MOUNTAIN REST COMMUNITY CLUB, Oconee County, SC
Civilian Conservation Corps

Version 2.3, 1-Apr-2003, MR-03.TXT


****************************************************************

REPRODUCING NOTICE:
-------------------
These electronic pages may not be reproduced in any format for 
profit, or presentation by any other organization, or persons.  
Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must 
obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal 
representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb 
archivist with proof of this consent.

Paul M Kankula - nn8nn
Seneca, SC, USA
Oconee County SC GenWeb Coordinator
 
Oconee County SC GenWeb Homestead
http://www.rootsweb.com/~scoconee/oconee.html
 
Oconee County SC GenWeb Tombstone Project
http://www.rootsweb.com/~scoconee/cemeteries.html
http://www.rootsweb.com/~cemetery/southcarolina/oconee.html

****************************************************************

DATAFILE INPUT . : Linda Flynn at ke8fd@@bellsouth.net.com in Apr-2003

DATAFILE LAYOUT  : Paul M. Kankula at kankula1@innova.net in Apr-2003


ROOSEVELT'S FORESTRY ARMY
THE CIVILIAN CONSERVATION CORPS OF THE MOUNTAIN REST COMMUNITY
Within a month of Roosevelt's victory in the November 1932 election and
three months before he took office, the Forest Service received rumors of a
"forestry army" to be drawn from the enlarged numbers of unemployed young men.
On December 9, 1932, Chief Robert Stuart quietly notified the Regional Foresters
that they might soon be called upon to employ for public service purposes as
many as 250,000 men. Roosevelt assumed the Presidency March 4, 1933, and within
a few days announced plans for creation of a "conservation army." Among the rush
of special legislation enacted to cope with the severe national economic crisis
was authorization and funds for public works in forest, water and soil
conservation approved on March 31. On April 5, Roosevelt issued an Executive
Order (6101) creating the Emergency Conservation Work (ECW) program to carry out
the activities specified in the Act of March 31. And, "On April 17 the Civilian
Conservation Corps [CCC] was organized and the first 200 men were enrolled and
sent to camp." (This was Camp Roosevelt on the George Washington National Forest
in northern Virginia's Shenandoah Mountains, not far from the Nation's Capital.
By July, almost 300,000 men had been enrolled, three-quarters of them working in
forestry camps supervised by the Forest Service.

The ECW and CCC arrived on the scene so rapidly that, at first, the focus
was ill defined.  Roosevelt at first saw the CCC primarily as a forestry
organization--fighting fires, planting trees, thinning timber stands, stopping
soil erosion and floods--but the field personnel of the State and Federal
agencies involved soon realized that CCC labor might also be directed toward the
construction of forest improvements--particularly roads, trails, buildings, and
recreation sites.

Times were hard in the spring of 1933.  Henry Vaughn, who's "73 and
holding," was the first man from Anderson County who joined the corps back in
1933.

"This country when Roosevelt took over was ready for an overthrow," Vaughn
says." I'd've joined Russia or anybody if they fed me and clothed me."
Vaughn . . . remembers well the hardship of the Depression. He left his
family's sharecropping farm early in the 1930s to find work and traveled across
the country all the way to California as a "hobo and a bum," he says.
Starting pay for a C.C.C. worker was $30 per month, of which the worker
kept $5 and the remaining $25 was sent home to his family.

When promoted to an assistant leader a worker's salary increased to $36 per
month, and when promoted to a leader his salary increased to $45 per month.

Although that does not seem like much by today's standards, Vaughn stated,
"When I got that first five dollars, I hadn't seen five dollars in ages. I was
rich! "

The pay appears small by today's standards, but it must be remembered that
the men had been working for $.50 a day or less when they could find jobs at
all. Thirty dollars a month with free clothing, housing, food, and medical and
dental treatment was a significant pay increase over what they had been earning.

Camp Ellison D. Smith F-l, located near the Whetstone Road, was the first
CCC camp to be located in South Carolina, F-2 was later located at Cherry Hill
Recreation area on Highway 107. Camp 75 was built at and did build Oconee State
Park. The three camps employed approximately 800 men at their peaks.

This eased the economic problems of this area at the time. Times were hard,
but local purchase of camp supplies, men spending their five dollars a month
salary, and many families of administrative personnel rooming with local
families helped to some degree.

Roosevelt expected the program to be put immediately into effect, and at
times there were problems encountered, which had to be overcome, Clyvie Walling
from near Charleston, SC, was among the first group to be hired and sent to
where the camp was going to be when they got it built. There was nothing but
woods at Camp 1 in May 1933, when the group arrived. Their job was to get ready
for other men who would be arriving later.

The advance party cleared brush and slept on straw-filled mattresses until
tents arrived and were set up. The camp had to be laid out on the ground and
planned before construction could begin.

When the main force arrived, they had to live in tents, which were gradually
improved by adding floors, and construction of other camp facilities.
Eventually, barracks, a mess hall, superintendent's office and garages for
trucks and equipment, and a blacksmith shop were added.

There were no plans of what was to be done or how it was to be done in the
early days. Soon Forest Service engineers were developing standard designs for
most often built structures. Blueprints for offices, warehouses, residences and
picnic shelters were standard and used throughout the country. One design could
keep thousands of men busy for weeks. Apparently some changes could be made on
the ground, such as where to locate windows, stairs, and doors. Fish Hatchery
buildings also appear to have been standard.

Materials were found locally, and ingenuity was used to get something
better where possible. Some areas were blessed with good building rock; others
weren't. If possible, crews would travel moderate distances to get such items in
small quantities.

Use of local materials, and the ability of the superintendent and leaders
provided variety to structures. The Forest Service office at Stumphouse is
paneled with pine, the one at Hot Springs, North Carolina, was paneled with
walnut, wormy chestnut, cherry, and pine.

Some of the lumber in buildings at Oconee State Park was from trees cut
while clearing the land for the Fish Hatchery.

Great pride was taken by all in doing the job well. This quality
workmanship has resulted in structures and roads lasting with little maintenance
much longer than expected.

State parks apparently had architects who provided the plans. A Swiss named
Muckenfuss (first name unknown) designed the buildings for Oconee State Park.

Design of camp buildings were fairly standard in most camps, but it has
been reported that Camp 1 had a baseball field. Apparently due to limited flat
ground at Camp F-2 at Cherry Hill tennis courts were built to provide some
additional physical outlets for the men.

Hard work, fresh air, and plenty of food were considered essential to
accomplish one of the goals established by the office of education, "to develop
an appreciation of nature and of country life." Here is the 1938 Thanksgiving
menu for Camp 1:
MENU
Thanksgiving Day 1938
OLIVES
GIBLET GRAVY
CANDIED SWEET POTATOES
GUAVA JELLY
FRIED CORN
FRUIT PUNCH
SWEET PICKLES
CREAM OF PEA SOUP
SALTINES
ROAST TURKEY
CRANBERRY SAUCE
ROAST PORK HAM
HOT ROLLS
LETTUCE SALAD
BUTTER
CELERY HEARTS
OYSTER DRESSING
CREAMED CAULIFLOWER
GRAPE JELLY
CREAMED POTATOES
PUMPKIN PIE
FRESH FRUITS
PLUM PUDDING
CIGARETTES
ICE CREAM
NUTS
COFFEE
MINCE MEAT PIE
ASSORTED CANDIES
BRANDY SAUCE
CIGARS
FRUIT CAKE

Vocational, along with some degree of formal, education was another goal
which was achieved. Men who desired could be taught basic education by the
education officer or volunteers.

The "Local Enlisted Men" who served as leaders were usually skilled with
basic tool and construction skills. A beautiful rock chimney was built for the
camp superintendents cabin, which has long disappeared from the camp site, but
evidence of the rock laying and cutting skills abound in the Mountain Rest area,
Visit Yellow Branch or Chattooga Recreation Areas, the stone columns at the
Stumphouse Ranger Station, Oconee State Park or the National Fish Hatchery.
There are few men today who possess the skills evidenced by these structures.

Construction skills with axes and a variety of other tools were necessary
to shape rough logs and fit them into grooves to hold together without nails.
Look at and try to imagine the hours of time and patience necessary to shape the
roof beams, braces, and benches at Chattooga or Yellow Branch Picnic Areas,
shaped and notched to fit almost without seams. One must wonder how often rookie
axemen missed, messing up his piece of work and having to start over. LEM's did
much of the highly skilled work, but much was taught to the men. Many LEM's
returned to work for the U.S. Forest Service following their service during
World War II. They continued to pass these skills on to younger Forest Service
employees. The leadership and experience of these men was sorely missed after
they retired.

Walter Couch was the last Forest Service employee to work for the CCC; he
retired, in December 1979.

Road construction was a massive project undertaken by the CCC. In addition
to locating, surveying, and designing, the crews did the actual construction
work. In the early years it was done by manpower using picks, shovels, and
wheelbarrows.  "We didn't get the bulldozer till just before the camp was
closed," Alton Ridley from King Mountain said. "The biggest job it did was to
finish out the Winding Stairs Road to the Cherry Hill Schoolhouse."

"Yeah," another agreed, "I pushed a wheelbarrow hauling rock out of the
ditches as we widened the Cassidy Bridge Road from Long Creek to the top of
mountain on this side of the Chauga River. Pickups, we called them in those
days."

When a new recruit came into camp the foreman would ask if he could drive
pickup. If he could, he was assigned a wheelbarrow."

After the road was constructed, gravel was used for surfacing. Rock
crushers were set up at several quarries around the area, including at the
bottom of Tamassee Road and at Stumphouse Tunnel.  Rock did not have to be
quarried at the tunnel but was taken out of the fill which was to have been the
approach to the Stumphouse Tunnel. Gravel was moved by dumptruck to the section
of road where it was needed.

A truck driver who worked on construction of the lake at Oconee State Park
once related a "chewing out" which he received because his gasoline consumption
failed to check with his speedometer readings. "All week long I was assigned to
haul stumps and brush from the lake bed to the dam and dump. I'd back up to get
another load, of course, the speedometer would wind backwards. When the
superintendent or his staff checked the gasoline burned, I'd used many gallons
and had reported only about a mile on the speedometer. He thought I'd been
stealing gas to sell to the local people or something. I don't know what he
thought I'd done with all that gas. I like to never explained to him how that
happened and I still don't think he believed me."

Camp 2 at Cherry Hill built fish-rearing ponds where they raised trout for
stocking in streams in the area.  There were no hatching facilities, so
fingerlings were brought in from other states before the Walhalla Hatchery was
completed. They were fed until fish had grown to the right size for stocking and
were hauled, sometimes long distances, and released into remote streams.

The CCC constructed the Walhalla Fish Hatchery in 1934-35.  The
Department of Commerce Bureau of Sport Fisheries, predecessors of the Department
of Interior Fish and Wildlife Service, was the managing agency. From 1935 until
1958 production was limited to about 15,000 lbs. per year because of the
inability to feed larger numbers of fish. When acceptable dry feeds became
commercially available in 1958, it became possible to feed more fish.

Dry feed development also necessitated redesign of the hatchery from round
holding ponds to the long raceways currently being used. Production increased to
85,000 lbs. within three years and is presently 130,000 lbs. per year. This is
expected to rise to 145,000 lbs. by 1985.

As could be expected, entertainment during evenings and weekends was mostly
a product of the creativity of hundreds of men living and working in one camp
There were always musicians with a variety of instruments to form bands and
make music. Community people were free to join the groups and often did. This
opened the doors for Saturday night dances, and everyone was welcome. This
provided opportunities to meet local girls, and there were many men who married
and stayed in the community and many young ladies who left the area with new
husbands after his term of enlistment was over.

Mr. Walling was one who met a local girl, married, and stayed in Walhalla.
He also has told of the men putting on "minstrel shows." These shows were
similar to vaudeville comedy of the era with faces painted black in which the
"actors" involved the audience (planned or unplanned) in their routines. These
shows were always a big success and provided the men hours of entertainment as
they planned and practiced their routines. Checkers, card games, horseshoes, and
baseball were other activities around camp. Though no gambling was permitted,
card games were highly competitive.

Baseball was the biggest team sport, which developed close relationships
with the men and strong competition between camps. At Camp 1 reunions, which are
held yearly at Mountain Rest Hillbilly Grounds, the baseball team is still a big
conversational topic between teammates.

Sunday afternoon games were well attended by those who want to root for the
home team. Team practice in the afternoons after work also provided hours of
entertainment.

Bull sessions and practical jokes were ever-present activities and provided
many good laughs. Successful practical jokes were pulled on each other until
everyone knew them, and new men in camp provided the only opportunity for
further use. Newcomers learned fast as the old timers plotted and schemed the
right time and place for the joke. Some such pranks required careful planning
and cooperation of several men to adequately "set up" the man to be trapped.

There are many yarns about life and the men in the camps. One which has
been repeated often in the Mountain Rest community is about Milton Nicholson,
who lived on the Village Creek Road. He was a LEM at Camp F-l, and everyone
called him Uncle Mitt.

Uncle Mitt, as did many mountain men throughout the South, made liquor
before he went to work for the CCC. This was often necessary to feed families
during those years, and it has been said that those who didn't make it, bought
it. Liquor making in the mountains was not easy money since it required carrying
all the equipment and ingredients to the still and hauling the finished product
out. Carrying one-hundred-pound sacks of sugar or a bushel of corn over steep
ground for any distance was no easy job.  Carrying a partially full keg or
five-gallon jug out was even worse.

The story, which Uncle Mitt told on himself, was later written into a ballad
by the daughter of Jim Cartwrighty who was a forester in Camp 1 when it opened:
THE RHEUMATIC RACE OF UNCLE MITT
The most amazing one of these
Was one devised by nature
That cured a case of this disease
In a moment of adventure.

In South Carolina's rugged hills
In the county of Oconee
The mountaineers, they worked their stills
To make a little money.

King of them all was Uncle Mitt
Who made the best corn liquor
Its quality made such a hit
Because it acted quicker.

Up near the head of Village Creek
Down in a deep ravine
Whose brushy sides went up so steep
They were quite hard to climb,

There Uncle Mitt set up a still,
He and a friend together.
A shack of slabs from an old sawmill
Gave shelter from the weather.

The cornmeal mash was doing fine
In buried barrels working
The sour beer was nearly prime
And soon would do for cooking.

Then rheumatiz got Uncle Mitt
Within its painful clutches
And he was force to merely sit
Or hobbled around on crutches.

Within the crude slab shack, the two
Were cooking up their dinner
Upon the stove a pot of stew
Had just begun to simmer.

The rain drummed down upon the roof
It was so cold and raw
The weather seemed to be a proof
There was no threat of law.

Some sixth sense or uncanny wit
Warned of approaching danger
On two rude crutches Uncle Mitt
Went out to reconnoiter.

And lurking there behind the trees
He soon made out the forms
Of the sheriff and his deputies
So he shouted the alarm.

His heart beat with a mighty bound
And hammered fast in fright
He cast his crutches on the ground
And ran in headlong flight.

Straight up the slick and muddy slope
He scrambled agilely
The sheriff's men soon gave up hope
And Uncle Mitt went free.

They caught his partner to be sure
Even though he wasn't ailing
But Uncle Mitt had found a cure
That saved him from a jailing.

Arthritis has a painful ache
And cripples up its victims
But cures are made for them to take
To help relieve the symptoms.

The sheriff knew whose still he was raiding, so he returned the crutches to
Uncle Mitt's wife before they carried his partner to town.

Such stories were often told to Break the monotony and add fun to the job
being done.

Nicknames were part of camp fun also, and more often than not a nickname
was remembered long after given names were forgotten. Everyone in camp knew
"Water Boy" because he toted water for the crew. No one knew Leonard Owens. At a
recent CCC reunion Leonard changed his name tag to "Water Boy" because that is
how his friends had always known him.

This created problems when families came to visit on Sunday afternoon and
wandered through camp looking for their sons. Helpful men might not recognize
given names, and parents, until they learned better, didn't know nicknames.

Nicknames were also a source of pride, often based on practical jokes,
something an individual did or any number of other means to find a suitable
handle.  Often many names were used for a new recruit until everyone was
satisfied with one, which fit the individual best.

It is impossible fully to appreciate the amount and quality of work
accomplished by the men of the CCC. Equipment of the time was crude and slow.
Much of the work was done with muscle power lubricated with sweat.

One former CCC enlisted man said it took all summer for three men to drills
the well at Long Mountain Fire Tower. The drill bit often clogged up and had to
be pulled out of the hole, cleaned, and re-lowered into the hole. The bit was
screwed onto sections of pipe, which had to be added as the hole got deeper.
These had to be removed one at a time when the bit was pulled out and added back
as the drill was lowered back into the hole.

There is also a story that a special monkey wrench was required to connect
the sections of pipe. One day the drill bit was changed, but when put back in
the hole no progress was made. The bit wasn't cutting so had to be removed and
checked. The wrench couldn't be found. Finally, when the mutilated bit came out
of the hole, the enlisted man working with the drill operator admitted that he
had dropped the wrench down the hole before the new drill had been lowered. The
bit had been grinding on the wrench the whole time.

Perhaps this will provide some insight into time and effort spent to
accomplish the following projects, a list, which is not a complete tabulation,
but which is representative:
--Built Oconee State Park, including roads, trails, buildings, lake
clearing, and dam cleared, and removed tree stumps by hand
--Built Walhalla Fish Hatchery, including road into the hatchery, clearing
of land, constructed round rearing ponds, hatchery buildings, and residences
--Stumphouse Ranger Station, cleared land and constructed office,
warehouse, residence, and rock columns at driveway entrances
--Chattooga and Yellow Branch Picnic areas, including roads, picnic sites,
shelters (Yellow Branch was also a campground at the time of construction)
--Hand-cleared the land and built the three temporary camps which they were
to occupy for almost ten years
--Roadwork was monumental: rebuilt Highway 107; built road into Long
Mountain; rebuilt Cassidy Bridge Road, Whetstone Road; rebuilt the Chattooga
Ridge Road from Highway 107 to Mountain Rest; built Tamassee Road (All the stone
used on the above roads was mined and crushed in rock crushers which the men
erected. CCC trucks hauled the gravel from the crusher to the road construction
site.  Rock crushers were located at Tamassee Road, Poplar Springs, Winding
Stairs Road, Cherry Hill, Brasstown, and Toxaway Creeks, and Stumphouse Tunnel.
Stumphouse Tunnel crusher is believed to have been operated by the state highway
department, but rock from it was hauled by CCC. Obviously, millions of tons of
gravel were made and hauled.)
--Constructed telephone system to state park, hatchery. Forest Service,
fire warden homes and tied to Southern Bell in Walhalla; first telephones in
Mountain Rest Community
--Built Long Mountain Fire Tower

Keep in mind also that all rock was mined, hauled, and shaped by hand before
being laid in the various buildings. All metal work was forged in blacksmith
shops, and some tools were also made by blacksmiths. All tool repair was done in
blacksmith shops. All vehicle repair was done in camp shops or at the work site.

There were many other less obvious projects.  Millions of trees were
planted; girdling to kill undesirable rotten trees was done on thousands of
acres; growth plots for long-term forest inventory were established. Erosion
control work was done on eroding fields which were on farms purchased by the
Forest Service; property boundaries were surveyed, painted, and posted, in
addition to wildlife being stocked.

The recreation areas, offices, buildings, and residences, the hatcheries
and state parks, as well as the roads, are still providing for the needs of the
nation. These facilities are being used by more and more people each year. The
trees they planted are providing lumber for homes and fiber for paper.

There is no way fully to appreciate what these men have done for the
society we live in today.  The CCC men built the foundations on which the
national forests now stand. It was a strong, well built foundation and should be
recognized as a living monument to the "boys" of the CCC.

[References: Foxfire, "The Civilian Conservation Corps," vols. 1 and 2
(Foxfire [ISSN 0015-9220] is published quarterly by the students of Rabun County
High School in Clayton, Georgia. Subscriptions are available by writing Foxfire
Fund, Inc., Rabun Gap, Georgia 30568); Roosevelt's Forest Army, by Perry H.
Merrill, former Vermont State Forester and Commissioner of Forests, and Parks,
200 Elm St., Montpelier, VT 05602 (includes scores of personal reminiscences of
enrollees and officers recently gathered by Merrill from all over the country,
state-by-state summary, photos mainly from Vermont, where Merrill directed its
CCC program); The Tree Army, by Stanley Cohen, Pictorial Histories Pub. Co.,
Missoula, Montana, 1980; CCC Boys Remember, by Glenn Howell, Klocker Printery,
Bedford, Oregon, 1976.]