Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Sites

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) made the first improvements to the newly-acquired Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park.  Company 1903 worked out of a CCC camp established at the north end of the 'prairie' at the present park entrance in 1933.   The first order of business was to develop Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park itself, after which teams from Company 1903 worked at other state parks along the north coast of California.  The CCC camp closed in 1937. Among the many other improvements the CCC enrollees made to Prairie Creek park was a lovely amphitheater, or what is called in this instance...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) made the first improvements to the newly-acquired Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park.  Company 1903 worked out of a CCC camp established at the north end of the 'prairie' at the present park entrance in 1933.  The first order of business was to develop Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park itself, after which teams from Company 1903 worked at other state parks along the north coast of California.  The CCC camp closed in 1937. According to Engbeck (2002, pp. 21-22), the CCC enrollees laid out a day-use picnic area and a new campground with tables, benches, cupboards, and stoves,...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) established a camp in October 1933 at Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, north of Orick, California. CCC company 1903 operated out of what was known as Prairie Creek Camp while working on improvements to all the state parks along the coast of Northern California. The state had just created a state park system in 1928, which took over management of a handful of older beach parks and newly-acquired redwood parks purchased by the Save the Redwoods League in the 1920s. There were few, if any, public facilities in any of the parks when the CCC came in. The...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) made the first improvements to the newly-acquired Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park.  Company 1903 worked out of a CCC camp established at the north end of the 'prairie' at the present park entrance in 1933.   The first order of business was to develop Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park itself, after which teams from Company 1903 worked at other state parks along the north coast of California.  The CCC camp closed in 1937. Among the many other improvements the CCC 'boys' (young men) made to Prairie Creek park was a 70-mile long network of trails for visitors...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) made the first improvements to the newly-acquired Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park.  Company 1903 worked out of a CCC camp established at the north end of the 'prairie' at the present park entrance.  The first order of business was to develop Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park itself, after which teams from Company 1903 worked at other state parks along the north coast of California. The most notable legacy of the CCC's presence in the park is the Visitor's Center, which originally served as the Warden's (or Custodian's) Residence. It is a single-story rustic building, somewhat modified...

From 1933 to 1942, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) developed Prescott Park on Roxy Ann Peak on the east side of Medford, Oregon for public recreation.  The CCC enrollees constructed the access road, 18 miles of trails, several picnic areas and overlooks, and drainage ditches. Much of the CCC work is above the parking area and accessible only on foot. Prescott Park covers 1,740 acres on Roxy Ann Peak, a prominent hill east of the city of Medford (a remnant of volcanism in the old West Cascades). The lower slopes are characterized by oak savanna woodland and the higher elevations by...

From the Priest Lake vacation website: "The Priest Lake Museum is a great place to begin any visit to the lake and a fitting showplace to remind us of the numerous influences that created the special character of Priest Lake. The museum building was constructed in 191935 by Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). It is a prime example of handcrafted oil-treated tamarack (larch) log construction. The building initially served as a residence and office for the first Ranger on what was then Kaniksu National Forest. The museum houses numerous articles and displays that depict the colorful history of the lake and...

Originally the Priest River Experimental Station, the Priest River Experimental Forest now refers to both a stretch of forest near Priest River Idaho and the research buildings and other facilities located there. It has been a site for forestry research since 1911. During the 1930s, the CCC replaced nearly all the station's original buildings, most of which are still standing. The CCC-constructed facilities include underground telephone and power systems, sewage system, gas house, lodge, residence #3, laboratory/office building, and residence #4.

Prince William Forest Park was developed by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), with help from skilled workers of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), from 1935 to 1942.  It was then known as Chopawamsic Recreation Demonstration Area (the name was changed in 1948).  RDAs were meant for getting inner city children out into the country to enjoy the benefits of nature and outdoor recreation. The New Deal programs built permanent structures, including the park headquarters and five cabin camps, extensive roads and trails, and five recreational lakes.  Almost all these improvements are still in use today.  The National Park Service, which operates...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) worked to develop Promised Land State Park during the 1930s. Among other work the CCC constructed cabins and blazed trails. "Nestled within evergreens and adjacent to Lower Lake, the Bear Wallow Cabin Colony has 12 rustic rental cabins that were constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in the 1930s."

The Provo River Project was initiated under the provisions of the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) of  1933 (almost surely as a Public Works Administration (PWA) funded project) and approved by President Roosevelt in late 1935.  The Salt Lake Aqueduct was approved in 1938.  Construction began in May 1938 and built by the US Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) with the help of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). Most of the features were begun during the New Deal but completed after the Second World War. The key structure of the project, Deer Creek Dam, is located on the Provo River east of...

The historic PS Knoll fire lookout tower was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). NRHP nomination form: "Located on the Alpine Ranger District, this 45 ft 9 in high steel tower has a steel cab, This tower is an Aermotor Company MC-40 and was probably constructed by the CCC in 1933. The PS Knoll complex also includes a wood Frame dwelling (Plan B-E6) and a wood-frame storage shed (Plan B-6001) both constructed in 1939 and a wood-frame privy (Plan U-10) constructed in 1940. Comparison with historic photographs taken in the early 1940s indicates that no remodeling has occurred on...

The CCC established Camp Hawthorne (DG/G-119) in Nevada as a part of the Grazing Service's effort to restore the public domain. Vernard "Bud" Wilbur, a recruit stationed at the camp, described the work performed by the CCC in an oral history interview: “It was hard work, since we came from a city and weren’t used to this type of work eight hours a day…But they fed you well…We graded roads…We dug out a big reservoir about a mile above camp and firmed it all up with rocks and so forth, and then it was filled so that stockmen could use it...

"Pueblo Bonito, the largest and best known Great House in Chaco Culture National Historical Park, northern New Mexico, was built by ancestral Pueblo people and occupied between AD 828 and 1126." (wikipedia) In 1936, the CCC Indian Division (CCC-ID) began an important ruins restoration project. The prehistoric city of Pueblo Bonito had suffered from extreme weather and temperature.  Native Indian workers in the CCC replaced walls and veneer to stabilize the area.The city remains an important site today.

"Begun in 1919, Pueblo Mountain Park is an early municipally owned automobile oriented, mountain park designed to offer Pueblo area residents easily accessible recreational facilities outside the urban environment. Most of the park's Rustic style picnic, lodging, and sports facilities were constructed during the Great Depression by the Civilian Conservation Corps and the Works Progress Administration." (www.historycolorado.org)

The dam creating this reservoir was undertaken in 1931-32, creating a new body of water that stretched between Crawford County in Pennsylvania and Ashtabula County in Ohio. The adjacent parks and improvements in Ohio and Pennsylvania were a Civilian Conservation Corps project completed in 1938. Pymantuning Lake is the largest lake in Pennsylvania.

"The Quaking Aspen Cabin is a treasure in time. The cabin was originally built in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCCs) and was used by the Forest Service to house fire patrol, recreation workers, and other personnel."

"Quartz Mountain State Park (since 2002 called Quartz Mountain Nature Park) is one of ten original sites contemplated by the Oklahoma legislature in 1935, when it appropriated twenty-five thousand dollars to create a State Park Commission to work with the National Park Service in securing funds and labor through the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), a federal government job program. The legislature asked local residents to purchase the land and donate it to the state. Citizens of Greer County purchased 158.3 acres of land adjacent to Lake Altus for $51.58. Additional acreage has been added over the intervening years, bringing the...

"Early in the 1930s there was a CCC camp in area and they built ... many trails in that wilderness area near Quemado Lake."

"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, Nevadas 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...

"In the 1930s, the National Park Service created the Raccoon Creek National Recreation Demonstration Area. Men from the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and the Works Progress Administration (WPA) built the recreation facilities of the park and did conservation work on park lands." "The National Park Service built five Recreation Demonstration Areas through CCC and WPA labor. Near big cities to provide open-air recreation for urban dwellers, the areas were Blue Knob, Hickory Run, French Creek, Laurel Hill and Raccoon Creek. In 1945, these parks were given to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and became state parks." The CCC Camp itself is now listed...

The CCC did extensive work in the park, including building a hand-hewn log and stone footbridge, a comfort station, a picnic pavilion, trails, bridges, and several log structures.

A major upgrade of facilities at the Petrified Forest National Monument (now National Park) was undertaken by the New Deal in the 1930s.  The work was carried out from 1933 to 1940 by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), under the direction of the National Park Service (NPS).  Some, if not all, was paid for by a grant from the Public Works Administration (PWA). A new park headquarters and visitors' center had been built in 1931 at the South Entrance to the park, but lacked sufficient housing for rangers and staff.  New Deal aid brought the addition of 4 or 5 additional...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was very active in northern Michigan, planting trees, fighting fires and building recreation facilities in state parks.  There was a CCC camp at Higgins Lake.   The CCC built the Ralph A. MacMullan Conference Center next to North Higgins Lake State Park in 1939-42.  The conference center, which covers 32 acres on North Higgins Lake, had an earlier life as the Higgins Lake Conservation Training School, established in 1941.  The school was converted to a conference center in the 1990s. Several of the original buildings constructed by the CCC survive on the center's campus, but further verification...

The Federal Writers' Project detailed a small CCC undertaking: State 38 crosses the South Branch of Rancocas Creek, water highway for nearly 200 years, now a favorite resort of canoeists. Tiny fir trees have been planted in cut-over tracts by CCC workers.

The Rand National Historic Site is located on the west side of the Rogue River in southwestern Oregon, 25 miles northwest of Grants Pass and 3 miles downstream from Galice. Rand's history covers the Gold Rush, establishment of the Siskiyou National Forest and the 20th century logging era, plus the postwar recreation era that followed designation of the Rogue as a National Wild and Scenic River. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) played a central role in that history, with some of the CCC's work still very much visible.  CCC Company #1650 built and occupied Camp Rand (F-75) starting in late 1933. The...

The Rand National Historic Site is located on the west side of the Rogue River in southwestern Oregon, 25 miles northwest of Grants Pass and 3 miles downstream from Galice. Rand's history covers the Gold Rush, establishment of the Siskiyou National Forest and the 2oth century logging era, plus the postwar recreation era that followed designation of the Rogue as a National Wild and Scenic River. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) played a central role in that history, with some of the CCC's work still very much visible.  The CCC built and occupied Camp Rand from 1933 to 1941. After building their camp,...

The Rand National Historic Site is located on the west side of the Rogue River in southwestern Oregon, 25 miles northwest of Grants Pass and 3 miles downstream from Galice. Rand's history covers the Gold Rush, establishment of the Siskiyou National Forest and the 2oth century logging era, plus the postwar recreation era that followed designation of the Rogue as a National Wild and Scenic River. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) played a central role in that history, with some of the CCC's work still very much visible.  The CCC built and occupied Camp Rand from 1933 to 1941. After establishing their camp,...

The Rand National Historic Site is located on the west side of the Rogue River in southwestern Oregon, 25 miles northwest of Grants Pass and 3 miles downstream from Galice. Rand's history covers the Gold Rush, establishment of the Siskiyou National Forest and the 2oth century logging era, plus the postwar recreation era that followed designation of the Rogue as a National Wild and Scenic River. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) played a central role in that history, with some of the CCC's work still very much visible.  The CCC built and occupied Camp Rand from 1933 to 1941. After establishing their camp,...

Wupatki National Monument was established in 1924, following decades of plunder of artifacts by American settlers.  Archaeological excavation and restoration of the main pueblo began in 1933.  In 1939-42, a contingent of Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) enrollees (from Mt Elden camp at Flagstaff) began development of the monument for public use, building trails, a ranger residence, a utility building, and water supply system. (NNDPA 2012) The ranger residence is located on hill above the current visitor center (it replaced a prior residence inside the main pueblo ruins).  It is an elegant stone building in mid-20th century modern style. The CCC utility...

A major upgrade of facilities at the Petrified Forest National Monument (now National Park) was undertaken by the New Deal in the 1930s.  The work was carried out in 1936--40 by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), under the direction of the National Park Service (NPS), with a grant from the Public Works Administration (PWA). The most notable achievement was construction of the Painted Desert Inn in the northern portion of the park (above Route 66, now Interstate 40).  Across Petrified Forest Road from the inn are two residences built for the park staff at the same time. Both were done in...

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) enrollees from the Mt. Elden Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp near Flagstaff worked at Walnut Canyon National Monument from 1938 to 1942.  As part of the work, the CCC men built several residences for park rangers in wood and stone.  The residence compound is situated off to the side on Ranger Cabin Road, just west of the park entrance. The cross street in the residence area is called "CCC Road". The residences are still in use and do not appear to have been altered significantly. The area is off-limits to visitors.

The Pixley Enterprise reported in 1938 that a Ranger Station had been built in Fountain Springs, at the head of the road to California Hot Springs. The building was made of adobe brick in old California Ranch style. It was a joint project of the Civilian Conservation Corps CCC), National Youth Administration (NYA) and state workers. We have not been able to locate this building and presume that it has disappeared.

The Union Creek Historic District on the upper Rogue River in Union Creek, Oregon, is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places because it is a fine representative of a type of rustic resort popular in the early 20th century and has been little altered since the 1930s.   There are almost one hundred buildings and other facilities in the Union Creek Historic District, almost all of which conform to the Forest Service plans of the 1920s and 30s.  Roughly a third were constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) from 1933 to 1942. CCC enrollees worked during summer...

"The Ratcliff Lake Recreation Area, built in 1936 by the Civilian Conservation Corps, surrounds a 45- acre lake. The lake was once a log pond and source of water for the Central Coal and Coke Company Sawmill which logged the area from 1902 to 1920. The area offers recreation visitors camping, picnicking, a swimming beach and bathhouse, concession stand, an amphitheater, an interpretive forest trail, showers, boating and fishing in a beautiful forest setting featured in regional magazines" (fs.usda.gov).

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) operated Camp NP-1-N from 1938 to 1942 at Rattlesnake Springs—now the Rattlesnake Springs Historic District—in Carlsbad Caverns National Park. The group conducted substantial work at the site. Bob Hoff's Carlsbad Caverns History Blog: At Rattlesnake Springs, the CCC enrollees built a ranger residence still in use today. They also constructed a service road and a water diversion ditch and constructed masonry work to line the Rattlesnake Springs pond. While National Park Service Landscape Architect Harvey Cornell provided the plans for the CCC camp layout in 1938 it is not clear to what extent CCC enrollees constructed the...

Rocky Mountain National Park was established in 1915 to preserve a spectacular section of the highest peaks of the Rocky Mountains.  Several new additions to the park have been made over the years, until it reached its present size of 415 square miles. The park saw considerable recreational development in the 1920s under the National Park Service (NPS), but it benefitted enormously in the 1930s from the New Deal.  Most notable of the New Deal agencies was the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), but the \ park also gained funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA), road work by the Bureau of...

The CCC built much of the road from Avery to Red Ives Ranger Station as well as the Red Ives compound itself. The work was completed in 1938.

The Red Rocks Amphitheatre is probably the greatest single project of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and one of the most memorial accomplishments of the New Deal's public works programs.  It is a magnificent outdoor theater set among the spectacular red rock formations of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, just southwest of Denver, Colorado. It seats over 9,000 people. Red Rocks was built between 1936 and 1941.  After the CCC had prepared the site by blasting and removing tons of stone, leveling the immediate surroundings and building access roads, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) contributed funds and hundreds of relief workers...

This former ranger station was erected in 1933 by the CCC and originally existed in Bridgeport, CA. It was later moved to Reese River Valley and remained active until the 1980s. After falling into neglect, a volunteer group of former National Forest Service employees known as the 'Smokeys' were able to relocate this ranger station to Bend, OR at the High Desert Museum where it was fully restored and put on display in 2009. According to the architectural historian for the (Bend) region's national Forest Service, this station is the only surviving building of its type that has not been subjected...