Entry - September 30, 1936

12.00 Pay Day! Hooray! The only day of the month I like to see roll around. I am broke already. In fact I was broke before I got the money.

(Just thinking how I used to lay in bed till ten o’clock at home)

Robert

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Comments from Chris

Speaking of rolling around, this blog wouldn't be complete without talking about the iconic Red Buses ("Jammers") in Glacier National Park. The Red Buses have taken thousands of people on park tours throughout the years. The current fleet was introduced the year Robert was there - 1936. Even today, the fleet is mostly made up of those 1936 buses.

The oak frame buses were made by the White Motor Company specifically for park use. They have a roll down top could be driven up and down the Going-to-the-Sun Road to provide excellent sight-seeing. You can still do this today. I've included a link below which provides some interesting facts about the buses.

On a side note, Robert's sister turned 19 on this day. Happy birthday Pauline!

Link to Red Buses

September 30th entry from the journal
Robert's CCC Journal

Red Bus
By Adam Engelhart from San Francisco, California, USA (Bus, Glacier NP  Uploaded by H-stt) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)]

Red Buses
www.CGPGrey.com [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Entry - September 29, 1936

10.00 PM Went to Canada today broke. It isn’t but 20 miles away and is sure is a cold 20 miles in these open trucks. You can’t get back over the border (c.c.c.) after six o’clock so I almost got stuck there for the night.

Robert

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Comments from Chris


Canada was close, but take a look at the truck in the photo below. It would have been a cold trip in that thing.

I was taking a look at Robert's map and comparing it to today's maps. I think it is interesting how things change over time and a map can clearly show change. If you get a close look at it you can see how the roads are different. Some are new and some have just disappeared. Robert most likely crossed in Carway which is still a border crossing, but the town has all but vanished.

Something I noticed on the map was Chief Mountain. It is kind of a special place for many of the Native American tribes through history. Take a look at the photo. This rock rises almost 5,000 feet from surrounding area. I can see why they would think about it differently than the surrounding mountains.

Robert in the back facing camera
From Robert's CCC Photo Collection

Map from Lake Sherburne to Canada
Robert's 1937 Glacier National Park Map

Chief Mountain
www.rodjonesphotography.co.uk [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)]

Entry - September 28, 1936

6.00 Burr it’s getting colder than a well diggers back of his lap. Mostly stood around the fire today.

Had chicken today. First time in a long while.

(Today I am thinking about some good old noodle soup.)

Robert

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Comments from Chris

Considering I had some chicken noodle soup over the weekend on a cool day, I can really appreciate what he's thinking about. It probably would have been fantastic at the time.

I was taking a look at where we're at today with our journey in to Robert's life. This is the 82nd post! I'm kind of surprised seeing that number. There has been quite a bit of work put in to get these out every day at 9:00, but I didn't think about it being that many. You should have seen some of the days where I was cramming that morning before post time to get one together. I know some of them have been better than others, but I hope that overall you have been entertained.

We have 10 posts to go, so hang in there a bit longer.

September 27, 2015 - Supplemental - Cumberland Mountain State Park

4:10PM. This morning's post was brought to you from Cumberland Mountain State Park. This area was heavily worked in through several of Roosevelt's programs, but in particular, the CCC did work in this park. In fact, the largest masonry structure built by the CCC is the Byrd Creek Dam at the center of the park. It really is something to see. 

This weekend my family hiked and spent the night in one of the cabins there at the park. We had a close look at the dam and visited the CCC Museum located next to the park restaurant. It was a great time and I would recommend seeing it. Below are some of my photos.  

Back side of the Byrd Creek Dam.

Byrd Creek Dam from the front side.

Notice some of the clothing items mentioned a few posts back.

Entry - September 27, 1936

5.00 P.M. The news is getting around today that we are going to be shipped to a camp somewhere in Illinois. I don’t put much faith in this.

The trucks are going to town tonight but I ain’t. You have to ride about fifty miles before you get there.

Robert

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Comments from Chris

Since Robert is from Illinois, going there would be very appealing. Especially now that he has been away from home for so long. There actually would be many CCC opportunities for him in the Southern Illinois area where he was from.


Southern Illinois is a heavily forested area which was logged extensively before Robert's time. It may be hard to tell now, but this area was logged to the extent which caused real problems with the environment. Several of the CCC projects dealt with situations like this related to overuse of the land. 

When the depression came, falling demand and prices meant entire industries would change. One of the most visible at this time were farmers. Crops prices dropped so much that farming was no longer viable. The logging industry was much in the same situation. The people in Southern Illinois which had depended on the resources provided by the forest found themselves without a reliable source of income. The combination of environmental damage and economic woes made the area ideal for CCC interaction.

There had been some work in Southern Illinois towards making conservation areas. The formation of the CCC provided an avenue to make the Shawnee Forest a reality. Federal money was provided through the CCC program to buy private land in the area and and manpower from CCC enrollees transformed it into parks. The Shawnee Forest continues to grow today through land purchases just like when it started.

I don't have much information on Robert's brothers, but my understanding is the at least one other Fitzgerald brother worked in Giant City State Park. Giant City is a showpiece for CCC work in the area. You can go there today and eat at the Giant City Lodge, a structure built by the CCC.

Here's a short video about that lodge and park. Take a look at the architecture. This seems to be common in other CCC structures I've seen.

Giant City:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlpK7AsARoI

Inside Giant City Lodge
David Wilson, Flickr

Entry - September 26, 1936

7.00 P.M. We had a 2 inch snow last night but it all but vanished today except that on the mountains and I guess that is there to stay. It was a little slushy on the job but we didn’t mind that so much because they let us build a fire any time or place because the fire season is over. Officially.

Robert

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Comments from Chris

There are several ski and snowshoe trails in the park. Once the Going-to-the-Sun Road closes in October visitor traffic will go down, but there are still opportunities to enjoy the park. In the Lake McDonald area Robert was in there are several trails. From what I can tell visiting the park at this time can be tough, but rewards you with a beautiful snow covered landscape and an environment with few people around.

Winter Glacier National Park
GNP Flickr

Entry - September 25, 1936

9.00. Well we got over here about nine o’clock last night. We are in a better camp and a better view of scenery.

Got a better job over here. Am cutting down dead wood for the kitchen and the stoves in the tents. We have a good place to work in.

Robert

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Comments from Chris

That was a quick move. It probably didn't take too long to pack though. The enrollees didn't have a huge amount of equipment. Per one of the quartermaster reviews, the equipment they were issued is below:

Three suits of underwear Six pairs of stockings One pair of shoes Two pairs of denim trousers and jumpers One pair of woolen trousers Two flannel shirts One tie One waist belt One hat One raincoat

In 1934 the business of supplying the CCC was enormous. After the program was created, it ramped up quickly. Suddenly there were thousands of men to feed, house and equip for work. This put many suppliers to work and created jobs.

The Sherburne Lake area is close to the Many Glacier Hotel which was almost burnt in the Heaven's Peak fire. It does indeed provide for some beautiful views of scenery.

Sherburne Lake
Roland Taylor, USDOI

Entry - September 24, 1936

10.00 PM Well I sure got a surprise today. We went to work as usual and worked about one hour and they called us back in and told us we had to move to Fort Sheridan October 4th but now we had to move over to Sherburn Lake right away.

Robert

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Comments from Chris

Fort Sheridan was located on Lake Michigan north of Chicago, but still in Illinois. That area was active back in the 1600s, but it was 1888 when construction actually began on the fort. It was officially closed in 1993.

Robert's orders ultimately came out of Ft. Sheridan even though he belonged to Company 2614, Camp Finley. Fort Sheridan was Robert's first stop when he joined the CCC in 1933.

On a side note, this day in history includes the birth of Jim Henson.

Fort Sheridan Barracks
Library of Congress

Entry - September 23, 1936

7.00 P.M. Had another picture show in camp today. Rhythm on the Range with Bing Crosby. It was pretty fair.

I kicked a hole in my suitcase today and I got so mad that I almost threw the thing out.

Robert

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Comments from Chris

Rhythm on the Range is a 1936 Bing Crosby singing cowboy movie. You can take a look here -
Rhythm on the Range

Bing had a hit song from the movie. If you want to get a feel for the sounds of the time. Take a listen to it here -
I'm an Ole Cowhand (From the Rio Grande)

Lake McDonald
GNP Flickr, Tim Rains

Entry - September 22, 1936

5.00 Got a letter from Edward today with a five spot in it. I sure can use the dough. I went to get me some clothes. I bought a white sweater already.

Got another issue of long underwear.

Robert

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Comments from Chris

I guess that it just takes a little complaining about not getting a letter. Edward is the oldest brother and has been working for the railroad in Cairo for some time now. That five dollars matches Robert's income for the month, so I'm sure it was appreciated.

Looking at the weather for this week (2015) the temperature is getting down to the high 30s at night. Sounds like a good time to get a sweater.

Fall at Glacier National Park
GNP Flickr, Tim Rains

Entry - September 21, 1936

7.00 Took this is? pretty easy today. Can’t understand why the h--l I ain’t getting a letter from home.

It sure does look like the fire season is over. We haven’t had a fire for quite a spell. I hope it just stays that way till we move.

Robert

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Comments from Chris

Robert was the fourth child in a family of five boys and one girl. Back at home in Cairo, Robert's family were all still living at a small house located at 425 20th Street. Living there were:

Hatti (Mom) - Age 52
Edward (Brother) - Age 25
Richard (Brother) - Age 24
Paul (Brother) - Age 22
Pauline (Sister) - Age 18
John (Brother) - Age 15
Lena (Aunt) - Age 67

Robert's father had passed away a little more than a year ago at the age of 57. You can see from the ages this a little different than what is common today. Lena and Hatti both managed the household while the older sons worked to bring income to the family. Remember Robert was sending $25 of his $30 each month home to support the family. This tight family arrangement allowed for stability in rough economic times.
I have seen many family letters from around this era. The mail was used commonly even for people living less than 10 miles away. You have to consider travel was not quite as convenient then as it is today. After knowing that, I'm not sure why Robert wouldn't be getting letters.

Avalanche Falls
From Robert's CCC Photo Collection

Entry - September 20, 1936

10.00PM Went to town tonight and had a pretty fair time. Fred Osterd went to the hospital today. He had a fracture of the lower part of his spine.

Robert

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Comments from Chris

This could be a dangerous job as you have seen. The CCC had a Division of Safety which promoted safety within the Corps and investigated accidents. I've been unsuccessfully trying to find Fred in National Archives records which contain many of these accident reports. There are thousands of these records available if you are doing any research. Get started at http://www.archives.gov.

Robert is third from left
From Robert's CCC Photo Collection

Entry - September 19, 1936

7.00 There sure is a sign of winter here. The bears are all going in and the evenings are getting shorter. I guess they will soon be stopping the softball games at home soon.

Robert

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Comments from Chris

This is about the time for bears to go into hibernation. Before doing so they will be eating to gain fat and prepare for an extended period of reduced metabolism. Food and water intake will increase significantly. Once they go in to hibernation, their energy consumption will be cut in half. The bear's body temperature will drop by about 10 degrees. Their heart rate will drop to about 25 beats per minute and they will only breathe about once every 45 seconds.

Bear hibernation really is pretty amazing. Bears can even give birth and nurse while hibernating. What a thing to wake up to.  

Robert Making Coffee
From Robert's CCC Photo Collection

Cozy Sleeping Bear
By Benson Kua from Toronto, Canada (Sleeping bear 2  Uploaded by tm) [CC BY-SA 2.0 

Entry - September 18, 1936

8.00 The buzz saw broke down today. We had to saw wood with a cross cut saw for the kitchen. It sure did seem funny sawing with a hand saw after all these months with a machine.

Robert

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Comments from Chris


One of the things the CCC was working on was removing burnt trees from the area close to the camp. The Apgar flats area had been burned by a fire in 1929. Many thought the remains of the trees were unsightly, so they set to cutting them down. 

This was a time in history where people were just changing over to caring about leaving the park in its natural state. I mentioned some of this in the August 18th post. It wasn't too long before Robert's time that animals considered unwelcome park inhabitants were hunted. Other desirable animals we fed and encouraged to stay. In the decades ahead this would change and the park would be allowed to go back to a more natural state. No more "Feed the Bears" signs.

Entry - September 17, 1936

8.15 PM Friday. Had a fire in camp today. The old latrine went down to the ground. We got out of about twenty minutes of work on account of it.

Robert

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Comments from Chris

Sounds suspiciously like a convenient way to get rid of the old latrine. At least this wasn't a fire on the side of a mountain.

Entry - September 16, 1936

It snowed today in the woods. They told us today that we were to move to Sherburne Lake across the park to stay for one month. We are to move sometime next week. If we stay in the Sherburne Lake I will be home within a week.

Robert

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Comments from Chris

Lake Sherburne is on the eastern side of the park next to the Blackfeet Indian Reservation. Only about 12 miles south of the Canadian border. As the crow flies, this was around 30 miles from Robert's camp, but it would be a several hour trip to get there. 

Lake Sherburne used to be several smaller lakes until a dam was built in 1919 and a single lake was formed. It is named after a local businessman of the time, Joseph Sherburne. 

Current camp on bottom left, Lake Sherburne on top right.
Robert's 1936 Glacier National Park map

Lake Sherburne
Photo by Roland Taylor, Flickr

Lake Sherburne
From Google Maps

Entry - September 15, 1936

7.00 PM Dyslin cut his finger in the buzz saw today. We cut up enough wood in one day with the buzz saw to burn the camp about a week. They pulled in all the boys in the lookout towers today. More indications of moving.

Robert

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Comments from Chris

That buzz saw was not something to get your hand around. OHSA would have a fit if this was used in a workplace today. Look at the photo and then check out the YouTube video.

YouTube video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrGdgjoUJSg

Back of photo says "Saw Crew". Robert is facing the camera.
From Robert's CCC Photo Collection

Entry - September 14, 1936

9.00 PM Today is Monday and I put in a pretty hard days work out working on the tractor crew. We had another show down inspection today. We must be going to move very soon.

Robert

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Comments from Chris

I had to look it up. I'm not sure how prevalent of a military term showdown inspection is any more, but it is a detailed clothing and equipment inspection. Maybe one of our military readers can comment on that type of inspection. 

As we spoke about before, the CCC camps were administered by the Army. The enrollee followed a military regimen which was disciplined and organized. This would turn out to be an unexpected benefit in the years to come. In three years from Robert's time Hitler would invade Poland (1939) and two years after that, the US would join World War 2 (1941). By then almost 3 million men had been exposed to the military through the CCC program. This training allowed the US to ramp up quickly with experienced men. 

Morning Reveille
From Robert's CCC Photo Collection

Entry - September 13, 1936

9.00 We got a good snow in the Mts today and they are all covered and sure do look fine. It is very much colder today.

We had a big time today hunting gophers with the three dogs that are the camp pets.

Robert

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Comments from Chris

Glacier National Park is a different place from when Robert was there 79 years ago. We could look at many differences, but today I'm talking about the size of the glaciers. The glaciers have significantly receded in this time and some have completely gone away. There are estimates that between 2020 and 2030 there will be no more glaciers in the park. 

The effect of losing the glaciers is felt at many levels in the ecosystem. A glacier is basically a large amount of hard packed freshwater ice. In a warming cycle, that water feeds many mountainous streams which feed rivers in the surrounding areas. Disappearing glaciers mean the streams dry up. When the streams are gone, the fish disappear and the animals that eat the fish disappear. The surrounding area dries up, so the animals and plants which rely on drinking water change. The river levels lower. Farmers and ranchers have a harder time getting water. It continues on and on. I'm sure there are blogs dedicated just to this.

You can see the changes in the photos below. I've also included a few links to websites that have before and after photos. They are very interesting. 

Many times I find that some of these blog posts have deep subjects I could really dig in to, but my intent here is just to scratch the surface and hopefully spark your interest. This is one of those subjects. Glaciers in general over recent history are very interesting. As many of my readers are in the Nashville and Southern Illinois area, I encourage you to look in to the history of glaciers in this area. It wasn't that long ago that 85% of Illinois was covered in thousands of feet of ice which reached down to about the Ohio River.

Glacier Photo Links:
http://www.amusingplanet.com/2015/03/photos-taken-100-years-apart-show-how.html
http://nrmsc.usgs.gov/repeatphoto/

Grinnel Glacier in 1940
Unknown Photographer Courtesy of GNP Archives

Grinnel Glacier in 2006
Karen Holzer photo, USGS

Entry - September 12, 1936

4.30 PM I’ve noticed that the pine needles are falling off so that means that the big snow is not fall off. The temperature has dropped down to 20 to 25 above every night. I feel the urge to go home again today. I am going to be home by Christmas.

Robert

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Comments from Chris

It looks like after a hot summer the temperature has really dropped off. This week (2015) is having lows in the 40s and highs in the 70s. I'm sure it's much lower on the mountains though. 

At this point Robert has been away from home for just over one year. I should have marked his one year anniversary of signing up for this CCC tour. It was on 8/27 when he was fighting the Heaven's Peak fire. I wonder if he thought about that anniversary while sleeping in the wet bag on the trail.

Back of photos says "Looking south from camp"
From Robert's CCC Photo Collection

Entry - September 11, 1936

9.00 PM We had a long promised show tonight in the mess hall. The name of it was “Desire”. It was a pretty good show.

Started smoking again today.

Robert

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Comments from Chris

Here is the link to that movie. It was a Gary Cooper / Marlene Dietrich movie that came out in 1936.

It wouldn't be until the late 1940s when links to smoking and lung cancel came about. At this time smoking was really getting going and the health effects were yet to be known. There were many ads, some even depicting doctors and sports figures promoting cigarette brands. 

Camel Cigarette Ad

Entry - September 10, 1936

2.00 PM My cold is not any better today so I am going to quit smoking till payday and see if that will do any good.

I owe about three dollars on next pay already. I don’t know when I will ever get evened up with the world again.

Robert

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Comments from Chris

Obviously the value of money was different at the time. The rough conversion rate is about one 1936 Dollar to seventeen 2015 dollars. That puts Robert's monthly income at about $510. Since he is sending most of that home every month, he get's about $85 personal money per month to work with. Keep in mind all of his room, board, and gear are provided.

Let's do some other conversions I've found (2015 dollars) -

Average Annual Salary: $1,600 ($27,200)
Gasoline: $.19/Gal ($3.23)
Bread: $.08 ($1.36)
Stamps: $.03 ($.51)

Note: In 2013 the average annual salary was $44,888.16.

Entry - September 9, 1936

8.00 PM We are supposed to have a picture show tonight but they called it off at the last minute because they could not start the motor to generate the electricity so we didn’t have lights or picture show either one. We might have it tomorrow.

Robert

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Comments from Chris

Sounds like a dark night in camp. This is a good opportunity to show pictures I've come across that I thought were impressive. I'm a big fan of a clear night sky in an area away from city lights. Now that I live close to a city, I don't get to see that view nearly enough. When I was growing up in the same small town Robert did, you could see much more of the night sky, but I don't think it was anything compared to the views in the photos below. I wonder what Robert thought when seeing it every night.

Night Sky Over Lake McDonald
GNP Flickr

Night Sky Over Lake McDonald
GNP Flickr

Entry - September 8, 1936

2.00 PM I have laid around most of the day and read magazines and books. We caught a little black bear out in the garbage pit and we had to let it go when the mother came around.

Robert

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Comments from Chris

You might be thinking, Robert sure does spend a lot a time with bears. Yes, there are several pictures of him with bears. 

There are two kinds of bears in the park: grizzly bears and black bears. We have seen Robert with both in the photos. Despite the name, these two can have similar colors, but differ in size and physical features. If you are going to the park, reading up on the traits and behaviors of each would be good to do. For now, I've included some photos below.

Robert With a Bear
From Robert's CCC Photo Collection

Black Bear
By w:Harlan Kredit [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Grizzly Bears
By Servheen Chris, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Entry - September 7, 1936

9.00 AM They are having a pool tournament in camp. I did not enter it.

They are now talking about keeping us here in the park this winter. It sure does get pretty cold here. It gets all of 50 below zero and the snow get ten or twelve feet deep.

Robert

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Comments from Chris

While temperature is going to vary wildly in the park, the averages in the cold months are going to be highs in the 20's and lows in the teens. Elevation is going to have a strong effect on that though and there is a lot of elevation change in the area.

You can see below how deep the snow gets. These are from the late spring when the roads are being cleared. Glacier National Park must have some of the world's foremost snow removers. 

On a side note, after five years of construction, the Hoover Dam goes in to operation today.

CCC Camp Playing Pool
North Dakota State Historical Society

Glacier National Park Snow Plow
GNP Flickr Page

Clearing the Going-to-the-Sun Road
GNP Flickr Page