ON MEMORY'S BACK TRAIL
Civilian Conservation Corp. at Mt. Woodson
By Darrell Beck

CCC crews, camp Ramona, 1933. Photos submitted by Darrell Beck

On March 21, 1933, President Franklin Roosevelt asked Congress to pass legislation "for relief of unemployment, through the performance of useful public work." On March 31, 1933, Congress established the Civilian Conservation Corps, commonly known as the CCC.

The Department of Labor was responsible for enrollment of eligible youth, 18 to 25, who would work 40 hours a week and be paid $30 a month for conservation work.

The War Department was in charge of construction and maintenance of the camps where operations were run military style. More than 3 million youth served nationwide during the nine-year period the CCC was in operation. There were 4,000 permanent and temporary camps in the nation, including 40 camps in California.

The program was terminated in 1942, at which time about 90 percent of the enrollees joined the military and served in World War II.

During that era of the Great Depression, CCC crews nationwide helped develop national parks, rebuild historic structures and restore land damaged in the Dust Bowl.

CCC camp at Ramona Mt. Woodson, 1934.

They built roads, bridges, fire lookout towers, telephone lines, border fencing and rustic rock fencing, walls and culverts using native rock and hand tools. They planted trees, stocked fish in streams, aided in erosion and flood control and worked on wildfires.

The Ramona CCC camp, company No. 1508, was built in 1933 on 40 acres of land donated by G.T. Wilson and his brother, Charles W. Wilson at the base of Mount Woodson. During 1934, almost 300 men were stationed at the camp working on a variety of conservation and forestry-related projects.

Ramona crews built the initial forestry camp at Mount Woodson where they were housed in tents. They also built the Pamo Camp at Pamo Valley and installed the phone lines and poles connecting the various fire lookout towers within the county.

In 1934, in an effort to drain standing ponds of water and help eliminate a breeding place for mosquitoes, a Sera Grant of $15,000 was approved to employee 33 men to build the 6,869 foot cobblestone drainage ditch traversing through Collier Park from Third to 11th streets. The project began in December 1934 and was completed the following year by local CCC labor assigned to the project.

Although the drainage ditch, culverts and bridges have been allowed to fall into neglect and disrepair by the powers-that-be, the hand-built project is still in working condition today as testament to the workmanship and skill of the CCC crews.

T.F. Carter was in charge of the main crew who built the road to the summit of Mount Woodson. Here the men had to blast their way through a huge boulder they called "Holy Joe." Upon completion of this hand-built road, the men dedicated their work to Franklin Delano Roosevelt on Easter Sunday 1934, and for many years thereafter, the community observed Easter Sunrise Services at that location.

By 1937, a juvenile camp for wayward boys from 15 to 18 was set up there where they were kept in minimum security. Here they took part in forestry and fire suppression, and night school classes were taught by Keyes Hanigan and Charles Snell. The camp was maintained by San Diego County in cooperation with the State Forestry Department where "Slim" Carlson was in charge of fire operations and training for many years.

Darrell Beck is the author of "On Memory's Back Trail: A Story History of Ramona and the Backcountry of San Diego County." For information about the book, contact the author at (760) 789-2534.