Neilsen, dressed in period attire as a 1930s newspaper reporter, presented a slide show and narrative discussion of this important Depression-era work program at the Bureau of Land Management’s monthly Brown Bag lunch seminar.
The information Neilsen presented was given new meaning by one particular audience member. Mr. Volley Dryden, 91, shared his vivid memories of more than three years that he worked in four different CCC camps in southeastern Arizona. He brought along a group photo taken at the Pima Camp when Dryden was 19 years old. He admitted to lying about his age to get into the program, a Franklin D. Roosevelt-administration effort to provide badly needed work for struggling Americans.
 Former CCC worker Volley Dryden shows a photo of himself to luncheon speaker Kate Neilsen taken at the Pima Camp. Contributed photo |
Some were more concerned because of the involvement of the Army. Those fears were soon assuaged. Army Chief of Staff General Douglas MacArthur testified that there would be “no military training whatsoever,” with the military restricting its participation to gathering the men selected by the Department of Labor, outfitting the men, giving the men a physical examination and physical conditioning before transporting them to their camps, where they would be turned over to the Department of Agriculture.
Dryden remembered that transportation to and from the camps was provided by the government and that the workers were sent to their duty stations aboard trains. Neilsen noted that camps were chosen far away from the workers’ home towns so that it limited the temptation to quit and go home. Dryden also remembered a particular boy who, when given his boots, was especially excited as they were the very first pair of shoes he had ever owned.
Neilsen also explained that applicants to the CCC had to be single, as opposed to the Works Project Administration that hired married participants. CCC workers earned $30 per month of which $25 was sent home to their families and the workers themselves were given the remaining $5. Dryden remembered that each camp had a little commissary where workers could buy cigarettes, candy and “sodie pop.”
Meals were provided and, for many new recruits, these were the first square meals that they had eaten in a while. Neilsen said, when some of the boys, as they were called, arrived at Chiricahua National Monument’s CCC camp to work, they were too weak to help their crews. But eventually, within weeks of eating healthy meals, they were out working on trails, planting trees and constructing buildings.
Dryden discussed some of the projects that the Pima crew completed. One of the surprises was that it was in charge of ridding the local ranches of gophers. Apparently, the tunnels dug by the little creatures were resulting in numerous injuries to horses and cattle, who stumbled into the collapsing ground. The CCC boys poured poison into the holes and covered all the openings to prevent escape.
From 1933 to 1942, nearly 53,000 men worked on CCC projects in Arizona. One of the crowning accomplishments of the CCC era is the many buildings that were constructed. One of the most notable such buildings in Arizona is the Painted Desert Visitor Center at Petrified Forest National Park. Other Arizona examples of CCC craftsmanship can be seen at Colossal Cave Park, Chiricahua National Monument, Grand Canyon National Park, Walnut Canyon south of Flagstaff and South Mountain Park in Phoenix. Dryden also noted that the CCC crews were responsible for reconstruction of Besh-Be-Gowah, a Salado pueblo village in Globe.
There were numerous CCC camps in Graham and Greenlee counties. The best-preserved of these is the Sanchez Camp, located north of the Safford Airport, where remnants of several buildings can be seen. The site is located on public lands, and BLM archaeologist Dan McGrew hopes to eventually have interpretive signs made and installed at the site. Another site on public lands is located along the Black Hills Back Country Byway.
Other local sites include the camps at Columbine, Noon Creek, Artesia, Teague Spring, Pima, Safford, Black Rock, Fort Thomas, Solomon and Bonita in Graham County; Duncan, Clifton, Slick Rock, Orange Butte, and Eagle Creek in Greenlee County; and Rucker Canyon, Bowie, Apache Pass, Douglas and Fort Huachuca in Cochise County.
Life in the CCC camps wasn’t all work. Dryden said the various camps in the Gila Valley would get together to socialize and play baseball. He also noted that, at the corner of Central and Relation, there used to be a big open-air dance hall. Many of the CCC boys would pay their 15 cents to get into the dance and meet some of the local girls. And that is exactly how Dryden met Chloe Holladay, who would become his wife of 71 years. Chloe passed away July 3.
Dryden shared memories of how he and Chloe took classes to become certified welders and moved to California to work in the shipyards during World War II. Upon their return to Arizona, Chloe put her riveting skills to work as a professional cake decorator. The Drydens eventually inherited the Black Rock Ranch from Chloe’s parents, and the family continues to operate as a working cattle ranch and corporate retreat. The CCC was certainly the start of intriguing life for the Drydens.
President Roosevelt signed into law the legislation creating the Emergency Conservation Work (ECW) program March 31, 1933. Neilsen noted that this law has never been rescinded, which means the program is still “on the books” and could be utilized by current and future administrations.
“Would this program work today?” was one of the questions discussed by participants in the Brown Bag Seminar. Most felt that, with today’s welfare program that provides compensation without performance of work, there would be little interest in signing up. “You have to be starving, and we’re not there yet,” commented one participant.
But beyond the monetary value of the CCC program, another benefit was noted, one that is direly needed in these times: discipline and moral standards. When pushing for the bill, Roosevelt stated that “More important will be the moral and spiritual value of such work. The overwhelming majority of unemployed Americans who are walking the streets and receiving private or public relief would infinitely prefer to work. We can take a vast army of these unemployed out into healthful surroundings.” With today’s crumbling infrastructure of roads and bridges, coupled with the need for a positive moral and educational experience, perhaps a revived CCC could be considered.
Participation in the CCC was certainly a memorable and life-changing experience for many young men. Their memories are being celebrated throughout 2008 during the CCC’s 75th anniversary. The BLM will host another Brown Bag Seminar highlighting the CCC on October 9; archaeologist Dan McGrew will talk about the CCC camps in the Gila Valley. After the talk, the audience can join McGrew on a field trip to the Sanchez Camp, located on public lands north of the Safford Airport.
McGrew and retired BLM soil scientist Larry Humphrey will also present a talk Oct. 25 in Tucson as part of festivities during Colossal Cave Mountain Park’s dedication of its CCC Workers Statue. The statue will be located on the approach to the cave entrance near a stone CCC-built ramada. For more information contact J. J. Lamb, Colossal Cave Mountain Park, at 520-647-7121, or by email at jerrie@colossalcave.com.
If you have personal memories of the CCC camps in southeastern Arizona that you would like to share, contact Dan McGrew at 928-348-4466 or Daniel_McGrew@blm.gov.
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