The Civilian Conservation Corps

I recently went for a vacation at Oregon’s Silver Falls State Park. We walked the trails and took in the splendor of a number of falls and the steep heavily forested canyons that they dropped into. While wandering one of the upper trails, we came upon a stone structure. It was something that had been built in the 1930’s as a kitchen for the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) camp. It had later been restored to its more-or-less original condition. It put me in mind of when I had worked a couple of summers for the US Forest Service at the Cape Perpetua Visitor’s Center. On top of Cape Perpetua is a stone shelter and down nearer the base of the Cape are the remnants of a cookhouse. Both were built for and used by the CCC boys.

The Civilian Conservation Corps along with its brother organization, the Works Progress Administration (WPA), were part of Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal policies to fight back against the great Depression. These two organizations employed millions of men at a time when unemployment was frighteningly high. The CCC planted billions of trees and worked on improvements to National Parks and National Forests, building trails and structures, and fighting forest fires. The young men had to “enlist” for at least six months. In addition to room and board, they were paid $30 per month but were required to send $25 of it back home to help support their families. It was a popular depression era program.

The CCC is why I grew up in Oregon. Both my parents were from Illinois. My father’s family was dirt poor (like most people in the Depression) and he enlisted in the CCC. He was sent to Crater Lake with a team that was building trails. He fell in love with Oregon and decided, after the war, that that was where he wanted to start his family.

By the time America entered the Second World War, the CCC was in decline. Priorities shifted to the war effort and the CCC was no longer needed. There are remnants of the CCC scattered all over, mostly in the western US. Even though they are not that old, it feels like an archeological find when you stumble upon one. There is nostalgia for a popular government program. They are relics of a different time, a time of big ideas, a time when we believed in taking care of each other.

Star Liner

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