Civilian Conservation Corps n WI

CCC Poster

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a work relief program for young men from unemployed families, established on March 21, 1933 by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. it was designed to combat unemployment during the Great Depression. The CCC became one of the most popular New Deal programs among the general public and operated in every U.S. state and several territories. The separate Indian Division was a major relief force for Native American reservations.

The CCC lost importance as the Depression ended about 1945. Initial opposition to the program was primarily from organized labor, but as unemployment fell, so did the need for the CCC. After the attack on Pearl Harbor by Japan in 1941, national attention shifted away from domestic issues in favor of the war effort. Rather than formally disbanding the CCC, the 77th United States Congress ceased funding it after the 1942 fiscal year, causing it to end operations.

History, Sparta District CCC

The Civilian Conservation Corps was just entering its third successive year when the decision to decentralize the administration from corps Area Headquarters was carried out. Only April 1, 1935, all of the territory in Wisconsin, north of a line running east and west through Baraboo was organized into the Sparta CCC District. The command functions of the old 10th, 12th, 13th and 14th Forestry District were absorbed by the new organization. Whereas the old plan called for a supply base from which the camps in the forestry districts were supplied, the new plan embodied administrations, supply, finance, construction and other functions under the command and supervision of the District Commander. The District Headquarters was originally located at Camp McCoy. Facilities proved inadequate, and arrangements were made to move into warehouses belonging to the American Suppliers Incorporated, in Sparta. The Headquarters was moved during the fall of 1935.

The district has been called upon to meet grave emergencies caused by both fire and flood. The drouth of 1936 threatened the existence of nearly every piece of standing timber in the Northwest. Fires started everywhere in the tinder-dry areas and grew to amazing proportions in an unbelievably short time. Local fire-fighting resources were entirely inadequate. The beautiful stand of virgin time on isle royale was gravely threatened.

When the Ohio River overflowed its natural bounds in the winter of 1937, the District was again called upon for aid.

The following camps were constructed and erected in the 1935 construction period. In most cases, completion of the construction did not take place until the sixth period.

Fixed camps in the district are -- Black River, S-105, Foxboro, Wis.; Cavour, F-39, Laona, Wis.; Crivitz, S-104, Crivitz, Wis.; Horseshoe, F-35, Ashland, Wis.; Interstate, SP-13, St. Croix Falls, Wis.; Menomonie, SCS-18, Menomonie, Wis.; Pattison, SP 11, Superior, Wis.; Pennisular, SP-10, Fish Creek, Wis.; Rainbow, F-40, Florence, Wis.; Taylor Lake, F-36, Granview, Wis.; Trempealeau, BF-1, Winona, Minn.; West Salem, SCS-17, West Salem, Wis.; Blackwell, F-34, Blackwell, Wis.; Cochraine, SCS-19, Cochrane, Wis.; Dream, F-32, Iron River, Mich.; Indepedence, SCS-8, Independence, Wis.; Lily Pad, F-33, Iron River, Mich.; Minong, S-106, Minong, Wis.; Pepin, SCS-5, Durand, Wis.; Drummond, F-37, Drummond, Wis.; Rib Mountain, SP-15, Wausau, Wis.; Thunder River, F-38, Lakwood, Wis.; Viroqua, SCS-6, Viroqua, Wis.; Wolf River, F-46, Mountain, Wis.; Headquarters Company, Sparta, Wis.

The portable camps are -- Bear Paw, F-47, Mountain, Wis.; Dodge, SCS-14, Dodge, Wis.; Ellsworth, SCS-3, Ellsworth, Wis.; Holman, SCS-7, Holman, Wis.; Ontario, SCS-20, Ontarion, Wis.; Copper Falls, SP-7, Mellen, Wis.; Double Bend, F-41, Newald, Wis.; Himley Lake, F-45, Wabeno, Wis.; Irving, SCS-13, Black River Falls, Wis.; Nelson, SCS-15, Nelson, Wis.; Perrot, SP-16, Tempealeau, Wis.

"The Admiration of the Entire County"
Excerpts from a message from the President of the United States to members
of the CCC read over NBC network at 7:30 p.m., Friday, april 17, 1936

To the million and a half young men and war veterans who have been, or are today, enrolled in the Civilian Conservation Corps Camps, I extend greeting on this third anniversary of the establishment of the first CCC Camp.

Idle through no fault of your own, you were enrolled from city and rural homes and offered an opportunity to engage in healthful, outdoor work on forest, park and soil conservation projects of definite practical value to all the people of the nation. The promptness with which you seized the opportunity to engage in honest work, the willingness with which you have performed your daily tasks and the fine spirit you have shown in winning the respect of the communities in which your camps have been located, merits the admiration of the entire country. You, and the men who have guided and supervised your efforts, have cause to be proud of the record the CCC has made in the development of sturdy manhood and in the initiation and prosecution of a conservation program of unprecedented proportions.

Since the Corps began some 1,150,000 of you have been graduated, improved in health, self-disciplined, alert and eager for the opportunity to make good in any kind of honest employment. Our records show that the results achieved in the protection and improvement of our timbered domain, in the arrest of soil wastage, in the development of needed recreational areas, in wild life conservation and in flood control have been as impressive as the results achieved in the rehabilitation of youth. Through your spirit and industry it has been demonstated that young men can be put to work in our forests, parks, and fields on projects which benefit both the nation's youth and conservation generally. 

Source: "A Guide to CCC Camps in Wisconsin, 1937", Sparta District Annual 1937, Civilian Conservation Corps, Sixth Corps Area.