By Stuart Rosebrook, Ph.D.
For at least a century Prescott has been a center of summer camps in Arizona. Like Arizona’s legendary desert Dude Ranches, which have famously operated in the warmer desert valleys since 1923, summer camps began operating in the state’s cooler regions. Three area camps have been operating over 80 years: Wamatochick (centennial this year), the YMCA’s Camp Sky-Y (1938) and Friendly Pines (1941).

Prescott boosters suggested in the January 2, 1877, Arizona Miner that the community was an excellent refuge for desert-dwellers seeking relief from summer heat. In early 1900, according to the February 15, 1900, Arizona Republic, the “Iron Springs Outing Club” was founded by 50 Phoenix businessmen as a summer colony. The community’s residents, the majority of whom lived year-round in Maricopa County, have been enjoying Prescott’s cool summers in their cooperative camp ever since. 

In 1929 Charles H. Orme Sr. and Minna Orme purchased the Quarter Circle V Bar Ranch along Ash Creek northeast of Mayer. The Ormes founded a rural accommodation school for their three children, Charles Jr., Morton, and Kathryn, as well as the children of Juan Almanza’s family, who worked and lived on the ranch with the Ormes.     

The onset of the Great Depression, coupled with an ongoing drought, led the Ormes to begin a summer camp and to begin boarding students in 1930. The Ranch held its first annual barbecue in the summer of 1930. How many attended isn’t known, but the tradition of the Orme’s slow-cooked, pit barbecue was established. 

Annually, invitations were made to local families and ranchers  (as well as families of campers and friends from Phoenix) to attend the Quarter Circle V Bar Ranch Barbecue. Guests were asked to bring a dessert to share. Everything else was provided for visitors, including a tow across Ash Creek if monsoons brought the creek down during the annual festivities—which it did almost every year.

The Orme Ranch Barbecue became an annual tradition at the summer camp, and the event grew in popularity. As early as 1930, social calendar notes in the Arizona Republic reported Iron Springs residents attending the Ranch Barbecue. After World War II, Charles H. Orme Jr. and Mimi Orme began managing the school and camp, and the Ranch Barbecue grew in popularity. Charles Sr. was a state senator and also served, as did his son Mort, as president of the Yavapai County Cattle Growers Association. From the early 1950s to the early 1970s, the Orme Ranch Barbecue was an important annual social and political stop. 

Always held the last Sunday in July or first Sunday in August, by 1977, over 1,500 people would attend the Barbecue. Guests enjoyed a slice of beef on a bun, ranch beans, corn on the cob, salad and dessert. The Barbecue doubled as an open house for the camp and school, with parents driving and flying in from around the country to visit their children and mingle with generations of Orme Family friends from across the state. In 1978, to reduce the bus traffic from Phoenix, the Camp began charging for the barbecue, and the numbers reduced to a more manageable size. It remained a popular summer event until 2010.

While the Orme School and Summer Camp are no longer operating and the final Barbecue is  just a memory for those who enjoyed it for many decades, the tradition of summer camps remains a cornerstone of Yavapai County and Prescott’s annual economy. Like Arizona’s century-old Dude Ranch industry, summer camps have provided youth from Arizona, the country and the world the opportunity to enjoy our Western hospitality, grow and learn in our beautiful and cool natural environment and make friendships and memories that last a lifetime. 

Stuart Rosebrook is the executive director of Sharlot Hall Museum. The Orme School closed a year ago and the Museum’s Research Center is now home to the Orme School and Camp’s archives. If you are interested in volunteering and identifying photos in the Orme School materials, please contact archivesrequest@sharlothallmuseum.org.

“Days Past” is a collaborative project of the Sharlot Hall Museum and the Prescott Corral of Westerners International (www.prescottcorral.org). This and other Days Past articles are also available at www.archives.sharlothallmuseum.org/articles/days-past-articles/1 The public is encouraged to submit proposed articles and inquiries to dayspast@sharlothallmuseum.org Please contact SHM Research Center reference desk at 928-277-2003, or via email at archivesrequest@sharlothallmuseum.org for information or assistance with photo requests.

Sidebar Information

For many summers, staff and campers published the Quarter Circle B Bar Hoofprint, filled with news of the camp. In the August 6, 1951, edition Diana Whitehead wrote: 
    
“BARBECUE!! 
Sunday, August 5th, is the Great Quarter Circle V Bar Barbecue. The scene will be under the cottonwood tree near the swimming pool. Guests will arrive around 2:00, and the eating will begin at 4:00.

After the Old Mexican style, the meat will be cooked in a 4’ by 10’ by 7’ pit. At the bottom of the pit are placed huge loads of rocks, and on top of these, wood. At 8:30 the night before the event, a fire will be built, and will be stoked until 12:00 that night. At 4:00 in the morning the specially-wrapped meat will be put in the pit, and the pit will be covered. 

Campers are to have snacks of milk and sandwiches at Sunday noon so they won’t be too hungry by barbecue time. Rest period is to be from [sic] 12:00 to 2:00, and a cleanup period will follow rest, so that the ranch will look its best for the visitors. After cleanup, campers are free to attend their own affairs until guests arrive. Many will be parents or friends of campers, Barbecue Day having been anxiously awaited. 

    
(Due to the paper going to press late, the Barbecue is now over and done. It was well attended, the food was out of the this world, and the whole thing was a huge success!)”

Courtesy Orme School Archives, Sharlot Hall Museum