Camp's theme: Pony Express
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SMITH CREEK, Nev. — About 70 Boy Scouts from the Carson City Nevada Stake joined another 1,000 northern Nevada Scouts and their leaders Aug. 12-14 in a regional Scout encampment at this remote ranch east of Fallon.
The boys camped, worked on Scout skills, participated in pioneer activities, and heard motivational instruction from Charles Dahlquist, Young Men general president, and other Church authorities.
The theme of the encampment was Pony Express Days. Activities from that era were available to the Scouts at "Main Street at Smith Creek" and included horseshoe making, roping, trapping, using bucksaws, ropemaking and wheelbarrow racing.
The Scouts enjoyed the camaraderie of being together with other Scouts who share the same standards. James Stockton, a 17-year-old from Gardnerville, explained, "It was fun to interact with Scouts from other areas. We were able to talk to other Scouts like we already knew them."
In his remarks, President Dahlquist impressed upon the young men their responsibility to look out for each other. He also spoke of the importance of serving others by serving missions for the Church.
He told the young men of gymnast Shun Fujimoto in the 1976 Olympics who held a dismount from the steel rings to earn a gold medal despite an excruciating injury to his ankle. After he and his team won the gold, medal, he explained, "The pain is gone, but the gold remains."
The Scouts were congratulated by Bruce Smith, president of the Nevada Las Vegas West Mission, because he had heard no profanity spoken as he walked among the boys at the encampment.
Timothy Dyches, Area Authority Seventy, told the boys of the importance of sacrificing certain things for more important things.
William Brewer, president of the Carson City stake, is chairman of the LDS scouting relations committee which planned the event with the approval of the seven stakes involved. He explained that the event was designed to put the boys and their leaders in a situation where they could draw closer to one another. The event "was an enormous success," said President Brewer. "I just couldn't have been more pleased."
Activities at "Main Street at Smith Creek," included horseshoe making, roping, trapping, using buck saws, ropemaking and wheelbarrow racing.
"It was fun to interact with Scouts from other areas. We were able to talk to other Scouts like we already knew them."
