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The Civilian Conservation Corps in Arizona, 1933-1942 Item Type text; Thesis-Reproduction (electronic) Authors Booth, Peter MacMillan, 1963- Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 04/10/2021 12:08:07 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/291464 INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. 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Contact UMI directly to order. University Microfilms International A Bell & Howell Inforn-iation Connpany 300 North Zeeb Road. Ann Arbor Ml 48106-1346 USA 313/761-4700 800/521-0600 Order Number 1345362 The Civilian Conservation Corps in Arizona, 1933—1942 Booth, Peter MacMillan, M.A. The University of Arizona, 1991 Copyright ©1992 by Booth, Peter MacMillan. All ri^ts reserved. UMI SOON.ZeebRd. Ann Arbor, MI 48106 THE CIVILIAN CONSERVATION CORPS IN ARIZONA, 1933-1942 by Peter MacMillan Booth Copyright® Peter MacMillan Booth A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of MASTERS OF ARTS In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 19 9 1 2 3 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This thesis has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for an advanced degree at The University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this thesis are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgment of source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the copyright holder. SIGNED: APPROVAL BY THESIS DIRECTOR Th; ' ' "ihe date shown below: / DatC Professor of History 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The number of people who helped with this thesis are too extensive to list here, but I extend a thanks to them all. I would especially like to acknowledge the help of Dr. Harwood Hinton, my thesis advisor. Only through his knowledge, patience, and suggestions was I able to complete this project. I also thank my secondary readers, Drs. Donna Guy and Paul Carter, for their patience, encouragement, and help. Other professors who provided valuable suggestions are Drs. Juan Garcia, Bernard Fontana, and Leonard Dinnerstein. The research for this work would have been impossible without the services of the archivists and librarians at the Pacific Branch of the National Archives (Laguna Niguel, California), the Arizona Historical Society, the Arizona State Museum, the Arizona State Archives, the visitor center archives at Grand Canyon National Park, the Coronado National Forest, the Kaibab National Forest, and the Special Collections at the University of Arizona. I also extend special thanks to the men and women of the National Association of Civilian Conservation Corps Alumni Chapter 149 in Tucson, Arizona. The insight of these CCC veterans and their wives proved invaluable. Of course, none of this would have been possible without the love and support of my parents. Most importantly, I want to acknowledge the love and support of my fiancee, Jennifer. 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT 6 PREFACE 7 THE CCC COMES TO ARIZONA 10 A "DEVIL'S CALDRON" OF ACTIVITY 44 THE INDIAN CCC 88 CCC EXPANDS IN ARIZONA 123 THE BLUE DENIM UNIVERSITY 152 CCC CLOSES DOWN 192 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 225 6 Abstract During the early days of his administration, Franklin Delano Roosevelt established the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) to protect and enhance the nation's natural resources and speed economic recovery. He designed the agency to use unemployed young men and World War I veterans on a multitude of conservation projects. In Arizona, as the second largest funded federal program (behind the Bureau of Reclamation), the CCC significantly impacted the state in many ways. Socially, the corps reinforced American values among one segment of the population while introducing the same values to Native American peoples. Environmentally, the CCC programs altered Arizona's land use. When prosperity returned, the state's economy was more diversified and better prepared for the demands of World War II. From 1933 to 1942, the CCC not only played a vital role in transforming Arizona's economy and society but also provided a boost into the modern era. 7 Preface In the early 1930s, Arizona, like the rest of the nation, found itself in the grip of an economic depression. The economy floundered as the prices for its leading commodities—copper, cotton, cattle—plummeted. Other important sectors of the economy such as lumber and tourism also suffered. A drought sweeping the Western states com­ pounded the dilemma. The Southern Pacific and the Santa Fe Railroads cut back their operations as shipments decreased. Unemployment rose, average income plunged, and growth ground to a halt. Arizona had struggled to pull itself out of the nineteenth century, but the depression thwarted further progress. Arizonans hoped that their natural resources would help them through the depression. Unfortunately, decades of extractive use had exhausted the land. Soil erosion, grass depletion, and deforestation caused by mismanagement had taken their toll. Erosion in particular had caused considerable damage. The San Simon Valley alone, in southeastern Arizona, had lost 19,000 acres to neglect and misuse. Erosion runoff had also silted reservoirs and the irrigation ditches coming off the Gila and Salt Rivers in the central part of the state. The Native American population in Arizona faced a far more serious situation. The drop in farm and beef prices devastated their chief industries. Likewise, the depression 8 closed off-reservation employment possibilities. What hurt more was the drought. Even isolated parts of the reservations previously insulated from the effects of economic depression suffered from the dry conditions. Traditional land use methods, geared for a small population, created circumstances which hastened the march toward disaster. During the first days of April 1933, Congress passed the Unemployment Relief Act, establishing the Emergency Works Corps. This agency evolved into the Civilian Conservation Corps [CCC] after a few months of operation and quickly became a multi-departmental effort. The program used the Department of Labor to mobilize unemployed youths into a peace-time army. These men lived in camps run by the War Department and worked on projects directed by the Departments of Interior and Agriculture. The Bureau of Indian Affairs ran a separate CCC program for Native Americans. Through the CCC, President Franklin D. Roosevelt sought to save the nation's natural and human resources. His goal was take the unemployed, and especially young men between seventeen and twenty four years old, off the streets, put them to work, and mold them into productive citizens. He also planned to utilize the CCC to enhance and conserve the economic assets of the environment. The President's conservation policy required a concerted program to rejuvenate the usable resources and make them sustainable 9 through federal land management. Arizona makes an ideal state in which to study the CCC's operations. The Arizona experience highlights how the program impacted both society and environment in a particular area. The CCC was the largest funded government program in the state after the Bureau of Reclamation. Approximately 50,000 Arizonans served in the corps, or about twenty percent of the total male population in the state. The CCC directly influenced the state's growth and economy. In turn, the diverse natural and cultural mix influenced the variety of ways the CCC operated. The Arizona experience mirrored the corps at its best and worst. A study of the CCC in Arizona sheds light on how the New Deal programs not only vitally impacted the destiny of a young state but also society, environment, and growth in the West during a troubled era. 10 CHAPTER ONE THE CCC COMES TO ARIZONA When President Roosevelt signed the act to create the CCC, he set a goal of having a quarter million young men working nationwide within three and half months. A peacetime mobilization of this scale had never been attempted in American history before. The previous record for enrolling men for a comparable amount of time had been in 1917 when the military fielded 181,000 troops. To achieve Roosevelt's goal, CCC director Robert Fechner had to coordinate four unrelated and antagonistic departments with a host of city, county and state agencies. He also faced unpredictable public sentiment and difficult local demands, not to mention nightmarish logistical complications.

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