CCC Camp F-9 (Mt Nebo) – Mt Nebo UT

Description

In 1933, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) set up one of the first camps in Utah in Salt Creek Canyon a few miles east of Nephi, near what is now the intersection of highway 132  and FR015 (the Mount Nebo Scenic Byway).  The camp number was F-9, meaning it worked under the US Forest Service.

Working out of Camp F-9, various CCC companies carried out extensive improvements around the southern flank of Mt. Nebo.. The first, in 1933, was building the central section of Mt. Nebo Loop Road (that was company 958, which subsequently operated out of Camps F-30 and F-40 farther north).  F-9 continued as a ‘spike camp’ for teams from other camps 1934-1939, building recreational facilities like campgrounds and trails; doing forestry projects like planting trees and building fire roads; and carrying out soil conservation and ranch work.

The US Forest Service provides this summary, based largely on Baldridge (2019):

“[The camp’s] accomplishments that summer [1933] included building the Red Creek Road, which connected Payson and Salt Creek Canyon, as well as completing picnic tables and fireplaces, stock trails and erosion control features. The camp site was used again the next summer by a unique group made up exclusively of World War I veterans. From the summers of 1935 through 1939 the barracks and other buildings at the site would be used as a “spike” camp, or temporary work camp, for about 30 men from other large CCC camps. During that time they changed the face of Salt and Nephi Canyons by completing additional roads, two new campgrounds, two amphitheaters, several bridges, dams, trails and countless camping and picnicking facilities. They also planted thousands of trees and helped clean up after devastating summer floods ripped through both canyons.”

It is impossible to be certain of the location and extent of all the improvements mentioned here, but some can be found in sites linked to this page.

Even though Camp F-9 had relatively permanent barracks, scant trace of it remains where it occupied the head of the valley across from the present Ponderosa Campground, east of FR 048, along Salt Creek. It may be possible to see traces in the forest on the hillside behind the large clearing in the satellite view of the valley, below.