The Coon Creek Watershed and the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)
(a short history)
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The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a public works program that put over three million young men and adults to work during the Great Depression of the 1930's and 1940's in the United States. |
Franklin D. Roosevelt, accepting the presidential nomination on July 1, 1932, planned a fight against soil erosion and declining timber resources by utilizing the unemployed of large urban areas. |
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Eroded land. Photo taken in 1934. |
Aerial photo of the same area as shown at left. Photo taken in 1967. |
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In what would later be called "The Hundred Days," President Roosevelt revitalized the faith of the nation with several measures, one of which was the Emergency Conservation Work (ECW) Act, more commonly known as the Civilian Conservation Corps. On March 9, 1933, the (ECW) Act was authorized, bringing together two wasted resources, young men and the land, in an effort to save both. |
Civilian Conservation Corps would recruit thousands of unemployed young men for a peacetime army that would wage war against the destruction and erosion of our natural resources. The program had great public support, and young men flocked to enroll. |
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From left to right: J. Bolinger, H.H. Bennett, M.F. Schweers, H. Fluek. (Photo taken in July 1955) |
CCC crews building Gully Control Structures
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CCC crews building Gully Control Structures.
All of the photos on this page were taken in the Coon Creek Watershed at the CCC camp just west of Coon Valley, Wisconsin
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H.H. Bennett
(Photo taken in October 1946) |
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The CCC enrollees were worked hard, ate well and gained weight while improving millions of acres of land. As the CCC grew, the early days of drafty tents, ill-fitting uniforms and haphazard work projects disappeared. |
The young, inexperienced, $30-a-month CCC enrollees had met and exceeded all expectations. The impact of mandatory monthly $25.00 allotment checks to families was felt in the economy of the cities and towns all across the nation. In communities close to the camps, local purchases staved off the failure of many small businesses. |
Eventually there would be CCC camps in all states and in Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. By the end of 1935, over 2,650 camps were in operation in all states. Before it ended, over three million young men would pass through the CCC. |
Few records were kept of the sociological impact of the 1930s on the nation's young men. Many had never been outside their own state, yet, many would choose to remain in towns and villages near their camps. They married, raised families and put down their roots. Those who did return, many with brides, came boasting of their experiences with renewed confidence in themselves and in their country. |
Technically, the Corps was never abolished. Lack of funding moved the Civilian Conservation Corps into the pages of history in June 1942. |
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