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

My purpose here.....

My purpose here is two-fold: (1) To share information about the Civilian Conservation Corps and (2) To perhaps learn something about the world of blogging. If you find fault with the structure or layout of this blog, I hope you’ll just understand that it’s the result of a new guy trying to run an unfamiliar piece of equipment, all the while hoping he doesn’t lose a finger in the process. Which is to say, I hope you’ll stand quietly by and hope for the best. If you find fault with the content or the accuracy of things you find in this blog, I hope that you’ll bring them to my attention in a friendly, “thought you should know,” sort of way.

Although I said my purpose was two-fold, like an old work shirt, there may be many folds to this thing before all is said and done. I’d like to instill my passion for the history of the CCC in others, perhaps share some of the odd facts and figures that I’ve uncovered in more than a decade of study and post some photos that you may not have seen anywhere else. Additionally, I’d like to use this forum to let folks know what the CCC alumni are up to these days. I can’t promise you that there will be new content daily, or weekly or even monthly, but initially I hope to bring over a number of CCC-related articles that I’ve already written in order to provide some usefulness and entertainment at the outset. I have said on a number of occasions that there isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think about the Civilian Conservation Corps and what it meant to the United States. I hope that some of that passion will be evident as you browse through – and hopefully enjoy – my blog.

CCC Legacy Chapter 44

Civilian Conservation Corps Legacy (Formerly the National Association of Civilian Conservation Corps Alumi and the Camp Roosevelt Legacy Foundation) has numerous local chapters across the United States. Phoenix is home to CCC Legacy Chapter 44 , which meets the third Saturday of every month (except July and August) at the Maryvale Medical Center Cafeteria. Chapter 44 also produces a quarterly newsletter the "Cactus Country Crier."

If you live in the Phoenix area or anticipate a visit and have an interest in the history of the Civilian Conservation Corps or if you just like to hang out with fellows who've seen a lot in their lives, we'd welcome you at our meetings. Post a comment here in this blog and I'll respond to you with an email directly.
Mike

Monday, April 14, 2008

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.