The Council has a rich history and a
long tradition of outstanding camps. Camp Wesco originally was located on
Fourmile Run just outside of oarlington and was opened in the 1920'5. It was
moved farther up Fourmile Run to the area just outside Stahlstown. camp
Wildwood also opened in the 1920's and operated off Route 711 South near the
Indian Creek valley Community Center. It closed during WW II. Camp Pleasant
ran for several years in the late 40'5 closing in 1949. camp Paul Bunyan
(what is now Buck RUm operated from 1951 until 1959 and was strictly used for
Explorer Crews and Senior Scouts. camp conestoga opened in 1949 wIth an army
tent and field kitchen on what is now the parade grounds. The early felt
patches (the cut-out first, the square second) were used in the 1950'5. The
round patch without the BSA cropped up around 1959 and lasted until about
1964. BSA was added after that point until the joint patch was issued. camp
Buck Run Junior Leader's Training camp opened in 1963 and camp Buck Run
opened in 1964. The first patch had brown letters which were changed to green
a year later. Today, the Eberly Scout Reservation refers to both camps in
union, but they continue to operately separately as camp conestoga and camp
Buck Run.
The Chenilles were the
first Lodge patches. The Indian Head was the emblem of the Wildwood Tribe of
the wigwam which operated from the 1920's unti11948. wagion adopted the
Thunderbird and first used a small sQuare-head, then a small round-head,
changed to a large round-head, and finally a large sQuare-head.
The first Lodge patch was the round
patch depicting the Thunderbird and the word "Wagion." First used
in the early SO's, it gave way to the round patch with the "W,W,W"
which, in turn, gave way to the white pocket flap around 1957. The Lodge next
adopted the "buzzard" version with the hemlock and five pine cones,
moved to the very small "T -bird" version with six pine cones, then
sequenced a pocket-flap- sized version with various borders (blue, green,
etc.> until the 7Sth anniversary flap and the black and red flap of 1997.
Two other patches were issued in 1966 and 1971 commemorating what were
believed to be Lodge anniversaries. Apparently, there was some confusion in
early Lodge handbooks and people attributed the start-up of the lodge to
similar movements from the early 1900's such as the wigwam.
When the Lodge was part of Area 3F I it
hosted four area meets. The participation Award was used in 1969 and 1970 by
the Activities Committee to promote attendance and ensure that all brothers
performed cheerful service, participated in program activities, attended
ceremonies, attended religious services, and participated in the lodge
business meeting. The wagion Award was developed to recognize Scout Leaders
attending camp.
