Tag Archives: CCC

Civilian Conservation Corps Powder Magazine

31 Saturday Jan 2026

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Civilian Conservation Corps Powder Magazine

This nomination is part of the “Capitol Reef National Park Multiple Property Submission.” The CCC Powder Magazine is associated with the historic context “National Park Service and Government Development in Capitol Reef National Park, 1937-1946.”

The Civilian Conservation Corps Powder Magazine has local significance under National Register Criterion A for its association with the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and the programs of the Works Progress Administration. The powder magazine originally served to safely store explosives used in the construction projects of the CCC at Capitol Reef National Park. The powder magazine and the Ranger Station are the only two CCC resources in Capitol Reef which retain physical integrity and qualify for National Register listing. The period of significance for the CCC Powder Magazine dates from its construction in 1938 to 1941 when the public work projects at the park ceased and the CCC camp was disbanded.

Located in Capitol Reef National Park and added to the National Register of Historic Places (#99001090) on September 13, 1999.

A Civilian Conservation Corps side camp was established in Capitol Reef National Monument in July 1938. This camp, originally designated NM-2, and later NP-6, was situated at Chimney Rock to the west of Fruita. This initial CCC presence consisted of a foreman and seventeen laborers detailed from Bryce Canyon National Park. During the next four years the CCC side camp at Capitol Reef was expanded and more permanent structures such as a frame mess hall and the powder magazine replaced the original tents as support facilities. The CCC played a key role in developing modern facilities within the newly created National Monument. In 1940 CCC work included construction of a ranger station, a highway bridge across Sulphur Creek, improvements to the Hickman Bridge Trail, and improvements to the Torrey to Fruita road. In 1941, the CCC also worked on improvements on the Capitol Gorge Highway, which extended south of Fruita through Capitol Gorge.

The explosives stored in the powder magazine were central to CCC construction activity; nearly all of the construction work undertaken by the CCC within the monument entailed quarrying sandstone into blocks or slabs a process which required the use of explosives. Furthermore, prior to the widespread use of heavy machinery, explosives were essential in road construction projects.

The CCC powder magazine relates to an important period in the development of the National Park system, a time in which great strides were made in park improvements. It also serves as evidence of the unprecedented federal relief efforts organized under the President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “New Deal” to address the disastrous unemployment problems of the Great Depression.

Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge

07 Saturday Dec 2024

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Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge

The Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge was created by Congress in 1928 to protect waterfowl on the flyway through the Great Salt Lake Basin. It covers 80,000 acres of marshes, sloughs and uplands at the delta of the Bear River, flowing out of the northern Wasatch Mountains. Early efforts to improve habitat and water quality for migratory birds in the 1920s had come to naught, so local hunters and conservationists sought the aid of the federal government.

The newly-renamed Bureau of Biological Survey took over management of all national wildlife refuges in 1933 under President Franklin Roosevelt, the number of which doubled during the New Deal years. The Bureau enlisted the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) to undertake improvements to most wildlife refuges, including Bear River, Utah’s first NWR.

The CCC established Camp BS-1 in Brigham City to work on the refuge (the name of the camp changed more than once). The CCC men built dikes to hold water in marshes, canals to move Bear River water around, and water control structures to regulate flows and water levels. They also built roads along dikes into the marshlands, planted shrubs and grasses for the wildlife and built artificial islands to protect nesting birds.

One result of the CCC’s seven years of work on Bear River refuge was the end of frequent waterfowl poisoning by botulism in stagnant waters.

In 1940, the Bureau of Biological Survey was incorporated into a new agency, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, which still manages all NWRs around the country.*

The Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge is located west of Brigham City, Utah

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East Entrance Checking Station

19 Tuesday Dec 2023

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East Entrance Checking Station

The East Entrance Checking Station was constructed in 1935 at a cost of $1,000. It was built by enrollees from CCC Camp NP-2, stationed at Zion, of rock quarried at the Zion Stone Quarry. It has served as the entrance station singe the Park Service first developed the East Entrance, four years after the completion of the Zion-Mt. Carmel Highway.

Located in Kane County, Utah and in Zion National Park and added to the National Historic Register (#86003711) on February 14, 1987.

East Entrance Sign

19 Tuesday Dec 2023

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East Entrance Sign

The East Entrance sign was built by enrollees of Camp NP-2, stationed at Zion, in 1935. A year earlier, the East Checking Station had been constructed. These two structures marked the east entrance to Zion National Park, which had been accessible from the east since the completion of the Zion-Mt. Carmel Highway in 1930.

Located in Kane County, Utah and in Zion National Park and added to the National Historic Register (#86003710) on July 7, 1987.

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Camp

08 Wednesday Mar 2023

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Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Camp

Foundations in this area mark the site of a CCC Camp which was operated by the United States government from 1939 to 1942. This camp included a number of buildings: A dozen large barracks officers quarters, mess hall, recreation hall, swimming pool and support bunkers. Young men between 17 and 20 years old worked on range projects and road developments primarily along the old Pony Express trail, the buildings were disassembled at the beginning of World War II. The green rock in the area is a volcanic tuff that is common to the Simpson Springs area.

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Civilian Conservation Corps, Leeds, Utah

03 Tuesday Jan 2023

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Civilian Conservation Corps, Leeds, Utah

The Leeds CCC camp opened in October 1933 under the direction of the Dixie National Forest Service on the site of an existing ranger station. Leeds, a town of less than 200, more than doubled with the opening of the camp. Two hundred young men from all over the country now resided and worked at Camp #585. Townspeople were relunctant at first about the impact the camp would have on local life, but support grew as the CCC camp clearly provided a boon to the struggling economy of Leeds. The community became even more accepting as the men worked on local projects, like a swimming pool, in their off-duty hours.

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This historic marker is located on the northwest corner of Mulberry Lane and Main Street in Leeds, Utah

Leeds CCC Camp

03 Tuesday Jan 2023

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Leeds CCC Camp

Built in 1933, the Leeds Civilian Conservation Corps Camp is significant as perhaps the best remaining example of a CCC camp in Utah. These camps were typically built of relatively temporary frame construction, and the surviving buildings and features such as the stone terraces at the Leeds camp present a unique, if somewhat limited, view of these important facilities. The economic impact of the Great Depression was especially severe in Utah where unemployment averaged 25 percent during the 1930s and was once as high as 36 percent. Because of the pressing need for conservation work, such as flood control, water resource development, etc., in the arid climate of southern Utah, the CCC work projects were of great importance locally.

Approximately 250 men were housed in frame barracks that were located to the southwest with other buildings such as a mess hall, library, and showers. The remaining stone structures are but a few of those originally built. The men were typically from out-of-state and served in the CCC for 9 to 12 months. Temporary remote “spike” camps were established near many of the actual construction projects. The Leeds CCC Camp was closed in 1942, and most of the frame buildings were removed before 1950.

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Located at 90 West Mulberry Lane in Leeds, Utah and added to the National Historic Register (#93000062) March 4, 1993.

Leeds Historic CCC Camp

In the depression year of 1933, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt initiated the Civilian Conservation Corps. This program provided much needed employment for the nation’s youth 18-25 years old. The men had to complete the 8th grade, and have 3-4 family members dependent on their paycheck. The men received $30.00/month of which $25.00 was sent home to their family.

The men at this base camp developed the Oak Grove Campground, built bridges and constructed roads from Leeds to St. George. They were instrumental in preserving and protecting forests, waterways and other natural resources. But the real benefit was that it gave these young men hope, self respect, and a new start in life.

Our task today is to preserve and restore this Utah CCC camp site. Your donations will be used wisely. For more information on other local CCC camps: www.wchsutah.org

2011 by Eagle Scout Project by Kody Allen.

The Lost City Museum

12 Monday Sep 2016

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The Lost City Museum occupies a little knoll just south of Overton. This region was once a westernmost outpost of the Anasazi, the Ancient Ones, and the museum exhibits one of the most complete collections of artifacts of the early Pueblo Indians in the Southwest. The exhibit begins with the mammoth hunters of the Desert Culture 10,000 years ago, then continues through successive phases of Pueblo culture as their settlements grew up along the river courses where they farmed. They built irrigation canals, and homes like hives of mud and sticks. Most of their structures were modest, but some were immense and complex. The largest found at “El Pueblo Grande de Nevada” — Lost City — had 94 rooms.

Twelve hundred years ago their flourishing villages stretched up the Virgin and the Muddy Rivers, with El Pueblo Grande de Nevada dominating the peninsula at the joining of the rivers. Five hundred years later they had abandoned their homes and farms and gone.

The exhibits continue with the Paiute people who still live in the area, and with the Mormon farmers who were the first of the present migratory wave to arrive from the east.

In addition to the exhibits, and the store selling nice examples of Native American workmanship, a small Pueblo residence cluster was constructed on an original foundation as a CCC project during the 1930s. It is as exact a replica as governmental hands can build, and as long as you don’t climb on the fragile tops of the structures, you can crawl inside and see life from the Anasazi perspective.

Originally the Boulder Dam Park Museum, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places (#96000126) on February 22, 1996. The address is 721 South Moapa Valley Boulevard in Overton, Nevada.