Article about the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps)

[Tom Rankin]

I didn't realize how much they did, and how may people were employed!

http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/136817

 

[Jay H]

You run into soooo many different places that have seen work from the CCC, from Harriman State Park to like Old Speck, ME. I mean just this past weekend coming back from Middleburgh towards Cairo on 145, I passed CCC Road, which crossed a creek and probably was one of those CCC camps... There is actually a whole book about the CCC in the Catskills that I've checked out when hanging with Hermit as he has it.

Jay

 

[peakbagger]

Rt 113 in Maine through the WMNF was a CCC project. And more importantly. large sections of the AT was built by the CCC. The AT 75th anniversity celebration at Sugarloaf next weekend is to celebrate the last section of the continuous footpath from Maine to Georgia. There is a brass plaque on a boulder ont he ridge between Sugarloaf and Spaulding.

Some of the rock work in the Smokies along the AT is quite impressive for the fact that it was not intended to be noticed. A hiker hiking along the ridge line will encounter long fairy narrow stretches of trail between rock pinnacles. Its only with close observation to realize the the narrow path is manmade and is supported by 30 to 100 foot high slanted stone retaining walls.

 

[Chip]

The iconic Cape Hatteras sand dunes (which are actually questionable land management), were built by the CCC.

 

[hermit]

Diane Galusha has a great book on the ccc in N.Y.S-Another Day Another Dollar.My dad was a member of the CCC.He told me few stories about some of their projects in the Catskills.Maybe they should bring it back into action.

 

[erugs]

I had some idea about the work of the CCC but was most astonished when I went out to Mt. Hood in Oregon and saw the work at the lodge there. It was a great program that not only helped people then but has left a legacy for so many others.

 

[Creag Nan Drochaid]

personal CCC

Without the CCC, I might not be here...

My Dad, Clifford Sanborn, was in the 153rd Company CCC at Pierce Bridge NH (Ammonoosuc Ranger Station) in 1933-1935. He met my Mom, Florence Potter, at a dance in Twin Mtn. Dad was a teamster and axman working for his father in the woods, so he was detailed to assist a surveyor running boundary lines for the WMNF in the neighborhood. One day the surveyor showed up with a handful of about twenty twigs for him to identify by species, which he did.

In 1982 I answered an ad for Camp Dodge in the old NH Times weekly newspaper, and thus began my own trailwork career on the Great Gulf Trail downhill of Spaulding Lake chopping fir for waterbars for the AMC. 30 years later still at it. We remembered Dad after he passed away in 1986 by naming a bridge for him. It is still there, high above the winter's ice flows.

CCC trailwork is always a good example of what can be done by lots of muscle directed by good civil engineers. We go on learning from it.

 

[Kevin Rooney]

I had some idea about the work of the CCC but was most astonished when I went out to Mt. Hood in Oregon and saw the work at the lodge there. It was a great program that not only helped people then but has left a legacy for so many others.

In the same vein - I think the big lodge near the Old Faithful geyser was also built by the CCC - seem to recall a plaque to that effect somewhere. And was the "Going to the Sun" highway in Glacier NP also built by the CCC? That one's an engineering marvel.

Some of my favorite CCC projects were those done in Letchworth State Park, south of Rochester, NY.

 

[Chip]

Maybe they should bring it back into action.

I'll leave it at this: I think it would be great if there were an option like The Peace Corps, or a requirement like military service in Israel, for 17 to 20 year olds in the US to participate in something similar to the CCC. Too many, let's say, legal and social restrictions these days, unfortunately.

 

[Chip]

Without the CCC, I might not be here...

Great story, thanks for sharing and for your and your family's work.

 

[Tom Rankin]

I think it would be great if there were an option like The Peace Corps, or a requirement like military service in Israel, for 17 to 20 year olds in the US to participate in something similar to the CCC. Too many, let's say, legal and social restrictions these days, unfortunately.

Without getting political, the Americorps program was quite beneficial for the Fire Towers in the Catskills. And it's still active.

 

[sardog1]

I'll leave it at this: I think it would be great if there were an option like The Peace Corps, or a requirement like military service in Israel, for 17 to 20 year olds in the US to participate in something similar to the CCC. Too many, let's say, legal and social restrictions these days, unfortunately.

My uncle was in the CCC – the cash helped feed his siblings back home, and it gave him a purpose when he needed one. Years later my wife and I enjoyed the fruits of the battalions' labor in Minnesota's magnificent state park system.

Forty-some years ago, high school kids all across the U.S. debated the topic of compulsory national service in debate competitions. I was one of them. I thought it was a good idea then, and I certainly do now.

 

[Stash]

Dad was in the CCC in Meeker, CO. We got to visit the area with him in the mid 70s and it was amazing to see the things they did. Mostly by hand.

 

[NH Tramper]

I love programs like that. As a kid I worked one summer (maybe 1976 or '77) at the Kilkenny Fish Hatchery with the YCC (Youth), mostly blazing trails and clearing swamps and what not. And then I later worked with the YACC (Young Adult) as a day job throughout NH doing the same sort of work. It was some of the most enjoyable and rewarding work in my life

 

[Will]

The Clear Creek Trail in The Grand Canyon is a CCC classic. Upstream a bit, the CCC trail to Upper Ribbons Falls hasn't even been acknowledged as a trail for decades, I doubt has had any maintenance since before WWII, but so well constructed it could have been opened yesterday.

We owe a lot to that program. Too bad we can't tap that kind of energy today. Remind me again, what's the unemployment rate among 18-25 year old non-college students/graduates?

 

[chipc]

Thanks for posting this. A lot of Acadia also owes the CCC.

Interesting that the article brings up Norman Borlaug. He was a somewhat controversial hero of the "green revolution" and plant biotech, but IMO a global thinker who was concerned about food security before much of the world was.

chipc

 

[TomK]

My Dad was also in the CCC, in Colorado - perhaps with Stash's dad, who knows. I remember him telling me about living in tents in the dead of winter. Also, virtually all his pay got sent back home to his mom - he only got to keep a small amount. From the sounds of it, there wasn't much or anywhere to spend it anyway.

TomK

 

[PA Ridgerunner]

I grew up hiking, picnicking, and camping in PA State Parks that were essentially created by the CCC, such as Colton Point State Park seen in this photo. I used to know a few old timers who were in the CCC. Great stories.

 

[skiguy]

This is worthy of checking out on a dricve by. http://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/whitemountain/recreation/recarea/?recid=74803&actid=29

 

[TrailwrightBratt]

Peg and. I were amazed at the art of trail building by the CCC on Mt. Whitney. Almost all of the 98 switchbacks were rock cribbed, just plain amazing. Some of them about 15 feet high. I will never forget what I saw on that mtn. The grading was unbelievable as well.
I think the hut was also done at that time. At least that was what I was told by a Ranger.
We too have seen thier work on many parts of the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Grand Canyon. Agreed the Lodge at Yellowstone is a work of art.
Kevin R. I thought the same thing about Glacier. We plan to go back some day. That should be a good chance to dig a little deeper.
Thanks for the post makes us want to get a list started.