Rand National Historic Site: CCC Camp Rand – Galice OR

Description

The Rand National Historic Site is located on the west side of the Rogue River in southwestern Oregon, 25 miles northwest of Grants Pass and 3 miles downstream from Galice. Rand’s history covers the Gold Rush, establishment of the Siskiyou National Forest and the 20th century logging era, plus the postwar recreation era that followed designation of the Rogue as a National Wild and Scenic River.

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) played a central role in that history, with some of the CCC’s work still very much visible.  CCC Company #1650 built and occupied Camp Rand (F-75) starting in late 1933. The camp was briefly given other names in 1938-39 (F-3 and F-76) when it was manned by new companies (#5484 and #282). 

Camp Rand started off with 18 enrollees and grew to over 200.  The camp was initially integrated, according to Lansing: “… when the first trainload of men passed through Grants Pass on their way to Camp Rand, on April 24, 1933, twenty-two out of the 122 enrollees were black.” (p. 41)  The camp photo below is said by Lansing to be from 1939, but this may be wrong; by 1939 the company and camp numbers had changed, plus there appears to be a couple Black enrollees in the photo – putting it between 1933 and 1935.

The CCC recruits built a wooden barracks and other camp structures before tackling other projects, such as improvements to the Rand Ranger Station. Nothing remains of the Rand Camp site today (shown on map, below).

The CCC ‘boys’ built some of the first truck roads in the canyon and a suspension bridge over the Rogue River. According to local legend, the construction work the CCC did on Almeda Road No. 340 was thought to be one of the hardest jobs carried on by the Forest Service anywhere in the West. The CCCers also helped the Forest Service fight fires and gathered wood ticks to help with the Rocky Mountain Laboratory’s study of Spotted Fever. 

Rand was purchased by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) c 1970 and was designated a National Historic Site in 1999.