264 FOREST OUTINGS 



Often such camps are turned over for a part of the season to organiza- 

 tions of older people, and families come for recreation together. Those built 

 by cities and restricted in use to the citizens of the municipality usually have 

 more adults than young people. 



Organization camps began very simply with a few sleeping tents and a 

 mess tent. But tents deteriorate rapidly. In a few years the cost of permanent 

 buildings can be sunk in canvas with nothing left to show for the expend- 

 iture. Permanent mess halls were first erected, but soon permanent cabins 

 were added. With these developments came improvement in water supply 

 and sanitation. As experience grew, the standard camp plan became the 

 multiple-building type, consisting of a mess hall and recreation hall, with 

 sleeping accommodations in bunk houses or cabins. Cabins, however, are 

 being favored as time goes on. They generally shelter four to six people, 

 with a cot or bunk and a small chest of drawers for each. 



An example of good structures and lay-out is Camp Seeley on the San 

 Bernardino National Forest about 75 miles from Los Angeles. Under a 

 special-use permit from the Forest Service, it was built and is operated by 

 Los Angeles for its citizens. It has been so efficiently operated that in 1936 

 it furnished vacation opportunities at very low cost to 2,734 individuals for a 

 total of 20,342 days and made a surplus over operating expenses of SI ,041 .98. 



Another example of an organization camp is that operated by the 4-H 

 Club of Crooked Lake on the Ocala National Forest in Florida. This was 

 built as a CCC camp, but when the number of camps was reduced, the 

 Forest Service issued a special-use permit to the 4-H Club, which remodeled 

 and rebuilt it. 



The camps are often on land not owned by the Government. On private 

 lands within the boundaries of the eastern national forests are hundreds of 

 organization camps and summer camps for boys and girls, run for profit. 



The widely varied organizations that have availed themselves of the 

 opportunity to establish camps on the national forests fall, roughly, into five 

 classes: 



1 . Municipalities. California is most advanced in developing municipal 

 vacation camps, with 12 of them now in operation on national forests there. 



2. Social nonprofit organizations. By far the largest users of camps in 



