CCC Camp Wyeth / Cascade Locks (former) – Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area OR

Description

Located approximately five to seven miles east of Cascade Locks, CCC Camp Wyeth/Cascade Locks (Camp F-7) was one of the longest operating Civilian Conservation Corps camps in the Columbia River Gorge. The US Forest Service’s Wyeth Campground currently operates on the site of the former CCC facility.

In the summers of 1933 and 1934, tents provided shelter for 200 enrollees put to work on road, trail and campground construction projects. In the summer of 1935, a more permanent commitment to the camp was made when construction of CCC Camp Cascade Locks began on the site located south of Wyeth Road and on the eastern banks of Gorton Creek.  CCC enrollees used the barracks, messhall and a recreation center from 1935 through November 1941.

Several companies, primarily under the supervision of the Forest Service, occupied the camp during the eight year period. As shown in the featured image, a side camp from the Wyeth crew was assigned to to improvement of Wygant State Park during the summer of 1933. This movement of enrollees to benefit changing work needs reflects the flexible arrangement of the main CCC camps and their side or spike camps.

As noted on a plaque in Wyeth Campground today: “Enrollee hands, guided by local experienced men, toughened as logs were cut, gravel spread, bridges built, rock walls laid, buildings painted and fires fought. Today you walk the paths they built and use the structures they erected in this area so many years ago.” The enrollees who occupied the camp over the years came from Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana, Tennessee, Illinois, Minnesota, and Oregon.

Leaving the permanent camp structures to the US Forest Service with the conclusion of the CCC program, the camp facility was put to use as a Civilian Public Service camp for conscientious objectors during WWII and then as a Guard Station. The current Forest Service campground was laid out in 1983.