Lasting Legacy of the CCC

 

At the Forest History Center on State Street in Salem there stands a life-size statue of a hunky, shirtless, young man leaning on a shovel. 

CCC Worker Statue

He is posed in front of a wooden, green building with a pair of gables and twin dormer windows. Their connection is a federal program initiated by Franklin D. Roosevelt shortly after his inauguration to provide jobs for the nation’s growing number of unemployed young men.

Known as the Civilian Conservation Corps, or CCC, it operated between 1933 and 1942, and was one of the most successful and popular New Deal programs.  Oregon was an active participant with over 60 camps scattered around the state. The men built roads, bridges, trails, campgrounds, fought forest fires, and planted trees. In exchange for their labor, they received education, job training, food and shelter (three hots and a cot) and the grand sum of $30 a month. They could keep $5 with the other $25 sent home to their families.  Even though eighty years have passed and many CCC efforts are long gone, about one-third of the permanent projects in Oregon remain and can still be enjoyed in forests and parks around the state.

Forest History Center, Salem

The Forest History Center is a good place to begin. The building was constructed by the CCC in 1936 to house their headquarters, and was moved to its present location from the east side of Mill Creek in 2001. Today, a section of the museum is dedicated to the CCC program and features camp photos, a wall map with site locations, and miscellaneous memorabilia donated by alumni. The CCC Worker Memorial Statue in front was dedicated in 2002.

Silver Falls Lodge

One of the program’s permanent projects is a short distance east of Salem at Silver Falls State Park. The CCC was responsible for constructing much of the infrastructure seen in the South Falls Day Use Area including rocks walls, bridges, stairs and the rustic South Falls Lodge. The lodge and surrounding ten acres are listed in the National Register of Historic Places. In addition, the CCC developed the park’s popular Trail of the Ten Falls.

West Shelter, Cape Perpetua

The Oregon Coast hosted several CCC camps, and remnants of Camp Cape Creek remain visible on the site of the Cape Perpetua Visitor Center, two miles south of Yachats.  Workers here built the campground and network of trails, but their most noted accomplishment was the West Shelter observation point at the top of the headland. Built of rocks, this sturdy structure has survived years of Pacific storms and even served as a coastal watch station during World War II.  Today’s visitors are more interested in spotting migrating whales than enemy boats or planes.

Mt. Hood National Forest, east of Portland, also saw many CCC projects. Camp Zigzag on Highway 26, was the longest running camp in the Northwest, and its workers built the Zigzag Ranger Station on the south side of the road. This compound consisting of various outbuildings is constructed in the Cascadian Rustic style using natural materials such as wood shingles, weatherboard, and native stone.  A similar, but more off-the-beaten-path ranger station can be visited on Forest Road 42, about 20 miles southeast of Government Camp. Here, at the Clackamas Lake Historic Ranger Station, are eleven buildings including a small visitor center. The ranger’s residence was built by the CCC in 1933 and is available for rental during the summer months.

Mt. Hood’s Timberline Lodge, probably the best known Depression-era project in Oregon, was constructed by the WPA, but the CCC worked on the lodge’s terracing, stonework, and landscaping. They built the Timberline Trail encircling Mt. Hood and worked on a variety of other projects in the area including Cloud Cap Inn and several campgrounds.

Malheur Nat'l Wildlife Visitor Center

In other parts of the state you’ll find evidence of the CCC at Crater Lake’s Rim Road and Rim Village, the rock work at Oregon Cave’s Chateau, the Visitor Center and Museum at the Malheur Wildlife Refuge, Jessie Honeymoon State Park near Florence, and the Dee Wright Observatory at the summit of McKenzie Pass.

The CCC program lasted only nine years.  By 1942, the country was gearing up for WWII and young men were leaving to join the army.  However, their hard work through those difficult Depression years left a significant contribution and lasting legacy to Oregon’s public lands.

 

 

 

Little Walks Near a Big Mountain

At 11,239-feet, Mt. Hood is Oregon’s tallest peak and sits like a snowy sentinel guarding the state. It is the most climbed glaciated mountain peak in the country with nearly 10,000 people attempting its summit every year. If it has been your lifelong dream to climb Mount Hood, but sitting around

Mt. Hood from Timberline Lodge

the fireplace at Timberline Lodge is more your speed, you’ll be pleased to learn there are some wonderful, easy walks with big rewards in the area. 

 

 

 

Highway 26 is the most convenient route to reach Mt. Hood from Portland and roughly parallels the old Barlow Road built in 1845 as an alternative for Oregon Trail travelers wanting to avoid the treacherous Columbia River. The first easy walk is on the south side of the highway between mileposts 39 and 40 at the Wildwood Recreation Site. Managed by the Bureau of Land Management, the paved Cascade Streamwatch 

Underwater Viewing Window

Trail is a flat, ¾-mile loop through a pretty forest along the Salmon River. The highlight is an underwater viewing window where you can observe life in a moving stream. If you want a longer walk, add on the Wetland Trail beginning in the same parking lot.

Next stop, a few miles away, is the Zigzag Ranger Station where you can pick up maps of the Mt. Hood National Forest as well as informational sheets on most of these trails. Before leaving the ranger station, walk behind the visitor center to admire the complex of structures built during the Depression by the Civilian Conservation Corps. They are also responsible for many of the trails, bridges, and campgrounds in the area.

About six miles east of the station, look for a sign on the left for Camp Kiwanis Road and follow it a short distance until it ends at the trailhead for Little Zigzag Falls.

Zigzag Falls

Note the 1920-era bridge from the old Mt. Hood Loop Highway before following the trail into the forest. The walk parallels the rushing Little Zigzag River for about one-half mile, ending at a spectacular waterfall.

Back on Hwy. 26, between mileposts 50 and 51, watch for a large, historical marker which is the beginning of the Laurel Hill Chute Trail. A series of gentle switchbacks leads up to a view point of this infamous stretch of the Barlow Road.  The descent was so steep wagons and oxen had to be lowered by a system of winches and ropes; the road was described as “rough to barely passable.”

A few miles east of Government Camp, look for a sign on the south side for Trillium Lake. This much-photographed jewel offers a mirror reflection of Mt. Hood on sunny days. An easy two-mile trail encircles the lake and is popular in the winter with snowshoers and cross-country skiers.



Trillium Lake

Continuing east on Highway 26, you will find two more scenic lakes located off Skyline Road. The first, Little Crater Lake, is much smaller than its namesake, only 100-feet across, but quite unusual.  Dissolving limestone and artesian spring waters have created a lake 45-feet deep, and an

Little Crater Lake

astonishing, sapphire blue. The spring-fed water remains at 32 degrees year round.

Nearby Timothy Lake is the largest lake in the region and offers camping, fishing, and boating. The Lakeshore Trail encircles the lake for 13 miles, but a short walk, especially from the Hoodview Campground, will provide another good vista of Mt. Hood in the distance.

And, finally, there’s that fireplace at Timberline Lodge, off Highway 26 beyond Government Camp. Behind the lodge, a crisscross of trails follow around the mountain’s base and to higher levels, but you can follow short sections of longer trails to soak up the alpine setting and great close-up views of the mountain.

To learn more about these walks and longer ones visit the Mt. Hood National Forest website at www.fs.usda.gov/mt hood; click on Go Hiking, then Day Hiking.  Some of the trailheads in the forest require a National Forest Day Pass ($5) which is available at the Zigzag station. If you are over 62 and have already acquired your Senior Pass, you can use that. If you do not have your Senior Pass, you can buy one there by showing proof of age. The pass is valid in National Forests, National Parks, BLM sites, and lasts your lifetime. For $10, it’s the best bargain in the world.