by Esther Cramer

La Habra just celebrated the Fourth of July with a wonderful fireworks show and entertainment. That reminded this writer of a story told and retold by family and friends over many decades.

Back in the ’Twenties and ’Thirties La Habra had several active Boy Scout troops. As the major youth groups in the community at that time, many boys and their parents took part in all the outings and excursions troops planned and went on.

The La Habra Kiwanis Club even built a camp near Mt. Baldy for the boys and their leaders in about 1920.

Expensive to support, this camp was sold, and in 1925 an old building from the Standard Oil Company’s Emery Lease near Buena Park was brought to the grounds of Washington School for use as a Scout hall for both boys and girls.

During the early ’Thirties one of the troops was taken out to the Mojave Desert for a retreat. After the camp was set up, the boys were taken on a hike. After walking for a while they spotted in the distance a strange looking hill.

Naturally they were curious about this big mound which didn’t look like any of the hills nearby. As they drew closer to the hill, they realized it was made of sawdust. This really raised their curiosity, and they raced to get closer. Of course, when they got there, they had to try to climb the hill.

 What a surprise! As they tried to scale one side of this big mound, they uncovered portions of some cardboard boxes. Eager to see what was inside, they tore open some of the boxes they had uncovered and found–guess what–all kinds of fireworks! They could see that some of the boxes were wet, but others were perfectly fine.