Civilian Conservation Corps improved young men's lives

Civilian Conservation Corps improved young men's lives

May 26, 2001

BY KATHARHYNN HEIDELBERG
Journal Staff Writer

The Civilian Conservation Corps is remembered for having helped build Jackson Gulch Dam and improvements in Mesa Verde National Park. It’s also remembered for having built the character of young men.

Chuck Watson of Cortez was once one of those young men. "It was a wonderful experience while it was going on," he said of the CCC Thursday.

Formed by the Emergency Conservation Work Act of 1933 at President Franklin Roosevelt’s request, the CCC provided jobs and skills to men who might not have otherwise been employed.

"When I graduated high school, there was no work ... that (CCC) was practically the only work available for most of us kids," Watson said.

Between 1933 and 1942, the CCC, among other projects, erected 3,470 fire towers and constructed 97,000 miles of fire roads; built drainage systems for 84 million acres of agrarian land; planted over 3 billion trees; began 800 state parks and renovated 4,000 national parks, according to the National Association of Civilian Conservation Corps Alumni, and James F. Justin, a private CCC historian.

The CCC expended 7,153,000 man-days on conservation activities. Additionally, the program taught 40,000 illiterate men to read and write. The point of the CCC, as Roosevelt himself said in 1933, was "to be used in simple work ... more important, however, than the material gains will be the moral and spiritual value of such work."

Watson agreed with the overall reasoning behind the program. "It was one of Roosevelt’s better jobs," he said.

Watson, originally of Denver, served between 1937 and 1940 as a hospital orderly and field leader, working on the highway at Mesa Verde National Park. There were several CCC camps in the area, from Durango to Cortez, each having about 200 young men.

"It was fairly popular," Watson said, mostly because he and many others were glad for the work. That work lasted eight hours a day, five days a week, and consisted of patching roads, digging ditches, and other duties for Watson, while young men on other details worked at building structures within the park.

"It was work — we worked hard. We did a lot of work up there (Mesa Verde)."

Despite the military order of the CCC camps, Watson recalls happy times. The recreation hall was a popular stop after a day’s labor. "We had our doings there," Watson said. The CCC crews also found leisure in lounging about the barracks "shooting bull," boxing, and enjoying picture shows and dances, where several young men first met their wives.

Watson’s time with the CCC gained him experience in road construction and basic medical care. "I had an officer who was a medical doctor," he recounted. "And he taught me a lot about taking care of people."

Although he later became a miner, Watson does not regret having spent three years in the CCC. "It took a lot of kids off the street and kept them out of trouble. There’s no doubt it kept me out of trouble (too)." Indeed, it’s the Army discipline of the CCC camps Watson best remembers. "We lived in barracks and were commanded by Army officers. "

The experience also taught him how to live with others, and acquainted him with how the world worked, he said. He lived in close quarters with boys from every part of the U.S, including those from the "Dust Bowl" of Oklahoma. He also lived and worked with young men of varied racial backgrounds — one third of the boys in his camp were of Hispanic descent, he said. Additionally, nationwide, some 80,000 Native Americans did their part for the CCC.

"The Dustbowl kids lived good in the CCC," he said. As for the young Hispanic men who served with him, "It was their only chance" to get work. "Those kids worked even harder, sent all their money home. Of course, I did too — they wouldn’t let us keep it!"

Some days, Watson yearns for the return of the CCC and its lessons. "It was not only positive, but wonderful," he said. "It taught a lot of us what the world was about."

May is Archaeology and Historic Preservation Month in Colorado. The Journal is publishing weekly articles about the area’s past.