By: Dylan Bowman, HAHS Board Member
November 23, 2024
Muckleratz circa 1936-1941 as seen in "Indian Arrows to Atoms" (1969) by The Historical Book Committee, HAHS. Photographed by Unknown.
In the days of my youth, there was war.
Not real war mind you, but rather the kind that exists between factions of young boys who, within their Boy Scout Troop, create armies of only a few dozen bodies and thrash one another with sticks in the woods, pretending they are the sword-wielding leaders of vast armies that will either end or free Scouting forever.
This was our imaginations while camping as the youth of the late 2000s and early 2010s. Such a great number of memories surround those times of being in Boy Scouts and traveling the Central Pennsylvania region and beyond. One of our home bases, our camps to return to twice a year, no matter what, was Camp Muckleratz in the farthest Northeastern reaches of Halifax before one passes over the Berry Mountain into Elizabethville.
Even as a youth, I could always tell when we went there that the building and land had a history. It looked as though many hundreds of people had been there, and yet, perhaps their muddy footprints and bacon grease stains had been there for a year. A decade. More? I was always curious about the history of that secluded, mystical place.
And with my troop going back for their biannual campout there this very weekend, I felt in the spirit to uncover some of the story.
Why the Name?
Muckleratz. Rolls right off the tongue...and right out of the brain.
One of the memories I hold from all my times visiting the camp with my Boy Scout Troop (Troop 1165 of Halifax) is the humored confusion of the boys and leaders alike at the given name of the camp. What on earth did "Muckleratz" even mean, and where did it come from? Also, how do you spell it?
Research was done by my father and current HAHS President, Ryan Bowman (a Troop 1165 leader and Scoutmaster for several years), who found that a PACWA Publication from March of 2003 had recorded much of the story, but had then been lost to time, leaving many (our troop included) in the dark on the origins of the camp's name.
According to records from PACWA, this is how it happened:
Russell Miller had some great stories to share with me from the Powells Armstrong Creek Watershed Association. One is a story of how Muckleratz got its name.
This story was passed down for four generations from Frank Harmon to Bertha Harman to Edwin Shutt to Shirley Shutt-Miller, who is Russell's wife. The story goes like this:
"Way back, Shirley's family had purchased property from a man named Muckle Haney. Supposedly, he had a problem with so many rats at his place that it became locally infamous. People would say, "Let's go see Muckle's rats!" Lots of people must have known about it, because the rats became a common reference in the area, and now it's known as Muckleratz."
An amusing story to be sure. Still others state that Muckleratz received its name from a Native American word that transitioned from an even older time with ancient stories. One that few in our valley know of...let's go back further.
Camp Muckleratz in November 2015 during the biannual Halifax Boy Scout Troop 1165 retreat to the camp. Photograph by Dylan Bowman.
In the Shadow of the Mountain
Camp Muckleratz sits silently and calmly in the shadow of the mountain ridges of Appalachia (the Berry Mountain to the North and the Broad Mountain to the South, angled in horseshoe form) that surround it. Often, I have asked myself the question: "What happened here before it was the renowned Boy Scout camp and outing for events that it is today?" Something about the land and its position within the woods struck me as having more backstory to tell of than it let on.
Altoona Tribune columnist, Henry W. Shoemaker, followed local guides Rufus Keister and Charles Lebo and listened to the history they told along the way.
According to these men, Native Americans harbored in the wild hallow of Muckleratz before disappearing without a trace into the "Big Swamp" (twin of the "Little Swamp" in Powell's Valley) which sat at the base of Peter's Mountain below Enterline. It was there at Muckleratz, where the branches of the Armstrong Valley Creek stretch furthest, that the journey began.
As white colonist pressure continued to mount in the Central Pennsylvania region, Tan-Unker-Angen, a Native American and the former lieutenant of the famed Chief Teedyuscung, moved with his family over Dividing Ridge to the "Big Swamp" in Powell's Valley.
Due to the corduroy road that ran to the settlement at Shily's Gap and a series of aggressions from the valley side from which he and his family had come, the aged Tan-Unker-Angen only foresaw a repetition of the same story over and over again. They could not settle. They could not run forever.
Thus, Tan-Unker-Angen, his family, and his dogs disappeared into the "Big Swamp" at the base of Peter's Mountain. From this story, it was concluded that the native family committed mass suicide by stepping forward into the bottomless, murky morass, where it is said that "no strayer ever returned."
Map of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania: from actual surveys. Map provided by Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division.
The "Big Swamp" and a trace of the estimated general path taken by Tan-Unker-Angen and his family. The large dot to the Northeast (where the dots begin) represents where Muckleratz now sits. Images from Library of Congress.
To Be Continued...
As I write this now, information keeps arising from the smallest and most forgotten of places on the internet, in the corners of regional historical societies, and from the recesses of minds across the valley. There is more story...or legends...to tell.
Tune in for the second part of this story coming early next year, as we uncover the next phase of Camp Muckleratz's history together. You won't want to miss it!
Sources:
Altoona Tribune. (April 30, 1949). Tales from the Big Swamp, Powell's Valley, Dauphin County, PA - Pt. 1. Newspapers.com. Retrieved October 5, 2023, from https://www.newspapers.com/article/altoona-tribune-tales-from-the-big-swamp/33040443/
Southwick, J., Barker, W. J. & Wm. J. Barker & Co. (1858) Map of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania: from actual surveys. [Philadelphia: Published by Wm. J. Barker] [Map] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2012592175/.