Charles Summers Northern Tier Does Not Carry Our Pictograph Bulletins.
Sunday, July 12th, 2009submitted by: Bob Evans
For all of our readers who are associated with Boy Scout units headed to the Boundary Waters or Quetico based out of Charles Sommers, the Northern Tier Canoe Base, our Northwoods Pictograph bulletins are not currently stocked in the store there or in the outfitting department. We wanted to let you know so that if you are traveling a route with pictograph sites, and you are interested in having your Scouts learn about pictograph sites and the related Ojibwa culture, you will need to pick up bulletins before arriving at the base.
You can order from our website, or if you want to save shipping charges, there are several outfitters close to Sommers who carry a complete stock of the bulletins. You can check our “shop” pages or the “links” page for a list of those outfitters who stock our bulletins.
On Moose Lake Road, just before you reach the Scout Base, you will pass LaTourell’s Moose Lake Outfitters. They have a great store with a complete inventory of the bulletins. Have one vehicle in your party turn left off the road at the La Tourell’s sign and it is just a short distance to the store. The staff there will be glad to help you pick out the bulletins on your route. If your route is not known until you are at the base, a very short return down the road to the store takes only a few minutes.
When we designed the bulletins, we decided to put an article on page 4 of each bulletin about something to do with the pictographs, or the Ojibwa culture and religion upon which the pictograph symbols are based. This idea came from my many years in Scouting, remembering hundreds of evenings after dinner when we would sit around the campfire and talk about the days activities or the events of the next day. It occurred to me that scouts traveling canoe country, would have an interest in the culture of the Ojibwa, and that the evening discussions around the fire, after visiting a site, could very well be centered around learning more about the early Ojibwa who lived in this area. Out of these memories of Scouting came the idea for the page four articles in the bulletins.
In many cases, a Scout group will travel a loop with more than one site, and more than one bulletin. For this reason we decided to make all the page four articles different so that no two bulletins would have the same article. Visiting these sites and studying the page four articles may be a part of the requirements for Indian Lore, American Culture, and Archaeology merit badges, and perhaps others.
And if you purchase the bulletins and use them on the trail to learn about the sites, please let the officials at Sommers know what you think of them. We sincerely hope that Sommers will stock our bulletins in the store in the future as we sincerely believe they will be a valuable aid in assisting your Scouts learn about the history and culture of the Ojibwa. And be sure to respect the sites. Do not touch the rocks or the images. Be careful not to splash the surfaces with your paddles. These sites are sacred areas to the Ojibwa and the messages conveyed by the images can be regarded as prayers. Please respect the sites!
Tags: Americal Culture Merit Badge, Archaeology Merit Badge, Boundary Waters, Boy Scouts, BWCA, campfire, campfire activities, canoe country, canoe trip, Charles Sommers, culture, Indian Lore Merit Badge, LaTourell's, Northern Tier, Northwoods Pictographs, Ojibwa, Ojibway, pictographs, Quetico, Scouting, Scouts