198.1127.1

John Hurst, known to one and all as "Uncle Bade" (the reason is unclear though the Englishman Sir Robert Baden-Powell was the founder of the Boy Scouts), was the naturalist and camp ranger at Camp Mitigwa, a popular Boy Scout camp near the Des Moines River. He is seen here helping some scouts carve arrowheads. Uncle Bade was especially adept at chipping arrowheads, a skill he learned from Sac and Fox Indians. Members of those tribes visited the camp in the 1920s. John Hurst lived between Boone and Camp Mitigwa, near Woodward, Iowa. He worked at Camp Mitigwa from 1922 until his retirement in 1947. He died in September, 1952, and is buried in Sparks Cemetery which is located within a mile of Camp Mitigwa.