Timbisha Shoshone Village - Death Valley National Park CA

City:: Furnace Creek, CA
Site Type:: Archaeology and History, Forestry and Agriculture, Resettlement Communities
New Deal Agencies:: Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), Work Relief Programs
Started:: 1936
Quality of Information:: Good
Marked:: No
Site Survival:: Extant

Description

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was present in Death Valley National Monument from 1933 to 1942. The main CCC camp was at Cow Creek, just north of the park headquarters and visitors center at Furnace Creek.

Among the many projects undertaken in the park was building a permanent Shoshone Village on a 40-acre site just south of Furnace Creek. The National Park Service and Bureau of Indian Affairs selected the site. We do not know more about how that decision was made and what input the Shoshone had in it.

The CCC built nine adobe houses, a washroom/laundry and a trading post. The trading post has recently been replaced by a new structure, and there are only a few remnants of the houses and other buildings.

Source notes

Smith, Linda Greene and Judy Palmer, 2011. The Civilian Conservation Corps in Death Valley (1933-1942): A Brief CCC History and Visitor Guide. Amargosa Conservancy.

National Park Service webpage on the CCC in Death Valley

Wikipedia on Death Valley

Our Mark on This Land: A Guide to the Legacy of the Civilian Conservation Corps in America's Parks by Ren & Helen Davis (McDonald & Woodward Publishing, Granville, OH, 2011)

Site originally submitted by Alberto Vasquez on January 27, 2019.
Additional contributions by John Stehlin, Richard A Walker, Joan Greer.