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Tah-Heetch Lodge 195 was formed by the merger of Mirimichi Lodge 102 (1937) and Sha-Cha-Quoi 548 (1961) in January of 1995, hence the number 195. The central part of the San Joaquin Valley in California was the home of the Yokut Indians and was at one time covered by oak trees. The name Tah-Heetch means "Oak Covered Valley." The native Prairie Falcon was the mythical hero of the Yokuts and was chosen as our totem. They called this falcon Lim'ik. According to the Yokut legend, Lim'ik and the crow named Ahl-wut built the Sierra Nevada and Coastal Range. The area between these two mountain ranges that extends from the Tehachapis in the south to Mount Shasta in the north is the San Joaquin Valley, the most fertile and productive valley of agriculture in the world. Through the years of "merger-madness," (1994-1996) Tah-Heetch emerged as a tightly knit lodge, jam-packed with spirit and eager to prove itself to be the best of its predecessor lodges.
Tom Switajewski, of Hanford, designed our patch. The name Tah-Heetch came from Dennis Haines of Tulare, who also became our first Lodge Adviser. Joey DeMate of Visalia was elected our first Lodge Chief.
In September of 2001, Riley Berg, Tah-Heetch Lodge Chief for 2001, was elected W3B Section Chief. In December 2001, Riley attended the annual meeting of section chiefs in Irvine, Texas and was elected National Vice-Chief of the Order of the Arrow for the 2002 year!
In 2004, Tah-Heetch Lodge hosted the W3B Conclave at Camp Chawanakee on the beautiful shores of Shaver Lake with tons of praise and admiration for being one of the best Conclaves in years. As an addition, a new stage and wiring for shows was installed for the newly remodeled Point Campfire Bowl. Even though George McEwen, our Lodge Adviser for six years, had stepped down, he continued on as Chairman for the Lodge Conclave Site Committee. Lodge Chief, Miles Holm, with an emphasis on program, brought us closer to Quality Lodge than we ever had been before and led the contingent to the 2004 NOAC!
For our 10th anniversary in 2005, a comprehensive lodge history CD and color book was published by Bill Wilson, our Lodge Historian. Our lodge newsletter "Lim-ik’s Call" is published several times during the year.
The year 2005 brought another strong Lodge Chief, Jason Lawler. With the momentum from 2004, he and the rest of the youth leadership in the Lodge helped us become Quality Lodge for the first time since being founded! 2005 also marked our new website, www.tah-heetch.com, going on-line after a two year absence. Jason Lawler started the year as the 2005 Lodge chief and was elected Section Chief at the W3B Conclave in Santa Rosa. Wade Sponsler moved up into the Lodge Chief position to fill the absence. A Lodge Day of Service was initiated and we also increased the amount of service hours to the Council by 50% (from 1000 hours to 1500 hours). Tah-Heetch paid for and re-decked the Trading Post deck at Camp Chawanakee. During the Summer Fellowship, Arrowmen gutted three cabins at Camp David Wortman for use by the new Camp Wortman Ranger. Many will remember the "Conclave Patrol" that was produced, which started a trilogy of mini-movie style conclave promo videos.
A.J. Meyers was our Lodge Chief for the 2006 year. We became Quality Lodge again and submitted a matching service grant proposal to National for the first time in lodge history. For the second year in a row, our Lodge chief was elected as Section Chief at the Section Conclave in Dixon. Patrick Blomquist moved up to fill the Lodge Chief position. Tah-heetch assisted with the construction of a new Archery range shelter.
Adam Rowe was elected to be the 2007 Lodge Chief and led the lodge to a fantastic showing in Bakersfield for the 2007 W3B Conclave. There, further underlining the outstanding leaders that Tah-Heetch puts out, Kyle Barker was elected as the 2007-2008 Section Vice Chief.
Since our beginning in 1995, we have sent a contingent to the 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004 and the 2006 National Order of the Arrow Conferences. Our participation in the 2000 conference included Pre-Ordeal and Vigil ceremonies, OA Jeopardy, volleyball, basketball, newsletter, and Founders Day. At the 2002 NOAC, we were one of 13 lodges selected from across the nation to perform the original Ceremony in the NOAC Museum on campus. We were one of thirty-three lodges nation-wide to win the spirit award (2nd time in a row!). Our Pre-Ordeal team medaled in Callout Ceremony and received a ribbon in Pre-Ordeal. Our Lodge also sent a full contingency to the 2004 NOAC at Iowa State, where, for an unprecedented 3rd time in a row, we again won the coveted Spirit Award! Our contingent for 2006, to the University of Michigan, Lansing was 8 youth and 5 adults with 5 additional adults on staff. Tah-Heetch was well represented; it was the first time that our Key Three had attended a NOAC! Beyond that, our NOAC patch (S26) won second place in the Patch Competition.
Seth Alson was our 2008 Lodge Chief, leading the lodge through both the induction of Pat Meyers as our new Lodge Adviser and a complete section realignment. The last W3B conclave was held in Reno, Nevada, ending an era and beginning another as Section W3S.
In the summer of 2008, a select group of four Tah-Heetch Arrowmen participated in the first ever ArrowCorps5. This five-week event consisted of large-scale service projects divided amongst five beautiful sites across the nation.
In serving the community, Tah-Heetch in 2008 adopted a section of Highway 168 between the Bullard and Clovis overpasses. In addition to contributing to the beautification of the Valley, Arrowmen may count hours from their work towards the Tah-Heetch Service Flap, introduced at the 2009 lodge dinner.
Trevor Ferguson was our 2009 lodge chief. 2009 also brought another NOAC (held in Bloomington, Indiana), to which Tah-Heetch brought 6 youth and 7 adults. We also had 4 Lodge members on Staff.
Though our own history is short, we have lofty goals for the future to exceed the size and performance of the lodges that have merged to give rise to Tah-Heetch. We have formed a proud tradition of cheerful service, and we are continuing to grow in this, our Brotherhood, the Wimachtendienk.
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