Research on Boy Scout Hike

[rockdancer]

This is the first of 10 emails I plan to send to AT-L and Whiteblaze as a summary of the research I performed on the 1936 Boy Scout Hike. My complete report runs to 40 pages and contains 201 footnotes. But it doesn't seem fair to subject friends to that much material, some of which I admit is quite boring to get through. Much of my work has been with the primary materials I could get my hands on, but I also relied on Guy & Laura Waterman's work "Forest & Crag" quite a bit. The work was done over a 15 month period, ending in 2003, and it consisted of a couple of visits to the Bronx, a week spent in the Main branch of the New York City Library (a great institution!), another week spent at the AMC Library in Boston, and additional weeks of work at the main library of Brandeis University in Waltham, MA.

I've decided to post the material in a different order than in the report so there may be occasions when something is unclear because it was already talked about. I have stripped out the footnotes because it adds to the length of the emails and in many cases is a long repitition of citations to the Bronx Home News, or to the Watermans "Forest and Crag".

I'll be happy to elucidate any obscure passages or provide citations to those who want to know more. As I said in an earlier email (to AT-L) it's unlikely that I'll have time to do more work on this in the near future. I've been tempted to rewrite sections of this as I go but I'm going to avoid the temptation. Many of you know I'm not really a writer but I'm enough of a reader to want to do better <g>... In fact it's probably taken me 2 hours of writing time for every hour I spent doing the research. In total the effort is probably in the hundreds of hours. If you need the background materials there is a thread here on Whiteblaze titled "1936 Boy Scout Hike" that ended in January.
--Arthur aka RockDancer

(So let us begin...)
History of the Boy Scouts in America
The BSA marked the end of their Silver Jubilee year in the spring of 1936 with a 2-night Scout-O-Rama celebration at Madison Square Garden. During the early years of the Great Depression membership had fallen and 1936 completes the recovery from that setback of declining membership and income. There are 30,000 troops with over 750,000 scouts in the United States by year’s end. By this time the BSA has had over 6 million scouts as members since its beginning. My research wasn’t able to show if this was the heyday of scouting but 1933 to 1936 was a period of unusual growth at a time when many organizations were in decline or disappearing. This growth was fostered by the synergy of new public opinion, renewed public spirit and unusually favorable federal government support.

During these 4 years the BSA organization pulled out all the stops in publicizing their program at the national level, structuring new (and aggressive) growth targets for all of the local councils, and marshaling assistance in governmental offices and from other public resources. American Legion chapters, along with other service clubs, were asked to sponsor local Boy Scout troops as part of a patriotic effort to assist the next generation. Petitions were made for meeting space, financial assistance, and adult mentoring of the scouts. Institutional opposition from churches dissolved away during this period, removing an impediment to new membership. And governmental assistance from many agencies was procured once Franklin D. Roosevelt was sworn into office. While President, FDR remained involved with the BSA organization as Honorary President of the National Council, and retained his title as President of the Boy Scout Foundation for Greater New York. It was in this role, in the late 1920’s, that Roosevelt pulled together the organization that created the 10 Mile River Camp. (Prior to his involvement the scouts used space set aside for them at Bear Mountain Park.)

Roosevelt opened the Jubilee Scout Year on February 8, 1935 with a radio talk to NYC scouts and closed the Jubilee Scout Year on February 8, 1936 making a radio speech on the beneficial activities of 1 million scouts across the US.

Scouts in New York Vicinity
On June 22, 1936 the New York Times ran an article reporting Police Commissioner Valentine’s support for the scouts. Valentine states that in 1935, 65 boys/day, under 16 years old, were arrested for petty crimes in NYC, at an estimated cost of $300 each to handle the juvenile delinquency caseload. He then went on to indicate that it would cost only $5/year for a boy to be in Scouts, and ended with an appeal “to Wall Street, to capable men in all occupations, to all good citizens” to assist in getting these boys out of gangs, and off the streets of New York, “not alone for the welfare of the community when they are men, but also and especially for the health and happiness of the individual boys while they are boys”. By years end several appeals raised money for scout memberships, to reduce debt for the Greater New York councils and to retire the long-term debt for the purchase of 10 Mile River Camp.

Ten Mile River Camp is located in Narrowsburg, NY (Sullivan County) about 110 miles from the Bronx. In 1936 the facility is in its 8th year of operation and the camp starts the summer on Monday June 29 (first week after school closing). The 10,000-acre facility is shared among all the borough scout troops, about 2,000 scouts, and each borough has its own camp. The Bronx council has Camp Ranachqua, with lots of improvements since the 1935 season. (Evidently the BSA organization is growing and investing heavily). Each camp is operated independently by borough leaders, with their own staff of camp directors and assistants. Among these directors is Harry T. O’Grady.

Scouting during this period in NYC seems essentially a keep busy or make-work system for boys, a way for boys to have a focus outside their families, outside school, and an option from the street gangs of the time. Many troops have activities for the boys each and every week, in addition to the weekly troop meetings. This explains what I found to be an unusual number of public events where scouts are participating. Some events are targeted at raising money for troops: minstrel shows, dance fund-raisers, a 26th annual circus, several intra-troop contests, boat rides, and Boy Scout Day in the Bronx. And other events are volunteer work for the local community: honor guard for politicians, planting trees, bringing donations to retired folks & shut-ins, Orange Day, feeding birds, 300th anniversary of the Dutch Colony and just standing on stage for many public occasions…

These events created a positive public profile for the organization and no doubt generated community support for the 1,000+ troops in the New York area. In addition a vast publicity campaign in New York City raised funds, raised awareness and systematically reduced opposition to the idea of BSA membership in the citywide area.
Scouts & the Bronx Council
1936 was a busy year in the Bronx, with troops first participating in the celebrations for the close of the Scout Jubilee and then conducting fund-raisers and activities to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the Bronx Council. The celebrations begin with Boy Scout Day in the Bronx in June, and finishes with a large November celebration. Fund-raisers are held throughout the summer and fall for this event.

I was delighted to discover that the scouts have their own 15-minute weekly radio slot to advertise their organization and activities to New York City. The Bronx Council begins broadcasts in April 1936 on WBNX. The Council headquarters were at 260 E. 161st Street and Grand Concourse, earlier they were located at 159th Street and Grand Concourse in the Bronx.

It seems that 1936 was a period of outreach to the Jewish community in the Bronx and that Harry O’Grady, a Roman Catholic, was spear-heading the effort to have more Jewish troops. Of 9 new troops inducted into the Bronx Council that year, 5 are Jewish troops meeting in synagogues with Harry O’Grady presiding at the induction ceremonies. My research may be misleading me here since reading the daily Home News for nearly all of 1936 gave me information about only 24 scout troops of the 143 in the Bronx! I lucked out in finding 2 announcements concerning Troop 257, Max Gordon’s troop. I haven’t found any additional info regarding the establishment of this troop but I did find that the earliest known Jewish troops in the US were in South Orange, NJ and Baltimore, MD.

The Bronx Council, if organized along the lines of other Boy Scout councils, had a central office with paid & volunteer staff that administered policy downwards to the districts, and through the districts to the troops. At this time the Bronx Council contained 143 troops divided into 15 districts. It’s likely that an intra-district newsletter was issued regularly in order to efficiently communicate policy and to announce news to all the troops in the council. These communications are held within the council and are not circulated to the national council level. I haven’t found the name of this internal newsletter for the Bronx council. Other monthly publications relating to scouting at the national level are Boys Life and Scouting. I’ve examined these magazines for the period 1936 to 1939 and found no references to the BSH or to the people in our story: Harry (Pop) O’Grady, Mr. Grabow, Max Gordon, Seymour Dorfman and Louis Zisk.

The BSA Annual Reports contain hundreds of pages and include summaries of membership, finances, noteworthy achievements by scouts & scouters and also lists of Local Council Representatives and Members-at-Large for each District in the nation. There were no references to the BSH and no listings for Harry O’Grady in the years 1936 to 1940 indicating he did not achieve those titles. This lack of evidence is consistent with Max’s statement that O’Grady left the scouts, moved to California to work with a Catholic youth organization.

Should an O’Grady trip proposal exist in BSA archives in the Bronx? O’Grady wasn’t a scoutmaster at this time, but instead a paid BSA official, his title was Field Executive. He was expected to stay around and earn his keep, and he did - as indicated by the New York Times article stating he’s at 10 Mile River Camp during the Summer of 1936. The scoutmaster on the hike would be the point person to generate a detailed plan, but Max Gordon doesn’t mention one in his story. It’s possible the anonymous WWI vets, without Mr. Grabow, did this trip all on their own and were the ones responsible for the boys. In this case it’s still possible that the Bronx council required a trip proposal in order to satisfy the parents of the scouts involved. It’s also possible a trip proposal was generated for consideration of the Veteran’s Post in their discussions about how to support the trip.

Jewish Scouting & Max Gordon’s Awards
The Ner Tamid News Bulletin has been in publication since the late 1920’s by the National Jewish Committee on Scouting. I’ve found only a few examples of this quarterly publication but examining an archive of this material might be very pertinent to this research. It regularly details, for the Jewish scouting community, the achievements of Jewish scouts and troops. Recipients of the Aleph Award (cub scouts), Ner Tamid Award (boy scouts) and Shofar Award (adult scouter) are named. Mr. Gordon was the first recipient of the Shofar Award according to the ATN article, in May 1960. The Ner Tamid could confirm this.

Other awards mentioned by Mr. Gordon include the Silver Beaver and Wood Badge, both significant scouter awards. He was an early recipient of each of these:

The Silver Beaver Award is presented for outstanding longtime service to youth by a registered Scouter residing within a Council. The average tenure for Silver Beaver candidates is ten years or longer. Career members of the BSA receive this award by agreement of the Council Scout Executive and the Director of Operations at the National office. Mr. Gordon received his award on June 5, 1961.

Wood Badge is considered by scouters as a peak experience in their Scouting careers. It’s an award for woodsmanship & advanced leadership for scouters who support troop operations. The Bronx council first offered this award to council scouters starting in 1958. Mr. Gordon received his on January 18, 1958
according to the ATN article, so he's possibly the very first of the Bronx scouters to receive Wood Badge.
(end of part 1)

[rockdancer]

Boy Scout Hike 2 of 10
(the part that connects the Vets with the Scouts...)
The Story of the World War I Vets
When World War I soldiers returned home in 1919, there were good jobs and a vigorous economy to greet them. In that climate, the veterans supported a 1924 congressional bill that put off a promised bonus for wartime service until 1945, when they would receive their bonus plus interest. A soldier owed $400 would collect $1,000 by waiting until 1945 (paying about 3% per year). However, the Depression quickly replaced any sense of prosperity, and many veterans began pressing their congressional representatives to help them get their hands on the only asset they had left: the promised money. Frustrated by lack of progress, in 1932 about 15,000 veterans converged on Washington, DC, to demand an early lump-sum payment of the bonus that had been promised for their wartime services. Although the government refused their pleas for help, about half of this so-called Bonus Expeditionary Force remained near the Capitol, camped out in destitute conditions (called Hoovervilles) until the regular United States Army, under the command of General Douglas MacArthur, used tanks & tear gas to drive them away. The desperate veterans eventually dispersed, but their harsh treatment in the summer of 1932 contributed to Herbert Hoover’s loss to FDR in the fall Presidential election.

But Roosevelt wasn’t willing to grant early payment either, largely because of the huge dollar amount involved. During the 1932 election campaign, he stated: "No one [merely] because he wore a uniform must therefore be placed in a special class of beneficiaries over and above all other citizens. The fact of wearing a uniform does not mean that he can demand and receive from his government a benefit which no other citizen receives." The proposed payment of over $1.6 billion should be compared to the Federal income of that time, about $3 billion. FDR made provisions to help veterans with many of his other programs notably employment in the CCC, the organization that helped to build Virginia & Maine sections of the Appalachian Trail, among many other projects.

Public pressure eventually led to a vote that passed Congress in the fall of 1935. Roosevelt vetoed this bill in December, to a great uproar. Returning from the holidays the House of Representatives overrode him 326-61 on January 24, 1936 and on January 27, the Senate also voted to override. The next day's Washington Post headline read: "Soldier Bonus Becomes Law as Senate Crushes Veto, 76-19; Full Payment Sped for June 15." The New York Times confirmed this payment schedule on April 14 saying “2 million vets will get bonus on June 15, tax free.” It’s difficult to express the enthusiasm this generated in the days leading to the bonus payment. The New York Times carried stories detailing predictions of how the payment would help the nation and the local economy. Faith that the payment would allow Bronxites to spend themselves to prosperity was rampant - and ill founded. Many stories relate the joy of Monday, June 15 as the checks are cashed, and through the week as the moneys are spent. The mail system manages to deliver 90% of the checks successfully in the first day, and a large number of “bonus parties” ensued. In all, the local NY economy saw a 10% increase in purchases that lasted only a short while.

Pvt. Jacob Levy Post #82 & the War Bonus
Using several research databases I was able to determine that Pvt. Jacob Levy Post #82, Jewish War Veterans was the group that assisted Max Gordon and the other boy scouts. Mr. Moe Grabow was not the post commander at the time of the hike. That position was held by William Gordon recently replacing Joseph Gross. The group, as well as the women’s auxiliary, meets at Emanuel Synagogue, 1310 Elder Avenue on Monday evenings. Again I consider myself lucky in this research since I’ve now found there were quite a few Jewish Veterans groups in the Bronx at this time. It’s also compelling to note that Troop 257, Max Gordon’s troop, meets at Emanuel Synagogue, at the same address.

The local paper Home News: Bronx & Manhattan has regular notices throughout 1936 for various vet groups in the Bronx. From these I can tell the Jacob Levy vets are involved in socials, fund-raisers, and public events. They are also involved with helping members apply for their war bonuses, receive their checks, and possibly assisting in planning how the vets will use their money. The average bonus check for a New York area vet is $558.

It’s pretty clear that this Veteran’s group is following along with the BSA’s request for adult, male sponsorship of the scouts. It was viewed as a patriotic effort on their part to help the boys, and in this case it’s Jewish war vets helping Jewish scouts. Since both groups are meeting in the same synagogue it’s likely there are close neighborhood & family ties between them, and I assume many are members of the synagogue. I found one Bronx reference that directly mentions this connection, where the Jewish war vets use “the aid of Boy Scouts they sponsor (my italics) to assist in Memorial Day activities."

Once the idea of the BSH is floated by Harry O’Grady it’s up to the Vets to decide to use their own money & time for the hike. The timing at first seems too late, with the money arriving about the time the boys are on the trail in Maine. But since the Vets are assured on April 14 that the money will be available on June 15, it’s possible that Jacob Levy Post funds are used for pre-trip purchases, to be back-filled once the bonus certificates are cashed.

Why would they contribute their own money this way? It’s difficult to answer for the Vets, but the hard-fought funds represented a windfall for the Vets during a small window of Depression-era optimism. It’s interesting to see that the Vets know the boys in a more than casual way: by proximity in the same neighborhood & synagogue, by sharing projects together, by previous sponsorships of some form… And now they take the opportunity to help these boys have the summer of a lifetime.
(end of part 2)

[Blissful]

Shouldn't this be posted in the articles section rather than on a discussion forum? Looks like a lot of hard work (I know, as I'm an author also). Or maybe post it on a blog site and give the link. ?

[MJN]

Hey Rockdancer, i didnt have the time to read the whole article, but i am reading On the Beaten Path and your trail name is mentioned often and i was just wondering if you were that guy in the book

[rockdancer]

Yes I am, and Thanks for asking.

[Nightwalker]

Arthur,

Please consider moving this to either the Articles section or Straight Forward. There are a small number of people here who are antagonistic towards this subject, and possibly won't respect you enough not to trash your thread. Remember what happened in the last thread on this subject?

[rockdancer]

Boy Scout Hike 3 of 10

Troop 257 Scouts
In the ATN article Max Gordon is able to recall two other names of the 5 boys that accompanied him on the trip. He states he "can recall only a nickname or two about the other 3 boys…" and that he’s not certain if he’s the only one left. This opens up the possibility that a roster list of Troop 257, from 1936, could lead to surviving members of the BSH or their descendants. I haven’t made any progress in this research since I lack access to Bronx Boy Scout archives. What I’ve been able to discover comes from the same newspapers, census docs and databases used for Harry O’Grady and Moe Grabow.

There are several principles to keep in mind while sorting through the data in this process. It’s important to use a proximity test since synagogues and Boy Scout troops are neighborhood-based organizations. Addresses are obtained from the City Directories, the Social Security Death Index and the US Census for 1930. As I research the likely candidates I keep in mind that families move, sometimes frequently, and weigh data from 1933-1936 more heavily than the 1930 Census data and the end-of-life data in the SSDI. I consult Bronx street maps for this analysis and I’m aware that certain features in the neighborhoods have changed since 1936 and can create confusions. The neighborhood around the Emanuel Synagogue has changed significantly since 1936, primarily with the construction of the Bruckner Parkway, the Cross Bronx Parkway, the Bronx River Parkway and Rt. 895. Each of these projects has their origins in 1936 or later, and they are all within 5 city blocks of the synagogue. I haven’t researched the details of which streets were modified or lost in these constructions but I read that in 1936 the city was making a big push to finish the Cross Bronx Parkway by the end of the year. It may be OK though since a neighborhood of more than 5 city blocks in any direction is about the right size for our analysis.

The Bronx Council headquarters are 2.25 miles from the synagogue, Harry O’Grady lives 3 miles from the synagogue and 4.5 miles from Council HQ. This isn’t of much concern because further research confirms Harry as a Bronx-wide figure, not attached to Troop 257.

Other attempts to identify the members of the BSH relate to the trip itself. The AMC huts in the White Mountains have contained hut registers since the early days of each hut and the records have been examined for traces of the BSH. The results are summarized in another section of this report, “The Whites, the AMC and 1936”. (this will be email #9)

Other contemporary records might exist in registers and log books among the various maintainer organizations along the AT. An AT-L lister, Rami Benhameda, has conducted a phone-based search among these resources and reports that no trace of the BSH has been found among their records. I’ll leave it to Rami to summarize which clubs he contacted and whether he feels they actually looked for Boy Scout entries for 1936. (end of part 3)

[rockdancer]

Part 4 of 10
The Backstory
My initial effort to fact-check the Boys Scout Hike grew, over a period of time, into an exercise in social history. For about 15 months I’ve been immersed in seeing the world events of 1936 through the eyes of a group of teen-aged boys living in the Bronx. Many topics that I read in history books long ago have come alive as I discovered their impact on the likelihood of the Boy Scout Hike of 1936.

The backdrop of the Great Depression & the sad state of world affairs, the effort of WWI vets in support of Boys Scouts, (and their generosity in supporting this trip), the desperate families glad to be relieved of a mouth to feed for the summer, the hope of the BSA organization to save boys from inner-city gangs, the effort to grow the BSA organization with outreach to the Jewish community, and more have all been uncovered in my research. It’s been pretty exciting to see how poignant it was for this trip to occur. It was an act of generosity, an act of hope for the future and an act of faith in difficult times to give these boys so much time & support to hike the Appalachian Trail.

Not much in Max Gordon’s story describes the background of the times for the hike. The rise of Hitler, the Great Depression, life in Jewish Bronx, and the growth & outreach of the Boy Scout of America organization all form interesting details in a complex story. Against this backdrop the outrageous idea of Harry O’Grady is to ask the Jewish war veterans from Jacob Levy Post to help 6 boys with an adventure of a lifetime.

News of the Summer of 1936
In June, Max Schmeling fights Joe Louis in NYC for the first time, the contest pitting a “freed slave against the master Aryan Race”. Louis lost to Schmeling in 12 rounds at Madison Square Garden making Schmeling a reluctant symbol of Aryan superiority. Two years later “The Brown Bomber” will defeat Schmeling in Yankee Stadium.

In New York, Jesse Owens returns from the 1936 Olympics, after winning 4 gold medals, to display his skills in NYC at exhibition events in Madison Square Garden. WPA workers are striking in NYC for better wages & benefits. Bruno Richard Hauptmann is executed in April for the March 1932 kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby. The Hindenburg begins regular flights to the NYC area, docking at Lakehurst, NJ .

In England, Edward VIII succeeds his father King George V. He later abdicates in December 1936, and is succeeded by his brother George VI.

Hitler is pushing for "colonial rights" for Germany, a prelude to German expansionism, leading eventually to the invasion of Poland.

Aviatrix/author Beryl Markham crashes her airplane and survives (though injured) in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia on her solo transatlantic flight .

Cole Porter’s hit musical for 1936 is “Red, Hot and Blue”, with Ethel Merman singing “It’s De-Lovely”. The most popular movies in the US are The Great Ziegfeld, and The Story of Louis Pasteur.

Desperate Bronxites
The population of the Bronx at this time was 1,265,000, about half the size of Brooklyn and a little smaller than Manhattan. Newspapers that serve the Bronx neighborhoods had fallen off since 1929 so that by 1936 only one paper is serving the borough, shared with Manhattan - The Home News: Bronx & Manhattan. During my research I read this daily for the entire year and was touched by the desperate condition of the population. Suicides are detailed in the Bronx nearly every day, many gassing themselves in tenements that are discovered to contain no food. Some parents kill their children and then themselves. Others throw themselves in front of trains. On at least 3 occasions mothers tossed their newborn babies from rooftops in despair. I wasn’t able to find any suicide statistics to tell if this period was the worst of the Depression in the Bronx, but it certainly was pretty bad.

In general, city populations suffered more than agricultural and suburban areas during this period. If a family had access to a bit of land they could supplement their food needs with backyard gardens. Another way of easing the burden of feeding children was to send them away to lodge with friends or extended family; boarding them out in exchange for whatever work they could do. My mother, and others in my family, were “boarded out” in the 1930’s in Atlantic Canada for precisely this reason.

In this situation it’s easy to see why the parents of these Scouts would approve of sending their 15-16 year old children away for 4 months; getting them out of the Bronx while knowing they’re well cared for and having the adventure of a lifetime - at the expense and with the support of the WWI Army Vets.

The Great Depression
In many accounts 1931 & 1932 contained the greatest suffering and dislocations American society has ever seen. With Roosevelt’s election in 1932, and the New Deal programs he introduced, a promise of relief was made. And by 1936 the effects of deficit spending were felt and had eased the poverty (and anxieties) of many. The timing of the BSH coincides with this mini-recovery period felt by Bronxites, along with the long-awaited issuance of the Veteran’s Bonus and the heady days that followed the flow of money issued on June 15, 1936.

Unfortunately Roosevelt’s policies, including the payment of the Veteran’s Bonus, triggered a second depression starting in 1937. The worst year of the Great Depression seems to be 1932, and at it's worst about 30% of the US population was below the poverty line. My guess is that the Bronx population had a greater than average poverty rate, something closer to 50%.
(end of part 4)

[rockdancer]

Part 5 of 10
(I found Harry's part of the story to be inspirational given the backstory of the hardships of the Depression in NYC. --arthur)
O’Grady, Harry T.
In the ATN story Harry (Pop) O’Grady is the person who proposes the AT hike to Troop 257 and the veterans’ group that sponsors them, Pvt. Jacob Levy Post #82. It’s possible that O’Grady proposed this trip to other groups as well. Mr. Gordon mentions that O’Grady “… hoped to use our hike as some sort of promotion.” But reports “If Pop O’Grady planned to turn the hike into a publicity campaign in behalf of Scouting, it never materialized.”

In my research I’ve been able to find citations for Mr. O’Grady that add up to a life of community involvement, with a public spirit that extends from his early years to when he disappears to California. Max Gordon reported “he had heard, long ago, that Mr. O’Grady left Scouting during the war and had become head of a Catholic youth organization on the West Coast.” I have some inquiries to the San Bernardino, CA area that might prove interesting. A man named Harry O’Grady died there in April, 1969. He was born in New York City, June 16, 1901. This is the only candidate in the Social Security database with connections in both NY and CA.

My earliest discoveries indicate that in 1917 Harry could be either a salesman at 856 Elsmere Place or a printer at 2777 Webster Avenue, both in the Bronx. Or he could be neither person. (If he was born in 1901 this seems awfully young to be in business for oneself.) But by 1923 Harry shows up in the New York Times as a hero in the Bronx who rescues nuns & children in a nursery, along with priests & holy sacraments in a church fire in his neighborhood. I can follow his career as he moves from being a teacher in 1923, and a volunteer Scoutmaster, to Deputy Commissioner of the Bronx Council and then in 1925 he’s promoted to Field Executive, a paid position in the Boy Scout organization. His career may have been helped by an inheritance he received in 1931 from his mother.

From 1930 to 1935, Harry participates in the public eye as head of an honor guard for Admiral Richard E. Byrd , as Campmaster at Camp Ranachqua , and he represents the Bronx Council for the 10th annual Boy Scout Rally in 1935. During this time he hasn’t moved from his address on Magenta Street for at least 11 years. 1936 has the most mentions for him in newspapers: as a merit badge counselor , speaker at Troop 227 parents night , inducting Jewish Troop 171 , Troop 146 , and Troop 210. For the summer of 1936, Harry is at Camp Ranachqua.

Only one newspaper article mentions him in 1937, when his boy scouts serve as orderlies for Bronx schoolgirls dancing the Maypole at Fordham University. Harry then drops out of sight.

I’ve worked quite a bit on Harry’s family tree in the hope that there is a surviving descendant somewhere. But doing genealogy on such a common name is difficult. Add to this the suspicion that within his family several people are named Harry, (father, son, grandson…) it leads to confusion rather quickly. But for now I suspect his wife is named Katherine, his parents are Margaret F. & Harry O’Grady, and that he had 3 children: Harry, Mary and Thomas. An interesting sports article has a Harry O’Grady (possibly his son) as a winning crewmember in a boat race in 1937. This is the last entry that I’ve found for Harry indicating that after 1937 he’s no longer in the public eye in the New York area. It’s possible he’s already left for California.

In the ATN story Max Gordon states: “Pop O’Grady and the veterans met the boys at Bear Mountain Bridge and kept them there a day, to celebrate, rest and provide a photo opportunity.” 10 Mile River Camp is located in Narrowsburg, NY about 110 miles from the Bronx, and 75 miles from Bear Mountain. This proximity to the Appalachian Trail accounts for how Harry O’Grady could easily visit the BSH scouts at Bear Mountain while working at Ten Mile River during the summer of 1936.
************************************************** ***********
Footnotes:
NYT, “Priests Save Host from Church Fire”, December 23, 1923. Harry is described as a private teacher, living on Magenta St., who discovered the fire. He helps 4 Pallotine Sisters and 6 children from a nursery school next door to the church. O’Grady then leads an effort with 3 priests, to save the hosts. Falling timbers made their effort hazardous, and “a few minutes later, O’Grady appeared carrying a lighted candle, followed by the priests with the Blessed Sacrament.”

NYT, March 15, 1925.“Estates Appraised”, NYT, April 8, 1931. Harry inherits from Margaret O’Grady (either his mother or his wife), about $35,000.

[rockdancer]

Part 6 of 10
(I have photos of the home on Manor Avenue as well as of the building that served as Emanuel Synagogue & meeting place for the Vets. --arthur)

Mr. Grabow is Moe Grabow
According to Max Gordon, “he (Mr. Grabow) led the veteran’s group that provided equipment and expenses”, that "one veteran had a truck, and it was our lifeline", that "maps (were) provided by the veterans" and that the veterans "also met the hikers at various points along the trail." It’s unclear just how many veterans participated in the trip and we don’t know for certain if Mr. Grabow was one of the support crew.

With only his last name as a clue I was able to winnow down a list of 18 male Grabow’s with origins in the Bronx who received social security benefits. Comparing this list with death notices in the New York Times from 1936 to 1999 I came up with only one that matched my age criteria. His obituary confirmed his position as a leader in 2 Jewish, World War I veterans groups based in the Bronx:

"Moe Grabow, age 78, husband of Eve, died 4/13/1969. Past Commander of Savenay Post of the American Legion and Past Commander of the Jacob Levy Post, Jewish War Veterans." (NYT)

The SSDI also identifies his address in the Bronx at the time of his death.

Moe, the son of Mr. & Mrs. J. Grabow, becomes engaged to Eve or Eva (Yellen) in 1923. He was born in 1891, she in 1901. They marry and by April, 1930 have a 3-year-old son named David. By 1933 they are listed in the City Directory as “Moe & Eve Grabow, salesman, householder, 1236 Manor Avenue” (between Westchester Avenue and E 172nd St.) This location is 3 blocks from Emanuel Synagogue. They live at this address at least until 1936 when the HNBM mentions Moe Grabow, living at 1236 Manor Avenue, Bronx, who’s on a barn dance committee for the Jacob Levy Post.

It’s interesting to note that in 1936 Moe isn’t the commander of the Jacob Levy Post. The commander in mid-1936 is William Gordon recently replacing Joseph Gross. Pvt. Jacob Levy Post #82 meets Mondays evenings at Emanuel Synagogue. Since Moe Grabow isn’t the head of the organization it’s somewhat likely that he could attend the boys on the hike as a support person. But he’s leaving his wife and 9 year old son behind, and possibly deserting his job as a salesman for the 4 month trip (if he still has a job, after all this is the Depression…). To me it seems unlikely that Mr. Grabow went on the hike, but instead facilitated in the planning stages for the Boy Scouts. Max Gordon’s comments aren’t clear on this point.

Later, by 1948, Mr. Grabow is commander of Savenay post, #724, American Legion and at some point was commander of Pvt. Jacob Levy Post #82 as indicated by his obituary. It would be interesting to find his son, David Grabow born about 1927, to talk about his father’s connection with the BSH.
******************************************8
The Social Security Death Index (SSDI) is available at Waltham Library, NARA & NY Public Library. Reports place of death, date and some info relating to where & when the social security card was issued.

[Sly]

Yup, I agree, it should be in the articles section. Maybe a mod can move it once it's all posted.

I haven't read it all, but it looks like you put a lot of work into it. Thanks RD.

[rockdancer]

(Part 7 of 10 - Could the boys be aware of the AT, Benny Goodman & what about the school schedule?)

News of the Appalachian Trail & Awareness of the AT
There have been discussions on the AT-L list regarding the general awareness of the public about the construction of the Appalachian Trail. I’m indebted to the Watermans’ book for leading me to the wonderful writings of Raymond H. Torrey in the New York Evening Post. During 1936 his column, called The Long Brown Path, focused on trail construction, maintenance and the business of trail clubs in the NY/NJ area. He sometimes noted conditions & news of the AT outside of this area as well. By this time he shrunk away from reporting news of individual achievements in hiking circles as he once did in the late 1920’s. And he was no longer listing individual trips as he once did. Instead he provided contact information for those hiking clubs. One exception was in response to a letter he received in July, 1936 asking for information about local hikes: Benny Goodman wrote asking for 5 mile hikes in or near New York City that he and other bandleaders could do on their days off!

If the Scouts or their veteran supporters contacted Torrey, he didn’t report the attempted thru-hike in his column. Likewise he doesn’t report anyone coming in contact with the Scouts during the trip. I took special care in examining his columns for any notes regarding the scouts in their effort. But given his reluctance to name people in his column he may have filtered the information from his audience even if he was contacted. I counted only a handful of names that Torrey mentions for all of 1936 and they were all trail builders, or key organizational personnel, who had died or retired and he wished to recognize their contributions to the world of hiking.

Torrey does report on the AT in the following:

Where to get AT maps
Scouts clear the AT from Kayser Road to Sunfish Pond
3 new AT shelters being built near High Point, NJ.
AT from Mombasha to Arden is cleared of obstructions. (by May 7, from spring flood damage)
AMC huts and shelters are listed along with contact info.
Conditions and progress on the AT. (see also “Condition of the AT…”)
AT sporting camps East of Blanchard, ME.
Status of shelters along the entire AT (in October 1936).

Another measure of public awareness of the AT is indicated by well placed articles in the New York Times for the period 1934-1936. I was able to search the New York Times Backfile and discovered 3 large articles, with pictures, along with 3 smaller pieces. For the period 1930-1933 there were 7 articles. In my opinion, this was quite a lot of publicity for the AT. Articles focused on hiking in the Berkshires, the opening of Shenandoah National Park, on Bear Mountain & Harriman SP and on recommended walks along the AT in the NY/NJ area. A large piece “The Great Appalachian Trail nears Completion” was published on December 31, 1933. There were other pieces detailing that Horace Kephart is leading weekly hikes near Asheville, NC and Raymond Torrey writes a letter-to-the-editor about how the paving of roads is compensated by the construction of trails for those who love to walk & hike.

In addition there are several publications in the mid-1930's that indicate a hiking appetite on the part of the general public. The following books were detailed in the New York Times: "Trail Manual for the Appalachian Trail", “List of Camping, Hiking and Trail Making Equipment”, “Guide to the Appalachian Trail in Maine”, and the “Guide to Paths in the Blue Ridge”.

School Year Information
There have been discussions on the AT-L list regarding the length of the hike, the length of summer vacation for the boys, and the timing of the trip. Mr. Gordon states “…it was a 121 day odyssey…” and that “ …(Mr. O’Grady) went to my school principal and talked him into letting me out early enough in June to go on the hike.”

Now, with some data in hand, the topic can be explored a bit more carefully. The last day of school in the Bronx before summer vacation was Friday, June 26. The first day of school in the fall was Monday, September 14, with Labor Day falling on Monday, September 7. This makes summer vacation a total of 79 days for the kids that year. The 42 extra days needed for the trip cannot all come from early dismissal in June. If Max was released from school and the trip began June 1 he would still arrive 16 days late for school on September 30. We can each work the equation back and forth as an exercise, and it’s likely we’ll each have our pet theories. Some additional facts for 1936: Jewish New Year was Wednesday, September 16 and a strong hurricane strikes the NYC area on September 18 & 19.

If the boys waited until June 15 and the cashing of the Veterans bonus certificates they would arrive quite late in the fall, starting classes on or about October 13. This seems too late a start, especially if the boys had to wait for the money in order to buy gear for the trip, delaying their start even more.

I haven’t found anyone with enough of a Bronx Jewish background to tell me if Jewish parents & children would feel strongly about being apart for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. My own theory is that Max was able to start the trip around May 15, getting back to school just in time to start the school year. And that the boys were able to shop for gear with money advanced by parents and/or veterans in anticipation of the bonus certificates on June 15.

Of course this could be put to rest if we can somehow discover which school Max Gordon and the other boys attended, and then request (and receive) the details of their school attendance records. It’s likely the schools were neighborhood based, as were the synagogues and the Boy Scout troops at the time. So the chore is to find a 1936 reference that describes the school district boundaries in the Bronx, identify which school 15-17 year old boys would attend, and then locate the attendance archives for that school...

************************************************** Additional notes********************
Waterman, Laura & Guy, “Forest & Crag: A History of Hiking, Trail Blazing, and Adventure in the Northeast Mountains”. Appalachian Mountain Club (1989). There are 3 pages on Torrey, a founding member of the Adirondack Mountain Club in 1921, a newspaper reporter, trail ombudsman, builder & maintainer. His column started as a Friday Outing Page in the early ‘20’s but soon became a daily column “…almost universally read by New York Hikers.” Torrey died on his 58th birthday, July 15, 1938. I’ve read all of his columns for 1936 as preparation for this report.

Torrey reports the planned AT thruhike of *. *. Ozmer in his April 26, 1929 column. Ozmer was a former USFS ranger from Clear Branch, TN who tried to walk from Georgia to Maine, starting on May 1, hoping to finish on September 1. He was injured during the trip and didn’t complete it.

“The Great Appalachian Trail Nears Completion”, NYT, December 31, 1933. Nice details of the recently finished 120 mile section from Katahdin to Blanchard, ME. It took the CCC, assisting the Maine Appalachian Trail Club, to finish the trail in Maine during 1935 - 1937.

Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashanah) was on September 16, Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) occurred one week later.

[rockdancer]

Part 8 of 10
(I know this one is complicated but it defines the starting point for the Boy Scout Hike, and points out an error in the original story...)
Condition of the AT in Summer of 1936
The ATN article "The Summer of 1936" states that the AT was nearly completed when the boys did their hike and that "All but three miles of the 2,054-mile trail had been cleared and blazed as of 1936: a one-mile stretch between Davenport Gap and the Big Pigeon River in Tennessee, and a two-mile link between Spaulding and Sugarloaf mountains in Maine." The article goes on to state that "The Maine section was the last to be completed, and the Trail was opened as an unbroken footpath on August 14, 1937." Mr. Gordon correctly states he ended his trip at Mt. Oglethorpe in Georgia, the southern terminus of the AT until 1955.

I've examined contemporary ATC records in order to determine more exactly the state of the trail in Maine as the boys headed South in 1936. I've introduced into this analysis a significant flood that occurred in March 1936 that affected the AT from Baxter State Park to Pennsylvania and I'm also including in this analysis a fire near Moxie Bald in 1932 and the Great Hurricane of 1938.

AT building in Maine can be dated from the construction of the Mahoosuc Trail (1918-1926), from the first forays of Arthur Comey (1925), the initial markings of Judge Perkins in the 100 mile Wilderness (1927) or the first study of the Barren-Chairback Range by Shailer S. Philbrick (1931). For many, though, the construction effort began on August 19, 1933 with Myron Avery, Philbrick and 2 PATC members planting the first AT sign at the summit of Katahdin and then, in the next 2 weeks, clearing & blazing 118.7 miles of the trail to Monson. Four years later, on August 14, 1937 the last leg of the entire trail was completed on the south slope of Mt. Sugarloaf.

There are 3 ATC documents, a column from Raymond Torrey, a section from the AMC White Mountain Guide, and a summary of the 1935 CCC effort in Maine, that come to bear in the discussion of trail conditions in Spring 1936. I’ll present these items chronologically before suggesting what I think is a reasonable, and surprising, conclusion. All of these documents and my subsequent analysis are consistent with the Watermans’ account of the activities in Maine to complete the AT.

First the CCC report from James W. Sewall reports on the construction & repair activity for the Maine section of the AT: “During the year (1935) all the existing trail, with the exception of sections from the Kennebec River to Blanchard and Pleasant River East Branch to Nahmakanta Lake, was materially improved, blazes repainted, much additional work done and new trail constructed. In addition, a very exact location of the route between Maine highway 4 and Grafton Notch was made. The Flagstaff CCC Camp also partly completed an alternative route, from Pierce Pond to Mt. Bigelow via the Carry Ponds, known as the Arnold Trail. New trail from Saddleback Mt. to the Andover-South Arm Road, a distance of 27 miles, was opened by the Rangeley CCC Camp. Seven lean-tos were built. The Flagstaff and Greenville Camps were discontinued in 1935, but it is hoped that the remaining, unfinished trail in Maine will be completed by the Greenville and Rangeley CCC Camps during 1936." The Watermans state that in 1936 Sewall has six crews of 15 CCC workers on the AT.

Next is an ATC report from January 15, 1936 stating that in Maine there are two sections to be constructed (my Italics):
· from Sugarloaf across Spaulding and Abraham to the summit of Saddleback
· from Andover-South Arm Road (ME 5) across Baldpate to Grafton Notch.
And two areas to be improved:
· From Kennebec River to Blanchard, "requires improvement".
· On Moxie Bald Mountain, “where the forest fire of 1932 has made the trail route through an extensive stretch of fire-killed timber a very real problem. To be done in 1936”.

And third the AMC Guide for the White Mountains for the 1936 hiking season states: "By 1935 this master trail (the AT) had been completed, marked and measured except for two sections of approximately 20 miles each in western Maine. These are from Mt. Sugarloaf, Maine's second highest peak, to Saddleback Mt.; and from the Andover-South Arm Road to Grafton Notch. They will probably be completed in 1936."

These 3 documents indicate the 18 mile section from Caribou Valley Road to the summit of Saddleback have not been marked, constructed or measured prior to the 1936 hiking season. Note also that the 20-mile section from South Arm to Grafton Notch is in rough shape, having been only marked during 1935. To support this claim there are 3 more documents to consider:

On November 17, 1936 Raymond Torrey reports, in his column The Long Brown Path, a summary of the November 7, 1936 meeting of the ATC Board of Managers. The points he covers includes:
· Maine is now complete except for a few miles South of Bigelow.
· The 1937 meeting for the ATC will be in Gatlinburg, the 1939 meeting is scheduled for Maine.
· The Green Mountain Club Summer Patrol cleaned out the crossover from the Connecticut River to Sherburne Pass "last summer".
· MA and CT have maintenance issues: In MA it's unclear who is responsible for maintenance so no one is doing it. In CT there is no one to help the one active maintainer.
· The NY/NJ sections are in "good shape".
· Eastern PA sections are in "fair to good condition". As are the remaining sections down to Georgia (except for some remote sections under PATC in Virginia).

Next an ATC summary letter report for January 2, 1937 states:
· "…trail uncleared on the high ridge crest between Mts. Sugarloaf and Spaulding; this section, however, is roughly blazed and passable, as it was traversed with the measuring wheel…"
· "…between Davenport Gap and the Big Pigeon River, a distance of 1 1/3 miles. It may, however, be traversed by an abandoned logging railroad and the NC highway 284. The Smoky Mtns. Hiking Club …has been endeavoring to put through the trail along the ridge crest, which would be the hypotenuse of the triangle formed by the RR and the highway."

And finally the ATC Gatlinburg meeting report for June 1937 states:
· "Maine is completed except for 2 miles … at the end of 1936".

These 3 documents effectively state that the 1936 work season made progress on the Sugarloaf-Spaulding section and that the South Arm-Grafton Notch section was completed. It occurs to me that the ATN article may have used the January 2, 1937 letter (or a similar document) as an indicator of trail conditions in early 1936. This is a mistake since the boys would be in Maine early in the hiking season. For our purposes it’s important to use the information about the state of the AT in Maine at the end of 1935. This means 18 miles of trail from Sugarloaf - Saddleback could not be traveled, and that the 20 miles from South Arm - Grafton Notch were in a “roughly blazed” and “passable” state.

The All New England Flood began on March 9, 1936 when temperatures in northern NH rose from -2 to +50 in 24 hours, accompanied by heavy rains. The resulting flow of snow, rock, ice and snowmelt caused severe damage and killed 24 (some references state that more than 100 died), made homeless 77,000. It was worse than the Western New England flood of 1927, a flood that had been the worst in many people's memories. In Rumford, Maine the Topsham Bridge over the Androscoggin collapsed, closing railroad traffic until the summer. The New York Times reported 29 dead outside New England. By the next week serious threat of flood danger is past in New York & Pennsylvania except that the Susquehanna River is still a threat around Wilkes-Barre and the Schuylkill River is still in flood stage. More rains on March 16 then precipitated the Second Johnstown Flood on March 17. Both floods had effects on AT travel in the spring since many bridges were destroyed by the formation of ice dams. In NH ice & rock falls closed every notch in the White Mountains, some for up to 2 weeks. Evidently the effect was not long lasting, however. Torrey reports trail repair happening in a timely fashion for the region MA - PA by early June in his daily columns. In ME, NH and VT the major river crossings (Androscoggin, Saco, Pemigewassett, Connecticut, White, river near N. Adams) all have made accommodations for hikers in one way or another. Those bridges that share foot travel with auto or rail traffic are repaired within weeks for those more important purposes. Those bridges dedicated to foot traffic only usually have not been repaired but hikers have alternative routes marked along the AT to help them along.

It's pretty clear from the earlier documents that a large fire in 1932 went through the area near Moxie Bald Mountain. I also have some obscure notes that another fire occurred in Maine, during 1936, late in the hiking season, and this closes a noticeable section going towards the Kennebec River from Blanchard. (the area where Moxie Bald Mountain is located). It might be that my notes are confused about the later fire but there was certainly a large fire-damaged area over Moxie Bald in 1936 due to the 1932 fire. The ATC report for January 15, 1936 clearly indicates this area will be difficult to hike through until the area is repaired sometime in 1936. By the end of '36 the area has been repaired as indicated by the lack of any mentions in the 3 documents I examined. If there was a later fire it would limit hikers for the 1937 hiking season and not affect the BSH.

Whether of not another fire occurred in late 1936, a significant event occurred in Fall 1938 that would close the AT in VT/NH for several years - the Great Hurricane of 1938. Earl Shaffer in his book indicates that in 1948 he is walking through (uncleared) sections of downed trees in the crossover from Sherburne Pass to Mt. Moosilauke. Other sources need to be consulted to tell this story more completely. For this analysis the hurricane is additional evidence of Max Gordon's credibility. This is why:

With all of this information in hand it’s clear that Max had a window for walking the AT as he claimed. If he claimed 1935 as the year of his hike he could not claim hiking in Maine at all, or at best to only claim the very small section from Grafton Notch south to the NH line, about 14 ½ miles. If he had claimed any of the years 1936 - 1938 he’d be on pretty firm ground. Any claim for the year 1939 to 1947 could be easily dismissed because of the Hurricane damage. This is a surprisingly narrow window for a valid claim, narrower than I expected to find when I began this analysis.

One surprise in this analysis is the limit it places on the beginning point for the BSH. According to the ATC, and other, documents Max Gordon could not have started at Katahdin and walked south, the boys could only begin their thru-hike at the town closest to Mt. Saddleback -- at Rangeley, Maine, at Maine Rt. 4. From there they could walk uninterrupted all the way to Mt. Oglethorpe in Georgia during 1936.

This analysis also changes the amount of rough terrain the boys had to travel in Maine. Instead of a 2-mile section of rough trail, near Mt. Sugarloaf, the boys actually had to travel 20 miles of rough trail from South Arm to Grafton Notch. To me this makes a couple of mysterious statements in the ATN story very believable: “There was snow most of the way through Maine…” and “It took two weeks for the boys to reach New Hampshire…” Both statements have an impact on the distance the boys could make each day as they traveled south. The distance from Rangeley to Gorham is about 78 miles.

Weather Issues & the Start of the Hike
There are several aspects of the story that bear on the date for the start of the hike. One is the early dismissal from school, another the weather conditions experienced in Maine and New Hampshire. And this analysis has to include the information disclosed above that indicates no trail at all from Sugarloaf -- Saddleback, and only a rough trail from South Arm Rd. - Grafton Notch. Whatever theory is developed should also include a reasonable estimate of hiking time from the start of the trip to when the boys arrive in Gorham, NH.

Springtime in Maine can be the most difficult time of the year for backcountry travel. If the snow is no longer strong enough to support a hiker he post-holes, making a day of hiking a slow and painful ordeal. If the snow depth is shallow enough then a hiker slips & slides if he's not using crampons or older-style hob--nailed boots. As an experienced hiker in all of these conditions I would equate a summertime backpack of 10 miles with a wintertime backpack of 5 miles. The shorter distance is due to carrying much more gear and using snowshoes for the hike. In springtime my gear is essentially summer-weight, or nearly so, but the lack of good footing only allows me a 7 1/2 miles backpack for the same amount of energy expended. These numbers might be an average for my hikes in most of the White Mountains, but are really the upper limits for my hikes in the Mahoosucs, the region from Grafton Notch, ME - Gorham, NH.

In general the White from mid-April to late May are dismal for hiking. Conditions along a trail vary according to where the sun is melting the snow and a hiker can be faced with stretches of snow, ice or mud in the course of a day's hike. Deep notches, especially north-facing area hold their snow quite late in the season. This year (2003) Huntington ravine, on Mt. Washington, still had snow visible from the highway near Pinkham as of July 1. During May bare ground is heavily saturated with water, making camping more of an ordeal, with everything getting wet in only a few days on the trail.

Max Gordon states that the Maine section took 2 weeks to travel, and my research indicates they may have traveled only 78 miles in that time. With what I know about the area here is my best guess for how the boys traveled:

Table 1

Days/Start/Finish/Mileage
1, 2/Maine 4, Rangeley/Maine 17, Oquossoc/13 miles
3, 4/Maine 17/South Arm Road/13 1/2 miles
5, 6/South Arm Road/East B Hill Road/10 miles (rough)
7, 8/East B Hill Road/Grafton Notch, Maine 26/10 1/2 miles (rough)
9 - 13/Grafton Notch, Maine 26/Gorham, NH/31 miles

The boys could easily have used up one additional hiking day in either of the rough-blazed sections or in the long section from Grafton Notch -- Gorham. A rest day would be well deserved in order to dry out their gear and clothing, perhaps at Andover.

Traveling in springtime, with snow-packed trail, this rate of travel is more believable than doing the 283 miles from Katahdin to Gorham. I'm sure these 78 miles felt like a significant challenge and perhaps gave them the idea that they had hiked the entire state! It's easy to imagine the veterans used Andover as a base of operations, meeting the boys as all 3 road crossings and possibly camping with them near the road.

The weather description and trail conditions mentioned seem typical to me for late spring hiking conditions. Max states that "There was snow most of the way through Maine, and the older boys had a harder time because they were breaking trail. I just followed along on their snow-packed tracks." And, "It took two weeks for the boys to reach New Hampshire, and, after changing clothes and some gear, they started out again."

I take these two statements together to mean they arrived in Gorham, NH around June 1, 1936. The snow wasn't so deep in Maine that the boys couldn't make any progress at all, and we can infer they didn't need snowshoes to hike in Maine from the description of the trail. After June 1, but not before, it would make sense to change from the heavier, warmer gear to something more lightweight for the high peaks of the Whites.

Two more items need to be discussed: the extreme cold temperature at Franconia Notch, and the warm weather in all of Maine for Spring 1936. Saunterer, an AT-L lister, examined archives for Portland, ME temperatures and found March, May and June were all above average for temperature and that the winter snowfall was 78.5 inches, above average. He was also able to find that the June 6, 1986 temperature at Franconia Notch was a record low of 28 degrees.

We should be careful about characterizing the conditions of the AT based on temperatures observed on the coast, one or two hundred miles away, in a different climate zone. The idea that the heavy winter snows would normally make for deep snows in the spring is usually the case. But in '36 the unusual warming (and flooding) that occurred effectively removed the deep snow base throughout New England. I don't see anything in the archived weather data to dissuade me from my estimate of the starting time and place for the hike -- Maine Rt. 4, Rangeley, ME, on May 13, 1936.

Max Gordon is likely wrong about his memory of a very cold night in Franconia Notch. He claims 9 degrees, but the record (according to Saunterer) is a low of 28 degrees. With summer clothing and primitive gear a temp of 9 degrees would've been dangerous for the boys, at least forcing them to lie awake in a huddle to survive the night. Max states the temperature that morning, with some note of the danger and urgency: "We about froze to death. It was nine degrees that morning..." But I might also say the same on returning from a hike if it was 29 degrees and I had only my summer gear. In October 1997, on my thru-hike, I became hypothermic on two occasions in Maine, once while sleeping in a dry shelter when the temps reached down to the high 20s, and another time when I got rained on with the temps in the mid 40s. In both cases my dry, down sleeping bag seemed inadequate though rated to +20 F.

The Mount Washington Observatory does not archive data for the valleys of the Whites although it does have data for the summits in 1936. The same problem exists however in trying to translate temps at the top of Washington to valley temperatures about 30 miles, and two notches, away. It's possible that local weather information for 1936 could be gathered from two sources that I uncovered while reading newspapers in Littleton, NH, the town closest to Franconia Notch. At the time of the Flood of '36 the articles in the Littleton Courier mention two people that are commenting on the unusual weather. One is a meteorologist in Boston and the other is a local engineer from Littleton, NH.
***********Notes***********
White Mountain Guide 1936 p. 515. The section titled "New England Trail Conference" also details the problems with completing the Maine section. "Because the route (in Maine) leads through an utter wilderness, and lacked support from outing or mountaineering clubs, such as have sponsored the construction of other sections of the trail, it was once thought that it would be necessary to abandon the original project and establish the northern terminus at Mt. Washington. … At the suggestion of CCC Forester James W. Sewall and with the cooperation of the USFS, the AT in Maine was officially adopted, in 1935, as a project in the CCC program. During the year (1935) all the existing trail, with the exception of sections from the Kennebec River to Blanchard and Pleasant River East Branch to Nahmakanta Lake, was materially improved, blazes repainted, much additional work done and new trail constructed. In addition, a very exact location of the route between Maine highway 4 and Grafton Notch was made. The Flagstaff CCC Camp also partly completed an alternative route, from Pierce Pond to Mt. Bigelow via the Carry Ponds, known as the Arnold Trail. New trail from Saddleback Mtn. to the Andover-South Arm Road was opened by the Rangeley CCC Camp. Several lean-tos were built. The Flagstaff and Greenville Camps were discontinued in 1935, but it is hoped that the remaining, unfinished trail in Maine will be completed by the Greenville and Rangeley CCC Camps during 1936."

G. Harold Noyes is mentioned in the Littleton Courier articles as a Sr. Meteorologist from Boston, and Ray T. Gile is mentioned as a Littleton Engineer and local weather authority. Gile is likely a railroad engineer. Articles are from March 19, 1936.

[TJ aka Teej]

RD, I've been following your topic over on the at-l - absolutely fascinating writing!
thanks!

[rockdancer]

Part 9 of 10 (I can send Word formatted text with footnotes to those interested. I'm afraid the tables aren't showing up well and I can't take the time right now to redo. -arthur)

The Whites, the AMC and 1936
When first investigating the claim for the 1936 BSH I wondered if Max’s memory was off by a year or more in either direction. That's why I checked the AMC Hut registers for such a large time period. As I learned more about the construction of the AT and the yearly natural events I became aware that 1936 - 1938 are the only years a thru-hike was possible for the years 1935 to 1947.

In 1936 the crossing of the Androscoggin River was done using a ferry operated by the Willis House in Gorham, NH. I'm not exactly certain how a hiker would cross as a southbounder but there may have been a bell or horn arrangement to call from across the water. I believe this was a cable ferry. In addition the blue-blaze trail from the top of Mt. Hayes (the Mahoosuc Trail) led to the footbridge under the B&M Railroad about 1 mile W of Gorham. This bridge crossing is still in use today. The AT continued south from the center of Gorham by ascending Mt. Surprise from the Libby woodmill , then on to Moriah and then south along the Carter Ridge.

In 1936 membership in the AMC cost $5 a year; there were 8 huts and 16 log shelters for lodging hikers. The shelters were no charge, just leave dry wood for others, a tradition that still extends to the AT shelters today. Currently, though, the caretaker system costs money so the AMC now charges $8 per night for the tentsite platforms and their shelters. Starting at Gorham, NH traveling South to Glencliff (and a little beyond) Table 2 summarizes past & present accommodations for hikers in the White Mountains. Note that 30 facilities were available in 1936. Today only 20 facilities are available for hikers along the Appalachian Trail.

Table 2
Huts Shelter Other Facilities Comments
1 Rattle River Built after 1936
2 Moriah Log structure, now gone
3 Imp Imp Tentsite
4 Carter Notch
5 Wildcat E Ski Cabin Gone, CCC built 1934, public
6 Pinkham Notch
7 Osgood Tentsite Built after 1936
8 Madison Springs
9 Tip Top House On Washington , now gone
10 Summit House On Washington, now gone
11 Camden Cottage On Washington, now gone
12 Lakes of the Clouds
13 Mizpah Spring Mizpah Spring Nauman Tentsite Shelter only in 1936, later hut.
14 Allen Spring Cabin Now gone, 1/2 mi. N on Rt. 302
15 Ethan Pond Ethan Pond Tentsite
16 Zeacliff Pond Now gone, on AT in 1936
17 Zealand Not on AT in 1936
18 Guyot Guyot Tentsite
19 Galehead
20 Garfield Ridge Garfield Tentsite
21 Garfield Pond Now gone.
22 Greenleaf
23 Liberty Spring Liberty Tentsite No longer has a shelter
24 Whitehouse Br. Camp On AT, now gone
25 Lonesome Lake
26 Kinsman Pond Kinsman Tentsite
27 Eliza Brook
28 Beaver Meadows Camp At Rt. 112, now gone
29 Beaver Brook
30 Jobildunk Cabin Gone, on shoulder of Moosilauke
31 Tip Top House Gone, on Moosilauke
32 Winter Cabin Gone, on Moosilauke
33 Jeffers Brook
34 Wauchipauka Pond gone

While searching for evidence of the BSH I've looked at register books for Carter Notch, Galehead, Greenleaf and Lonesome Lake Huts in the White Mountains . There's a page missing for Greenleaf for June 28 - July 7, 1935, otherwise I've scanned from 1935 to 1938, from the beginning of each hiking season to July 15 (some) or July 31 (most). There are no indications of Boy Scout Troop 257 from the Bronx signing in.

Table 3
Lonesome
Lake Greenleaf Galehead Zealand Lakes of the
Clouds Madison Hut Carter Notch
1934 5/1 to 7/31 Not on AT
In
1936 book in
fragments,
nothing
promising
1935 missing early
season, starts
9/ 21 5/30 to 6/28,
7/7 to 7/16 3/22 to 7/31 Not on AT 3/25 to 7/20
1936 5/2 to 7/31 6/1 to 7/31 1/11 to 7/31 Not on AT 5/24 to 7/13
1937 1/23 to 6/12 6/4 to 7/31 6/12 to 7/31 Not on AT 1/28 to 7/16
1938 5/23 to 7/31 6/6 to 7/31 6/7 to 7/31 Not on AT 1/16 to 7/18

Of course the search isn't complete until I can look at register books for Lakes, Madison and Zealand Huts. Unfortunately these registers aren't in the AMC Library (as expected) but might still be in existence, either at Pinkham, in storage, or at the originating Huts. There hasn't (yet) been a systematic enforcement of archiving for the hut registers. In addition there may be archived registers of guests staying at Pinkham during this period.

It should be noted that many Scout groups in the 30's took great pride in signing these registers. Nearly every troop takes an entire page, adding decorations, phrases, etc. to set them apart. Also I should mention that visitors from the Bronx signed their names and then their home as "Bronx", not New York City, making it easy to distinguish their entries in these registers.

While searching for Troop 257 in these registers I came across some comments that I found fascinating:
In July, 1936 Herbert L. Malcolm, an Australian-born schoolmaster from Lake Placid, NY finished the "All Huts" hike twice, in 22 h 3 m on July 7, and then in 21 h, 43 m on July 23. This feat, a traverse of the entire White Mountains, from Carter Notch to Lonesome Lake Hut, was considered a significant challenge as a one-day hike. Malcolm's record held until the late 1950’s.

At Galehead Hut, July 22, Baucer H. Webster from New York, NY signed in and stated "AT NY to ME". He should be counted as one of the first long-section hikers. Assuming a May 15 start for the BSH it’s likely that the scouts met this hiker along the way.

As part of the search for Troop 257 I also searched back issues of "The Hutmen's Resuscitator" a publication of the Old Hutmen's Association. I scanned issues from Summer 1936 to January 1938 and found no mentions of the Scout troop going through the Whites. This publication is an interesting glimpse at the “inside issues” of taking care of visitors to the Whites, and it highlights some of the issues of concern to the hutmen. A large discussion during this period concerned the excessive packloads the hutmen were carrying, and whether it was contributing to heart damage seen in these hutmen as they aged.

(There are 23 footnotes for this section, mostly dealing with the details of lodging in the Whites. The max pack load for all huts was 200 lbs for Lake of the Clouds. This is a one-mile walk downhill. The max for a hike was 181 lbs for Carter Notch.)

[rockdancer]

Part 10 of 10
(Other topics have been investigated if there is interest:
Attempt to uncover Max Gordon, his wife Lillian, brother Mandel. Search of Presidential & Scouting Awards. Attempt to find Seymour Dorfman & Louis Zisk. The Aftermath: anti-semitism in the AMC and ATC; lack of notice in local newspaper, BSA publications, etc.
My Executive Summary of the research effort, inc. my feelings on the work.)


A 72 Mile Hike on the AT
Some members of the AT-L list found the claim of a 72-mile day hike on the AT to be beyond belief. Some allowed that perhaps there had been a very long hike and that the distance was inflated over the years, subject to failing memory or exaggeration for whatever reasons. In trying to analyze the possibility that the hike was real I approached it with two ideas. How credible is it that a group would try such a long day hike, and is it possible to find logical endpoints for the hike along the AT. The date of the hike is not specified but from other details in the story it’s likely to be in the early 1950’s. I’m assuming 1952 for this analysis. The story states that Max was in his 30’s that would be from 1950/51 to 1960/61. The scouts accompanying him were members of his Explorer troop, these are older scouts ages 18-21.

Would a group attempt such a long day hike?
There is documented evidence of previous hiking & walking accomplishments in the Appalachian Mountains beginning with Alden Partridge, whom the Watermans call the “father of American superhikers”. He and, later, Arnold Guyot established a baseline for hiking mountains and walking roads that to most hikers today seems unimaginable. Among Partridge’s walks and climbs, all originating from Norwich, VT are:

Mt. Monadnock (1830) 152 miles in 3 days.
Mt. Holyoke (1830) 220 miles in 4 days.
Walk to Concord, MA – 145 miles roundtrip.
Several 3-day walks to Crawford Notch, 76 miles each way.
Mt. Equinox (1830) 150 miles in 4 days (final day 45 miles)
Boston, MA (1830) 300 miles in 5 days.
In a walk from Concord, NH to Norwich, VT it’s rumored that he beat the horse-drawn coach to his destination…

Partridge was the founder of an academy at Norwich, VT, later to become Norwich University. He, along with Edward Hitchcock, and Arnold Guyot, were prominent educators & scientists, influential in their time, men who popularized the mountain environment, promoting health & fitness along with academics.

Closer to our time was the phenomenal competition that took hold at Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH starting in 1919. That year William P. Fowler established a new record for a one-day walk/hike traveling from Hanover to Pike, NH – a distance of 52 miles. In succession: Sherman Adams, Fowler, John Herbert and Warren Daniell III pushed the record to 62 miles, then 66, 69, 83 and finally 86 miles for one day walk/hikes. Sherman Adams later became Governor of New Hampshire and according to the Watermans his 1920 trip from Franconia Notch to Hanover has never been duplicated (23 miles hiking, 60 miles road). Walter Daniell did his 86-mile trip from Hanover to Hinsdale, NH entirely as a roadwalk.

Competitive efforts among the AMC Hut Croo also established new levels yearly for packweights (see Table 5 in Endnotes) and also for one-day hikes. Loomis & Batchelder broke a barrier with the first successful one-day hut-to-hut traverse in 1933. They traveled 50 miles from Lonesome Lake to Carter Notch visiting each hut along the way, with a total ascent of 15,000 vertical feet.

Laura & Guy Waterman, in their book Forest & Crag (1989) also document the speed-hiking surge in the New York City area that took hold in the 1930’s. This was started by the completion of the new trans-Harriman SP trail system and it was encouraged by the presence of railroad stations at several trail endpoints. Hikes of 20-30 mile lengths could be easily attempted from New York City on a weekend and friendly competitions arose between the City College Hiking Club and the New York University Outing Club. These competitions were still in vogue in 1938 as documented by Raymond Torrey (and mentioned in Forest & Crag).

With this background it’s clear that a 72-mile hike along a fairly flat section of the AT is consistent with achievements in the 1920’s and 1930’s. Max Gordon would be familiar with the achievements in Harriman SP since he was local to the area, and stated that the scouts had a long history of hikes in Harriman. In the 1920’s, before Ten Mile River Camp was purchased, the BSA made substantial use of Harriman SP for their activities. Max personally was hiking in Harriman at the same time as the college competitions. By the 1950’s Max may be remembering these past accomplishments and challenging his Explorer scouts with something to outdo what the previous generation had done.

In addition Max Gordon’s experience with the WWI veterans may have established other stories and records of military walks in his memory. I haven’t researched activities during the war but I can easily imagine times on the 1936 hike when the veterans could entertain the boys with stories of their own hiking/marching achievements.

What would be the endpoints for such a long hike?
Max states that the trip started at Kent, CT and went south on the AT. Using my 1998 AT Databook a hiker starting at Rt. 341 outside Kent, CT would end his trip about 1.5 miles into the woods just past Arden, NY. (This is nearly 8 miles past Tiorati Circle in Harriman SP). This is pretty unsatisfactory since it asks us to believe he exaggerated the distance by at least 1 ½ miles, or even more if his end point was Tiorati Circle.

The logic of a Scout hike ending at Bear Mountain Bridge, the summit of Bear Mountain or at Tiorati Circle is very appealing. All 3 locations provide easy access for vehicles and comfortable waiting locations for the support crew. All 3 locations were in common use by the Bronx scouts as indicated in Max’s story.

The AT guidebooks that I’ve used for this analysis are NY/NJ 1948, NY/NJ 1957, and the CT/MA/VT/NH 1952. For this analysis the only mileage differences occur in two places, from Canopus to US 9, and from US 9 to Bear Mountain Bridge, West End. These two differences nearly cancel each other out, making the trail in 1948 (for this section) just 0.05 miles longer than in 1957.

My first effort was to start at the 3 logical endpoints, and then calculate where 72 miles would place the hikers in 1948 and 1957. The bridge & summit start points put the end of the hike near Cornwall Bridge, well north of Kent. This makes Tiorati Circle the only logical endpoint. Beginning at Tiorati Circle puts the end of the hike 3 miles past Rt. 341, the road crossing just outside Kent. At first glance this seems unlikely since it puts the scouts on top of Cobble Mountain, inside Macedonia Brook SP. (The AT no longer loops through this SP; instead it hugs the Housatonic River as it heads towards Cornwall Bridge.)

Next I read in the AT guides about accommodations for hikers in/around Kent. One location is listed as a frequent overnight stay for hikers, Macedonia Brook Farm. To reach the farm along the AT you would hike N 1.88 miles from Rt. 341, then walk .32 miles along Macedonia Brook Road. Adding in the .26 mile walk along Rt. 341 and I have the final totals for the table. If I use regular truncation method for truncating mileage to 1/10 mile then total trip mileage becomes 71.6 miles which rounds up to 72 miles.

Table 4
1948 guidebook mileage 1957 guidebook mileage
Macedonia Br. Farm to AT .32 .32
AT south to Rt. 341 1.88 1.88
Rt. 341 roadwalk .26 .26
Rt. 341 to Schagticoke summit 3.53 3.53
Schagticoke to NY 55 4.47 4.47
NY 55 to NY 22 8.5 8.5
NY 22 (Pawling) to NY 216 5.4 5.4
NY 216 – NY 52 6.09 6.09
NY 52 – Taconic Pkwy 6.35 6.35
Taconic – NY 301 5.97 5.97
NY 301 – Canopus Valley 7.59 7.59
Canopus – US 9 5.95 6.15
US 9 – Bear Mt. Bridge, west 4.81 4.56
Bridge – Tiorati Circle 10.33 10.33

Totals 71.45 (71.6) 71.40 (71.6)

So the 72 mile hike likely started with the scouts sleeping overnight at Macedonia Brook Farm, in Macedonia SP outside Kent, CT, and the hike finished at Tiorati Circle in Harriman SP. The hikers first hiked the dirt road south to the AT and then followed the white blazes to Tiorati Circle. Arrangements were made for support since “Fourteen started the marathon hike, and, 18 hours later, Mr. Gordon and three Scouts completed the trek.” It’s possible that this “official” BSA hike is noted in archives somewhere but no attempt has been made to locate these materials.

[rickb]

I enjoyed rereading this thread.

While it is not about the Max Gordon story, I wanted to post this link to a story in Boy's Life Magazine which reports on a relay hike that various troops participated in 20 years later (1954). Decaff provided the link in another thread, but I thought it might be worth including in this thread as well.

The story begins on page 22 so you need to scroll up once you open the link, and it speaks of multiple scout troops passing one log book up the enter length of the AT and passing another up the entire length of the PCT.

While this remarkable trip occurred well after the one Rockdancer reports on so well, it does speak to the great interest the AT held for Scouts in earlier generations, as well as their great sense of adventure.

http://books.google.com/books?id=XQ7z3EfnrYAC&pg=PA56&dq=appalachian+trail+pacific+crest+boys+life+1955&hl=en&ei=7542TO7bNIT78Aa1sKyDDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDMQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false