Living out the Dream

Living Out the Dream

of Our Founders

Gleaning through the early history of

Yellowstone Bible Camp

Pray, Montana

1954-1957

Prepared by Bill Goben – 766 Tepee Trail – Billings, Montana 59105

August 2016

Living Out the Dream of Our Founders

Gleaning through the early history of Yellowstone Bible Camp

Prepared by Bill Goben - August 2016

The Evolution of the Vision

The 60th anniversary of the property now known as YELLOWSTONE BIBLE CAMP is a good time to review some of the history of the property with an emphasis on the years of 1954-1957. In the early 1900s the property was part of a homestead by Ted Champion. He later sold the property to a man by the name of Sutherland, a relative of the Fullers whose ranch adjoined YBC on the South. No buildings were built until the property was purchased by Wiley Hay who moved to the property with his wife and five children. It is reported that the first structure was the “Mule Barn” which came in 1928. It was Hay who gave it the name, Bow & Arrow Ranch. He built cages where he planned to establish a fur farm by raising fox, meek, and muskrats. Early notes confirm what Wayne Fuller once told me that Hay hosted a lot of Saturday night dances and served illegal moonshine in the upper part of the barn as a way to help pay for the building. Most of the present day cabins were built when Wiley Hayowned the property.Estell Franks, my sister-in-law’s father, worked for Hays and help build the Pine and later lived in it while building other cabins. The Lodge was built after Hays sold out to Mike Pomajbo. The quality of construction as seen in the barn, old cabins and lodge is especially remarkable when you realize that electricity did not come into the valley until most buildings were built. Wayne Fuller once told me about Pomajbo diverting the West Fork of Mill Creek and building a water wheel generator sometime in the late 1940s. In the last 35 years significant improvements have been made with the addition of the King Cabin (1979), the Alice Dormitory (1983), the Chapel in 2002, and the Bell Tower in 2006 to commemorate the 50th anniversary. One exciting change happened in 2007 when we negotiated the sale of the Thomas Molesworth log dining room tables and chairs. The 30 chairs and 3 tables along with a few other pieces of vulnerable antique log furniture brought us $111,935.00. Replica tables and chairs were built for $17,165.00. The blessing of the sale helped secure our financial picture and establish the Yellowstone Bible Camp Foundation.

While most of us some know this property as YELLOWSTONE BIBLE CAMP, some still refer to it as YELLOWSTONE BIBLE ENCAMPMENT (as the old sign on the road still reads), and yet other even older folks still think of it as BOW & ARROW RANCH, while very few know that the original name was MONTANA CHRISTIAN COLLEGE, INC. The legal name now registered with the State of Montana is YELLOWSTONE BIBLE CAMP AT BOW & ARROW RANCH, INC.

It is interesting to follow the events that led us to own this wonderful facility and I will attempt convey some of the research that I have done.

Visionaries

I was a seven year old boy whose parents migrated from Tuttle, Oklahoma to Bozeman, Montana on August 19, 1953. My father was convinced by two young Montana preachers to sell the paid for farm and relocate to Montana to help strengthen the church in Montana. That day, August 19, 1953 was the first time I ever remember hearing about something called “Bible Camp”. Clinton Brazle was not in Bozeman when we arrived, but was attending Bible camp at a rented facility near Kalispell, MT. My first experience with Bible camp would come in 1954-1955 when some men from several congregations rented Luccock Park on Pine Creek in the beautiful Paradise valley near Livingston, Montana and only a short distance from the present location of Yellowstone Bible Camp.

Since assuming the duties as Director of YBC in 2014 I have had access to many archived notes from board meetings and other writings from those involved in the process of locating and buying this property. The archives have not only enlightened me, but also confirmed many of my memories as I grew up attending YBC, teaching at the youth camps, managing a family camp for 25 years as well as serving on the board of directors for at least that long.

Among my great discoveries were notes made by Ross Henshaw and Bob Clayton who were secretaries of a board of men who were searching for suitable facilities to start a college. In 1953, several men formed a Board of Directors with the intent to secure property. In Henshaw’s notes dated July 5, 1954,the men debated purchasing an old school building 4 miles north of Helena to be the site for starting MONTANA CHRISTIAN COLLEGE. The matter was tabled for several reasons, but the vision did not die.

The discovery of a dude ranch in Mill Creek which was owned by Michael and Leone Pomajbo was made bythesame two young preachers who influenced my father to move, Clinton Brazle of Bozeman, Montana and Bob Clayton of Livingston, Montana. They were the first to investigate the Bow & Arrow Ranch property. It seems they heard that the property might be for sale since the Pomajbos were in the midst of a divorce and Mike was in disagreement with the tax assessors as to the high taxes on the dude ranch property. He had threatened to sell the property to a “non-profit” so as to get even with the state tax folks and settle his divorce. I think it can be said that Clinton and Bob qualified as “non-profits” since preachers in those days were not paid very much and they had hungry families to feed.

According to minutes from a Board meeting dated January 2, 1956, Henshaw stated that they “…decided that it would be a good buy for the use of a campground and to be used as an academy or children’s home during the winter. It was decided to offer Mike Pomajbo $25,500.00 for the property and 4.5% interest (after discussion he agreed to 4%). $2,000.00 was to be down payment payable on or before May 1, 1956, and $1,000 per year on or before January 1 beginning 1957.” As the contract was eventually settled with interest, the payment amounted to $1589.00 per year for 23 years.

While the price was right, the churches and the men who made such a leap of faith were not men with a lot of money, but they had a common vision and a passion for the potential good that such a facility would offer to the brotherhood. I was with my father one day in the early 1960s when he as preaching for the Bozeman church and we stopped at First Security Bank. He told me he needed to borrow money for the annual camp payment. I asked if the camp would pay him back and he replied, “I don’t know how, son.” It is apparent to me that many different individuals and collections from churches such as the one in Livingston sacrificed to meet the commitment of paying for YBC and making the improvements that were needed to adapt the old dude ranch to a usable Bible camp. Most of those men of faith and vision have passed on and perhaps never realized just how much their efforts have blessed several generations of Christians.

On March 30, 1956 the Board convened and established qualifications for a permanent Board of Directors and the Articles of Incorporation were adopted. It was decided that choosingmen from both professional fields as well as preacherswould be the right blend to keep things in balance; a policy which is still working well today. Listed below are the names of the thirteen men chosen unanimously that day:

Clinton Goben, (Great Falls) ChairmanRoss Henshaw, (Helena) Secretary

Clinton Brazle, (Bozeman) TreasurerJohn Coriell (Helena)

Virgil Muir, (Bozeman)Harold Martin (Brockton)

Ernest Jenkins (Fairview)Oliver Smith, (Twin Bridges)

Kenneth Wade (Milltown)Lloyd Welty (Kalispell)

Roy Buck (Billings)Allan Mitchell (Butte)

Charles Moore (Lewistown)

*Note: Henshaw and Mitchell resigned the early in 1957 year and were replaced by

Andre Morris (Twin Bridges) and Howard (Bob) Treat (Billings).

In those same minutes they approved of a petty cash fund for $5.00. I chucked numerous times while reading the old documents, realizing that some things never change. In a board meeting in 1957, Bob Clayton was the new secretary and made note that “Clint Goben asked to step down as Board Chairman, but we wouldn’t let him”. We still are keeping men in position of leadership for long terms. Continuity still works well.

The new board proposed hiring a caretaker to live on grounds and pay him $70 per month, but that idea soon died since funds were just not available. On July 25, 1956 the financial report stated that there was “$613 in the bank, about $1300 in cash and about $700 in outstanding bills.” At that meeting the board authorized my father who was selling insurance at the time to write coverage on the lodge and secure a “public liability policy for $50,000.”

While the camp was purchased in 1956, it really wasn’t until 1957 that the first camp sessions were held. I was just 11 years old when that first Work Camp was held and I remember a number of impressive events. Among the best early personal memory is a trip up the mountain that overlooks YBC. Once we reached the point of the rocks, Joe Hines, the 13 year old preacher’s son from Great Falls took off his tee shirt and put it on a dead tree at the precipice and declared it “Tee Shirt Mountain”. Joe drown a few years later while attending college at Abilene and never realized how his tee shirt started a great tradition and motivated so many others to leave a shirt at the top.

1957: First Camp

By May of 1957 the name of the camp was changed to Yellowstone Bible Encampment, however the legal property documents were not amended for almost 50 years.

On July 27, 1956 the board set the staff for the first camps that would start in 1957. According to the minutes by Bob Clayton, the lineup for the first summer is as follows:

“Family Camp Manager: Howard Williams

Oliver Smith – Dean of Men

Edna Smith - Dean of Women

Charles Moore - Registrar/Treasurer

Joe Clayton - Advertising

Bob Clayton - Education Director

Ross Henshaw – Campfire

Andre Morris –Maintenance

Junior Camp Manager - Clinton Brazle

Senior High Camp Manager - Leonard Hanold”

Those men set in motion a movement that has now impacted thousands, as well as hundreds of baptisms and immeasurable growth for the Kingdom of God. Now, 60 years later we have 4 family camps, 3 youth camps, a singles camp, a Golden Age camp and several retreats each year. In 2015 the kitchen crew served 18,021 meals in the course of our summer season which represents just how much quality time is shared with fellow Christians.

Over the years the camp has had many benefactors. Volunteers who have served as caretakers, workers at work camps, managers, teachers and dozens of board members have come and gone, each contributing to the effort to strengthen and encourage God’s people to better service. Time does not allow me to tell about the hunting camps that were used as fund raisers and all the other events and individuals who contributed so much time and funds. We are so blessed by the dedicated service of so many—all of them building on to the legacy that has brought YBC to its present condition. A couple of years ago I asked a 90 year old Clinton Brazle if there was any way that they could have envisioned the camp being used to the present level and the impact it has had for so many years. Clinton’s reply was simple: “How could we?”

It is the commitment of the Board of Directors, eleven men from around the state of Montana who want to perpetuate the legacy of Yellowstone Bible Camp for generations to come by observing a policy to provide a safe spiritual environment as well as a unique physical facility in which people can learn, fellowship and grow.

Statement of the Board’s Policy

The purpose of Yellowstone Bible Camp is to provide a place for the enhancement, development and strengthening of faith in our Lord. The environment of the board-sanctioned camps is designed to provide both physical and spiritual safety.

Because of that responsibility, we do not wish to support or provide a platform for innovation that is not in keeping with the practices and teachings that are found in our fellowship as supported in scripture. This includes teachings that err into rigid legalism on the right or formless liberalism on the left (Deut. 5:32-33). Instead, we as trustees will do our best to encourage the camp to be used for strengthening of unity, growth in the Lord, and preparing His people for service.

To know more about Yellowstone Bible Camp, see photos and obtain a schedule of camps and fees, go to yellowstonebiblecamp.com