Worked in Forestry Protection and Improvement in Minnesota
Few federal government programs today are viewed as efficient and popular, with long-lasting effects.
This June marks 80 years since the end of the Civilian Conservation Corps, the enormously successful Depression-era program of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal.
The CCC put unemployed, impoverished young men to work in forestry, soil conservation, drainage, and public parkland. Known for its quality of work, the imprint of the CCC remains in parks, forests, and farmlands today, including in Minnesota.
“The impact of the CCC on parks across the nation cannot be understated,” said James Denny, a retired historian with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources who has extensively studied the CCC. “The work that the CCC did in parks was tremendous, and the CCC put people back to work and helped send money home to families that needed it. It also got people into the great outdoors and into better surroundings, and gave them something productive to do.”
With the nation’s economy in shambles, Roosevelt spent his first days in office in March 1933 creating a multitude of programs to create jobs, including the CCC, whose official name was “Emergency Conservation Work.”
On March 21, Roosevelt sent his plan for the CCC to Congress, stressing the “moral and spiritual value” of conservation work to “take a vast army of … unemployed out into healthful surroundings.”
Ten days later, Congress approved the plan. The first man enrolled in the CCC was Henry Rich in Alexandria, Va., on April 7, 1933, only five weeks after Roosevelt’s inauguration. By June, some 253,000 were enrolled across the nation.
Men in the CCC lived in quasi-military camps administered by Army and civilian personnel. Camps contained approximately 24 buildings, including barracks, a mess hall, infirmary, educational and recreational facilities, and administrative quarters. Men received food, shelter, medical care, and $30 per month, $25 of which was sent to dependents who welcomed the economic benefit.
Wildly popular with the public and politicians alike, enrollment in the CCC peaked at 505,782 in 1935. The program was particularly a favorite in northern Minnesota, where unemployment on the Iron Range reportedly reached 70 percent. Nationally, some 3.5 million men in 4,500 camps filled the ranks in the Corps’ existence from 1933-42.
Dubbed “Roosevelt’s Tree Army,” CCC camps held approximately 200 men and were usually segregated. Many of these -“colored camps,” as they were officially known, were found in the Plains and Upper Midwest states.
The CCC was originally designed for unmarried men ages 18-25 on the relief rolls. Native Americans, also struggling economically, were added in April 1933. The following month, World War I veterans were added and sent to their own camps.
More than 84,000 Minnesota men were enrolled in the CCC, and an annual average of 51 camps were operated in the state during the Corps’ existence.
Among other achievements in Minnesota, the Corps stocked 275 million fish in the state’s lakes, built 4,500 miles of new roads, strung 3,338 miles of telephone lines, and constructed 149 lookout towers. Numerous dams and bridges were also built, while more than 123.6 million new trees were planted.
Twelve Minnesota state parks were also enhanced by CCC work, which helped triple park attendance statewide. CCC men also worked in bird refuges, on highway beautification projects, and in tree nurseries.
Today, the CCC is honored with a historic landmark in the Chippewa National Forest near Blackduck, where the former CCC installation at Camp Rabideau has been partially restored. The Corps is also interpreted at the Iron Range Research Center Museum in near Chisholm, while statues to the CCC also stand in Gooseberry Falls State Park and Flag of Honor Park in Willmar.
Most acknowledge the CCC as a landmark in the conservation movement, and the economic benefits were felt not only by workers and their families, but in the towns that hosted camps, as supplies were usually purchased locally.
The CCC also left an emotional legacy, as many of its alumni never forgot the opportunity the CCC presented. Men gained 12 pounds on average in their first two months in camp, and the spartan barracks, in many cases, were an improvement over previous living conditions. “Many men say that the CCC saved their lives,” said Joan Sharpe, President of the Virginia-based CCC Legacy, a national organization of CCC veterans and enthusiasts. “The men were so desperate in those times, and many of them were just riding the rails. They all needed the structure and benefits that the CCC provided.”
The CCC officially ended on June 30, 1942. An estimated 95 percent of CCC men eventually served in World War II, and many became officers.
“They already knew a lot about military life, since the camps were run by military officers,” said Sharpe. “When the war came, they put their CCC experience to good use.”
Among them was Andy Kmetz, a son of Slavic immigrants from Girard, Ill., who eventually rose to lieutenant colonel in the Air Force before a successful career in soil and water conservation, skills he had acquired in the CCC. He became a tireless promoter of the CCC legacy until his death in 1995.
“The CCC was a way for him to help his parents in a difficult time,” said Kmetz’ daughter, Joni Mack of Moline, Ill. “He was so proud of everything he did in the CCC. He felt like we could all learn from, and appreciate, what the CCC did for so many young men in that time.”
Historical researcher Tom Emery of Carlinville, Ill., may be reached at (217) 710-8392 or ilcivilwar@yahoo.com.