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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 6, 2015)
2C THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2015 Courtesy Clatsop County Historical Society Civilian Conservation Corps members pose along a forest trail. Courtesy Clatsop County Historical Society Civilian Conservation Corps members stand in front of the Peter Iredale shipwreck in 1936 or 1937. The Civilian Conservation Corps in Clatsop County By MAC BURNS For The Daily Astorian If you have ever walked on some of the beaches of Clatsop County, hiked up Saddle Mountain, enjoyed Ecola State Park or enjoyed some of our lo- cal forests and trails, you should pause and say a sincere “Thank you” and of- fer a hearty “Huzzah” to the boys of the Civilian Conservation Corps. Started in 1933, the CCC was one of the earliest and most popular of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal programs. Over the next nine years, his “Tree Army” consisted of 3 million men who would make valuable contri- butions to their nation, learn trades, un- derstand military discipline, earn mod- est incomes (and send a portion of that income home to their families), and most importantly, not get into the trou- ble many feared from the unemployed and disenfranchised. Enrollees dug canals, built more than 30,000 wildlife shelters, stocked rivers and lakes with QHDUO\ D ELOOLRQ ¿VK UHVWRUHG KLVWRULF EDWWOH¿HOGVDQGVLWHVFOHDUHGEHDFKHV DQGFDPSJURXQGVIRXJKWIRUHVW¿UHV and planted millions of trees. In fact, the CCC was responsible for over half the reforestation, public and private, done in the nation’s history! So, what did these men do local- ly and where did they come from? In VRPH UHJDUGV LW LV D OLWWOH GLI¿FXOW WR track this history as CCC camps came and went, and, making the chore even PRUH GLI¿FXOW VRPHWLPHV FDPSV UH mained but “companies” came and ZHQW2I¿FLDO&&&UHFRUGVIUHTXHQWO\ kept track of the companies as they re- located from one camp to another, of- ten across the nation. In the Research Center & Archives of the Clatsop County Historical Society is a publi- FDWLRQ ³2I¿FLDO $QQXDO 9DQFRXYHU Barracks Civilian Conservation Corps Ninth Corps Area 1937,” that provides VRPHRI¿FLDOKLVWRU\RIWKHFDPSVDQG companies found in Clatsop County in 1937. These include Camp Warrenton, Camp Saddle Mountain and Camp Ne- halem. Warrenton and Nehalem both had companies that had been formed in, and transferred from, Tennessee. The men stationed at Saddle Mountain came from New York and New Jersey. planted in nursery plots and then trans- planted on the beach. Plants included European beach grass, Holland grass, Scotch broom and beach pine. HISTORIC Road building PHOTOS OF THE WEEK A very early CCC camp was Camp Boyington, established in 1933. For a time, almost 200 men lived there and worked building roads. Located be- tween Olney and the summit on the Nehalem highway, the camp soon gave way to a newer camp on the Ne- halem River — Camp Nehalem, which housed in 1937 the 2908th Company. This Company was soon immersed in URDGEXLOGLQJ The bridge across the Nehalem 5LYHUZDV¿QLVKHG6HSWDQG work proceeded on the road up the Nehalem River. This road will even- tually connect with the Wolf Creek Highway. This is the main project now for Company 2908. It is just in LWV ¿UVW VWDJHV DQG LV FDOOHG D WUXFN trail construction project. Since the company was organized there have been more than 730 miles of tele- phone line maintenance, 200 miles of truck trail maintenance and truck trail construction. There have been nearly 10,000 man-days spent in the work of FRPEDWWLQJ¿UHV Park work &RPSDQ\ RUJDQL]HG DW )RUW :DGVZRUWK 1< LQ ZDV ¿UVW sent to Idaho (digging ditches and ¿JKWLQJ URGHQWV DQG LQVHFWV WKHQ LW was on to Tennessee (erosion control), IROORZHG E\ ¿UH SUHYHQWLRQ ZRUN DW Camp Shelton, Fossil, Oregon, before ¿QDOO\ODQGLQJDW&DPS6DGGOH0RXQ WDLQ7KHRI¿FLDOUHSRUWVD\V Work assignments have included improving of the state park at Saddle Mountain, Tongue Point State Park near Astoria and Ecola State Park at &DQQRQ %HDFK &RQVWUXFWLRQ RI ¿UH breaks, roadside cleanup and general ¿UHVXSSUHVVLRQKDYHEHHQSDUWRIWKH ZRUN SURJUDP 'XULQJ WKH ¿UH season emergency calls included 1,241 PDQGD\VRIIRUHVW¿UH¿JKWLQJ The CCC men also constructed a trail to the summit of Saddle Mountain DQGODWHUEXLOWD¿UHORRNRXWVWDWLRQRQ the highest peak. In Ecola State Park Beach erosion they constructed new roads, water In 1932, a Camp SCS-7 was estab- systems, picnic areas, trails, the care- lished in Warrenton for the principle taker’s house, a stone building and did mission of combating beach erosion. forest cleanup. The south jetty had played havoc on The CCC camps made lasting con- the beaches as far south as Gearhart. tributions to Clatsop County. While 7KHRI¿FLDOUHSRUWUHDGV they existed they also had an imme- Systematically, the [CCC] went to diate impact on the county. Food and ZRUN¿UVWHUHFWLQJDQRXWHUEDUULHURI other supplies had to be purchased lo- sand which cut down the force of the cally. Men spent some of their earned gales and tended to level out humps income in the community. The camps within the area of severest erosion. IUHTXHQWO\LQWHUDFWHGLQSRVLWLYHZD\V This outer line of defense was formed with locals. The local Chamber of by a process of driving a double line &RPPHUFH PDGH UHTXHVWV IRU DV of pickets along the full length of the sistance on special projects to local beach. As the sands formed about the camps. stakes, they were raised. Sands again CCC boys also sometimes made drifted around them, like so much WKHORFDOQHZV snow. By regular raising of the pick- 1RY ets several inches at a time, the outer Filling out an accident report, a Ci- protective shield was soon doing its vilian Conservation Corps truck driver work of sheltering the eroded areas who ran down a cow recently came from further devastation. Then began WRWKHTXHVWLRQ³:KDWVLJQDOVGLGWKH the drive to provide the denuded area drivers give?” He wrote in “I honked with a new coat of grass and shrub- my horn and the cow rang her bell.” EHU\7KLVWDVNUHTXLUHGVHYHUDO\HDUV Mac Burns is the executive direc- of work in which some of the hardiest tor of the Clatsop County Historical JUDVVHVWKDWFRXOGEHIRXQGZHUH¿UVW Society. Courtesy Clatsop County Historical Society Civilian Conservation Corps members drive pickets to keep the beach from eroding. Courtesy Clatsop County Historical Society These are from a photo album of Francis Schmitter who died in the 1970s at the age of about 72 in Northamp- ton, Mass., and was in the CCC in Clatsop County. They were taken in 1936 and 1937. He wrote on the photo it is a “scene of the barracks. The left one is mine. Warrenton, Oregon.” N ew b us sto p a t the ASTO RIA REC REATIO N C EN TER, TEEN C EN TER a n d SEN IO R C EN TER First stop a t 8:3 1AM a nd continues every hour until 6 :3 1PM Beginning Feb. 3, 2015, a new bus stop a t 1555 W . M a rin e Dr. (O ld Ya cht Clu b ) w ill b e a d d ed to the RO U TE 10 w eekd a y service Sched ule & fa res a va ila b le a t w w w .ridethebu s.org o r 503-861-7433 RO U TE 10 M on -Fri SUNSET EMPIRE TRANSPORTATION DISTRICT RO U TE 10 M on -Fri