Nearly Lost: Photos of CCC Work at Interstate Park, Wisconsin

The November-December issue of the Civilian Conservation Corps Legacy Journal ran a terrific article about the Intestate Park bison site and its connection to CCC history. Camp Interstate was established in order to use CCC labor to build roads, trails, shelter houses and other amenities at Interstate Park in northwestern Wisconsin. The archaeological work came about purely by happenstance.

In the summer of 1936, according to the article by Marlin Hawley, enrollees of Company 633 were digging a ditch to install a pipe. In the process of digging the ditch, the enrollees unearthed large animal bones and, before too long, having uncovered more and more bones, the camp superintendent decided to consult with zoologists at the University of Minnesota. The zoologists recognized the bones as those of some sort of bison, perhaps an extinct species.
Digging resumed and in short order a large hammered copper pike and two small spearheads were found amongst the buried bones at the Interstate Park site. According to Hawley, with the discovery of the of bison bones, the copper pike and the small spearheads “the CCC had unwittingly discovered one of the most enigmatic associations yet of artifacts and a vanished species.”

As it turns out, the name Interstate Park has a special significance to me all the way out here in the desert southwest. It seems that another bit of archaeological salvage work has resulted in the rescue of dozens of photos depicting CCC work at Interstate Park. It seems that the previous owner’s family was planning to dump them into the trash when Mr. Arley Ross, a member of NACCCA Chapter 44, saved them. Arley saved the whole lot of photos, along with a few postcards and it is only through his diligence several years ago that you are now able to see some of those images here.

In all the time I’ve had these photos, I never imagined that a significant archaeological discovery was also part of the CCC work at Interstate Park.

Perhaps the ditch in this picture is part of the work that ultimately resulted in the discovery of the bison bones. If you look carefully, you’ll see the sign that reads “Interstate Park Camp Grounds.” Working in the snow like this must have been tough business!

Here’s another image of enrollees digging a ditch.

Here’s a picture of the motor pool, where truck drivers appear to be shining up their trucks for inspection.

Here’s an image of three enrollees posing by a truck. The truck has “Camp Pattison” painted above the windshield. It’s unclear whether this was taken at the Interstate Park camp or somewhere else.

Here’s a picture of three fresh faced enrollees who look like they might be trying on their CCC work clothes for the first time.

Here’s a group of enrollees posing in the field with their foreman (the distinguished older looking gentleman in the sweater and coat).

Here’s a picture that seems to show that it wasn’t all hard work at Camp Interstate. The previous owner of the photos wrote “Homebrew” on this picture, so we can assume they’re not drinking milk. It’s fun to note that one fellow is drinking out of a gravy boat and the fellow on the far right is holding a pair of football or baseball cleats. The Hawley article points out that the bison excavation project was the largest archaeological project conducted by the CCC in Wisconsin and the assemblage of bison bones is the largest in the eastern U.S. It’s safe to say that the “forest army” did more than forest work.

A Time to Gather. A Time to Remember. A Time to Give Thanks.

As the 2009 Civilian Conservation Corps Legacy national reunion draws closer I’m looking forward to the familiar faces I know that I’ll see when we gather in Denver. On the other hand I’m contemplating the likely absence of some of CCC veterans who I saw only just last year in Virginia.

We tend to think of those CCC boys as they were: 17 years old and wide-eyed as they sheepishly stepped off a train in some faraway town. We forget that those who survived their time in the CCC (most did), and the World War (a lot didn’t), and Korea and Vietnam (yes, they were still fighting then, too) grew up and grew old as they raised families of their own. Quietly, with little fanfare.

I think that for a long time, the National Association of CCC Alumni (NACCCA) and CCC Legacy reunions were just that: reunions. Recently, however, these gatherings are becoming something different as fewer and fewer CCC veterans are able to make the trip. I see a lot more sons and daughters and grandchildren at the national reunions now, and that’s wonderful. I hope the families always feel inspired to participate in CCC history if for no other reason than to fight for it, to preserve it and to stomp down the occasional naysayer who tries to tar the CCC using the same broad brush they use to denigrate the New Deal.

In time, our gatherings will be conferences or symposia, where academics discuss and debate the history and meaning of the CCC, but for now, the reunions have become something in between, not quite reunion, not quite conference. In some ways it’s the best of both worlds were it not for the declining numbers of CCC veterans in attendance. Perhaps some of us will look back wistfully – maybe on the advent of the 100th anniversary of the CCC – and say, “I remember the reunion of 2009 when we actually got to meet some CCC veterans in person!”

My point with all this of course is to simply remind you that the 2009 reunion, conference, symposium – whatever you’d like to call it – is fast approaching!

The 2009 Civilian Conservation Corps Legacy annual reunion is scheduled for October 8-11 in Littleton, Colorado. You can get additional details by visiting the CCC Legacy website HERE.

I sure hope to see you there!

Spotlight Site

Spotlight Site

Once again, it’s been far too long since I posted anything new here and for that I apologize. My thanks to those of you who may still be checking in from time to time in the hope that I’ll finally get on the ball and post something new.

As a way to hopefully get the ball rolling again, I’d like to point you to what I’m calling a Spotlight Site. A Spotlight Site is another website or blog that has interesting CCC-related content. Spotlight Sites will be a way for me to quickly post new content here and to hopefully point you toward other interesting CCC history.

Our inaugural Spotlight Site is an interesting article entitled Into the Woods: The First Year of the Civilian Conservation Corps on the National Archives website. This article gives a terrific account of the creation of the CCC and its evolution during the first year of operation. The first year of the CCC could really serve as something of a metaphor or model for the entire lifespan of the CCC, a program that always seemed to be in flux as leaders and officials shifted the focus and work of the CCC between 1933 and 1942.

CCC Legacy National Reunion Coming Soon!

And, before I close out this long overdue post, a reminder that the CCC Legacy National Reunion is scheduled for Denver, Colorado this coming October. This will be the first time that the national reunion has been held in the western U.S. since it was held in Phoenix in 2004. Here’s a link to the CCC Legacy website where you can get all the information.

It's been far too long since the last post here at Forest Army. A few kind folks have emailed to ask if the blog has been closed down. My emphatic reply is "no." The business of running the local Civilian Conservation Corps alumni chapter and a number of activities associated with the 75th anniversary of the CCC have kept me occupied and without much free time to write for the blog. It's been a busy year with, among other things, the wonderful CCC Symposium at Grand Canyon, a CCC Appreciation Day in Payson, Arizona, a CCC Worker Statue dedication at Colossal Cave and the impending purchase and dedication of a second CCC Worker Statue for another Arizona location in early 2009.

My hope is to be able to get back into researching and writing about the CCC again so that I can place new content here at Forest Army and at the CCC Resource Page. At the very least I hope to post new and unusual photos as I find them and perhaps some personal narratives that we recently ran in the local CCC Legacy newsletter. Bear with me and check back from time to time. I hope you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Grand Canyon CCC Exhibit In Its Final Weeks!

(I must apologize. I've been remiss in my efforts here at Forest Army. What with running the local CCC Legacy Chapter and trying to take in a number of 75th anniversary events, I've neglected the blog. I hope to have more new content posted on a more regular basis for the remainder of 2008. Thank you for your patience.)

You would be hard pressed to find a more fitting location for a commemoration of the CCC than on the rim of our very own Grand Canyon and you’d be hard pressed to find a better event to mark the 75th anniversary than the CCC Symposium hosted by Grand Canyon National Park May 29th through June 1st. The Symposium marked the opening of an exhibition entitled “It Saved My Life: The Civilian Conservation Corps at Grand Canyon, 1933-1942.” The exhibit is the culmination of a cooperative effort between the National park Service and the Grand Canyon Association.

On opening day attendees were treated to a first look at the CCC exhibit in historic Kolb Studio. The space was packed and visitors young and old marveled at the exhibits and a handful of CCC veterans basked in the spotlight as folks sought them out to hear their story.

The following day attendees gathered in the auditorium of the Shrine of the Ages, enjoying a slate of distinguished researchers and historians. Among the presenters: Neil Maher of Rutgers University, author of Nature’s New Deal. Richard Melzer of the University of New Mexico, author of Coming of Age in the Great Depression and Renee Corona Kolvet, author of The Civilian Conservation Corps in Nevada. The slate of speakers also included National Park Service historian John Paige along with Arizona historians Mike Anderson, Peter Booth and Bill Collins. In all, no less than 15 historians, scholars and researchers gave presentations during the symposium.

For many, the highlight of the day’s presentations was a visit with three CCC enrollees, moderated by Dr. Melzer. Bill Millard, Jim Ware and Willis Canady shared their memories of living and working in the CCC and provided of glimpse of their post-CCC military experiences in the Navy and Marine Corps.

One historian has stated that the work of the CCC advanced park development by as much as 20 years during just the first two or three years of CCC operation, largely due to the massive labor pool provided by the program. As many as four CCC companies operated at Grand Canyon at any one time (on both rims and at the bottom of the canyon) and their list of accomplishments includes structures, trail building, infrastructure improvements like the stone wall in South Rim Village, trail shelters and the trans-canyon telephone line. Again, it’s little wonder that South Rim made such a fitting and majestic setting for such an event; the place fairly oozes CCC history!

We’re all especially indebted to the folks who worked so hard to make this event come together and for their effort in recognizing the important role of the CCC in our nation’s history. Particular thanks goes to the exhibit committee: Mike Anderson, Bob Audretsch, Pam Cox, Pam Frazier and James Schenck.

Alas, the Symposium events proved far too fleeting as attendees went their separate ways, but the exhibit will continue at historic Kolb Studio until October 19th. If you are at all able to do so, please make the trip to see the exhibit; you’ll be glad you did!

(Photos courtesy of the National Park Service and NPS Staff. Thank you.)

Joseph Speakman's Balanced Appraisal of the CCC

At Work in Penn's Woods: The Civilian Conservation Corps in Pennsylvania

By Joseph M. Speakman

Pennsylvania State University Press, 2006

I don’t know that you’ll find a more balanced appraisal of the CCC than this book; it’s an elegant piece of scholarship. Joseph Speakman manages to hit all the high notes while reminding us that the CCC was, after all, a government program, and as such, it was far from perfect.

Speakman comes by his interest in the CCC naturally – like many of us his father gained from the program as a young man and the stories told seem to have ignited the fire of interest. That said, Speakman has gone into the task of scholarship with his eyes open and he seems to have remained so to the end. The result is a study of the CCC that is both interesting and informative without a whiff of an agenda.

Each of us remembers things a certain way, for a particular reason, even if we don’t in fact realize we are doing so. The experiences of Speakman’s father serve as something of an allegory for the way we have chosen to recall the CCC and its impact on this nation and the young men who rose from being the Great Depression generation to become The Greatest Generation. In the preface to Penn’s Woods, Speakman recounts that his father’s stories of having gained twenty pounds of muscle in the CCC were offset somewhat by the fact that his CCC discharge indicated he gained just nine pounds during his enrollment in the CCC.

With this seemingly inconsequential statement, Speakman sets up something of an overarching metaphor for his entire account of the work of the CCC in Pennsylvania. Specifically this: that while we may often gravitate toward the positive and uplifting aspects of the CCC, there are underlying truths that remain unpleasant at times. The CCC did not offer the same opportunities to young men of all races. The CCC occasionally squandered resources. The CCC did attempt to be too many things to too many people over the course of its lifetime. Speakman has done a terrific job of documenting these shortcomings, while avoiding the trap of revisionist polemics.

At Work In Penn’s Woods is well documented with a substantial list of sources and notes. Speakman makes a point of apologizing early on for his use of statistical data, but he weaves the statistical material so seamlessly through the narrative that it easily becomes another useful part of the story. This book will easily find a place in the canon of CCC literature and should be on the reading list of anyone who is interested in the New Deal or the CCC.

To visit the Pennsylvania University Press web page for At Work in Penn’s Woods, go here:

http://www.psupress.org/books/titles/0-271-02876-9.html

The Two Faces of Camp F-33-A, Mayer, Arizona

IMAGE: Camp F-33-A, Mayer, Arizona Circa 1939

After the dissolution of the CCC in 1942, former CCC camps were used for a number of purposes, in many cases being dismantled and moved to other sites for use by the military. Some camps were used to confine Axis prisoners of war, while others were used to house conscientious objectors who, due to religious beliefs, chose not to enter the military, opting instead to work in camps to perform useful, non-war related work. One of the more unfortunate uses of former CCC camps was as internment centers for the relocation of Japanese-Americans.

Camp F-33-A was established in Mayer, Arizona in the fall of 1933 and CCC companies alternated between the Mayer camp and other camps over time. Work done by CCC enrollees at the Mayer camp included twig blight control, trail construction, telephone line construction, bridge building, rodent control and erosion control.

Camp F-33-A served very briefly as a temporary relocation camp for Japanese-Americans who had been relocated from southern Arizona. Nothing remains of the camp today; the area has been swallowed up by homes and a small business area alongside the road through town. A Circle K convenience store dominates the area where once stood the camp. According to a National Park Service website, the Mayer camp was occupied for a shorter length of time than any relocation camp, with the internees being moved to the Poston Relocation Center less than a month after arriving at the Mayer camp.







During its life as a CCC camp, F-33-A was an integrated camp, with enrollees from a mixture of racial groups. Integrated camps were a rarity during the CCC’s lifetime and given the camps later use, its diverse racial make up in the 1930s is ironic.

To see the National Park Service website detailing the use of the Mayer CCC camp as a temporary internment camp for Japanese-Americans, visit this website:
http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/anthropology74/ce16c.htm

Today you would never know that a CCC camp once stood along this stretch of Arizona highway, but if it were still standing, camp F-33-A would occupy the very middle of this picture.