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The Civilian Conservation Corps and the National Park Service, 1933-1942: An Administrative History Chapter Four: Contributions |
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Enrollees
clearing timber area near Beltsville, Maryland, May 1940.
Courtesy
of the National Archives.
OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
During the early months of the ECW the enrollees began designing and building exhibits for use in the parks. One such exhibit on prehistoric America depicting pueblo ruins in the Southwest was placed on public display in the lobby of the Department of the Interior. Geologists were hired as technical assistants to help design geological exhibits. [48] The period also saw the beginning of such projects as the landscaping of the highway from Ellsworth to Bar Harbor, Maine, at Acadia National Park. A reservoir construction project at Jackson Lake, Wyoming, in Grand Teton National Park, resulted in raising the lake's water level and killing 3,194 acres of timber, which had detracted from the scenic value of the park. ECW enrollees accomplished the herculean task of removing the dead trees from the lakeshore. Another project singled out for praise involved soil stabilization work at Vicksburg National Military Park, which permitted the restoration of many of the battlefield features. [49]
In the summer of 1935 the Park Service used ECW and other emergency relief funds to build an exhibit and participate in the California Pacific International Exposition at San Diego, California. The exhibit contained dioramas , motion pictures , and still-photograph enlargements showing scenes of CCC work in the national parks and monuments. CCC enrollees operated a model laboratory in the natural history museum building and set up a model CCC camp adjacent to the federal building. A detachment of 50 enrollees at the camp demonstrated typical conservation activities such as tree planting and trail building. [50]
New CCC camps were opened in the Virgin Islands and at the proposed Isle Royale National Park in Michigan in 1935. Administration of these camps was entirely under the Park Service. The Isle Royale camp posed several challenges, including the necessity of its being supplied by boat. The first camp at Isle Royale was established in August 1935 and remained in operation for only a few months. The next year a reduced crew of 90 CCC enrollees maintained the camp throughout the winter months on the island. [51]
CCC work in 1935 continued to be the same as in the previous years. The NPS Washington Office recommended that specific tasks were better suited for the winter months--such as firebreak construction, vista clearing, campground and picnic area cleaning, and a few other types of forestry work. The office further warned that extensive and intensive forestry projects should not be undertaken, to thus avoid park overdevelopment. Director Fechner warned the Park Service not to use CCC enrollees on projects which would place them in competition with the labor market. [52]
The CCC continued an assortment of work assignments into 1936. One task involved the cleanup of summer CCC camps when the youths moved to winter camps, and vice versa. In general, summer camps were usually closed in October and reoccupied in May or June. One unique job project in 1936 was the construction of a permanent footpath across Norris Geyser Basin in Yellowstone National Park so that tourists could better view the geysers and hot pools. At Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park six enrollees were trained in bookbinding, while at Glacier National Park CCC enrollees cut down fire-killed timber and sent it by train to the Blackfeet, Ft. Peck, and Turtle Mountain Indian reservations to be used by the Indian Service to build homes and community structures. Also during 1936, Conrad Wirth obtained permission from Director Fechner to have the CCC and the Public Works Administration jointly work on the construction of the Santa Fe, New Mexico, Park Service regional office. [53]
On August 17, 1937, Cape Hatteras National Seashore became the first seashore in the national park system. Starting in 1933 the CCC was involved in a number of projects here. One project was the reestablishment of beach sand dunes that had been overgrazed by cattle and threatened by wind and wave erosion. The new dunes were created by erecting fences and bulldozing sand over them. This eventually resulted in the creation of a vegetation community behind the dunes and temporarily halted natural seashore dynamics--a problem that still faces park administrators. [54]
The work carried out by the CCC in 1937 included the draining of swamps near Fredericksted, St. Croix Island, in the Virgin Islands, which were vast breeding grounds for malaria-carrying mosquitoes. Territorial Governor Lawrence Cramer praised the work of the CCC in improving the health of the island. CCC enrollees also did flood relief work along the Mississippi River and its tributaries. In the West, CCC workers from the Lake Mead camps conducted winter rescues in Nevada. In prior years the CCC had operated tree nurseries in Yellowstone and Sequoia National Parks to provide seedlings for planting programs throughout the West. In 1937 two other nurseries were opened in Mesa Verde National Park and Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Unusual projects for the year included the development of ski trails and shelters in Hawaii National Park. [55]
The CCC rendered valuable assistance to victims of the Florida tornado and Virginia hurricane of 1933; the blizzards of 1936-1937 in Wyoming, Nevada, and Utah; the New York floods of 1937; and the New England hurricane of 1938. [56] A number of special projects were undertaken in 1938 by the CCC. Enrollees assigned to Gettysburg National Military Park completed various tasks to prepare the park for the 75th anniversary commemoration of the battle. In the proposed Big Bend National Park, CCC workers collected 500 plant specimens, which were mounted, labeled, and presented to the Mexican government. A transmountain telephone line of 450 miles was installed in Glacier National Park. [57]
CCC work for 1939 included the ongoing construction of NPS regional headquarters in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The building was simulated adobe done in Colonial Spanish, Mexican, and North American motifs. The enrollees used small cones from sequoia trees in Sequoia National Park as models for the iron doorknobs. The CCC also landscaped the hotel grounds at McKinley Park Station in Mount McKinley National Park in Alaska and constructed the Frijoles Lodge at Bandelier National Monument in New Mexico (to be operated by a private concessioner). At Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky, a 350-seat amphitheater was constructed. [58]
During 1940 CCC work continued to be curtailed because of falling enrollment. The Park Service used the few remaining CCC camps in areas designated for high priority development, including Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site, Saratoga National Historical Park, and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. At Saratoga National Historical Park, the CCC removed nonhistoric fences and farm structures from the park area. On the Blue Ridge Parkway, the CCC developed recreational parks adjacent to the parkway. CCC enrollees further planted and maintained a garden of maize, pumpkin, and beans as part of an archeological experiment on the agriculture of prehistoric people at Chaco Canyon National Monument. [59]
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Last Modified: Tues, Apr 4 2000 07:08:48 am PDT
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