Civilian Conservation Corp Indian Division at Grand Portage

Excavating the old depot site

NPS photo

The Commissioner of Indian Affairs under Herbert Hoover, concerned about the impact of the Great Depression on American Indians, created a modified Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) program. The Indian Emergency Conservation Work program, later renamed the Civilian Conservation Corps-Indian Division, consisted of seven districts with a CCC work supervisor in charge of each one. The superintendent at the reservation and a local forestry or irrigation representative collaborated on choosing projects to be undertaken at each reservation, with the tribal council serving as administrator. Enrollees were not required to be aged 18 to 25, as was the case in the CCC, but they did have to be physically fit. In addition, participants were required to designate a "substantial part" of their wages to dependent relatives or allow the Indian agency to retain their wages and dispense them in installments to their designated dependents during the winter. They generally worked on their own reservation – living in the camp's quarters was not mandatory.

The Consolidated Chippewa were the first Minnesota participants in the CCC-ID. In May 1933, the Commissioner of Indian Affairs tentatively allocated funds for six months of work for two hundred men from these bands. The Grand Portage Band welcomed economic support because of a depressed fish market, which was their main source of income. CCC-ID employed about twenty-five men from Grand Portage, total population less than four hundred. Although the Grand Portage camp was not constructed until 1936, the Band engaged in emergency relief work in 1933, with members clearing nine miles of the Grand Portage trail. During the clearing, they found a number of artifacts, given to the Cook County Historical Society. Work encompassed a wide range of activities, including standard CCC-ID projects like construction of trails, roads, buildings, telephone lines, and forestry work. A major focus of the Consolidated Chippewa entailed White pine blister rust prevention. Grand Portage enrollees also constructed a variety of structures including foot bridges, the Stone Bridge, telephone lines, the Sophie Mountain Lookout Tower, truck and foot trails, the Tamarack Point picnic grounds, wild rice seeding at Swamp Lake, reconstruction of the stockade road, restoration of the stockade, and a new ranger station at Grand Portage Village.

CCC-ID enrollees were able to acquire job skills and also engaged in recreational activities. Classes offered included forestry, English, and math, as well as training in skills like carpentry, cabinet work, and rustic furniture making. As for recreation, Grand Portage Camp was known for its sports teams, winning the North Shore Champions Trophy in baseball and basketball in 1936 and in basketball again in 1937, as well as a gold loving cup for sportsmanship.

1930's quilled and beaded sash sponsored by the WPA

NPS photo

A great deal of interest focused on the area's historic resources. In collaboration with the Minnesota Historical Society, camp enrollees undertook archaeological excavations of the former North West Company's fur trading post in 1936 and 1937, which revealed the locations of the stockade and the Great Hall. The group erected a replica stockade enclosing approximately three acres. In the winter of 1939-40, they were able to reconstruct the Great Hall based on archaeological evidence. The hall contained a small museum with Chippewa-made objects completed as part of a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project.

Oral histories provide further information about the Grand Portage camp. One story tells that Jim Wipson was only 16 but lied about his age so that he could join the CCC-ID. Part of his time was spent at the Grand Portage camp helping with the stockade reconstruction. Wipson's mother also worked at Grand Portage doing sewing and beadwork as part of a WPA project. Betty Lou Hoffman recalled that the "old fort played a big role in the life of the Grand Portage community. Lots of people from the community helped to build the old fort, and many women worked there making crafts, which were on display there.”

Adapted from the HISTORIC AMERICAN ENGINEERING RECORD National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior