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The Infamous Black Bird Southern Oregon History, Revised


CCC
The Civilian Conservation Corps in Southern Oregon.


FORESTRY CAMP TO USE 235 MEN AT SEATTLE BAR
Star Fire Crew and Applegate Road Camps Will Be Dispensed With
    Establishment of the Civilian Conservation camp near Seattle Bar on the Applegate this week has changed the local Forest Service program for the summer. The fire crew at the Star Ranger Station will be dispensed with, and fire fighters will be drawn from the 235 men who will be enlisted in the camp. All road camps in the Applegate district will be abolished, since men at the new camp will be engaged chiefly in road work instead of cleaning [sic] the forest.
    Forty local men, some of whom are from Medford, enlisted Monday, going through the same procedure required for army enlistment. An army physician from Vancouver Barracks visited camp Tuesday to submit recruits to vaccination and other medical requirements. Eighty men are engaged in setting up camp, which is in charge of four army officers, including Capt. B. B. McMahon from Vancouver, Lieutenant J. E. Jeys of Portland and a corporal and cook. The men will speak of their new layout as the "C.C. camp."
    The Southern Pacific having a contract to deliver the boys to their camp from Vancouver Barracks, a stage transported them from the Medford depot to Seattle Bar Saturday. The massive stage met with considerable difficulty in making the sharp curves in the narrow mountain road, but succeeded in reaching the camp. Trucks transported more than four tons of mess equipment and supplies.
    Army headquarters for Southern Oregon and Northern California, which had been scheduled for location at Eugene, were established in Medford Tuesday.
Jacksonville Miner, May 19, 1933, page 1


Brush Marines Move to Action
Applegate Reforestation Army Camp Will House 216 Men
Says Capt. B. B.
McMahon; Start Work
By MAUDE POOL
    Of the numerous diversions at the C.C.C. camp at Seattle Bar panning tor gold is one of the most popular, and the ground is getting such a thorough going-over that gold will be scarce at the end of the season, according to Capt. B. B. McMahon, in charge of camp administration. Two-thirds of the boys have been caught by the lure of prospecting, and although nobody has made his fortune as yet, the Brush Marines find a thrill in the slightest colors and are experiencing the sensation of this ancient yet novel occupation.
    Developments at the camp, which has been officially designated by the U.S. Forestry Department as the Applegate camp of the Civilian Conservation Corps, F-41, are making rapid headway. Snags and poor timber have been cleared away, and the grounds eventually will be come a park site. Work on a well has been started under the supervision of Arne Carleson of Jacksonville. Timbered excavation has been made to a depth of 18 feet and bedrock has not appeared.
    The full amount of lumber for tent platforms, a total of 10,000 feet, was trucked out Saturday from a Medford lumber mill and the detachment of 16 men employed on the construction program at the Star Ranger Station started construction of the tent floors Wednesday morning under the supervision of Ross Dickey, Medford carpenter. Tentage will come with the remaining detachment of 149 men who are expected to arrive soon, Captain McMahon said. Men in camp at present include two army officers, two enlisted men of the regular army, 38 men with forestry experience from the Applegate Valley and 25 men between the ages of 18 and 25 from Multnomah County. A total of 216 men will complete the enlistment. Bert Rippey, local man, and Private McMillan are the cooks at the main camp. C. E. Nutting of Medford has reported as work superintendent in the forest.
    Archery is a popular type of recreation and with Jack Hulse, well-known local man, in camp to produce the bows and arrows, this sport is met with great enthusiasm. For target practice with guns the boys do not use army rifles, and targets are placed across the river, eliminating danger of accidents. Saturday several of the boys made a 28-mile hike to Squaw Lake, and this weekend others who feel equal to that amount of exercise will duplicate the trip.
    Captain McMahon referred to his boys as representing a high type of young manhood. Ordinarily, he said, they would be continuing with higher education and professions had they not been caught for a time in the economic turn which the nation is experiencing. He said he would venture to say the recruits would not trade their Applegate camp with any corps in Oregon because they like the place and the people and are interested in everything and everybody. The boys like to listen to tales from local sages, either of truth or fiction. Knox McCloy, seasoned woodsman and miner, is a favorite. He tells stories of mining, packing and fires. From his information about fires the boys and even Captain McMahon himself have come to realize as never before that fire is the king of the forest and that roads and trails are not the end, but only the means of fighting fires. Jake Knutzen. who never has a smile off his face, is another popular personage around camp.
    Boys will be boys, and these recruits have shared the contents of their pockets to such an extent that a veritable biological exhibit is on display at camp. Scorpions, blue-tail lizards, California lizards, swifts and other specimens are a source of interest to visitors as well as those in camp.
    The Brush Marines have gone back to nature for their methods of laundering and bathing. They are constructing a pole bridge across the Applegate, which has withstood the high water so far, and it is on this bridge that they are prone to lie with their heads dangling over the water while the rushing current purges their Monday's wash of yellow soap. Bathing is taken on the hop, skip and jump, the boys rushing in the water, hopping out to soap themselves, then submerging again for the final. Cold? "Sure," Captain McMahon confirmed.
    Mrs. McMahon and two children are expected to arrive on the Applegate in the near future, where they will experience tenting above the Hutton Ranger Station this summer. Jerry, aged 14. and Janet, who is 11, will enjoy a real storybook vacation in the mountains. Captain McMahon finds added interest in his work in the fact that he knows very little of future arrangements. He finds unexpected events developing from time to time.
Jacksonville Miner, June 2, 1933, page 1

SLANTS
On the Brush Marines
By M. E. P.
● Poison oak is occupying the minds of many in camp, and judging from the remedies offered, never was there any one subject in which more people are interested.
● Lumber has a special way of being delivered on Sunday, of all the seven days suggested, especially if only six men are in camp.
● The captain already has shown special talent in music, picnicking and dancing.
● The detachment from the Star Ranger Station was defeated in a baseball game with Palmer Creek players Sunday to the tune of 5-10. Game was umpired by Omar Culy. A couple of new baseballs were seen on the way out from Medford Monday and it looks like next Sunday's game means business.
● Who burned midnight oil thinking of a catchy name to replace the mediocre term of C.C.C.? Nobody. It's just second nature with Ed Finley.
● So a local poet was inspired to write 14 verses on the doings of the Brush Marines just for pastime. You can read it someday.
● Captain McMahon, Ross Dickey and Jim Winningham hiked to Windy Peak Tuesday.
● Some marines out for a stroll in the twilight stopped strolling to watch a farmer milking his cows. They said it had been many a day since they had seen bossy giving milk and mentioned something about cans.
Jacksonville Miner, June 2, 1933, page 1  By Maude E. Pool


Activities on Applegate Hum as Brush Marines
Infest, er, Populate, Region for Work and Play
By MAUDE POOL

    Prospects for a much enlivened community throughout the summer months are visioned by Applegate people since the Brush Marines have become established here. Officers and recruits already have shown their interest in local activities, and from the attendance of approximately 350 people at the dance given by the Marines at Camp Applegate on June 1st, it is apparent that lively times are ahead.
    People came from all over the United States as far north as Medford and as far south as way over the California line to spend the evening as guests of the young forest workers. Forty tent platforms had been built during the week, and eight of these, totaling a floor space of 2,000 square feet, were joined in circular formation around a massive fir tree for the dance platform. With a special tent provided for sleepy youngsters, the older folks as well as the young enjoyed dancing to the fiddler's tunes until not far from dawn. (Who said something about staying for pancakes?)
    Officers attending from Medford C.C.C. headquarters included Major Clare H. Armstrong, commanding officer; Major Bibighaus, surgeon; Lt. G. A. Jones, publicity; Lt. Fred W. Greene, Lt. Ross, adjutant.
    Following arrival of guests at eight o'clock, a short program was presented before dancing commenced. An interpretative dance was given by Lola and Berniece Young, daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Baldy Young. Three numbers were rendered by the C.C.C. male quartet consisting of Leroy West, W. H. Collier, Carl Goodwin, and Jim Wilson. Two boxing matches were featured next, both of which culminated in draws. Dave Winningham of Jacksonville and Lester Beal of Medford, both of the Brush Marines, participated in the first, while W. H. Jenkins of Portland (C.C.C.) and Shorty Hull of Long Beach met in the second. Each match consisted of three 2-minute rounds. Those contributing to the dance music from time to time were Mr. and Mrs. George Purcel, Harry G. Hulse, Bob Watkins, Lester Clark, Mrs. Vernie Stephenson, Miss Ruth Severance, Capt. B. B. McMahon and Marion Hulse. The piano was furnished through the courtesy of the Watkins school.
    Refreshments of a pleasing variety were served by Bert Rippey and Private R. A. McMillan, cooks. Coffee was furnished by Mason Ehrman Co., and the cakes by the ladies in attendance.
    Captain McMahon said that the boys will give another dance in the very near future, and that when the new mess hall is completed it will be used as a dance and recreation hall for future community gatherings.
    With the arrival of 48 men and two officers from Vancouver on June 1, the enrollment of 94 new recruits from Jackson and Josephine counties Saturday filled Camp Applegate to its authorized strength. There will be no further arrivals except foremen who have been chosen for forest service technical work.
    An issue of shoes and clothing was made Tuesday to the local men from Jackson and Josephine counties. Men with feet over size 9½ were temporarily out of luck, it was pointed out. However, supplies are now arriving in splendid fashion, and the opinion of camp officials is that both men and camp will be at least 99 44100 completely outfitted within the course of a few days.
    Construction is going ahead rapidly, all lumber and most of the plumbing supplies having been delivered. About 100 men were placed at the disposal of C. E. Nutting, work superintendent of the forest, on Tuesday.
    Lt. O. J. Mishaud of Portland, who has been on duty at Camp Applegate since Thursday, has been transferred to Medford C.C.C. headquarters as district assistant adjutant. Nine Marines from the local camp were placed on special duty at Medford headquarters on Sunday as truck drivers and warehousemen. On the way to town the boys met with a slight collision between their truck and a coupe belonging to Miss Emma Jean Crawford of Talent. No injuries resulted, but the left fenders of the coupe were visibly dented.
    George I. Jones, first aid man at camp, left Monday on an official trip to Fort Lewis, Washington. He expects to return within a week. Lt. J. E. Keys, who has been on temporary duty at the C.C.C. warehouse at Medford, has reported for duty again at Camp Applegate.
Jacksonville Miner, June 9, 1933, page 1


SLANTS
On the Brush Marines
By M. E. P.
    Palmerites were disgracefully walloped by the Marines in a baseball game Sunday with a remarkable score of 30 to 13.
    Are the boys proud of their new maritime title? And then some! They have had the name placed on their sweatshirts.
    Hugo Filippi almost captured a snipe one day, but the critters weren't biting. He was kidded unmercifully, but HE CAN TAKE IT.
    Joe Ratty braced the extraction of a wisdom tooth Tuesday, and was feeling under the weather for a while, but a letter from home folks has a way of making unpleasantries insignificant.
    Hint for some aspiring hostess: If you want a lot of toothpicks to hold your sandwiches together, just ask the clerk to count the picks, and he will hand you the box free.
    Newspapers of any color or size are not especially needed around camp now, because the weather is warm, and beds are okay without a newspaper foundation.
Jacksonville Miner, June 9, 1933, page 3  By Maude E. Pool


New Officers Arrive at Camp Applegate
    Chaplain Willis Bergen of Portland, officer of the reserves, who is on duty as district chaplain of the C.C.C. headquarters stationed at Medford, spent the weekend at Camp Applegate. Chaplain Bergen motored out with a carload of athletic supplies.
    New officers arriving in camp last week include Sergeant Chas. Seyler and Corporal Ady Austin, both of Company C, 7th Infantry, Vancouver Barracks. The two men have joined the local company.
    Private first class Robert McMillan of Company D, 7th Infantry, returned for duty Thursday of last week from Vancouver Barracks. His place as head cook had been taken by Bert Rippey.
    A number of the Brush Marines spent several days at Hutton Ranger Station, where they received instructions in requirements of straw bosses in fire fighting from Ranger Lee Port and Albert Young.
Jacksonville Miner, June 23, 1933, page 1


Brush Marine Camp Is Eden
Camp Applegate Becoming Model of Order and System;
More Than 200 Marines Are Stationed on River Shore

By MAUDE POOL

    More than nine acres of rock-strewn brush land at Seattle Bar, uninhabited for years except by jackrabbits and yelping coyotes, has changed overnight as it were into a tented village as neat as your grandmother's parlor when company came. Over 200 boys in charge of Capt. B. B. McMahon are responsible, and whoever thinks that boys are hopeless slovens has another guess coming.
    Even midst the general formation of the camp, which nestles in a bend of the peaceful Applegate River with the timber-clad mountains standing close guard, specific details of individual care and taste on the part of each boy are paramount. The entrance to each little brown tent, wherein from four to eight boys are housed, is marked either by archways formed by twisted twigs or by round insignia developed with white rocks. High over one tent a popular gasoline trademark flaunts its message to the hill country. Tiny clotheslines bearing a bit of washing testify to the cleanliness of the young men in camp.
    As a practical illustration of the primary purpose of the reforestation camp, uniform spacing of tents and buildings has been sacrificed to preserve the beauty and shade of the trees. Whether clustered or standing alone, the trees seem to have been given a place in camp as important as that of the boys themselves. The lone pines in particular have been emphasized by a mound of soil at the base, and some have been encircled with white rocks; one has been given the companionship of old-fashioned flags which have blossomed and faded. Even a lowly manzanita has been exalted, and it reigns supreme among its kind.
    In camp there still stands the long dining tables and seats made of rough logs with which the Brush Marines pioneered during their first days in camp. The pioneer tables are merely of sentimental interest and somehow are strangely reminiscent of the tall and stately Ross Dickey, who doesn't let his appetite bother him. It was revealed that he is the first man at the table and eats until the diners at the last end of the table have finished. He still is losing weight, but he built the Redwoods Hotel at Grants Pass and is head carpenter for the C.C.C. Ross can handle a large number of men with astounding success and everybody in camp swears by him.
    The new mess hall, where the entire recruit of Marines will flock with wistful expressions three times a day, is practically completed at the center of the grounds, and occupancy of the building was expected by the middle the week. Not only will famished lads be ministered unto there, but many a winsome lassie's heart will flutter with excitement in that building on the night of July 4, when a big dance, continuing until 2 a.m., will climax a grand old day of celebrating on the grounds.
    The structure is 20 by 144 feet, 60 feet of the south end being devoted to kitchen, pantry and cook's room. To avoid unnecessary heat in the mess hall, three field ranges and a large pastry stove will be installed in a lean-to on the building. Open pits close by will be dug for heating dishwater, and four lines of boys will be washing their dishes in unison. Bold black letters atop the mess hall roof shout to the world that there is located the camp of the "Brush Marines." The meat cooler has been completed with the exception of installing a windlass to elevate and lower the dumbwaiter in the cellar shaft.
    The 22-foot camp well, equipped with a gasoline pump and tower with a Happy Hooligan hat, reposes blithely in the south suburbs of the camp and is the godchild of Arne Carleson, well-known Jayvillite. Camp Applegate would be without water to this day had not Captain McMahon and Ross Dickey wielded the water witch's forked stick and located moisture first thing right near the river. The attractive rock garden formation formed around the well from the dirt and rocks excavated bids fair to shoot forth creeping mosses and brilliant floral specimen most any time.
    The hospital tent stands a silent assistant in the young village and recently all but claimed two victims within its ominous walls, N. I. Huff and F. A. (Whitey) Moore. The former was isolated a few days as a whooping cough suspect, and young Moore snagged himself in the ear with a fish hook but survived the ordeal after extrication of the hook by G. I. Jones, first aid man.
    Although two swimming pools will be developed from natural formations of the river, the Marines will no longer resort to the river for cleansing methods. A shower house is being completed with equipment of 15 shower heads, hot water tank and heater, laundry and dressing room.
    The Forest Service installation of garage, tool shop, etc. is located near the roadside. It was a gravel bar on which Camp Applegate took shape, but somewhere there was a 90-yard stretch of sandy loam and Bill Jones of Medford, champion archer, found it at the rear of camp and utilized it for an archery range.
    The headquarters tent, presided over by F. D. Meeker, company clerk, and second lieutenant of the Quartermaster Reserves, who wields a trusty typewriter, houses a small clothing store. Issues of wearing apparel ranging from yellow rain coats in which Jake Knutzen really can look collegiate to all sizes of hobnailed shoes are stored away neatly in the tent. In purchasing the clothing, increase of sales has been considered rather than uniformity of apparel.
    A sizable excavation has been made for an incinerator and a few colors have been panned from therein, thus indicating that the work was done not from a utilitarian viewpoint, but rather by personal interest stimulus.
    Although little athletic equipment is on hand as yet, with pillow fights, acrobatic stunts on poles and other methods of exercising the boys are finding keen enjoyment in the simple things of life, rather than having their recreation manufactured for them. Six courts full of horseshoe pitchers are not an uncommon sight, and the shoes that Old Dobbin wears are used instead of the designated type for sport. A bicycle found its way into camp and it works overtime. Until the present time all efforts have been centered on camp construction, and when the quarters have been completed attention will be given to more thorough personal training and discipline.
Jacksonville Miner, June 23, 1933, page 1


SLANTS
On the Brush Marines
By M. E. P.
    Joe Wisdom and Mark Warenfelt of Jackson County induced a ferocious Elliott Creek rattlesnake to meander into camp on a forked stick Friday. The rattler sported five rattles and a button and seemed quite at home in a new screened box.
    Joe Ratty has been mounting guard nightly over the tool dump east of Joe Bar.
    William Harlow, local man, has become an additional member in camp as a jackhammer man. Hugo Fillippi also works in this capacity.
    Credit for stacks of neatly corded wood belongs to Mickey Miller of Medford, 13-year-old son of Mike Miller, mess hall carpenter. Mickey visited his father a short time ago and exhibited his ambitious nature.
    Bill Pool is enjoying the new army life to the greatest extent and finds innumerable tasks to keep himself busy.
    Jake Knutzen seems to feel perfectly at home posing as a local sourdough for an upstate newspaper photo. You'd be surprised how much at home Jake can feel with a piece of cake, too.
    Marion Hulse is getting to be a regular shark at snapping pictures of camp life. Marion and his camera are great pals.
    Was Sunday's baseball score 75 to 90 or 5 to 25?
Jacksonville Miner, June 23, 1933, page 4  By Maude E. Pool


Dr. Gillis to Agnes for CCC Camp Duty
    Dr. Harold B. Gillis, located in this city for the past two years, with offices in Medford also, reported Wednesday morning of this week at Agness, Oregon, for duty as a private contract surgeon of the United States army.
    The young Dr. Gillis, who has been associated with his father, Dr. J. B. Gillis, and who completed a two months course in cancer surgery a few days ago, will be camp surgeon at one of the many C.C.C. establishments on Rogue River. Agness is located some 32 miles inland from Gold Beach at a point where the Illinois River joins the Rogue. He will have charge of two orderlies and an ambulance driver as well as medical attention for more than 200 men.
    The doctor, who became very well known in Southern Oregon because of his wide surgical practice, will be joined by Mrs. Gillis, who has been caring for relatives in Portland while her husband was in Southern California taking postgraduate work. Their house in this city will be occupied by Dr. Gillis' parents, who have been building a new home on Applegate, where they have purchased a ranch.
    Tuesday, upon receipt of word of his acceptance in the army service, Dr. Gillis supplied himself with new fishing equipment at the local hardware store in anticipation of outdoor possibilities offered in camp life in the lower Rogue section. He had been in this city the past week since his return from school.
Jacksonville Miner, June 23, 1933, page 4


Applegate CCC’s to Observe 4th with Full Day
    Who is celebrating the Fourth of July to remind folks that somewhere in the dim past there was a Declaration of Independence? Eugene? Yes, and Camp Applegate is entertaining with a big day of fun that will be remembered always, and which will wind up with a big dance in the large new mess hall, for which local orchestras and musicians have already offered their services.
    Residents of the upper valley, as well as families and friends of the men in camp, are cordially invited to come for the day and night, activities beginning with a valley reunion on the grounds in the forenoon. Come and greet your and neighbors early in order that your undivided attention can be given to the basket dinner at noon, which will be served tn the wooded area formerly occupied by the kitchen and mess hall of the camp. The log and shake tables, as well as the plank tables now used in the mess hall, will be available for the spread, and an army field range will operate to provide bot coffee for the picnickers, it was announced by camp officials. Each person may bring a basket filled to suit his own taste.
    A complete afternoon program is being planned and the program committee remained busy late in the week devising new means entertainment. Events already lined out are races of all kinds, exhibition of archery by the best archers in camp and a boxing card with several bouts. A timber felling contest may be arranged, it was stated. However, baseball is taboo on account of desirable grounds not being available.
    Dancing will continue not later than 2 a.m., and special tents will be assigned for the benefit of small children.
Jacksonville Miner, June 30, 1933, page 1


Applegate Ozone Proves Healthful to Brush Marines
    In addition to the famous Applegate swimming pools, blackberry patches and gooseberry pie, which caused the Portland Oregonian to come forth with a lengthy appreciatory article recently, the Applegate Valley has pure air--the purest of all, in fact--according to a statement made by an army official at Camp Applegate a few days ago.
    The Brush Marines not only have had a 100 percent health record since their arrival almost two months ago, but Camp Applegate has the isolation ward for the upper Rogue River camps of the higher altitude, and even though boys from the other camps had been sent to the local ward with afflictions which appeared as dangerous, the maladies soon disappeared after subjection to Applegate air, the official said. Whooping cough, appendicitis and influenza suspects from the neighboring camps have been released from Camp Applegate after isolation during the last two weeks. Lt. Wallace S. Douglas of the medical corps, a native of Hillsboro, Ill., has reported at Camp Applegate for permanent duty as medical officer.
    At the present several groups of Brush Marines are absent from camp, having been assigned to outside work. Local men leaving Monday for Vancouver to return with fire trucks are Walter Burdell, Joe Oswald, Roy Huit, John Cunningham, C. K. Taber, Archie West, LeRoy West, Aaron Rhoten, Leslie Beal and F. B. Harrin.
    A crew of 11 men under Ross Dickey was sent to the Star Ranger Station Monday to complete the machine shed and other phases of the construction program there. Another group of eight men are engaged in trucking the C.C.C. men arriving at Medford recently from Jefferson Barracks, Mo., to Mt. Reuben and other camps of the Medford headquarters. Eleven boys, including Harland Clark and J. W. Smith of Jacksonville, are expected to return soon from the O.N.G. encampment at Camp Clatsop. Practically all of the 73 Portland boys are looking forward to a vacation during the Fourth, which they will spend in Portland.
    During the weekend Captain B. B. McMahon, G. I. Jones. first aid man, and F. D. Meeker, company clerk, hiked 15 miles of the distance to Jacks Flat in the vicinity of Dutchman's Peak, where they remained Saturday night with James Carrol and his crew of eight Marines who are working on telephone maintenance for the Forest Service. They returned by way of Little Applegate and aside from the pickup they received in a trailer, 21 miles of the distance were made on foot. While at the Carrol camp Mr. Jones submitted seven of the maintenance workers to the third shot in the arm for typhoid inoculation.
    A new fire truck has been received for use at the local camp.
Jacksonville Miner, June 30, 1933, page 1


CCC Officials Housed in Applegate Homes
    Mrs. B. B. McMahon, wife of Captain McMahon at Camp Applegate, and son and daughter, Jerry and Janet, arrived Monday from Vancouver and will remain on the Applegate for the summer. They are residing in the house belonging to Guy A. Crosby of Beaver Creek, whose family is remaining at Crater Lake. The family of Lt. J. E. Keys, who have been in Medford for some time, were expected to arrive on the Applegate last week to occupy the Jess Townsend house. Lt. Wallace S. Douglas also expects the arrival of his family from Illinois soon.
    Corporal John Leahy of Company C, 7th Infantry, Vancouver Barracks, has reported for duty at Camp Applegate as mess sergeant. Malcolm G. Owens and Floyd Irons have been made first cooks.
    A photo detachment of six men under the supervision of Albert Arnsc of the Forest Service is spending a few days with the Brush Marines while working on a photographic project in the Applegate country.
    A fire school was held in camp last week by Ranger Lee Port and Jim Winningham for the purpose of training a few of the men to handle small fire crews in case of minor fires. The period of instruction was said to be a hasty affair on account of an expected thunderstorm which didn't occur.
    A new recreation tent has been added to camp, which is equipped with a piano, radio, magazines and writing material. The company exchange has been moved to that tent.
    Tuesday was a big day in camp, the time of the chief event every month--pay day. From San Francisco headquarters the boys received $85 for personal use, with $25 going to their dependents.

Jacksonville Miner, July 14, 1933, page 4


Old Ponds Are Best Soaks After All Say Applegate Marines
By MAUDE POOL

    The newest phenomenon unearthed at Camp Applegate is the fact that the shower house has been in operation for three weeks and few of the boys have used it. They still take their shower in the river. They did that 'way long in May when icicles would not have been amiss on their straw hats and a shower house was just a vision in the Department of Interior or somewhere. Just shows what habit can do. Speaking of icicles, it's a safe bet that Joe Ratty wasn't thinking of them when he was parked down along Medford's main street a few days ago.
    Since snipe hunting becomes taboo after a certain length of time, fortune telling is gaining popularity among the Brush Marines, most of the boys having peered into the future, G. I. Jones in particular, who met with the usual bucket full of water.
    Things to make a fellow feel like he's at home are being added to the recreation tent, which already possesses a piano and radio. The boys have monogrammed stationery and are getting an abundance of magazines. Sunday morning church services were held in the recreation tent, with Mrs. Bert Harr officiating. Besides boys in camp, a number of local people attended. Services will be a regular Sunday morning feature at 9:30, with some one of the boys in charge from time to time. All residents of the upper Applegate are invited to attend these services.
    Twenty-one men left Seattle Bar Monday to establish a spike camp at the Beaver ranch. With the progress of road work in that section, the number of men will be increased in a week or 10 days and camp will then be moved to the vicinity of Yellow Jacket and Silver Fork. Truman Lewis is in charge of the camp.
    Last Sunday the 926th Brush Marine team defeated the Central Point baseball nine with a score of 11 to 2. As yet no game has been slated for Sunday, although both Jacksonville and Central Point will play return games in the near future. With the forming of a district baseball league in Southern Oregon C.C.C. camps, the Brush Marines will play a sub-league game with Kerby camp the second week in August, and later will play Mt. Reuben camp. These three camps have been placed in League B.
    Tuesday Forest Supervisor H. B. Rankin of Medford and A. O. Waha of the regional forestry office at Portland visited Camp Applegate.
    The detachment of Brush Marines employed at the Star Ranger Station for some time have completed minor tasks such as construction of a pole fence around the new barn and exterior painting of the station. It was expected that Wednesday the old tool house would be moved a short distance north of the station to be rebuilt into an office.

Jacksonville Miner, July 28, 1933, page 1


LETTER FROM REFORESTATION CAMP IN OREGON
Forrest Lancaster Tells of Experience of Camp Life
in Medford, Oregon

Crater Lake, Oregon,
    Monday, July 31.
Dear Mr. McIlwain:
    I received a letter from home today and they told me that you wanted me to write you a letter containing the different incidents of our trip and camp life out here.
    We left Sullivan on the afternoon of June 2nd and arrived at Jefferson Barracks about seven that night. The following day we were sworn in the C.C.C.'s and got our first typhoid shots and smallpox vaccination. We stayed there until Thursday evening, June 22nd. On that evening we left for Wineglass Camp, Medford, Oregon, which is just three miles from Crater Lake, one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
    It took us three days and three nights to make the trip. We were all on Pullman cars and didn't have to change trains at all. Each day the train would stop and we would all get off and take a fifteen- or twenty-minute hike. We went through the Royal Gorge in Colorado and saw the highest swinging bridge in the States. It is a mile high. It was raining when we passed through there, but nevertheless the train stopped and we all got out and took a good look at the bridge. We could see cars crossing it.
    We also passed along the edge of the Great Salt Lake which was a very interesting sight. Everything was white. It looked like a desert of salt, the only thing I didn't like about it was the odor, which isn't very pleasant around that district. After passing here we got into the higher mountains, where we passed through many tunnels, some of which were a mile or two long. When we were in the desert states we also saw many jackrabbits, They were the first live ones I had ever seen.
    We arrived in Chiloquin, Oregon, late on the evening of June 25. From there we had about a forty-mile ride in a truck to our camp, and it wasn't very warm that night either. Upon arrival at camp we were received with a hearty welcome and a hot cup of coffee which warmed us up some. It was after midnight that night before any of us saw a bed. The next morning we were all up and ready for chow as we call it, or in civilized language, breakfast. I don't mean that we are not civilized out here, but some of the terms we we use are not all civilized.
    I am fairly well satisfied out here, although like most young people on their first stay from home of any length at all, I get a little lonesome once in a while.
    Our work is not hard. The hardest thing is getting used to this light climate. The rangers say we will not get used to it in six months either. My first day on the mountains made me fairly tired, but every day got easier and now I can stand it fine. My first job was what they call bugging. There is a kind of bug that kills the trees, and our job was to go out to the timber with saws and axes and cut the trees which had these bugs on them. They are under the bark and we had to cut the trees and bark them. The way we tell one of these trees is by their needles. The ones with bugs have red needles and the ones without have green ones. We finished that job last Friday and we are now building new roads up Mt. Scott and up along the main highway to Crater Lake. We only work eight hours a day including noon hour, and from the time we leave camp to work and back, which leaves us only about six hours actual work.
    We have plenty of time for recreation. We have baseball games, boxing and are talking of having some basketball and football. What time we aren't playing we are either reading, doing our own washing or playing cards. We also have some lectures on the origin of Crater Lake, and once in a while a religious talk or sermon. Just today we had a good educational lecture on the origin of Crater Lake.
    We sleep eight in a tent, and Loren Davis and I are in the same tent. We are both satisfied with the rest of our tentmates, which are Moultrie County boys, namely Joe Fuller of Gays, Paul Dixon, Theodore Rhodes and Woodrow Williams of Sullivan and Roy Coy and Earl Dinger of Lovington. We are all supposed to be in bed at ten and asleep, but not many of us obey that order. Many of us are up yet at twelve but nevertheless we do our work well enough to satisfy our Captain, Mr. Cox.
    Well, that is about all I know to write about, only there are plenty of wild animals around here, bears, deers, a few wildcats and cougar. But there is one thing I can frankly say and that is that the trip out here and the sights we see are worth more than we can earn in a year much less months, but that is not saying I would be willing to give back the money I will make during this six months.
Very Truly Yours,
    "Frosty" Lancaster.
My address is:
    Forrest Lancaster
        Co. 1658 C.C.C.
            Wineglass Camp
                Medford, Oregon.
The Bethany Echo, Bethany, Illinois, August 11, 1933, page 1


Brush Marines Like Smoke-Eating Task
    That the 40 Brush Marines dispatched to a 10-acre forest fire on Little Applegate Saturday came through with flying colors was the report of Ranger L. C. Port concerning the boys, who obtained their first experience in fire fighting at that time.
    The boys, as well as their captain who accompanied them on the trip, were keenly interested in the procedure from the method of transportation to the smallest details of fire control. One of the Marines, George Hall, found the experience so intriguing that he wrote an interesting sketch of the trip which may appear in local newspapers. Both the boys and Captain McMahon displayed their ambition for real work.
Jacksonville Miner, August 11, 1933, page 4


Brush Marines Not 'Hainted' by Real Dirty Work
    Some of the nation's reforestation army may never have seen a tree or spent a day at manual labor, but they are not afraid of work or dirt. This thought was emphasized by an Applegate stockman who noticed some of the Brush Marines piling brush along the Beaver Creek road as he returned from a trip to the range recently.
    Shirtless, and working in the heat with all their might, the boys tackled the dense masses of roadside slashings that were practically buried in dust from passing trucks, and piled the brush neatly for burning this fall. Darting here and there, up and down the length of the road, each boy was ambitiously delving into that settling of dust to do his bit to beautify the forest and bring it up to the standard expected of him and the forest recruits as a whole.
Jacksonville Miner, September 1, 1933, page 1


Notes that Make the Brush Marines Blush
    Fishing in the streams around camp has been good lately. "Blondie" Moore and George Hall made a fine catch Sunday in the middle fork. Royal Coachman, McGinty and Professor flies seem to be the best lure.
----
    Red Irons, first cook in the Applegate C.C.C., took discharge last week to return to Portland.
----
    With the river water almost ice covered, the boys are taking more advantage of the hot showers. Harold "Snipe" Smith, handy man around camp, is seen piling a huge sum of bark by the shower house. He knows what makes the water boil.
----
    "Flash" Roberts left camp Saturday for the Roseburg hospital, where he will undergo an operation.
----
    Beautiful pairs of black eyes shine around camp as a result of the Friday night smokers.
----
    Lieut. Keyes has poison oak again and is limping around camp. He must like the stuff by now.
Jacksonville Miner, September 1, 1933, page 4


Camp Applegate to Survive Winter Is Official Word Here
By MAUDE POOL
    Camp Applegate has received information from the district headquarters at Medford that it will become a permanent winter camp, Captain B. B. McMahon said a few days ago. With construction starting on new buildings early next week, the entire company will move from tents into the new structures with the arrival of cold weather.
    Although the majority of the Brush Marines will reenlist for the coming six-months period starting October 1, those who do not enroll will be discharged September 30 and will return to school or jobs.
    An extensive construction program is outlined, Captain McMahon said, including four wooden barracks, each to house 52 men, a drying room, an infirmary building, a forestry building and an administration building. The present mess hall will have a top flooring to cover the floor already in use and both mess hall and bath house will have an outside covering of tar paper. All of the air space between the ground and floor of the mess hall will be covered with wood. The low temperatures of these September mornings and evenings has caused a Sibley stove to be placed in each tent.
Jacksonville Miner, September 15, 1933, page 1


Applegate to Have Second CCC Camp
    The Applegate is to have another C.C.C. camp this winter.
    The 966 Company, Clift Springs camp from Silver Lake, will be moved to Carberry for winter quarters. Fifteen members of the 966th company, who will form part of the new camp personnel, reported for duty Monday, arriving by truck. A detachment of men from Camp Applegate is working this week to clear the camp site, a densely wooded flat on the south bank of Sturgess Fork east of the Sturgess guard station.
    Major Clair Armstrong of the Medford district headquarters visited the camp late Tuesday, passing him approval on the location, and making assignment of buildings for the permanent camp
    Recruits will number 200, all Oregonians, and like Camp Applegate, construction of the buildings will be done by civilian carpenters. Lumber will start arriving next Monday. The Clift Spring boys will arrive here as soon as it is possible to evacuate their old camp which probably will be in another week, and will use tents until permanent structures are erected. Location for their winter work will be on Brush Creek.

Jacksonville Miner, October 6, 1933, page 1


Brush Marines Will Have Electric Lights
    As a fitting climax to six months of manual labor in the wilds of the Applegate country, the 16 Brush Marines who did not enlist for the winter encampment at Camp Applegate were honored with a farewell dinner at the camp Wednesday night. Fifteen of the boys will return to their homes at Portland, and the remaining Marine, Darrel Sieloff, will return to Ashland to resume his school work.
    Camp Applegate is going modern this winter, and will have electric lights as a welcome relief from gasoline, candles, kerosene, or whatnot in use during the summer. A separate building is being erected to house a gasoline power plant, pump, and electric generator. Other winter construction is well under way, with the four barracks to be under roof by the end of the week. By that time construction will have started on the administration building, 20 by 105 feet, to include recreation room, company store, supply room, and infirmary. All floors will be covered with asphalt floor covering, said to be hobnail-proof.
Jacksonville Miner, October 6, 1933, page 3


Pounds Prove Most Eloquent When Boy Needs Convincing
    It looked like a timber-tong war for a few minutes in old Jacksonville Saturday night when the volunteer fire company was staging its annual New Year's dance. But after a few minutes of war clouds, the atmosphere and the U.S. Hotel stairs were cleared.
    One young Brush Marine, more inebriated than experienced, boldly announced to deputized order-keepers that "I have 45 more fellows with me!" And with that declaration he just about took top notch in conversation for a moment till Dick Hartman, brother of the mayor, elbowed his way through the crowd and took the center of the stage with the declaration "forty-five aren't enough!"
    The young forest recruit eyed all 233 pounds of Hartman's gigantic, muscle-bound stature, emulated a turtle pulling in its neck--and everything else--turned pale and quickly faded into the crowd. The simple statement, "forty-five aren't enough," had quieted the uproar.
    It was one of those brief, but very spicy interludes in an otherwise well-ordered and successful dance by the smoke eaters and the chamber of commerce.

Jacksonville Miner, January 5, 1934, page 1


BRUSH MARINES LAND IN BASTILLE WHEN FISTS FLY
Attempt to Crash Dance Gate Fails; Pair Crash City Bullpen Instead
    There is a time and place for everything, and Jacksonville city officials decided the place for would-be pugilists who climb out of the squared ring and onto the Saturday night dance stairs to put on their exhibitions belong in nice steel display cases--in the city jail.
    Or, at least, so discovered Archie McLeod, 19, and Harry Lytel, 21, Brush Marines from the CCC camp at Carberry Creek on Applegate last Saturday night when they, along with other members of the camp who had overindulged in New Year's spirits, attempted to storm the local dance and take charge of things. They were lodged in jail by Jacksonville officers and Marshall Littell filed disorderly conduct complaints the following morning in Justice of the Peace Ray Coleman's court. The pair was removed to the Jackson County jail in Medford Sunday, where they are held pending hearing here Friday morning at 10 o'clock. Bail was set at $50 each, but had not been made yesterday.
    McLeod and Lytel were the center of a display of fisticuffs Saturday evening at the firemen's ball and were said to have attacked the city marshal and a deputy with clubs. Upon removal to jail they were locked in Pauly cells but succeeded in flipping cigarette butts onto other beds of the jail, setting fire to them.
    Original hearing had been set for Tuesday morning but a delay was granted at request of CCC camp officials, who are thought to be rounding up other participants in the disorder. This was the first outbreak of local Brush Marines in Jacksonville and came while the boys were from under the jurisdiction of their officers. Carberry camp recently was set up, being moved there from another section of Southern Oregon.
    Oregon statutes provide maximum penalties for disorderly conduct of $500 fine and or six months imprisonment in the county jail.
Jacksonville Miner, January 5, 1934, page 1


Applegate CCC Club To Dance Saturday
    Applegate Camp club of the CCC will provide something new in the way of dances Saturday night when musical talent recruited from the camp personnel will furnish music for a big dance at the Applegate hall. Men of the camp have been journeying to various dances for some time, and it is said the officers are lending support to the idea of providing entertainment nearer the camp where the men may enjoy the terpsichorean art without necessity of long trips.
    A very good brand of music is provided by musician members of the CCC club, and valley dance enthusiasts are assured of a delightful evening at Applegate. A nominal sum will be charged to defray club expenses.

Jacksonville Miner, February 2, 1934, page 1


'CCC Club' Not Part of Brush Marine Setup
    Concerning the much-discussed topic as to whether the "CCC Club" which gave a dance at Applegate hall last Saturday night was the Civilian Conservation Corps from Camp Applegate or some outside individuals, it was learned from Second Lieutenant Meeker, company clerk at Camp Applegate, that the organization is in no way sponsored by officers of the camp.
    Lieutenant Meeker said, however, that the dance was given by two boys from that camp, one from Camp Carberry, and one member of another camp of the Medford district, who has established an orchestra among themselves, and who gave the dance under their own supervision, adopting the name of the "CCC Club."

Jacksonville Miner, February 9, 1934, page 4



Eugene C.C.C. Headquarters Will Be Discontinued
Between May 1-15

    EUGENE, Ore., April 6.--(Special)--The Vancouver Barracks and Medford District C.C.C. headquarters will take over the camps of the Eugene district about May 1, according to word received here.
    The Eugene headquarters is to be discontinued along with three California districts. The reason for the move, according to Major General Malin Craig, commander of the ninth corps area, is to reduce the headquarters personnel on the coast to permit the opening up of new summer district in Idaho, Wyoming and other high-altitude states.
    Brigadier General James K. Parsons, commander of Vancouver Barracks, visited in Eugene this week. He informed Casper B. Rucker, Eugene district commander, that the Vancouver headquarters will be ready to take over their allotment of camps from this district May 1. It is probable the camps going to the Medford district will be turned over at the same time.
    Definite orders for closing the Eugene headquarters have not been received, but the offices here will probably be closed between May 1 and 15.
    Fourteen camps will be maintained in the Eugene district during the summer, eight of them to be administered out of Medford and six out of Vancouver Barracks.
    The Medford group will include Melrose, Bradford, Tyee, Devils Flat, China Flats (Powers), Tiller, McKinley and Steamboat. None of these will be new camps, as Tiller, China Flats and Steamboat were occupied last summer, where the rest are now occupied.
    The Vancouver Barracks group will include Rigdon, Odell Lake, Wendling, Welker, Belknap and Mapleton. Odell Lake will be the only new camp in this group, Rigdon having been occupied as a summer camp last year and the others being already in operation.
    Six companies of men will leave this district soon for the seventh corps area in the Middle West where they will spend the summer. The first special train will leave April 21 carrying the companies from Coquille, Remote and Tyee camps to Sturgis, S.D.
    The second train will leave April 24 carrying the Wendling company to Cimarron, Kan., and the Belknap and Powers companies to Fort Leavenworth, Kan.
    Following is a list of the camps now occupied in the Eugene district, with notes as to the disposition of companies at present occupying them:
    Wendling: Company 729 to leave for Cimarron, Kan. Camp to remain and be occupied by Company 963 now at Cape Creek.
    Belknap: Company 730 to leave for Fort Leavenworth, Kan. Camp to remain and be occupied by Company 927 now at Reedsport.
    Coquille: Company 756 to leave for Sturgis, S.D. Camp site to be abandoned for summer.
    Remote: Company 757 to leave for Sturgis, S.D. Camp site to be abandoned for summer.
    Tyee: Company 758 to leave for Sturgis, S.D. Camp site to be occupied by new company not yet specified.
    Melrose: Company 759 to remain at Melrose and camp to be continued during summer.
    Reedsport: Company 927 to move to Belknap camp and Reedsport camp site to be abandoned for summer.
    Oakridge: Company 943 probably to occupy summer camp at Rigdon as well as Oakridge camp.
    Cape Creek: Company 963 to move to Wendling camp. Cape Creek to be abandoned for summer.
    Fall Creek: Company 965 to occupy Odell Lake camp. Call Creek to be abandoned for summer.
    Bradford: Company 979 to remain at Bradford camp and to be continued.
    Gunter: Company 980 to move to Boise, Idaho district. Gunter camp to be abandoned for summer.
    Walker: Company 981 to remain at Walker and camp to be continued.
    Sitkum: Company 1309 to move to new camp in Eastern Oregon. Camp to be abandoned for summer.
    Brice Creek: Company 1648 to move to Prineville. Camp to be abandoned for summer.
    McKinley: Company 1649 to remain at McKinley and camp to be continued.
    Powers: Company 1727 to be sent to Fort Leavenworth, Kan. Camp site at China Flats to be occupied by new company not yet specified.
    Wolf Creek: Company 1921 to be sent to Sacramento, Cal., district. New site at Steamboat to be occupied by new company.
    Mapleton: Company 1748 to remain at Mapleton and camp to be continued.
Coos Bay Times, April 6, 1934, page 1


Camp Applegate Sees Selves Thru 'Keyhole' Journal
    Two can play at the keyhole game as well as one, and for that reason it has been revealed that a bit of shady work is going on at Camp Applegate in the form of a camp newspaper called "The Keyhole" which boasts that it "sees all, hears all, knows all, prints nothing," yet which gives some stark exposures as well as poetry.
    The paper is a two-column, four-page affair edited on Sunday by Hal Gates and Guy Tillman, with G. I. (Doc) Jones as advisory editor, and is published at Ruch "whenever we get enough clean 'dirt'." The first issue appeared May 6 on a mimeographed sheet and reflects the agony of quarantine and inoculation throughout its pages. One page is given to sports and includes a brilliant piece of cartooning showing a Brush Marine at the bat as he struck a foul. The following paragraphs appeared in the first issue:
    A few of the "noisy nuts" in one of the barracks have organized a male quartet. (Opinions as to their musical ability are kindly withheld.) They challenge any other quartet to a contest any time. Their talents are extemporaneous song, including rhymes and unearthly moans and other distracting rackets. Warning--Do not wash your ears if you value your mind.
    "Uncle Jake," our oldest powder monkey, is laid up. After passing the 60-year mark he has suffered his first accident. Jake claims a rock as big as a kitchen stove rolled on his leg, putting a little kink in it. (Ed. Note--Referring to Jake Knutzen, now in a Roseburg hospital.)
    How about a little support for our Christian Endeavor meetings? It can't hurt you and it might do you some good. With all the hypocrites in this camp we should have a full house at each meeting. Let's all make a bet with ourselves and see how much help we can be to "Deacon" and his co-workers. Now that we have settled this matter, we'll see you all in church.

Jacksonville Miner, May 18, 1934, page 4


CCC Camps to Have Religious Services
    MEDFORD, Aug. 6.--The spiritual as well as physical welfare of the CCC men occupies an important part of the Medford district program, and through the cooperation of the civilian clergymen, regular services are provided in all camps.
    Civilian clergymen in all denominations have cooperated wholeheartedly in providing services for the camps, according to Major Clare H. Armstrong, district commander. These services augment those conducted by the three army chaplains who visit the camps on regular schedule.
    Following is a list of the camps in Siskiyou County. the clergymen who will conduct services in August and the dates on which the services will be held:
    HILT: Rev. R. T. Holmes, Ashland, Aug. 9; Rev. C. E. Dunham, Ashland, Aug. 22.
    OAK KNOLL: Rev. Paul Babcock, Montague, Calif., Aug. 14 and 28.
    INDIAN CREEK: Rev. David Forbes, Camp Indian Creek, Aug. 14 and 28.
Siskiyou News, Yreka, California, August 6, 1934, page 1


Head of CCC Pays Visit to Medford Area
    Medford, Aug. 10.--Preceding a visit to Medford CCC district headquarters and camps in this section, Robert H. Fechner, director of the Civilian Conservation Corps, said this morning that he believes with the expiration of the CCC next March substitute legislation will be enacted to continue the movement on a revised basis.
    "Of course I have my ideas what the new plan should be," he said, "and at the President's request I have made a report expressing my opinion. That, however, will not be made public until it is presented to Congress."
    Referring to the accomplishments of the CCC movement, Fechner said, "I am tremendously proud of it all."
STARTED FROM SCRATCH
    "It wasn't that Congress had faith in the President's proposal, but its desire to cooperate in passing legislation he proposed which brought about the Civilian Conservation Corps," Fechner continued.
    "We started without anything, but the unselfish and devoted cooperation received from the army, park, forest and labor departments made it possible lo successfully form these units. Selection of the great army of men was performed by the Department of Labor.
    "Although I had been warned when I went to Washington that it would be impossible to receive cooperation from government agencies, I had no such fear. This has been the happiest experience of my entire life."
URGED TO VISIT
    The 353,000 juniors, local experienced men, woodsmen and veterans in camps located in every state and the District of Columbia are making the parks, forests and properties more accessible and more enjoyable for the tens of thousands who visit them every year, he said.
    Fechner urged citizens to take the first opportunity possible to visit a CCC camp, to talk to the commanding officer, the men in camp and note the pride and joy they are taking in their work.
    "It isn't a dole, it isn't charity. They're earning their way, giving value for value received, and are also sending back substantial contributions to the family. You will see that after all there is something else worthwhile besides the struggle for the almighty dollar.
    "They are building fire trails, fire breaks, developing natural resources, stopping devastating fires, developing park areas to bring out the wonders and beauties of these places.
BIG LUMBER ORDER
    "We have bought 20,000 trucks, millions of gallons of gasoline, spent millions for clothes and food. For winter quarters," the director went on to say, "we placed one order for 250,000,000 feet of lumber, said to be the largest peacetime order in history.
    "A hundred thirty thousand dollars is spent a day for food, and the Surgeon General's office reports that the health of the men averages higher than the regular United States army enlisted men. We don't give them banquets, but we do give them good substantial food."
    Fechner said the formation of the CCC was the realization of one of his lifelong ambitions to work out just such a movement. He said the appointment as director of this movement was his first and only political appointment.
    Fechner was taken on an inspection trip through the Medford CCC district headquarters and warehouses, the camp on the upper Rogue River in the Rogue River National Forest, and camps at Annie Springs and Wineglass within Crater Lake National Park. He was accompanied by Major Clare H. Armstrong, district CCC commander, and acting Superintendent David H. Canfield of
Crater Lake National Park.
Oregon Journal, Portland, August 10, 1934, page 9


CCC Is C-C Pill to Art
    Arthur Edward Powell, tall headman of the Central Point American, bemoans the fact that several thousand CCC enrollees have quit to take other jobs, "which will mean even more men out of work this winter." He also claims the importation of the Brush Marines into Southern Oregon has worked a hardship on local labor when they were brought here from the East and allowed to stay when their time was out.
    Somehow or other we get the idea that Republican Powell doesn't like the Civilian Conservation Corps. Whether his aversion to the Brush Marines is due to political prejudice or just plain misinformation is unknown to us, but we thought nearly everyone read of how hundreds of the Brush Marines brought here from other points were bundled up into trains at regular intervals and sent back to points of enlistment. But maybe Art doesn't even know what he reads in the papers.
    On the other hand, how the resignation of CCC enrollees now to accept other jobs "will mean even more men out of work this winter" is most certainly a nut-cracker for us. We never heard of employment causing unemployment before. But then, Art is entitled to figure things out in his own way, and far be it from us to ever say anything about his ideas. Much.
    One of President Roosevelt's finest acts, to our way of thinking, has been the establishment and maintenance of Brush Marine camps over the country. And Southern Oregon certainly can't have lost much by the importation of several thousand young men who are fed and clothed here and kept busy improving our forests, fighting our fires and building roads. Why, the government even pays cash for subscriptions to the Central Point American and the Jacksonville Miner, that its wards might be well informed.
    Which is darned smart, Art will have to admit.
Jacksonville Miner, September 14, 1934, page 2


WINEGLASS CAMP MOVED TO VALLEY
    Major Clare H. Armstrong, commander, Medford District CCC, has issued orders removing Camp Wineglass in Crater Lake National Park to a new camp at Oregon Caves. The new camp, which will also have the Crater Lake National Park administration as its technical agency, will be known as Camp Oregon Caves, NM-1, mail address Kerby, Oregon, and will be occupied on Monday, Oct. 22, on which date Camp Wineglass will be evacuated.
    Camp Wineglass has been the home during the last six months of the 1634th Company CCC, made up chiefly of Illinois men, but there are several Klamath Falls men in its ranks including N. A. Eberman, cook, Carlyle Killitz, truck master, and John Pisan, sanitation orderly.
    The camp has used Klamath Falls as its railhead during the summer, and the commanding officer has requested the Herald-News to convey to the business people of Klamath Falls the sincere appreciation of the officers and members of his command for the splendid cooperation and many courtesies which have been shown Camp Wineglass in Klamath Falls.
    Residents of Klamath Falls who are in the vicinity of the Oregon Caves are cordially invited to visit this new camp and renew acquaintances. It is hoped that the 1634th company will return to Camp Wineglass next April in the event that the CCC is continued.
Evening Herald, Klamath Falls, October 18, 1934, page 6


House Rises in Rain As Applegate Gift to Recent Fire Victims
    Working on the theory that "we can build a house in the rain better than Ben Moore can live in the rain," Ross Dickey, with a force of Brush Marines, assisted by neighbors, built a new one-room house Sunday for Mr. Moore and his family, who lost their home by fire in August. Lumber was obtained through donations, and with 21 men to do the carpentering, the new home was nearly completed by evening. Women of the neighborhood furnished a picnic lunch at noon.
    Mr. and Mrs. Moore wish to express their thanks through the Miner to all who have aided them since their loss.
Jacksonville Miner, October 26, 1934, page 1


Miner Editorial Is Reprinted in CCC Paper, Washington
    A Miner editorial of two weeks ago has traveled far, the article entitled "Phooey on Boogies" appearing a few days ago in "Happy Days," national CCC publication printed in Washington, D.C.
    Through the editorial, the Miner editor expressed his confidence in the future of America, and as proof of his convictions, cited the erection of a new house for an Applegate family by CCC workers from Camp Applegate and neighbors of the family who lost their little home by fire in the summer.
    "It's the first time Camp Applegate ever warranted mention in the Washington paper, and it made front page the first time," proudly asserted a local Brush Marine who helped build the home.
Jacksonville Miner, November 30, 1934, page 1


MINER PLANT PRODUCES CCC DISTRICT NEWSPAPER
    Commercial printing department of the Jacksonville Miner early this week delivered 5600 copies of the Medford District News, a monthly CCC publication consisting of four five-column pages edited in most approved journalistic fashion by Lieut. Roy D. Craft, formerly of the Eugene Register-Guard.
    The newspaper is circulated among officers and enrollees of the camps in the Medford CCC district, one copy to each of 5600 men. The edition contains several group pictures of CCC officers, two linoleum blocks, one reprinted in the Miner this week of Mount Shasta, and the other a likeness of Major General Malin Craig by artist Arthur J. Merkel. Twenty-eight camps are included in the district.
Jacksonville Miner, November 30, 1934, page 1


CCC Life Is Rough Road Fraught with Detours and Mumps
    An important segment of Franklin Roosevelt's Civilian Conservation Corps will be feeling a little mumpsy for the next 25 days or so, owing to the fact that the boys failed to hear Willard Waldo mention that he planned to have the mumps after his recent visit to his home in Roseburg. Mr. Waldo, member of the CCC force at Star Ranger Station, became ill a few days ago and was removed to the isolation ward at Camp Applegate. With the exception of three or four Brush Marines who tussled with the mumps in their younger days, the crew at Star is quarantined and seems to be withstanding the ordeal admirably.
----
    A sequel to the football season came early this week in the following important dispatch to newspaper headquarters:
    Red (Mange) Carpenter is a great football player. He is a triple threat man--trip, fumble and stumble.
----
    Courageously squelching provoking little thoughts of what Portland folks might think, several Star Station boys have joined in the activity of community organizations in amateur dramatics. Having made their debut, in a social sense as well as dramatic, at Beaver Creek this season with their burlesque on radio broadcasting, the quartet was requested to appear before the Jackson County Recreation Club when it convened for its annual Christmas party at Medford last night. In preparation for the event the actors assembled boudoir slippers, spectacles, cans, night caps, crutches, telephone directories, candles, music stands, bathrobes, night gowns, collars, vests and other requisites located in a farming district.
    Wayne (Red) Carpenter, leading man, having promised a future engagement with the mumps, has relinquished his role to Stanley Raimer, telephone operator. Others in the cast include Charles A. Myers, James Hunt and Herbert Pennings.
----
    Ranger Lee Port and Charles A. Myers made a business trip to Hutton guard station the first of the week, where the latter is said to have crawled under the house.
----
    Mr. Herbert Pennings (otherwise Slim) has been promoted to the temporary position as "boss" at the ranger station in the absence of Archie West, who is taking his vacation, according to authoritative information.
----
    A group of little boys were unable to withhold youthful yearnings for access to a heaping pan of doughnuts and consequently an official communication to the Miner early this week was interrupted before completion.
Jacksonville Miner, December 14, 1934, page 1


Nevada to Get Two CCC Camps
    Advance detachments from two CCC camps now in the Medford district leave for Nevada Saturday to establish camp sites in Washoe County of that state for the coming companies, the 994th company, Camp Hilt, and the 1897th company, Camp Spring Flat, will be transferred back into the Redding district as soon as the movement of the entire companies into the two Nevada camps has been completed, according to Major Joseph Andrews, Redding district commander.
    Twenty-five men and one officer from each of the companies will meet at Alturas Saturday morning at 10 a.m, being transferred to Nevada from that point by a truck caravan sent out by the Redding district motor pool.
    The 994th company will be located at Board Corrals, while the 1907th company is going to Swinford Springs. Both camp sites are located northeast of Cedarville, Calif., and are near the Nevada border. These two companies were members of the original Redding district, having been transferred to the Medford district last year.

Chico Enterprise, Chico, California, April 27, 1935, page 6


15 NEW CCC COMPANIES DUE IN MEDFORD AREA
    MEDFORD, June 8 (Special)--Fifteen new CCC companies will begin arriving here June 20, to increase the number of camps in the Medford district to 33 in the six weeks to follow, according to Major George R. Owens, district commander.
    When all camps are filled there will be 6600 men in the Medford CCC district, Owens said.

Oregonian, Portland, June 9, 1935, page 21


    Present Diplomas--Major George R. Owens, Medford District CCC, commander, and Capt. William C. Ryan, welfare officer, presented diplomas today to 50 graduates of the CCC school for cooks and bakers at Camp Wimer. The graduates, completing a six weeks' course, now return to their respective camps. Another term of the school will start next week. Medford district claims credit for having inaugurated such schools in the CCC.
"Local and Personal," Medford Mail Tribune, September 26, 1935, page 7


CCC Workers Are Being Fingerprinted
    MEDFORD, Ore., Oct. 4.--(American Wire)--Fingerprinting of CCC members in the Medford district is not for the purpose of checking criminal records, the Medford District News, official CCC newspaper, had assured the tree troupers today.
    "The purpose of the fingerprints is to provide a permanent and undeniable identification of each member enrolled in the CCC," the paper declared, advising that "fingerprinting can work two ways--it can be used against a man committing a crime, or it can be used to help prove the innocence of one not guilty."
    Many of the CCC men "are wondering what it's all about," the paper said in a prelude to the explanation.
The Seattle Star, October 4, 1935, page 4


    Orvil Tilley, Company 2702 CCC, Ruch, Oregon, writes: "We arrived in Medford, Oregon, about daybreak one morning last week. Most of us are satisfied in this new country. We don't have to work hard only in time of fire. We have plenty to eat so we have no reason for complaint. We have been told that after the fire season is over we are going to Missouri."
Greenville Sun, Greenville, Missouri, April 30, 1936, page 4


Fairground Blaze Destroys CCC Gear
    Medford,  Jan. 21.--(U.P.)--Fire early today destroyed the exhibit building at the Medford fairground, which was used by the CCC for a transportation garage.
    Five new army trucks, an ambulance, an undetermined number of automobiles used by officers and salvaged trucks brought in for repairs were destroyed.
    Fire Chief Roy Elliott believed the fire started in one of the cars.
    The blaze was well under way when it was discovered. It was kept from spreading to other buildings.
Oregon Journal, Portland, January 21, 1937, page 7


26 U.S. Trucks Damaged by Fire
    MEDFORD, Ore. (AP)--Twenty-six government auto trucks used by the CCC were destroyed in a fire that swept the agricultural building at the county fair grounds Thursday. The building was used by the CCC as a garage and storage warehouse.
Idaho Daily Statesman, Boise, January 22, 1937, page 5


PUBLIC INVITED TO VISIT SOUTH FORK CCC CAMP SUNDAY
    CCC Camp South Fork will hold open house next Sunday afternoon from 1 to 4, and Camp Commander A. W. Samuels and Superintendent H. H. Barnhart issue a cordial invitation to the public to visit and inspect the camp and projects.
    Camp South Fork is located 11 miles east of Butte Falls, on the Butte Falls road. To reach the camp, visitors are advised to turn off Crater Lake Highway and travel straight through Butte Falls.
    A special parking space will be reserved for guests and their cars, and enrollees of the camp will act as guides in showing visitors through the camp. Refreshments will be served during the afternoon.
    The "open house" is being held in commemoration of the seventh anniversary of the founding of the CCC.
Medford Mail Tribune, April 4, 1940, page 14


CCC Enrollees Leaving Medford
    MEDFORD, June 13.--An estimated 230 CCC enrollees were leaving the Medford district this week as headquarters announced plans for the quarterly troop movements.
    A special train originating at Marshfield is taking men from two camps, along with a number of special enrollees from the Vancouver Barracks district, to Fort Knox, Ky., for discharge or reassignment. Ninety-two men from Camp South Fork will embark from Medford and will pick up additional enrollees from the Sacramento district.
    Replacements are expected back in July. Headquarters said here that the South Fork camp would operate with a skeleton crew.
Oregon Journal, Portland, June 13, 1940, page 12


Harrison Gulch Camp Sets Safety Record
    Beneath the American flag at Harrison Gulch CCC camp flies a flag with the following inscribed upon it: "Safety First; Best Camp; Medford District, CCC."
    The Harrison Gulch camp has received the flag for its remarkable record in safety. Considering that approximately 31 camps compete in the safety campaign, the meaning of this flag to the camp is obvious. This camp has an enviable record for no lost time accidents, not having one since January, 1940, not to mention all the other safety achievements obtained along other lines.
    The personnel, army and technical, as well as the enrollees of this camp, are conscious of the honors attached to this flag and therefore are doing their utmost to maintain their good record.
Courier Free Press, Redding California, March 14, 1941, page 2



Local Boy in Oregon Camp Says CCC Offers Many Opportunities
Camp Wimer, P-211
Rogue River, Oregon
May 26, 1941
Mr. L. D. Young,
    Publisher of West Side Journal,
        Fort Allen, Louisiana
Dear Sir:
    Reference is made to the enclosed article on "CCC Opportunities for Young Men of Today."
    Since the CCC have been having such a hard time getting new recruits, we have been asked to write letters to our home papers and ask them to publish the enclosed article, thereby giving local young men there an idea of the CCC and its opportunities.
    We are sure that after reading about the many opportunities offered, young men will realize that they can learn some vocational trade and also get paid while learning it in the CCC.
    With the help of our educational advisor we have composed this article, and I am sending it to you hoping that you will publish it in the West Side Journal, my home paper.
Very truly yours,
    Charles R. Hargroder.
    "The CCC is today doing a fine job in the rehabilitation of the youth of the nation and is preparing large numbers of young men for vital parts in the national defense plans of the nation.
    "When the CCC was first inaugurated in 1933 it was formed with the idea of serving three main objectives. In order of their importance at the time these objectives were: (1) to supply work and relief to those unemployed and in want; (2) to conserve and develop the natural resources of the nation; and (3) to train for self-support unemployed and untrained young men without other opportunities for work and training.
    "Today however the main objectives must be listed in exactly the reverse order. In other words it is no longer necessary for a family to be on relief rolls in order for a young man to join the CCC. This is a minor consideration now due to the fact that so many enrollees have been discharged to accept civilian employment. The main objective at the present time is the training of young men who have no other means of securing training that would be useful to them without the outlay of considerable money to take such a course. Large numbers of our camps at the present time are offering courses in sheet metal working, carpentry, woodworking, auto mechanics and many other trades which qualify men as helpers or apprentices at these trades. Large numbers of the enrollees are leaving our camps daily for civilian employment in national defense plants as a result of the training which they received in the camps.
    "Besides the many opportunities to learn a trade as stated above it is possible for the enrollees to further their education in the academic courses. All of the camps have an educational advisor who is a high school teacher. He advises the men as to the courses they should take and advises and helps them in their courses. Most camps also have at least one teacher paid by the state board of education who conducts classes in various subjects from one to five nights a week. There are classes for those who have had very little education or no schooling, those who have had five or six years and right on up the line. For those who wish to work toward a high school diploma there are some classes and any number of specialized correspondence courses which may be taken and which lead to a diploma. Classes in typing are now held in practically every camp in the country. Large numbers of men have received their grammar school certificates, and a large number have received high school diplomas. There are also many courses suitable for those who have finished high school but never had the chance to attend college. All of the camps at the present time are on the Civil Service mailing lists and receive information on all examinations to be held by this board. Many graduates of the camp typing classes are now holding good paying clerical jobs in civilian life while an exceedingly large number of men who attended auto mechanics courses in camp are now holding responsible positions in the armed forces of our nation working in repair shops and driving trucks. Each day more of the outstanding enrollees are being appointed as junior officers in the camps to take the places of officers who have been called to active duty, and in some cases they are even commanding camps. And instead of the enrollees having to pay for the opportunity to improve himself he is paid to do it, he is fed, clothed, and sheltered and he receives free medical and hospital care in case he is sick or injured.
    "Besides the opportunities listed above there is another one which perhaps overshadows all others in the opinion of many of the enrollees. This is the opportunity to travel to various parts of the country, particularly in the Far West. Perhaps half or more of the timber in the U.S. today is found in the states of Washington, Oregon, and California. Each year more and more camps are being moved from the South and the Middle West to the West Coast, for it is there that the greater part of the work of conservation is needed. Enrollment in the CCC with a request for assignment to the West Coast presents an opportunity which should appeal to all young men, for it gives them a chance that many people fail to get in an entire lifetime. And it is an opportunity that will not present itself again to the majority of us. There is perhaps no more scenic country in the world than our own Pacific Coast and throughout the West. A large majority of the camps in this area today are camps from the South with southern enrollees and officers.
    "The Medford CCC District, with headquarters in Medford, Oregon, includes Southern Oregon and Northern California and is composed of 30 camps, of which 28 of them are from the deep South. This district is known as "America's Most Beautiful CCC District" and embraces some of the most scenic country in the U.S. The giant redwood forests of California, Mt. Shasta, the second highest peak in the country, Mt. Shasta National Forest, Mt. Lassen, the only active volcano in the U.S., and the Mt. Lassen National Forest, Crater Lake, a lake in an old volcano crater with perpendicular cliffs rising one thousand feet from the surface of the water, are only a few of the many scenic wonders of this district.
    "Applications are taken by your local welfare agency, so why not go to them today and make an application for the next enrollment.
    "Request that you be sent to the West Coast and come out and spend a year or so with us. Many of you who come out here will remain as so many have done before and as many of them are doing each day. In some of the camps you will find boys from as many as seven or eight southern states, so there is a good chance that you will wind up in a camp where there is someone that you know. So go by your local welfare agency today and make your application and come on out. We are sure that you will not regret it and you will get paid for seeing things that thousands of people spend thousands of dollars each year for the privilege of seeing. And it is all yours for the small effort it will take to make an application."
West Side Journal, Port Allen, Louisiana, June 6, 1941, page 5

  
Last revised June 2, 2024