1941 Camp Kia Kima
| Description: In 1941 Eastern Arkansas
Council leased an existing scout camp with equipment from Chickasaw Council,
Memphis, Tennessee. One article indicates that due to having recently bought a
camp nearer to Memphis and due to fuel shortages, Chickasaw did not plan to use
their camp at Kia Kima in 1941 (and in fact didn't throughout the mid-1940s).
As a result Eastern Arkansas Council formally operated Kia Kima as it's own
camp in 1941. A week of camp cost $9.00 per scout. Ward Akers, our new Council
Executive served as our camp director leading a staff of fourteen Scouts and
leaders. These were: Oliver M. Blackford, Ike Davis, Joe, Gates, James Goodman,
Cotton Jones, Clarence Jung, John Kamp, Harvey Morris, Roy Nance, Floyd Pearce,
Kenneth Richardson, A.A. "Uncle Abe" Shamoon, Jimmie Sloan and Bryon O.
Wilkins. The articles indicate a significant jump in summer camp attendance due to the facilities of Kia Kima, and for a time, the two councils studied the possible sale of Kia Kima to Eastern Arkansas. One period news article indicates 440 scouts attended Kia Kima that summer. By late 1941 however, it had been decided to purchase another nearby camp site that became Cedar Valley. About the same time Kia Kima was being studied, Scouters in Helena abandoned plans to lease land in the Storm Creek area to build their own camp. The insignia used for Kia Kima in 1941 consisted of a Blue felt arrowhead marked "Kamp Kia Kima BSA 1941" (The common spelling used by Chickasaw Council for many years. This was printed on the back of leftover 1938 Camp Crowley patches and perhaps also ones from Camp Robertson in at least a few cases. Other examples exist on Green felt. |
| Camp Location: Spring River near Hardy, Arkansas. Dates Operated: June 22 - July 19, 1941. Characteristics: Dark Blue or Green felt; Whitish / Yellow printing. |
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