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History of Scouting in Guthrie
Scouting in the Guthrie area has had a rich history.
Ray Matoy, A Guthrie Eagle Scout who made a professional 40
year career of scouting leading the Cimarron Valley Council, the Will Rogers
Council and 6 other councils before coming home to Oklahoma to retire at
Stillwater. Ray is also the author of "Thunderbird Tracks" a
book on the early history of the Will Rogers Council. Ray states in his
book that his original troop, Troop 66 was one of the first troops in Guthrie.
The Troop 66 charter is documented to be applied for on June 1, 1927. The
Troop 63 charter was documented on October 4, 1927, making it one of the
pioneers as well.
Group camps of local troops know as a "Camp-o-Ral" which
stood for "camp rallies" was popularized by the Cimarron Valley Council and
copied by other councils in the early days of Scouting. The term was later
changed to "Camp-o-ree" after the first National Jamboree in 1937.
A popular camping event, Camporees continue to this day.
Scouts from the Cimarron Valley Council
including Guthrie and other nearby towns
at the 1937 National Scout Jamboree
The "Tarp Tent" was an innovation developed
locally in the Cimarron Valley Council. A tarp was set, draped and tied down so as to function as a
economical tent. Bill Hillcourt (aka Green Bar Bill), a prolific scout
writer whose work includes major revisions of the Scout Handbook camped locally
in 1948 to take photographs on the invention.
Getting the most out of a dollar appears to be a Scouting
tradition.
Thrifty scouts
in1948 making a tarp tent from materials available.
Thrifty scouts in
2004 making a tarp tent from modern materials.
Troop 66 and Troop 63 were amongst the first wave of troops chartering in
Oklahoma according to Ray Matoy, former Guthrian and author of Thunderbird
Tracks, a historical text of the history of Scouting in this area. Notice
the misspelling on the flag which has been dated between 1927 and 1935.
Other known boy scout troops
timelines are shown below.
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