Notes Concerning the North Pacific Camp-Meetings
By George I. Butler
A BRIEF report of the Spokane camp-meeting was written for the REVIEW. As I have seen no other reports in our church organ, perhaps a few interesting items may be proper even at this late date. The Tacoma camp-meeting was well attended. About one hundred seventy-five tents were pitched for the occasion, and three or four hundred persons camped upon the grounds. Elder G. A. Irwin and the writer, representing the General Conference Committee, were in attendance. The writer was present only a few days in the earlier part of the meeting. As the meetings in the North Pacific Union Conference were so appointed that they each lapped over on the time of another, one laborer went to the commencement, and the other remained to the close. Elder Irwin’s labors closed the Tacoma meeting, while the writer was attending the first half of the Portland meeting. At the Tacoma meeting upward of two thousand dollars was pledged for general foreign missionary work. Revival services were held with much profit, and quite a number were baptized. Representatives were present, and collections were taken for the publishing work, for17the blind, for the cause of missions in Japan, China, etc. The meeting in Portland was also quite well attended. About one hundred fifty tents were pitched, and several hundred persons were in attendance. About two thousand dollars was raised for foreign missions, and smaller sums for other objects. It was very gratifying to see the increase in the numbers of believers compared with those present at a previous visit twenty-five years ago. I was informed that in Portland and vicinity alone there were several churches and four or five hundred members, and to the best of my judgment, the assembly was increased tenfold. These were not all new converts however; for, as is well known, a great emigration for years has been in progress, especially from leading central conferences, and also from various parts of the United States, and even from foreign lands. In all these meetings large numbers of old friends greeted me, coming forward to shake my hand with great cordiality, and calling to remembrance days of old, from twenty to forty years ago, when I was laboring all through the North. How time flies! For nearly twenty-one years I have been mainly in the South. It was indeed pleasant to see so many old friends, and find them so true to the dear cause all these years. I left the Portland meeting at about the middle of it, while Elder Irwin remained till its close. I was informed that the revival work was a success, and that a goodly number were baptized. The Montana meeting was held at Stevensville, and was the last one of the series in the North Pacific Union Conference. I left Portland Monday night to reach Stevensville at the beginning of the meeting. Circumstances were such that it seemed difficult for Brother Irwin to attend. This was quite a disappointment to the leading brethren in Montana. But the Lord was with us from the beginning till the close of the camp-meeting. The camp was pitched in a small grove of second growth pines, affording good opportunity for private devotion, and in my judgment it was the best and most spiritual meeting I have attended for years. This meeting was held in Bitter Root Valley, one of the most pleasant valleys that I saw in my long trip of about seven thousand miles. The valley is perhaps eighty or one hundred miles in length by twenty in width. It lies high up in the Rockies, with high peaks on either side. Bitter Root River is a fine stream of clear cold water, fed by smaller streams flowing out from the mountainsides, from the snows of the higher peaks. Speckled trout are plentiful in these streams. Much of the rich, choice land in the valley can be irrigated, and very large crops of hay, oats, wheat, and potatoes, and the earlier fruits are raised. With plenty of water for irrigation, it is not uncommon to raise one hundred bushels of oats, from forty to sixty of wheat, or four hundred bushels of potatoes to the acre. The weather is generally cool, though in the middle of the day it is quite warm. The land is high-priced as a rule, often one hundred dollars and upward an acre. Perfect union seemed to prevail among the ministers and people. They had been carefully instructed in all the principles of present truth. They loved to listen to the truth presented plainly and forcibly. They were believers in the Testimonies of the Spirit of God, yes, and in health reform, discarding flesh-meats and everything that was hurtful. This little camp-meeting, of about one hundred adults and perhaps forty or fifty tents, forcibly reminded the writer of the camp-meetings in Iowa some thirty or forty years ago. After the views of unbelief had been sifted out by the departure of those who followed Elders Snook and Brinkerhoof, then for years we had meetings that the writer will never forget, and many of the other believers of long ago. When we met together, there was perfect union, and such love as I have seldom seen since. For quite a number of years, from fifty to one hundred twenty-five were baptized at camp-meeting, and there was wonderful growth in every department. This camp-meeting was not a business meeting for the election of officers, so there was plenty of time for other meetings and spiritual instruction and devotion. Souls were converted, and a goodly number were baptized. Those of most means in the conference were too busy to attend, yet in the small camp-meeting of one hundred adults, we raised pledges amounting to about four thousand dollars, half for local needs and the other half for foreign missionary work. Brother Charles T. Rider was ordained to the ministry. God graciously came in by his Spirit and witnessed to the ordination. This ordination was very gratifying to me personally, as Brother Rider is the son of Stephen and Martha Lockwood Rider, the latter a sister to my first wife. Our families were most intimate. His previous labors had given evidence that this was a proper step. Elder R. D. Quinn, president of the Montana Conference, is held in high esteem by his brethren. It was a pleasure to make his acquaintance, and also that of other brethren in the ministry. A portion of the money raised will be used in building a much-needed intermediate school building. They have an excellent school in the conference. Montana is, in territory, the third largest State in the United States. There is a great territory to work, and few laborers to work it. May God greatly bless the work in this large State. On my trip homeward via California, I stopped off part of a day at Walla Walla. That is an important point in the great cause of present truth in the North Pacific Union Conference. We have a large sanitarium there, and College Place is the location of one of our greatest schools. Twenty-three years ago I attended a camp-meeting there. I felt loath to leave the Pacific Coast without witnessing the great growth of the cause in that important locality. There was much of interest to be seen, and many aged and dear friends of mine lived there. School was soon to be opened, and everybody was busy. I went, of course, through our excellent institution, with interest and thankfulness, and felt to praise God for what my eyes beheld. There had been some lack of needed water in the sanitarium, and so an artesian well had been bored, six inches in diameter. Water was struck in about seven hundred feet. A large stream of pure water came bursting up to a height of from fifteen to twenty feet, affording water for all needed purposes, and sufficient to irrigate three hundred acres, it is estimated. This was a great blessing. My many friends greatly desired me to stay longer, in order to speak to them once more before leaving for the California camp-meeting. I spoke to an open-air meeting on the school grounds in the dark. It was estimated that four hundred were present. And so we bade farewell to devoted friends, and left them on our way to California.