As a young boy, Scout Chet Lindskog said his troop camped on the halfacre of South Shore Devil Track land deeded to Cook County Boy Scouts in 1947.
“There were no neighbors then. It was used a lot,” Lindskog said to a group of about a dozen people attending a meeting on September 10, 2015 to discuss selling the property.
A meeting was called at Cook County Higher Education after local Cub Scout leaders learned that the land might be sold. No one told them, said leader Sara Hadley.
“My husband and father and me and my three little boys went up and spent several hours cleaning up the property. We were up there wasting our time. We didn’t know anything about this,” said Hadley.
Long-time Scoutmaster Bruce Kerfoot started the proceedings with a brief history about the property. He said the land was given to the scouts by the Spike Johnson family (of the Lloyd K. Johnson family) more than 50 years ago, but the family was agreeable to the idea of selling it as long as the local troop received some money from the sale.
Kerfoot is on a board that is studying land owned by Boy Scout troops in the region, and so far eight properties have been identified that might be better off being sold with the money used to purchase one new site or used to help finance Boy Scout activities in the region.
“This isn’t the only area going through this process,” Kerfoot said, adding, “What has been discovered is that we have more campsite locations than are being used.”
Kerfoot also said that after reviewing properties that don’t meet current Boy Scout criteria, “The model of our past may not be the model of our future.”
Voyageurs Area Council Scout Executive/ CEO David Nolle and Nick Mindardi, council president, also attended the meeting.
Today the South Shore parcel is sandwiched between residential properties and has no road access, no running water, no working latrine and a building in disrepair that can’t be used in its current state.
And, said former Boy Scout leader Dan Baumann, the object of sending Boy Scouts out to camp is to provide, “A true wilderness experience, and you can’t have that there.”
Once all of the emotion was taken out of the equation it became apparent that the Boy Scout land on South Shore Drive needed to be sold, with most of the proceeds going to the local troop and some money to the Voyageur Area Council.
But it wasn’t an easy decision to reach.
Although there is currently no Boy Scout troop in Cook County, there is a strong Cub Scout program with about 20 kids regularly attending, said local Scoutmaster Daniel Ditmanson, who obtained his rank of Eagle Scout in Boy Scouts under Baumann.
Former Cub Scout Den Mother Julie Carlson said she took her troop to Devil Track Lake once, but it was a battle to clean up the area and then camp. “The lake was too cold to swim in. We cleaned up brush. I guess we ate hot dogs, had a picnic, but it wasn’t a lot of fun and we didn’t go back.”
Carlson’s grandfather, Howard Joynes, built the building now on the site and he was one of the county’s early scouting leaders.
“Times have changed since Howard’s day,” said Carlson. “Things were simpler back then. You didn’t need a lifeguard or liability insurance. If a kid fell down and broke his wrist you drove him to the hospital. There was no ride in an ambulance and the parents weren’t going to sue you.”
Ditmanson presented several arguments to keep the land, noting it was a long drive to get kids to camp in Duluth or beyond, and not all parents could afford to take that drive or could leave work to travel. Ditmanson also said he had contacted the U.S. Forest Service and was told the local troop could build a latrine again, but Minardi said much more would need to happen to make it a place that could be sanctioned by today’s Boy Scouts.
“You need to put a road in, create off-street parking, put in water, add a latrine, provide an on-duty lifeguard, buoys, canoes, build a new building, provide ongoing maintenance, and it still wouldn’t be a wilderness experience because of your location,” said Minardi, adding that there are also potential issues with insurance.
Ditmanson again asked the group to consider keeping the location and the possibilities it could provide if it was brought up to speed, noting the property had been owned a long time by the local troop.
“A pack or a troop can’t own a piece of property,” Nolle said. “Currently there is no legal entity in Cook County that is designated as Boy Scouts.”
“It might take two or three years,” said Ditmanson, “but we will have a Boy Scout troop here again once some of these Cub Scouts are ready. Scouting is cyclical, especially in Cook County. Sometimes we have a strong Boy Scout program and not many Cub Scouts, and sometimes it’s the other way around.”
Carlson asked Ditmanson how many times in the last 15 years he spent overnight at Devil Track Lake.
“None,” he answered.
“Really then, what are you losing if the property is sold?” she asked.
“Yes, I see your point. Really, all I want is what’s best for scouting,” said Ditmanson.
“Why are we worrying about this little piece of property when we have 3 million acres of wilderness at our back door we can use and we don’t even have to maintain it?” questioned Baumann.
But Leah Carpenter pointed out that if the land were to be sold, the local troop needed to get something in return.
Kerfoot said one of the neighbors would like to buy the property at its assessed value, and as a Realtor he could handle the sale. “It’s not my intent to be rude or pernicious,” Kerfoot said. “I will do the best I can for our local troop and for the scouts.”
Nolle told Ditmanson, “We are here to help you. We are here to benefit all scouts. You are not alone on an island. We have camper scholarships and programs to help send kids to camp. But our purse isn’t an open pocketbook. The kids will have to make some money to go to camp.”
At meetings’ end Hadley and Carpenter said they were glad to learn about the services that the Voyageurs Area Council could provide, and both Baumann and Kerfoot offered their assistance to the local scouts.
For more information about the Boy Scouts of America Voyageurs Area Council, visit www.vac-bsa.org.
Anyone interested in the Boy Scout program in Cook County is encouraged to contact Scoutmaster Daniel Ditmanson at 218-370-2307.
Leave a Reply