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"Modoc War: Its Military History & Topography" »
A free online book providing an overview
of the Modoc War.
Historic
Photos »
A gallery of selected historic photos.
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History & Culture
A young bunch of CCC enrollees pose by their work truck. |
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The ccc: Building a better park
Gillem’s Camp, one of the principle military
encampments of the Modoc War of 1872-73, came to life again under very
different circumstances sixty years after the army left the area. The
old campsite became the center of Camp Tulelake, a base for the Civilian
Conservation Corps.
The Civilian Conservation Corps, or CCC, was a very successful relief
program during the Great Depression. In the early 1930’s, the American
economy was in terrible shape – more than quarter of the working
population were unemployed. Many who could not find work were young men
trying to start a career, while others were former soldiers, veterans of
World War I. In an effort to help these men, President Franklin
Roosevelt’s administration started the CCC.
Men enlisted in the CCC for six-month tours of duty. Young men formed
work crews, guided by the older veterans and officers detached from the
U.S. Army. The CCC established camps all over the country, but most of
the sites were in the western United States. The CCC crews performed
conservation work on state and federal parks. They planted trees, fought
fires, built roads, installed electric and telephone lines, and did
other projects to improve public lands.
For their work, the CCC crewmen received room and board in the camps and
$30.00 a month, of which $25.00 was sent home to their families. Many
men served multiple tours of duty.
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| CCC Camp in
1936, seen from Gillem's Bluff. Notice the lake shore in the distance. |
The first CCC facility near Lava Beds National Monument was established
at Timber Mountain in 1933. Within a few months, a 'strike camp' of
army-surplus tents with wood frames and floors was established on the
old shoreline of Tule Lake. Over the years, more permanent wooden
buildings replaced the tents. Camp Tulelake included barracks, mess
halls, offices, a motor pool, and mechanical workshops. Eventually,
there were as many buildings as there had been tents in Gillem’s Camp
during the Modoc War. The CCC crews were kept very busy. Different crews
at Lava Beds built roads through the monument, laid the first power and
telephone lines, and built a superintendent’s residence and headquarters
building at Indian Well (where the modernvisitor center stands).
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| Bulldozing the
Lyons Trail, the first modern road into the park. |
They also built a campground (the current "A" loop of the campground)
and most of the picnic tables still in use today. Work crews from Camp
Tulelake laid out trails and developed dozens of trails through the lava
tube caves. The CCC workers moved over ten million cubic yards of earth
and debris from the caves near headquarters and installed ladders and
stairways – all without heavy construction equipment. In the caves, the
CCC crews used picks, shovels, block-and-tackle rigs, and wheelbarrows.
Occasionally, they used dynamite to widen natural openings, but the
debris was removed largely by hand.
With the outbreak of World War II, the CCC was shut down, as many of the
former workers became soldiers. The last CCC crew at Camp Tulelake
closed the facility in the spring of 1942. During the war, the old
buildings deteriorated, so that by 1949, most had been demolished. The
National Park Service continued to use several of the old CCC buildings
at Gillem’s Camp for years after the war ended. The old office building
became a visitor center, and one of the old barracks was converted to a
ranger residence.
The last remaining structures of Camp Tulelake were demolished around
1970 to restore the original character of the old campsite. The current
trail system through Gillem’s Camp was constructed during the same
period.
Although little remains of the old CCC camp but the leveled gravel field
north of the old artillery circle, the legacy of the Civilian
Conservation Corps will remain for as long as people use the roads and
trails they laid out, the campsites they built, and the facilities they
installed. We owe a debt of gratitude to the CCC we can never entirely
repay. Thanks to their efforts, we are able to see and enjoy Lava Beds
National Monument today. |
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