Flood and Erosion Control Sites

The creation of the Cedars of Lebanon State Park in Tennessee was a multifaceted joint project of the Resettlement Administration, the CCC, the forestry division, NPS and the WPA: "Project development began in the fall of 1935, with forestry personnel, along with RA and CCC workers, planting new seedlings of juniper cedar, black walnut, black locust, ash, yellow poplar, and mulberry trees. The crews introduced erosion controls and built roads and trails... The WPA constructed recreational facilities, including picnic areas, overlook shelters on the Jackson Cave Trail, and the original park lodge. Lebanon Cedar Forest was officially opened in September 1937...

According to CCC alumnus Charles E. Humberger, quoted in the Nebraska History journal, “guest cabins were constructed and improvements made at the swimming pool and picnic and recreation area. Roads and trails were improved and drainage structures built. Brush dams were built to control soil and stream bank erosion, and the water supply system at the headquarters area was improved. They also carried out extensive rodent control and soil erosion programs on private property north of Chadron.” According to the city of Hemingford, “, one of Nebraska’s most beautiful, was developed to a large degree, by Civilian Conservation Corporation (CCC) forces…”

A Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) Bulletin details the following project undertaken by the W.P.A. in Newton: "Flood damage by two brooks which formerly went on rampages during spring floods has been eliminated by construction of masonry walls for a mile and a quarter in Cheesecake brook and for 830 feet in Laundry brook."

The Works Progress Administration photo above shows the dikes constructed along Chemung River in Big Flats, New York to mitigate the flood hazard that the river posed to the town. Living New Deal does not know the present status and exact location of this project.

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed a dike at Liberty Street in Elmira, New York to mitigate the flood hazard posed by the Chemung River. Living New Deal does not know the current status of this project.

Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park preserves two civil war battles. The park was established in the late 19th century. During the Depression, the "Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park had four camps at its disposal. Troops at these facilities performed a variety of missions, including construction of roads, fire trails, bridle paths, as well as landscaping, tree surgery, and erosion control." The last CCC camp in the park closed in April 1942.

Delaware utilized substantial federal resources in developing and improving its road network during the Great Depression. Among the dozens of projects undertaken by the federal Civil Works Administration (C.W.A.) during 1934 was raising and repairing dikes along the Christiana River. An average of 1,410 were put to work each week during 1934 as a result of the CWA's road, sidewalk, bridge, and other related infrastructure efforts in Delaware.  

Company 4701 of the CCC built the Bluff Creek Dam in 1936-37 as a Soil Conservation Service project, SCS-28. The body of water created was to later be called Clark State Fishing Lake. Lt. John A.H. Miller was the Commanding Officer of Co. 4701 Lt. G.R. Grimes was the Adjutant R.H. Pennartz was the Project Superintendent J.M. Collie was the educational advisor

The following is an excerpt from an interview with Abe Boehm, a CCC enrollee (Company 3740) stationed at Camp Clear Lake in northeastern California between February and June of 1937: "I must have worked on the Clear Lake dam for 2 or 3 months. Now you talk about work! Every stone we put in that dam was hand placed. There were about 60 to 80 men working on the dam. We had five or six 1932/1933 Chevrolet dump trucks; the truck driver and two guys would go out and drive through the sagebrush south of the dam, where those rocks were...

The Colorado-Big Thompson Project (C-BTP) is a massive water storage and transfer project for agriculture, cities and power generation. It involves dams and reservoirs on the west side of the Rocky Mountains' Front Range to collect water from the upper Colorado River system; a tunnel through the mountains under Rocky Mountain National Park; and a series of storage reservoirs, power plants and distribution aqueducts on the eastern side of the Rockies. The project extends over a large area of Grand, Larimer, and Weld counties, and portions of four others.  The C-BTP was built and is still managed by the US Bureau of...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) did extensive improvements on Columbia Island in 1934-35. Construction of Memorial Bridge and the George Washington Parkway had made the island more accessible in the late 1920s.  A  HABS Survey describes the CCC's work: "The CCC enrollees were responsible for cleaning up debris, clearing, grading, selective cutting, topsoiling, and seeding and sodding the open areas located between the waterways and various roadways, a large part of which was completed between October 1934 and March 1935.  CCC Camp NP-6-VA (Fort Hunt) also rip rapped the island's southeastern shoreline along the Potomac River, a sea wall meant to lessen the...

From late December 1934 through early spring 1935, the State Emergency Relief Administration (SERA) funded improvements to the Columbia Slough that involved raising and leveling a dike on the slough's channel approximately 1.5 miles east of Faloma station. While improving the Columbia Slough dike, it provided work to approximately 190 men for 70 days as part of a work relief program. The City's project description notes the following need: "Dredging operations on this locality had deposited many thousands of yards of excavated material on the banks of the slough. This material was continually sluffing back into the channel. The project consisted...

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) photo pictured here describes this project as "removal of island and building of dyke." The work took place in Como Lake Park in Lancaster, New York. The current status and exact location of the dike is unknown to the Living New Deal.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed a jetty near North Platte, Nebraska: "Project 997" was described as follows: "River protection work at the junction of the North and South Platte rivers east of North Platte. Workmen are constructing a 1,500 foot jetty to a towhead in the middle of the river. The object of this work is to backfill some land and reclaim it for the North Platte airport." The project provided work for seven men.

Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) laborers conducted the following work: South Hadley has the largest project in operation — the construction of a large sea-wall along the east bank of the Connecticut River below the Holyoke dam. Majority of projects involve rip-rap work along the river bank, the building of dikes and retaining walls. The status of this project is unknown to Living New Deal

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) created the mile-long Coon Creek in Iola, Kansas in 1937, as a way of mitigating potential flooding in the city after heavy rainstorms. GetRuralKansas.com: "Coon Creek starts at 803 N. Cottonwood, and winds through Iola from east to west until it gets to the Neosho River. It was constructed using 15,663 square yards of quarried rock and hundreds of hours of back breaking WPA labor. Iola is very grateful for these laborers as shown in the picture below. Without Coon Creek, our streets would flood with every big rain!"

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) conducted afforestation and reforestation efforts in what were then known as "Upper Cory" canyon, near Hawthorne, Nevada. The efforts were taken in part for erosion control.

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) conducted afforestation and reforestation efforts in what was then known as upper Cottonwood Canyon, near Hawthorne, Nevada. The efforts were taken in part for erosion control.

Numerous improvements were conducted along Cow Creek in Hutchinson, Kansas in 1933-4 with Civil Works Administration (CWA) funds and labor: Creek straightened for one mile near the Newlin farm Creek cleaned, Adams to 5th st. Creek covered at city tool yard Rock walls built along creek, from Maple to First st.

As part of $106,612 spent on 38 projects in Fresno County in March 1934, the Civil Works Administration spent $12,416.67 on the Crescent Weir, a flood control structure on the Kings River. 91 men were employed. By April, the CWA was being liquidated, but 24 projects like the weir were continued under FERA with compensation insurance by the sponsor. A hand drawn CWA 1934 marker is still in the concrete.

"Geographically, the Crescenta Valley extends eastward from the Los Angeles City communities of Sunland and Tujunga through a portion of the City of Glendale and the County territories of La Crescenta and Montrose to the incorporated city of La Cañada Flintridge... After the disastrous flood of 1934, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Los Angeles County Flood Control District embarked upon major construction of dams, channels, debris basins and continued efforts to control erosion."   (https://www.villageprofile.com) According to the Feb 1934 California Highway and Public Works magazine, "Several thousand C.W.A. relief workers were rushed to the flooded area to render aid to...

The federal Works Progress Administration constructed dam and spillway, presumably as a mechanism for flood control, to serve the people of Lacey Township, New Jersey ca. 1936. The exact location and status of the facility is unknown to Living New Deal. WPA N.J. Project No. 5-51.

In ca. 1939 at Kanawha, CCC workers built Davis Creek Dam to form the 1.5-acre Ellison Pond. Pinned to the solid rock streambed and built of concrete and cut sandstone, the impoundment dam is 100 feet in length and approximately 10 feet high. The dam was recently removed to re-establish the original stream.

The federal Civil Works Administration (C.W.A.) and Federal Emergency Relief Administration (F.E.R.A.) furnished the cost of labor for the construction of a dike in Hatfield, Massachusetts. The project was started Nov. 29, 1933 by the C.W.A. Grading, loaming, and seeding work continued under F.E.R.A. and was completed Sept. 15, 1034 Dozens of men were employed; the C.W.A. paid $9,203.55 for the labor and F.E.R.A. $1,245. The Town of Hatfield supplied only the cost of materials for the project, a small fraction of the total cost.

Delaware utilized substantial federal resources in developing and improving its road network during the Great Depression. Among the dozens of projects undertaken by the federal Civil Works Administration (C.W.A.) during 1934 was the repair of dikes in New Castle. An average of 1,410 were put to work each week during 1934 as a result of the CWA's road, sidewalk, bridge, and other related infrastructure efforts in Delaware.  

In 1939-1940, the Work Projects Administration (WPA) channelized Sausal Creek as part of creating Dimond Park.  The work consisted of building concrete walls to stop erosion, installing grade control step-downs, and putting culverts to let roads pass over the creek.   WPA stamps are still visible in places.   The work extends from the Dimond Recreation Area in the lower park up past the Leimert Street bridge, where the creek flows out of a canyon in the Oakland Hills. Channelization was a popular method of flood control in the middle of the 20th, much promoted by the Army Corps of Engineers, which...

An onsite marker commemorates the CCC's efforts in the area: "In 1929, one of ten erosion control research stations in the United States was set up southeast of this site for the purpose of studying erosion problems and the effectiveness of erosion control methods. This was one of the first organized efforts to solve the nation's soil erosion problems in a planned, scientific manner. Five years later, in 1934, the Duck Creek watershed near this site was approved as a demonstrational project for working with all known methods of erosion control. In cooperation with the landowners in the 25,000-acre area, a...

"The East Barre Dam was one of four flood damage reduction projects constructed in Vermont by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s. Construction was overseen by the Corps’ North Atlantic Division. The construction costs of East Barre Dam were not calculated separately because of accounting procedures, but instead lumped together with the construction costs of Waterbury Reservoir, Wrightsville Reservoir, and the Winooski River Local Protection Project. The construction costs of these four projects totaled $13.7 million. Following completion, East Barre Dam was turned over to the State of Vermont for operation and maintenance. The project provides flood protection primarily to...

"In 1939, ... there were thirty-two men employed , eight of them on the East Ferry waterfront upgrade." Work included construction of a seawall, in which are embedded "Built by Work Projects Administration; R.I. 1940" shield plaques.

WPA crews worked on this flood control project on East Twin Creek near San Bernardino.

The CCC built a set of three debris catchment basins below Eaton Canyon in 1940.

WPA workers constructed a concrete flume for the Elizabeth River in Irvington, New Jersey.

In the early 1930s, the City of Austin acquired about 1008 acres of ash and juniper woodland west of the city with a mile of lake front on Lake Austin. In December 1939, Civilian Conservation Corps Company 1805 arrived at the site to develop the tract of land into a municipal park. The company's primary work included seeding and sodding grass, planting trees, and protecting the bank of the lake from erosion. They also cleared brush, built roads and developed permanent improvements to the site such as a bathhouse and concession stand. These wooden structures later burned and were replaced...

Among the dozens of projects undertaken by the federal Civil Works Administration (C.W.A.) during 1934 in Delaware was the construction of groins—small jetties designed to prevent beach erosion—in Bethany Beach.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted a project in Old Lyme, CT entailing "riprapping a section of shore front to preserve roadway from washout."

Among the dozens of projects undertaken by the federal Civil Works Administration (C.W.A.) during 1934 in Delaware was the construction of groins—small jetties designed to prevent beach erosion—in Rehoboth Beach.

Description of a project undertaken by the W.P.A. in 1937: "Fellsway Police Station; the area adjacent to the police station on Fellsway West in Medford was developed by the completion of a project started in 1936. A large baseball field and drill ground was constructed, the brook along the roadway was confined between stone masonry walls to prevent flood damage and incidental work was performed." The location of the former Fellsway Police Station in Medford is unknown to Living New Deal. Our map places this project at Hickey Park, which abuts Fellsway W and features a large field with baseball diamonds.

Big Timber's Pioneer newspaper reported that the "riprapping of Firemen's island" was one of several projects in the community that was attributable to the New Deal (and in this instance, the WPA). Work on this project commenced November 1935. Riprapping refers to the formation of breakwaters or other structures using loose stones. It is possible that the project was undertaken to mitigate erosion in the area. Modern references make no reference to "Firemen's Island;" Fire Island borders the Boulder River south of Big Timber.

While going through the town reports at the Wilton History Museum, the 1938 town report has a brief notation "Floating Bog Project WPA - $2,000" which on its own would be too cryptic to figure out. Thankfully, when shown this to a couple of members of the historical society, they brought out a folder featuring 7 photos of the project itself and some historical context. Apparently in the aftermath of the 1938 hurricane, a large mass of floating vegetation at the north end of Wilson Lake had broken off and was blocking the entrance to a canal system that supplied...

Following the flood of 1936 in the Merrimack Valley, action was taken by local and national leaders. In 1936, the city reported the following resolution: "Whereas, the recent flood in the Merrimack Valley caused serious damages to our industrial plants, many of which suffered not only through the direct damage but production loss and their employees became victims of the flood through unemployment and loss in wages and. Whereas, floods such as we have experienced may again occur unless immediate steps are taken to create storage reservoirs, Be it resolved, that the Concord City Government hereby respectfully petitions the President of...