Boy Scout Jamboree Trip
In 1953 as a 15 year old Boy Scout I left by Train from Port Kent Station for a trip across the Northern United States to the Santa Anna Ranch in Southern California to attend a National Jamboree. John Deming of Elizabethtown and Jack Laduke of Saranac Lake were other locals on the trip. As we crossed New York State there were 6 Railroad Cars of Boy Scouts. We stopped at Yellowstone and Yosemite and on the return trip across the Southern United States at the Grand Canyon. The trip lasted 3 weeks; 1 going, 1 at the Jamboree Encampment and 1 returning. In 2008 at my wife's St Lawrence University 50th college reunion and my 49th I found that 3 of her class mates were also on that train trip from New York State.
It was a fabulous trip I've never forgotten. many thanks to the Scouting Leadership and my Parents for making it possible.
Rod Giltz
1940-1960 | Plattsburgh | NY | Boy Scouts | Yosemite | Grand Canyon | Yellowstone
Submitted 10/1/2009, Mountain Lake PBS (WCFE)
