Park service will hold all-day event on CCC work at Big Springs

It was the worst of times, the Great Depression.

The gray era in the late 1920s and early 1930s saw financial institutions fail, businesses go bankrupt and proud, hard-working citizens beg, even steal, for food. The nation's 25 percent unemployment rate was both a cause and effect of the country's economic grogginess. Consumers couldn't afford to buy. Businesses couldn't afford to hire.

High school graduates didn't concentrate so much on where they might go to college or might work as they did on where they might find enough food to survive. Sadness and poverty hovered over the nation like a heavy fog.

The Great Depression defined and motivated "the Greatest Generation," as Tom Brokaw called the folks of that era. It was this generation that saved the world from the Nazis and brought the United States out of the worst economic period in its history.

It was also these people who saved the nation's forests from logging practices that were stripping forests at a catastrophic rate. It was these people, all now at least 79 years old, who planted three billion trees while also building state and national parks, parks that are enjoyed by millions of tourists each year.

In the spring of 1933, an army of sorts, called the Civilian Conservation Corps, was assembled to address many of the nation's problems.

"You couldn't find any work," said Lewis Dunne, a Cape Girardeau resident who joined the CCC when he lived in Delaware in 1935 and worked in the state of Washington. "There were suicidals and that sort of thing. The Depression years weren't very pleasant. They got a lot of us young boys off the streets."

Tuesday will mark the 70th anniversary of a CCC company's arrival in Van Buren, Mo., at what is now called the Big Spring Historic District. The CCC built, preserved and developed the national park that park service officials say is visited by about 1.5 million tourists annually.

Saturday, the National Park Service will recognize the anniversary with an all-day celebration at Big Spring.

Multiple rewards

The CCC was one of several actions President Franklin Roosevelt took to try to provide work and wages for families during the Depression. The CCC was productive in that sense, and it also helped preserve the nation's natural resources, while training and educating young men so when they finished their stint, they were trained and productive workers, marketable for employment.

This weapons of this nationwide army of 250,000 men were shovels, picks and saws. They built trails, buildings, dikes, towers and much more.

In return for their labor, the government paid them $30 per month. In 2002 dollars, that's $380. However, of the $30 per month, the CCC worker received only $5. The rest was mailed to his family back home, which in most cases was several states away.

The government also took good care of the CCC enrollees. The average CCC laborer gained 11.5 pounds in the first three months of service.

To join the CCC, men had to be U.S. citizens between the ages of 17 and 23, unmarried and out of school.

Work at Big Spring

A quarter-billion gallons of water per day gushes from the side of a bluff at Big Spring, the largest of 51 springs in the Ozark National Scenic Riverways, which encompasses 134 miles of the Current and Jacks Fork rivers. The dark blue, 55-degree water from Big Spring flows into the Current River not far away.

During the time of the Depression, Big Spring was a fairly new state park. It wasn't developed or protected.

Bryan Culpepper of the National Park Service explains that Big Spring was in danger of being overtaken by the Current River. Over time, floods cause rivers to take new routes. Big Spring lies in an old river channel and was susceptible to becoming just another part of the river.

But the slim, gritty "CC boys" came in and changed all that. Company 1710, later accompanied by companies 734 and 1740, arrived and set up a camp, which included barracks and mess halls. Then they went to work.

They built five erosion control dikes which, at the time, was the largest CCC project in the state.

The area still floods and the spring gets lost when the river is high, but the CCC's system prevents the river from taking a more permanent course over the spring.

"It was one of the best relief programs this country has ever seen," Culpepper said. "It put food on the table and help build up the country. Recreation to America is important and this program protected, developed and preserved these forests."

In addition, the CCC constructed several buildings in the park, including a lodge, a restaurant where people can eat while overlooking the spring branch near Current River. The park also has several picnic areas, shelters, lodges and trails, all reminders of the work that the CCC workers started 70 years ago. The CCC left the Big Spring area in April 1937. The national program ended five years later after the number of enrollees had grown to more than 3 million.

Many accomplishments

During its eight years the CCC created up to 800 state parks and 46,000 campgrounds; restored more than 3, 980 historic structures and 80 million acres of farmland; laid 97,000 miles of road and 5,000 miles of water supply lines; and planted well over 3 billion trees.

Eventually, smaller camps were even set up near Delta, where soil conservation practices were taught and carried out. But none of the work done locally compared to the size of the project done near Van Buren.

In Washington, Dunne said he helped carve out fire trails in the forested areas. By carving out trails, it would prevent certain sections of forests from catching fire once the inevitable blazes began.

The "CC boys" also beautified those trails and turned the forests into parks.

Dunne said everybody worked, but the supervisors weren't slave drivers.

"You could pace yourself," he said. "It was hard work and everybody accomplished something, but it was a good life. They fed us and clothed us."

Dunne, who started in the CCC two years after it began, said he was paid $36 per month and got to keep $12.

Back home, Dunn's father, a leather worker and landscaper, was out of work. He said the money was desperately needed.

"People would go everywhere to try to find jobs," he said. "But it didn't matter how far you went, you didn't find anything."

Military style

In addition to providing men with jobs, fixing the national landscape and training millions, the CCC helped prepare the nation for war.

Many of the CC boys went on to serve in World War II. The life at CCC camps was disciplined and emphasized ranks and obeying authority. The men kept themselves in good shape and learned many routines taught in the military.

"We were standing armies, really," Dunne said. "We did everything but shoot guns, just about."

bmiller@semissourian.com

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