Searchers of the Flower Moon

 A piece of trivia easily passed over in the grim Killers of the Flower Moon is the reference to a Scout troop aiding in the search for the missing woman. This is not a Boy Scouts of America troop, because the incident occurred in 1909, far away from New York City. Instead, the group must have used Baden-Powell's Scouting for Boys. The Osage reservation was not near any major cities, but the book had been around for five years, so there is no difficulty in believing that someone had brought the book to Oklahoma. Furthermore, youth organizations such the Sons of Daniel Boone and the Woodcraft Indians already existed. The former organization's very name suggests that it would not have found purchase on the reservation; the latter organization would be more likely, as both it and the YMCA's Indian Guides appropriated - with the aid of the white founders' indigenous friends - local cultures. 

Yet the sociopolitical situation of the Osage indicates why Scouting for Boys rather than The Birch Bark Roll would be the book adopted. The Osage, through the carelessness of the Oklahomans and a touch of serendipity, had come int money and had begun to adopt the white man's sedentary ways. Such a change always risks the loss of traditional skills and knowledge, an abandonment of historical manliness. The potential loss of manly virtue was a driving force in the growth of youth organizations among the white and increasingly urban population of the United States. Although the racist element of this concern could have been absent among the Osage, the use of a book about Scouting and woodcraft written by white man would have been a socially acceptable way of preserving indigenous tradition. The history of Scouting may have an official reason to pass over this Osage troop, but its existence should be included in the greater history of the movement within the United States. Perhaps other indigenous nations or overlooked minorities have more tales to tell of Scouts in action!