Hampton Library hosts presentation about Civilian Conservation Corps

The Hampton Public Library last week celebrated 160 years since its dedication with a look at a unique piece of area history.

Author and historian Bill Jamerson last Wednesday presented a musical theater program about the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), a voluntary work relief program that operated between 1933 and 1942. The CCC was a valuable resource for both young adults who received a wage for work at a time when a steady job was scarce and communities, as CCC crews built state parks and helped local businesses.

In Franklin County, the CCC helped build the Beeds Lake spillway and dam. In Iowa alone, the CCC built 17 parks.

Jamerson that the CCC’s work to build Beeds Lake provided a much-needed place of recreation and fun in a time where conditions of living were bleak.

“ They built the walking trails, shelters, beaches, changing cabins, water fountains and boy, did those folks love the Cs for those parks,” he said. “Saturday morning at Beeds Lake, you’d have cars a mile long backed up.

“ Whoever heard of a vacation in the Great Depression?” he said. “There was no Disney World but suddenly you have a park to go to for canoeing, fishing, horseback riding and hiking. The beaches on a Saturday afternoon, you couldn’t see the sand, they were all full of bodies.”

Jamerson, who used a mix of songs written by CCC members and himself, de-tailed the impact of the Cs - the preferred moniker of CCC volunteers - and how the dol-lar a day they received saved the lives of millions through-out the country.

“They were called the ‘Dol-lar-a-day Boys’ and were paid $30 a month and $25 of that was sent home to their families,” he said, adding that over the 9 years of the CCC, money from the program helped approximately 10 per-cent of the population. “That’s one of the major points I want to make, that the Cs was a relief program more than it was a work pro-gram.”

Aside from the money received, CCC workers also received necessities they previously didn’t have such as regular meals and new clothes. Jamerson said that the conditions in which some of the CCC volunteers previously lived were deplorable and arrival to the CCC camps immediately improved their quality of life.

“Some of these fellows had never bathed before,” he said. “They issued mess kits, toilet kids. One guy had never seen a toothbrush before.

“Whatever their need was, if they came in illiterate and couldn’t read, they had classes at night, they learned job skills,” he added. “ Everything about the program was all-encompassing.”

Jamerson said the CCC went down in history for its work to build state parks across the country, but what many don’t know is that the CCC helped farmers through he Soil Conservation Service. “Cs” would walk farms with owners and takes notes of projects that needed to be done. CCC workers would then map out the land and conduct improvement projects on the farms.

“They’d come out with a half dozen things to do and a week or two, a truck pulls up with 20 young men and they’re on that property every day for the next month and the labor doesn’t cost a dime,” he said, “and they did great work. They terraced hills, they brought in drag lines, they cleaned out ditch-es, installed fences, put in dams and spillways.”

While this was a valuable resource to farmers in a time of need, Jamerson said some met the CCC with opposition, as the CCC was implemented by President Theodore Roosevelt, and therefore, re-fused assistance. However, Jamerson said the farms that accepted help from the Cs prospered while others who didn’t folded.

“They were very stoic about it,” he said. They would not accept help but those that did benefitted from it.”

Jamerson’s presentation was a cap off for the day-long celebration the library held for its 160th anniversary. Prior to his presentation, the library hosted an open house, where guests were invited to visit the library and treat them-selves to refreshments.