State still cashing in on that CCC check

By Tom Linton Contributor

Published April 7, 2008

Editor’s note: This is an occasional series of columns about Tom Linton’s travels to the state parks of with his dog, Brigid.

On March 31, 1933, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt created the Civilian Conservation Corps. CCC members came from the cities as well as the backwoods of Texas to join “Roosevelt’s Tree Army.”

The fruits of their labors are a legacy to the state of Texas that still shines today in the parks they help create. Their efforts were devoted to, among other things, developing or improving state parks.

One example of their handiwork that we enjoy to this day is . Started in 1933, the structures they created in Bastrop State Park — the Refectory Hall, the swimming pool, the golf course and the cabins — are still used and enjoyed today. That was 75 years ago.

Not only on Bastrop State Park, but in all of the parks throughout the nation in which they worked, their restorations or creations were extraordinary at the time and are no less so today. And if you wish to see examples, I refer you to the road into or the picnic pavilion in or a mission in Goliad that will take your breath away.

To celebrate or commemorate this bright page in the history of the United States and especially Texas, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department hosted the Civilian Conservation Corps’ 75th anniversary on March 28-29 at Bastrop State Park. The honorees were those who were former CCC members. They live in a variety of states now and were workers on a variety of parks throughout the United States. The Civilian Conservation Corps program operated from April 5, 1933, to June 30, 1942.

Members told stories of the hardships they endured and the fun they had. Since this was a government program, there were stories about things that happened that could occur “only” in a government program.

I got into a conversation with one of the “formers.” I asked him if he had worked in the parks in Texas. He said he came from Arkansas. When he enrolled in the Civilian Conservation Corps, officials put him and a bunch more Arkansawers on a train and transported them to Wisconsin. After they got to Wisconsin, small groups of them were dropped off at camps that had been set up there.

“Here I was, a boy from the South, deposited in that Deepfreeze country. The first night we were there, the town’s water tower froze solid and collapsed. The next day, they put us back on the train and took us to Iowa. It was a little better, but I never could put on enough layers of clothes to keep warm. I was never so glad to see Arkansas before in my life than I was when I got back home.”

There were a number of antique tool demonstrations showing how the CCCers shaped the rocks and timbers in building structures, retaining walls and trails in the parks. One, skyline rigging, was demonstrated by the American Youthworks Environmental Corps. This procedure involved cables strung between trees, pulleys on these cables and levers that operated like jacks for changing tires. With this Rube Goldberg-looking contraption, they would place straps under large rocks, make the cable taunt with the jack device and move 800-pound rocks anywhere they wished to place them.

These demonstrations were impressive to me as were the young people conducting the demonstrations. They were members of the American Youthworks Environmental Corps. It is a co-ed program in which people between the ages of 17 to 28 can enroll. Members work on restoration and preservation of parks and public lands in Texas. Much like the Civilian Conservation Corps, while they are enrolled in the program, there are education-related opportunities. They can complete a high school diploma, GED or pay off student loans.

There were 30 new enrollees sworn in as members of the Youthworks Environmental Corps at the first evening’s gathering. The oldest former CCCer (95 years) was also recognized. So there we had the old and the new — both chatting with and looking admiringly at one another. The term “mutual admiration” seemed a most appropriate phrase.

The economic influence that the Civilian Conservation Corps had in the country was widespread. Generally the Civilian Conservation Corps member received $30 a month. Of that, $25 was sent home to his family.

So cashing the Civilian Conservation Corps check provided the economy a “shot in the arm.” Those CCC-built parks continue to make that economic contribution.

Professor John Crompton of the Recreation and Parks Department at Texas A&M University at College Station conducted a study in which he estimated the economic impact of 79 state parks on their host counties. When extrapolated to all 123 Texas state parks, the economic activity based on sales was estimated to be $935 million, the impact on residents’ income was $538 million and the number of jobs created was estimated at 14,061.

Dr. Joe Knox of Texas A&M at Galveston conducted the same modeling exercise to see what portion of this economic benefit to the state could be attributed to the Civilian Conservation Corps parks. The wage and operating expenditures paid by the 30 Texas Civilian Conservation Corps parks today create $16,489,865 of yearly income and 118 jobs (this number does not include the employees of the Civilian Conservation Corps parks) for the state economy.

They came, on March 28-29, once again to a site that was one of their grand accomplishments, Bastrop State Park. They came to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the creation of the Civilian Conservation Corps. They came to see old acquaintances from, not their misspent youth, but from the days of their well-spent youth.

I unashamedly eavesdropped on their conversations, which may be summed up in the following statements:

The roads and trails they built were all Herculean tasks!

The rocks they moved were much larger than the rocks we have today!

The girls they met were prettier!

The Civilian Conservation Corps check they cashed had a very, very profound effect on their lives, the lives of their families back home and the state!

And given what the analysis of professors Compton and Knox have shown — the state is still cashing (in on) that Civilian Conservation Corps check!

Tom Linton is president of the Friends of Galveston Island State Park.