by Bob Zache

Wednesday, August 13, 2003
GLOBE, AZ

     The Arizona Elks Association has acquired the old Y-Camp in the mountains 40 miles north of Globe-Miami and are in the process of refurbishing the property  and facilities.

     Located high in the Sierra Anche Mountains just off  the road to Young, the camp has offered a retreat from  the summer heat for thousands of Globe-Miami youth for several generations. Starting with a camp on Reynolds Creek in the early 1920s, the Miami YMCA acquired the present site on Workman Creek in 1943 and named it Camp Jourdin in honor of one of the  YMCA officers.
 
     Arizona Game and Fish would stock Workman Creek with trout in the spring and many youngsters caught their first fish there. One of the highlights of the 10-day camping sessions was hiking about a mile downstream to swim in one of the pools carved out of the rocks.

      Another was the hike up to Aztec Peak to visit the fire tower. Kind of an initiation, it was a good six  mile hike and at campfire that night, new campers were presented their leather badge strung on a leather thong.

     In the 1940s we slept in big army tents on wooden platforms and ate in a rustic mess hall. In later years, "Y" volunteers built  cabins, a bathroom with showers and flush toilets and a modern kitchen-dining hall.

     That's all being updated and refurbished now.
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     Jack Warter, a past Exalted Ruler of the Miami Elks Lodge and past state president of the Arizona Elks Association, is on the board of directors of their Major Projects, Inc. The Globe and Miami Elks lodges were merged into the Pinal Mountain Elks Lodge four years ago.

     Warter explained how Ed Warner, another past Exalted Ruler, was playing golf with Wayne Blake and the subject of the old Y-Camp came up.

     Blake was on the board of directors of Camp Jourdin Association, Inc., a non-profit corporation set up after the YMCA of Globe-Miami went out of business in the early 1990s; that organization sent its last group of youth to Camp Jourdin in the mid-1980s. The camp was maintained by volunteers and various groups were able to rent the facilities for a nominal fee, just enough to cover taxes, insurance, propane, building materials and other costs.

     Blake said he received numerous offers over the years from developers to buy the 7.83 acres. But his group wanted to keep the camp available for use by area youth. When he and Warner began talking about the possibility of the Elks taking over, Blake's concern was still the youth of the Globe-Miami community.

     That's also a major concern of the Elks and it was easy to come to an agreement with the state organization. Warter took the proposal to the Elks Major Projects board and they agreed. Instead of an outright cash payment, the Elks will give $15,000 scholarships to Globe and Miami high school graduates for 20 years. Ten graduates of the 2003 classes from Globe and Miami high schools received $1,500 each this spring, the first "payment" on the camp.

     And the camp will continue to be available to various youth groups from all over the state for the same nominal fee -- enough to cover costs of operation.

     Other groups that have used the camp over the years, like family  reunions, company retreats or deer hunters, will still be able to rent the camp on a space available basis, Warter said. The facilities should be ready for use by next summer.

     This summer, Elks volunteers from all over the state have been busy replacing water lines, electrical service, kitchen appliances, cots in the cabins and anything else that needed it. The land was surveyed, a fence is being built, overgrown brush and trees cleared out, cabins have been repainted, the kitchen remodeled, a couple of old shacks torn down, a new potable water well drilled and forms built for a slab to hold a sound-proof building for the electric generator.

     Warter said that since he lives here, he was made chairman of a camp committee in charge of renovation.

     Representative from each of the four districts of the Arizona Elks Association are vice-chairmen of the committee, "and anybody who shows up to work is automatically a member of the committee," Warter added. Volunteers have been working numerous weekends, he said, and in addition to the time, all kinds of materials have been donated.

     "Conduit, pipe, wire, kitchen equipment, fixtures, the cots -- not to mention lots of labor," Warter listed donations, "and one lady in Tucson gave us a check for $20,000. That's a tremendous help." It's the same cool, pine-oak forested  5,600-foot elevation, but it's not the Y-Camp anymore, nor even Camp Jourdin. It's now the Arizona Elks Youth Camp and will be ready for kids next year.

     Meanwhile, anyone wanting to help can donate to a special Elks bank account set up to receive funds: Wells Fargo account number 0728390881. Or call Jack Warter; he can always use some more muscle.

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