FREE ESSAY ON CIVILIAN CONSERVATION CORPS

CIVILIAN CONSERVATION CORPS

The Civilian Conservation Corps
The hardships of the Great Depression of the early part of the twentieth century lead to
many drastic decisions by our countries leaders on how to deal with the problem. Franklin
Delano Roosevelt, President of the United States at the time, decided to infiltrate the
country with government money to create jobs and better the country as a whole. The
Civilian Conservation Corps, or CCC created many of these jobs. 
The Civilian Conservation Corps, which was established in 1933 to conserve the wilderness
and give young able men jobs. This program was one of Roosevelt's New Deal programs that
were to bring the country out of the depression. The Civilian Conservation Corps took in
unmarried men from ages eighteen to twenty-five and moved them to the wilderness to work.
They planted trees, built parks, fought soil erosion, and preformed timber culturing
(Davidson 718).
The Civilian Conservation Corps set up camps all over the country with many of them right
here in the western part of Virginia. There were eight different camps in the Shenandoah
Valley. Seeing as the Shenandoah Valley, specifically Staunton is where I am from, I wish
to focus on the three camps that were located within Augusta County. North River, West
Augusta, and Sherando were the names of the three camps located within Augusta County. 
North River Camp, also known as Mount Solon Camp, was first established on May 31, 1933
by one hundred eighty-six men. These men first had to create a clearing for the camp and
establish living quarters. They built nineteen different buildings for 
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uses such as recreation, dining, worship, storage and sleep. The camp men built many of
the surrounding areas attractions. These men developed an intricate maze of fire roads,
horseback trails and timber paths for future development of the National Forest in that
area of Augusta County. Another accomplishment of this particular camp was the cleaning
up of Staunton Dam, or Elkhorn Lake. This lake supplied the camp and Staunton with its
water and had been contaminated by erosion. The men spent considerable time fixing the
erosion problem and beautifying the area into a wilderness attraction. Now many families
still retreat to this lake for picnics and camping trips. 
The West Augusta Camp was located further into the wilderness than the North River Camp
or the Sherando Camp. The West Augusta Camp men spent most of their time constructing
roads throughout the underdeveloped and extremely impoverished area. Being surrounded by
the George Washington National Forrest, the men also did many timber culturing; tree
plantings, and timber stand improvements. This area was an extremely wet area so they
constructed many fish dams for the production of trout. This camp was quite active and
production was well noted. They completed 28.5 miles of roads over the Appalachian
Mountain range, built and maintained three fire towers on three different mountains,
constructed two new hiking trails, flooding control, improved fish habitat, roadside pull
offs on Shenandoah Mountain, and road and trail signs. 
The West Augusta Camp was considered one of the Civilian Conservation Corps best camps in
the United States. Many of the structures that were constructed and all of the trails and
towers are still standing and used to this day. In fact the area is now call 
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Ramsey's Draft and the highways they built are considered one of the most beautiful to
visit during the fall foliage. 
The final Civilian Conservation Corps camp located in Augusta County was named Sherando
Camp. This camp was established on May 15, 1933 and was manned by one hundred fifty-two
enrollees. Approximately ninety percent of the work done by this camp was road
construction of some sort. The other ten percent of the work was done on a recreational
lake to be named Sherando Lake. The lake's dam required thirty thousand cubic yards of
fill. The lake was to be twenty-five acres in area and around fifty feet deep at its
deepest point. They also constructed streambeds, telephone lines, sewer system, water
system, parking lots and buildings for the Sherando Lake site. 
Today Sherando Lake is one of the biggest wilderness tourist attractions in the Augusta
County area because of its beauty and remoteness. Now there are multitudes of trails for
hiking and horseback riding, roads for viewing the beauty of the mountain and many
streams for fishing, all made by the Civilian Conservation Corps
The Civilian Conservation Corps was one of the greatest works by President Roosevelt. The
jobs and work done by the Corp beautified the land while helping the country out of its
depression. Many of their works are still used today and I do not know what Augusta
County would be like without existence. I am proud of the work done by the Civilian
Conservation Corp.