By Judy Stoycheff
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was created by an act of Congress in 1933 soon after the election of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The U.S.Forest Service was one of the first agencies to step forward and request the services of the program enrollees. According to "The New Deal in Arizona," the Forest Service had projects in four interrelated categories: resource protection, resource development, improvement of infrastructure and recreational development. One of several CCC camps in the Prescott area was located at Walnut Creek, about 44 miles out Williamson Valley Road, northwest of Prescott. Correspondence with Ralph Zartman, a 1940 CCC ‘boy’ from Pennsylvania and local Jay Eby, retired forester for the Forest Service, has given much insight into the activities of the local corps.
It was not all work and no play for the "boys" of the "Colossal College of Calluses," another nickname given to them. There were recreational trips to Prescott every Saturday afternoon, movies at the two theaters and visits to the establishments of Whiskey Row, if of age. The F-79 camp at Walnut Creek had a recreation building with a canteen, radio and ping-pong tables. Baseball and boxing were popular in many of the camps, but no evidence that they were engaged in at camp F-79. Classes were offered, though Mr. Zartman wasn’t sure what subjects were offered other than the ones he took in Compass and Map Reading. These classes served him well, he related, during WWII when he served with the Intelligence and Recon section of the 1067th Engineer Construction Group in various theaters in Europe. Many of the former "boys" served in the military during WW II and gave credit to some aspect of their training in the CCC for their ability to assimilate quickly into the service and use their hands-on skills and leadership qualities. Although WW II effectively ended the CCC program in 1942, F-79 was probably closed in November 1941.
There is physical evidence of the camp still at the site in Walnut Creek. There are a few concrete pillars and pads for out buildings and a large one for the bath house, complete with footbath. One can follow some of the ceramic water pipes (shown in the diagrahm below) and walk the path outlined with stones that leads to the officers’ quarters. A tall wooden pole with supporting shorter pole was probably part of the telephone system as there were electrical components with it. Some of the artifacts found on the surface support the dates of the camp: a fragment of a Barq’s soda bottle (1890 to present); a can opened with church-key in common use after 1930 (as in old Spam cans); a specific insulator dating 1921 to 1950; a single-edge razor, GEM, circa 1930′s. Many other artifacts were found in the trash area.
The CCC celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2008. There are probably few structures such as dams, roads, remnants of erosion control efforts, etc., that are the result of work done by the "boys" of F-79 still in evidence today in the Walnut Creek area. However, in the minds of the men and their families who served in the CCC, the farmers and ranchers for whom they toiled and the members of the community who benefited, their efforts and service will long be remembered.
Note: From 1941-1947, some of the former nationwide CCC sites that were in good condition were used as camps where conscientious objectors worked as an alternative to military service. Others were used to hold Japanese internees or German prisoners of war. Later, in the 1970s, the CCC became a model for state agencies which continued the youth program and, as of 2004, there were 113 corps programs operating in 41 states, enrolling over 23,000 young people. Over the past year, the CCC Legacy Foundation has been formed to help secure the heritage and history of the CCC and its great impact on American Culture. For more information, go to ccc@ccclegacy.org. In 1940, a movie, "Pride of the Bowery" with Leo Gorcey and the East Side Kids was filmed at the Thumb Butte and Granite Basin CCC camps. It may be viewed free online at www.archive.org/details/pride_of_the_bowery
Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number:(Walnut Creek grid – SHM) Reuse only by permission.
Grid showing layout of buildings and facilities at the Walnut Creek CCC camp (F-79), June 20, 1940.
1 Mess hall, kitchen and bakery
2 Headquarters & supply
3 Infirmary
4 Welfare Bldg
5 Bath house
6 Latrine
7 Generator house
9-11 Techn. quarters
12-16 Officers’ quarters
17-36 and 37-56 Enrollee quarters
57 Headquarters
61-65 Education buildings
Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number:(misc286p). Reuse only bypermission.
Thumb Butte CCC camp, June 1934.
Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number:(misc159pc). Reuse only bypermission.
CCC "boys" building a road on Mingus Mountain c1938.