- City:
- Ratcliff, TX
- Site Type:
- Parks and Recreation, Forestry and Agriculture, Paths and Trails, Lakes and Ponds, Fire Lookouts
- New Deal Agencies:
- Work Relief Programs, Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)
- Started:
- 1933
- Completed:
- 1941
- Site Survival:
- Extant
Description
A historical marker erected in 1994 explains the CCC’s role in the area:
“J.H. Ratcliff’s 1880s sawmill and village here gave way to major timber industry operations that by the early 1930s had decimated Houston County’s densest virgin forest. As part of federal efforts to restore the nation’s natural resources, Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Camp F-4-T was built at this site in 1933-34, and the Davy Crockett National Forest was established in this area in 1935. CCC workers constructed fire towers, built roads, developed an old sawmill pond into a public lake with recreational facilities, and planted about 3,000,000 trees. Ratcliff CCC Camp closed in 1941.” (https://atlas.thc.state.tx.us)
One of the CCC projects in the forest was the construction of the 45-acre Ratcliff Lake Recreation Area in 1936.
Source notes
Texas Historical Commission AtlasSite originally submitted by Susan Kline on January 28, 2014.
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