Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Sites

"Follow the gravel road on the right, past the metal gate and a pit toilet beyond, to the west end of Day Pond and the stone dam that was restored in 1935 by the Civilian Conservation Corps. The original dam, constructed by the Colonialera Day family, once powered a sawmill. The pond’s root-beer-colored water, stained by tannins, now tumbles unimpeded over the spillway."

The Civilian Conservation Corps (C.C.C.) conducted development work at what was later established as Day Pond State Park. Work included development of a recreation area.

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built the Decatur Co. CCC camp in Decatur County KS in 1936. According to the Kansas Historical Society, "The former camp ground eventually was consumed by residential and commercial development. Today no remnants of Camp Decatur are visible.  Property divided into multiple lots including housing and industry."  

"In 1929, the state legislature authorized the construction of a bridge across the narrow scenic but dangerous waterway between Whidbey and Fidalgo Islands, but there were no funds to proceed. In 1934, the Public Works Administration authorized a grant and manpower from the Civilian Conservation Corps. The two bridge spans were built in a year at a cost of $482,000."

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built recreational structures, rock walls along roads, and other features at Rosario Beach at Deception Pass State Park on Fidalgo and Whidbey Islands in WA. The structures are classic stone and timber CCC picnic structures and rock walls along roads.

The Dee Wright Observatory in the Willamette National Forest was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps and was completed in 1935. It was named after the construction crew's foreman who died a year before the observatory was completed. "The observatory is an open shelter built with lava stone found at the construction site. The viewing windows are cut to specifically highlight the neighboring mountains. These "lava tube" viewing holes allow visitors to easily identify the different Cascade peaks. There is also a 36 inch (90 cm) diameter, bronze azimuth-like "peak finder" on the observatory’s roof to help visitors locate nearby geologic features as...

"A final example of a historically significant Forest Service road bridge is the Deep Creek Masonry Arch on the Bitterroot National Forest in Idaho (figure 7). This arch is a single-span masonry arch built by the CCC in the 1930’s. The Deep Creek Arch was designed by Arthur (Art) Kahl, the USDA Forest Service regional bridge engineer between 1934 and 1962. Mr. Kahl was responsible for the design and construction of numerous USDA Forest Service bridges in Montana and Idaho. A case could be made that he was a significant individual in the early development of bridges and transportation systems...

"President Theodore Roosevelt created a national bird refuge at Deer Flat Reservoir, now Lake Lowell, with his February 25, 1909, executive order. The refuge was one of 17 federal reclamation projects referenced in the order, each of which used manmade aquifers to provide safe havens for migratory birds. 1935 Civilian Conservation Corps BR-24 Co. 2506 charged with restoring dams eroded by waves and ice. 1937 President Franklin D. Roosevelt creates the Snake River Islands Refuge by executive order. Thomas Horn assigned as first refuge manager. 1938 Works Progress Administration workers help build refuge infrastructure (roads and buildings). 1939 WPA workers complete observation tower."

Several New Deal agencies contributed to the construction of the Deerfield Dam in the vicinity of Hill City and the Black Hills National Forest, SD. Construction began before the Roosevelt Administration, continued during the New Deal, and finished after World War II. According to the Bureau of Reclamation, "Construction was started on July 7, 1942, by the Farm Security Administration and was later continued by the Civilian Conservation Corps and the Civilian Public Service Camp under the Works Projects Administration during World War II. The facilities were completed by the Bureau of Reclamation in 1947."

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) developed recreational facilities for Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park, near Crescent City, California.  Del Norte Park was one of the newly-formed State Park Commission's first acquisitions c. 1930.   According to Engbeck, "CCC Company 1903, working out of Camp Prairie Creek, built a park entrance road, a campground and day-use picnic area, and coastal access trails." While Engbeck doesn't specify, the only campground in Del Norte Coast Redwoods is at Mill Creek, east of Highway 101 and it has a two-mile entrance road; both are surely the work of the CCC. It was closed when we...

The Delilah Lookout is in the Hume Lake Ranger District: "Delilah Lookout, elevation 5,176, is approximately 45 miles east of Fresno California in the Southern Sierras. Delilah was established in 1916 as a site for fire detection. It has seen several incarnations including a 50 foot metal tower with live-in cab constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1937. In 1960 this structure was replaced with a 70 foot tall metal tower from Lemoore NAS."

Dells of the Eau Claire County Park has significant New Deal resources in the areas of recreation, conservation, landscape architecture, and architecture thanks to the work of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). Between 1935 and 1942, the CCC greatly enhanced the park as it designated and constructed the north park entrance; constructed two small trail-side shelters, a set of stone steps, a stone stairway, a foot bridge, a pumphouse, an overlook, and the Combination Building. These resources are still extant and contribute to the historic character and significance of the park. The CCC also designated parking areas with massive boulders;...

"The Division of Grazing (Grazing Service as of 1939) operated the greatest number of CCC programs in the state. There were several reasons for this. First of all, Nevada has the largest public domain (nonallocated federal acreage) of any of the forty-eight states. With little trouble, Nevada's elected officials and stockmen easily persuaded national CCC officials to approve requests for several new grazing camps, notwithstanding national CCC program budget cuts. Second, following passage of the Taylor Grazing Act of 1934, a large workforce was needed to implement its ambitious provisions. Even with CCC assistance, the amount of work needing to...

"According to a write-up in the Andovers Trail Guide, the land that makes up the park was purchased by the city in 1877 originally for use as a cemetery. It was changed into a city park in 1896, and was improved in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps and the Works Progress Administration, whose workers built trails, two amphitheaters, and a boardwalk, among other improvements."

The CCC worked at what is now Denali National Park for two summers in 1938 and 1939. "The Mount McKinley National Park Headquarters District in what is now called Denali National Park was the original administrative center of the park. It contains an extensive collection of National Park Service Rustic structures, primarily designed by the National Park Service's Branch of Plans and Designs in the 1930s... As the hub of park administrative and management, the headquarters area expanded according to detailed plans provided by the Branch of Plans and Design. As in many of the national parks during the Depression, the Civilian...

In 1935, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) constructed living quarters, roads, fences and a well at the Desert Experimental Range Station in Pine Valley UT. The station was established in 1933 by President Herbert Hoover, who set aside an 87-square-mile area of high desert in the Great Basin.  The CCC improvements made the range station functional. The Desert Experimental Range focuses on cold desert rangeland research. In 1976, it was designated a world biosphere reserve by UNESCO, the only cold desert reserve in the Western Hemisphere.  It is administered by the US Forest Service. 

“Established in 1936, the Desert National Wildlife Range was created to protect the shrinking herds of desert bighorn sheep whose population had dipped to a record low of three hundred by the 1930s. The wildlife range is the largest in the county, subsuming 1.5 million acres of rugged mountain ranges and desert basins in the southern part of the state. The Fish and Wildlife Service purchased the old Corn Creek Spring Ranch in 1939 for this purpose. Compared to the permanent CCC programs at Ruby Lake and Sheldon NWRs, this FWS program was short-lived. CCC camp rosters show that Camp...

Seven CCC camps began planting slash and long leaf seedings in half of the DeSoto National Forest. Each camp of 115 men were planting 50,000 seedlings per day, anticipated to take three months to complete. The camps included Camps F-16 at Ramsey Springs, F-4 at Laurel, 5 at New Augusta, 7 at New Augusta, 8 at Richton, 12 at Biloxi, and 24 at Richton. The state nursery at Ramsey Springs supplied about 1,000,000 of the seedlings and the remainder came from Alexandria, Louisiana. Bridge construction began in the Bienville Ranger District of the DeSoto National Forest in May 1936. Bridges...

Construction began on the Airey Work Center in the DeSoto National Forest in 1935 by the Civilian Conservation Corps. Initially known as the Biloxi National Forest, the buildings included the lookout tower, office, and equipment shop as part of the original site development. The Work Center was a 2.5 story, timber-frame maintenance and storage building with a one-story residence. The lookout tower was a prefabricated steel fire tower with stairs, and a cabin at the top. Physically located closest to McHenry, and official address listed as Perkinston.

"DeSoto State Park is located in northeast Alabama, near Fort Payne. Named after Hernando de Soto, it was developed in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps after the Great Depression. The park's natural scenery includes more than 3,000 acres (12 km2) of forest, rivers, waterfalls, and beautiful mountain terrain. Its services include a lodge, cabins, a restaurant, modern chalets and campsites, a picnic area, a swimming pool, tennis courts, a nature center and miles of hiking trails."

It was known as the "Contact House" when originally constructed by the members of Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Company 472 of Ft. Payne, Alabama. Today it is a CCC museum within DeSoto State Park.

"Devil’s Den State Park in the Boston Mountains of northwest Arkansas is one of the best-preserved Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) park developments in the United States and contains the largest sandstone crevice cave area in the country. The park is popular for a variety of recreational opportunities and was designated a Natural Area by the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission. "The Arkansas Archeological Survey in 1979 recorded eleven archaeological sites at the park. Six sites are prehistoric and indicate the presence of Native Americans as far back as 8,000 years. Archaeological evidence of European-American settlement indicates that whites probably settled in the...

"Founded in 1911, Devil's Lake is the third oldest state park in Wisconsin, the largest, and the most visited. Devil's Lake offers magnificent views from 500-foot quartzite bluffs overlooking a 360-acre lake. Enjoy lakeshore picnic areas, sandy swimming beaches, 29 miles of hiking trails, or ease into the backcountry solitude. Devil's Lake is a beautiful year-round park with an intriguing natural history along the 1,000-mile Ice Age National Scenic Trail... The quarries were last put to use in the 1930s when the Civilian Conservation Corp used quartzite stone to build the park headquarters, the Rock Elm shelter, and the ranger headquarters. During...

In the 1934, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) developed the Devil's Punchbowl day-use area for public use.  The improvements included picnic tables, fireplaces, restroom, drinking fountain, water supply, a foot trail and steps to the beach. The majority of these improvements have been repaired or changed over the years, but the popularity of this distinctive viewpoint remains. Visitors are drawn for whale watching and views of its distinctive geology.

Devils Tower is a dramatic igneous rock formation rising 1,267 feet above the surrounding area. It and the surrounding area were declared a national monument in 1906. "From 1935-1938 a CCC camp was located there. Practically all the improvements on the area at the present time are the results of their efforts. New roads were built, modern water and electrical systems installed, footpaths were laid out, picnic areas were established with tables and comfortable benches, and trailer and overnight camping areas were provided the visitors. Residences for employees, workshops and machine shops were erected. In 1938 a museum of sturdy log...

The visitor center at Diamond Lake, across from the campground, was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in 1938. It is a typical rustic-style building of the northwest forests, with stone foundation and stairs, wood siding, and tree designs cut into the shutters. It was probably originally built as a Forest Service ranger station or office. The whole Diamond Lake recreation area was still closed for winter when we visited in May 2022.  That meant that the sign and all information panels were still covered in black plastic and we could not see if the site is marked as CCC.

The historic Diamond Point fire lookout tower was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). NRHP Nomination Form: "This 30 ft high steel Aermotor MC-24 tower with a 12 ft by 12 ft cab is located on the Payson Ranger District and was erected in the fall of 1936 by a CCC crew. The wood frame cabin was built in 1941. The lookout tower has been modified. Metal steps were added in 1984 and at an unknown date the original windows were replaced with sliding aluminum windows and the wooden shutters removed. The wood frame cabin with a simple gable roof and...

The availability of was key in reshaping the Dinkey Creek area. Fresno County was realigning State Route 168, and subsequently the Sierra National Forest would reconstruct the Dinkey Road from Shaver Lake with CCC labor. By 1936 the road was extended beyond Dinkey Creek. This reconstruction required a new motor vehicle bridge and by 1938, the new Dinkey Creek Bridge was built by the , and the pattern of traffic had changed from the earlier days. With the change in the road, a change in location of the Forest Service site made sense, and a new ranger station was built...

The Distin Lake Shelter Cabin is a cabin on the Admiralty Island Canoe Route. The Civilian Conservation Corps built the structure in 1936 as a three-sided Adirondack style log shelter cabin. “The addition of a fourth wall, floor, wood stove, and bunks in 1960 did not alter the Adirondack style of the three original walls and roof. It is, however, only nominated for its association with the canoe route and not for its architectural style. The natural setting is unchanged from its appearance during the 1930s except for the addition of a wood shed and an outhouse. The shelter cabin continues...

The district wharf on the Potomac River near Maine Avenue on the southwest waterfront, as well as the original "engine building" (white structure ), was built under the New Deal. The wharf is the site of the rebuilt Maine Avenue Fish Market. Apparently, the funding came from the Public Works Administration (PWA).  Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) enrollees participated the construction – and it seems likely the Works Progress Administration (WPA) was also involved, given the nearby work by the WPA along the southwestern waterfront. The brief history on the DC wharf's website calls it the "30s Renaissance": "During the 1930s, the Southwest Waterfront underwent...

"n May 1934, CCC Company 917 was transferred from Camp San Pablo in Contra Costa County to Camp Rubicon Point in D.L. Bliss State Park. The camp was located south of Balancing Rock and east of Highway 89. The approved development plan for the park called for construction of a two-mile-long entrance road from the highway down to the beach. Other shorter roads were also built to serve a campground and other points of interest." "A fully furnished campground and picnic areas were also developed, complete with a water supply and distribution system for the whole park....

"C.C.C. Company 2725 established camp DSP-3 (now SP-6) in Dolliver Memorial State Park on August 7, 1934, and immediately set to work constructing a series of barracks (Fig,.10) and a shop (Fig. 11). Aerial photography of Webster County from 1939 by the A.A.A. (Agricultural Adjustment Agency – a New Deal program to pay farmers to reduce their crop production) captured the area of the C.C.C. camp at Dolliver shorly after the barracks were constructed (Fig 12a). It shows the loge, cabins, the mess hall, rest room facilities, shortly after they were constructed and the remains of a baseball diamond. It...

The Dolly Sods Wilderness is 17,371 acres of natural area, located in Grant, Randolph, and Tucker counties, West Virginia. Visitors to the area can enjoy hiking, hunting, camping, and picnic areas. Dolly Sods Wilderness has regulations intended to preserve its natural appearance as much as possible. For example, no camping is allowed within 300 feet of the roads. According to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, logging activities damaged the Dolly Sods area in the late 1800s / early 1900s and “The U.S. Forest Service purchased the land, and during the 1930s the Civilian Conservation Corps planted red pine and other...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) constructed a stone shelter here in 1936. The Double Ditch Indian Village State Historic Site commemorates the Mandan tribe, an agricultural people in the Missouri Valley.

Sam Houston National Forest comprises three counties—Montgomery, San Jacinto, and Walker—that have been occupied for millennia. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) constructed Double Lake Recreation Area, on the east side of the land, and surrounding a 24-acre lake, in 1937. Its facilities include “family camping units, group camping, picnicking units, a picnic shelter, swimming area and beach, and a concession stand with bathhouse. Each family camping unit has a table, fireplace, tent pad, parking spur, and lantern-holder post. There are units with water, sewer, and electrical hook-ups. Picnic units have tables and fireplaces” (fs.usda.gov).

From the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs: "CCC features at Douglas include a picnic pavilion, administration building, stone culverts and well maintained water holes."

A 4,545 acre park and one of the first six Virginia State Parks, includes original cabins. "Approximately 600 men from the Civilian Conservation Corps developed and constructed the majority of the modern-day park system."

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) constructed a road up Dreadman Draw for access to the then-new fire lookout tower atop Mount Pisgah in eastern Wyoming. The road now appears to be privately owned. Cassity: The Federal Government is now constructing good, graveled highways to each of these towers and the roads that wind up these mountains, are in many places, truly feats of Civil Engineering.

J.D. Sutton, a private in the 10th West Virginia Infantry, was a veteran of the Battle of Droop Mountain. As a visionary he began the movement to preserve Droop Mountain. He and other veterans began to worry in the aftermath of World War I that their role will be forgotten. In the 1920s the veterans of the battle began to meet at the battlefield making locations of the engagement. In 1928, Governor Howard M. Gore accepted the first 141 acres for the state from the veterans. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) worked to develop West Virginia's Droop Mountain Battlefield State Park. "A...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) prepared Dry Lagoon State Park for public use. The work was carried out between 1933 and 1937 by Company 1903 at Camp Prairie Creek, from where the CCC worked on state parks all along the north coast of California. The CCC enrollees built a park boundary fence and demolished the remains of the derelict Dry Lagoon Farm (Dry Lagoon had become a meadow and marsh after being drained for farming in the 19th century). They returned the area to a more native landscape by planting rhododendrons, ceanothus and other coastal vegetation and clearing the beach of...