Civilian Conservation Corps

Established March 31, 1933 during President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s (FDR) first 100 days in order to first create jobs for the jobless youth and second to begin a program to conserve natural and historic resources.

I purpose to create a full-scale national program to be used in complex work, not interfering with normal employment and confining itself to forestry, the prevention of soil erosion, flood control, and similar projects. I call your attention to the fact that this type of work is of definite, practical value, not only through the preservation of great present financial loss but also as a means of creating future national wealth.

Message to Congress on Unemployment Relief. March 21,” The Presidential Papers of Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1933 (1938)

Congress using a voice vote, voted to enact the Emergency Conservation Work on the same day of this speech and FDR then issued Executive Order 6101 to establish the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). After appointing Robert Fechner, a former labor union official as it’s first director this new program was to be a combine effort from the Department of Labor, Department of Interior, Department of Agriculture, Department of War, and the Veterans Administration. Those primarily responsibilities are outlined here:

• The Department of Labor – was responsible for the selection of enrollees using the state and local relief agencies.
• The Department of Interior – was responsible for designing projects for the CCC laborers to accomplish. Within this department the General Land Office, The Office of Indian Affairs, The Bureau of Reclamation, and The National Park Service were to find projects for the CCC units to accomplish.
• The Department of Agriculture – was also responsible for designing projects through the Division of Grazing and soil conservation department.
• The Department of War – was responsible for organizing, conditioning, transportation, and supervision of the enrollees from induction to final discharge. Thus, the enrollees were to be trained and supervised similar to soldiers in the Army, but were not in the official military. This training and discipline that the enrollees obtained while a part of the CCC, would later play a key role in World War II.

Enrollees would volunteer to work for the CCC and would be paid a $30 a month wage, of which they were require to send $25 home to the relief families. An enrollee was chosen from those on relief rolls that were between the ages of 18-25, later this was increase to age 35.

Projects conducted by the CCC in Oklahoma can be divided into six major categories, National Park camps, national forestry camps, state forest camps, state park camps, soil erosion camps and biological survey camps. Projects were coded to identify what type of project the camp companies were used for labor. For example, SCS-27 located at Wetumka Oct 1933 was used for Soil Conservation labor. Although most of the 215,352 enrollees from Oklahoma work in the state, some were assigned to units in other states, primarily Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona. With a documented 85 camps through the state and most of those used for soil conservation, the most visible legacy of the CCC are the 10 state parks. The CCC began the work starting in 1934 with 5,000 men in 26 camps within the state to develop Boiling Springs, Roman Nose, and Quartz Mountain in the Western part of the state, while Osage Hills, Beavers Bend and Greenleaf were located in the eastern part of the state. Later with the help of the Works Progress Administration the CCC helped construct Lake Murray, Lincoln Park in Oklahoma City that included the Zoo Amphitheater, Clayton Lake, and many other municipal and state parks. Most of the work construction within these parks were forestry, permanent buildings for recreation and picnic tables, as well as walking trails.

Starting in 1935 the Works Progress Administration (WPA) was established and began to work in the same locations of the CCC, usually building permanent structures such as pavilions, bathhouses, cabins, and roads side by side with the CCC workers. Some of those sites that use both agencies to construct recreational facilities were The Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge, the CCC constructed every lake dam within the park while the WPA constructed the roads including the road up Mount Scott, Robber’s Cave State Park, Roman Nose State Park, and Quartz Mountain State Park. Many other parks were constructed by both agencies.

Since the Department of War was responsible for the administration of and training at each of these camps a Commanding Officer, a Second in Command and normally the Camp Doctor were all military. Most of these officers were reserve officers call to duty for these camps. Their responsibilities include discipline but was not as strict as the military’s discipline, usually those that were un-discipline were just discharged and sent home.

The CCC’s soil conservation work included assisting farmers with erosion plans and crop rotation training. The following map shows the locations and types of CCC camps that was published in 1936 by the Oklahoma State Planning Board.

The amount of work the Enrollees performed during their stay was about 8-12 hours daily to included a military style of duties and regiment. This include a Reveille call at 6 am, physical training, mess duties, and Retreat Call at 10 pm. Off duty or down time activities included games such as softball, basketball, baseball, board games, etc., Company 1817 located near Wewoka, Oklahoma claim to have the “best baseball playing field outside the Yankee Stadium”. Enrollees were also offered educational benefits to include GED training and certification, libraries, and vocational training.

Of the 85 camps there were 5 separate all African-American CCC camps and a few camps made up of mixed companies with the ratio of mixed being 195 whites to 5 African-Americans. In these camps separate facilities were always maintained and most of those in the mixed camps were cooks, or janitors. Although several race related incidents happened at some of the mixed camps, for the most part the need for work and family pay over shadowed the those current issues of race relations. Mostly the segregated camps were located near already established race accepted places such as Ft. Sill, Boley or Keystone area.

Whenever a camp was located near a town, local communities would benefit with economic and social benefits. Visitors were welcomed to tour the camps and local civic groups would usually invited camp officers to luncheons and meetings in an effort to keep the local citizens informed about the CCC’s work. Skilled workers near the camp were usually employed to help train and supervise the enrollees in the many tasks that had to be preformed.

CCC Camps and Units

PROJECT	CO. #		DATE	RAILROAD	POST OFFICE	LOCATION	Park Name
NP-1	808		5/16/1933	Sulphur	Sulphur	Camp Branch 1 mi NW	Chickasaw National Recreation Area
F-1	810		5/24/1933	Heavener	Stapp	Camp Prater 2 mi E
F-2	812		5/27/1933	Cache	Ft. Sill
SP-11	834		11/28/1934	Ardmore	Ardmore	Lake Murry 11 mi S	Lake Murry State Park
SP-6	842		10/17/1933	Davis	Davis		Chickasaw National Recreation Area
SP-13	849		11/3/1934	Ardmore	Ardmore	Lake Murry 12 mi SE	Lake Murry State Park
F-5	859		10/7/1934	Cache	Cache	Panther Creek 9 mi SE	Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge
BF-2	859		10/7/1934	Cache	Cache	Panther Creek 9 mi SE	Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge
SP-10	863		5/1/1934	Perry	Perry
SCS-2	867		7/24/1934	Stillwater	Stillwater	Camp Winter 1 mi W
SCS-11	867		10/7/1934	Guthrie	Guthrie
SP-15	868		6/27/1933	Ponca	Ponca	Lake Ponca 3 mi NE	Ponca Lake
F-4	870		11/20/1933	Cache	Cache	Elm Island 12 mi SW	Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge
BF-1	870		11/20/1933	Cache	Cache	Elm Island 12 mi SW	Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge
SP-8	872		11/17/1933	Tecumseh	Tecumseh
SP-4	873		10/17/1933	Oklahoma City	Oklahoma City	Lincoln Park 7 mi SW
P-66	875		11/20/1933	Clayton	Nashoba
P-51	876		6/2/1933	Broken Bow	Battiest		Beavers Bend State Park
SCS-21	884		6/14/1933	Rush Springs	Rush Springs	1 mi SW
SP-5	884		1/7/1935	Ada	Ada
SCS-24	885		6/14/1933	Chandler	Chandler	Camp Gibbs 1 mi NE
PE-56	887		6/18/1933	Keystone	Keystone	We-Kan-Tak-It 6 mi SE
SCS-22	887		9/18/1933	Broken Bow	Broken Bow
SP-2	895		10/3/1933	Oklahoma City	Oklahoma City	Lincoln Park 6 mi SW
SP-24	895		11/6/1933	Pawhuska	Pawhuska	Osage Park 14 mi SW	Osage Hills State Park
P-52	899		6/11/1933	Pine Valley	Pine Valley
SCS-1	1801		7/24/1934	Stillwater	Stillwater
S-62	1802		6/12/1933	McAlester	McAlester
P-64	1802		4/28/1934	Cove, Arkansas	Smithville, OK	16 mi NE
P-53	1803		6/12/1933	Broken Bow	Eagleton
SP-1	1806		6/19/1933	Davis	Davis
S-54	1808		6/20/1933	Broken Bow	Idabel	Mt. Fork 33 mi N
SCS-25	1810		9/9/1933	Binger	Binger	Camp Haskell 1 mi E
SP-9	1813		4/16/1934	Ardmore	Ardmore	Lake Murry 11 mi SE	Lake Murry State Park
SP-26	1813		2/20/1937	Ardmore	Ardmore	Lake Murry 10 mi SE	Lake Murry State Park
F-3	1815		6/19/1933	Talihina	Talihina
F-4	1815		10/22/1934	Heavner	Pine Valley	Pine Valley 3 mi SW
SCS-23	1817		6/16/1933	Womoka	Womoka	Camp Temple A. Carter 1 mi NW
SCS-27	1817	-C	10/21/1933	Wetumka	Wetumka	Little Harlem 1 mi SW
S-55	1825		7/12/1933	Wilburton	Wilburton
SP-12	1825	-V	10/30/1934	Tulsa	Tulsa	Mohawk Park 7 mi NE
SP-15	1825	-CV	10/8/1937	Ponca City	Ponca City	Ponca Lake 4 mi NW
E-58	1827		6/14/1933	Warden	Warden
SCS-3	1853		7/28/1933	Stillwater	Stillwater	2 mi E
SCS-8	1853		10/23/1935	Geary	Geary	Camp Karn 1 mi S
SCS-1	1861	-V	7/24/1934	Stillwater	Stillwater	2 mi NW
SP-23	2806		8/20/1935	Pryon	Spavinaw	Spavinaw Lake 25 mi NE
MA-1	2806		10/8/1938	Henryetta	Henryetta	Metropolitan Park 1 mi NE
SCS-15	2807		8/19/1935	Stigley	Stigley	Camp Nichols 1 mi N
SCS-16	2807		4/5/1938	Wagoner	Wagoner	Camp Searcy 2 mi NW
SCS-26	2808		8/16/1935	Checotah	Checotah	Rosendahl 1 mi W
SP-14	2809		7/22/1935	Okmulgee	Okmulgee	Lake Okmulgee 1 mi W
SP-16	2810		8/19/1935	Lonewolf	Lugert	Lake Altus 2 mi E
SCS-18	2811		8/12/1935	Garber	Garber	Camp Seagull 1 mi NW
SCS-33	2811		8/21/1939	Buffalo	Buffalo	1 mi W
SCS-4	2812		8/16/1935	Blackwell	Blackwell	Holopeter 1 mi SE
SCS-6	2813		8/15/1935	Sentinel	Sentinel	Winningham 1 mi SE
SCS-17	2814		8/13/1935	Purcell	Purcell	Will Rogers 1 mi E
SP-20	2815		8/15/1935	Broken Bow	Broken Bow	Beaver Bend 1 mi W
SCS-9	2816		8/12/1935	Duncan	Duncan	Camp Weston 1 mi SE
PS-1	2816		11/14/1941	Sentinel	Sentinel	Camp Winningham 1 mi W
SCS-18	2817		8/17/1935	Nowata	Nowata	Virdigris 1 mi S
SP-21	2819		8/20/1935	Watonga	Watonga	Roman Nose 1 mi SE
SCS-13	2821		8/17/1935	Idabel	Idabel	Fairgrounds 1 mi W
SP-17	2822		8/3/1935	Woodward	Woodward	Boiling Springs SP 6 mi NE
SCS-14	2823		8/19/1935	Morris	Morris	1 mi S
P-65	2824		8/15/1935	Wright City	Wright City	1 mi NE
P-68	2824		10/16/1939	Cove, AR	Smithville, OK	Octawa 24 mi NW
SCS-19	2825		8/19/1935	Pryor	Pryor	Camp Wilkerson 1 mi S
SCS-5	2826		8/13/1935	Clinton	Clinton	Camp Church 1 mi NE
Army-1	2827	-C	7/1/1935	St. Sill	Ft. Sill	.5 mi E
SCS-29	2829	-C	9/25/1935	Konawa	Konawa	Beezley 1 mi SE
SCS-30	2830	-C	9/26/1935	Boley	Boley	Inspiration Hill 1 mi NW
Army-3	2830	-C	11/26/1941	Ft. Sill	Ft. Sill	2 mi SW
SCS-10	3813	-V	5/15/1935	Wynnewood	Wynnewood	Wiley Post 1 mi NE
SP-19	3814	-V	7/23/1935	Wilburton	Wilburton	7 mi N
SP-11	3814	-V	7/30/1941	Ardmore	Ardmore	10 mi SE
SCS-20	3815	-V	7/29/1935	Yukon	Yukon	Camp Progress 1 mi SW
SCS-7	3816	-V	8/12/1935	Hobart	Hobart	Kiowa Construction Camp 1 mi SE
SCS-7	3886		7/1/1938	Hobart	Hobart	Kiowa Construction Camp 1 mi SE
SCS-32	3886		5/29/1939	Gould	Gould	Camp Nowata
Army-1	4823	-C	10/21/1941	Ft. Sill	Ft. Sill	2 mi SE

Resources

• The Tree Army: A Pictorial History of the Civilian Conservation Corps, 1933-1942 – Stan Cohen, 1993, ISBN:0933126115
• https://gateway.okhistory.org/search/?q=civilian+conservation+corps&t=fulltext&sort=&fq=
• Chronicles of Oklahoma, Volume 48, Number 2, Summer 1970 Page: 224-234: Life in Oklahoma’s Civilian Conservation Corps, by Reid A. Holland.
  • The Civilian Conservation Corps in Oklahoma, 1933-1942
• CCC Camps Oklahoma – https://ccclegacy.org/CCC_Camps_Oklahoma.html

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