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Presenting Nature
MENU
Design Ethic Origins
(1916-1927)
Design Policy & Process
(1916-1927)
Western Field Office
(1927-1932)
Decade of Expansion
(1933-1942)
State Parks
(1933-1942)
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Presenting Nature:
The Historic Landscape Design of the National Park Service, 1916-1942 |
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VI. A DECADE OF EXPANSION, 1933 TO 1942 (continued)
EMERGENCY CONSERVATION WORK (continued)
DEVELOPMENT OF CAMPGROUNDS AND PICNIC AREAS
In 1932, one year before the founding of the CCC and the organization of ECW, the U.S. Forest Service introduced the Meinecke plan for campground development. The Meinecke plan called for extensive rehabilitation of existing campgrounds, the closing of many old campgrounds, and the construction of new ones according to Meinecke's principles of camp planning. ECW was immediately seen as a means to carry out this reform, and the work of the CCC became closely associated with campground construction.
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| Trailer campsite Unit K, illustrated in Park and Recreation Structures (1938), was one of several solutions by the National Park Service for accomodating automobiles with trailers in park campgrounds. Automobiles turned from one-way roads onto spur roads leading to single campsites. The spur roads were arranged in tiers and enabled motorists to drive in, park, and drive out without reversing direction. (Park and Recreation Structures, 1938) |
The CCC's campground work included the construction of loop roads with tiers and parking spurs. It entailed clearing, grubbing, and thinning underbrush for roads and campsites. Flammable vegetation was cleared from each campsite, while tall trees and screens of shrubbery between campsites were marked for preservation. Barriers in the form of boulders or logs embedded in the earth were installed to mark roadways and parking spurs and to protect vegetation. Comfort stations, amphitheaters, water fountains, campstoves, signs, and picnic tables were constructed, and a system of footpaths was laid out. Enrollees commonly planted trees and shrubs in existing campgrounds.
Advances were made in the design of items such as campstoves, which needed to be safe enough for public use and to eliminate the threat of forest fires. Amphitheaters and campfire circles became basic features of campgrounds. And in parks where climate necessitated more sheltered gathering places, community buildings were built adjacent to campgrounds.
In response to the increasing popularity of trailer camping in the 1930s, the National Park Service created numerous schemes for trailer and car camping that were developed in national parks and published in Park and Recreation Structures in 1938. These schemes were intended to suit most locations and conditions, and allowed for parking along one-way loop roads in parking spurs, drive-through lanes, and several other configurations that could accomodate the automobile with and without trailers. Campgrounds were to be developed in tiers off the main loop road. Additional one-way roads with camping sites could be developed as more facilities were needed.
RECREATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
The 1918 and 1932 statements of policy encouraged certain kinds of recreation in the national parks, particularly winter sports, which would encourage people to come to the parks at times when there were no crowds. This policy created opportunities for the construction of facilities such as ski slopes, toboggan slides, and golf courses.
The Badger Pass area in Yosemite, the Lodgepole area in Sequoia, and Paradise at Mount Rainier were all envisioned as centers of winter recreation. At the Lodgepole and Badger Pass areas, CCC camps constructed recreational ski trails and other landscape features related to winter recreation. Sensitive to the effects of recreational development, landscape architect R. L. McKown reported that at Badger Pass, although it was necessary to construct ski runs and an area for the ski school, the development was not objectionable. He also noted that a small ski jump had been constructed with a minimum of destruction to timber and existing slopes. [59]
In conjunction with the development of Skyline Drive in Shenandoah, the park service revived Jens Jensen's scheme for waysides at periodic intervals to provide amenities to travelers. The idea was also adopted for the Blue Ridge Parkway. In Shenandoah, waysides were to be created at Dickey Ridge, Elkwallow, South River, Big Meadows, and Lewis Mountain. These areas would offer a variety of facilities, such as gas stations and stores run by concessionaires and picnic areas, water, comfort facilities, and trail connections installed by the CCC. In the larger areas, a lodge, cabins, and a campground were provided. Government and concessionary facilities were generally separated, sometimes located on different loops that extended off the main road or parkway. A one-way loop road drew travelers off the main road at gracefully placed wyes and led them around the grounds where sites for picnicking were located on either side of the road. Parking occurred off the road in areas widened for this purpose. The picnic loops allowed designers to adapt the naturalistic principles and practices of landscape gardening to a contemporary recreational use. Often, locations with natural hills and rolling topography or scenic views were selected. Curving paths and stone steps and stairways built into natural rock outcroppings led picnickers to hillside sites furnished with rustic tables and stone fireplaces. Comfort stations were centrally located, and water fountains, fashioned from boulders, hollowed logs, or stonemasonry structures, were placed at cross paths and other locations. Shelters offered cover and massive stone fireplaces. Paths led from the picnic grounds to scenic viewpoints or hiking trails.
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| On the floor of the Grand Canyon near Phantom Ranch in winter 1933-34, CCC enrollees from the Walcott Camp cleared massive boulders to make way for a naturalistic swimming pool to be used by visitors to Phantom Ranch and the nearby campground. Outlined by the park's master plan, the recreational development of the canyon floor called for campground improvements, riprapping along Bright Angel Creek, an irrigation system, packers' cabins, a corral and shelter for mules, a new trail along the river, and plantings of cottonwoods and other plants for shade and erosion control. (National Archives, Record Group 79) |
Recreational development by the CCC also took place at the base of the Grand Canyon, near Phantom Ranch where Bright Angel Creek flowed into the Colorado River. Phantom Ranch had been designed by Mary Colter for the Fred Harvey Company and was a popular overnight stopping point for riders and hikers making the trip from the rim to the floor of the canyon. The Walcott Camp NP-3 was established here in 1933 and carried out many improvements over several enrollment periods. To protect the area from erosion, the banks of Bright Angel Creek were stabilized with riprapping made from boulders excavated from the campground and from what was to be a new swimming pool. The campground was leveled, boulders removed, and cottonwoods planted for shade. Because this area was used by hikers and fishermen who arrived by mule or on foot, there was no need to organize the campground according to Meinecke's principles, although his advice for planting cottonwoods was followed.
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| Constructed of concrete, the pool at Phantom Ranch in Grand Canyon National Park took the form of a naturalistic pond inspired by Japanese and Craftsman-era landscape design. The pool was curvilinear in design and lined with stream boulders taken from the site. Water entered the pool through a pipe fashioned like at naturally flowing stream trickling in over boulders. Construction of the pool alone required 2043 mandays. Around the pool, Bermuda grass and about 400 shrubs and trees were planted and walls of stonemasonry piers and log rails were constructed. (National Park Service Historic Photography Collection) |
In winter 1933-34, the CCC constructed a swimming pool for both campground and ranch visitors. The design of the pool exhibited the naturalistic intent and creative spirit that guided the resident landscape architects at the beginning of the CCC period. An area beside the recreational building was cleared of soil and boulders to make way for the pool. Although constructed of concrete, the pool took the form of a naturalistic pond inspired by Japanese landscape design. It was curvilinear in design and lined with stream boulders taken from the site. Water entered the pool through a pipe fashioned like a naturally flowing stream, trickling in over the boulders. Around the pool, Bermuda grass sod and about four hundred shrubs and trees were planted, and a fence of stone pylons and log rails was constructed. Construction required 2,043 man-days of labor. [60]
The development of this area was coordinated with trail construction and improvements carried out by members of the same camp. One project was the construction of the new River Trail, which connected with the Kaibab Trail and crossed the Colorado River on the suspension bridge built by the Engineering Division in 1928. This trail work was particularly hazardous and challenging, for the trail was literally carved out of the natural bedrock with a jackhammer and compressor. It required constant drilling through the sheer walls of the canyon with little space for equipment and machinery, and progress was slow. The Walcott Camp also repainted the suspension bridge in colors that blended into the natural coloration of the canyon walls and constructed cabins for packers and the trail caretaker. [61]
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Last Modified: Mon, Oct 31, 2002 10:00:00 pm PDT
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