Poor Boys Camp

Poor Boys broke off from Cheapskates in the late 1950s over a disagreement about camp dues. Roy Coxwell led the Cheapskates faction; Bill St. Clair led the Poor Boys. Both camps still ride. Both still talk about it.

From 1947 until 1961 the ride did its own cooking on the trail. A 1961 food-poisoning episode produced the campaign slogan “No Stew in ’62,” after which the ride hired professional catering. The kitchen has been someone else’s problem ever since.

Dale Joyce ran the camp from 1979 to 1990, joined the Board of Directors the same year he took over, and served as El Presidente in 1988–89. He instituted affordable pre-ride parties — dues at $10, $5 a guest — and kept the books open to anyone willing to take over as camp boss. The camp grew to 55 members under his watch, helped by Dr. John Gridley out of Minneapolis, who started sponsoring riders from Caballeros del Norte and Canada around 1983.

Before his presidency, Joyce talked Sage Kester into transferring sponsorship of the Top Hand Award from the dissolved Colorado Camp over to Poor Boys, where it has lived since.

— ADAPTED FROM NOTES BY DALE JOYCE.