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About Tesomas |
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Memories From James Kerr |
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| In January 2004 we
received an email from Deborah Kerr. Her father James
Kerr served on Tesomas staff in 1935 and 1936.
Mr. Kerr passed away January 20, 2008 at the age of 88.
Mr. Kerr was the oldest Tesomas alumni. He helped clear
and build Rotary Lodge & served on the first two camp
staffs in 1935 and 1936. Mr. Kerr along with others of
his time are the reason why we have Tesomas today.
Here
is Mr. Kerr's email to his daughter and
Deborah's
comments to us: WOW !!
My Boy Scout Camp is still there.
I helped clear the land for the Main Dining Hall in 1934.
I was a junior counselor and bugler in '35 and '36.
I remember as a child seeing my Dad's Boy Scout handbook,
with the handcarved cover of wood, how impressed I was with it.
And, having his revelry bugles around the house. One of which I
have sitting in my living room now. I remember how proud
he was when he spoke of his days as a Boy Scout.
We thought this was an excellent opportunity
to reminisce and ask questions. Thanks for the memories
Mr. Kerr! |
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Part 1
I
think it was well before 1933 that our Scout Executive of
Samoset Council, William Hoffman, started pushing organizations
and businesses, including the Wausau Rotary Club to establish a
camp for the Boy Scouts. I remember a contest to give the camp a
name and promote interest in the project. The winning entry of
course suggested spelling SAMOSET backwards.
In 1933, William Hoffman, took notice of me and I got to meet
our Scout Executive. At a Bugle Call Contest, I somehow managed
to win 1st place and was awarded a lapel pin and a silver bugle
from our Scout Executive. (the bugle was a standard Key of G
brass bugle that was silver plated).
Mr. Hoffman offered my services around town for military
funerals and other events that required a bugler.
In late 1933 Mr. Hoffman told me that Camp Tesomas was coming
along fine and would be needing a bugler. He also gave some of
us Scouts a good sales pitch and in the late Spring, Summer and
Fall of 1934 a small group of Boy Scouts became "Go-fers" and
helpers at Tesomas whenever they weren't attending school. |
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Part 2 |
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When I first saw Tesomas in late Spring of 1934, I was surprised
to see the Dining Hall was already in place but with a
tremendous amount of work still to be done. We "Go-fers" were
learning the tricks of carpentry, painting, staining, applying
wood preservative, peeling bark off the logs for the front porch
of the Dining Hall. The floor was unfinished and covered with
protective paper with large pieces of scrap cardboard and woe to
the person that didn't take their dirty shoes off. The big stone
fireplace had it's final work done in Spring 1935. I never saw
when the kitchen was finished and all the equipment installed
but it was ready when camp officially opened. At intervals we
were sent to help carpenters working on the sleeping units along
the lakeshore.
A job more physical AND more fun was taking out trees, tree
stumps and bushes around the Dining Hall and other areas of the
camp. Working with mattock, hoe and shovel we would expose a few
roots of a tree - then an old lumberjack would move in with his
big draft-horse named JAKE. A chain would be wrapped around the
tree roots and then fastened to Jakes harness. Most of the time
Jake had no trouble pulling it out of the ground. If the tree
resisted, Jake would look around behind him to survey the
problem. He would then rise up on his hind legs, move ahead to
take the slack out of the chain, and then throw his full weight
forward. Most times the tree would lose the battle. We rarely
had to do extra digging.
We were all invited to the official opening of Camp Tesomas in
1935 and to attend the five weeks of summer camp for free as
junior counselors. |
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Note:
In
'35 and '36 the camp store had a post card showing the sign
arching over the entrance that spelled out TESOMAS and was
made of White Birch branches. The Cub Scouts were required to
send at least one of those post cards home with a message. |
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Part 3 |
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This is a Samoset story, but still involved
Tesomas.
The National Boy Scout Jamboree held in Madison, Wisconsin had
to be in '35 or '36 because I was there.
Everyone couldn't help but notice the presence of Samoset
Council at the Jamboree. Samoset's big, tall Indian Wigwams
stood out amongst all the small pup-tents from the other states.
William Hoffman arranged a donation of two huge rolls of extra
heavy craft paper from a northern Wisconsin paper mill to be
delivered to Camp Tesomas and a lumber company donated a LOT of
long poles. We cut and laid out large pieces of the paper on a
clear area between the Dining Hall and lakeshore. Glued the
large sheets together with donated rubber cement - then cut the
paper to a pattern. Painted Indian designs on the paper with
gallons of donated paint. A practice assembly of poles and paper
was done at Tesomas of each Wigwam, then dismantled and trucked
down to Madison in a donated truck. At the Madison
campground we quickly mounted the poles in the shape of a wigwam
and fastened the paper around the poles. Not sure, but there
must have been at least five big wigwams - roughly 10 ft
Diameter at the base with the cone shaped peak maybe 10 ft high.
The wigwams were arranged in a big circle with a council fire
arranged in the middle of the circle. We were the hit of the
Jamboree. |
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Part 4 |
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It's a little hard to remember what happened
and when it happened, so I'll just say these are random
happenings at Tesomas that I hope are reasonably accurate.
The Wausau Scout Executive became a Camp Director whenever he
entered the gates of Camp Tesomas.
The Camp Director and his wife had small living accommodations
in a room adjacent to the camp office in the Dining Hall.
The Director's wife probably performed many tasks. She was
rarely seen except when a scraped knee needed patching or a
homesick boy needed a little help.
The Director was warm and friendly, but could be tough at times.
Two Senior Counselors saw the scouts they were responsible for
into bed - and after Taps, slipped out of camp and drove into
town. When they returned to a locked gate the Director was
waiting for them at the camp entrance with their belongings. Two
Junior Counselors took their place for the rest of the week and
two new Seniors were hired.
In '35 it was a Boy Scout Camp. Starting in '36 the camp was
available to Girl Scouts the first week of the season. The
second week belonged to the Cub Scouts and the Boy Scouts
enjoyed the last four weeks.
From the start, Tesomas floated a good fleet of used but good,
clean rowboats. Mr. Hoffman must have worked hard with a canoe
manufacturer or dealer, because there were six or eight brand
new "Shell Lake" canoes. http://dragonflycanoe.com/id/shelllake.html
Tesomas was the place to get your canoeing merit badge.
At the end of the '36 season the Scout Executive/Camp Director
became "Bill" Hoffman. "Bill" found transportation and food for
the Junior Counselors - a truck for the canoes and we, Bill and
one Senior Counselor all spent a week shooting the falls and
rapids of the Flambeau River. |
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Part 5 |
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The bugler can't remember the time of day but here's the most
used calls:
First Call................................ 7 AM ??
Reveille
Assembly
Morning Colors
Mess Call (3 times each day)
Assembly
Evening Colors
Evening Tattoo
Taps..................................... 10 PM ??
http://www.fortnet.org/~meh/scouts/bugle/
The bugler rotated between a Key of G bugle and an old Key of C
Cavalry bugle. The only one who noticed the difference was a
retired Army officer who lived at the far end of the lake. He
said that "Evening Tattoo" brought tears to his eyes every
night.
This one you might not want to put in your Website. Between
First Call and Reveille some Senior staff, during a Cub Scout
week, took a morning dip in the lake. The first one in the water
shouted, and his voice carried over the lake, " It's cold enough
to freeze the balls off.". On Sunday when parents arrived to
pick up their boys, we heard one Cub Scout shout to his Mother,
"Mom, the water was cold enough to freeze a brass monkey".
CAPTURE-THE-FLAG....At the end of one game they took roll-call
and one boy was missing. Senior and Junior Counselors formed up
lines of campers to walk through the woods and shouting the
boy's name. After an hour when it was decided that a call should
go out for extra help, the boy came walking up to the Dining
Hall behind the Director's big Sheepdog.
Dr. CHENEY - NATURE LORE...Fantastic at taking a group into the
woods and identifying birds, trees and plants. Time to return
and he'd ask which way was home. If there was a boy in the group
who raised his hand he'd let him lead. If no one offered, he
would spit in the palm of his left hand, bring the index finger
of his right hand smartly into his left palm. The spit would fly
out of his left palm and the direction it flew pointed to the
way home. The procedure never failed. He warned that it would
only work for him. |
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Note:
TATTOO......15 minutes prior to TAPS Signals that all loud
talking and other disturbances
be discontinued.
I took cornet/trumpet lessons for three years from an Army
bandsman. He also squeezed in lessons for bugle calls. Played in
the High School band for two years. |
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Part 6 |
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HOMEMADE ICE CREAM - Junior Counselors tried
making ice cream the hard way using a bucket with ice, salt and
a lot of hard cranking by hand. The ice cream was good but we'd
spilled a lot of the icy salt water on the porch outside the
Dining Hall kitchen. The next morning we discovered that a
porcupine had chewed a big hunk out of the brand new porch to
get the salt that had soaked into the wood.
It appears that the offspring of the '35 and '36 Loons, with
their eerie call are maintaining
their traditions on Crystal Lake.
There was a rumor in '36 that a high voltage line with it's
towers would be traversing the forest acreage of Tesomas. Only
today's campers and staff would know if Camp Director Hoffman
was successful at re-routing the project.
Scouting ended for me in 1937 when I left Wausau, and never
looked back until the year 2004 when I discovered the Camp
Tesomas Website on the Internet.
That's all this old brain can remember for now. If by some slim
chance a piece of memory shows up I will pass it on to you. |
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Part 7 |
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The house you asked about - I can't remember
any house on the left side of the lake. However, the dense
vegetation along the shore might have hidden a house.
The main structures on Camp Tesomas property in '35 and '36 were
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1. The Dining Hall
2. A Crafts building located straight out for about 200 to 300
ft. from the Dining hall's front porch.
3. A "T" shaped dock at the foot of the lake.
4. Running up the right side of the lake - on high ground- there
was a trail. In '34 there were 2 platforms with wall tents. For
'35 and '36 they had been converted into screened cabins with
drop-down shutters and 4 or 6 identical cabins continued along
the trail, stopping short of the swamp that you mentioned. All
camp activity stopped at that point but the more adventurous
Scouts explored the swamp and further along the shore.
The cabins held 5 double bunk-beds and a bed for a Counselor or
Scout Master. With 6 or 8 cabins, that would make a count of 60
or 80 campers per week. All campers arrived with their own
sleeping bags. Each bed had a wire-spring support for a
straw-filled mattress.
In the Dining Hall - Looking toward the fireplace - a camp store
was to the left A small Director's office was to the right.
Behind the fireplace and accessed by way of the office was
living quarters for the Director and his wife.
I must have used them, but I can't remember where the latrines
were. My guess is that each cabin had one behind the cabin back
into the woods.
Back up a slight hill from the dock in the lake was a small area
for assembly with a flag pole and a large metal megaphone for a
bugle.
Back off in the woods was a small cleared area for Order of the
Arrow ceremonies.
That's it !! |
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Part 8 |
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As I remember - -
The 6 to 10 ft wide inlet connecting the "swamp" and lake had
stones that you could step on when crossing to avoid getting
your feet wet. A canoe of course would have to be carried
through the inlet. Once in the swamp area it appeared that you
might float a canoe on a few "ponds" but your canoe would be
grounded as soon as you sat in it. I imagine the water level in
the "swamp" was dependant on the lake level. There was no trail
after you crossed the little inlet.
Now I have a question about the Order of the Arrow - - Is the
opening ceremony today still following the very first Order of
the Arrow ceremony conducted at Camp Tesomas ??
In the late evening, in a cleared area back in the woods, the
campers were assembled around a built-up, pyramid shaped council
fire which was waiting to be lit. The Camp Director appeared in
buckskins and with a full-feathered Indian war bonnet. He called
out in a loud voice, asking Chief Samoset to light the council
fire. After a brief pause, a real, live, flaming arrow came
whistling through the trees to strike the waiting council fire
and ignite the tinder within.
Bet they don't do it that way now !! |
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