Tribute To Farragut

Tribute to Farragut   Written 1966

                                          By Wallace Baldwin

There is a place in the wilds of Idaho

Called Farragut State Park.

One morning peaceful and empty,

Held 4000 boys by dark.

By train, plane, bus and car,

They came from near. They came from far.

From the wilds of Canada came some to stay,

And many from the good old USA.

The troops of 40 were very proud,

To pitch their tents under sky and cloud.

The staff was ready and willing to go.

The boys were willing to provide the show.

The showers were more than some could take,

When they got out they would shiver and shake.

They woke up in the morning and like a bad dream,

Would run to be first at the latrine.

The leaders would shave in the water cold,

To show the boys that they were bold.

“Mean Mouth” would holler and “Big Bear” scold,

And tell the boys the water was not COLD.

“Bridger” would tell the boys not to touch

His hairy face ot they would be in dutch.

“Money Bags” had a following profound,

But he always had money to go around.

The ice cold showers could have been drastic,

But the faithful leaders danced the light fantastic.

The boys would holler and scream and shout,

Some didn’t like it, but none dared pout.

The food was fantastic, for a Boy Scout camp.

The ground was hard, but never damp.

The marching feet of the sailors of old,

Were marched by the boys who were not so old.

The trading was done, at least so they say,

By the boys from Canada and the USA.

If Beret’s were the only thing Canadians had,

The trading American’s would have been taken bad.

As the trucks and buses left at last

The encampment activity a thing of the past,

The boys looked forward to home so dear,

But all talked about a return next year.

We your leaders think your great,

Even after the food you cooked—We ate.

Clean up you disliked, and some fingers were cut,

But we will all remember Old Farragut.

I wrote this in Jul/Aug 1966 at, what I think, was the first U.S.- Canadian, Boy Scout encampment. I passed out a copy to all the boys and it became known as the ”Tribute to Farragut”. The names of the leaders, of course do not mean anything to you, unless you were there. The leadership for our troop of 40 was- Bill Mendenhall, Ken McFarland, Larry Ballard and Wally Baldwin (Me.)