Jackson County (Mo.) Historical Society

Portals to the Past by David W. Jackson

Civilian Conservation Corps Meant Job, Home

During the Great Depression of the 1930s more than 3 million single men between the ages of 18 and 25 were inducted into the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC, or 3C’s). Kansas City native Roy Jackson was among those ranks. He recalls his year in the 3C’s in the first manuscript on this topic donated to the Jackson County Historical Society.

The CCC was part of Roosevelt’s New Deal to help citizens find meaningful employment, active from 1932 to 1942. The Department of Labor was responsible for enrolling eligible men on a state-quota basis, determined by population. The CCC carried out conservation projects worth $1.5 billion.

Like others of his generation, times were hard, and Jackson was shifted from one relative to another as a child. His mainstays were his paternal Grandparents, Arthur and Ida Jackson. “I turned 18 on August 13, 1936. The month before, I had visited the Kansas City Relief Committee’s, Missouri Relief Commission’s recruitment office at 125 East 31st Street, to complete my application for a six-month enrollment into the emergency conservation work program. I was out of work and needed a home.

“On April 5, 1937, I packed a small bag of clothes and the brownie camera my Uncle Reg had given me for my 18th birthday, and went by train from Kansas City’s Union Station to Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas. A four-day enrollment process included getting assignments and inoculations. I was to get $30 each month, and $25 would be sent home to my Grandmother (she ended up saving my allotments, some of which I used when I came home to buy a car.).

“I was…transferred to…Sebastopol, California, located about 11 miles west of Santa Rosa. We assisted the California State Conservation Department in making water irrigation canals (to prevent soil erosion) in the Gold Ridge apple orchard region. I used a pick and shovel, and helped lay the concrete pipes that enrollees also made in the Camp. We also fought forest fires; one fire was in a petrified forest.

“The CCC camps were run like the Army as far as routine and discipline went, but you didn’t have to salute. We were awakened by the bugle’s call…and they played Taps when lowering the flag at the end of each day. We had military-style clothes, rations, and barracks.

“But, we had fun, too. We horsed around and played endless practical jokes on one another….a bucket of water perched above a door… a footlocker pulled out in the aisle to trip an unsuspecting guy on his way to the latrine in the middle of the night. One time the fellas sprinkled Post Toasties in between my sheets. Little did they know, I slept on top of the sheets to stay cool.”

Figuring he had it made in Sebastapol, Jackson took advantage of the opportunity for a second CCC enlistment. However, to his surprise, after signing on the dotted line, he was transferred to Coolin, Idaho, “a town real near the Canadian border with three houses, one converted to a bar.” Jackson completed his second, 6-month enlistment at Camp Drysdale working on conservation projects through the winter in the St. Joe National Forest. He was discharged and returned to Kansas City through Union Station in March 1938.

David W. Jackson is archivist for the nonprofit Jackson County (Mo.) Historical Society’s Archives and Research Library at 112 W. Lexington Ave. Suite 103, Independence, MO, 64050. Are you a former CCC enlistee? Did you work on the WPA in Kansas City, or elsewhere? We’d like to hear from you, and encourage you to donate related materials to the Society’s permanent collections. We can also help you locate your CCC records. For more information, or to donate historical materials, visit www.jchs.org, call (816) 252-7454, or e-mail info@jchs.org.

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