Article about the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps)

[Chip]

On the Willey House Visitor Center.

 

[REK]

Bear Brook State Park is an old CCC camp. They built the park around it. There is a nice museum there. My son's Eagle Scout project was the rehab of the Smith Pond Shelter, built in 1937 by the CCC.
Bob

 

[RoySwkr]

Also, virtually all his pay got sent back home to his mom - he only got to keep a small amount.

It was a clever form of welfare program - instead of trying to find a job for Mom in the midst of the Depression, put the teenager to work but have him send his pay home! Those few orphans who were hired received the same pay at camp as the others and got the rest as a lump sum at the end of their hitch. Army officers were in charge of the camps which kept a few more of them employed, and Local Experienced Men were hired as trainers. The kids were well fed as compared to what they would have got at home, and learned a good work ethic and maybe some useful skills.

<slightly_political>Successor programs such as Job Corps allowed trainees to keep their vastly greater pay, and didn't expect the same level of output - less valuable either to parks or kids</slightly_political>