part of his wealth,
aided by his son-in-law, Harold Nc
Cormick of Chicago. Captain Jack
Crawford, sometimes known as the
''poet scout. made the statement re-
Gently while in New York. He ought
to know, for he Is to have direct
charge of the first playground to be
opened, tract of wilderness In Mich
igan on Portage lake, about twelve
miles from the town of Manistee.
The plan provides not only for q
playground, but for a systematic super
vision of the boys summer play, which
will be largely along the lines of hunt
ing, trapping, woodcraft, swimming.
military exercises, target practice and
regular exercise in the old tricks of the
former wild and woolly west
Indians will be employed, and against
them the boys will go on weekly expe-
ditions. There will be stagecoaches for
the boys to save from the attacks of
bandits, the outlaws being other boys
of the vacation crowd. There will be
a typical old time frontier military
post, where the lads will learn the life
of the mounted service. Miniature des-
erts will be provided, so that the boys
may learn another form of western
life. In fact, everything will be provid-
ed to keep alive the old ability of the
frontier days in the masculine Ameri-
can breast and to make the boys as
capable as were their ancestors when
called upon in an emergency. The
STUDY period" will range from three
to thirteen weeks.
Within the next year two play wilds,
If not more, will be opened, the one in
Michigan, which will be in operation
next summer, and another on large
tract in New Mexico or southwestern
Texas. The land in Michigan embraces
almost 1,200 acres. Captain Crawford
claims the conception of this idea as
his own, though Rockefeller and Nc
Cormick moneys are to finance 1t In its
full development. In speaking of it he
said:
1t suggested itself to me in a talk I
had with George Gould on n steamer
coming back from England nearly twelve
years ago. Mr. Gould was lamenting
that much in the way of outdoor sports
of healthy and spirit building character
was almost impossible in those days
when the country was growing so popu-
lous. l asked him what he meant, and
he said he wished there was some from
tier left to which he could send his
Older boys. under suitable supervision,
where they could learn something of real
roughing II for few weeks every year
ut makes better men of boys" he con-
tnued, Ito learn something of the from
tier life and of the things they must
know in order to stand independent un-
der such conditions"
l agreed heartily with him, but the
Idea of creating an artificial frontier
didn't occur to me until we had reached
New York. Then George Gould had
started west on an inspection tour l
intended to present my idea to him If the
chance ever came but It never did.
was delivering lectures at the Hamp-
stead Chautauqua last August. and one
day John d. Rockefeller and Harold
Mccormick We're among my auditors. l
met them after the lecture and had
particularly long conversation with Nc
Cormick. in the course of which l hap
pened to touch on my scheme for Amer
lean boys. He became Interested, and
elaborated 1t to him. Two days after
ward he sent for me and told me that
whatever money l needed for the plan he
and Mr.. Rockefeller would furnish.
The plan in detail calls for the estab-
lishment Of many parks for the pur-
pose of teaching the boys military life
no ~. viii
parks will be as large as it is possible
to make them under local conditions.
The park in New Mexico, for example,
probably will cover thousands of acres.
The sections will be restored to a wild
state. A small military post and a few
log cabins will be bdilt here and there,
but otherwise no structures will mar
the grounds. The boys viii sleep in
tents and be much in the open air.
The plan is both philanthropic and
educational, but not so philanthropic
that the parks will not be expected to
pay for the actual expenses of the
summer maneuvers. This latter phase
of the plan is one born of McCor-
mick's pet schemes to help to dissipate
tut ClilsS ItcllllS luul lie DclleNsS 10
developing in the United States. Where
a boy applies for admittance to the
camp through his parents it will be as
certained whether he is in a position to
pay for his food and accommodations.
If his parents are in such a position,
twice as much as may be necessary to
keep him will be charged, and he will
be obliged to take another boy who
is unable to pay his expenses as his
guest. at that the paying boy will not
be taxed more than $50 or $50, for only
the actual cost of food and ammuni-
ton will be put on the bill. All the
expenses of maintenance of grounds,
etc, will be provided out of the fund
given by the capitalists.
"The poor boy will become the rich
boys tent mate and companion" says
Mccormick, "and in the summer cam
paigns each will come to appreciate
the good qualities In the other. When
they grow up, better men because of
their summer training in the open, rep
resentative persons In the poorer and
wealthier classes will have a respect
for each other that they might not 9TH
erwise have" 1t is expected that sew
eral hundred boys from New York,
Chicago an0 other cities, one-half poor