Davy Crockett National Forest – Ratcliff TX

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 Atlas

Site originally submitted by Susan Kline on January 28, 2014.

Location Info


Ratcliff Lake
Ratcliff, TX 75847
Houston County

Coordinates: 31.387714, -95.15203

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