20 days, 7 hours, and 44 minutes ago.9 seconds,
16 hours, and 15 minutes.51 seconds,
History
- Lodge History
- Past Lodge Chiefs
- Past Lodge Advisors
- Founders Award Receipients
- Patches
- Elagomats
- Old Files & Documents
Mischigonong Lodge #89 was formed in 1971 upon the creation of the new Lake Huron Area Council, 265. The lodge was comprised of three former lodges--the Tittabawasink Lodge #469 of the Paul Bunyan Council, the Kepayshowink Lodge # 89 of the Saginaw Bay Area Council (Previously the Summer Trails Council of Bay City and the Valley Trails Council of Saginaw) --and the eastern part of the Indian Drum Lodge # 152 of the Scenic Trails Council (Traverse City). Even prior to the adoption of the OA as a national BSA program, there were other camp honor societies in our council area.
The Order of the Arrow was founded in 1915 at Treasure Island Scout Camp, Philadelphia (PA) Council, by its Camp Director, E. Urner Goodman and Assistant Camp Director Carroll A. Edson. It was created as an honor camper society to recognize those scouts who best exemplified the living of the precepts of the Scout Oath and Law while at summer camp. Several other honor camper societies sprang up at other scout camps, and these quickly spread from camp to camp around the country.
In this area, the Tribe of Gimogash existed in the Summer Trails Council at Camp Haley and Camp Neyati from about 1931 to 1942. It was brought here by Wayne Dancer, (an Eagle Scout from Toledo, Ohio, an original member of the Tribe, and a summer camp staffer) and approved by the Camp Director and Scout Executive “Chief” George Landane.
In 1934 the Boy Scouts of America officially recognized the Order of the Arrow as an approved society within the Scouting Movement. In 1936 the program came to Valley Trails Council at Camp Kepayshowink (Camp Rotary) started by Camp Director and Scout Executive J. Herbert Saum. However these organizations were always camp based and as Camp Directors changed the program was sometimes discontinued. The Kepayshowink Lodge while first started in 1936, stopped functioning after a few years and was reinstated in 1942 by Camp Director E.B. Clark. The same year Chief Landane merged his Gimogash program into the approved Order of the Arrow program, keeping the name Gimogash for the new Lodge.
Summer Trails Council was formed in 1927 by the merging of the Bay City Council (1917) and the Midland Council (1919). It was made up of the following counties: Bay, Huron, Tuscola (part), Midland, Gladwin, Arenac, Iosco, Roscommon, and Ogemaw. Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Alpena, Montmorecy, Otsego, Presque Isle, and Cheboygan. It’s summer camps were Camp Haley (1926-1947) near Selkirk, on Henderson Lake, Camp Neyati (1937-1962) near Lake Station, on Crooked Lake, and Bear Lake Scout Camp (1954-1985) near Kalkaska on Bear Lake. The Council was headquartered in Bay City.
Valley Trails Council was founded in 1928 in Saginaw. Previously the Saginaw Council had existed from 1918 to 1928. VTC was made up of the following counties: Saginaw, Gratiot, Isabella, Clare and part of Tuscola. It’s summer camp was Camp Rotary (1926-present), sometimes called Camp Kepayshowink, near Clare. It was headquartered in Saginaw.
In 1947 the northern counties of Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Alpena, Montmorecy, Otsego, Presque Isle, and Cheboygan became part of Scenic Trails Council, headquartered in Traverse City.
In 1951, Midland, Gladwin, Arenac, Roscommon and Ogemaw, counties formed the new Paul Bunyan Council, headquartered in Midland. Camp Neyati (1937-1962) was it’s summer camp until the opening of Paul Bunyan Scout Reservation in 1963.
In 1961, when Valley Trails and Summer Trails Councils merged to form Saginaw Bay Area Council, the two lodges merged, keeping the name and number of Kepayshowink #89. Scouts camped at Rotary and Bear Lake.
In 1971, Saginaw Bay Area Council merged with Paul Bunyan Council and the eastern portion of Scenic Trails Council. It comprises 19 counties including: Bay, Huron, Tuscola, Saginaw, Gratiot, Isabella, Clare, Midland, Gladwin, Arenac, Iosco, Ogemaw, Roscommon, Alcona, Oscoda, Montmorency, Presque Isle, Otsego, and Crawford. It is headquartered near Auburn, Michigan. It’s summer camps include Camp Rotary (1926-present), Bear Lake Scout Camp (1954-1985) and Paul Bunyan Scout Reservation (1963-present).
With the creation of the new Lake Huron Area Council, a new lodge was formed. Mischigonong,
kept the lodge number of Kepayshowink #89, but renamed itself. Mischigonong's charter members chose the canoe as the lodge
symbol or totem and designed the first lodge flap--three canoes with W.W.W. superimposed on the them. The name
"Mischigonong" comes from the Ottawa Indians and means, "Land of the Great Lakes."
(Al Barnes' book Supper in the Evening describes the Ottawas and their use of the word "Mischigonong" to
characterize the land about them.)
The lodge originally consisted of ten chapters, but today is organized into seven.
Each one of the council's districts is an Order of the Arrow Chapter. These are: Shoreline District, TOBICO Chapter;
Ojibway District, KEPAYSHOWINK Chapter; Thumb District, NISWI ISHKODEN Chapter (formerly THUMB Chapter);
White Birch District, WAAB WIIGAAS Chapter; Chippewa District, CHIPPEWA Chapter; AuSable District, AUSABLE Chapter;
and Thunderhead District, NEGWEGON Chapter.
During the Lodge's 34 year history, Mischigonong has been awarded the national E. Urner Goodman Camping Award in 1980 and the section DeCoursey Award in 1976, 1994 and 2004. Both of these awards are for achievement in camping promotions. More recently, the lodge received a $2,500 matching grant for the "Year In Service" program by the National Order of the Arrow Committee. This money was matched by the lodge and the total $5,000 was used to develop a handicapped accessable site at Camp Rotary. In 1986, the lodge hosted over 3,600 arrowmen from around the nation at Central Michigan University for the National Order of the Arrow Conference entitled "Kindle the Flame From Within."
Over the years, the Mischigonong Lodge of the Order of the Arrow has donated significant monies toward camp promotions and physical improvements of our council camps. Besides many of the small priced improvements, a few of the big ticket items have been $5,000 for the COPE program at Camp Rotary and $1,500 for the rail fencing at Paul Bunyan. In 1997, the sum of $7,500 was allocated for several long term projects at Paul Bunyan including repairs and reconstruction of the rifle range shelter, and parade ground improvements. Likewise, the lodge has donated a yearly amount so that underprivileged scouts may attend summer camp and has given countless hours of physical labor towards the improvement and upkeep of Paul Bunyan and Rotary.
Currently the lodge has an active membership roster of about 500, inducting approximately 64 Ordeal Members and 38 Brotherhood Members at our 2004 Fall Fellowship at P.B.S.R. In 1996, 15 arrowmen attended the National Order of the Arrow Conference at the University of Indiana at Bloomington, Ind., and 46 arrowmen attended the 1997 Section C-2B conclave at Camp Hiawatha hosted by the Ag-Im Lodge #156 of Marquette, MI. In 1998 we had a spirited group of arrowmen bring home the Coup Stick at the section conclave at Northwoods Scout Reservation hosted by Gabe-Shi-Win-Gi-Ji-Kens Lodge #374, and 19 arrowmen represented the lodge at the 1998 NOAC at Iowa State University at Ames, Iowa. Mischigonong had over 80 arrowmen participate as the host lodge for the 1999 Section C-2B conclave at our own Camp Rotary. In April, 2000 several arrowmen travelled to Camp Gerber for the conclave hosted by Nacha Tindey #25, and 13 brothers made up the contingent attending the 2000 NOAC at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. 22 lodge members participated in the 2001 section conclave at Rota-Kiwan Scout Reservation at Kalamazoo, hosted by Nacha Mawat Lodge #373. In 2002, over 40 lodge members braved the wind, rain and snow to attend the conclave hosted by Indian Drum #152 at Camp Greilick in Traverse City. 17 members represented the lodge at the 2002 NOAC at the University of Indiana at Bloomington. In September, 2003 over 60 lodge members made the long trek up to Camp Hiawatha to take part in the rain soaked Section conclave, and about 55 members made a strong showing at the April, 2004 conclave at Northwoods.
The lodge has elected 31 youth to serve as its chief. They include:
- Pat Beck 1971-1972 and 1972-1973
- Dave Wagner 1973-1974
- Paul Blanchard 1974-1975
- Craig Bowen 1975-1976
- Brian Brophey 1976-1977
- Dale Foster 1977-1978
- Greg Watson 1978-1979
- Erv Hutter 1979-1980
- Robert Foltz 1980-1981
- Tom Stoppa 1981-1982
- Bob Nicol 1982-1983
- Mark Blanchard 1983-1984
- Kent Holsing 1984-1985
- Tim Brooks 1985-1986
- Jeff Schultz 1986-1987
- Bob Rhode 1987-1988
- Steve Townsend 1988-1989
- Dave Ryder 1989-1990
- Dave Sheppard 1990-1991
- Derek Kimball 1991-1992 and 1992-1993
- Tom Olver 1993-1994
- Marc Orth 1994-1995
- Ted Kremer 1995-1996
- Tom White 1996-1997
- Eric Gorney 1997-1998
- Chris VanArsdale 1998-1999
- Aaron Gorney 1999-2000
- Adam Dutkiewicz 2000-2001
- Mark VanArsdale 2001-2002
- Chris Tack 2002-2003 and 2003-2004
- Eric Curtis 2004-2005 and 2005-2006
- Matt VanArsdale 2006-2007
- Storm Shriver 2007-2008
Three arrowmen, Brian Brophey, 1978;
Brian Yoder, 1982; and Ken Ruppel, 1989; have been elected Section Chief from our lodge.
The Council Scout
Executives have appointed nine adults Lodge Advisor over the past 34+ years. These arrowmen are:
- Roy Chase 1971-1973
- Roger Sucharski 1973-1978
- Robert Donaghue 1978-1981
- John Foltz 1981-1986
- Doug Catlin 1986-1988
- Marcus Haubenstricker 1988-1992
- George Strom 1992-1996
- Ken Kueffner 1996-2005.
- Frank Welling 2005-2006
- Tom Stoppa 2006-Present
Each year, Mischigonong Lodge presents the Founder's Award, which is a national award given on the lodge level to no more than two members (one youth and one adult) who have given outstanding service to the lodge and demonstrate the ideals of the Order described by our founder. Past recipients are:
- Richard Thompson (1982),
- Tom Stoppa and Robert Donaghue (1984),
- Bob Nicol and George Strom (1985),
- Mark Blanchard and Richard Wasmer (1986),
- Ken Ruppel and Jack Beamish (1987),
- Jeff Schultz and D. Hugh Clark (1988),
- Brian Mowry and Thomas Jane (1989),
- Dave Sheppard and James Mowry (1990),
- Charlie Looker and John Foltz (1991),
- Clinton Andrews and Noel Ryder (1992),
- George Doak and Dan Beard (1994),
- Peter Starland and Marcus Haubenstricker (1995),
- Mark Orth and Mary Lou Jones (1996),
- Ted Kremer and John England (1997),
- Chris VanArsdale and Michael Smith (1998),
- Eric Gorney and Ken Kueffner (1999),
- Eric French and Larry Smith (2000),
- Guy Payne and Don Schultz (2001),
- Chris Fehrman and Bob Jones (2002),
- Doug Merriam and Clyde French (2003),
- Mark VanArsdale and Don Pashby (2004),
- Eric Curtis and Herb Voltz (2005).
- Matt Van Arsdale (2006)
- Brandon Armstrong and Chris Tack (2007)
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