Catoctin Mountain Park Historic Resource Study

The CCC in the Catoctins

From the earliest planning stages, National Park Service officials, such as Tell Nicolet, pictured a Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp at Catoctin. The CCC, a brainchild of President Roosevelt himself, was one of the most memorable and popular of the New Deal programs. Congress passed the program--originally called Emergency Conservation Work--during FDR's whirlwind first 100 days in office. By the summer of 1933, the CCC had enrolled 270,000 young single men, between the age of 18 and 25, to work in 1330 camps around the country. Enrollees signed up for a renewable six-month stint, which began with a three-week conditioning program, usually on a military base. Pay was a monthly thirty dollars, twenty-two of which enrollees had to send home. Peak enrollment came in 1935, when 500,000 filled the ranks of the organization, jointly administered by the Army, Labor, Agriculture, Interior Departments. [141]

In early 1936, CCC officials gave approval for a future CCC "expansion camp" at Catoctin. [142] But, with a mandate to provide work for the local community and the CCC undergoing cutbacks, the Park Service deferred plans for the Catoctin camp and began development with WPA labor. [143] Nevertheless, the CCC was an active part of life around Catoctin Mountain. The Department of Agriculture administered a camp focusing on fire prevention just to the south of Catoctin on Fishing Creek. On at least two occasions, Fishing Creek corps members helped fight fires on project grounds. [144]

Despite the deferment, the NPS still hoped to establish a Catoctin CCC camp and planned WPA construction according. As one NPS official explained in 1937, "most of our straight labor projects have been put aside on the supposition that eventually a CCC camp would be attained." With much of the heavier construction completed, park officials began searching for a suitable site on project grounds for a camp. By late 1937, the supervisors selected a locale near the project office, north of the central garage unit, and adjacent to a 75,000-storage tank capable of providing an unlimited supply of water (See Appendix 19). [145] It would be, however, almost two years before a CCC camp could be assigned to Catoctin.

By 1939, the depression in Central Western Maryland had eased thus thinning the ranks of relief workers. Meanwhile, Congress merged the CCC into the Federal Security Agency, and, in the process, also allotted funds for 245 new camps. Catoctin quickly moved to the top of the priority list, and, early in 1939, along with Otter Creek, Kentucky, selection officers assigned to the western Maryland RDA a CCC camp. [146]

In late April, an advanced detachment of 35 men and one officer arrived in Thurmont to scout the site and work to be done. The men were from CCC Company 1374, situated for the past four years (or, in CCC parlance, eight terms) at Quantico, VA, where they constructed cabins for the Washington Recreational Demonstration Area. Before their work at Quantico, the company worked at Clifton Forge and Douthat State Park both in Virginia. Although some members of the company hailed from Maryland and Virginia, most actually came from Pennsylvania--some from Philadelphia, but most from the coal-mining regions of Central Pennsylvania. [147]

Within a few days, the rest of company arrived, numbering nearly 200 young men, most between ages 17 and 29. The men lived in tents while they constructed a company camp. Living roughly four men to a tent, the corps members dug a latrine and setup portable toilets, awaiting the construction of a water system. Within weeks, the young men had finished their new camp, complete with utilities and a water system. [148] Hardly fancy, the major buildings were prefabricated, portable barracks. The standard CCC camp in 1939 consisted of twenty-four structures, including several dormitories, a recreation hall, a garage for CCC vehicles, a mess hall, an administrative center, and a separate residence for the camp superintendent. [149] The recreation hall included a small canteen, where corps members could buy candy and soda. [150] Red brick walkways connected the structures. [151]

Company staff consisted of a company commander, a camp superintendent, a medical doctor, two senior foremen, a junior foreman, two foremen, a toolkeeper and sharpener, a mechanic, an educational advisor, seven assistant camps leaders, and nine assistant project leaders. [152]

Although the CCC--by taking young men off the streets and giving them jobs--clearly served the cause of relief, park service officials, such as Conrad Wirth, insisted that it was "primarily a conservation program." [153] As such, much of the CCC's initial work at Catoctin focused on blazing trails, reforestation, and improving Hunting and Owen's Creeks. Work on the creeks generally involved clearing the creek of obstructions and building small dams for fish. [154] Corps members also prepared chestnut rails for use at Gettysburg Memorial Battlefield, where an African-American CCC company was stationed. [155]

In addition, road construction was also a priority for Camp 1374 at Catoctin. Members frequently worked "road crew" detail, which involved laying stones and clearing brush from the road side. [156] Other work centered on the construction of a home for the project supervisor, a lone ranger station, and on digging water for the Blue Blazes contact station and camp Hi-Catoctin. In 1939, members also left the park to help construct a recreation center in Thurmont. [157]

The arrival of Company 1374 did not bring an end to WPA work at Catoctin, although the number of relief workers did steadily decline from 291 in the summer of 1939. [158] Often WPA and CCC workers would labor side by side as was the case in the spring of 1940, when 75 locals joined 200 corps members to resurface the central road from Thurmont to the park. [159]

Through 1940 into 1941, CCC work continued at Catoctin. By the summer of 1941, a camp inspector could report that corps members had built 12.5 miles of power lines, a water supply system, the custodian's residence, two sewage systems, 4.5 miles of foot trails, one retaining wall (built along old route 15), a bath house, four drinking fountains, .3 miles of roads, a filter system, two trail-side shelters (on the Appalachian Trail), and a forest fire danger station. In addition, the young workers planted 1500 trees and shrubs, seeded five acres, developed 400 acres and 25 miles of fire hazard reduction, committed 500 man days in emergency work, 1500 man-days in preparation and transportation of materials, and 180 man-days to fighting forest fires. [160]

Of their various duties, fighting forest fires, no doubt, presented the gravest challenges. In 1939, CCC members battled a blaze near Mount Lent all night. The young men used shovels, hoses, and water tanks that some members carried on their backs. [161] The most threatening fire occurred within the camp itself. On a Sunday morning in November 1941 (just as the corps was winding up its overall work at Catoctin), the equipment garages holding several large trucks burnt to the ground. The fire destroyed the enclosed trucks, and for the rest of their stay, the corps depended on trucks borrowed from other camps. Investigators never discovered the true cause of the fire, but corps members suspected that a stray cigarette following the weekly Saturday night outing to Hagerstown may have been the culprit. [162]

Heavily structured, the CCC work week consisted of 40 hours. As a member of Company 1374 recalled, a bugler "called us to meal time, sounded retreat, and woke us up in the morning." [163] Catoctin enrollees rose at six in the morning, and, by eight, after a hearty breakfast, were at work until noon. After an hour for lunch, they returned and worked until 4pm. Under the command of the army, regulations required enrollees to appear at daily roll calls wearing ties in summer and full suits in cooler weather. [164] Each enrollee had a bunk in the barracks and an individual trunk in which to keep personal articles. The bunk was to be kept up to military standards of cleanliness and order. Coal stoves heated the barracks, and one company member suffered the difficult job of keeping the stoves fired. Under the best of circumstances the barracks could get very cold. [165]

Company chefs served plain but "plentiful" fare in the camp mess. [166] Former members remembered food as "wholesome." Cooks, themselves CCC members, received special training in Pennsylvania. By 1941, with the camp firmly established, bakers prepared bread, rolls, cakes, and pastries right in camp. Camp truck drivers often delivered meals to men working in the fields. [167] Enrollees also enjoyed occasional extras such as when in January of 1941, chefs added sixteen gallons of oysters and four pounds of Italian cheese to spice up bland CCC diets. But overall food remained simple. For instance, the camp menu on Friday August 25, 1939 consisted of:

On January 27, 1941:

The CCC--while clearly a conservation and employment program--also had a strong educational component. The camp had an education advisor, and each enrollee received at least six hours of training a week. After work, enrollees attended vocational and educational classes given in a number of subject areas. In the summer of 1939, the majority of the 191 members of Company 1374 learned at roughly a seventh grade level, and hence "instruction and material is developed accordingly." Course work included reading, writing, arithmetic, spelling, history, carpentry, painting, electricity, surveying, transportation, and woodworking. Camp administrators looked forward to the completion of a company education building that would allow classes in photography, lathe work, bookkeeping, shorthand, business English, and geography. The company had at its disposal a 16 mm sound projector, a film strip projector, and a library with 1500 volumes. While at Catoctin, the company even had its own newspaper, "The Mountaineer." [168] Some enrollees also attended night school in Hagerstown. Howard Rothmel, a company member in 1939, for instance, attended a mechanics course in Hagerstown, a course he found "helped out later" during World War II. [169]

Nearly two years later, with the education building completed, study areas had expanded greatly to included aviation, typewriting, first aid, photography, auto mechanics, and radio servicing among other subjects. The majority of company members now learned at high school level, allowing classes to delve into more advanced subjects. In addition, a new preoccupation took over the CCC--military preparedness. With the war in Europe raging, a long debate over military training in the CCC was won by those in favor of preparedness. [170] Military drilling took place at the camp, and 62 members of the company attended national defense classes at Hagerstown High School. An indication of changing times, sixteen company members trained in acetylene welding were recommended for jobs at the expanding Fairchild Aircraft Corporation in Hagerstown. [171]

When not working, sleeping, nor learning, enrollees enjoyed a number of other activities. There were occasional trips to the Gettysburg Battlefield. [172] Camp supervisors showed two movies a week and broadcast sporting events over the public address system. In the winter season, the young men could enjoy darts, pool, and ping-pong in the recreation hall. The company partook in a local basketball league as well. With excellent recreational facilities at its disposal, baseball, softball, volleyball, swimming, and horseshoe pitching appear to have been camp Catoctin's favorite warm weather pastimes. In baseball, the company found a taste of distinction. [173] Convenient for practices, a baseball diamond sat right next to the camp (southeast side of camp). [174] Within weeks of its arrival at the camp, Company 1374 began dominating the local baseball leagues. The Company 1374 team, calling themselves, the Catoctin Buccaneers, tore through its opposition, including Frederick County WPA teams and the Boonsboro, Maryland CCC camp. The Buccaneers soon won recognition in the national CCC newspaper Happy Days. [175] Alongside baseball, several members of the company also exhibited prowess in the boxing ring. One particular boxer, known as Smity, traveled successfully to several different camps for bouts. [176]

Less taxing recreation might involve a hike around the mountain, or a visit to the Foxville General Store for a five cent soda. [177] Weekends offered the company the opportunity to get into town. Enrollees could go into Thurmont for Sunday observances, although a chaplain also offered services at the camp. Saturday night was the company's "recreation" night, involving a trip by truck to Hagerstown. The weekly trip to Hagerstown, however, brought the Catoctin camp its only real disaster. On the evening of February 1, 1941, near Cavetown, Maryland, a car struck the large truck transporting Company 1374 members back from their Hagerstown evening outing. The accident killed the driver of the car and resulted in nineteen injuries to young corps members. At least two injuries were particularly serious, but all fully recovered. [178]

The Catoctin camp--like most CCC camps--suffered from a chronic problem with desertion. In early 1941, for instance, the company had stood at 169 enrollees, but thirteen members were absent without leave. Indeed, while the numbers of deserters always remained high, after 1940, when young men more easily could find work elsewhere, AWOL cases grew. [179] No doubt the discipline, hard work, and loneliness of the corps also played a role. It was frequently less educated, out-of-state enrollees who defected, or "went over the hill," as it was known in the CCC vernacular. One Company 1374 veteran recalled that it was frequently boys from Philadelphia, unaccustomed to isolated life in the country, who frequently deserted. [180] While the army oversaw the camp, it made little effort to find AWOLers. The CCC simply would send deserters an unsatisfactory discharge. [181]

As early as the fall of 1940, a Happy Days headline described the challenges faced by the corps: "Jobs and National Defense Thin Ranks of CCC." With a peacetime draft instituted in 1940 and the world situation heating up, the corps looked more and more like a relic of a passing time. CCC administrators, meanwhile, became increasingly concerned about the poor quality of corps applicants. In the fall of 1941, the Catoctin camp became a victim of cutbacks. Company 1374 closed shop on November 7, 1941--exactly a month before the Pearl Harbor attack. A few members of the company remained to pack up supplies, most of which were sent to an army depot in Fleetwood, Pennsylvania. [182] Congress ordered the complete liquidation of the CCC on July 2, 1942.

The coming of war was no surprise to the corps members. As one former member explained, "we knew ahead of time what was coming." The military-style training proved a great help as the vast majority of Company 1374 entered the military to fight in World War II. "Once overseas," recalled a Catoctin CCC veteran, "you had to take care of yourself." Familiarity even with something as simple as making a proper bed gave CCC veterans a head-start, made them more effective soldiers, "helped out one hundred percent." [183]

The men who experienced the CCC camp at Catoctin look back on their work with pride and satisfaction. It was "an opening for me," "a great experience." [184] "Many a guy wishes there was still a CCC" commented a Catoctin CCC alumnus. [185]

Conclusion

For more than fifty years the Catoctin mountain region underwent a slow transformation from an agricultural/industrial economy to one more reliant on recreation and tourism. The New Deal in the 1930s dramatically sped up the process and introduced a new player with enormous resources at its disposal--the federal government. Clearly the national economic emergency set the stage for the revolutionary changes. The old ways of self-reliance and independence disintegrated under the pressure of the hard times. In stepped the government to offer its own, desperately-needed, brand of relief and renewal. Its ambitions were huge, and not all residents were pleased with the new force on the mountain. But despite the enormity of the job, the bureaucratic changes, and the resistance of some locals, development of the park moved forwarded. Out of chaos came a beautiful park. In his reflections on the accomplishments of the NPS during the 1930s, Conrad Wirth might provide an epitaph for the Park Service's work at Catoctin: "Looking back, I have often wondered how we ever accomplished it all." [186]

But the federal government was not yet done with the park. And soon another grave emergency would take precedent. World War II transformed the mountain yet again. This time taking it in new and very unexpected directions.