The Civilian Conservation Corps Experience

The Minnesota District of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was established April 5, 1933 - soon after the Emergency Conservation Work Act was passed by Congress. To qualify for CCC work, applicants had to be U.S. citizens between 17 and 23 years of age, unmarried, unemployed, physically and mentally competent, and must not have served more than 18 months in the CCC previously. Men convicted of a crime and serving a sentence, or on parole or probation were disqualified.

The central purpose of the CCC was to replenish timber resources and prevent soil erosion while giving work to millions of young men. Members of Minnesota's Greatest Generation who served in this "civilian army" made major contributions in building the Minnesota landscape we enjoy today by planting trees in our state forests, improving our state parks with new recreational facilities, building roads, and improving farmland through soil conservation. In return, these young men gained new skills, self-discipline, and renewed respect for themselves and for their country.

In the first four years of its existence the state program provided paid employment for 68,690 men in need of work. General workers received $30 per month, of which $25.00 had to be sent home to family or placed on deposit with the Army finance officer. Leaders of CCC camps drew pay of $45 per month; Assistant Leaders earned $36 per month.

The opportunity to serve in the CCC was extended to African Americans and American Indians, with enrollment limited to a percentage based on total population. Though segregated from white CCC workers in most cases, a total of 250,000 Blacks, and 84,000 American Indians served nationwide.

By 1942, when the Civilian Conservation Corps was disbanded, there had been a total of 156 CCC project camps in Minnesota, including two regular and ten mobile camps of the CCC Indian Division, with an average of 51 camps operating at any given time. 84,000 young Minnesota men had benefited from the program. A total of $84,900,000 was invested in Civilian Conservation Corps projects in Minnesota. The results included 124 million trees planted, 4,000 miles of new roads, 3,330 miles of firebreaks built, 1,635 miles of forest telephone lines strung, construction of numerous state and national park structures, and statewide soil conservation efforts.

Citations:

• Document: Conserving Social and Natural Resources.
• Civilian Conservation Corps. Wikipedia, 2006.
• State Forests Map. Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, 2006.
• Map: NPS and Minnesota State Park Emergency Conservation Work.
• Drake, Robert M. A Prideful Recollection of the Old CCC. The Minnesota Volunteer, Vol. 46, No. 2691983, p. 3-9. St. Paul, MN: Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, 1983.
• African Americans in the Civilian Conservation Corps. New Deal Network, 2003.
• Benson, Elmer A., Hodges, Brig. Gen. Campbell B. Conserving Social and Natural Resources: Minnesota District Civilian Conservation Corps, Ca. 1935-1938. MHS Library Collections.
• Cohen, Stan The Tree Army: A Pictorial History of the Civilian Conservation Corps, 1933-1942. Missoula, MT: Pictorial Histories Pub. Co., 1980.
• Helms, Douglas, compiler Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the Civilian Conservation Corps. Washington: National Archives & Records Service, General Services Administration, 1980.