Members of Troop 22 in historic 1920s uniforms at the troop’s centennial celebration. Photo by David Miko

By CHRIS JUDSON
Volunteer
Manhattan Project National Historical Park

In 1917, Ashley Pond Jr., a businessman from Detroit, acquired land on the Pajarito Plateau for his dream:  an exclusive prep school for boys ages 12-18, emphasizing outdoor experiences and physical activity as well as academic excellence.

He hired A. J. Connell to actually run the school.  Both men had had experience in scouting, and in October 1918, Connell registered the school with the Boy Scouts. It became Troop 22, the first equestrian troop.

The school was expensive and small, never more than 44 students, with the masters (teachers) recruited from Yale, Harvard, Princeton, and other leading universities. Boys were divided into four patrols, based on their size and physical maturity, and each patrol had its own outdoor sleeping porch where they slept in all weathers. Patrol leaders took on the responsibilities usually carried out by prefects or monitors.

Each student was assigned a horse to ride and care for throughout the school year. Students went to the school Trading Post to get their school clothing, based on Scout uniforms: khaki shorts and shirts, high lace boots, a tie for class and formal occasions, and a special Stetson hat designed just for the school.

Riding breeches and heavy leather gloves and chaps were added for horseback trips and doing trail work. With few exceptions they wore the shorts year-round, including to social activities with a girls’ school in Santa Fe.

Mornings were devoted to academics, while afternoons and weekends were used for riding, pack trips, fishing, sports, and community work. Many activities included earning Scout merit badges. By graduation, most boys had achieved the rank of First Class Scout, and many became Eagle Scouts.

In November 1942, the school received the letter notifying them that the government required their land and facilities for use in the war effort. The last senior class graduated in January, barbed wire fences went up, and the area was closed off for the secret Manhattan Project. Although there was no more Ranch School, the troop has continued to the present, with the unusual distinction of having existed a quarter century longer than its home town of Los Alamos.