White River Lodge #62 F&AM

Show Low, Arizona

Buckelew Springs Outdoor Degree and Cowboy Camp

By Brother John Gregory Boyd

 

White River Lodge #62 had been in existence about ten years when the Brethren begin to discuss having an outdoor degree. Several other lodges in the state had, from time-to-time, put on outdoor degrees; however, outdoor degrees had not necessarily been done on a consistent year-to-year basis. After several years of ruminating on the idea, the Lodge formed a committee to look into the possibility of holding it in Apache County on U. S. Forest Service land. Several reasons enumerated for the Apache County site. First, there was an excellent place about 32 miles up from the mountains from Show Low where there was reliable source of water for camping. The elevation was such that it would attract Brethren from all over the state for the beauty and wonderfully cool summer climate during the rainy season. We could just envision the Phoenix and Tucson brothers chomping at the bit so to speak to get out of the desert heat and spend a couple of days in the cool mountains in Masonic Brotherhood.

 

After obtaining authorization form the Forest service, which by the way just happened to be headed by a district ranger who was a Masonic Brother, the Lodge proceeded to actively plan for a three day camp out and Third Degree conferral for the following summer. The original plan called for camp to be set up on Friday morning, the first section of the Third Degree conferred Saturday morning, a deep pit cowboy style BBQ served for the noon meal and then the Second Section of the degree put on after the BBQ. Most of the Brethren anticipated they would head home after the degree work was finished, the camp crew would do the mop up, and break camp Sunday morning returning home.

 

In order to have a BBQ as planned it would be necessary to construct a deep pit. Charles “Pat” Patterson supplied the backhoe and several of the Brethren met at Buckelew Springs, the place selected and authorized by the Forest Service to hold our Outdoor Meeting, and proceeded to dig a pit. About the time, the Brethren got started, a stranger showed up who was very inquisitive. He suspected something sinister was going on since it looked like they were digging a grave. He beat around the bush for a while asking questions but got nowhere and finally left. Nothing more was every heard from him and apparently he never reported it. The brothers dug the pit, lined it with firebrick and poured a concrete apron around it, fitted with a steel plate that was placed over the pit, and covered with soil and pine needles to the point of being indistinguishable form the surrounding area. If fact, a pickup loaded with a good supply of oak wood could be driven over it and nothing would happen.  It would have made some old coyote trappers proud.

 

Several of the Brethren had had lots of experience ramrodding a big camp, cooking, and serving quite a few people. One of them was Brother Loy Varnell, who had been a bonafied bronco busting cowboy and cattleman all his life. Loy was getting up in years but he could work as hard as anyone could and better most. He was designated Camp Majordomo, or Camp Boss.  Brother David Camp Porter, who got his middle name from a Cow Camp near Apache Creek, was second in command.  With those two in charge, the Lodge could not have picked a better pair.  We didn’t know what we were getting into at first.

 

The first couple of years we would set up camp Friday morning, open up the pit and get the fire going, have lunch, and then spend the afternoon visiting, pitching horse shoes and in general enjoying a good fellowship and brotherhood. Later in the afternoon, we would prepare the meat by dipping it in Loy’s special BBQ sauce, wrapping it in butcher paper, taping with masking tape, wrapping it in wet burlap bags that had been soaked in water over night, and wiring with bailing wire with a loop in it to be retrieved later. With pomp and ceremony, the crew would put the meat into the pit on top of the hot coals. The brothers would put the iron plate into place and a foot or so of dirt would cover the pit. This had to be done quickly so none of the packages of meat would be scorched or start burning. Then the camp crew would prepare the evening meal. The thirty Brethren in the camp would have either steak or chili. In the evening, we would sit around the campfire and tell tall tales to each other all the time praying the meat was going to come out just right.

 

Brother Hal Butler, on whose allotment we were camping, generously donated a beef every year for the BBQ. Each year it would be a big beef and would yield six to eight hundred pounds of meat. We Brethren would slaughter the beef and then take it to a butcher shop to have the final cuts done. Sometimes we would do the slaughtering at Brother Butler’s Timberline Ranch and other times we would do it at Brother Loy Varnell’s Wagon Wheel Ranch in Lakeside. We always teased Brother Loy that the Moon had to be full in order for him to be able to slaughter a beef; He took it, as always, in a good-natured frame of mind. Even though it was hard work, we always had a good time.

 

Saturday morning everybody was up and at em early as there was much work preparatory to all the Brethren showing up. Up to this time in the early years of the Buckelew Springs Meeting, it was mostly White River Lodge members until the Flat Landers, as they were called, started showing up around 9:00 AM. The Lodge delegated duties to specific committees. One group cooked Dutch oven biscuits, one group, prepared the coffee and lemonade, etc. while several brothers set up and manned the front reception booth and received the visiting brothers.  Brothers Hal Butler and Gary Butler supplied the horses, which they and others rode around the camp that served to tyle the Lodge while the degree was going on. Our first candidate was Larry Holmes, a good brother who recently passed onto the Celestial Lodge above in 2007.

 

It soon became customary for most all of the Grand Lodge Officers to attend as Buckelew rapidly emerged at the “THE” meeting to attend every summer. The first section of the Third Degree began at 10:30 am. All the visiting dignitaries had to be escorted in and introduced. Everything was proper even though the location was remote. The Tyler’s horses had the distinction of having aprons on their briskets. Never once in all the years Buckelew did we have to deal with a Cowan or Eavesdropper.

 

In the early years, as pointed out previously, the camp crew was pretty much by themselves; however, it didn’t take long for the Meeting to become big time. The desert Brethren stared coming up on Thursday with their fifth wheels, motor homes, various paraphernalia and bringing their wives, and sometimes their kids too. Well, soon the Friday evening meal, which we had planned on for about 30 brothers, became 100 to 125 people. Needless to say, this put quite a strain on our Lodge. We had to feed all of them Saturday morning also, so the ultimate workload greatly increased. It eventually worked out after a couple of years when it was obvious that people were having a great time and that White River Lodge was a gracious host.

 

In its heyday, which was from about 1978 to about 1995 we had great turnouts. Some statistics:

Most number of Brethren present for the degree                                            325

Most number of Dutch Oven Biscuits cooked in Three days                 1250-1300

Overall Grand Champion Horse Shoe Pitcher                                        Dave Porter

Voted Best BBQ Sauce Recipe                                                              Loy Varnell

Voted Best Coffee Brewer                                                                        Bill Hazel

Voted Best Organizer   Tie                                                   Ken Walker/Dave Porter

Voted Best Camp Boss                                                                                     Loy Varnell

Voted Most Congenial                                                                    Ray McCalmont

Voted having the best looking Hat each year                                          Greg Boyd

Voted Special Recognition for farthest traveled to the

Meeting each year (from Espanola, NM every year)    Brother Maker who was Brother Ted Maker’s Nephew

Voted Special Appreciation to Receive Timberline

Award Presented in Lodge, Custom Made Knives by Timberline Knife Co. Mancos, CO        Gary and Hal Butler

Voted Hardest Worker                                                                    Brother AB

Voted Best Poker Player                                                                Wayne Miller

Voted Worst Poker Player                                                               Greg Boyd

Voted Best Frijole Cooker                                                              Dave Porter

Dimensions of pit                                      3 ½ Feet Wide, 7 Feet Long, 7 Feet Deep

 

One of the best laughs we ever had was when Loy’s German Short Hair Pointer walked up to Lou Denham just as he arrived in camp mid-afternoon on Friday during a relaxed moment. Lou was standing in the middle of camp greeting everyone and wearing casual slacks, not too appropriate for Buckelew, when….,calmly the short hair walked up from behind, lifted his leg, and proceeded to unload on Lou’s leg. He was a fair size dog and needless to say was quite productive. At first Lou seemed to be oblivious to what was happening, when he realized what had happened, he was speechless. Being speechless was not one of Lou’s attributes and we all got a good belly laugh out of it.

 

Another time several Brethren were sitting in the cook tent quite late on Saturday night, most everyone had turned in and the Camp was quiet except for the rowdiness emanating from the kitchen. All of a sudden Loy came out from his tent wielding what some of us took to be a branding iron, but was probably a gaucho, and letting it be known in to uncertain terms that his peace and tranquility of sleep were being intruded upon and that we were all in jeopardy of immediate bodily harm. As he told the story, the next morning at breakfast we all “scattered like a covey of quail.” Of course, the story has become embellished over the years, but that’s substantially it.

 

As related above, Dave Porter was know far and wide as the best frijole chef in the Eastern Arizona and Western New Mexico. He had a knack of having them come out just right every time and several of us got to be acknowledged as being able to eat an enormous quantity of them. One evening at Buckelew, a good-natured wager was entered into, with the encouragement of some of the Brethren, between Buck Sumerlin and Greg Boyd. Dave Porter agreed to hold a special dinner at the Lodge and serve a generous quantity of beans not only for the contest but also for the Brethren, Eastern Star, and other invited guests. A date was decided upon and preparations were beginning to be made. But, alas, Brother Buck came to his senses and about a week before the dinner and the big contest, Brother Boyd was home one evening, a knock came upon his front door. There, stacked one upon another was the wager prize. Buck in a most gracious manner becoming a true Brother Mason with utmost humility said “you win”, bowed and retreated to his vehicle and drove away. This matter has from time to time been brought up, not in tyled Lodge, but while the Brethren have been enjoying the Fruit that makes you toot.

 

All told, the Brethren really enjoyed and looked forward to the Buckelew Springs Degree, not so much for the degree work as such, but for the great fellowship, camaraderie, wonderful outdoor cooking and general great feeling of accomplishment of serving so many good Sojourning Brethren and their families. It was definitely using the Trowel to Spread the Cement of Brotherly Love and Affection. During the years Buckelew was observed, the Brothers of White River Lodge #62 were as cohesive a bunch as was exhibited in our Beloved Masonic Fraternity whithersoever dispersed.