Last updated: August 30, 2024
Place
Gum Springs Recreation Area
NPS Photograph, NCPTT Media via Flickr, CC BY-NC 2.0
Quick Facts
Location:
Winnfield, Louisiana
Significance:
Entertainment/Recreation, Politics/Government
Designation:
Listed in the National Register – Reference Number 10000986
MANAGED BY:
Gum Springs Recreation Area is located in Winnfield, Louisiana. Gum Springs Recreation Area is a U.S. Government owned public recreation site born originally out of a Great Depression era Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) development project which principally constructed an outdoor swimming pool and picnic area for operation by the United States Forest Service (USFS). The area is a part of the Kisatchie National Forest and covers about 10 acres.
Before being in office for a full month, Franklin D. Roosevelt commenced one of his most successful relief projects, the Civilian Conservation Corps, as a part of the New Deal. This work promised to combat both the social and environmental issues of the recent past with a new hope of “social and natural preservation.” Originally termed the Emergency Conservation Work (ECW), the CCC had two primary functions: to give meaningful employment to the struggling young men of the nation, and to take positive action to conserve the natural resources.
Beginning in 1933, the CCC grew to an enormous operation with some 1,500 camps located across the country, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands by 1939. Camps were staffed with local enrollees whenever possible, with each camp housing about 200 enrollees each. Approximately 56 million dollars of federal relief funding was cycled through CCC programs within the state of Louisiana, a process which eventually employed some 51,820 men across the state. The CCC’s pine nursery work marked Louisiana as second in the nation in the volume of reforestation efforts during the Great Depression. Locally, CCC labor was responsible for constructing much of the infrastructure and initially planting most of the initial pine forest nurseries which now comprise the bulk of Kisatchie National Forest.
In July 1936, forest supervisor Phillip H. Bryan visited Gum Springs and noted that “the area shows signs of extensive use…with many old campfires on the spot and from the [locals] I have ascertained that it is very popular for picnic parties.” Further planning for the development of the site began immediately. There were no formal swimming facilities open for public use within the vicinity of Winnfield and the USFS anticipated a developed site would receive large use and be very popular with the people.”
In 1937, 145 CCC workers were assigned to Company 5407, Louisiana Camp F-6, near Calvin, Louisiana. Of these, a smaller camp housing thirty-seven workers was set up at Gum Springs with the task of developing what would become Gum Springs Recreation Area. The main work on Gums Springs Recreation Area started in 1939 and called for the completion of a parking area, picnic tables and benches, barbeque pits, a children’s playground, and a swimming pool. Construction at the recreation area commenced with the earthen dam in March 1939. Additional work completed by the men of Company 5407 included the construction of forestry roads, fencing of forest plantations, ridding the area of unwanted wild hogs, forest fire fighting, the placement of telephone lines, the construction of twenty-three miles of fencing and the planting of 5.6 million seedlings between the years 1938 and 1939.
The legacy of the CCC work in the Kisatchie National Forest cannot today be overlooked. Many of the standing mature pine forests, USFS road, and a number of recreational and infrastructure constructions were developed by their labor. Additionally, between 1933 and 1941 the CCC erected eighteen steel lookout towers throughout the Kisatchie. Today, there are few tangible resources outside of the pine nurseries left to mark the CCC presence in the state. When Gum Springs Recreation Area was undergoing construction, a strong emphasis was placed on the power of the individual workers (the CCC), the use of readily available natural materials combined with construction techniques which harmonized with the natural landscape. These aspects are visible in the wide use of the ferruginous sandstone, cypress timbers, and the native soil to develop much of the original recreation area. Today, visitors can enjoy the Gum Springs Recreation Area daily, with campground and picnic sites available.
Link to National Register of Historic Places file.
Before being in office for a full month, Franklin D. Roosevelt commenced one of his most successful relief projects, the Civilian Conservation Corps, as a part of the New Deal. This work promised to combat both the social and environmental issues of the recent past with a new hope of “social and natural preservation.” Originally termed the Emergency Conservation Work (ECW), the CCC had two primary functions: to give meaningful employment to the struggling young men of the nation, and to take positive action to conserve the natural resources.
Beginning in 1933, the CCC grew to an enormous operation with some 1,500 camps located across the country, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands by 1939. Camps were staffed with local enrollees whenever possible, with each camp housing about 200 enrollees each. Approximately 56 million dollars of federal relief funding was cycled through CCC programs within the state of Louisiana, a process which eventually employed some 51,820 men across the state. The CCC’s pine nursery work marked Louisiana as second in the nation in the volume of reforestation efforts during the Great Depression. Locally, CCC labor was responsible for constructing much of the infrastructure and initially planting most of the initial pine forest nurseries which now comprise the bulk of Kisatchie National Forest.
In July 1936, forest supervisor Phillip H. Bryan visited Gum Springs and noted that “the area shows signs of extensive use…with many old campfires on the spot and from the [locals] I have ascertained that it is very popular for picnic parties.” Further planning for the development of the site began immediately. There were no formal swimming facilities open for public use within the vicinity of Winnfield and the USFS anticipated a developed site would receive large use and be very popular with the people.”
In 1937, 145 CCC workers were assigned to Company 5407, Louisiana Camp F-6, near Calvin, Louisiana. Of these, a smaller camp housing thirty-seven workers was set up at Gum Springs with the task of developing what would become Gum Springs Recreation Area. The main work on Gums Springs Recreation Area started in 1939 and called for the completion of a parking area, picnic tables and benches, barbeque pits, a children’s playground, and a swimming pool. Construction at the recreation area commenced with the earthen dam in March 1939. Additional work completed by the men of Company 5407 included the construction of forestry roads, fencing of forest plantations, ridding the area of unwanted wild hogs, forest fire fighting, the placement of telephone lines, the construction of twenty-three miles of fencing and the planting of 5.6 million seedlings between the years 1938 and 1939.
The legacy of the CCC work in the Kisatchie National Forest cannot today be overlooked. Many of the standing mature pine forests, USFS road, and a number of recreational and infrastructure constructions were developed by their labor. Additionally, between 1933 and 1941 the CCC erected eighteen steel lookout towers throughout the Kisatchie. Today, there are few tangible resources outside of the pine nurseries left to mark the CCC presence in the state. When Gum Springs Recreation Area was undergoing construction, a strong emphasis was placed on the power of the individual workers (the CCC), the use of readily available natural materials combined with construction techniques which harmonized with the natural landscape. These aspects are visible in the wide use of the ferruginous sandstone, cypress timbers, and the native soil to develop much of the original recreation area. Today, visitors can enjoy the Gum Springs Recreation Area daily, with campground and picnic sites available.
Link to National Register of Historic Places file.