Boy Scouts and Ghosts

Everyone has heard of Phillips Oil Company, I'm sure. What everyone probably hasn't heard of is Philmont Scout Ranch. How do they tie together your asking. Well, back in 1922, Waite Phillips of Phillips Oil Company decided he wanted to develop a ranch in New Mexico. He chose the Cimarron area and eventually amassed over 300,000 acres of mountains and plains. He named the ranch Philmont, the Phil for his name and mont from the Spanish word for mountain.

The Philmont Ranch became a showplace. Phillips build a large Spanish Mediterranean home for his family, naming it Villa Philmonte. He developed horse and hiking trails throughout the scenic backcountry along with elaborate fishing and hunting cabins for his family and friends.

Waite believed in sharing his wealth with others and in 1938 offered 35,857 acres to the Boy Scouts of America. After observing the enthusiastic response of the first Scout campers, he augmented his original gift in 1941 and the Boy Scout property now totaled 127,395 acres. The camp was renamed Philmont Scout Ranch.

Realizing that the cost for maintenance and development of the property could not be derived from camper fees, as an endowment he included in the gift his 23 story Philtower Building in Tulsa, Oklahoma. A very generous man he was!

In 1963, Norton Clapp, vice-president of the National Council of the Boy Scouts of America, another 10,098 acres including Baldy Mountain was added to the Ranch. The Ranch now has a total of 137,493 acres for Boy Scouts to hike.

On Tuesday, we toured some of the property including Villa Philmonte. Our guide through the Villa was, unfortunately, hard to understand. Because of this, I was not able to determine the square footage of the Villa, but I believe it's between 3,500 and 4,000 sf., very large! The furnishing are almost all original to the house and where purchased in Europe. The master suite was very impressive as it had a walk-in closet for Mr. Phillips, one for his wife, a very large and sunny sitting room and private bath with a separate shower stall with seven (7) shower heads - unheard of for that time! There was a lot of gold paint and gold foil used in the decoration and on the furniture. It was one of those "no expense spared" projects.

I have pictures posted at picasa.

After touring Villa Philmonte, we drove back to Cimarron to the St. James Hotel. After a great lunch in the cafe, we toured the hotel. Unfortunately, there was not much "printed" material available on the hotel, but I did get this information from their flier. The cook to General Grant and then President Lincoln, Henri Lambert drifted west after President Lincoln's assassination, eventually settling in Cimarron. There he built the the hotel at the cost of $17,000. It had a saloon, restaurant and 43 rooms that were witness to at least 26 murders, mostly committed in "self defense". The cast list of characters staying there included settlers, Lucien Maxwell & Carlos Beaubien and other notable people such as Buffalo Bill Cody and his cohort Annie Oakley, Kit Carson, Frank & Jesse James, Wyatt Earp, Billy the Kid and Blackjack Ketchum. The notorious gunman, Clay Allison, allegedly danced naked on the bar. There are still bullet holes in the dining room pressed tin ceiling.

Not only does this hotel have a notorious past, but is famous today for it's ghosts. There was a episode of Unsolved Mysteries that told about the ghosts that still live in the hotel. One room, I believe # 18, is locked because to many guests have been haunted while staying there and the decision was made to lock down the room. The clerk told me that a couple of months ago, the key mysteriously disappeared to that room. I can't remember the name of the person who is supposedly haunting the room, but the story goes that he won the hotel in a poker game and left the game heading to his room and was shot dead. He still believes it's his hotel and his room!

We saw no ghosts while touring, but then it was daytime and the most activity seems to occur at night.

This will be our last "adventure" from Eagle Nest. On Friday we leave here and go to the USAF Academy in Colorado Springs for 12 nights. I'm sure that there will be lots to write about from there so check back next week.

Pictures - http://picasaweb.google.com/SchultzTravelPhotos