This cache is at the sign post for the Civilian Conservation Corp Camp Mountain. There is a pull-off just off the side of the road, with another road going to private residence using the same road as the pull-off. The coordinates might be slightly off as I had difficulty getting a good accurate reading due to the power-lines. Due to the difficulty as a result of the power lines I will give a good hint in the encrypted section.
The Civilian Conservation Corps,
Better Known as the CCC camps.
In March of 1933, the great depression was at its peak. There were thirteen and a half million people out of work with no end in sight. Two days after his inauguration, President Franklin D. Roosevelt held a meeting with some of the nations top officials. Something had to be done fast. President Roosevelt called the 73rd Congress into Emergency Session on March 9, 1933. They heard about his proposed Civilian Conservation Corps and authorized his program. The nation was in such need of this new program that it was only 37 days from the inauguration date of March 4, 1933 to the induction of the first enrollee on April 7th. The Civilian Conservation Corps. lasted until 1941.
The CCC camps were to be run by the Army with the Departments of Interior and Agriculture responsible for the actual work projects.
The men that joined had to be between the ages of 17 and 25 and unmarried. They also had to come from families that were on local forms of relief. The men could enroll for as little as 6 months or could stay for two years. Each person was paid $30.00 a month with $25.00 deducted and sent back home to their families. They also received their room and board. History has shown that these men ate well as the average man weighed 20 pounds more when leaving. In addition to the 40 hour work week of normal duties, the men were taught a new skill and could attend classes to better their education.
The projects of the CCC, during it's time, included the building of 3,470 fire towers, 97,000 miles of fire roads and 4,235,000 man hours fighting forest fires. The men were all trained fire fighters and many were trained for all kinds of emergency situations. More than 3 million trees were planted across the nation with many of them right here in Wisconsin. Over twenty million acres of land had erosion stopped and this created more productive farm land. All the national and state parks were cleaned up with many camp grounds built. Camping had begun as the country started climbing out of the depression.
Even with so much accomplished, there was time for the men to have a little fun. There was one building in every camp that was a PX or recreation center. There were poker games, ping pong and an occasional beer.
There were many CCC camps in Wisconsin. Most of the time it averaged around 50 operating at any one time with 94 being the largest amount. The camps were located near large cities and also scattered in the northern par of Wisconsin. Where there was a lot of forestry work to do, the camps would make an effort to take only enlistees from that county. Camp size was set at 200.
Researched, written and contributed by Richard Labrosse