Civilian Conservation Corps

I wrote this a few days ago when we were at Lake Itasca...

There was information at Lake Itasca State Park about the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) activities in this area, as well as general information about the CCC.

The CCC program in Minnesota trained 84,000 young men in job skills while practicing conservation. They built facilities and did conservation work in 35 new state parks and forests.
Help for the folks back home - "It was about the best experience of my life. I had a mother and three sisters that had to be fed. And there was not work for a teenager. But the CCC was a way out. My mother could support herself and my sisters on the $25 I sent home every month. Hard to believe, but that's the way it was in those days. A dollar was a dollar!". Warren Hill - November 1983
Each month, when sons of Depression Era families sent their checks home, shoes were bought, mortgages were paid and the family had food on the table.

These "boys" left their mark! One of the projects that the CCC accomplished in Minnesota was the construction and maintenance of miles of telephone lines. The CCC also built offices, houses, cabins, garages and picnic shelters in public parks throughout the state. Fire lookout towers were built and fire breaks were constructed in appropriate places.

Hope for a depressed nation -
The Civilian Conservation Corps was developed during an economically critical time in the history of our country, and its success led to many other important work programs of the 1930s. The legacy of these programs is still with us today.
Putting together hungry, idle men & dry, thirsty land - When Franklin D Roosevelt became president on March 4, 1935, the economic depression in America had hit bottom. Banks had failed. Great dust storms in the Midwest left houses and farms abandoned and millions of jobless adults were in breadlines in the cities. In Minnesota, 29% of its workforce of one million could not find work. Some areas of northeastern Minnesota recorded 78% unemployment. In addition, because there was no national conservation policy, the country's abundant natural resources were being lost. It was clear to President Roosevelt that something drastic needed to be done. Just weeks after his inauguration, President Roosevelt established the Emergency Conservation Works Program, later called the Civilian Conservation Corps. The plan was to put unemployed young men to work in forests, parks and rangelands.

If I remember correctly, my grandfather Talley worked with the CCC in Virginia, building "CCC roads" (fire roads, I guess). This map indicated that there were 9,200 men in 46 camps across Virginia.

CCC camps throughout the country - From every part of the country, unmarried, unemployed men between 18 and 25 years of age signed up and were sent to CCC camps throughout the United States. The camps were supervised by the Army. The U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Interior were responsible for CCC work projects. Other state agencies provided personnel and assistance with budgets, legal advice, and selection of enrollees.

Help for the land - Over the CCC's nine year history, billions of trees were planted, reclaiming millions of acres of land from soil erosion. Parks, bridges, dams, and fire trails were built. CCC projects helped make the parks and forests accessible, creating an opportunity for Americans to get out of the cities and rediscover the "great outdoors."

Help for the people - The CCC put millions of unemployed young men to work, giving them hope and self-respect. The CCC helped young men become self-supporting by providing educational opportunities for reading, writing, and learning a trade. By the time the United States entered World War II, a new value of the CCC was recognized. It had also become a source of well-trained and disciplined men who would serve in the military during the war.

CCC at work outdoors -
In the summer of 1933, CCC camps were established at Itasca which focused on conservation work. These camps carried on a program called "constructive conservation," which not only increased safety and enjoyment for state park visitors, but also increased the health and diversity of the forests.
Crews, made up of 225 "boys" and 13 local experienced men (LEM) from each camp, worked under the supervision of the State Forest Service, now called the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. They constructed cabins, campgrounds, picnic grounds, bathing beaches, and hiking trails. They also planted trees and did landscaping work that enhanced Itasca and appealed to the vacationing public.

Road building - A major occupation for several hundred men from Itasca CCC camps was road building. New roads were built throughout the park and into the townships surrounding Itasca. The roads made these previously inaccessible areas open for travel and firefighting. By 1935, 500 miles of forest service truck roads and trails were built statewide.

Tree planting - During 1933 alone, CCC planting crews set out 14,800 spruce and pine seedlings at Itasca. In total, the CCC planted an incredible 124 million trees in Minnesota and inventoried 3.7 million acres of forest land.

Fish stocking - One of the conservation activities was stocking streams and lakes with fish. The the photo below, trout were being "planted" into LaSalle Springs. Although this particular effort failed, stocking did result in plenty of fish being caught in the lakes and streams at Itasca.

Firebreak cutting - a major concern was to protect Itasca's extensive pine forest from fires. During the 1933-1934 fire season, an 80 foot wide firebreak was built along the west and north boundaries of the park. In total, thirty-two miles of fire breaks were built during this season. Main highways along the east and south park boundaries afforded firebreak protection on the other two sides, completely protecting the park timber from potential surrounding fires.

Hmmm... if this is the case, I don't think it would have applied to my grandfather... he would have been somewhat older than 24 in the late 1930s.

I wonder if Grandpa was one of the "Local Experienced Men" who worked with the CCC "boys"?

Work for a wage: Each "boy" who enrolled in the CCC was paid $30 a month, of which $25 was sent to his family. The remaining $5 could be used by the enrollee at the camp canteen, for personal expenses of his choice, or perhaps just for "mad money." For their part of the deal, the "boys" were expected to work a 40 hour week and adhere to camp rules.