Conservation and Public Lands Sites

Great Smoky Mountains National Park occupies large areas of western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee. The park’s creation was a decades-long process, including advocacy in the late 19th century; legislation signed by President Calvin Coolidge in 1926; and donations and land acquisitions from small donors, the governments of North Carolina and Tennessee, and charitable organizations, such as the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial Fund. Once the park’s existence was firmly established, funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA) and labor from the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) made it both accessible and accommodating to the public. President Franklin Roosevelt dedicated the park on...

"Guntersville Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Tennessee River... one of nine dams on the river owned and operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority, which built the dam in the late 1930s as part of a New Deal-era initiative to create a continuous navigation channel on the entire length of the river and bring flood control and economic development to the region. The dam impounds the Guntersville Lake of 67,900 acres, and its tailwaters feed into Wheeler Lake." (Wikipedia)

Guy W. Talbot State Park, also known as Latourell Falls State Park, entered the Oregon State Park system in 1929 when the Talbot family donated 125 acres of land adjacent to Latourell Falls. Significant development of the park, however, began in 1933 when Civilian Conservation Corps enrollees from nearby CCC Camp Benson initiated work. CCC projects improved the park during the second period of the CCC (October 1933 to Arpil 1934), the third period (April to October 1934), and the fifth period (April to October 1935). As noted in a report completed in 1946 under the supervision of the Oregon State...

The Half Dome cables, originally installed in 1920 by the Sierra Club, were replaced and strengthened by Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) enrollees in 1934. These cables allow thousands of people each year to hike to the top of this famous peak. The Half Dome trails runs from the valley floor to the top of Half Dome, over 8 miles (via the Mist Trail) with a 4,800-foot elevation gain.  The final 400 feet are so steep that   two steel cables, bolted to the rocks, are needed for handholds. Every Spring the cables are brought out from winter storage and  raised onto...

President Roosevelt signed an executive order on December 21, 1936 to establish the Hart Mountain Antelope Refuge in Lake County, Oregon. This area served the largest, remaining pronghorn antelope herd in the United States. Comprised of Hart Mountain and the surrounding desert range, the 215,516 acre refuge included property purchased from private owners as well as land in the public domain. Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) enrollees helped establish management of the antelope refuge through work conducted over several years. CCC Camp Hart Mountain operated from 1937 through 1939. CCC enrollees constructed new roads and improved the existing one, laid-out horse and...

In 1936, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built the original Kamas ranger station for the U.S. Forest Service, just south of Heber UT on Highway 40. (Baldridge, p. 123)  The work was done by enrollees stationed at CCC Camp F-43 in Pleasant Grove. (Roper, p. 90)  They also built a warehouse in Heber City, presumably at the site of ranger station. The ranger station and warehouse have recently been replaced by new buildings.

The Henness Ridge Fire Tower was constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in 1934.  It was actively used until 1966, but is now empty. The Henness Ridge Fire Tower was one of several fire protection buildings constructed in the Sierra under the guidance of John D. Coffman as a part of a comprehensive fire prevention plan developed in response to difficulties encountered during a 1928 fire near Sequoia National Park. The Henness Ridge lookout is a fine example of the rustic architecture style developed by the National Park Service (fire towers outside the park are simpler steel and wood structures).  It is...

The Henry A. Wallace Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, or BARC, is a unit of the United States Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service. BARC is the largest agricultural research complex in the world. It was founded in 1910 and greatly expanded under the New Deal.  Several New Deal agencies were involved in this massive  project, presumably working under the direction of the USDA's Bureau of Plant Industry (which later became part of the Agricultural Research Service). To begin with, the Public Works Administration (PWA) purchased the land and paid for clearing, drainage, water lines, roads, walkways and an irrigation system.  The...

A comfort station at the end of Evergreen Road above O'Shaughnessy Dam and Hetch Hetchy reservoir was almost surely built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in the 1930s, judging by the construction.  The building is done in classic National Park rustic style, with walls constructed of large boulders. Comfort station is the name used at the time for restrooms with additional washing facilities, which this one does not appear to have; hence, it is literally just a 'restroom'. There is no written record we can find of this structure, perhaps because of the poor relations between the National Park Service and...

"Hiwassee Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Hiwassee River in Cherokee County, in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is one of three dams on the river owned and operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority, which built the dam in the late 1930s to bring flood control and electricity to the region. The dam impounds the Hiwassee Lake of 6,000 acres, and its tailwaters are part of Apalachia Lake. At 307 feet, Hiwassee Dam is the third highest dam in the TVA system, behind only Fontana and Watauga." (Wikipedia)

In 1935, Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) workers stationed in the Bridger-Teton National Forest constructed three buildings for the Hoback Guard Station: an office/dwelling, a shed, and a garage.  There is a fourth building on the site that is not CCC. The CCC buildings were constructed with an architectural style typical of CCC workmanship, with notched logs and square floor plans. All of the buildings remain in use by the U.S. Forest Service with minimal physical alterations. The central office/dwelling is available to the public for short-term rentals and overnight stays.  

From 1936 to 1941, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) developed Honeyman State Park, just south of Florence, Oregon, under the supervision of the National Park Service (NPS).  The parkland had been purchased by the state from 1930 to 1936. Honeyman Park covers over 500 acres along Highway 101 (the Oregon Coast Highway), tucked behind the Oregon Dunes National Seashore.  It includes two freshwater lakes, Cleawox Lake within the dunes and the much larger Woahink Lake east of the highway. There is a day-use area on the north side of Cleawox Lake, a large campground south of that lake and water sports...

From 1936 to 1941, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) developed Honeyman State Park, just south of Florence, Oregon, under the supervision of the National Park Service (NPS).  The parkland had been purchased by the state from 1930 to 1936. Honeyman Park covers over 500 acres along Highway 101 (the Oregon Coast Highway), tucked behind the Oregon Dunes National Seashore.  It includes two freshwater lakes, Cleawox Lake within the dunes and the much larger Woahink Lake east of the highway. There is a day-use area on the north side of Cleawox Lake, a large campground south of that lake and water sports...

From 1936 to 1941, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) developed Honeyman State Park, just south of Florence, Oregon, under the supervision of the National Park Service (NPS).  The parkland had been purchased by the state from 1930 to 1936. Honeyman Park covers over 500 acres along Highway 101 (the Oregon Coast Highway), tucked behind the Oregon Dunes National Seashore.  It includes two freshwater lakes, Cleawox Lake within the dunes and the much larger Woahink Lake east of the highway. There is a day-use area on the north side of Cleawox Lake, a large campground south of that lake and water sports...

Hoover Dam, originally called "Boulder Dam", is the anchor of the entire Colorado River water storage and management system.  It lies in Black Canyon (not Boulder Canyon) at the southern tip of Nevada, on the Arizona border, and creates the massive Lake Meade reservoir, the largest in the United States.  It was the first high-arch concrete dam in history, becoming the model for thousands of dams built round the world.  It was constructed under the US Bureau of Reclamation by a joint venture of 8 construction companies (called "The Six Companies"), led by Henry Kaiser and including Bechtel Corporation, Utah...

Among the first of their recreation related construction projects, Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) enrollees from Camp Belknap laid out and built the Horse Creek Campground in 1934. The group campground is located one-and-a-half miles south of McKenzie Bridge on the banks of Horse Creek. The campground can accommodate approximately 100 people and 23 vehicles. An interesting bit of CCC history in the Willamette National Forest (WNF) is associated with Horse Creek Campground. Forest Supervisor Perry Thompson hired landscape architect William Parke as a recreational planner for the WNF, instructing him to prepare site plans for campgrounds, picnic areas and organization camps...

The Canyon Creek Crier: 1940 provided the following description of work to be undertaken by CCC workers in the fall of 1940: "Tall, yellow pine timber stands like primeval cathedrals near the southern bounds of the Malheur National Forest and here we find Idlewild, a most ideal locality for an overnight camp. With this in mind the Forest Service plans the construciton of a camp site water system, outdoor kitchen stoves, picnic tables and benches and the customary sanitary facilities essential for a recreational campsite." The Idlewild Campground was the more ambitious of the two campgrounds built by members of Company 1231...

Imperial Dam was built by the Bureau of Reclamation during the New Deal as a feature of the Boulder Canyon Project, along with Hoover Dam and Parker Dam, on the lower Colorado River.  It lies 17 miles above Yuma, Arizona. It is the diversion structure for the All-American Canal, which serves the Imperial Valley and Coachella Valley in Southern California and for the Gila Project in Arizona. The dam is 3500 feet along the crest and 41 feet high at overflow point. The All American Canal headworks has a maximum diversion capacity of 15,000 cfs. The length of the All American canal – so-named because it did not...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) made various improvements in the Dixie National Forest in 1935, including lookout shelters, roads, trails and comfort stations (restrooms) at Blow Hard Mountain and Brian Head Peak. A CCC camp had been established at Zion National Park in 1933, and in 1934 the CCC set up a ‘stub camp’ (closed in the winter months) at Cedar Breaks National Monument. In 1935, CCC works teams were sent into nearby Dixie National Forest to carry out various building projects.    

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) had a camp at Steamboat Creek from 1933 to 1941.  The enrollees made many improvements around area in Umpqua National Forest, working under the US Forest Service, including campgrounds, trails and bridges. One of the campgrounds developed by the CCC was Island Campground along the North Umpqua River and Highway 138.  It is a small, plain campground without special features.

Company 1811 of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) constructed the High Park Fire Lookout in 1942. It is a typical Forest Service design of the time, made of stone and wood. The lookout was staffed with paid fire watchers until the late 1970s, but is no longer in active use. It is today a popular recreation spot for visitors to Bighorn National Forest. The High Park Fire Lookout was renamed after James Torrey Saban in 2015 to commemorate his service as a Forest Ranger and foreman in the CCC. He died while fighting the 1937 Blackwater Fire. The lookout was placed on the National...

"Kentucky Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Tennessee River on the county line between Livingston and Marshall counties in the U.S. state of Kentucky. The dam is the lowermost of nine dams on the river owned and operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority, which built the dam in the late 1930s and early 1940s to improve navigation on the lower part of the river and reduce flooding on the lower Ohio and Mississippi rivers. It was a major project initiated during the New Deal of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration, to invest in infrastructure to benefit the country."   (wikipedia)

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) crews from the Chimney Park Camp (F-17-W) in Laramie, Wyoming constructed two log structures for the Keystone Work Center from 1939 to 1942. Located on the southeastern slopes of Wyoming’s Medicine Bow Mountain Range, the Keystone Work Center was originally developed as a forest ranger station before becoming a larger workspace for the U.S. Forest Service. The structures represent a distinctive building style of the CCC, with saddle-notched logs and a wood shingled roof. The site was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994.

In 1940, Congress and President Franklin D. Roosevelt created a new national park to include the glacially-formed splendor of Kings Canyon.  Kings Canyon National Park subsumed the former, smaller General Grant National Park.  Sequoia National Park and Kings Canyon National Park are contiguous. Since the Second World War, Kings Canyon and Sequoia have been administered jointly. They are administered by the National Park Service together as the Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks.    

Two Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camps were established at what is today the La Purísima Mission State Historical Park: Camp La Purísima and Camp Lompoc.  They were built back-to-back on the mesa above La Purísima Mission, but housed two separate companies that worked on different projects.  They shared a few officers, activities and functions, however, and came to be known as 'the Twin Camps'.  The first camp was set up on the site of Mission La Purísima in Lompoc CA in July-August 1934.  It was called Camp Santa Rosa and housed CCC company 1951, whose enrollees came mostly from Southern California (Savage, pp....

Lafayette Park, also known as Lafayette Square, is a seven-acre public park directly north of the White House on H Street, bounded by Jackson Place on the west, Madison Place on the east, and Pennsylvania Avenue. The park was established in the 19th century and remained largely unchanged from 1872 until the 1930s. New Deal work on the park as part of a larger Capital Parks improvement program undertaken by the Public Works Administration (PWA), Civil Work Adminstration (CWA), Works Progress Administration (WPA), and Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), all working under the supervision of the National Park Service, which had been...

Lake Ilo National Wildlife Refuge was created in 1939 by Executive Order of President Franklin D. Roosevelt (which wikipedia incorrectly calls an act of Congress in 1938).  The land was purchased and administered by the Bureau of Biological Survey (which morphed into the Fish and Wildlife Service in 1940). The region was one of the last parts of the country to be settled by farmers and before long the area suffered from drought and dust storms like much of the rest of the Great Plains in the 1930s. In 1936, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) help the locals realize their plan to...

In 1933-1934, Civilian Conservation Corps workers built several wood frame buildings to serve as the Ochoco National Forest's Supervisor's Warehouse or Lamonta Compound. Exemplifying the rustic architectural style developed by the US Forest Service's Pacific Northwest Region, the three structures included an office/warehouse, maintenance shop, and oil and gas house. As described in a National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form: "The Prineville Supervisor's Warehouse typifies the construction projects undertaken by the Civilian Conservation Corps and signifies the aid to the local community provided by the emergency work-relief program . . .  The Prineville Supervisor's Warehouse manifests the principles of comprehensive...

In the 1936-37, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) helped the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) build the stone observatory (later visitor's center) at Land's End on the western tip of Grand Mesa. It was built in the Rustic Style popular in the early 20th century, of heavy basalt stone from the mesa and rough timbers. Grand Mesa is the largest flat-topped mountain in the world, around 500 square miles in area and 10,500 high.  It is entirely within the Grand Mesa National Forest. The observatory was shuttered when we visited, but not permanently closed, we hope.

The Land's End road up the western end of Grand Mesa was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in 1933-34.  The main builders were 200 veterans enrolled in the CCC, who worked out of a CCC seasonal tent camp at the foot of the mountain; so, the project was long known as "the Veterans' Road". The road climbs up 9 miles up switchbacks to the rim of the mesa.  The hardest section, from Wild Road picnic area to the top, was completed by U.S. Forest Service employees in 1934-35. The road is still in use.

Long Lake National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1932 under President Herbert Hoover.  Like many other extant refuges, it was improved during the New Deal by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) working under the Bureau of Biological Survey (which became the US Fish & Wildlife Service in 1940). The refuge encompasses 22,000 acres, most of which is made up of Long Lake. "At Long Lake National Wildlife Refuge, the Civilian Conservation Corp, comprised largely of local residents, played an important role in the refuge's development. Participants worked primarily on water development, wildlife conservation, and erosion control. They constructed dikes to control...

Originally named the Longbow Forest Camp, the Longbow Organization Camp is a group facility constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in the Sweet Home Ranger District of the Willamette National Forest (WNF).  Starting during the winter season of 1937-1938, the CCC workers completed the campground during the winter season of 1938-1939. Their work was supervised by the US Forest Service. CCC workers from nearby Camp Cascadia (Co. #2907) improved the ten-acre campground along the banks of the South Santiam. They built six sleeping shelters, a community kitchen with attached dining, an amphitheater that seats seventy-five people, and a water system...

A 10 by 12 foot relief map of the Los Padres National Forest was made in 1934 by enrollees of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). The map is based on Forest Service and US Geological Survey maps of the area and was intended to be used in support of fighting forest fires. The plaque on the map tells us it was constructed at the CCC Camp at Castella CA near Mt. Shasta. The relief map was first displayed at the California International Exhibition in San Diego in 1935, then installed in the Santa Barbara County Courthouse in 1936...

New Deal agencies played a major role in the transformation of the narrow and dangerous Wawona wagon trail into a safe and comfortable route from the South Entrance of Yosemite National Park to Yosemite Valley. As part of this project, a new entry road was built to the Mariposa Grove of Big Trees (Sequoia Giganteum). The National Park Service and the Bureau of Public Roads (U.S. Department of Agriculture) signed a Memorandum of Agreement in July 1925, authorizing the planning and construction of new roads within Yosemite National Park. Surveying was begun in 1928 and initial construction was finished by 1933,...

The San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park was originally the San Francisco Aquatic Park, created by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1936-1939. The 32 acre park included a lagoon and a bathhouse. The lagoon was ringed by breakwaters, with three small towers, a promenade and grandstand.  The bathhouse was built in the distinctive Streamline Moderne style of the late 1930s and originally housed a restaurant above and showers and dressing rooms in the basement.  The Aquatic Park was an extremely popular swimming spot for San Franciscans when it was built.   A contemporary description: "... A water park, par excellence. ......

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) developed what is locally known as the "Mathews Drop structure" northeast of Caliente, Nevada. Its construction was meant to "stop gully erosion along the Meadow Valley Wash, slowing floodwaters and stopping head-cutting along a portion of the Meadow Valley Wash north of Caliente."   The Mathews Drop Dam was so effective that, after many years, Panaca Meadows replaced the huge erosion gully cutting through the valley.

Mattamuskeet Migratory Bird (later Wildlife) Refuge was established in 1934, primarily as a refuge for migratory birds along the Atlantic flyway.  It was one of the first refuges created under President Franklin Roosevelt, an ardent bird fancier and conservationist, and was assembled and administered by the Bureau of Biological Survey (reorganized into the Fish and Wildlife Service in 1940). The refuge is covers 50,000 acres on the Albemarle-Pamlico Peninsula in Hyde County, North Carolina.  It encompasses Mattamuskeet Lake, the largest natural lake in North Carolina, measuring 18 miles by 7 miles, but only 2-3 feet deep. The Mattamuskeet pumping station at the...

Also referred to as the McKenzie River Campground, the McKenzie Bridge Campground was among the first campgrounds built with Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) labor in the Willamette National Forest (WNF). The forest supervisor prioritized recreation projects in the WNF, setting a goal that 25% of CCC time be spent on recreational development with the remainder be spent on fire fighting and forest management responsibilities. CCC enrollees from Camp Belknap constructed the McKenzie Bridge Campground, laying out the site's roads and campsites, providing water, and constructing picnic tables as well as the needed facilities for camping and picnicking. Today at McKenzie Bridge...

Construction of the McKinley Park Hotel began on July 12, 1937 and was largely completed in 1938.  The New Deal’s Public Works Administration (PWA) contributed $350,000 to the project, and the Alaska Railroad contributed an additional $100,000.  “The main building of the unit, designed and constructed under the supervision of the National Park Service , contains 90 guest rooms with accommodations for 120 to 160 persons, dining room facilities, and a lobby. In addition, there is a dormitory for employees, a power house, water reservoir, and provisions for other utilities” (Report of the Governor of Alaska). The hotel was not very...

Medicine Lake National Wildlife Refuge is located in northeastern Montana between the Missouri River and the Canadian border. Medicine Lake NWR encompasses 31,702 acres and consists of the 28,438-acre north tract, which includes Medicine Lake, and seventeen smaller water units. The Refuge was established in 1935 under the auspices of the Bureau of Biological Survey to provide breeding and stopover habitat for migratory birds.  The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and Works Progress Administration (WPA) sent workers in to improve the refuge under the direction of the Biological Survey (transformed into the US Fish & Wildlife Service in 1940). The WPA and CCC...