Flood and Erosion Control Sites

The CCC did extensive work in Muir Woods National Monument. The National Park Service site summarizes their activity: "The men began work in Muir Woods and the surrounding Tamalpais State Park. Projects included a revetment (rockwork stream banks) in Redwood Creek; construction of a stone-faced concrete bridge on Fern Creek; construction of utility buildings and benches; and the construction of the Sidney B. Cushing Memorial Amphitheater (the "Mountain Theater"), near Rock Springs, on Mt. Tamalpais. The CCC completed its last project in Muir Woods in May 1941, and was disbanded shortly thereafter."   (https://www.nps.gov/) Not everything the CCC did was ideal by modern standards,...

Among a set of 26 WPA projects approved for Allegheny County, Pennsylvania in Sept. 1935 was "electrical rewiring of municipal building" in Turtle Creek. Additional work in the town involved "surveys for flood control and sewage disposal." The Federal government allocated $55,244 for the project and local sponsors contributed $11,062.

Municipal reports document numerous WPA infrastructure projects in Bartlett from 1936-39: 1936: WPA Thorn Hill & Saco River dyke jobs Dredging & breakwater work on Saco River Small part of wages were paid by W.P.A. funds $528.00 spent by WPA repairing highways due to flood damage Pine Blister Control W. P. A. funds expended $ 1,560 40 Area covered 4090 acres. Currant and gooseberry bushes destroyed 16,490 Number of men employed 8 Paid by Town $ 200 00 Paid by State 50 00 W. P. A. Project Dundee Road 11 men employed 1938: PWA work on Glen Bridge at 44.110195, -71.183698 Crawford Notch Rd Continuing Pine Blister control efforts W. P. A. funds expended $ 522.42 Area covered 641...

1933 - WPA road relief construction contributes $1,954.00 to Deering. 1934 - PWA loan of $5000 for power line construction. 1935 - Emergency Relief to Unemployed gives Deering $4,401. Federal Government gives Deering 4,658 for various public works projects. 1936 - PWA gives Deering 5,240.52 for Town Hall renovation, flood control and building of town sheds. Additional WPA funds for blister rust control and road projects. 1937 - More federal funds to Deering, Electricity comes to East Deering. 1938 - Great Hurricane, Red Cross helps local farmers rebuild.

Various relief and infrastructure efforts were provided by the New Deal for this small New Hampshire mountain village, population 514 (1930 Census). From 1933 to 1935, the Public Works Administration conducted a survey for a proposed water project, at a total cost of $488. A federal list of PWA projects constructed mentions that the water works were built and then sold to the town, as town reports mention bond money raised to purchase it. In 1933, the school superintendent noted, "We expect sometime this year to have the use of a school nurse for a week or more, and with the assistance...

"According to the Annual Town Reports of 1934-35 and 1936-37, the CWA, FERA and WPA were involved in numerous projects throughout the city. The dollar amounts are the share of the project that the city contributed and don't list the amount provided by Federal Relief agencies. "The town library which was a gift from the Carnegie foundation in 1903, owing to the thorough renovation which the building received in 1934 through a CWA project, no repairs have been necessary this year (1935), beyond the general upkeep. The school district received the benefit of Federal Labor and with a small expenditure of funds...

Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) workers developed recreation improvements at Greenfield's Green River Swimming and Recreation Area and Murphy Park, during the 1930s. WPA Bulletin, 1936: Children of Greenfield have benefited by the WPA construction of a new bath house and other improvements at the Greenfield Swimming Pool. Tennis courts and a soft ball diamond were built in the adjoining public park property. Bulletin, 1937: Greenfield— The crack of bats and the swish of girls' skipping ropes are ushering in the sport season of the 33 acre WPA Recreation Center at the northern end of the city. In three or four months' time the full...

Descriptions of W.P.A. projects conducted in 1937: "Nahant Beach Reservation; the large automobile parking space adjacent to the boulevard was improved and enlarged by the completion of a project started in 1936. The area was improved and made safer for the use of automobiles by the installation of rip-rap shore protection and filling and grading of the parking space. About 3,200 cubic yards of heavy stone was placed for shore protection and 12,500 cubic yards of earth and rock were excavated and placed in regrading the auto park, the usable area of which is now about 70,000 square yards. Nahant Beach Reservation;...

In response to heavy flooding after a severe storm in 1936, Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) labor—under the direction of U.S. Army engineers—straightened and deepened the channel of the Nashua River in Fitchburg.

This Tennessee state park was developed by several New Deal  "on land bought from residents who could no longer farm the land due to erosion." (wikipedia.org) "Three New Deal agencies, the Works Progress Administration (WPA), the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), and the Resettlement Administration, assumed responsibility for the park's initial planning and development. Like other early state parks, the Resettlement Administration relocated property owners from unproductive and overused farm land; the CCC and WPA began land replenishment and park construction. The CCC concentrated its efforts on reforestation work and instigated land stabilization programs that included the introduction of the Japanese vine...

A cantilevered Warren through truss bridge spanning the Mississippi River on US Highway 84 connects Natchez, Mississippi with Vidalia, Louisiana. Mississippi's project # 1126 opened to traffic on September 26, 1940 after two years of construction (Mississippi Department of Archives & History). It originally operated as a toll bridge. The toll plaza remains on the Natchez side of the river, and although the toll booths have been removed, the semi-circular wooden columns that surrounded the plaza remain. A commemorative tower and plaque, identical to the one at the toll plaza, stands just before the bridge entrance in Vidalia. A second bridge...

The Works Progress Administration constructed the Neptune Beach sea wall in Neptune Beach FL. The wall prevented beach erosion and provided protection against high tide. It was completed circa 1938.

"WPA’s legacy is visible today in those and many other ways. Among projects in Wilkes-Barre were the retaining walls along North Main Street and Hazle Avenue ..." The exact location of the along North Main Street of the wall is unknown to Living New Deal.

"The lava rock walls that lined Nu'uanu Stream were part of a WPA funded flood control project (1937). Flood control assumed a high priority in Honolulu after a February 27, 1935 storm dumped 14.23 inches of rain in Nu'uanu Dowsett in 15 hours, flooding Chinatown's River Street and killing nine people."

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed retaining walls in Long Beach, CA, between Ocean Boulevard and the Pacific Ocean. The existing wooden bulkhead "was not of sufficient height to protect adjacent streets and private property from ground swells which at high tide, deposited sand, flooded streets and blocked traffic on this main thoroughfare" (Connolly & Farman). Eighty six men were employed over seven months to construct a nine-foot high, 1900-foot long concrete wall. The eastern terminus is at Granada Avenue; the western terminus is at Bennett Avenue.

A 1943 article in the Washington Post reported paving and sewer work underway by on Oklahoma Avenue along Anacostia Park in Northeast DC, between Benning Road and C Street.  The work was being done by the Federal Works Agency (FWA).

Before turning off onto the main road that enters Okmulgee State Park, be sure follow state road 56 until you come to the spillway cascade. The Okmulgee Spillway, built in 1939-1940 by the Work Projects Administration, sits at the northeastern most point of the Lake Okmulgee Dam. The 40-foot-high by 250-foot- long cascade which is being nominated, is a series of upwardly rising limestone steps which buttress the original 1927-28 spiliway (built by a private contractor), on the dry side of the dam. Stone retaining walls buttress the dry side cuts that were made into the dam to accommodate the...

From the National Park Service's Discover Our Shared Heritage Travel Itinerary for Richmond: "The Works Progress Administration built the wide drive and stone retaining walls along Oregon Hill Park in the late 1930s, and the city rebuilt these in 2007 after substantial damage from tropical storm Gaston." The retaining wall at the location below was completely rebuilt using original stones, according to Corman Construction, the contractor on the project: "Due to the park’s historic nature, the existing stone masonry wall had to be meticulously dismantled stone by stone, cleaned, and reinstalled on a new retaining wall, consisting of a cantilevered concrete...

The Works Progress Administration completed flood control work on Otter Creek in Proctor.

Work: A Journal of Progress reported on Civil Works Administration (CWA) relief work at Oxon Run in the southeast District in 1933-1934, which included “lowering the stream bed in some sections, straightening out bends and clearing away debris to increase the rapidity of the run off of water.”

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted park improvement work in North Platte, Nebraska, "Project No. 40."

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) made extensive recreational improvements on Mt. Nebo, the highest and southern-most peak of the Wasatch Mountains.  The CCC teams worked out of three camps: F-9 at the south end of the Mt. Nebo Loop, F-3 at Hubble Canyon and F-40 near Provo, from 1933 to 1938 – and possibly to 1941 when the last camp closed. After building the Mt Nebo Loop Road (Scenic Byway), the CCC enrollees created campgrounds, picnic areas and trails. Not all this work can be identified precisely, but some can be verified from reliable sources. The CCC built an impressive rock retaining...

"In nearby reaches of the creek trout fishing is popular. During the season scores of fishermen in hip boots wade the stream, casting for the elusive trout in water once teeming with catfish. To improve trout breeding a number of retards of twigs and stone have been installed by the WPA, with runways or deflectors, which quicken the flow of water in sluggish places. These devices not only serve to aerate the water, but provide shelter in times of flood."

Montana's Big Timber Pioneer newspaper reported in 1938 that the WPA "began work of rehabilitating Havre" on June 24. WPA laborers "will clean streets, rebuild walks and bridges and remove debris," and would eventually "aid in repairing and replacing several bridges on ounty roads, swept away or damaged by the flood."

In 1936, relief workers from the Works Progress Administration (WPA) built emergency flood levees to stop the overflow of the Potomac River. The photographs show WPA crews erecting the levees in the vicinity of the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial. 

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted work at Dinosaur National Monument at and near the Dinosaur Quarry at the western entrance to the monument, near Jensen, Utah.  WPA workers constructed a 535-foot drainage ditch, about 8 feet wide at bottom and 12 feet wide at top, faced with large, mortared sandstone blocks.   A bridge carries Quarry entrance road across the ditch. A verbal source on-site believes the bridge was also a New Deal construction project, but we have not been able to confirm that.

Plans for the Quasqueton Dam were developed in May and June 1934, shortly after the CWA ended. Federal funding was initially provided by FERA. However, the construction took much longer than originally planned, so the completion of the dam was funded in the fall of 1935 by the WPA. As with other New Deal dams in Iowa, the material was supplied by the State Fish and Game Commission, and the labor by the federal government (FERA or WPA). Construction started in June 1934. The dam was 6½ feet high and 250 feet long. It was identified in newspapers more than...

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted flood control work along the Rahway River in West Orange, New Jersey, "from Joyce St. to the South Orange line." The project was undertaken to "save property owners incalculable sums for many years to come."

The federal Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) furnished the labor for the construction of a retaining wall and sidewalk at an unspecified location. The work employed ten men.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) was active in Jerome, a copper mining town hit hard by the Great Depression.  The WPA hired out-of-work miners for several projects in Jerome and nearby towns. In 1937, the WPA relief workers built retaining walls to prevent erosion and collapse of the hillside below the Little Daisy Hotel – which was not a hotel but a workers' residence hall built by the owners of the Little Daisy mine in 1918.  The mine failed in 1938 and the building was closed. At some later time, the top floor was removed and the next floor gutted, leaving only...

Description of a project undertaken by the W.P.A.: 1937 MDC annual report: "Revere Beach Reservation; to rebuild two concrete truck and ambulance ramps to the beach; to build 700 linear feet of 4-foot high concrete sea wall near the North Circle; and to build 576 linear feet of 7-foot high concrete sea wall and concrete-over terraced steps to form a ramp at the shelter in front of the bath house." 1938 report: "Revere Beach Reservation and Parkway, Revere; work was begun on the completion of 1937 work at Revere Beach; the construction of 4,000 linear feet of new seawall near Northern Circle and the...

WPA crews did improvement work on this canal in Boise during 1936. (The canal was originally constructed in the late nineteenth century.) The path alongside is widely used today by cyclists and joggers.

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed a riprap wall along the waterfront in East Millstone, New Jersey ca. 1936.

The River Des Peres runs through St. Louis and forms the backbone of the sanitary and stormwater systems of the city. In the 1930s, the river was channelized by the United States Army Corps of Engineers, Horner & Shifrin, and the WPA as a flood control and public health measure.  The river extends from University in an arc to south St. Louis to empty into the Mississippi River. Portions of the “River” are underground, particularly through Forest Park. The work done by the WPA to line the muddy banks of the river was done in response to infestation of mosquitoes in...

CWA retaining wall project at the River Street ramp of the Hill-to-Hill Bridge was approved in 1933 and construction began in January 1934. In addition to the retaining wall, the roadway was rebuilt "to provide proper drainage" (Projects, 1935, p. 18). Northampton County experienced delays in a number of CWA projects approved in 1933, and the Hill-to-Hill Bridge work was one of the two (other was City Hall project in Easton) that were priority resumptions when others were delayed. River Street is located on Sands Island.

The March 1934 issue of California Highway and Public Works magazine notes: "Pajaro River. It is expected that work will be commenced within the next few days on clearing in the channel of the Pajaro River under CWA Project No. 502, with a crew of 60 men supervised by this office."

"Mokelumne River. Clearing in the channel of the Mokelumne river from New Hope bridge to Woodbridge in San Joaquin County has continued under the direction of this office with a San Joaquin County CWA crew of 100 men."

Researcher Frank da Cruz explains here that a major part of the New Deal creation of what is now Riverside Park involved completely re-shaping the land itself. The park was re-engineered from its natural rather steep slope "into two relatively flat areas separated by a retaining wall... The train tracks run behind the retaining wall and under the upper level of the park. The lower level...is on the same level as the river and contains a vast amount of parkland and numerous ball fields, athletic fields, game courts, and playgrounds." In addition to shaping the land itself, New Deal workers...

Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) conducted the following work in Palmer, Mass. WPA Bulletin: This Palmer WPA Roadside Beautification Project includes the terracing of banks, building of retaining walls, laying of sod and the planting of trees and shrubs to prevent soil erosion.

Formerly known as Enfield Glen State Park, New York's Robert H. Treman State Park was developed by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) between 1933 and 1941. From 1933-1941, "...the men of Camp SP-6, Company 1265 were, according to the late local historian Neil Poppensiek, “trucked to work sites in Enfield Glen (later Robert H. Treman), Buttermilk Falls, and Taughannock Falls State Parks. There they excavated flagstone and did masonry work, blasted, excavated fill, graded, planted trees, shrubs and grass, built roads, bridges, and water systems, erected park buildings, and – after the disastrous floods of July 1935 and August 1937 –...