The Lions Club in Eagle River decided to sponsor a new scout troop in late 1975. Troop 230 was officially started with just a few boys, And with (Ralph?) Baranow as their Scoutmaster. Dale McBride was one of the original "founding fathers" of our troop. He served as an Assistant Scoutmaster, and as an acting scoutmaster for two years, between Travis Barber and Orson Smith’s terms. One of Mr. McBride’s greatest accomplishments was a trip over the Chilkoot trail, mimicked by the troop two decades later. The troop grew and grew, and as we do now, they met at the Eagle River Lions Club every Wednesday night. Other than a few cosmetic changes, we are still the troop we were 30 plus years ago.

The first Eagle Scout the troop ever had was Charles Lochner, all the way back in 1978. He didn’t know it at the time, but he started a tradition in the troop that is now 66 boys strong, and the number is always changing. Not everyone in the troop gains the rank of Eagle, but our ratio of those who earn it compared to those who don’t is rather impressive. Part of the reason is that we are an active troop, and we DO THINGS. Keeping the OUTING in scouting is one of the things that we do best, and have always done. It is part of our history. It has always been that way, from our earliest beginnings. Even before Camp Gorsuch had a dining hall or a dock, we were camping there, making the most of the advancement opportunities. The summer we were founded we took the troop all the way to Canada, and hiked the famous Chilkoot trail, reaching the summit and in doing so pushing our troop on a trail of adventure that has never stopped.

The picture here is one of the earliest surviving pictures of our troop. It was taken at Camp Gorsuch, long before there was much of a camp there. It was still a fun place, and there were adventures then just as there are now. But it was a lot different too, and the patrol sites were what you made them, and there weren’t even any big tents or tent platforms or even

the swimming area as we now know it. Even our uniforms were different back then, but we were still a scout troop with pride, and we had the same Scout Oath and the same Scout Law. During that original summer camp, we had 13 scouts attend with two leaders. It was a beginning, and we have been back every single year since.

On July 4th of 1988, the troop was faced with a severe tragedy. The troop’s Scoutmaster, Al Jonsen, (standing in the left side of the picture, next to Mr. Mark Kelliher) crashed in a private plane and died. Mr. Jonsen was a huge part of the troop, and when he died, a part of the troop went with him. At that point, the troop nearly collapsed, but was saved by one of their assistant scoutmasters, Mark Kelliher. He realized how the boys were all grieving for Mr. Jonsen, so he arranged for the troop to set up a monument for their old scoutmaster, which is still standing at Camp Gorsuch. On top of that, he took many members of the troop to the summit of a nearby mountain and let them each write a letter to him, then they folded them into paper airplanes, and sent them flying to their former Scoutmaster. After that, the troop began to heal, and, in time, went back to how things were before the crash.

By 1993, the scoutmaster was Chuck Klein, and he helped our troop by emphasizing uniforms, the patrol leaders council, and the flag ceremonies that are now just apart of our troops tradition. In 1994 he passed the Scoutmaster’s job on to Mr. Greg Hobbs, who we always just called "GREG."

Greg Hobbs was the first scout from our troop that grew up to become a scoutmaster. He had also served in this position between Al Jonsen and Jim Beauford’s terms, and between Mr. Beauford and Mr. And Mrs. Bell’s terms. He is, so far, the only scoutmaster in this troop’s history to serve as a scoutmaster for three different times. With him came, among other things, our Troops’ affinity for Capture The Flag and the troop’s annual tradition of the Merit Badge Lock-in at camp Carlquist. Greg loved to winter camp, and felt that it was important to make sure every Alaskan scout could survive in the heart of the arctic cold. We camped every single month and learned to have a blast year round. Greg was a scoutmaster who loved to have FUN, and we had a lot of games and did a lot of fun stuff.

On January 1st of 1997, the torch was passed from Greg Hobbs to John Dieffenderfer (referred to as ‘Mr. Dee). Mr. Dee took a much more active approach to events the troop partook in. He carried forward Greg’s ideas of camping every month of the year, regardless of the weather. He also seriously pushed the "Ideals of Scouting", and constantly reminded us of it in his "Minutes. " He pushed us to be proud of who we were, and we started wearing full uniforms at more events and more outings. We even wore them all the way to the top of the Chilkoot Pass. He encouraged us to "think big" and with him pushing us we dreamed of bigger trips and far-away goals.

In Late July and early August of 1998, our troop had the honor of hiking the Chilkoot for the centennial anniversary of the Alaskan Gold Rush. We followed the same path that miners, prospectors, and anyone out to make a quick buck a century before us, as well as our troop two plus decades ago took. It was a nearly a month long expedition that took us through some of the most beautiful and historical areas in Alaska and Canada. The trip ended in the Miner’s town of Skagway, and from there we made our way to White Horse for the Jamboree that was taking place there. We even got on the cover of "Boys’ Life" Magazine in August ’99. We also sponsored a Troop 30 from Eua Claire, Wisconsin, and together we rafted the famous Six Mile River, a Class IV whitewater experience. We hiked Crow Pass, and did two different expeditions through the heart of the Kenai National Wildlife refuge.

In May of 2000, Mr. Dee relinquished his place as Scoutmaster to Willie Winslow. Willie brought the PLC into the forefront, pushing us to run our own troop and to continue to think big. In the two summers that followed, we water skied, traveled to Philmont Scout Ranch, hiked Crow Pass, Johnson Pass, and went mountain biking through Resurrection Pass.  We rafted the Gulkana River, and took snow machines into the arctic wilderness all the way to the Yentna Station.  By the end of 2001 fifty scouts had risen all the way to Eagle Scout, and twenty of those made it just in the last four years alone.  

 Since the year 2001 Troop 230 has continued it’s established tradition of outdoor activity, community service and advancement. Anyone who is active in this troop knows of some of the spectacular things this Troop does. Not only are there many outdoor adventures, but Troop 230 contributes a lot of service time to it’s community, and produces an impressive amount of Eagle scouts each year.

Troop 230 has been an active Troop throughout it’s existence. In the summer of 2002, the Troop sent two teams to hike the famous Chilkoot Trail, and they also explored the waterways of the famous Yukon River on the Alaska ferry system.   This was a great trip, an awesome trip really, and the memories of at that adventure were something hard to forget. 

Does winter stop the Troop’s outdoor activities? No! The Troop winter camped as well as sending an expedition by snowmachine to Yentna Station, where they ate and slept. On a clear and cold Saturday night, the troop had a giant campfire. The trip was a total of 150 miles to Skwentna Roadhouse and back to Deshka Landing. After duct taping the cowling and sparkplug together on a snow machine from a minor collision, the troop enjoyed pizza in Wasilla on their way home. The scouts who went on this fabulous trip were David A, Collin B, Chris F, Chase J, Joey L, Jeremy L, Clint M, Jake R, Kyle V, Kevin V, Ross V, Sean W, and Kyle and Nathan W. The activity continued in 2003, with winter camping, the annual merit badge lock in at the local scout camp, the parent/scout camp out, and a squirt gun battle at a waterskiing camp out. 

The Troop also flew by floatplane to a remote river, where every member of the troop that attended caught at least one King Salmon. This great trip offered just about as much as a camping trip can give. It was fun, there were opportunities for merit badges and rank advancement, and it was adventurous, considering the river was too high to cross on foot on our way back, so a raft had to be used to cross it. We were also treated to a 45 minute plane ride in a beaver with floats on it to and from our remote location. The weather couldn’t have been better, since it was so warm, we didn’t even need waders to fish in the river, most of the group just used swimming trunks to wade. Fishing lures were short in supply, so everyone went swimming while picking up lures from snags.

The Troop also sent a group on a amazing trip to the Philmont Scout Ranch in Cimarron, New Mexico. But not only was the Philmont Scout Ranch amazing, but so were the 5 preparation hikes. The pre-hikes included an ascent to the top of Bird Ridge, a hike to the base of Flute Glacier on the S fork where the group saw hundreds of mating ptarmigan and 30 Dahl sheep, a hike along Long Lake on the North Fork of Campbell Creek where hypothermia first aid was practiced on an actual case, a one day 22 mile hike over Johnson Pass, and 27 miles over Crow Pass, which follows some of the original Iditarod trail. After the flight to Denver, 4 days were spent in Colorado. The group of scouts went to a water park, alpine slide in Winter Park where Chase Jalbert crashed and got road rash, Mt. Princeton Hot Springs, and white water rafted on the Arkansas River. When they got to Philmont, they saw an Indian archeological site, a T-Rex track, rode horses, got some help from burros for 2 days, conquered a 12,400 foot mountain. They also shot 12 gauge shotguns and black power rifles, and rock limbed. Also thrown in was an awesome game of Risk, which David A won. They also witnessed a flash flood and the Philmont staff surfed it on mattresses. All this adventure was packed into a 10 day, 65 mile trip at Philmont. Troop 230 has always been an incredible active troop , and it is obviously continuing that tradition.

Community service is also a big part of the Troop. In addition to service projects to the local community, the Troop also clears up the grounds of the Eagle River Lions Club 4^th of July party, the Lions put on every year for the community, at no charge.

Troop 230 can pride itself on it’s tradition of producing Eagle Scouts, and that has continued year after year.    In it’s 27 years of existence, our troop has had a program in place that has emphasized everything that scouting is, and the result is that we had produced 76 Eagle Scouts by the spring of 2006. This is very impressive, since reaching the rank of Eagle is a very respected accomplishment. The average of over 2 Eagles per year shows that 230 is a very active and productive troop, that keeps guys interested with it’s great activities.

In September of 2003, Willie Winslow relinquished the duties of the Troop Scoutmaster. During his term as scoutmaster, Mr. Winslow kept the Troop focused on it’s high level of outdoor fun and community service goals. Mr. Winslow assisted the scout leadership of the Troop, with long term activity planning that is the key to a successful Troop. Many people don’t realize the commitment it takes to be a good scoutmaster. Often times, they work 7 nights a week, in order to keep the Troop running smoothly. Mr. Winslow has been a true example of leadership by example.

Mr. John Dieffenderfer has taken over the duties of Scoutmaster, which is his second term with the Troop. Mr. "Dee" is continuing our tradition of monthly outdoor activities, and is focusing on helping scouts advance in rank. He reminds us of the scout oath and law and how to live by them every day. We have been a proud, active and strong Troop since 1975, and we plan on keeping it that way.

In the summer of 2004 we emphasized canoeing, and went to two major canoe expeditions that were both incredible adventures.   In June of that year we canoed the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, traveling more than 50 miles and ending up in Sterling, Alaska.   We had two airdrops during that adventure, with a steak and corn delivery followed by a second ice-cream-drop on the last night of the trip.  It was a great time, and we all had a blast.

Later that same summer we went to the Yukon, and paddled almost 250 miles of the mighty Yukon River.  We started off in Whitehorse, and spend the next week on the river, passing over the gold trail and following the path of the sternwheelers.   We even found one, abandoned since the early 1900s, rotting away on an island just north of Lake LeBarge.   We jumped off a cliff, had some great campfires, and swam virtually every day.   It was another fantastic adventure, and something none that went can every forget.

Also in August of 2004 we chartered a Beaver floatplane and attempted to fly out for a silver salmon fishing adventure.  The weather flooded us out however, and what was supposed to be a great trip for everyone turned out to be a survival adventure for the one single airplane that made it in.  Still, we caught a lot of fish, and even soaked, those that went had  a blast.

2005 was a fantastic year for Troop 230.    First, we were busy, as we usually are, enjoying a high adventure survival campout at Hatcher's Pass, sleeping in snow shelters and spending the afternoon sledding, snowboarding, and downhill skiing.  In the spring of 2005 we took top honors at the Western Alaska Council's Spring Camporee, and we won "best patrol" and "best SPL", two tremendous awards that we can all take pride in.   Our biggest activities of the year included our train trip to the Denali National Park, our white water rafting trip down the Nennana River, and our fly out expedition to the Katmai National Park, including our week long backpacking adventure through the Valley of 10,000 Smokes.   But we also spent a week at summer camp, and a hike with Scouts from Magaden, Russian.  We like to DO THINGS, and we also managed a snow machine expedition in March, and a water ski-a-thon in July.   All in all, it was another INCREDIBLE year for an INCREDIBLE troop.   

In 2006, we once again were outside doing things and having fun!    If anybody thinks scouts is 'boring' they aren't in Troop 230!    Oh yeah, we hiked and backpacked and white water rafted.   We sent another crew to Philmont, in New Mexico, visited the USAF Academy, white water rafted the Royal Gorge in Colorado, and canoed more than fifty miles through the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge.   We also spent a week at summer camp and backpacked the high country, exploring the Russian River Lakes Trail system and Johnson Pass.    In August we went sea kayaking, a fun filled and exciting adventure that brought out the best in everyone.    

2007 was another fantastic year!  Oh yes it was!   We did another deep winter snow machine trip into the Alaskan backcountry, camped out in Girdwood and snowboarded and snow-skied down the slopes of Alyeska, and hit the warmer weather hard and fast.    We summated Bird Peak in April, and followed that by backpacking through the Russian River Lakes Trail in May, and then in June we did summer camp and also mountain biked the entire Resurrection Trail.   Our big trip for the year was a car, ferry, train, and backpacking trip to the Yukon, traveling over 1600 miles and taking us right over the top of the famous Chilkoot Pass.   Yeah!    It was an incredible adventure that will never to be forgotten!    Then, just before school, we did a fly-out fishing trip to Lake Creek!   

We are a great troop, with a strong tradition of excellence and we believe in doing things; for God, for our Nation, trying our best to help other people at all times, and working constantly, striving to keep ourselves physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.  We try to be the best troop we can and we are proud of who we are and from where we have come.