El titular en The Madera Tribune decía: “Jamboree de Boy Scouts cancelado por polio”. La decisión de cancelar el primer Jamboree Mundial de Boy Scouts en los Estados Unidos se tomó debido a un brote de parálisis infantil en Virginia.
Plans had called for 30,000 boy scouts to assemble in Washington D.C. from the 21st to the 30th of August 1935. With the outbreak of the dreaded disease, however, telegrams were sent to scout troops all over the country. On Sunday afternoon, just as scouts from Madera were preparing to leave on the train from Fresno, the message came. “Don’t come to Washington D.C.”
Five Madera lads, Red Arnold, George Barnett, Dean Curry, Jack Desmond, and Jim Desmond, along with Assistant Scoutmaster Keith Emmert, were part of the large contingent of scouts who had gathered in Fresno that day to depart for the jamboree.
Valley scout officials quickly held a meeting and decided to make the trip anyway. After all, the special 18-car train was ready, and so were the scouts. They would make the trip but would spend the time planned for Washington D.C. in New York City instead. So off they went. Emmert kept a journal of the trip and later recounted the highlights to his daughter Pat Emmert Manning.
The scouts took the Southern Pacific to Portland, Oregon and on to Seattle. From there the boys took the Great Northern to Chicago after taking a side trip to Mount Rushmore.
Once they reached the Windy City, the scouts stayed in the Stevens Hotel, which became the Chicago Hilton. They were stunned by the size of the building with its 5,000 rooms.
After a tour of Chicago, which included a planetarium and two museums, the next stop was Dearborn, Michigan and Henry Ford’s Greenfield Village. Upon reaching the village, they proceeded by horses to visit the courthouse in which Abraham Lincoln practiced law and the one-room schoolhouse, which Ford attended. Before they left, the boys were taken to the Henry Ford plant where they saw first hand the assembling of the 1936 V8 Fords.
Next on the itinerary came Pittsburgh and the Heinz 57 company where they sampled the firm’s soup. Then it was on to Niagara Falls, New York and West Point on the Hudson.
By this time, the scouts were ready for the Big Apple. They descended the Hudson to New York City where they spent 10 days.
The scouts boarded in the YMCA where Emmert answered some mail from home on stationery from the ship that had brought them down the Hudson River. One piece of Emmert’s correspondence survives to give his impression of New York. It was written on August 24, 1935 to Mrs. Barnett.
“Estimada Sra. Barnett: Me llevé una agradable sorpresa al recibir su carta esta mañana. Todos la estamos pasando de maravilla. Los chicos Madera han demostrado ser bien capaces de cuidarse solos.”
“Es tan diferente aquí en Nueva York que es como estar en un país extranjero. El ruido de los trenes elevados arriba y los subterráneos abajo, los empujones, el jaloneo de las multitudes, las miradas y el habla de la gente son tan diferentes. Incluso el aire que respiras es diferente.”
“Los muchachos han estado tan ocupados que no han tenido tiempo de pensar en casa ni de sentir nostalgia, pero sé que tan pronto como empecemos el camino a casa y los muchachos comiencen a pensar en casa, estarán muy contentos de llegar allí.”
“El río Hudson es un lugar hermoso. Hay acantilados densamente arbolados a ambos lados. Cada poco tiempo se puede ver el acantilado sólido y escarpado de roca de colores (no granito).”
“El país es diferente y hermoso, pero todavía amo California, y las mismas palabras tienen un significado nuevo y mayor. Tu amigo, Keith Emmert.”
“P.S. This stationery is furnished by the boat company free, but you have to buy your own paper cups if you want a drink of water. You buy the cups at the news stand on board. K.E.”
Emmert and his scouts left New York after ten days and headed for the Mississippi River, which they descended to New Orleans where they toured the French Quarter and swam in Lake Ponchatrain.
Desde Nueva Orleans, el destino fue Nuevo México y las Cavernas de Carlsbad, y luego a Madera.
Once they had returned home, the Madera scouts let no grass grow under their feet. They began preparing for the rescheduled jamboree to be held in the nation’s capital in 1937.