Utah's CCCs" The Conservators' Medium for Young Men, Nature, Economy, and Freedom

Group photograph of Farmington, Utah, CCC men, March 16, 1936. USHS collections.

THE CIVILIAN CONSERVATION CORPS HAD A PROFOUND EFFECT in Utah. During the nine years of its operation (1933-42) it provided jobs and training to thousands of young men and produced both immediate and long-term improvements to public and private lands The CCC program was the most popular part of the sweeping changes made by the newly inaugurated New Deal government of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Congress authorized it to reverse the ravages of the 1929 depression that sent an estimated 16 to 25 million unemployed men roaming the country looking for a future. Of those unemployed, 5 to 7 million ranged in age from sixteen to twenty-five. The corps was swiftly set into action on April 5, 1933, to employ U.S. citizens age seventeen to twenty-five who were unmarried and unemployed and whose parents were on relief They earned $30 per month, $25 of which was sent home to help support their families. The young men signed up for six-month periods. Many of the enrollees werejust seventeen; others were college graduates; most were under twenty.1

Applications for the corps far outnumbered allotments. Unemployment was so great that nationwide three and one-half men applied for each vacancy. In Salt Lake County the ratio was almost five and one-quarter men for each vacancy on the initial enrollment.2 Although Utah had twice the relief caseload of the national average, county population governed allotments of men to serve; so in spite of the need for employment locally, the enrollment of Utah men remained low because of the state's small population. Young men from eastern states with large city populations and little public land to work on in their home states made up the majority of CCC enrollees serving in Utah by six to one. 3

Less than six-weeks after President Roosevelt had signed the bill, construction started on Utah camps such as the one at Granite Flat in American Fork Canyon Lumber was bought from the local Chipman Mercantile and delivered by May 19 to the site where three barracks were built to house fifty men each. Typical of the camps built, American Fork Camp F-5 consisted of officer's quarters, a mess hall and kitchen, a shower room, a hospital, a recreation hall with a library and reading room, and utility buildings for trucks and a repair shop. Later camps were standardized with four barracks and 200 men per camp. American Fork Camp was dedicated and in use by June 30, 1933. Some men were taken to nearby work places by truck while others were dispersed to live in tent facilities placed near work assignments.4

By the end of the first year, twenty-six camps had been built in Utah with four more requested by Gov. Henry H. Blood for 1934. Throughout the nine years the CCC operated, 116 camps were built in Utah, though only one-third that number operated in any given year. Federal or state agencies sponsored camps, outlined needed projects, and hired experienced local men to oversee the projects to completion. The Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management were the largest users of the corps, with every part of the state benefitting.5

The Civilian Conservation Corps became a vast youthful army that literally rescued the American wilderness from the blatant and often deliberate destruction that had occurred in over a century and a half of westward movement. During that era 700 million acres of forest were destroyed, and rangelands were vastly overgrazed, depleting those resources as well as allowing erosion and dangerous flooding. And 300 million acres of America's best farmland lay wasted, worn out with overuse and vulnerable to destruction by water and wind. The wind was especially devastating to the midwestern and western states where, during the drought years of the depression, the land took to the air in black billowing clouds that shut out the sun for days. The need to renew the land had long been recognized, yet little had been accomplished Before 1933 there had never been an organized group large enough to tackle the overwhelming task of setting nature's time clock back Roosevelt "brought together two wasted resources, the young men and the land, in an attempt to save both." The marriage proved to be a good one. The majority of the improvements the CCC made are still in use and are important parts of the public lands we now enjoy.6

The summer of 1933 began a flurry of activity in the mountains and rangelands of Utah, where over the next nine years more than 3.2 million trees were planted. Nationwide more than 2.2 billion seedling trees were planted, over half of all the forests planted throughout history; the Corps earned the nickname of "Roosevelt's Tree Army."7

CCC workers managed land erosion in several ways: a pilot planting of artificial range reseeding proved a success in Sheep Creek (the rangeland between Spanish Fork and Springville) and served to demonstrate that artificial seeding worked; the first experimental mountain contour terracing was successful in Little Rock Canyon near Provo; rivers were faced with rocks to prevent bank deterioration; and newly built rock check dams and catch basins controlled the spring runoff. The CCC also built several large dams and accomplished much of the preliminary work on the Deer Creek Dam and the related Provo River Project, including an extensive system of dams, tunnels, and canals to bring water from the Weber and Duchesne rivers into the Provo River to fill the Deer Creek Reservoir.

Many of the ranger stations built by the CCC are still in use. Building fire guard stations and fighting fires were also part of the CCC forest preservation projects. New groups of recruits received extensive training in fire fighting, and when fire erupted these skilled reserves were nearby, equipped, and ready to conquer the blaze. The corps also implemented insect control measures in the forests and on the ranges.

The CCC men also built much-needed roads. They renewed streams and lakes with rich soil and plants and stocked them with fish. The Bear River and Ogden Bay bird refuges are large artificial wetlands built by the CCC that became a critical habitat for migrating waterfowl. The corpsmen developed and improved thousands of campgrounds and recreational areas in the mountains of Utah.8

The purpose of the corps was not just to temporarily employ the unemployed and improve the land but to teach skills and trades that could help men secure permanent jobs when jobs became available Enrollees learned rock masonry, carpentry, heavy equipment operation, truck driving, road construction, cooking, and other occupations during the average eighteen months they served. After their original six-month enlistment many were enticed into staying by promotions and slight raises in pay. From the beginning, the CCC offered optional evening classes to help the young men develop hobbies or improve their knowledge in a variety of subjects

To consider the CCC strictly as nature's reversal agent or a relief agency for the depression years would ignore another extremely important aspect of its existence, that is, the impact the corps had on the nation's preparation for World War II. Hitler's Brown Shirt youth army began as a conservation program that also employed youth during a time of depression, much the same as the CCC; but in Germany it soon became a machine that trained youth for war. While the U.S. government did not officially sanction full military training for the CCC, almost all aspects of the corps' activities contributed to war readiness.

When the CCC began in 1933 it was put directly under the jurisdiction of the War Department, the only government agency equipped to rapidly mobilize and set the CCC into motion. The CCC program was so accelerated that Fort Douglas, the Army's center of mobilization for the Ninth Corps Area, which included Utah, Nevada, California, Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington, processed more men daily than did the combined Army and Navy for the Ninth Corps Area in World War I. The rapid mobilization of the CCC required the use of nearly half of the active commissioned officers in both the Army and the Navy. As a consequence, several thousand reserve officers were called to active duty to relieve the regulars. Thus, the active duty officers in the U.S. fighting forces had increased by half by 1935 Two years later the secretary of war declared the corps to be the most valuable officers' training opportunity the Army had ever had The very act of fast mobilization proved a training exercise for what was to come in 1941.9

The corpsmen were under the jurisdiction of the War Department from their first physical examination until their discharge. The Army provided their uniforms, transported them in troop trains, furnished their food, housing, and equipment, and disbursed their pay. A camp's commanding Army and Navy officers controlled the corpsmen except during working hours. CCC regulations governed the officers' actions and exempted the enlistees from a fully regimented life, though a quasi-military order and discipline was followed. The young enrollees were impressionable, and the process of living with 200 men, taking orders from officers and civilian work leaders, learning to do physical work, waiting in line for meals, standing inspection, and earning weekend passes through good behavior conditioned them for military service The majority of men, when asked to comment on their time with the CCC, agreed that it was a very developmental experience One Utahn, with tears in his eyes, said, "It made a man out of me."10

From the beginning a general improvement in the physical condition of trainees resulted from the good food, regular hours, supervised physical endeavor, and healthful environment Meals were high in quality, quantity, and variety; and most enrollees enjoyed a better diet than they had had at home. Nationally, the average CCC man posted a weight gain of eight to fourteen pounds and a height gain of one-half inch. It did not take long for the new corpsmen to recognize the benefits of camp experiences When foreman E W Simons of Mount Nebo Camp F-9 asked his men to write their opinions of camp life after only two weeks, they included gaining good health, learning an occupation, and developing discipline.11

Because of the sheer number of new camps that had to be established, a system of quickly building a camp was developed and in use by 1935. Frame barracks and related buildings were prefabricated in Spokane, Washington, shipped, and hurriedly assembled on designated campsites. This method revolutionized camp building, and later, without a doubt, this process cut the time spent building camps during the massive mobilization for World War II.12

Even before the CCC reached its second anniversary, high-ranking military officers eyed the enrollees as a possible reserve army Gen. Douglas MacArthur proposed that the enrollees be permitted to enlist in the Army Reserve and be given two months of "intensive military training" at the end of their CCC service. Such a bill was drawn up but died in the House Military Affairs Committee because of public opposition. From then on, though, there was constant controversy between Army brass, CCC personnel, and the news media about whether the CCC had already gone or should go military When war rumblings in Europe became deafening in 1939, clamor arose for military training for what some viewed as a ready-made army. One of the main arguments against full military training was that the youth of the CCC were all from the working class, making an "undemocratic" balance in the military.13

Gen. George C. Marshall, Army chief of staff and a former CCC company commander, spoke out against formal military training for the enrollees but suggested that they be trained in noncombatant work that would be helpful to the military. When the Appropriations Committee met in 1940 to renew funding for the corps, Sen. James F. Byrnes of South Carolina tacked onto the funding bill an amendment providing educational courses for noncombatant Army support Instructions issued by the War Department to all CCC districts—entitled "Training for National Defense in Civilian Conservation Corps Camps"—called for eight hours of training weekly in general fields and twenty hours per week of "defensive training" geared directly to Army needs in motor vehicle operation, mechanics, construction, cooking and baking, clerical, radio, photography, telephone, first aid, mess management, mapping and map reading, military hygiene, blueprint reading, concrete work, forging and blacksmithing, machine shop practice, and welding. The educational and vocational classes then became compulsory.14

The acceleration of military support training can be seen at the Pleasant Grove Camp as the European conflict developed into World War II. One of the camp's first 1935 inductees recalled that little discipline was enforced, reveille and taps were not observed, and every weekend was free. By 1937 news from the camp indicates that the company followed a strict daily routine The men stood a weekly inspection by the officers where the complete OD uniform was required with shoes shined, and beds and personal appearance were checked thoroughly. Weekends away from camp had to be earned through satisfactory weekly inspection and daily personal behavior. As war steadily worsened in Europe the national director of the CCC, Robert Fetchner, declared that the corpsmen were "85% prepared for military life and could be turned into first-class fighting men at almost an instant's notice." In 1938 President Roosevelt ordered a new dress uniform he believed would strengthen the morale of the men.

In Pleasant Grove the men cleared additional space north of the barracks for morning calisthenics and the retreat formation when the men were to be "shaved, showered, and dressed in complete dress uniform for evening retreat each evening." Here camp officers inspected and reviewed the troops.15 From 1938 on programs presented periodically to a captive audience in camp indoctrinated the enrollees in the advantages of joining the flying cadets or the merchant marine when their CCC enlistments were up, stating that they were very similar to the CCC, i.e., they were now being trained and mobilized by Army personnel. During 1939 Britain and France declared war on Germany, and both the Army and the press in the U.S. became extremely vocal in pressing for military and vocational training for the CCC men During 1940 the devastating European war spread to Scandinavia, and German forces overran small Central European countries and France, while the British were being bombed mercilessly. In January 1940 the Pleasant Grove Camp took on a definite militaristic look when chevrons were added to all uniforms to designate rank. All members of the company had the official insignia sewed on their new "overseas" caps, and passes were needed to leave camp. The corpsmen became aware that their everyday activities were vital to their country when buildings were moved in or converted for educational and vocational training. Classes taught at Pleasant Grove in 1940 included leadership training, diesel mechanics, heavy equipment operating, truck driving, first aid, bookkeeping, photography, reading, college preparation, journalism, and telegraphy A large metal flagpole was installed in the center of a clearing where marching exercises took place. Still,James M. McEntee, the new national director of the CCC, denied that theywere going militaryjust because Army infantry drill was ordered to be practiced. He claimed the program would be helpful for physical conditioning and would "spruce these kidsup."16

A persuasive article by journalist Harold Martin cited the vital role of the CCC men, claiming they were too valuable to carry guns and were already adapted to barracks life and Army-type discipline. Martin pointed out that yearly the corps trained 20,000 cooks, 9,000 automotive mechanics, and 72,000 heavy equipment operators, and that it had the largest fleet of mechanized equipment in the U.S. Considering all the other skills learned by the CCCs, such as bridge building, road building, and first aid, they constituted a major contribution to the preparedness program. In fact 70 percent of the CCC tasks were those of combat engineers. Martin saw no difference in patching a torn tractor or a torn tank, no difference in patching the leg of a comrade injured by a falling rock or a comrade injured by shrapnel. "They have been soldiers all along," he said, "trained in everything but the techniques of slaughter."17

By October 16, 1940, the federal government had set up local draft machinery throughout the nation. Every man between the ages of twenty-one and thirty-five, inclusive, was required by law to register that day for the Selective Service from which the U.S. would build its armed forces to a record peacetime strength. However, some men were exempted from draft registration: those already on active duty in the armed services, in the Army and Navy Reserves or the ROTC, and those currently serving in the CCC. All were considered to be in the service of their country.18

As the nation stood on the threshold of another war, war machinery was running at top speed. Unemployed numbers throughout the U.S. began to dwindle because of weapons production for our allies and the building of our own defense system. Also, CCC enlistment dropped off considerably in view of policy changes in the corps; prospective enlistees saw corpsmen as cannon fodder. To keep the corps alive and stress its vital role in defense, the directors switched fifty-five CCC companies from conservation to direct military support on military reservations. Wide in scope, this work ranged from building railroads to mosquito control.19

When CCC camps began to close, a few became storage facilities for the military. After Pearl Harbor, an extremely crucial time when the nation was suddenly jarred into war, the Pleasant Grove Camp became the short-term base of three separate groups, an all-white Army unit, an Air Force group, and an all-black Army unit, each staying an average of two months until more permanent stations were readied. The War Department dismantled some camps and moved them to different locations to provide larger military camps The Army Chemical Warfare Service took over camps near Jerico, Juab County, and Lucine, Davis County. CCC Company 2517 was transferred from Simpson Springs to Camp DG-155 at Black Rock, both in Tooele County, and asked to stay on to operate another chemical warfare station for a short time after theJune 1942 deadline when all CCC camps were to be closed. The Black Rock Camp was then renamed G(D)-1 and operated at what is now Dugway Proving Grounds. The Army and Navy Engineers took over much of the large fleet of CCC heavy equipment.20

It is not known how many of the approximately 3 million men who served in the CCC entered the armed services; however, even the oldest of those who served in the initial corps in 1933 were between the draft ages of twenty-one and thirty-five. All CCC men who ever enrolled were prime draft age in 1940 when the Selective Service Act provided for nine hundred thousand men to be called each year. Interviews with former CCC men indicate that about 98 percent served in some branch of the military. It is likely that most of the remaining 2percent worked in defense-related industries. Because of the experience and discipline afforded some 3 million men, the U.S entered World War II a great deal more prepared than if the Civilian Conservation Corps had not operated during the previous nine years.

How the CCC gave the state's dying economy a financial boost is another aspect of the program that has not often been explored. The CCC provided its greatest economic impact almost as soon as the cogs began to turn in Washington in April 1933.When the initial camps were built in May, lumber and materials were purchased locally; it was two years before prefabricated barracks were shipped in. For each camp six to eight local men were hired immediately as supervisors and foremen to direct the work of the enrollees, and each was paid $1,680 to $1,860 per year. Utah camps numbered twenty-six by the end of the first year Work equipment and food supplies were purchased locally or in Utah whenever possible. Since the average camp cost $20,000 to build and another $5,000 annually per man to operate and maintain, excluding the enrollees' pay, local businesses received major transfusions of cash to help in their recovery. 21

Compared to the national average, Utah had twice the economic and employment need but fell far short of the number of men enrolled in the CCC Nevertheless, Utah gained economically through federal monies spent on numerous forest and range projects on public lands—a three-fourths slice of the state. CCC men in Utah proved successful at some of the best remedies to renew and protect those resources: artificial range reseeding, mountain terracing, riprapping rivers, water diversion tunnels and retention dams, insect control, fire fighting methods, and improved water conditions for fish and fowl. They created recreational opportunities for far more people than had previously been able to enjoy the state's resources. All Utahns may not realize the development that went on in every part of the state during these years Before the CCC impetus there was only one state park—the territorial capital block in Fillmore There were very few developed campsites; roads into the mountains and ranges were limited and rough or nonexistent; hiking trails in the mountains were narrow and dangerous or undeveloped; ranger stations to facilitate the care and management of the forests were scarce and small. The CCCs nine-year reign created a revolution in all these areas Most of the forest, range, and wildlife improvements used by the Utah populace during the past fifty-plus yearswere built by the CCC.

The many new recreational facilities built and made available to the public, in turn, created new jobs not thought of before such areas were widely expanded. Lucille Walker, wife of forest ranger Thomas Walker stated, "Many of the CCC fellows received their education while in the CCC and along with their experience were able to get good jobs with the Forest Service and National Parks Service after discharge."22

Another plus for Utah was that almost all Utah men enrolled served in the state, keeping their wages at home; albeit paltry, it added up and was better than nothing during those years. From out of state came six men for every Utahn enrolled. They also spent

their wages here. Feb H. Hames of Arkansas, who served in Pleasant Grove Camp BR-91 during 1939-41, enjoyed spending his money; "I had all my dress khakis tailor-made to go to town in and I bought me two tailor-made suits, and for an old cotton-patch boy, boy I was in high cotton."23

The 116 camps built throughout the state gave rural Utah a glimmer of hope through the nine-year period of CCC operation. Towns appealed to their congressman for the establishment of a camp in their vicinity to help generate revenue Twice during the seven years that the Pleasant Grove Camp operated, rumors rumbled threatening removal of the camp. Immediate pleas from two different mayors went out to Washington to retain this valuable asset to their town. Mayor Lyean Johnson sent telegrams to Utah's congressional delegation asking them to use their influence to keep the camp in operation because "We feel we are receiving much good from the same."24 Supervisor George C. Larson of the Uinta National Forest said that a community would benefit at least $50,000 each year from a nearby camp Others estimated more; Vernal Mayor R. C. Cooper believed that his city benefited $60,000 annually from DG-31 in Vernal.25 In small towns throughout Utah little money other than that of the CCC circulated during those years. In addition to the revenue generated, town officials welcomed the new employment opportunities as well as the conservation work going on around them.

Large numbers of Utah young men were at loose ends: farms no longer supported families let alone full time farmboys, laborers were not able to find work or learn trades, college students were unable to earn tuition Many a youth apprehensively viewed a future with little means of support or preparation for life. The younger CCC enrollees could fill those otherwise unproductive depression years learning skills and trades that raised their self-esteem and self-reliance and contributed to their family's support while doing worthwhile work. Glen Newman of Pleasant Grove joined the corps to dismiss his feeling of insecurity without work. He said of his experiences in the CCC, "I felt secure making $1 a day and I learned how to work." Newman drove a truck during his twenty-seven months with the corps then went on to drive trucks for large companies after his experience in the Utah County CCC camps. He eventually became police chief of Pleasant Grove. Ray Luke and one of his brothers from Midway leapfrogged each other in the CCC to stay employed; Ray worked as a lifeguard at the Midway Hotpots in the summer and milked his uncle's cows as a second job He joined the CCC in the fall for a six-month stint, got out in the spring to repeat his summer work, and then joined again in the fall. His brother traded off with him, milking his uncle's cows in the winter months and joining the CCC for the summer. Another brother also joined the corps; there was no other work available in Midway Eldon Schoonover came from a large family in Ohio. His mother needed medical help during the first year of his CCC experiences; his monthly allowance sent to his family filled that need. He reported, "I worked as a rock mason, carpenter, and truck driver all twenty-seven months in the Cs. I was made assistant leader of the rock masons The CCC taught me my trade and then I passed it on to my son who became the best darn rock mason there was."As Eldon laid rock for both the Aspen Grove and Mutual Dell amphitheaters during 1935-36 and for other projects, his interest in it grew, and he followed the masonry and building trade all of his life. Eldon married and remained in Pleasant Grove to raise his family. 26

Roosevelt's Civilian Conservation Corp saved a generation of men from the streets and renewed the nation's depleted environment; these have long been established facts In hindsight even more credit can be given to the corps It contributed much towards keeping Utah's economy alive, and it made a tremendous contribution toward training officers and men for defense purposes all the while keeping the military system alert, functioning, and actively preparing the United States for World War II.

NOTES

Mrs Olsen lives in Pleasant Grove and recently completed a master's degree in history at Brigham Young University.

1 John A Salmond, The Civilian Conservation Corps, 1933-1942: A Neiu Deal Case Study (Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1967), p. 1.

2 Kenneth W Baldridge, "Nine Years of Achievement: The Civilian Conservation Corps in Utah" (Ph.D diss., Brigham Young University, 1971), p 24.

3 Ibid., p 98.

4 Pleasant Grove Revieiv," American Fork Department," May 19, 1933; June 30, 1933.

5 Baldridge, "Nine Years of Achievement," p 98.

6 Salmond, The Civilian Conservation Corps, pp 3, 4, 120.

7 Ibid., p. 121.

8 Charles DeMoisy, "Some Early History of the Uinta National Forest," typescript, July 8, 1963, Utah State Historical Society Library, Salt Lake City; Pleasant Grove Review, May 26, 1933. The author participated in a study done by the Utah State Historical Society and the Forest Service documenting the Utah County CCC camps and their work, June 1993.

9 Salt Lake Tribune, May 18, 1933; Baldridge, "Nine Years of Achievement," p 31, 135; Salmond, The Civilian Conservation Corps, p 85.

10 U.S War Department, Civilian Conservation Corps Regulations (Washington, D.C.: GPO, 1937); Salmond, The Civilian Conservation Corps, p 132; interview with Lowell Duvall, Pleasant Grove, Utah, May 5, 1993, in Pleasant Grove Certified Local Government Files (hereinafter referred to as CLG files), Pleasant Grove City Library.

11 Salmond, The Civilian Conservation Corps, p. 129; Deseret News, June 15, 1933.

12 Salmond, The Civilian Conservation Corps, p. 136.

13 Salt Lake Tribune, March 17, 1935; Provo Herald editorial, March 12, 1939.

14 War Department to Commanding General, Ninth Corps Area, October 7, 1940, Folder 1, Training Instruction, Ninth Corps Area CCC Headquarters, Box 10863, Bureau of Land Management Records, Salt Lake City; Salmond, The Civilian Conservation Corps, pp. 196, 197.

15 Interview with Feb H Hames, Pleasant Grove, Utah, August 29, 1993, CLG files.

16 Interview with Eldon Schoonover, Pleasant Grove, Utah, June 1, 1992, CLGfiles;Pleasant Grove Review, May 21, 1937, June 18, 1937, February 11, 1938; Baldridge, "Nine Years of Achievement," pp. 127, 128; P. G. Bee (CCC camp newspaper), January 11, 1940, November 20, 25, 26, 1940, Utah State Historical Society Library, Salt Lake City; Duvall interview.

17 Baldridge, "Nine Years of Achievement," pp. 128, 129.

18 Pleasant Grove Review, October 11, 1940.

19 Salmond, The Civilian Conservation Corps, p 209.

20 Pleasant Grove Review, April 10, 17, 1942; interviews with Pleasant Grove people who remember all three groups stationed at the Pleasant Grove CCC Camp, July 1992, and interviews with Paul J Dolan of Tonawanda, New York, and Tom Mooney, of Westwood, New Jersey, in Pleasant Grove, July 29, 1992, in CLG files. Both men were attached to the 382d Air Force unit stationed in the Pleasant Grove CCC Camp, July to October 1942; Baldridge, "Nine Years of Achievement," pp. 131, 132.

21 Baldridge, "Nine Years of Achievement," pp, 146, 328.

22 Telephone interview with Lucille Walker, May 4, 1993, CLG files.

23 Hames interview.

24 Pleasant Grove City Council Meeting Minutes, March 7, 1936, Pleasant Grove City Hall.

25 Provo Herald, September 10, 1939; Vernal Express, March 31, 1938.

26 Interviews with Glen Newman, June 11, 1993, and Ray Luke, June 10, 1993, both in CLG files; Schoonover interview.