The first camp was April 1973 when a group of about seventy-five junior high young people came from the church where Walt Brock was youth pastor. Walt cooked, preached, and directed the program with the help of the high school youth group and some adult sponsors. The first camp held for an “outside” group was for First Baptist Church of Santa Maria; they brought around fifteen young people to camp in April 1974 as a work group. They helped clean up around the lodge and get things ready for future camps. It was encouraging to have a group of young people come from a church other than the one the Brocks had been working at before coming to Ironwood.

The first summer we operated as a camp was 1975. All the camps that summer were Nehemiah work camps, as were all camps in 1976. During the summer of 1977, half of the camps were work camps. It wasn’t until 1978 that we had a summer essentially set aside for camp as we know it today. The
Nehemiah work camps of 1975, 1976, and the first half of 1977 built such things as the giant slide, the big shade at the lake, the diving tower, Durango, Submission, Obedience, the western fronts on the program office, fences, and put in water lines around the property. Who were the first staff
people that worked here at Ironwood? The first people who moved to Ironwood were Fred and Eula Wheat. They were retired workers from the chemical plants at Boron and Trona and had been living in Newberry Springs. When we acquired possession of the property, we asked them to be caretakers of
the property. Fred and Eula served here for many years. Fred was faithful and dependable in working in whatever capacity was needed, planting many of the athel trees around the property; Eula faithfully worked in the kitchen past her 81st birthday. We praise the Lord for them and their willingness to be
of service to the Lord and for their faithfulness over the years.