FIFTY YEARS OF THE DOC

ON January 2 and 3 of this year tire Dartmouth Outing Club celebrated its fiftieth anniversary. To commemorate the event, more than one hundred past and present officers of the Club, their classes ranging from '11 to '62, gathered in Hanover for an informal reunion. Scheduled events included a Saturday night buffet at the Dartmouth Outing Club House and a Sunday banquet at the Hanover Inn, the latter highlighted by the remarks of President John Sloan Dickey and the founder of the Club, Fred Harris '11.

For recent graduates like the author, who talked with the pioneer members of the DOC and who watched the movies of Dartmouth's early skiers guiding themselves down the slopes with one long pole rather than the two shorter ones used today, and who also watched the slides shown by Sam Silverstein '58 of the DOC's most recent mountaineering expedition, the time was one of marked contrast; the differences between the crude equipment of the outdoorsmen of fifty years ago and the specialized gear, including an airplane, used by the outdoorsmen of 1959, were only too apparent. Yet even more striking than the contrast was the similarity of the spirit shown by all, for both the pioneers and the moderns displayed an enthusiasm that was markedly present even when removed from the outdoors and transferred to indoor movies, slides and conversations.

It was this enthusiasm that made it difficult for the most recent Outing Club members to transport themselves via the imagination back to the early days. In this age of chairlifts and Pomalifts, of rope tows and T-bars, of Bogner pants and Head skis, and of the hordes of cars that speed every weekend to Stowe and Bromley, to Whiteface and Mad River Glen, one finds it hard to picture Dartmouth at the start of this century. We are told that the average undergraduate then confined himself to his room throughout the winter, moved his chair closer to the radiator, cursed New England weather, and waited impatiently for spring. At this time no one seemed to do anything with winter; one only endured it, finding solace in this well-known line from Shelley's Ode to the West Wind: "If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?" The snowy season was evidently regarded as a sort of purgatory, or, at best, a time that tried men's souls; for, according to a 1930 article in the Boston Evening Transcript, "In the old days, when Dartmouth lay snowbound all winter, men did not get exercise enough, livers became clogged, the tap of the hammer was heard in the dormitories, and strong men said bitter things about the administration." One wonders, were all these men, blind, that they could not see the possibilities of winter?

It would seem that they were. To be sure, there had been a few exceptions. One, a graduate of the class of '88, has recalled that "A party of us climbed Moosilauke early in May and spent the night up there, to our extreme discomfort. I also remember climbing Ascutney one Decoration Day but have quite forgotten the gang who went with me. I was some hiker in those days." Four other members of the same class climbed Mt. Cardigan in March 1888, a trip which resulted in a four-man organization known as the "Cardigan Club." By and large, however, it is true that outdoor activity was virtually non-existent, especially in winter, at Dartmouth. Then one man came along and prompted a revolution which has ever since been an integral part of the distinctive character of the College.

That man was Fred Harris '11, the owner of the only pair of skis in Hanover in 1909, though there had been others earlier. What was needed was someone to promote the advantages of Dartmouth's North Country location, someone who could make the students see the outdoors and the winter time as he saw it, and who could transmit to them a lasting enthusiasm. Harris was the man for the job. The story of Fred Harris and the founding of the Dartmouth Outing Club is perhaps well enough known, and yet it will bear repeating; it is especially appropriate at this time to reprint in its entirety the letter, written over fifty years ago, which put in motion a movement that has been gaining momentum ever since.

On December 7, 1909, this letter was printed in The Dartmouth. Addressed to the editor, it read as follows:

"The question, 'What is there to do at Dartmouth in the winter?,' gives rise to the thought that we might take better advantage of the splendid opportunities which the admirable situation of our college offers.

"Winter sports are fast growing in popularity, as is testified by the Carnivals at Montreal and the big ski jump contests at the northern and middle western cities whose thousands of people assemble to watch the contestants.

"The writer suggests that a ski and snowshoe club be formed, the purpose of which would be:

1. To stimulate interest in the out of door winter sports.

2. To have short cross-country runs weekly and one long excursion each season (say to Mooselac).

3. To build a ski jump and hold ski jumping contests.

4. To hold a meet or field day during February at which a program of events similar to the following may be contested:

100-yard dash on snowshoes, cross-country run on snowshoes, obstacle race on snowshoes, 100-yard dash on skis, cross-country fun on skis, ski jumping contests, and other events that may be suggested.

"A characteristic winter habit could be adopted by the club, consisting of toque and sash. Field days each Winter might become as much an anticipated and regular event as the fall and spring track meets. By taking the initiative in this matter, Dartmouth might well become the originator of a branch of college organized sport hitherto undeveloped by American colleges.

Respectfully submitted, F. H. HARRIS '11"

Though the toque and sash have disappeared from the scene (an all-scarlet toque was adopted as the Club's official headgear in 1911), and snowshoe races are held only occasionally, much that Fred Harris envisioned in his prophetic letter remains to guide the DOC of fifty years later, for in those early days were laid the foundations of program- and spirit that have since become as much a part of the DOC as its name.

On December 17, 1909, eight days after publishing the above letter, The Dartmouth reported that there was "an informal meeting held Tuesday afternoon by a few men interested in the formation of an outing club." At this meeting a constitution was drawn up; it was approved and officers elected at a general meeting in January; and the DOC, some sixty members strong and led by Fred Harris, was on its way. As the January meeting was, according to Fred Harris, in effect an adjourned meeting, December 1909 is generally considered to be the date of the founding of the Dartmouth Outing Club.

All was not easy in those early days; history shows us that resistance to new ideas is invariably strong, and the DOC was the newest of ideas in 1910. In a book entitled Dartmouth Out o' Doors, published in 1913, W. Lee White '12, the Club's second president, has written of the difficulties faced by the new organization. In part he writes: "Each successive generation is called upon to weigh judicially its allotted quota of new enterprises and the prophet without honor in his owncountry was favored indeed in comparison with the average promoter of new college activities. The blasts of ridicule and chaff, of censoriousness and skepticism, that oppose the advance of any new addition to existing organizations, by contrast make the burdens of a suffragist leader seem light indeed. In the face of this always present reluctance to surrender the merest sliver of tradition, fortunate forsooth is the man who can carry through to a permanent place any new addition to the schedule of undergraduate life." Nevertheless, under the guidance of its founders, and aided by the enthusiastic support of its friends in the faculty, the Club soon began to grow in a manner that must have surprised even the most spirited of its charter members. As Fred Harris was to recall twenty-five years later, "The Club from the very start . . . seemed to fill a longfelt need and forged steadily ahead."

In February 1910 the Outing Club, as it then called itself, did, as planned, hold a "Winter Meet" at the golf course. This first meet, the germ from which the present Winter Carnival grew, was strictly an intramural affair; it featured the events which Fred Harris had mentioned in his letter plus one he did not mention, the complete destruction of South Fayer-weather Hall by fire. As early as the next year, 1911, the meet had expanded into a two-day holiday, attended by fifty visiting girls. Included in the program were a dance, a play, and a hockey game with Massachusetts Agricultural College, in addition to the skiing and snowshoeing-events. The highlight of the weekend was, as it still is, the ski jumping contest. The jump for that day had been rather hastily constructed from boards, pine boughs, and snow, with a large Dartmouth banner hung beneath the lip of the take-off; before each jumper ventured down the inrun, his appearance was heralded by a loud bugle call. One wonders if today's jumps are as exciting and colorful as those of 1911.

The rapid growth of Carnival into the most famous college weekend in the country is known only too well by every alumnus who has ever been subjected to a barrage of questions from those who know the College only through its Carnival. As one surveys this weekend through the years, one sees that it has undergone a process of almost constant evolution. It has, at varying times, featured events that are no longer to be found, such as the undergraduate vs. the alumni jump (1917), ski-joring (1919), a potato race on skis (1920), obstacle courses, snowshoeing, speed-skating, and somersaults off the jump, notably by Dartmouth's John Carleton '22 and Dick Bowler '22 ("A forward somersault was turned with perfect form by Carleton to the accompaniment of stifled gasps of admiration from numerous girlish throats" - The Dartmouth, February 7, 1919). Let me digress here briefly to add that Carleton and Bowler are, according to best ski authority, the only two men ever to somersault off a ski jump simultaneously; in addition, Carleton was the first Dartmouth skier to race in the Winter Olympics. He was both a competitor and the U.S. Team Coach in the 1924 meet at Chamonix.

If some events have been dropped from Carnival, however, others have been added. Selection of a Queen of the Snows became a highlight of Carnival in 1928, when Florence Rice, daughter of famed writer Grantland Rice, was chosen. The

center-of-campus statue became a permanent feature of the weekend in 1939, and one year later the skating and fireworks of Carnival became the first Outdoor Evening Show. There have since been other changes, but two things have remained constant from the start: the fickleness of the weather and unplanned-for difficulties. All DOC members have their own memories of fervent prayers for snow, and to select at random two memorable examples of troublesome Carnivals, early members will recall that of 1913, when E. S. Bidwell '13 made his bid for a place in the DOC record books by journeying to Lord's Hill and back on an official DOC trip - on ice skates all the way - and recent graduates will remember the time the Outdoor Evening set, too heavy for Occom Pond, majestically sank several feet through the ice. The show went on, however, with a set slightly shorter than had been planned.

Still with Carnival and the DOC, and now more than ever a part of the Hanover scene, is skiing. The sport was in its infancy in this country when the DOC was born, and both have reached maturity together. Much has been written about Dartmouth's part in American skiing, but one need only run over a list of names to remind himself of just how great a part it has been: Harris, Goodrich, Proctor, Schniebs, McCrillis, Diettrich, Prager, Durrance, Carleton, the Bowlers, Chivers, Hannah, Woods, Wells, Hunter, Meservey, Beck, Dodge, Miller, and many, many others whom the reader will recall.

References to skiing in the Outing Club records are voluminous, but two short entries in the DOC Council minutes stand out. The first, written in 1915, states a revolutionary idea in the quietest possible way: "The engine to haul men up the gully on skis during Carnival discussed and the consensus of opinion was that it would prove impracticable [sic]." The first ski tow in this country was constructed almost twenty years later, and a DOC man, Wallace "Bunny" Bertram '33, was the operator. One wonders what would have happened had the Council given their engine a try. The second entry, dated November 3, 1919, merely shows the way things were going: "Voted that toboggan slide be abandoned and blocked. Voted that ski maintenance budget be increased by $200."

In looking over the early ski equipment, one can admire the hardiness of the skiers of fifty years ago. The modern devotee of the sport, equipped with all the latest gear, including "easy-turning" skis, still finds himself plagued by the law of gravity more often then he would wish; how must he feel about Fred Harris and his cohorts when he sees the skis in fashion around 1910? Fred's were fashioned by a local carpenter: they measured eight and one half feet tall, five and one half inches wide. These were skis that would cast almost as long a shadow as the man who used them has cast, and the modern skier might well be pardoned for throwing up his hands in despair, were he called upon to master them.

Not only did the early Dartmouth skiers master them, however, but they also were the first to use them in competition, for it was a Dartmouth team that raced in the first intercollegiate ski meet. Responding to a challenge from McGill, the DOC authorized the expenditure of $45.00 to send a team to compete at Shawbridge in February 1914. Without a captain, coach, college recognition or uniforms, and with a minimum of experience, six men set out from Hanover via the Central Vermont Railroad to compete in jumping and cross-country. As Dartmouth had few good jumpers at this time, McGill graciously permitted the inclusion of two future Dartmouth, stars, the previously mentioned John Carleton and Dick Bowler, then in Hanover High School.

The jump, held on Saturday, February 21, cannot truly be considered the first intercollegiate meet, since the two high school students were competing in it; but on the following day Dartmouth mustered an all-undergraduate team for the crosscountry. Skiing for McGill were Norman Williamson, Lee Strathy, Geratton Thompson, and Kennington Hague; for Dartmouth, Dabney Horton '15, Frederick Weed '14, John Bowler '15, and John Bache-Wiig '15. The race was to prove as exciting as it was historic; I quote from an account written by William I. Borman '53:

"The cpurse was approximately eight and one half miles long over rolling country, with a twisting downhill stretch approximately three-fifths of a mile in length at the finish. The race was run as a relay, and Horton, the first Dartmouth man, started against Williamson of McGill. The two men were very evenly matched and ran the entire course dogging at each other's heels. At the finish Williamson preyard lead. Strathy, McGill's strongest runner, slowly opened up this lead against Weed, Dartmouth's second man, and at the finish he was ahead by eighteen yards. Thompson in the third heat managed to hold this lead until the last long downhill stretch, where he had trouble negotiating the turns. Here Bowler, who was quite proficient at turning, passed his opponent and went into the lead. Bowler crossed the finish line six yards ahead of Thompson and John Bache-Wiig took off on the last exciting lap tracked by Hague of McGill. The two anchor men were closely matched, and Bache-Wiig held his lead until he fell a short distance from the finish line. By the time he had regained his feet, Hague was in the lead and it looked as though McGill had won. Hague, however, fell himself only a few yards from the finish and crossed the line after Bache-Wiig on only one ski. Dartmouth had won its first intercollegiate meet." Winning time was 1:06:45.

Although originally founded to promote skiing and winter sports, the DOC immediately found itself active the year 'round, enjoying the outdoor recreational facilities of the North Country. The 1909 Club constitution proclaimed that the purpose of the organization was to promote "interest in outdoor sports, especial interest being laid upon winter sports." However, in the new constitution drawn up in 1916, the expanded activities of the Club were given recognition in the statement of purpose: "The object of the Dartmouth Outing Club shall be the promotion, in the College, of interest in camping, tramping, mountain-climbing, skiing, snowshoeing, woodcraft, and similar activities."

As early as December 8, 1910, the DOC began to look into hiking and camping as major Club activities, for on that date this note is found in the minutes of the DOC Council meetings: "Professor Goldthwait spoke next. He dwelt especially on the advantage of having one or more cabins conveniently situated so that members might be able to stop out overnight. He closed by adding that such a nucleus might be productive of a chain of camps reaching from here to the White Mountains or even to the Dartmouth Grant."

Professor Goldthwait's dream soon became a reality; many benefactors helped to bring the chain of cabins into being, the greatest of them being the Reverend John E. Johnson '66, a man to whom the DOC must always be indebted. The first cabin, on Moose Mountain, was acquired in 1910. One more was added in 1913, three in 1914, three in 1916, one in 1918, two in 1920, two more in 1922, and so it has gone right on up to the present. In all, the DOC has owned some thirty-seven cabins; however, since some have been destroyed or replaced by newer structures, only twelve remain in active use at present. Almost all of them are placed along the Appalachian Trail, so situated that one can hike from Woodstock, Vermont, to Mt. Moosilauke and be assured of a place to stay each night. Three of the present cabins were constructed before 1918, and three, those at Moosilauke, Holt's Ledge, and the College Grant, within the past four years. The most recent of them, Peak's Camp in the Grant, was presented to the DOC by the doctors of the Hitchcock Clinic in memory of Drs. Ralph E. Miller '34 and Robert E. Quinn, lost when their plane crashed in the Pemigewasset Wilderness last February, and in gratitude to the men of the DOC for, as the cabin's plaque states, "their skill, devotion and perseverance in the long search ending May 6, 1959."

Some day a book will be written about the DOC; this work will be able to give detailed accounts of all that must regrettably be passed over here, such as Sherman Adams' hiking record of some eightythree miles in one day, or the time Jack Durrance '39 was flown from Hanover to Wyoming to rescue a stunt parachutist who had landed on top of Devil's Tower and had neglected to figure out how he would get down if he managed to hit his target, or the many stories connected with the DOC and the Moosilauke Summit House. One would like to mention the great exploits of Dartmouth's mountaineers, and the far-flung adventures of Cabin and Trail members, and the achievements of Outing Club men in the Polar Regions. One is tempted to quote from the 1920 National Geographic article, "Skiing Over the New Hampshire Hills," written by Fred Harris and credited with increasing the number of applicants to Dartmouth that spring from 835 to 2625, thus necessitating the selective admissions process. Much remains to be said, but we must move on to the Outing Club of the present time.

It is hard to characterize as varied an organization as the DOC, for within its membership of 1000 can be found those in the Winter Carnival Division, charged with the preparation for many of the events and features' of this weekend; Cabin and Trail men, who undertake the responsibility of maintaining the Outing Club's cabins and 100 miles of trails; and Winter Sports Division members, one of whose functions is to run the local Dartmouth ski meets. In the DOC are also students belonging to the Ski Patrol, the ski team, and the three affiliated clubs, the Dartmouth Mountaineering Club, Bait and Bullet, and the Ledyard Canoe Club. In addition, there are the many DOC members who are not members of a division or affiliated club, but who participate occasionally in Outing Club activities. Perhaps the statement of purpose in the present constitution will help to fix the place of the modern DOC on the Dartmouth campus: "The purpose of the Dartmouth Outing Club shall be to further, through good fellowship in the out-of-doors, the educational objectives of Dartmouth College by stimulating an appreciation of nature, a knowledge of the fundamental crafts of outdoor living, the creative use of leisure time, and above all, the development of such personal traits as initiative, integrity, self-reliance, and leadership."

It would seem that little has changed, for the above words could apply to the DOC at any time through the years. Yet it is true that the DOC is becoming increasingly concerned with justifying its existence in terms of the educational benefits it can bestow, and with the public services it can render. However, the key words remain "through good fellowship in the out-of-doors," for it is enjoyment of the outdoors that must be stressed. The DOC recognizes the fact that if its members can participate in the same sort of outdoor fun that has not changed since 1909, other desirable benefits will follow; but if these benefits come to predominate before all else, there is the danger that this reversing of the process may tend to stifle the vitality and enthusiastic spirit that have so long been associated with the Club. This is a danger against which the DOC must guard, for the success of its future operations may well depend upon its retaining the same sort of spontaneous spirit that it possessed in 1909; it would not be incorrect to say that the DOC must start all over again as it begins its second half century of existence.

At the banquet held on January 3, President Dickey spoke of the need for new ideas and renewed vitality within the Club if it is to meet the challenge of the future. There can be no doubt about the magnitude of the challenge. The College has undergone considerable change in the past decade and will very likely change even more in the decade to come; the DOC is faced with the over-all problem of adjusting to these changes if it is to continue to be of maximum effectiveness in its service to the College. The addition of a summer term alone is bound to affect greatly the operations of the Club by posing a series of new problems which it must solve. In addition, to take only two examples, the presence in Hanover of the Army's Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory will create new needs relating to the outdoors which the DOC must be prepared to meet; and, as leisure time increases and general prosperity continues, more and more Dartmouth families will be turning to the outdoors for their recreation. The DOC must consider how it might be able to serve them. The future will bring the Club more than its share of problems, but these problems could also be called opportunities. It will take an organization that is youthful and dynamic in spirit to make the most of them. President Dickey's warning against resting on past laurels was spoken at a most appropriate time.

And yet it is hoped that the DOC will be pardoned if it reaches back into the past to secure one of the main pillars of its guiding philosophy, for a statement made over twenty-five years ago by President Emeritus Hopkins remains the perfect description of the sort of experience which the DOC would promote. President Hopkins said:

"I would insist that the man who spends four years in our North Country here and does not learn to hear the melody of rustling leaves and does not learn to love the wash of the racing brooks over their rocky beds in spring, who never experiences the repose to be found on lakes and river, who has not stood enthralled upon the top of Moosilauke on a moonlight night or has not become a worshipper of color as he has seen the sunset from one of Hanover's hills, who has not thrilled at the whiteness of the snowclad countryside in winter or at the flaming forest colors in the fall, - I would insist that this man has not reached out for some of the most worth-while educational values available to him at Dartmouth."

The DOC has received many tributes since 1909. All are valued, but none more so than a remark made by Fred Harris at the Fiftieth Anniversary banquet. The Club's founder said that when the time came, all he would like on his tombstone is the notation that he "had something to do" with the DOC. Past members can take this statement as the highest compliment for their efforts; future members might do well to take it as a goal towards which they should direct the future activities of the Club, that the DOC may always be worthy of it.

The DOC has served as model for college outing clubs all over the country. Pictured is an Intercollegiate Outing Club Association weekend at Moosilauke Ravine Lodge.

This historic picture of 1911 Winter Carnival participants includes the first four presidents of the DOC. Left to right, front row: Jack Bowler '15, then a Hanover schoolboy; Joseph L. Day '14, president 1913-14; Morris O. Hastings '14; Fred Harris '11, founder and first pres- ident of the DOC; Dick Bowler '22, also a schoolboy competitor; Arthur T. Cobb 'is, who was the best all-around performer; and W. Lee White '12, president 1911-12. Back row; George Watts '13; Alvah Holway '12; Victor Schellenberg '13; William H. Weston '11; Palmer Miller '12; James Griffin '12; Carl Shumway '13, president 1912-13; and Barrow Lyons '12.

Fred Harris '11 in a more recent photograph, taken in 1951 at the dedication oF the DOC cabin near Hanover that is named for him.

Fred Harris Cabin, built on the site of the old Moose Cabin in Etna, is now the largest in the chain of DOC cabins, numbering 37 over the years but now reduced to 12 in active use.

Ross McKenney, the woodcraft adviser to theDOC, is a unique and very popular teacherat Dartmouth. Former Maine lumberjack andguide, he joined the College staff in 1937 toteach woodlore and outdoor survival.

John Rand '38, who directs the operationsof the DOC, has filled a succession of graduate posts with the Club since graduationand has been Executive Director since 1946.

Colin C. Stewart '23 The annual Senior Trip to Mt. Washington was a highlight of the DOC year in the 1920s and 19305. This shows the 1923 skiing group starting up the Carriage Road to the summit.

A powerhouse o£ Dartmouth skiing is represented on this 1936-37 team which may never be matched for its remarkable roster of famous Big Green skiers. Left to right: Roy Chamberlin '38, Dick Durrance '39, Jack Durrance '39, Steve Bradley '39, Dave Bradley '38, Howard Chivers '39, Coach Walter Prager, Ted Hunter '38, Ed Meservey '38, Warren Chivers '38, Ed Wells '39, and John Litchfield '39. Intercollegiate champs, they swept all their meets.

Keeping 100 miles of DOC trails cleared and marked is a regular Cabin and Trail chore.

No bulletin board at Dartmouth shows more year-round activity than that of the DOC.

THE AUTHOR: Roberts W. French '56 has written this 50-year story of the DOC from the vantage point of a former president of the Club, now serving as assistant to the director while also working for a Ph.D. at Yale.

A familiar sight in front of Robinson Hall each fall as the DOC signs up members

A peaceful spot at the top of Moosilauke