Faculty Advisor

Ed Weber Dr Andy Bach

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

Summer 2025

Keywords

Internship

Abstract

The job I was hired for is a ripple to a centenarian year-old splash. Franklin D. Roosevelts Civilian Conservation Corp was active from 1933 to 1942, and my job largely is to maintain and spiritually parrot the work conducted then. During that time, three million men, mostly my age, were hired to build roads, construct infrastructure, and of course, cut trail. Shockingly, the techniques, tools, attitudes and culture still largely live on in today’s trail crews. With that many men, and such fallible communication due to the nature of being thrust into the wilderness, crews back then did just about anything they wanted. On one eight day long hitch up to Lake James, I came across a peculiar terraced looking waterfall. After inquiring to my crew leader, Alix, she told me that it had been blown up with dynamite for aesthetic reasons by the CCC. Not much further along, I’d found the camp they’d presumably worked out with nails in a tree for hanging repulsive clothes, stumps for sitting, and tent pads no doubt carved out with pulaskis and shovels.

Type

Text

Rights

Copying of this document in whole or in part is allowable only for scholarly purposes. It is understood, however, that any copying or publication of this document for commercial purposes, or for financial gain, shall not be allowed without the author’s written permission.

Language

English

Format

application/pdf

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