Camps and Calluses

Description

Camps and Calluses

The Civilian Conservation Corps in Southwestern Oregon

For most of us, the Great Depression that gripped the nation for almost 10 years in the late 1920’s and ’30’s is only something that we vaguely recall from reading history books. In 1933 Franklin Delano Roosevelt took the reins of the nation and created the NEW DEAL. One of the most successful programs of the NEW DEAL was the creation of the Civilian Conservation Corps.

It focused on getting the unemployed young men off the streets of America’s largest cities and transporting them by train to their new home in camps spread across the country. These camps would be their home for a minimum of six months.

The book “Camps and Calluses” discusses what lead up to the Great Depression and where and how the CCC camps in southwestern Oregon played their part. This book follows my other ones in style and narrative. It highlights with photographs the camps and work projects in the region while being supported by a detailed narrative on each camp. Sadly, there is little evidence left to prove the CCC boys were here. The camp sites have all disappeared and only a few rock walls have stood the test of time to demonstrate their work. So, I decided to write a book about what they did.