Camp Rabideau, CCC Camp, is a National Historic Landmark, which is really the highest level of historic preservation designation you can give to a historic property.

And that's recognizing it's really the only full, intact CCC camp left in the eastern United States, managed by the Forest Service.

And it's the only National Historic Landmark that the Forest Services manages in the east.

Definitely high level of significance and importance historically.

And just having this, this amount of intact infrastructure and original infrastructure is really rare and unique.

1929 the stock market crashes, we have the Great Depression, right?

And so 25% of the American workforce was unemployed.

And with that, FDR gets elected on promising a new deal and for the new age.

And He has that first 100 days and he passes like 100 bills and executive orders, including on March 31st, 1933, there's an executive order to form what will be known as the Civilian Conservation Corps, although that's not its initial name, its the Workforce Conservation Program.

It was a program for young men.

They initially, 18 to 24.

They had to be unemployed, unmarried, not enrolled in a post-secondary education.

So, no college, no vocational school, no dependents and extremely poor.

Very easy to do at that time.

Actually getting the Department of Agriculture, Department of Interior and the Department of War came together and started to actually assemble, come up with a game plan.

Essentially, the Army would be the ones who would take in all the guys and muster them and getting them and dispersed out.

And within two weeks of legislation, there were camps being formed throughout the United States, the first one in Virginia.

They enrolled.

They didn't enlist.

Even though the Army was in control, these guys always were civilians.

And enrollment implies that these were schools.

And yes, they were.

They could enroll for a six month stint and re-up if they were in good standing.

There was a contract.

And in that contract they agreed that they would do, serve.

And each month they would get paid $30.

Is wasn’t all into their pocket.

They had to send $25 home, which probably the government sent home, and they got a $5 bill basically, and they had $5 for each month.

Of course, all their foods provide, all their clothings provided, all their lodging provided.

So the $5 was so they could buy food in the commissary, and or if they went into town to go for dances or making, donations to church or whatever.

That's what the $5 was for.

There's a newspaper article that states in the spring of 1935, that Blackduck is going to get a Civilian Conservation Corps camp near it, near the town.

So it was 35 that there was initiation of this plan.

And by mid-August of 1935, a company from Lebanon, Missouri, was actually brought up to Camp Rabideau.

Some of the buildings were constructed already, but they were in tents and they helped finish building the buildings.

Local civilians around helped build some of the barracks.

But they finished it and they moved up in mid-August.

And they were doing, they started planting trees and things.

And then those guys, when winter came, they’re from Missouri, they weren't ready for this.

And so they ended up moving that company to California.

And then this company, 708, that is associated with Camp Rabideau, is the one who moved there in January of 1936 on a nice warm day of -30 to -45 degree weather.

The camp sits between Benjamin and Carls Lake, but right down the road is Rabideau, and that's where the name comes from.

Many of the camps are fairly close to a small urban center or village, or things like Bena had a location, Walker had one, Pike Bay had one.

So like Cass is here.

The Forest Service utilized the Civilian Conservation Corps the most out of all the agencies.

Really the Forest Service had this whole management plan that they had as a, well map, for all these guys to basically use.

So once they got the labor force, they just implemented that plan.

They all first reported to Fort Snelling.

That was the place where all Civilian Conservation Corps volunteers went.

And then they were dispersed out to various camps.

Once they came to like Camp Rabideau, the first stop was the hospital, the infirmary building.

We had a doctor on staff here.

They would get an army physical when they got here and get brought up to date on vaccines.

The Army dentist would come through, oh, about once every other month or so.

His assistant had a foot power drill, so his presence wasn't really appreciated so much.

But you know, he did come.

Once they were cleared with that, then they were able to receive their, their kit.

So they got a class A Army uniform formal, uniform with tie plus army fatigues.

And then they were assigned barracks.

And then from the barracks they then received one mattress, one set of linens, four wool blankets and a comforter.

And I just find the quantity of blankets interesting because it was cold.

Most of them were unemployed for a long time.

Most of them came from urban centers.

Although the Minnesota, there's not many urban centers, but they were guys who came from farms that weren't doing well.

So they didn't have a lot.

I mean, even before the depression, people were not living as luxurious as we do today.

So they had less and they had even less when they came in.

So to get those clothes, food, all that, even the health care, like when one had insurance until like the 70s.

So those were all things that were great benefits that they would have never had if they were independent.

Dear Ma, I’m having the best time in my life.

I got all my clothing already.

New shoes, pants, socks, shirts and underwear and a cap.

Was examined already by the doctor.

I passed it by a half pound.

He said I have to have my tonsils out and my adenoids.

That’s why I ain't fat.

I supposed to get my trunk soon.

We get paid the 31st way, I heard.

What is all the people saying about me?

I bet they are surprised We get good eats too, and plenty While they were here, they did what most CCC camps did.

They did a lot of work on the forest.

They built roads.

They built fire towers.

They fought forest fires.

They planted trees.

Altogether, the CCC, nationwide, planted over 3 billion trees.

This camp planted about a half a million in the five years that company, 708, was here.

They built campgrounds, worked in state parks, national parks, Company 708, are the ones that built the picnic shelter or picnic area and swimming beach over on the other side of Lake Benjamin and the Lake Webster campground.

They also were building bridges along Forest Service roads.

Stream erosion was an issue.

So, they were trying to do stream erosion bank controlling.

The Army ran it almost similar to boot camp, although probably less yelling.

But they woke up at 6 a.m.

to revelry (bugle revelry) They had from about 6 to 8 to get themselves going, get to the mess hall, eat breakfast.

Some may shower or wash up.

They may have calisthenics, and then at 8:00 they're all lining up at essentially attention, waiting for their directions for the day.

A small crew would be left behind at the camp to keep like cooking and doing various things like that, probably cleaning latrines and things.

But the bulk of the guys were then assigned to various plantings or whatever.

They were loaded in trucks and off they went into the field.

From eight till noon.

They worked on whatever project.

If they were close to the camp, they would return to camp for one hour for lunch.

If they were too far away, they stayed in the field.

And then all would return around 4:00.

They then had from 4 to 5 to wash up, and then get to the mess hall for dinner at 5:00.

And then from 6 to 9:00, there was a large education building, plus there were a whole bunch of shop buildings and facility buildings.

This was primarily a school, and anything that happened out in the woods or was later to forestry was under the control of the US Forest Service.

Anything that happened in camp was under the control of the US Army.

So things that they did in camp for jobs, they could learn to be a professional cook, a professional baker, a carpenter, an electrician, a plumber, a mechanic, a heavy equipment operator.

We had a blacksmith shop.

They could learn to be a blacksmith.

They could also learn some rudimentary welding there or learn to be a farrier.

altogether 27 different trades were taught here.

These boys built 20ft long wooden kayaks and had a kayaking club.

We had a working shop.

They could go play in the woodworking We had a multitude of different clubs in the group.

There was a photography club, a birding club, a gardening club, and more.

Or they could come here and go to school.

If our guys came here and they were illiterate, for instance, we were in elementary school, they’d learned to read and write.

If they came here and they wanted what was an optional high school diploma at that time, they could get it here.

And we were a college, a vocational training school.

So their education was good.

We had a library that could hang out in and read or check out books.

We had a tool shed where they could check out tools for their own personal use, project they were doing.

An interesting one on that.

A failure to return a tool on time got their paycheck held.

Which might have upset mom.

Incentive to get the job done and get, get the tools back.

The boys were here year round.

What they did in the winter time, I’m not 100% sure.

I know that they built snowshoes.

They did alot of snowshoeing.

Ice fishing?

Probably gathering ice out of the lakes, because their original walk in cooler on the bakery was cold with block ice.

At 9:00, that was all done.

They had an hour to themselves and 10:00 lights out.

And then start again the next day.

That was Monday through Friday.

Saturdays and Sundays were a little different.

In 41, the guys left.

They just left in the spring.

They closed up the doors and the buildings just sat there But after the Second World War, the University of Illinois used this space is a forest research center for the university.

And they had crews coming up here and students coming up here to do things, up and through the 1970s.

And then during the 1970s, they decided they weren't going to use this space anymore.

During the period of time the University of Illinois used it, the buildings were being used, the buildings were being maintained, and that's what really allowed this camp to survive.

Had the University of Illinois not been involved this camp may have ended up like many others, ended up being torn down and abandoned at some point.

When the CCC abandoned camps, typically they took the buildings down, and just moved on.

And sometimes foundations were left.

Sometime, you know, some bits and pieces are left.

But the buildings were largely taken apart and removed from these sites.

The camp has been on Forest Service land since it was in operation in the 30s.

And after the University of Illinois decided they weren't going to come up anymore, the Forest Service had to decide what they were going to do with this camp.

It is, one of the most complete CCC camps left in the United States.

So there was a movement to, to do some work to try to restore it.

Some of the buildings weren't in great shape at that point.

A lot of the buildings had started sagging in the middle and the roofs were going, but yet the footers were fine and the walls were all essentially good, It just, the weight of the snow had been pressing down and rot was going on.

But over time, my predecessors began working on specific projects to restore buildings.

And that really kind of got really rolling in the 1990s and culminated with a large push with the American Recovery Act and an influx of money that led to a lot of pretty major renovations here.

Those renovations were done in cooperation with the US Park Service, since this is now listed as a National Historic Landmark, and also with the Minnesota State Historic Preservation Office, to make sure that we were following the correct procedures in restoring these buildings for its historical character.

Prior to being listed as a National Historic Landmark in 2008, the camp had been listed in 1976 as a National Register of Historic Places.

Some of the buildings were literally on the verge of collapse, and they had to stabilize those buildings and that involved cranes lifting up the buildings and resetting foundations and making sure the structural integrity of those foundations was still was still good.

In other cases, you know, there was just enough neglect that would have been rotting and needed to be replaced, and window frames, things like that.

Over the last several years with a group called Northern Bedrock Historic Preservation Corps.

They're out of Duluth.

They've been around about 5 or 6 years.

They are a youth corps.

So it's young people who are 18 to 25.

Who want to get hands on experience involved with historic preservation and historic restoration.

What they're working on with us on this particular visit primarily is scraping and painting buildings.

We have so many buildings.

The weather out here is rough, so it wears and tears on the paint.

So we've got them out here working on the paint right now.

Personally, I love history, I love community, and I love the outdoors.

And this is an excellent way of like, embracing all of those things at once.

I love being able to come to places like this in the fall.

It's absolutely gorgeous here to work outside, doing work that is either, you know, technically interesting if we're doing windows or roofing or something like that, or an opportunity to sort of just appreciate your surroundings and get to know the people you work with more.

Ya.

It's just a really fulfilling experience.

They're going to be involved with a bigger project over the next 2 or 3 years with other partners, where we're going to be doing some bigger of activities here.

In fact, in some ways, to try to finish up some of the American Recovery Act work that had been started there.

So, it’s through The Great American Outdoor Act is where we're getting some funding.

Whether or not we'll get everything done, it remains to be seen.

But it's great when there's opportunities like this through Federal funding,is a federal agency, that we can start working on, on some of these things, and that may help make this a more active place again.

Primarily now it's what we call an interpretive site.

So it's kind of like an open air museum where people are allowed to come in and take a look.

And during the summer there's tours out here.

We have a host on site that leads tours during that period of time.

When she's not there, the site is always open, although there is a gate, but there is a walk path and people can walk around.

There are interpretive panels that people can read that tell you about what certain buildings did, and about the guys that were there and what they did.

sometimes people just come with their fishing poles, and walk back to the Carls Lake and go fishing, or they'll bring a kayak back there.

They'll walk it in, but you can walk it in.

There's also a pavilion there which was moved from Cut Foot Sioux district to the site, but it was built by a different Civilian Conservation Corps camp.

The goal is, though, is to try to actively engage a group or groups to start using the camp in a more active way.

Part of that American Recovery Act restoration work involved creating a functional shower and bathhouse facilities.

So if that were to be used as a camp again there's modern toilets, modern sinks, showers and things.

There's also was a start on putting together a commercial kitchen that could be used as a modern mess hall.

And then two of the barracks were set up so that those could be occupied by people.

So I don't know if it would be an organization like a school district that might want to use this as an experience camp or something like that.

Or a group like Boys or Girl Scouts that might want to use this camp.

But at some point we would, we would want to get to a point where we're able to do that sort of thing with this space.

The CCC camps that we're operating on the national forest involved both, had leadership or direction, both from the Forest Service as well as the military.

The cabin here behind us or the barracks here behind us was where the Forest Service officers lived while they were up here.

So they were tied into the technical things that the men were doing.

So they would be directing tree planting or bridge building or whatever kind of thing, and coordinating with the leaders here on the camp.

On this side is the education building.

And this is where the men working at the CCC camp would come after work and they would work on reading different school subjects.

A lot of the young men had six or eighth grade educations, and they had a chance to finish their high school education, learn to read, learn math.

There was also a library space in here, and they were also doing other special projects in this space here.

When the University of Illinois was using this as the forestry research center, this is where their faculty stayed in this particular building.

Prior to that with the CCC It was used as a barracks So the buildings we're going to look at really quick right now are barracks.

So we have a barracks right here.

And then we also have a barracks over here that the folks are working on.

The building over here is the recreation building.

And this was used, as the name suggests, for recreational purposes.

One of the leaders out here, would set up a boxing ring for the boys, and they would box in this building.

There was also a canteen.

You know, where they could buy, you know, candy or soda or whatever.

They could get chewing gum, candy bars, toothpaste, toothbrushes, razors, shaving cream, soda pop, three-two beer, There was also a pool table and ping pong table in there, as well as a big barrel stove to keep it warm So the building over here, this is the mess hall where the men would eat and come together.

And it was subdivided.

There was the kitchen section in this part that sticks out.

On the far right, There was a smaller area that was where the officers and the Forest Service staff ate.

And the rest of it was dedicated to the CCC men or boys.

Across the way There would have been two buildings, the old latrine for our enrollees.

It had hot and cold running water, flush toilets, sink,showers and the galvanized tubs and wash boards.

And then there was the mess hall.

The original mess hall was next to it.

Both of those two buildings burnt between the time the camp was abandoned, and when the University of Illinois leased it in the 1940s.

The buildings behind me here, the three, three buildings here, were all barracks that were occupied by the CCC men.

University of Illinois also used some of these barracks as well when they were here is for housing for the students that were up here.

When the American Recovery Act was going on, the two directly behind me here, they started a conversion into a more modern, useful building for using the space for a group that might come out here.

So the building right behind me, they started putting in the works for a commercial kitchen and the building behind us, the father behind that is now set up as a functional bathroom, shower room.

So it has men's and women's side, multiple toilets, multiple showers.

And if an organizational group were to stay here, they could use that space.

One of the buildings we looked at was were the Forest Service employees, the Forest Service officers lived.

Behind us is where the military officers lived.

They had separate quarters, you know, from the men and from the Forest Service.

So this was the space that they were in here.

The building over here is the infirmary.

So if you got sick or you got hurt while you were working at the CCC you would come over here.

In our hospital, we were staffed by an Army doctor and a corpsman.

Our corpsman was an enrollee learning on the job.

We did have a big baseball diamond back there, and there is back behind this area, a whole bunch of ruins, buildings that we no longer have.

That's where our repair shop was, our tool shed, our blacksmith shop.

When you think about it, history matters and preservation matters.

And the CCC was such an important element in our history, you know, that, it really helped at a time that was so problematic, so hard during the depression to actually get people out doing things.

The things that I've seen and read, they really appreciated it.

We were looking at 50% to 80% unemployment depending upon where you lived.

So the job was huge.

The education, the skills they walked away with.

It was a fraternity, right?

It was the sense of community and they all were dealing with this Great Depression and they weren't alone in it.

So they had this whole group that came together.

And then they were doing things, this greater good.

I think there was definitely with that Greatest Generation, there was this concept of not just serving yourself, but serving others in the community or your country at large.

Another piece of this is that once the US Forest Service decided to preserve this place, you know, then they were obligated to continue taking care of it, you know, so it got listed on the National Register as now a National Historic Landmark.

So it's now, you know, incumbent on us as an agency to take care of it, It would be easy just to turn a blind eye and let it fall apart and then do something else with this space.

But, it's here.

And under the laws like the National Historic Preservation Act, we have to fulfill that obligation to this site and to keep it functional.

Minimally, it is an interpretive site.

And then ideally, you know, people will use it for other things as well.

If you've ever been to a state park or a national park and you look, you don't have to look very hard.

You will find the fingerprint of the CCC.

There’s so much that is still here and people just aren't aware.

So coming here, it forms awareness.

Production costs for this program have been made possible by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund, and the members of Lakeland PBS.