Editing Scouting in Missouri (section)

====Camp Geiger====
[[File:CampGeiger.jpg|250px|thumb|]]
'''Camp Geiger''' is a [[Scouts BSA]] camp on the bluffs above the [[Missouri River]] two miles (3&nbsp;km) northwest of [[St. Joseph, Missouri]] in [[Andrew County, Missouri]] at {{Coord|39.835272|-94.874134}} used by the [[Scouting in Missouri#Pony Express Council|Pony Express Council]]. It is one of the only two scout camps including [[H. Roe Bartle Scout Reservation]] in the United States to use [[Mic-O-Say]] rather than Order of the Arrow exclusively as its Scout honor society.  It was first camp in the United States to offer Project [[C.O.P.E.]]

The camp is named for Charles Geiger, a St. Joseph physician, who donated land from his boyhood home in 1930.  It replaced Camp Brinton at [[Agency, Missouri]] (named for W.E. Brinton who had loaned {{convert|30|acre|m2}} for the camp) which had been the Scout council's main summer camp since 1918.  Scouting executive [[H. Roe Bartle]] founded the Mic-O-Say organization at Camp Brinton in 1925 while serving as head of the Pony Express council.  Bartle was to found a Mic-O-Say chapter in [[Kansas City, Missouri]] when he was transferred to being head of the Heart of America chapter in Kansas City there in 1929.  However, the Kansas City chapter also includes Order of the Arrow in its offering at its [[Theodore Naish Scout Reservation|Camp Naish]] while having Mic-O-Say exclusively at its other camp—Camp Bartle.<ref>[http://www.ponyexpressbsa.org/Camping/BoyScoutCamp/History History of Camp Geiger - ponyexpressbsa.org - Retrieved August 31, 2009]</ref>

In 1930 Geiger announced the donation and in 1935 it opened with a Dining Hall made of native limestone.  In the 1950s, the council bought land higher on the bluffs and further to the north and a "new Camp Geiger" was begun with the bulk of the camp moved to the higher land in 1952.  The original swimming pool lower on the bluff was replaced in 1971 with a new pool on top of the bluff.<ref>[http://www.ponyexpressbsa.org/Camping/BoyScoutCamp/History History of Camp Geiger - ponyexpressbsa.org - Retrieved August 31, 2009]</ref>

In the late 1970s the Pony Express Council began Project COPE, which is aimed at encouraging teamwork, self-confidence, trust, leadership, communication, decision-making, and problem-solving.  It was championed by Pony Express Council Executive Parvin Bishop who expanded the program when he became Director of Program at the National Office.<ref>[http://usscouts.org/boyscouts/cope.asp C.O.P.E. - uscouts.org - Retrieved August 31, 2009]</ref>	

A new Dining Hall and Headquarters/Health Lodge buildings were built in 1992 after land was purchased on the road entering the camp.