Civilian Conservation Corps at Rainier


CCC men at Camp Narada
CCC men at Camp Narada

The Great Depression was a hard time for families and from 1933 to 1942 the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) offered some relief.

Wikipedia states: It was a public work relief program for unemployed, unmarried men from relief families, ages 18–25. A part of the New Deal of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, it provided unskilled manual labor jobs related to the conservation and development of natural resources in rural lands owned by federal, state and local governments.

At CCC camp at RainierThe CCC provided jobs while creating a general natural resource conservation program in every state and territory.
Maximum enrollment at any one time was 300,000; in nine years 2.5 million young men participated. Reserve officers from the U.S. Army were in charge of the camps, but there was no military training or uniforms.
CCC men who worked up at Rainier during the Great Depression
CCC men who worked up at Rainier during the Great Depression

Once the U.S. got into the war, the job market improved and the men were being drafted, the problems was shut down.

These photos were taken of a CCC group up at Mount Rainier. Pat Van Eaton says, “The CCC pictures are of the Nerada Falls camp . They didn’t worked mostly trails bridges and roads.” He adds, that his Dad, John Van Eaton, worked there too. (See images farther down the page.)

Photos courtesy of Pat Van Eaton. Click on images to enlarge.

Men at Camp Narada Co. 1303
Men at Camp Narada Co. 1303

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At CCC camp at Rainier
At CCC camp at Rainier

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

John Van Eaton's Letter of Discharge from the CCC in 1934
John Van Eaton's Letter of Discharge from the CCC in 1934

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

John Van Eaton's Letter of Discharge from the CCC in 1934
John Van Eaton's Letter of Discharge from the CCC in 1934

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

John Van Eaton's Letter from the War Department
John Van Eaton's Letter from the War Department

5 responses to “Civilian Conservation Corps at Rainier”

  1. Hi My mon saved everyting in chronalogical order. When she pased away we found this along with his Eatoville Lumber Co pay stubs in a shoe box all in perfect order.

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  2. Where was the actual camp? Was it inside the park itself, at the falls? Are there any remnants of the camp left?

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  3. I have the original pictures that you have here and I have four more also if you would like copys of them I can get you some,i also have one of a boxing ring they had there for the guys

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    • I would LOVE to post them. And any information you have about them. And definitely let me know which pictures you have originals that you see on this site and I will credit you. Currently I just credit the person they came from because I figured that would be the best paper trail to get to the originals.

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