Seward seaport record., 1953-07-31
Alaska Scouts Enthusiastic Boosters Of Homeland

SeWard'S S Star Scouts who have been attending the six weeks tour and National Jamboree of Boy Scouts are expected to re- turn this week end.
 Ala S k as contingent of 70 Scouts and leaders participated in the third National Jamboree at Irvine Ranch in southern California. Franklin T. Unruh and Maurice F. Powers of An chorage are scoutmasters of the two troops, known as troops and 5 of section 23.
 Each troop is made up of four patrols of boys, with troop 2's leaders being Jimmy Anderson of Anchorage, Sandy Blanton of Juneau, Pete Wagner of Seward, and Allan McClain of Fairbanks
 The group left Alaska June 20, travelling to Seattle by char tered plane from Anchorage and regular service from Juneau and Ketchikan. After gathering at Seattle, they spent four weeks touring the western states, trav- cling by bus and spending one or more nights at Spokane, Mis- soula, Yellowstone Park, Ogden, Salt Lake City, Denver, Phil mont Scout Ranch, Albuquer- que, Phoenix, Fl Centro, San Diego, and the Jamboree. Over night stops were made at YMCAS, churches, colleges, and at tourist cabins, with meals be- ing taken at restaurants and oc- casionally being furnished by church groups. Due to the short age of housing for such large group, several times they slept on gymnasium floors in Ameri- can Legion meeting places, and at military bases. At Wicken- burg, Arizona, they were met by a special posse of golden shirted Chamber of Commerce men, who treated them to a western holdup and a special program of entertainment in conr action with their brief stop there.
 Grand Canyon National Park proved to be especially interest ing to the Alaskan boys, where the cooler weather made them feel more like home than the sweltering heat which they eX- perienced in New Mexico and Arizona. At Salt Lake City they were guests of honor at a spe- cial worsh ip service on the grounds of the Mormon Taber- nacle and were housed through the courtesy of the University of Utah. Swimming in the great Salt Lake proved to be an in teresting experience to the boys from A Ia k a, although they found that it was easier to float than to swim in it.
 Along the way boys met countless relatives and friends. They distributed hundreds of pamphlets and souvenirs of Al aska and proved to be an en- thusiastic group of supporters for their home country at the Jamboree where countless visi- tors thronged their composites and asked innumerable ques- tions about Alaska and it's op- portunities.
 Part of their program of ad- vertisement included copy of an authentic Eskimo dance, as learned by the scouts from Fair banks and taught to others in the group, and popular blanket toss with a genuine oogorook brought from Fairbanks for the purpose.
 One of the highlights of the Jamboree was the Sunday night Convocation at which 10000 scouts and leaders joined in an expression of spiritual unity. National leaders of Protestant, Catholic. Mormon, and Jewish faiths spoke briefly, and Vice President Nixon brought greet ines from the government to the assembly.
 Following the Jamboree, Al askas delegation spent a final week in touring the west coast, going to San Francisco for two days, and then came north to Seattle. They toured the big Weyerhaueser mill at Longview on their last day out.
 The six weeks trip was paid for by boys and their families, with. scouts participating from all over the Territory, Alaskan boys have traded gold nuggets, pieces of ivory, pebbles from Mendenhall Glacier, and souven- irs of all kinds from the Terri tory for horned toads, snakes, neckerchiefs, neckerchief slides, and camp patches from scout camps all over America.
 Boys have made friends with scouts from the 48 states and have added much to the under