South Plains Council
Encyclopedia
Districts
- Chaparral District
- Comanche Trail District
- George White District
- Haynes District
- Quanah Parker District
Order of the Arrow
South Plains Council is served by Nakona Lodge 150 of the Order of the ArrowOrder of the Arrow
The Order of the Arrow is the national honor society of the Boy Scouts of America . It uses American Indian-styled traditions and ceremonies to bestow recognition on scouts selected by their peers as best exemplifying the ideals of Scouting. The society was created by E. Urner Goodman, with the...
.
C. W. Post Memorial Camp
C. W. Post Memorial Camp (Camp Post), established in 1926, is a Boy ScoutBoy Scout
A Scout is a boy or a girl, usually 11 to 18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement. Because of the large age and development span, many Scouting associations have split this age group into a junior and a senior section...
camp located in Garza County, Texas
Garza County, Texas
Garza County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas southeast of Lubbock. In 2000, its population was 4,872. Its county seat is Post. Garza is named for a pioneer Bexar County family, as it was once a part of that county....
about 4 miles (6 km) southwest of Post, Texas
Post, Texas
Post is a city in and the county seat of Garza County, Texas, United States. The population was 3,708 at the 2000 census.There are many ranchers and civic boosters in Garza County, among them Giles McCrary, a former mayor who operates the OS Museum, a hybrid of exhibits from both the American West...
, off Texas Ranch Road 669. It was named in honor of cereal magnate, C.W. Post, who founded the nearby town. The camp is located along the Caprock Escarpment
Caprock Escarpment
The Caprock Escarpment is a term used in Texas and Eastern New Mexico to describe the geographical transition point between the level elevated plains of the Llano Estacado and the surrounding rolling terrain. In Texas, the escarpment stretches around 320 km south-southwest from the northeast...
of the Llano Estacado
Llano Estacado
Llano Estacado , commonly known as the Staked Plains, is a region in the Southwestern United States that encompasses parts of eastern New Mexico and northwestern Texas, including the South Plains and parts of the Texas Panhandle...
in the area formerly occupied by the headquarters of the Llano Ranch, also known as the Curry Comb Ranch. Camp Post utilizes the Curry Comb brand in its insignia, a capital T with two horizontal bars above it.
History
Around 1879 the Llano Cattle Company acquired approximately 120 square miles (310.8 km²) in Garza County, including the land on which Camp Post is now situated. In 1883 they moved their ranch headquarters to the current site of Camp Post. A two story frame house was built and a well dug, this being the first hand-dug well in Garza County. The old well site is still visible today, and is located just south of Pioneer road about halfway between the trading post and the swimming pool. The original wooden curb burned in 1937 and has been replaced by a replica.The first recorded birth and death in Garza County took place here in February 1884, when Kate McCommis was born, daughter of Jim and Della Browning McCommis. She died the same day. Her grave is located about 150 feet southeast of the present-day dining hall.
C.W. Post purchased the land from the Llano Cattle Company in 1907 to pursue his dream of building a city. He built the town of Post about 4 miles (6 km) northwest and sold most of the arable farmland to settlers.
In 1926, the Post estate gave 400 acres (1.6 km²) encompassing the former ranch headquarters to the South Plains Council of the Boy Scouts of America for use as a camp.
Facilities
Camp Post's facilities include 12 camping areas, a dining hall, a ropes course, a rifle range, an archery range, swimming pool, campfire ring, trading post, the OA Lodge, and the Mallet training center, used for leathercraft. A rustic outdoor chapel was built in 1959 by Phi Delta ThetaPhi Delta Theta
Phi Delta Theta , also known as Phi Delt, is an international fraternity founded at Miami University in 1848 and headquartered in Oxford, Ohio. Phi Delta Theta, Beta Theta Pi, and Sigma Chi form the Miami Triad. The fraternity has about 169 active chapters and colonies in over 43 U.S...
Fraternity.
Activities
Activities include shooting sports (BB guns, pellet guns, .22 rifle, and shotgun), archery, astronomy, horseshoes, fishing, fire-building, storytelling, first aid, geo-caching, roping, hiking, leathercraft, knot-tying, canoeing, and outdoor cookery. Weekend campouts for area scouts are regularly scheduled including Cowboy Camp, Cub Camp, and Webeloes Woods.Natural resources
Water resources include Cottonwood Creek, Bobcat Creek, Dove Canyon Creek, Falls Canyon Creek, and Lake Marjorie. Common birds include American RobinAmerican Robin
The American Robin or North American Robin is a migratory songbird of the thrush family. It is named after the European Robin because of its reddish-orange breast, though the two species are not closely related, with the European robin belonging to the flycatcher family...
, Cardinal
Cardinal (bird)
The Cardinals or Cardinalidae are a family of passerine birds found in North and South America. The South American cardinals in the genus Paroaria are placed in another family, the Thraupidae ....
, and Mockingbird
Mockingbird
Mockingbirds are a group of New World passerine birds from the Mimidae family. They are best known for the habit of some species mimicking the songs of other birds and the sounds of insects and amphibians, often loudly and in rapid succession. There are about 17 species in three genera...
. Mammal species include Bobcat
Bobcat
The bobcat is a North American mammal of the cat family Felidae, appearing during the Irvingtonian stage of around 1.8 million years ago . With twelve recognized subspecies, it ranges from southern Canada to northern Mexico, including most of the continental United States...
and Coyote
Coyote
The coyote , also known as the American jackal or the prairie wolf, is a species of canine found throughout North and Central America, ranging from Panama in the south, north through Mexico, the United States and Canada...
. Some of the common trees are cottonwood, Mesquite
Mesquite
Mesquite is a leguminous plant of the Prosopis genus found in northern Mexico through the Sonoran Desert and Chihuahuan Deserts, and up into the Southwestern United States as far north as southern Kansas, west to the Colorado Desert in California,and east to the eastern fifth of Texas, where...
, and Juniper
Juniper
Junipers are coniferous plants in the genus Juniperus of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on taxonomic viewpoint, there are between 50-67 species of juniper, widely distributed throughout the northern hemisphere, from the Arctic, south to tropical Africa in the Old World, and to the...
. Common grasses include Blue Grama
Blue grama
Blue Grama, Bouteloua gracilis, is a long-lived, warm season, C4 perennial grass native to North America. It is most commonly found from Alberta east to Manitoba and south across the Rocky Mountains, Great Plains, and Midwest states to Mexico...
, Buffalograss, Hooded Windmillgrass
Chloris (plant)
Chloris is a genus of grasses which are known generally as windmill grass or finger grass.These grasses are found worldwide, but especially in the tropical and subtropical regions, and more often in the Southern Hemisphere...
, Perennial Three-awn
Three-awn
The three-awns are the grass genus Aristida, distinguished by having three awns on each lemma of each floret. The genus includes about 300 species, found worldwide, often in arid warm regions...
, plains bristlegrass
Plains bristlegrass
Setaria leucopila, commonly known as Plains Bristlegrass or Streambed Bristlegrass, is a perennial prairie grass that is native to the southern plains of the United States. It reaches a height of . Although good forage for livestock, it is only fair for wildlife use. It reproduces by seeds and...
, Sideoats Grama, and Silver Bluestem. Other plant life commonly seen include Feather Dalea, Yucca
Yucca
Yucca is a genus of perennial shrubs and trees in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Agavoideae. Its 40-50 species are notable for their rosettes of evergreen, tough, sword-shaped leaves and large terminal panicles of white or whitish flowers. They are native to the hot and dry parts of North...
, Prickly-Pear Cactus
Opuntia
Opuntia, also known as nopales or paddle cactus , is a genus in the cactus family, Cactaceae.Currently, only prickly pears are included in this genus of about 200 species distributed throughout most of the Americas. Chollas are now separated into the genus Cylindropuntia, which some still consider...
, and Cholla
Cylindropuntia
Cylindropuntia is a genus of cacti , containing the chollas. They were formerly treated as a subgenus of Opuntia but have now been separated based on their cylindrical stems and the presence of papery epidermal sheaths on the spines...
.