The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in Zion National Park

Potentially Insensitive Content

This virtual exhibit highlights historical documents. Some sources' authors present ethnic and racial prejudices that were once considered acceptable. These primary and secondary sources are a part of history, but they do not reflect the views of the National Park Service.

 

The CCC in Zion

• Organization of the CCC
• Who enrolled in the CCC?
• CCC Camps in Utah
• CCC Work Projects
• A Day in the Life of an enrollee
• The End of the CCC
• 1989 CCC Reunion
• The CCC: Then and Now

"In about anything they needed as extra manpower, they always relied on the CCC…. I mean, you can just see the results. I don’t think they would have a lot of things today if they hadn’t had the CCC working on these, you know a lot of this rock cribbing and river work and the trail work and just things like that. They got a lot done. It makes the park…I’ll say."
 

- Fred Brueck, Zion and Bryce National Park Ranger 1934-1941 and Zion National Park Chief Ranger 1953-1973. Interviewed September 18, 1989.

Introduction

Under the authority of the Emergency Conservation Work Act, Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) on April 5, 1933, just one month into his presidency. The CCC went on to become one of the most prolific and productive of President Roosevelt’s New Deal programs.

 

ZION 15455: CCC Narrative Reports describe general camp life and often include images of work in progress. This image from the January 1938 Narrative Report details road work leading up to the Mount Carmel Tunnel. Today, millions of visitors travel over this switchback on their journey through Zion National Park.

 

Left image, ZION 7088: "Your CCC Handbook for Enrollees" was supplied to every enrollee and contained information about the CCC program, expectations, camp life, and other useful topics. Included on the final pages is the CCC Oath of Enrollment.

Right image, ZION 10660: The men of the CCC wore military-like uniforms in either denim or olive green. This shoulder patch insignia belonged to Norman Pierce Crawford, who served in the CCC at Zion.

New Deal programs strove to stimulate the economy during the difficult times of the Great Depression. The purpose of the CCC was to implement new conservation projects and to provide financial relief to unemployed young men and their families. CCC enrollees traveled across federal and state lands to complete a wide range of projects including, but not limited to, road construction, flood and erosion control, firefighting, and planting millions of trees. In addition to monetary compensation, participants received hands-on training and education. This assisted them in finding permanent employment or preparing them to enter the military. Overall, more than 3 million young men participated in the program throughout its nine-year existence.

As for the name, due to the popularity and dominating use of the term CCC by the press and public, the ECW was officially renamed the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1937.

 

ZION 12177: The Civilian Conservation Corps, Safety Regulations is a 177-page book that provides "…in one small compact volume, safety instructions and information to cover practically all phases of Civilian Conservation Corps work which can be readily used by all administrative personnel." This copy was marked as received in October of 1938 by Company 962, which was located in Zion National Park at Camp NP-4, Bridge Mountain.

 

Zion Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Research References

Want to learn more about the CCC? Here are the sources we used to do our research!

Research References