Postcard from the Past: Let’s All Give Thanks

Dear Lord, we thank you for our many gifts and talents, a great life, good friends and family and, most of all, a bountiful harvest by both hunter and gather. Plus, thanks for our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Years ago during the Great Depression, folks had little to be thankful for, yet they found a way to praise the Lord for what they did have.

An article written by a Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) alumnus best describes conditions at a CCC camp in Wyoming. The paper was presented to this writer in the early 1990s.

We are 50 years old – who are we?

We are the young men of the 1930s who made up the CCC from 1933-42.

We are the men who mended the scarred land, eroded fields, muddied waters of our creeks and rivers and depleted woodlands of our country.

We replanted our forests from Maine to California. We built fire trails to protect old and new forests and cleaned out diseased deadwood to protect healthy, new trees. We fought forest fires and floods.

We built lodges in our national parks and campsites – a place for our people to enjoy our beautiful country. We also built roads and trails in the parks, many of them are still in existence today.

We worked quarries to produce the building stone needed to build dams in our state and national parks – the same dams that stand today, creating lakes which have given recreation to campers, fisherman and families over the last 50 years.

We worked in quarries getting the rock to crush for limestone to be spread on farmlands to sweeten overworked soil to help restore productivity. From other quarries came the building stone needed for masonry dams and flumes which controlled rapidly eroding soil.

We were educated and given job opportunities, honor, respect and a purpose in life.

All over this country, the work we did with our hands, our minds and our bodies still stands today as a monument to the youth of the 1930s and what we accomplished, bearing in mind 90 percent of what we did was done by hand, pick, hoe, shovel, mauls, drills and wheelbarrows.

We put our mark on this land, and this mark will still be seen for many more years to come.

As a generation, we have much to be proud of. We have earned a place in history, and speaking as an individual, I am grateful for having had a chance to be there.

– Signed, “A CCC Alumnus.”

No author was listed, as the writer wanted it to be from all those who participated in the CCC program.