%1 http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/ en New Deal in Colorado http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/new-deal-colorado <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">New Deal in Colorado</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> <span lang="" about="/users/yongli" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="">yongli</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'time' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> <time datetime="2016-08-03T13:44:42-06:00" title="Wednesday, August 3, 2016 - 13:44" class="datetime">Wed, 08/03/2016 - 13:44</time> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'addtoany_standard' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * addtoany-standard--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * addtoany-standard--node.html.twig x addtoany-standard.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <span class="a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list" data-a2a-url="http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/new-deal-colorado" data-a2a-title="New Deal in Colorado"><a class="a2a_dd addtoany_share" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Fcoloradoencyclopedia.org%2Farticle%2Fnew-deal-colorado&amp;title=New%20Deal%20in%20Colorado"></a><a class="a2a_button_facebook"></a><a class="a2a_button_twitter"></a><a class="a2a_button_email"></a></span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-body"><p>As the United States entered the third year of a great economic depression triggered by the 1929 stock market crash, many Americans put their hope in President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his pledge to give them a “new deal.” During his first term (1933–37), he pushed Congress to pass legislation stabilizing banks, giving relief to the destitute, creating public and private jobs, enhancing the bargaining power of working people, assisting farmers, and providing pensions for retirees over 65. Other Roosevelt initiatives aimed to expand the money supply, check deflation, increase trade, and regulate banks and Wall Street, but most people remember the New Deal for its relief, work, and farm programs designed to help ordinary Americans recover from the Great Depression.</p> <p>Like the rest of the nation, Colorado desperately needed help. In the early 1930s the price of wheat and other agricultural commodities plummeted, bankrupting some farmers and pushing many others to the brink of insolvency. Unable to collect on their loans, some banks failed, wiping out the savings of their depositors. In cities and towns thousands of unemployed sought work and scrounged for food. In Denver the Unemployed Citizens League, a self-help organization, claimed 30,000 adherents in a city of around 290,000 people. They traded labor for farm produce and fetched timber from the mountains to use as fuel. The homeless slept in abandoned cars; in shacks along the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/south-platte-river"><strong>South Platte</strong></a>; and in the elephant barns, zebra stalls, and lion cages of a defunct circus in west Denver.</p> <p>With Congress controlled by his fellow Democrats, Roosevelt moved fast to create massive assistance programs. One of the first, the Federal Emergency Administration (FERA) gave food to the hungry, aid to transients passing through the state, and support to self-help groups. FERA and the Civil Works Administration (CWA) made jobs primarily by financing small public projects such as renovating Loveland’s library, landscaping an addition to the cemetery in Brush, making airport improvements in Grand Junction, and creating a scale model diorama of Denver in the early 1860s for the Colorado Historical Society in Denver.</p> <p>The <a href="/article/civilian-conservation-corps-colorado"><strong>Civilian Conservation Corps</strong></a> (CCC), which employed men between eighteen and twenty-five, also got to work quickly. From camps across the state—<a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/boulder"><strong>Boulder</strong></a>, Buena Vista, Castle Rock, Delta, Hugo, Lake George, <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/morrison"><strong>Morrison</strong></a>, Norwood, and more than 160 others—CCC recruits went forth to plant trees, kill bugs, stock fish, pull weeds, fight fires, dig wells, line irrigation ditches, and build trails, dams, reservoirs, and roads. To make the splendors of <strong><a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/colorado-national-monument">Colorado National Monument</a> </strong>west of <a href="/article/grand-junction"><strong>Grand Junction</strong></a> easily accessible to auto tourists, the CCC and the CWA constructed the twenty-five-mile <a href="/article/rim-rock-drive"><strong><span>Rim Rock Dri</span><span>ve</span></strong></a>, which cost nine CWA workers their lives in a rockslide on December 12, 1933. CCCers helped dig Kiowa and Elbert out of the mud after both towns flooded in late May 1935. To control the St. Charles River south of <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/pueblo-0"><strong>Pueblo</strong></a>, CCC men constructed a 700-foot-long earthen dam, behind which rose Lake San Isabel.</p> <p>In late 1935 the Works Progress Administration (WPA), later renamed the Works Projects Administration, and other federal agencies replaced FERA, which had spent more than $45 million in Colorado; the state supplied 15 percent of the sum. The WPA, which focused on giving people jobs rather than providing direct relief, employed tens of thousands to make civic improvements and eventually to build or expand defense facilities such as the Army Air Corps’ Lowry Field, straddling the Denver-Aurora border, and the Army’s Fitzsimons Hospital in Aurora. Together the CCC and the WPA built the 10,000-seat <a href="/article/red-rocks-park-and-amphitheatre"><strong>Red Rocks Amphitheater</strong></a> near Morrison in the foothills west of Denver, and the WPA constructed Alameda Parkway to link the theater to Denver. Scores of cities and towns lapped up WPA funds. Monte Vista got a hospital, Del Norte a courthouse, Alamosa a school, Boulder a golf course. In <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/colorado-springs"><strong>Colorado Springs</strong></a> WPA workers served as lifeguards at the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/broadmoor"><strong>Broadmoor Hotel </strong></a>pool. Near Brighton WPA workers built outhouses for farm workers. A 1941 report tallied more than 5,000 Colorado WPA projects including sixty-three schools, twenty-eight dams, twenty-six sewage disposal plants, and twenty-one airports.</p> <p>Recognizing that writers, musicians, artists, and actors needed to work so they could eat, Uncle Sam made jobs for them through the Federal Theater Project, which ran a theater in Denver; the Federal Music Project, which sponsored an orchestra in Pueblo; and the Federal Writers Project, which produced a guidebook to the state. Artists got WPA and other federal money to spruce up public buildings. Paid by the US Treasury Department, Ernest Blumenschein painted a mural of the Spanish Peaks for the Walsenburg Post Office and Gladys Caldwell Fisher sculpted Rocky Mountain <a href="/article/bighorn-sheep"><strong>bighorn</strong> <strong>sheep</strong></a> out of limestone to flank the southwest entrance of Denver’s Post Office at Eighteenth and Stout Streets. An offshoot of the WPA, the National Youth Administration provided jobs for thousands of Colorado high school and college students so they could continue their education. By the time the WPA ceased operations in the state in early 1943, some 150,000 Coloradans had at least briefly worked for the agency.</p> <p>Unlike the WPA, which usually concentrated on small- and medium-sized tasks and which generally required 10 to 15 percent in local matching money, the Public Works Administration (PWA) required more matching funds and undertook some large projects built by private contractors using skilled labor. PWA grants helped Western State College in Gunnison, Adams State College in Alamosa, the University of Colorado in Boulder, and other universities and colleges construct buildings. The state used PWA support and money from the Bureau of Public Roads, an agency that predated the New Deal, to pave more than 3,500 miles of roads, bringing Colorado’s total paved miles to 4,000 by 1940. <strong>Pueblo</strong>, Colorado Springs, and Denver reaped millions of PWA dollars for <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/water-colorado"><strong>water</strong></a> and sewage treatment projects, including the Moffat Tunnel water diversion project, which brought Western Slope water under the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/great-divide"><strong>Continental Divide</strong></a> to Denver. Late in the 1930s, the <a href="/article/bureau-reclamation-colorado"><strong>Bureau of Reclamation</strong></a>, another pre–New Deal agency, advanced recovery goals by backing the<strong><a href="/article/colorado%e2%80%93big-thompson-project"> Colorado–Big Thompson project</a></strong>, another massive water diversion, which began construction in late 1938 and was completed in the late 1950s.</p> <p>Farmers enjoyed federal price supports that helped ensure a steady income. Drought and <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/dust-bowl"><strong>dust storms</strong></a> in the mid-1930s prompted the federal government to buy marginal land in northeastern and southeastern Colorado, creating the <strong>Pawnee</strong> and <strong>Comanche National Grasslands</strong>. By removing tens of thousands of acres from production, the government reduced the likelihood of another <a href="/article/dust-bowl"><strong>dust bowl</strong></a> and through the Resettlement Administration helped some displaced families secure better land. By 1939 more than 4,000 Colorado farms were getting electricity that they previously lacked thanks to the Rural Electrification Administration. Colorado-born Roy Stryker directed a small federal effort, the Historical Section of the Farm Security Administration, that sent talented photographers—including Russell Lee, Arthur Rothstein, John Vachon, and Marion Post Wolcott—to Colorado and other states to document life on farms and in small towns. Today their photographs are available online through the Library of Congress.</p> <p>Edward P. Costigan championed the New Deal in Colorado and nationally. Once a Republican <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/progressive-era-colorado"><strong>Progressive</strong></a>, he switched parties and was elected as a Democrat to the US Senate from Colorado in 1930. Even before Roosevelt used the term “new deal,” Costigan advocated for federal relief programs. His work on behalf of Colorado’s sugar beet growers resulted in the Jones-Costigan Sugar Control Act (1934), designed to raise the price of sugar. Costigan’s ally and close friend <a href="/article/josephine-roche"><strong>Josephine Roche</strong></a> controlled one of the state’s largest coal mining companies and also backed the New Deal. She ran for the Democratic nomination for governor in 1934, but was defeated in the primary election by Edwin C. (Big Ed) Johnson, a far more conservative Democrat. Later in 1934 Roosevelt appointed Roche assistant secretary of the treasury, which made her the second highest-ranking woman in his administration. Costigan ally Oscar Chapman became assistant secretary of the interior, where he oversaw the huge Public Works Administration. In 1949 he became secretary of the interior. Charles F. Brannan, also a Costigan backer, likewise flourished in the federal bureaucracy, becoming secretary of agriculture in 1948. Yet another Costigan protégé, John A. Carroll, launched a political career in the 1930s that eventually took him to the US Senate (1957–63).</p> <p>Edwin C. Johnson, Colorado’s governor from 1933 to early 1937, accepted New Deal help for the state, but at times was lukewarm and even hostile toward Roosevelt’s initiatives. A consummate politician, Johnson adroitly courted anti–New Dealers who faulted programs such as FERA for waste and inefficiency, who resented the expansion of federal power, hated labor unions, chafed at taxing the rich to assist the poor and middle class, and worried that feeding people and giving them work would destroy their appetite for private-sector jobs. When a heart attack sidelined Costigan in 1936, Johnson easily won election to the US Senate, where he and Colorado’s other senator, Alva B. Adams, were counted among the conservative Democrats Roosevelt could not count on. Teller Ammons, a Democrat elected governor in 1937, remained friendly to the New Deal. In 1939 he was replaced as governor by Republican <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/ralph-carr"><strong>Ralph L. Carr</strong></a>, whose antilabor attitudes and willingness to slash support for education and welfare instead of raise taxes angered New Dealers.</p> <p>Despite the political battles, many Coloradans benefited from the New Deal. By the early 1940s, when work programs faded away mainly because World War II defense demands fostered full employment, Colorado had received hundreds of millions of dollars in federal money, about twice as much as its citizens sent the national government in taxes. Thanks to federal support for sewer treatment plants, the water that flowed north from Denver through Adams and <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/weld-county"><strong>Weld</strong></a> Counties was less likely to sicken and sometimes kill infants and children. Thanks to Uncle Sam, hundreds of thousands of people had been spared hunger and given jobs. Thanks to prewar WPA and PWA military expenditures, the nation was better prepared to meet the challenges of World War II. And thanks to Roosevelt and the New Deal, Colorado made road, water, and other infrastructure improvements that provided a significant part of the foundation upon which the state based its post­–World War II boom.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-author--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-author.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-author.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-author field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-author"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-author">Author</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-author"><a href="/author/leonard-stephen-j" hreflang="und">Leonard, Stephen J. </a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-keyword--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-keyword.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-keyword.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-keyword field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-keyword"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-keyword">Keywords</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/new-deal" hreflang="en">New Deal</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/works-progress-administration" hreflang="en">Works Progress Administration</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/wpa" hreflang="en">WPA</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/ccc" hreflang="en">CCC</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/civilian-conservation-corps" hreflang="en">Civilian Conservation Corps</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/red-rocks" hreflang="en">Red Rocks</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/federal-music-project" hreflang="en">Federal Music Project</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * links--node.html.twig x links--inline.html.twig * links--node.html.twig * links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-references-html--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-references-html.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-references-html.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-references-html field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-references-html"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-references-html">References</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-references-html"><p>Carl Abbott, Stephen J. Leonard, and Thomas J. Noel, <em>Colorado: A History of the Centennial State</em>, 5th ed. (Boulder: University Press of Colorado, 2013).</p> <p>Stephen J. Leonard, <em>Trials and Triumphs: A Colorado Portrait of the Great Depression </em>(Boulder: University Press of Colorado, 1993).</p> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-additional-information-htm--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-additional-information-htm field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-additional-information-htm">Additional Information</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"><p>“<a href="https://www.historycolorado.org/sites/default/files/files/OAHP/crforms_edumat/pdfs/1622.pdf">The New Deal in Colorado 1933–1942: Properties Listed in the National Register of Historic Places or the Colorado State Register</a>,” Office of Archaeology and Historic Preservation Colorado Historical Society (History Colorado), 2008.</p> <p>Deon Wolfenbarger, “<a href="https://www.historycolorado.org/sites/default/files/files/OAHP/crforms_edumat/pdfs/649.pdf">New Deal Resources on Colorado’s Eastern Plains</a>,” US Department of the Interior, National Park Service Form 10-900b (Denver: History Colorado, 2005).</p> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> Wed, 03 Aug 2016 19:44:42 +0000 yongli 1573 at http://coloradoencyclopedia.org Civilian Conservation Corps in Colorado http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/civilian-conservation-corps-colorado <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Civilian Conservation Corps in Colorado</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> <span lang="" about="/users/yongli" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="">yongli</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'time' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> <time datetime="2016-08-02T16:40:33-06:00" title="Tuesday, August 2, 2016 - 16:40" class="datetime">Tue, 08/02/2016 - 16:40</time> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'addtoany_standard' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * addtoany-standard--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * addtoany-standard--node.html.twig x addtoany-standard.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <span class="a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list" data-a2a-url="http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/civilian-conservation-corps-colorado" data-a2a-title="Civilian Conservation Corps in Colorado"><a class="a2a_dd addtoany_share" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Fcoloradoencyclopedia.org%2Farticle%2Fcivilian-conservation-corps-colorado&amp;title=Civilian%20Conservation%20Corps%20in%20Colorado"></a><a class="a2a_button_facebook"></a><a class="a2a_button_twitter"></a><a class="a2a_button_email"></a></span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-body"><p>The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a <a href="/article/new-deal-colorado"><strong>New Deal</strong></a> program aimed at reducing unemployment among young men by giving them steady work improving the nation’s landscape, public lands, and infrastructure. When it was implemented in 1933, the CCC was the largest-ever public works program. Today, the legacy of the corps lives on in the many embankments, campgrounds, <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/irrigation-colorado"><strong>irrigation</strong></a> ditches, and other infrastructure projects on public lands across Colorado.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Birth of the CCC</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Although remembered nostalgically by its enrollees, the Civilian Conservation Corps was born out of national desperation. As dry winds and <a href="/article/dust-bowl"><strong>dust storms</strong></a> blew across the western High Plains in the early 1930s, leaving devastated farmers in their wake, newly elected president Franklin D. Roosevelt faced a great challenge. The entire country was afflicted by the <strong>Great Depression</strong>, with jobless men everywhere struggling to support themselves and their families. Hundreds of thousands of young men from economically stricken households were unable to find work. Roosevelt hastened to formulate diverse plans for relief. In his inaugural address of March 4, 1933, he told the American people: “Our greatest task is to put people to work. This is no unsolvable problem if we face it wisely and courageously.” He announced the creation of a jobs program for youth to conserve the nation’s depleted natural resources.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>By the early 1930s, the results of decades of unchecked exploitation of the country’s environment were apparent. Widespread timber harvesting and excessive cultivation had eroded slopes and stripped precious topsoil. Valuable natural resources had been destroyed faster than they could be replenished. As the CCC’s first director, Robert Fechner, later stated, “Prior to the inauguration of the Civilian Conservation Corps, conservation of resources was allied with the weather, in that there was plenty of talk about both and not much done about either.”</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Within a month after Roosevelt outlined his jobs-creation proposal, Congress acted upon his recommendations and passed a law creating the CCC, originally called the “Emergency Conservation Works.” In April 1933, Roosevelt appointed Fechner as CCC director and established an advisory council of representatives from the departments of labor, war, interior, and agriculture. The council would oversee the program and provide a forum for discussing policy issues. The Labor Department was assigned responsibility for recruiting youths and the War Department (army) was in charge of enrollee administration, transportation, housing, food, clothing, supplies, medical care, education, discipline, physical conditioning, and recreational activities. The departments of interior and agriculture selected the location of work camps and supervised the actual labor.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>At the president’s urging, the CCC enrolled 25,000 young men by April 6, 1933. The initial camp, appropriately called Roosevelt, was established on April 17 at George Washington National Forest near Luray, Virginia. Less than three months later, about 300,000 men from across the country were settled in some 1,500 camps. CCC enrollment was initially limited to single, male US citizens between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five. Enrollees were assigned to camps for an initial six-month period with the option to reenlist for up to two years. The height of CCC enrollment was reached in the summer of 1935 with over half a million men scattered across two 2,600 camps. Each of these camps typically housed about 200 men. Most of the recruits were assigned to the Department of Agriculture, where they were primarily engaged in protecting and enhancing forests under the direction of the <a href="/article/us-forest-service-colorado"><strong>US Forest Service</strong></a>.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>CCC Projects in Colorado</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>As it did elsewhere in the United States, the CCC had a profound impact on Colorado’s depressed economy and assisted greatly in the conservation of the state’s natural resources. It is estimated that the CCC contributed over $56 million to Colorado’s economy. Over the program’s lifespan, approximately 32,000 young men—most of them Colorado natives or longtime residents—found employment at camps throughout the state.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Colorado’s first twenty-nine CCC camps were established in the summer of 1933. Two years later, at the height of the program, that number was forty-seven. In all, 172 camps spread across the mountains and plains. Men performed all types of badly needed conservation work. About half of the camps were assigned to two bureaus in the Department of Agriculture: the Forest Service and Soil Conservation Service. With Colorado’s vast forests, the CCC provided an unprecedented opportunity to accomplish many badly needed improvements. Among other tasks, enrollees built roads, trails, and campgrounds; planted millions of seedlings; thinned overcrowded timber stands; removed dead or beetle-killed wood; and performed vital fire suppression services. On Colorado’s eastern plains, camps administered by the Soil Conservation Service completed soil and water erosion control projects resulting from overgrazing and prolonged drought.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Next to the Department of Agriculture, the National Park Service was the greatest beneficiary of the CCC in Colorado. Enrollees achieved an impressive record of accomplishments in national parks and monuments as well as at state and municipal recreation facilities. During the course of the CCC’s programs, up to six camps were assigned to <a href="/article/rocky-mountain-national-park"><strong>Rocky Mountain National Park</strong></a> alone. Other camps were located at <a href="/article/mesa-verde-national-park-archaeology-and-history"><strong>Mesa Verde National Park</strong></a>, the<strong> <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/black-canyon-gunnison">Black Canyon of the Gunnison</a></strong>, <strong>Great Sand Dunes National Park</strong>, <a href="/article/colorado-national-monument"><strong>Colorado National Monument</strong></a>, and <a href="/article/hovenweep-national-monument"><strong>Hovenweep National Monument</strong></a>.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Probably the best-known achievement of the CCC in Colorado was the construction of the <a href="/article/red-rocks-park-and-amphitheatre"><strong>Red Rocks Amphitheater</strong></a> near <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/morrison"><strong>Morrison</strong></a>. That work was completed between 1936 and 1941 by CCC enrollees housed at Camp SP-13-C on Bear Creek just west of downtown Morrison. The camp still survives today and is one of the few intact examples of a CCC camp in the United States.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Camps under the auspices of the Grazing Service (now the <strong>Bureau of Land Management</strong>), were primarily located on the <a href="/article/western-slope"><strong>Western Slope</strong></a>. Their work focused on the rehabilitation and improvement of publicly owned rangelands. The first of numerous Grazing Service camps was established at Elk Springs west of <strong>Craig</strong> in the summer of 1935.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The <a href="/article/bureau-reclamation-colorado"><strong>Bureau of Reclamation</strong></a> also received CCC assistance in Colorado. Between 1935 and 1942, seven camps were assigned to the Uncompahgre, <a href="/article/grand-valley-irrigation"><strong>Grand Valley</strong></a>, Pine River, and Mancos irrigation projects. Although small in number, the Reclamation CCC camps were important to the rehabilitation and new construction of hundreds of irrigation and water-control structures in the state. The Bureau of Reclamation camp half a mile north of <strong>Montrose</strong> was established in the summer of 1935. Construction started at the end of June and was completed by August 1. Just a few days earlier, First Lieutenant August Carlson and 189 young men arrived from Ardmore, Oklahoma, to occupy the camp.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The Montrose camp was similar in appearance to other CCC camps in the United States, reflecting the meticulous standardization of the US military. Detailed instructions were provided for construction, from initial ground-clearing to finish work. Typical camp layouts were also developed by the army and, not surprisingly, they resembled temporary military installations. The Montrose camp had wood buildings that came in panels for easy assembly. Accommodations were simple, and comforts were minimal—enrollees slept in bunk beds, forty to a barrack room. As at any military base, cleanliness and order were paramount—the youths washed and swept the floors and kept their beds tidy. One enrollee recalled that an army sergeant patrolled his barracks carrying a pool cue. He swatted at enrollees’ bedding and if any dust flew up, they would be written up and assigned an “undesirable” task such as mucking out the grease pit.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Though it was Spartan, life at the CCC camp was a vast improvement for most of the impoverished youth. At home, most enrollees did not have access to running water, electricity, and heat, all of which were provided at the CCC camps. Enrollees also received an allowance of thirty dollars per month, with the stipulation that at least twenty-two dollars of that sum be sent home to dependents. Enrollees were well fed and provided clothing, which was mostly surplus equipment from World War I.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The CCC was incredibly effective and prolific, and President Roosevelt urged its continuance as a means of accomplishing critical defense work. But Congress sealed the fate of the program on June 30, 1942, when it voted to liquidate the CCC and allocated $8 million to help cover closing costs. The remaining 60,000 enrollees were released and all work programs discontinued. Some camps were transferred to the army or navy for military use, while others were used to house conscientious objectors, war prisoners, or Japanese evacuees during World War II. Where no future uses could be contemplated, camp structures were demolished. On August 17, 1942, Montrose Camp BR-23 was transferred to the Army Corps of Engineers for the duration of the war. Thereafter, the camp buildings were leased to the Uncompahgre Valley Water Users’ Association.</p>&#13; &#13; <p><strong>Adapted from Christine Pfaff, “‘Happy Days’ of the Depression: the Civilian Conservation Corps in Colorado,” <em>Colorado Heritage Magazine</em> 21, no. 2.</strong></p>&#13; </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-keyword--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-keyword.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-keyword.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-keyword field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-keyword"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-keyword">Keywords</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/civilian-conservation-corps" hreflang="en">Civilian Conservation Corps</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/ccc" hreflang="en">CCC</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * links--node.html.twig x links--inline.html.twig * links--node.html.twig * links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-additional-information-htm--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-additional-information-htm field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-additional-information-htm">Additional Information</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"><p>Philip M. Conti, <em>The Civilian Conservation Corps: Salvaging Boys and Other Treasures</em> (Harrisburg, PA: P.M. Conti, 1998).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Neil M. Maher, “A New Deal Body Politic: Landscape, Labor, and the Civilian Conservation Corps,” <em>Environmental History</em> 7, no. 3 (July 2002).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Larry N. Sypolt, <em>Civilian Conservation Corps: A Selectively Annotated Bibliography</em> (Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 2005).</p>&#13; </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> Tue, 02 Aug 2016 22:40:33 +0000 yongli 1564 at http://coloradoencyclopedia.org