The Evolution of Maumee Reservation

The Boy Scout Camping Facility

Hoosier Trails Council, B.S.A

1960 to 1972

By: Timothy W. Rose, Sr.

Part Two

Out of a clear blue sky late on Saturday, December 19, 1964, a longtime dedicated Scouter, by the name of Gus Sieboldt, who was then a Vice-President of the Ralph Rogers Company, called one of the active Valley Trails District Scouters, whom he had gotten to know through construction on the Indiana University campus, and asked if the Scouts could use some land on the Monroe Reservoir for a campsite. It seems that the Rogers organization was interested in divesting itself of some of its real estate holdings to reduce its tax obligations. The answer was obvious, but the reply to the question was how much the land was being offered, presuming it might be forty or fifty acres, or so. When the reply cane back that it was in excess of 400 acres, the shock of the size and location began to set in. The Council President, H.B. Brooks, and the Council Scout Executive, Robert Paton, were immediately advised, and the mental gymnastics suddenly burst into a maelstrom of visionary pursuits!

At the next Council Executive Board meeting on January 18, 1965, Mr. Brooks proudly announced that, as of December 28, 1964, the Ralph Rogers firm had formally made a gift transfer of 430 acres of land in the vicinity of the Friendship Church area on the upper Monroe Reservoir East of Bloomington to the Boy Scout Council. In sharing the jubilation with the Board, he also advised that the Council would look to the American Camping Association, to the National Boy Scout Engineering Services and to Indiana University for help in developing the site. It wasn't long, though, until the bubble burst when in April 1965 representatives of the National B.S.A. Engineers reported that the gift of the Rogers firm was neither adequate nor suitable to build any kind of a Boy Scout Camp!

Mr. Frank Rogers, of that organization, had visited the site together with members of the Camping Committee and found that only about a 40 acre pasture area might be suitable for camping, but practically all of that was below the "take line", which the U.S. Corps of Engineers described as land on which no structures could be built because it was possible, during high water levels of the Reservoir, for it to be completely inundated. The balance of the acreage was situated on very steep hillsides, most of which impossible even to climb.

The total picture wasn't as dismal as it might appear at this point, because the Council did own 430 acres of land, free and clear, and it was situated so that others might be interested in it. Bill Cure, then chairman of the Long-Range Camp Development Committee, advised that from previous consultations with both the Indiana State Department of Natural Resources and the Hoosier National Forest Division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture were interested in that land as it lay adjacent to their current holdings. He also said that under certain circumstance, it might be possible to trade acre for acre with either entity should we be able to find a suitable land site of theirs in which we might be interested. It later developed that our gift of land was situated so that both entities were interested in only portions of the total acreage, because by previous mutual agreement, neither organization wished to violate land acquisition beyond a mythical east-west line that ran through our property.

In the meantime, President Brooks had appointed a Long-Range Camp Development Committee to work with Mr. Cure as chairman; namely, Karl Bookwalter, L.W. Dixon, Paul Hesser, Richard Paul, Maynard Raggio, Maurice Reeves, Timothy Rose, Jim Schmaltz, Ernie Schmidt, Louis Swinehart, William Wehrle and Robert Woolery. Each person appointed had a special expertise to offer as well as long-time Scouting interest and association. Just to name a couple in particular, Maurice Reeves had joined the Executive Board very soon after having been transferred to this area by the U.S. Corps of Engineers to manage and control the Monroe Reservoir. To further add to the item of chance or coincidence, in January of 1967, Mr. Claude Ferguson, of the U.S. Forest Service, was transferred into Indiana to manage the Hoosier National Forest properties.

At the time when Mr. Ferguson came aboard, the U.S. Forest Service nationally had been mandated to cooperate with the Boy Scouts of America in any way possible, and Claude, himself a dedicated Scouter and Scout father took that mandate seriously, which in the end turned out to favor the White River Council, B.S.A. For the next six or seven years a very complex set of circumstances took place in which we learned to lean quite heavily on the Forest Service and its local manager.

In addition to the two above named individuals and their respective organizations, others who also approved invaluable in their service during the prolonged saga were the National Boy Scouts of America Engineering services. They were represented by a Mr. Frank Rogers, who was such a frequent visitor to our Council that it might appear as if he were a member. Another organization which we leaned heavily upon was the Indiana State Geological Survey Department located at Indiana University, then later in our efforts to get the best for the least, we turned to the Soils Conservation Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, represented in Indiana by Robert Mast in the Indianapolis office.

In May of 1967, Jim was selected to replace Robert Paton as our Council Executive. Paton left the Scouts to seek other areas of endeavor. It would be most difficult to describe how the clever maneuvering and manipulations of Mr. Merry aided our cause, not only in the search for a new campsite, but also in establishing valid connections with anyone who could be of assistance to us. His quiet, professional leadership was quickly revealed as everything he led us into seemed to tum out as desired in spite of our frailties. All was not as rosy as it might seem at this point, as there was still four or five years of effort and much work that lay ahead to complete our task.

As you may have noted from the previous listing of possible campsites, the Committee and the Board members continued to view all potential property with a never-ending vigilance. Any sizable land site was cause for inviting the B.S.A. Engineers to join in the inspection, and each time it seemed as if Mr. Frank Rogers referred us back to the site of a creek in the Hoosier National Forest as his preference, mainly because of its isolation and the possibilities it offered. Frequent visits to the Indiana Geological Survey office kept the committee informed as to the potential for any type of a lake impoundment. In many instances, when the geography appeared favorable to us, were advised that the site viewed would not hold water for a lake, or at most would only form a pond two or three feet deep, due to the crevices and fissures in the underground limestone. However, when they viewed the creek site, their advice was that it not only would adequately hold water for a lake of any size, but we should not expect to get any water from wells for domestic purposes, as none would be available. That about clinched that site, as the committee felt with proper engineering water could be obtained from the lake impoundment.

Other issues were also in the process by this time; such as, the appraisal we might expect from the sale of the Rogers Company gift of land, the value of our holdings at Camp Wapehani, and the return which we might expect in the prolonged negotiations with the Indiana State Highway Department for the 9.809 acres they needed of our land at Wapehani to complete the west by-pass of highway 37. Current land values around the Rogers site were ranging from $250 to $500 per acre, although the Hoosier National Forest could not meet that range in price.

We also found several pieces of privately owned land varying in size from 40 acres to 194 acres in and around where we envisioned our new camp.

Each of these readily available for purchase, but too often at a price higher than the Forest Service were permitted to pay. With these sets of circumstances, it became obvious that acquisition of land for a campsite might entail several options; namely, outright purchases, trading land at value for value rather than acre for acre, and the three way exchange of land between the Boy Scouts, the State of Indiana and the Forest Service. In the final analysis, all of these options and/or others too complicated to note did take place.

About the Author

Timothy Winton Rose Sr. was a life-long Scouter and served as Council Commissioner and past council President. He was a member of the Long Range Camp Committee, the team dedicated to finding and establishing Maumee Scout Reservation, “one of the finest BoyScout camping facilities in the Middle West…”

Mr. Rose composed “The Evolution of Maumee Reservation” as a loving remembrance in celebration of Maumee’s 25th Anniversary. Mr. Rose passed away on September 12, 2010 at the age of 93.

Part Two: Maumee Reservation History