In May 1933, Camp Skagit, F-13, opens on Bacon Creek in Skagit County six weeks after Congress passes the Emergency Conservation Work Act. The Act creates the program later called the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). The CCC was a part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's vision of putting the nation back to work during the Great Depression. Young men aged 18-25 could earn $30 a month, $25 of which went back to their families. While providing employment and housing for men out of work, the "3 C’s" created a lasting legacy of beautiful parks, buildings, trails, bridges, and fire lookouts.
Local Boys and Then Some
Camp Skagit started with 33 local boys from Concrete, Hamilton, Marblemount, and Rockport, expanding to a full complement of 200 young men with the arrival of a company from Illinois. The Illinois contingent consisted of young men of Polish, Hungarian, Slavic, Swedish, Czech, and Italian extraction. They brought a "foreign" look to the rural communities nearby.
Camp Skagit was a "main camp." Like all main camps it was under the auspices of the U.S. Army. The quartermaster for the Fort Lewis District issued food; commissioned officers served in camp leadership. The U.S. government provided rented equipment and trucks and the U.S. Forest Service ran the work projects. In August 1935 there were 233 men in the camp, 16 of them locals from Skagit County.
The camp was made up of two dozen pyramid-type tents for sleeping and other simple facilities. Workers began to work on a bridge over the creek and on the Backus Ranger Station. By mid-summer 1934, they had enlarged and landscaped the ranger station, strung 16 miles of telephone line, built bridges, cut 11 miles of horse trails and 10 miles of foot trails, among other projects. The camp grew to have frame buildings with "flush latrines, wash and shower houses attached to each barracks," built by local contractors.
Hotcakes and Hashed Browns
Food was always a favorite topic of discussion in camp. For breakfast there might be hotcakes, hashed brown potatoes, and fresh milk and butter from local dairies. Dinner offered roast beef, breaded pork chops, baked beef heart, salad, and gravy raisin pie. Crews out in the field had "bull cooks" bring hot soup and sandwiches.
Camp Skagit offered outdoor activities such as baseball, softball, horseshoes, crochet, hiking, and field trips. A mobile library brought books to the camp along with government publications and local newspapers. Sound moving picture shows were set up in the rec room where the men played ping pong, pool, and cards, and held "camp nights."
Learning By Doing
In 1937, the CCC introduced organizational wide educational programs. In addition to the camp auto shop, a blacksmithing shop, and dark room, Camp Skagit had classes in blueprint reading and surveying as well as in preparing for the eighth grade examination, bookkeeping, journalism, and the camp paper.
Camp Skagit closed in early 1940. Today (2004) the Backus Ranger Station is still in use as part of Cascades National Park headquarters in Marblemount. It is a reminder of the fine work of the CCC’s.
