The
Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was born from the
despair of the great depression: the soup lines, the
Hoover villages, and the conditions of a nation in
desperate need of help and action. In 1933, President
Franklin D. Roosevelt faced a nation bankrupt in money and
spirit. In his First Hundred Days, Roosevelt took many
bold actions. Passage of the Emergency Work Act in March
1933, authorized several programs, one of which was the
CCC. The CCC was a program to recruit thousands of young
men in a peacetime Army to work in forests, parks, lands
and waters.
Robert
Fechner was appointed as National Director on April 5,
1933. He was from Quincy, Mass. and received a salary of
$12,000 per year. His two objectives for the CCC were to
give employment to the youths and assistance to their
families. The first camp opened on April 17, 1933, in
Virginia, and by the first of July there were 275,000
enrollees in 1,300 camps across the country.
The CCC was
the work of many agencies. The Dept of Labor did
recruitment. Transportation, camp construction and
management was done by the Army while the Dept of
Agriculture and Interior selected the campsites, planned,
designed and supervised the work projects in cooperation
with the State Dept of Forest and Parks. Through
cooperative arrangements the Corps worked on national,
state and metropolitan lands and projects.
The young
men needed to be between the ages of 18 and 25, be
physically fit, unemployed, and unmarried. In 1935 the age
limits were reduced to 17 and increased to 28 years. The
men were paid $1 a day. The enrollees were required to
send $25.00 of the $30.00 monthly wages home. The men were
given the $5 to spend as they wished. The CCC program had
an immediate economic impact. This money helped greatly
the towns across the nation. The enrollee felt that he was
working to help his family, many of whom were in dire
need. Many families were kept from the relief rolls with
the monthly checks. The families were interested and proud
of what their sons were doing. Leaders received $45 and
assistant leaders received $36.
The CCC had
a social impact. Young men were taken off the streets.
Since there were not enough projects in the east to take
care of all the eastern men, many eastern youths were sent
west. The War Dept assigned each company. The operating
agency usually had a name for a camp as well as a letter
to designate the type of land ownership. Thus, P indicated
private land; S stood for state forest land; SP for state
park land; F for national forests; DG for Division of
Grazing; and SCS for Soil Conservation Service.
When a
company arrived at a site that had been established by a
cadre of 25 enrollees, tents were used as quarters until
wooden buildings were built. The men went to work and
built the camp. The camp had a main building, four 50-man
barracks, a mess hall, a recreational building, quarters
for Army and technical personnel, an infirmary,
educational and library buildings, small garage, tool
shed, and a machine shop. Each enrollee was required to
spend a part of his time at camp cleaning up the barracks,
policing the grounds, aiding the cook, and assisting in
the maintenance of equipment and structures.
The staff
was an important part of the camp. The Quartermaster was
responsible for obtaining supplies and maintaining them.
He was also responsible for providing each enrollee with
three balanced meals a day, sending them to work in
suitable clothing, supplying soap to use to bathe, heating
the barracks, providing a bed with blankets and washing
the sheets. He was also the librarian, carpenter, plumber,
electrician, surveyor, engineer, fireman, bookkeeper,
chauffeur, mechanic, train conductor, station master, ice
man, milkman, and if needed, the undertaker.
A medical
officer was stationed in nearly every CCC camp. In
addition to a medical officer, a Chaplain was also
assigned. One of the basic principles of the CCC program
was for the men to develop good citizenship. The Chaplain
played an important part helping the men meet this goal in
maintenance of the morale and welfare of the thousands of
young men of the camps. The Chaplains brought the gospel,
new hope and high character to the youth of the camps. The
Chaplains helped the men to develop initiative, love of
country and obedience to its laws, honesty and character
in the men.
One of the
problems that faced the young men in the CCC was to get a
job when their term of service was completed. To help
solve this problem each camp had an educational program.
Educational Advisers were first placed in the CCC camps in
the spring of 1934. Educational Advisers were required to
have a Bachelor's Degree from a recognized college or
university. The advisers received training in conferences.
The advisers needed to be trained in the techniques that
would apply to camp conditions and CCC educational
objectives. The adviser's needed real leadership
qualities. The adviser's helped build and rebuild young
manhood. The Educational Advisors were called to counsel
in all the different fields and to give advice.
Over 60% of
the enrollees took part in the courses presented. Courses
were taught on a quarterly basis and subjects were
organized in units. Each unit contained from ten to twelve
lessons. Certificates were issued enrollees who
successfully finished the required number of units. The
subjects taught were selected as a result of the expressed
need of the enrollee through personal interviews. The new
men were contacted individually to discover what their
educational background was and where their interests were.
They were then encouraged to commit themselves to a
regimen of training that fit their needs. Then the classes
were organized for those enrollees.
Many of the
men had never had a job. Some had never had an opportunity
to use tools such as a hammer, ax or saw. Here they were
taught how to use tools and equipment including jack
hammers, compressors, how to drive heavy trucks and
trailers and bulldozers. From the Educational adviser
40,000 men learned to read and write. They learned how to
use a typewriter and adding machine and do bookkeeping,
etc.
They were
taught first aid, safety with tools, machinery and
equipment. The men also learned good housekeeping by their
KP chores, how to make a bed and how to clean their
clothes, and learned about a proper diet. They learned to
be punctual, to take orders from their superiors, accept
responsibility, to be disciplined and learned to cooperate
with others. Swimming and life saving schools were
conducted during the late spring of 1936 and 1937.
Selected enrollees from all the companies in the District
were given Red Cross training in swimming and life saving.
With the
cooperation of the National and State Employment Services,
interviewers were sent from the district employment
offices to interview the best trained men and get their
applications on file. Due to the training experience the
men had received through CCC, about 12,000 enrollees left
the camps to accept employment elsewhere.
The
government purchased nearly 400,000 acres of sub marginal
land for the use of CCC camps and to plan and develop
areas for recreational purposes. The men engaged in
outdoor work on forest, park and soil conservation. These
projects were of practical value to all the people of the
nation. The records show that the results were very
impressive. These men built fire towers, truck roads, fire
breaks, planted millions of trees, reclaimed thousands of
acres from erosion, built countless Federal and state
parks and campgrounds, improved fish and wildlife
habitats. By 1935 over 600,000 enrollees were working out
of 2,650 camps.
DENTON
2738TH COMPANY, SCS-19
Nebraska-South Dakota District, CCC
Seventh Corps Area
The Nebraska
District CCC was organized in April, 1933, with
Headquarters at Fort Robinson, Nebraska. Two sub-districts
were designated: Southeastern Nebraska, with headquarters
at Fort Crook, and the Northwestern Nebraska sub-district,
with headquarters at Fort Robinson. Major Edwin N. Hardy,
Cavalry, Post Commander at Fort Robinson, also commanded
the Nebraska District CCC, at its beginning.
The first
enrollees to be processed in the Nebraska District arrived
at Fort Crook, Nebraska, on April 26, 1933. Thirteen
companies were organized at Fort Crook during the next
month and most of them were sent to the West Coast. On
April 1, 1934, the District Headquarters was moved to Fort
Crook, Nebraska, and the district placed under the command
of Colonel T. M. Anderson, 17th Infantry.
On July 5,
1934, Company 2738 was organized at Nebraska City,
Nebraska. The organization was formed around a cadre of
men from Company 761, which were located at Nebraska City.
Shortly after its organization, it was a full-sized
company of 216 men. The new company then moved to one and
one-half miles southwest of Denton, Nebraska, on July 28,
1934, on the Gilbert farm. Captain Ney was in command of
the new organization. The Denton camp served the
Lancaster, Seward and Saline Counties. Eighty men from
this company went on to other companies because of their
outstanding work.
Only seven
companies were retained in Nebraska until the fall of
1934. A cooks' and bakers' school for officers and
enrollees was conducted in the early spring of 1936 at
Fort Crook, Nebraska. All officers in the work companies
and all enrollee cooks and mess stewards were required to
attend. In 1937 there were eighteen projects being carried
on in Nebraska: Bureau of Reclamation, 2; State Park, 2;
Forestry, 1; Biological Survey, 1; and Soil Conservation
Service, 12.
Robert
Fechner was the Director of the Civilian Conservation
Corps. Major General Stanley H. Ford was the Commander of
the Seventh Corps Area. W. Homer Hill was the Educational
Director, Seventh Corps Area. The Nebraska-South Dakota
District CCC was organized on February 1, 1936, through a
consolidation of the Nebraska District with the South
Dakota District. Major C. H. Hayden, 17th Infantry, was
District Commander for Nebraska-South Dakota CCC District.
An advance detail of men had made the preliminary
preparation for the arrival of the remainder of the
company. The ground had to be cleared and the water and
sanitation system had to be installed. Tents were used for
the first two months as living quarters while the barracks
were being built.
Harold
"Mick" Sullivan and Joe Splichal, two of Denton
Community Historical Society members, were in the CCC at
Denton 2738TH Company, SCS-19. When Mick gave a program at
the April 2000 Denton Community Historical Society
meeting, he talked about living in the tents for two
months while the barracks were being built. He still
remembers how cold it was in the tents. Mick talked about
walking from the camp to Denton. At the May 2000 Denton
Community Historical Society meeting, Joe was wearing a
CCC T-shirt. Joe talked about his experiences in 1938 and
1939 at Denton CCC camp. He emphasized how the $25 a month
that was sent to the families was a great help. Joe
operated a caterpillar tractor. He told about the day he
stopped to eat lunch and he found a rattlesnake in his
jacket that was laying on a rock. Both Mick and Joe talked
about the CCC experience as a great experience.
The Denton
camp was to help with the Soil Conservation of this
agricultural area. The projects this camp worked on
included contour farming, erosion control in earth dams,
brush dams, fencing, and forestry work. Bernadine Stransky
has a dam on her farm that was built by the CCC. The water
tower that was used at the CCC camp is still standing
today. At one time a side camp was organized and sent out
from the base camp. The side camp had thirty-two selected
men and they did a special project for Camp Strader, a
YMCA Camp, at Crete, Nebraska. They built a dike to
prevent the Blue River from flooding the camp. The pit was
later made into a swimming pool.
The
educational program proved worthwhile. During inclement
weather when the company couldn't work outside in the
field, educational trips were made to Lincoln to tour
various businesses. On several occasions the company
provided help to the community by fighting fires, clearing
roads, providing aid in automobile accidents, and clearing
a snowbound road where one of the neighbors had died. The
Denton Company was very active in athletics. They entered
teams in city softball leagues at Lincoln. They played
football in 1934 and 1936. In 1934 they were the winners
in football in the area. During the winter of 1936 and
1937 the team went on a 250-mile basketball trip by
automobile to play the Winnebago Indians. Boxing,
horseshoes, tennis, and Ping-Pong were the main
recreational activities at the camp.
In the
October, 1949, American Speech (Quarterly), page
194, Elizabeth Grone wrote an article entitled,
"Nebraska Newspaper Names". She states that The
Scoop was the Denton Company CCC newspaper. It was
first printed in January 29, 1935. During 1936 it was
printed January 29, February 17, June 18, August 19, and
October 9. The Denton Community Historical Society would
like to obtain copies of The Scoop. If you have any
copies or are aware of where copies can be obtained,
please contact the society.
The number
of Nebraska men given employment through CCC was 30,739.
The types of work carried on varied from state to state
and from park to forest. The work accomplished in Nebraska
included:
-
Impoundments
and large diversion dams, 92
-
Erosion
control, check dams, 52,091
-
Trees
planted, gully erosion, control, 19,229,194
-
Trees
planted, reforestation, 12, 498,000
-
Moving
and planting trees and shrubs, 7,498,100
-
Rodent
and predatory animal control acres 281,831
Expenditures
Total
obligation in NE (estimate) $34,280,100
Allotments
to dependents by enrollees (estimate) $7,849,091
By 1940,due
to the growing threat of war and improvement in the
nation's economy there were fewer than 200,000 men in
about 900 camps. By July, 1941, many young men were
joining the army, so another 266 camps were closed. The
need for the program had rapidly diminished.
The corps was never abolished. Congress simply failed to
provide a budget for its continuance and by July, 1943,
the entire program was liquidated. By the time the program
disbanded, nearly 3 million men had engaged in this
productive and popular program.
Many of the
former enrollees recall the time spent in CCC as the
"best days of their lives." Former enrollees
still attend reunions today. Sixty years later, many of
them recall it as the best thing that could happen to
them. Many of the men gained confidence in themselves.
They received training and were prepared to go out and get
a job.
Nationwide more than 125,000 miles of truck trails or
minor roads were built and the CCC maintained another
580,000 miles of roads during its nine years. More than
3,600 square miles were used for planting trees.
The program produced a staggering amount of work--38,550
bridges, 9,741 miles of fences, 88,883 miles of telephone
lines, 2,482 miles of ditches. Airstrips were built, ponds
were stocked with fish and buildings were built. Many
projects were completed in the national parks.
The Nebraska
State Historical Society placed a historical marker in
Denton business district in recognition of the CCC Denton
Company 2738 Camp. The marker is in honor of the Civilian
Conservation Corps in the Village of Denton. The marker
was dedicated July 27, 1997.
