Boy Scout Troop No. 17

Claims to be first are hard to prove in scouting. The Handbook of Texas entry on Claude calls Troop 17 the first Boy Scout troop west of the Mississippi, while the Handbook's history of Texas scouting notes that boys formed troops from Baden-Powell's 1908 book even before the Boy Scouts of America was incorporated on February 8, 1910, and that such claims are difficult to verify. The founders admired this country: Ernest Thompson Seton wrote to a Panhandle troop in 1915 that it was "one of the best in the World for Scouting." Amarillo's council followed in 1921.

What the plaque says

Boy Scout Troop No. 17 One of the oldest Scout troops west of the Mississippi River, this group was organized in May 1912 by pioneer physician Dr. W. A. Warner (1864-1934). The first troop of about 30 boys met in a room above Dr. Warner's drugstore and office. Because of his foresight, many of Claude's civic leaders were influenced in their youth by ideals of scouting. Dr. Warner served as the first scoutmaster, followed by John W. McClure, Bert C. Wooldridge, Cecil Waggoner, and J.L. McFarland. Troop No. 17, also called the "Lone Star Pioneers," is governed by the Scouts through their Junior Council. (1975)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Gem Theatre — steps away
  Claude's small-town movie house of 1915, restored by the Armstrong County Museum and remembered for the scene in Hud where Homer and Lonnie Bannon sing along to Clementine.
• Charles and Mary Ann Goodnight Ranch State Historic Site — 11 mi
  The two-story house the Goodnights moved into on December 27, 1887, after leaving the JA, with a porch that looks over bison descended from the calves Mary Ann saved.
• Carson County Square House Museum — 16 mi
  The 1880s ranch cottage that is the oldest house in the town of Panhandle, at the heart of a twenty-one-building museum of the plains from mammoth hunters to the oil boom.
• Lighthouse Trail — 21 mi
  The park's most walked trail, 2.8 miles each way across the canyon floor to the Lighthouse, a hoodoo of Triassic sandstone balanced on a pedestal of softer red shale.

More markers nearby

• Town of Claude — steps away
• Great Panhandle Indian Scare of 1891 — steps away
• Charles Howard Roan — steps away
• Route of Coronado Expedition — steps away