Many dedicated Scouts and Scouters shared in this endeavor to preserve our local Scout history as hours were spent recalling memories of days, weeks and years spent at Camp Emerson. We wish to thank all of them for their efforts in helping us to gather together here the past events of the camp that was then the Riverside County Council, and now the California Inland Empire Council, Boy Scouts of America. Without their help, this could not have been compiled. Our thanks to Council Scout Executive John Dudley, Retired Council Scout Executive Carl Helmick, Retired Council Training Chairman Harvey Hoyt, Field Director Gary Jensen, Camping Chairman Bob Swartzel, Dr. Burr Nelson, and Mrs. Fred Eggers.
Lady Robert Baden-Powell and their grandson, Sir Robert Baden-Powell II were interviewed in 1963. The Baden-Powell Museum and Archives in B-P House, London, was visited in 1963 and 1994. Ron Burnham, son of Major Fred Burnham, was interviewed several times in 1963. Multiple interviews were done with Jim Wellman, son of Frank Wellman, from 1957 to 1979. Katherine Siva Saubel, Cahuilla elder and author, contributed Indian history. Invaluable help came from correspondence and consultations with John W. Robinson, co-author of THE SAN JACINTOS, 1993.
Information was gleaned from interviews, books, newspaper accounts, personal papers, and the review of several hundred pages of Council reports and Executive Board minutes and verified to the best of our ability. Although we have strived for facts and accuracy, we have found that history is the way people remember events, which can vary widely from person to person, and dates are quite often remembered incorrectly. However, any errors of omission or commission were ours alone. Winston Churchill said that those who do not know history are bound to repeat it. We hope that by knowing this history must of it will be repeated. This is not all the pertinent information on Camp Emerson. We want to hear more from interested readers.