The Belding banner-news. (Belding, Mich.) 1918-1973, 1921-07-27
TRIP AND
CAMPING AMONG
THE MOUNTAINS
FORMER LOCAL BOY WRITES
GOOD LETTER ABOUT NEAR
TO-NATURE LIFE IN WEST

letter from her brother, Belding
Richmond, who moved from here to
Eugene, Oregon, about two years ago
with his parents, Mr.. and Mrs. Ira
Richmond.
/, 1860 Monroe st.
Eugene, Ore, July 1921.
Dear Sisters and Brothers:
i got back from camp
the 28th of June. / sure had good
time there. Wednesday, June 10Th
thirty boys including myself, met at
the Y. M. C. A. building. Seven or
eight bus ness men of Eugene took
us to our camping grounds at Lost
Greek ranch, II mile drive. On our
arrival we were met by our leader,
Mr.. K. A. Britton and bride. The
boys all call him Brit for short. At
ter waiting for the rest of the cars
to some, we ate our lunch. After
lunch, Brit showed us how to put up
our pup tents. f ach boy had to have
pardner to sleep with. My pard-
ner's name is Reynold Landrum.
Brit showed us how to make our beds
with fir boughs. At one end of the
tent we put our other belongings.
That afternoon We went up a
mountain near by camp. The noun
| tain was very rocky. One of the boys
stepped on a loose rock and it came
down and hit a boy in front of me.
1t hit me in the leg then it hit an
other boy in the back. None of these
were serious. We went up the noun
tain as far as We could. Then we
made our way back to camp and as
/ it was near supper time we washed
up and got our mess kits out. Then
we lined up for a cafeteria supper in
the hotel. After supper camp meet
ing was held in the hotel, as it was
ra ming. A fine time was had. The
following officers of the camp were
elected: Governor, Ralph Newman;
Judge, Sid King; Sheriff, Delmer
Newman; Deputy, Lester Olsen; Pro-
scouting Attorney, Eugene Slattery;
Editor, Fon Hartung.
Each days program was as follows:
Reveille 600 a. M; setting up exer-
cises 6:10; cold dip $50; Bible study
$50; Roll Call and Flag Raising 1920
Breakfast 1880; Inspection 1880; Din
ner II; Colors 5:55 p. M; Supper $3.50
Camp Fire 500; Taps $3.50.
The duty of each officer was as
follows:
The Governor is supposed to elect
two boys to build fire and put a
tub full of water on it for dish wa
ter and also to elect two boys to
sweep out the hotel. He also elects
boy TO say the grace before each
meal. He elects boy for the officer
Of the day. I his boy is supposed to
see that the Governors rules are obey
ed. The Governor has these duties
and other dvties to attend to each
day. If a prisoner is brought up be-
fore the court the Judge is supposed
to find out whether he is guilty or
! not then sentence him. If boy is
found dong something that he hadn't
ought to do the Sheriff is supposed
to arrest him. The Attorney can al
so arrest but is under the Sheriff's
rule. When a prisoner is brought up
before court the Prosecuting Attor-
ney questions them. The Editor is
supposed to take notes of everything
that is done each day ond have it put
in the paper. 1t is getting near bed
time so Brit has us stand and report
the Lords prayer and go to our pup
tents and sleep. The next morning it
was raining and Friday and Saturday
gave the same results. Sunday was
/ EOOo hdy oO VIC WtuI vi d lCIi Il4lC
hike. We went up large hill, up
this hill Brit had a bear trap. 1t
was not set. We got little tired
but we thought of a nice chicken din
ner we were going to have so we hur-
ried back to camp.
Every so often we have kangaroo
court. The Sheriff usually has lot
of cases to bring up before the court
In one case a boy put pepper into
another boys soup. In this case i
was witness. But the case was
dismissed because of lack of witness
ses. In some cases if boy is found
guilty he is either sentenced to two
days of hard labor or a ducking in
the creek.
Monday and Tuesday we could do
what ever we wanted to. Tuesday
night after supper we planned for
a big hike to the Three Sisters. We
div ded up into squads. | was in
squad No. a. f ach squad went into
the hotel and got grub enough to
last two days. Then we packed up.
Early Wednesday morning we start
ed. Brit took our packs as far as
Alter Springs in his car. From AL
ter Springs we followed a mountain
trail. By two O'Clock we hit the
first snow and by two thirty we were
walking on it all of the time. Many
small lakes were passed and many
were st II frozen over. We reached
Finger lake about four thirty and
Benson lake a little later. There
we made camp on a little spot just
clear Of snow. That night we kept
fire going and i got up twice in the
night and went to the fire to get warm
The next morning we got to Scott
lake. We got a good view of the
Three Sisters there. BY noon Thurs
day we reached Frog camp. In the
afternoon fifteen of the larger boys
went back as far as Alter Springs
and from there Brit went with his
car back to Lost Creek after more
grub. They got back about supper
time.
Friday morning we hit the Skyline
trail. We left our packs at Frog
camp and took three chocolate bars
apiece for dinner. On the way we
slid in the snow and had lot of fun