"Buffalo Springs, Chickasaw National Recreation Area, 2015." by U.S. National Park Service , public domain
Big ThicketThe Civilian Conservation Corps |
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Chickasaw
National Park Service
U.S. Department of the Interior
Chickasaw National Recreation Area
The Civilian Conservation Corps
Visitors to the Platt Historic District find a remarkable and inviting landscape of swimming
holes, winding trails and roads, campgrounds, and rustic stone buildings that provide a quiet,
intimate place to relax and explore the natural environment. These features reflect the hard
work of young men whose lives were changed by an organization that lasted only nine years
but left an indelible mark on the landscape of the United States. These “Men Who Built the
Parks” left a legacy in parks and forests across the country, and decades later, millions of
people still enjoy their work.
A Troubled Economy
Many people who had enjoyed the prosperity
of the Roaring Twenties found themselves in
soup lines and tattered clothes by the early
1930s. Sputtering Model Ts rumbled down
dusty roads, carrying passengers and their few
possessions toward dreams of a better tomorrow.
The growing depression devastated the nation’s
economy and left many in dire straits. By 1933,
nearly ten thousand banks had failed and more
than 16 million Americans were unemployed.
Fifteen percent fewer children were born in 1933
than in 1929; a reflection of severely diminished
expectations.
Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) was elected
president by a landslide in 1932 with his promise
of a “New Deal” for the American people. Within
days of his inauguration, FDR called Congress
into special session to work on emergency
legislation to aid the economy and the American
people. Many new agencies and programs were
created to provide relief and restore the economy.
President Roosevelt kept his promise and the
New Deal was born.
Roosevelt’s “Tree Army”
Probably the most popular New Deal program
was the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).
Designed to reduce unemployment while
also conserving natural resources, the CCC
affected the lives of millions of Americans,
and transformed the American landscape.
Nicknamed “Roosevelt’s Tree Army,” the CCC
was operated through the cooperative efforts
of four departments. The Department of Labor
oversaw the selection of enrollees, the Army
ran the camps, and the Interior and Agriculture
departments provided work projects. The work
of the CCC initially focused on reforestation, but
quickly evolved to include soil conservation and
development of recreational park facilities.
Initially, unmarried men between the ages of
18 and 25 whose families were on relief could
apply. They enrolled for six months, with an
option to reenlist for up to two years. Enrollees
earned $30 a month, $25 of which was sent to
their families. Eventually, “Local Experienced
Men” and World War I veterans were allowed to
enroll. African-Americans and American Indians
also participated, generally in segregated CCC
companies.
From 1906 until 1976 the present-day Platt Historic
District was known as Platt National Park.
Established as Sulphur Springs Reservation in 1902
to protect mineral springs and water resources, the
site evolved from a settlement and town site into
a national park. This evolution required almost
equal amounts of obliteration and construction of
buildings, roads, and other features.
The small size and humble resources of Platt
National Park were somewhat atypical, when
compared to the great landscape parks with
their sublime scenery and monumental hotels.
Yet visitors didn’t seem to notice; in 1914, Platt’s
visitation exceeded that of both Yellowstone and
Yosemite and was second only to the Hot Springs
Reservation in Arkansas.
The early appearance of Platt National Park was
not what we imagine today when we think of
national parks. Early park features included not
only mineral springs, but flower beds, animal pens
and a golf course.
Because of its limited size and the unusually large
number of visitors, portions of Platt were heavily
impacted by camping, cars, and people. Balancing
visitor needs while protecting park resources
was a constant struggle in the early years of
Platt National Park. The programs and federal
dollars of the New Deal were seen as “a golden
opportunity” by park staff.
Company 808’s “Sapling Crew”
A New Deal for
Platt National Park
Camp and Community
Men of the 808
Improving Nature
The community of Sulphur had some
apprehension about a CCC camp, concerned
over the possible presence of unruly young
men. This attitude swiftly changed as the camp
was established and work began. The city
demonstrated their appreciation in 1935, by
donating thirty gallons of paint to improve the
appearance of the camp buildings. Enrollee Earl
Pollard remembered, “Sulphur used to be a lively
place. Very lively. The camp didn’t have any air
conditioning, and we’d open the windows and
doors at night, and the music from the honky tonk
would put us to sleep every night.”
Camp facilities included a headquarters building,
day room, and a little canteen where enrollees
could buy cigarettes, gum, and candy; in the
middle of the camp were a shop, educational and
supply buildings. Two barracks, a latrine, and a
mess hall were on the west end.
Between 1933-1940, a series of landscapes—
including spring pavilions, creek dams, swimming
holes, wooded picnic grounds, hiking trails, and
campgrounds—were created or improved with
the labor of the CCC in Platt National Park.
Master planning treated the landscape as a whole,
enhancing and revealing its natural, geological,
and water-based marvels, while providing for
visitor recreation in and enjoyment of nature.
Constructed of native materials, the resulting
New Deal landscape of Platt National Park is of
exceptional quality and demonstrates outstanding
workmanship that has proven extremely durable.
According to CCC mason Frank Beaver, soil and
rock was removed from the front of Antelope
Springs to reveal the fresh water spring emerging
from the solid rock formation below. Enrollee
Earl Pollard commented that, “The construction
supervisor said that all landscaping was ‘nature
faking.’ The shoulders had been graded and they
wanted to make it grow back natural.” Enrollee
Truman Cobb commented that he “took care of
those slopes. They put us to doin’ somthin’ that
would last, and make something beautiful. You
go today, where they’re building highways and
it’s just an old barren cut there and nothin’ pretty
about it. But we sloped those things, leaving the
boulders, leaving the outcroppings that would be
picturesque…. We might work half a day around
one boulder… kinda like an artist”
The Legacy
Nationwide, the CCC operated 4,500 camps in
national parks and forests as well as state and
community parks. More than three million men
enrolled between 1933 and 1942, planting three
billion trees, protecting 20 million acres from soil
erosion, and aiding in the establishment of 800
state parks. The CCC advanced natural resource
conservation in this country by decades, and
provided education, training, and experience for a
generation of young men.
Three more barracks were located on the south
side and a flagpole in the parade ground. The
camp cook would prepare hot lunches, including
sliced pies, which were brought into the field to
feed work crews.
Company 808’s masonry, forestry, and
landscaping work was exemplary, but the
development of the young men “mentally,
physically and morally” was the most outstanding
part of the program. Enrollee Jay Pinkston
remembered working “harder in Platt National
Park than I ever worked for any contractor or
expected to.” In June 1940, after eight years of
work, Company 808 moved from Platt National
Park to Rocky Mountain National Park. When the
CCC boys left, one writer remembered, “a feeling
like that accompanying an irreparable loss settled
on the community.”
The CCC planted 800,000 plants, including 60
tree species throughout Platt National Park.
Enrollee Delbert Gilbert, who served on the
‘sapling crew’ remembered, “They schooled us on
not hurting the trees. Don’t break no green limbs
off, you know, and we took that schooling.”
Although the Platt Historic District’s landscape
features—stone bridges and culverts, scenic vistas,
rustic buildings constructed of native limestone,
and plantings of cedars and wildflowers—are
important individually, together they compose
a cohesive and seemingly natural recreational
environment. Thus the CCC design of Platt
National Park transformed an eroded resort
landscape into a holistic place of great beauty,
whose enduring recreational and scenic values
visitors still experience and appreciate today.
CCC masonary crew constructing the comfort station in
Flower Park, 1934.
Millions of visitors to the Platt Historic District
have enjoyed the work of the CCC. During your
visit take a drive along the perimeter road, hike
the trails along Travertine Creek or through
Flower Park, and remember the young men
who worked there many years ago. As Arthur M.
Schlesinger, Jr., wrote, the Civilian Conservation
Corps has “left its monuments in the preservation
and purification of the land, the water, the forests,
and the young men of America.”
Remembering the work of the CCC at Platt
National Park, enrollee Truman Cobb observed
that, “all of the pavilions are just kind of
monuments to some real good construction work.
Even the restrooms are made with permanence….”
EXPERIENCE YOUR AMERICA™
Produced by the Division of Interpretation; October 2008
Written by Eric Leonard, Park Ranger