A BRIEF HISTORY

In 1927, the still young Billings Lions Club found the location for their youth camp 10 miles south of Red Lodge, Montana, in the Beartooth National Forest. The stated purpose was to “provide a facility for use by youth oriented organizations that otherwise could not afford their own camp.” The Boy Scouts joined the Lions the next year in adding to an existing cabin to create a kitchen and dining lodge in exchange for use of the new camp. Housing was supplied by surplus army tents. The Lions Youth Camp was born.

A few years later the Forest Service gave the Lions a nearby fish hatchery for demolition and the lumber was ferried by hand across the creek and used to build plank walls and floors for the army tents. Later the canvas was replaced with wood roofs. Demand was growing for a larger and better organized facility so the Lions and the Forest Service cooperated in convincing the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) to construct it in the mid 1930s. The result was the formation of the CCC Company 1223 and project F-11 at the camp south of Red Lodge, MT. Building designs were copied from similar facilities on the west coast. Lumber and other materials were stockpiled and the construction was completed in two years of extensive labor during the summer seasons. Water lines and foundations were dug by hand and sometimes routed around huge boulders in the glacial till of the site. Concrete was mixed one yard at a time. Wood was milled in a device run by Model T engine. Young men and boys were put to work and learned a trade while building the basis for the current camp along with similar projects in the area.

The Lions Club continued to improve the camp after the CCC was gone. The original plank cabins were demolished. Additional sleeping cabins were added to increase the capacity of the camp to match the dining hall and other facilities. A modern winterized cabin for small groups was added in the 1960s. Significant improvements to kitchen, bathrooms and utilities were made in the 1970s and an amphitheater recently was added. Lions faced a monumental task in the 1990s when $40,000 worth of vandalism occurred one May but was repaired without losing the camping season that began only a month later.

Today, the camp boasts 22 buildings in a secluded setting near the Beartooth Wilderness Area and the Beartooth Pass Scenic Byway. The facilities can serve groups of up to 130 people including staff and campers for the summer months of June through August of each year. Winter seasonal use of one building can provide for groups of about 20 people.

 

Beartooth Mountain Youth Camp pages:

• Camp Contacts
• A Description of the Facility
• A Brief History
• Location Map
• A map of the Camp site
• Photos of the facilities
• Scenic Photos of the camp