The Program - Civilian Conservation Corp

Many people have written about the Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) program and in much better form than I can produce. I don't think this blog would be complete though without having a look in to who the CCC were and what they did.

Personally, I've been familiar with the CCC work for many years. While growing up in Southern Illinois, I spent a lot of time at some of the great parks in that area (Visit Ferne Clyffe if you haven't). Just about all of these parks had significant portions created or worked on by the CCC and chances are the parks you've been to have as well. However, something I didn't realize is the vast expanse and impact of the CCC program. Since I started putting this blog together I've been digging further and further into the history of the program and it has really been interesting. Let's take a look at some background and then move on to the impact.

The time was 1933, an interesting time in US history. Even with recent economic problems, the economic issues of the early 1930's are hard to imagine. The official unemployment rate was at 25%. In the preceding years, the stock market had lost 90% of its value. Companies and banks were closing every day and there was very little chance for finding new work. At this time there were no"bailouts" and little government aid.

In the Midwest, destructive farming methods and drought were causing the Dust Bowl. Family farms were essentially blowing away in the wind. Without crops, the family would lose the farm and join the unemployed.

This was the situation Roosevelt came in to when taking the office of president in 1933. You could say he had an uphill battle to contend with. Roosevelt was ready though and immediately after taking office began implementing government programs intended to restore the economy and bring confidence to the American people. In the first month, he proposed the CCC program and a blazing 15 days later the agency was created.

The CCC would use two abundant resources for the betterment of both. The first being unemployed young men and the second the natural resources of the country. Roosevelt had been a conservationist and took a special interest in the environment. He had first hand knowledge of the Dust Bowl style erosion problems and knew that farming and deforestation had to get under control. The young men would work to do just that: improve the environmental resources of the country.

The program initially brought in young men aged 18-23 to live in an Army style camp for six months at a time. The were paid $30 per month on the condition that $25 of those would be sent back home to their families. While at the camps, the men worked and learned. They became disciplined, supported the local economies and boosted spending at home.

The overall impact is somewhat hard to quantify. There were obvious economic boosts at the time, but the lasting impact is probably more important. In the 1933 to 1942 time period in which the program took place more then 3 million men were enrolled. You could say these men were some of the first conservationists. What they learned set standards in many environmental areas and brought awareness of environmental concerns to many.

The CCC built roads, parks, trails and buildings. They fought forest fires, worked on erosion control, planted trees, stocked ponds. The list goes on and on. In my home state of Tennessee alone there were 46 camps, one of which built the first Tennessee State Park (Harrison Bay).

Here are a few CCC statistics:

3 Billion trees planted
4,500 Total camps
125,000 Miles of road built
40,000 Men taught to read and write
800 State parks developed
4,235,000 Man-days of fire fighting

The next time you are out at a park, take a look around. Many times you can notice structures marked with CCC on them. There's a good chance that some part of what you see has been touched by this bit of history.

Robert's Camp Finley CCC Patch

Dust storm during the Dust Bowl
"Wea01422". Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

I've barely touched on this interesting time in history. Here are a few resources to learn more:

Resources
American Experience episode on the CCC
A resource oriented blog on the CCC
The CCC Wikipedia Page
A group dedicated to preserving the CCC legacy

The Protagonist

Life with our protagonist begins in 1916 in a small Illinois town called Cairo. He was the fourth child in a family which would eventually have six children, five boys and a girl. His parents were both second generation immigrants. His mother's parents came from Germany and his father's from Ireland.

At the time, Cairo was a bustling small town at its peak population of about 15,000. A stark difference than its current 2,800. An interesting feature of Cairo is its geography. The town borders are defined by the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. No matter what the population, the area stays the same. Between all of his aunts, uncles and cousins, there were many family members around and Cairo's small geographic footprint would have put them close together.

The USA was getting ready to go through one of the biggest economic booms in its history. During his childhood in the 1920's, the economy was doing great and the country was enjoying itself. I can only imagine this was a great time and place to be a kid.

During the time Robert was growing up his father, Edward, ran a soda shop just a few blocks from their house. His father was also heavily involved with the Catholic community in Cairo, which had an influence on Robert.

Robert's mother, Hattie and her sister Lena were the German influence in the household. Lena was 15 years older than Hattie and was actually born in Germany before their family immigrated to the USA. Both still spoke German and undoubtedly had influence on Robert. They were a solid middle class family of which I've never heard anything negative.

Robert would have been 13 when the stock market came apart in 1929. In the years after that, the economy sank and the unemployment rose. That is about the time this adventure begins.

In 1934, Robert was 17. The unemployment rate was at 21.7%. Roosevelt had become president the year before and was looking not only for ways to boost the economy, but to get the country back on track. One of the new programs was the Civilian Conservation Corps (Abbreviated as CCC).

The CCC had a goal of putting young men to work on a variety of rural projects around the county. The money made from this work would largely go back to the families of the workers resulting in a stronger US infrastructure and families which were more financially stable.

Three months after turning 17, Robert signed up for the CCC in Ft. Sheridan, IL. For the next six months he spent time at Camp Minnewawa which is close to San Diego. From what I can tell, this was the first big trip he would have been on. I can imagine this was quite an adventure for a young man.

Once his six months was complete, Robert left the CCC and came back to Cairo where stayed until 1935, when he re-enrolled. This time he became part of Camp Finley in Wisconsin. This tour would take him several places in the northwest part of the country. After four months in Wisconsin, he was sent to Reedsport, OR. The next five months were spent in Oregon and Washington.

It was May of 1936 when orders came in that he was being sent to Glacier National Park. Here is where we will pick up when the journal begins.

Robert is on the left, early 1936
From Robert's CCC Photo Collection

Camp Minnewawa in California, 1933
From Robert's CCC Photo Collection

The Project

Many years ago I received a small journal which had been in my family for years. The original owner and author was my grandfather Robert Fitzgerald. It was written when he was 20 and on tour with the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in Glacier National Park.

As with many things that were my grandfather's, the journal has always been interesting to me. Although he passed away when I was nine, I have some great memories of him and things like this remain special to me. It's actually been awhile since I've read through it, but as I do now I think others may be interested in the content as well.

The CCC program began in 1933 to help struggling families in times of the Great Depression. Robert spent two tours in the CCC and traveled far from the small town he grew up in. The journal entries take place from July to October in 1936 while he was in Montana. Reading through it gives you a sense of what it was like to be in the CCC program and how life was in 1936. Getting the feel of the time and having him describe the area are really what pushed me to go ahead and publish it.

This 4th of July, Robert would have been 99. Back in 1936 the journal was sent to him as a birthday present. The first entry is from July 3rd on the day he received it. That day I will post the first entry and from there on out I will post entries on the corresponding days they were entered.