The Roarin’ Twenties came to ascreeching halt in October of1929. The stock market crashed,

fortunes were lost, and unemploymentskyrocketed. The Great Depression inthe United States had begun.

When Franklin D. Roosevelt acceptedthe nomination of the DemocraticParty in 1932, he promised “a new dealfor the American people.” By the timeof President Roosevelt’s inaugurationin March of 1933, the Great Depressionwas at its lowest point. Banks hadfailed and farms were lost. One out offour workers had no employment.

The government’s response, that“new deal”, was to throw an alphabetsoup of programs at the economicwoes, creating the TVA (Tennessee Val-ley Authority),SEC (Securities andExchange Commission), FDIC (FederalDeposit Insurance Corporation), FHA(Federal Housing Administration),FCC (Federal Communications Com-mission), REA (Rural ElectrificationAgency), SSB (Social Security Board),and the CCC (Civilian ConservationCorps). There were others.

These federal agencies and programsworked on their respective sectors ofthe economy. They were successfulenough that all of the New Deal pro-grams mentioned above are still withus more than seventy years later. All,that is, except for the Civilian Conser-vation Corps. It probably had the mostpersonal impact of the federal pro-grams. The CCC lasted from 1933 untilWorld World II, which depleted itsranks. It was the wartime economythat brought the country back to fullemployment.

The CCCThe Civilian Conservation Corps had

as its main mission to engage unem-ployed youths in “simple work, notinterfering with normal employment,and confining itself to forestry, the pre-vention of soil erosion, flood control...[but] more important however, thanthe material gains, will be the moraland spiritual value of such work...Wecan eliminate to some extent at leastthe threat that enforced idleness bringsto spiritual and moral stability.” Withthese words, President Roosevelt setthe direction for the CCC, with a goalof temporarily employing 250,000 menby the early summer of 1933.

These young men, who came to becalled “boys”, were between 18 and 25years old, unemployed, and unmar-ried. It was required that their familiesbe on relief of some kind. The boysenrolled for a period of sixth months.A boy could re-enlist for additionalsixth month terms, up to a maximumof two years. He was expected to work

a 40 hour week, reside at the camp,and obey all of the camp rules. Inreturn, a boy was paid $30 a month, adollar a day. Of this monthly salary,$25 was sent home to the boy’s family.The remaining $5 was for use at thecamp canteen, personal needs, and anoccasional a trip to town.

Another type of enrollee was soonauthorized. This group was designatedas “LEM” or “Local ExperiencedMen”. The Forest Service, whichplanned and supervised most of thecamp projects, could not handle theflood of boys. The LEM, who wereolder and experienced in woodcraftand building, supervised the workcrews. Camps were established inother parts of the country for NativeAmericans and veterans of World WarI.

This had more impact on a familythen than it might seem today. Notonly did it provide cash to the familybut it reduced by one the number thatneeded to be fed and clothed. The gov-ernment provided room and board tothe enrollee. Just as important to thegovernment, it also kept an idle youthoff the street - or gravel road.

The major effort of the CCC in Mis-souri went into soil conservation andforestry work. This included reforesta-tion, gully bank sloping, seeding erod-ed lands, and terracing. Several stateparks were developed. More than

102,000 young men from the state wereenrolled in camps that averaged 41each year and a financial obligation ofmore than $71,900,000.

Camps were sprinkled throughoutmost of Missouri. In 1938, there wereabout 37 main camps in the state, with13 of the camps in counties adjacent tothe Mississippi River. Fifteen campswere located in the interior MissouriOzarks.

Blooming RoseIn our south central Missouri area, a

CCC camp was located in southwest-ern Phelps County, near Duke. It wasnamed Blooming Rose, after a smallcommunity situated a few miles to thesoutheast. Its official designation wasU. S. F. S. Camp F-9, Company 1732.As particular projects in this ratherlarge area were developed, side campswere sometimes established. This cutdown the long travel time from themain camp. Side camps were estab-lished in Roby, Palace, and north ofLicking, all in Texas County. There wasalso a camp on Fort Leonard Wood.

Camps were continually establishedand disbanded, as projects were start-ed or were completed. Enrollees werethen reassigned to other camps wherenumbers were down due to expiredterms of enrollment. Fifty-six boyswere brought by truck from Camp3756, located six miles from Cabool, to

Blooming Rose in October of 1935when that camp was closed. They werejust in time for the Anniversary Cele-bration of Camp 1732 at BloomingRose.

More than one thousand guestsattended the Anniversary Celebrationon Saturday, October 18, 1935. Enter-tainment began with boxing matchesbetween men from Blooming Rose andthe camp at Bunker. After the fights, abarbecue was held at the picnic park.After a picture show, a round dancewas held in the mess hall to the musicof the St. Louis Night Owls. FredClark’s Orchestra provided music forthe concurrent square dance in therecreational building. Revelers called ita night at 1:30 a.m.

Camp 1732 came into being at Jeffer-son Barracks, St. Louis, in May of1933. The 200 original enrollees werefrom St. Louis and Southeast Missouri.After physical and disciplinary train-ing, the group was transferred to acamp site at Shady, Arkansas, 15 mileswest of Mena in the Ouichita Moun-tains. They constructed their camp andcarried out a program of road buildingand telephone line construction for 16months. The camp was abandoned inOctober of 1934 and, after a brief stayat Jefferson Barracks, Camp 1732 wastransferred to the Blooming Rose area.

Camp administration and policy wascarried out by Army officers. Campsdesignated as F(orest) had a ProjectSuperintendent assigned by the ForestService. For example, the 1937 OfficialAnnual lists three First Lieutenants asArmy Officers and five Forestry Tech-nical Personnel as the professionals incharge of operations.

The Commanding Officer and theProject Superintendent planned thework for the camp. The Forest Servicearea in which Camp 1732 was locatedcomprised 450,000 acres. A priorityactivity was fire patrol.

Little is known about the projectsand accomplishments at BloomingRose during that first year of 1935.Apparently, some preparatory work onthe camp had been done by the ForestService in 1934 in anticipation of thearrival of Camp 1732. However, it wasprimarily up to the boys to turn thescrub oak ridge into a functioning

Old Settlers Gazette 2005 - Page 36

The Civilian Conservation Corpsat Blooming Rose 1934-1938

CCC arm patchCourtesy of John Bradbury.

The location of Blooming Rose CCC Camp in the southwest corner of PhelpsCounty, adjacent to Pulaski and Texas. It is from the 1935 Phelps County TouristMap, the production of which was a WPA project.

by Terry Primas

work camp. By October of 1935, ninebarracks were providing shelter, thesmallest having 25 occupants.

In keeping with the mission of firecontrol, a fire tower was constructedabout four miles north of the commu-nity of Duke. The tower was reached

by a rough wagon road called Dog-wood Trail. The boys graded and oth-erwise improved this access to the firetower and, with a later extension, itbecame the southern end of CountyHighway J. The men on duty at theDuke tower were housed in a tent. Nodoubt, they were looking forward tothe completion of permanent build-ings. The Forest Service plans calledfor quarters for the men on watch, agarage, and a rest house.

Fire control necessitated towers andfire trails. One such early trail, Project361, ran from near the hamlet ofClementine northwest for three miles,skirting Slaughter Sink.

The year 1935 also brought a scare.One of the enrollees from Licking con-tracted cerebro-spinal meningitis. Hewas sent to the Station Hospital at Jef-ferson Barracks. A strict quarantinewas imposed on the men who hadcontact with the stricken enrolleeswhile the rest had limited contact withoutsiders. No more cases occurred.

“Plenty rushing” work in 1936

The winter brought snow, tempera-tures at 14 degrees below zero, and amuch appreciated light plant.

Early spring of the year brought anunusual number of fires. The worstday of the fire season in 1935 saw “anastounding number of seven fires” on

March 15. In 1936, there was an aver-age of eight calls a day in March, withas many as twenty in one day. At onetime, every man in camp was fightingfires.

Another permanent steel tower, calledKnotwell, was erected three miles westof Newburg. The location was on ahigh bluff which cut off the approachfrom Newburg. A road was construct-ed from the south to the site of thetower.

Many improvements were plannedto spruce up the camp: a fish pond,parking lot, swimming pool, and fin-

ished sidewalks. The editor of The OakTree, the camp newsletter, asserted that“we feel sure that all of the membersof this company will cooperate to thefullest extent in making this camp the“show” camp of the District. It has thenatural lay-out, trees, a rolling terrainand picturesque surroundings. All itneeds is a little labor and some system-atic planning and work.”

The Blooming Rose boys, in additionto local projects, were running projectsat side camps at Licking, Rolla, andPalace.

At Licking, work was “plenty rush-

Old Settlers Gazette 2005 - Page 37

A view of several of the nine barracks buildings with the completed rock out-lined sidewalks. Courtesy Western Historical Manuscript Collection—Rolla.

Our government had a three foldpurpose in establishing CCC campsthroughout the nation providingopportunities for almost a half mil-lion men and boys who are nowenrolled for CCC duty. This threefold purpose was first to give reliefin the form of food, clothing andmoney; second, to afford opportuni-ty for training for better citizenship;and, third, to provide manpower inthe great work of conservation ofour forests, soil, etc. It is well that wereflect upon these purposes and seehow we measure up to our govern-ment’s expectation. Every man inour company is fed, clothed andhoused in a very satisfactory man-ner. We are at work six hours dailyin an effort to properly care for theforests in our camp area...Are yougoing to be satisfied to work sixhours per day and to receive yourthirty dollars per month togetherwith food, clothing and shelter? Orwill you seek to make the most ofyour educational opportunities?

The Oak Tree, September 1935

Meeks Greg Warren Country Corner Accounting

Stadium RestaurantSmith Turley LawOffice

Dianne Linenbringer

ing.” Work was started on a newdwelling house to be occupied by theNursery Superintendant and his fami-ly. The enrollees were helping to estab-lish the State Nursery and its treetransplanting program. A water systemwas completed in March. Two millionpine and locust trees were baled andsent to camps in the sourrounding ter-ritory to be transplanted. It was theduty of an enrollee called Miller, Jr. tokeep the birds from eating the pineseeds by shooting them.

However, turkeys were not amongthe birds being shot. The newslettereditor remarked upon the excitementcaused in the camp at Blooming Rose

when a wild turkey hen was spottednear camp, possibly nesting nearby.Turkeys were seldom seen in the 1930s.Snakes, on the other hand, were com-mon in the camp. No less than fiftycopperheads were killed in and aroundthe camp during April and May.

Midyear saw the completion of anew building for educational purpos-es. A new educational adviser andassistant for Company 1732 joined thestaff. The newsletter published a moti-vational editorial about the education-al program.

A camp educational report in Aprilrevealed that only eighteen enrolleeshad completed high school and that

more than fifty per cent of the menhad not completed the eighth grade.The average age of the men in campwas just over 21. Few men had partici-pated in General Forestry, Road Con-struction, and Safety courses previous-ly offered to leaders, truck drivers, andmachine operators.

The new educational team proposedan ambitious list of new course offer-ings. Whether it was due to the exhor-tations in the newsletter or the largerand varied range of subjects, enroll-ment in courses certainly picked up.

Old Settlers Gazette 2005 - Page 38

At left is the Roby Fire Tower on Highway 17 in Texas County. It is typical of thetowers the CCC built. However, it seems the Roby tower predates BloomingRose and may have been constructed by the Forest Service prior to 1934. Thehouse and garage above serves the Roby Tower. It was built by the boys fromBlooming Rose and was typical of the quarters built at the towers they construct-ed near Duke, Newburg, Fairview, and Licking. Photos by Terry Primas.

George BerryBales Construction Rocky Top Kennel

Tracie and Linda StorieShelden Plumbingand Electric

Roger Harrison

Education ProgramJuly, 1936

ArchaeologyBlacksmithingBookkeepingAgriculture (Poultry)General SurveyingCookingPhotographyGlee ClubFirst AidRadioForestrySafetyAlgebraCorrespondence CourseJournalismTypewritingAuto MechanicsPicture Show OperationPenmanship

A chicken raising project began(Agriculture) with the purchase of 200baby chicks. The class hoped to showthat chickens could be raised at a profitin the Ozark region. (Tyson must havebeen watching.) Four typewriters wereacquired and scheduled for use amongtwelve students. In June, the twelvemen in the Radio Class erected two 40foot aerial towers, one on the Officers’Quarters and the other on the Hospi-tal. An aerial stretched 107 feetbetween these two points. The trans-mitter was located in the Officers’Quarters.

Ninety-five books were deliveredfrom the CCC’s traveling library. Read-ership jumped in May with more thana hundred books read and almost asmany magazines. Four daily newspa-pers were available, also.

Although the towns in Pulaski andPhelps began getting telephone serviceas early as 1905 (see “News of 1905”),the rural areas in the Blooming Roseneighborhood were left out of themodernization. (In fact, electricity did-n’t come to Duke until the early 1950s.)A telephone line from Big Piney Look-out to Rolla was completed which was35 miles in length. The men set 1454telephone poles.

Enrollees were constantly comingand going to other camps. BetweenMay 14-19, 29 rookies arrived in camp,which brought the company strengthto 201. However, 20 men left for Cali-fornia on May 20. The new boysenrolled in May were:Leslie Bales, WaynesvilleEllis Davis, DixonRedus Dearduff, CrockerBeauford Doolin, WaynesvilleLowell Duncan, CrockerJames P. Farley, NewburgVernon L. Fue, St. JamesOtto Hill, WaynesvilleMorgan Johns, CrockerHarold Kimmel, CrockerEdwin S. Martin, Crocker

Homer Payne, CrockerEarl Porter, CrockerEugene Stough, RollaDonald G. Witcher, RollaAllen J. Williams, RollaWillard J. Withers, DixonClaude L. Bell, NewburgArthur Paul, NewburgEugene Rigsby, WaynesvilleKermit Rinck, RollaHomer Williams, WaynesvilleThomas Turner, RollaJames Sanders, WaynesvilleClaude Brown, BessieArthur Helm, WaynesvilleOrville Wallace, WaynesvilleElmer Massey, PalaceOrville Soper, St. James

There are more than a few names inthat list recognizable to longtime resi-dents of Pulaski and Phelps counties.The “rookies”, as they were called,assembled to hear a lecture given by

the Commanding Officer, Lieut. Trow-bridge. He lectured the new men on

the meaning of the three C’s, asapplied to life in the CCC camp:Cleanliness, Courtesy, and Coordina-tion. On quite a few occasionsthroughout the summer, those menwho exemplified the three C’s weretreated to a frolic in the swimminghole. The boys were loaded into atruck an taken to the gravel bar justbelow Ross Bridge, which was dubbedBig Piney Beach. An experienced lifesaver was on hand to look after thesinkers.

Interest in area streams was not con-fined to swimming. The Forest Serviceinitiated a fish census program. Theystationed Donald Whitcher, a recentenrollee, just north of Ross Bridge todetermine fish yield on the Big Piney,keeping track of the kind, number, andsize of fish taken from the stream atthat point. Stream surveys were alsounderway on Little Piney and MillCreek. This work was in line with theeffort being made to improve the localfisheries. A crew of enrollees stocked30,000 large and small mouth bass inthe Little Piney and Spring Creek.

Road work continued as a priority

Old Settlers Gazette 2005 - Page 39

This is a view along the main road of the camp. The large building in the back-ground is the Forest Service Quarters. The Forest Service and the Army operatedthe CCC camps. Courtesy of Western Historical Manuscript Collection—Rolla.

Longtime enrollee Berry Wyman’s dream finally came true. He had, for a longtime, had his heart set on a fish pond for the camp, whether to fish in or justlook at was not certain. In May of 1936, Berry finished his fish pond near theRecreation Hall. It is 16 feet in diameter and three feet deep. Today, it holds onlydead oak leaves. Photo by Terry Primas.

To appreciate the impact of the CCC on the economy, the follow-ing statistics for 1936 might be illuminating.1. More than 500,000 men saw service for an average of eight

months.2. CCC board bill for the year was $69,000,000.3. More than $154,000,000 was spent for enrollee allowances4. Shelter cost in the CCC was $21,000,0005. Clothing cost for the CCC was $42,000,0006. Pay to officers, foremen, and advisors amounted to $86,000,0007. 70,000,000 pounds of wool was used to clothe and cover the

CCC.8. The laundry bill was $4,000,000.9. It took 2, 250,000 pounds of food perday to feed the CCC.

10. 839 deaths and 501 accidental deaths occurred in the CCC.(This death rate is lower than the regular army.)

11. Total operating cost for 1936 was $494,000,000

Although it looks more like a boiler, this was the Blooming Rose Barber Shop.Being clean cut was important in camps. The Barber Shop was located in themiddle of the camp, along the main road. Forgetting a haircut was not likely.Barracks Number 2 is in the background. Courtesy of Western Historical Manu-script Collection—Rolla.

and the results are still with us, pro-viding short cuts in the rural area andaccess to large tracts of the NationalForest. A major road project was toconstruct a road from the “Y” in campto the farm and market road to EdgarSprings. This was called the SpringCreek Road.

Constructing a bridge to span thecreek proved to be too difficult anundertaking. Inspectors closed downconstruction of the bridge. Aftermonths of effort, plans were revisedand concrete slabs on rock piers wereconstructed just above the streambed.The road allowed much quicker accessto the Knotwell Tower but, mostimportantly, it shortened the distanceto Rolla by ten miles. No longer didthe trucks have to swing in a southerlydirection through Blooming Rose andBeulah to get to Rolla but could take amore direct northeasterly route.

Enrollees were allowed out of campon occasion to visit town and partici-pate in local activities. They eagerlydid so, mostly for the chance to minglewith the local girls. Edgar Brown, RossMathews, Charles Barite, RaleighHays, Robert Wilson, Harry Hendricks,and Donald Whitcher attended the“Cake Walk” given at Hopewell Schoolin September. They reported having agood time. Seven enrollees attendedthe dance and fights at Duke thatmonth. The boys reported that thefights were unusually interesting sincethey were fights between rival women.They say that none of the men foughtbut understood that this was a changein the type of battle at Duke.

Work continued on improving thecamp through the fall of 1936. A tenniscourt, soft ball diamond, horseshoe

ground, and basketball court were inthe works.

The Archaeology Class visited sever-al caves east of Edgar Springs. It wasremarked that the caves showed signsof many visits of parties who had evi-dently carried away or destroyedmuch material “which might haveserved a good purpose in the study ofthe tribes which once lived in thissection.” After his lament,the reporter thenlisted theitems theclass broughtback: twobone awls, sev-eral large pieces of brokenpottery, andarrowheads. Thesewere added to thecollection in theLibrary, which alreadyincluded an axe, manyarrowheads, and a “finecollection” of Indianrelics donated by CharlesKimery.

Enrollees in October andNovember included Marshall Storie,Archie Firestine, Perry Birdsong,Chester Cox, Lloyd Tucker, Elmer Sal-veter, and Harvey and William Rouse.This brought the company strength upto 158 men.

As the year came to a close, thePalace Transient Camp started the con-struction of the Fairview Tower. A totalof 1,750,000 seedlings were taken fromthe Nursery in the Fall. The boys col-lected 30 tons of leaves for mulch. Inthe month of November, 946,000 shortleaf pine seedlings were taken from theNursery at Licking and replanted inthe forests of Missouri. The local boysplanted 190 bushels of white oakacorns and 30,000 one year old shortleaf pine.

A successful dance was held early inDecember. A large number of girlsfrom Rolla (brought by truck) and sur-

rounding territory were in attendance.Altman and Doolin dispensed free cof-fee in the Mess Hall.

Continuation of the CCC was alwaysa concern of the men involved. Anationwide poll, conducted by theAmerican Institue of Public Opinion,

confirmed that the CCC wasan exceedingly popular NewDeal program. When asked“Are you in favor of con-tinuing the CCC?”, 82 per-cent of the repondentssaid “Yes”, while only18 percent wereopposed to continuingthe program. Thepoll revealed thatall political partieswere in favor ofthe program.

In June of1936, FederalCCC DirectorRobert Fech-

ner hadannounced that

authorization for enrollmentof an additional 51, 871 men had

been passed, which produced a totalauthorized stength of 350,000. Thetotal junior enrollment was 325,000,along with 25,000 men enrolled in warveteran companies. The twelve CCCForestry Camps in Missouri, whichfurnished employment to almost 2000youths, was assured for the forseeablefuture.

Blooming Rose - 1937

During the third winter of Company1732 at Blooming Rose, continuedattention was paid to the improvementof the camp. A large stone fireplacewas completed in the Recreation Hall.The lower walls were painted withblack enamel and trimmed in red. Theupper walls and ceilings were paintedwith aluminum paint.

The long winter evenings werepassed by checker tournaments and

the new rage in camp, pinochle.Gloomy weather tends to depressmorale so the officers organized a Bet-ter Barracks Contest.

With travel to town probably ham-pered, sales at the Camp Exchangewere brisk. Each camp had a smallstore where “necessaries” were sold. Ascrupulous inventory was kept andsales reported. The profit was put backinto the betterment of camp life for theboys.

Exchange sales for February werereported as: 3061 candy bars; 54 pack-ages of razor blades; 72 bars of soap;86 tubes of toothpaste; 267 cans oftobacco; 673 sacks of tobacco; 76 bot-tles of hair oil; 90 packages of chewinggum; 40 tubes of shaving cream; 360bottles of beer; and a considerable sup-ply of shoe polish, cough drops, cook-ies, towels, shirts, and shaving lotion.

Enrollment in classes was alsostrong. There were 115 boys taking atleast one class. The most popular wereAuto Mechanics, Agriculture, Type-writing, and Blacksmithing.

The Spring Dance was eagerly antici-pated. Special invitations were sentand a large crowd was anticipated.Ladies were admitted free and outsidemen charged 25 cents. Of course, theenrollees were not charged admission.The glee was apparent in the words ofthe editor of the newsletter when hewrote, “Girls, girls, and still more girlsis what we expect for recreation truckswill gather up loads of girls both inWaynesville and in Rolla.” Newenrollees Wade A. Helton, Elvin E.Keeney, and Everett Spitler were just intime for the fun.

Two new towers were finished andmanned in April; one in Texas Countyand the other at Tribune, which waslocated at what is now Fort LeonardWood. In April, that brought the num-ber of towers manned by the boys atBlooming Rose to seven. They werePiney, Knotwell, Bloodland, King’sSink, Bald Ridge, and the two newtowers. The tower at Fairview was notyet completed. However, by year’send, the fire tower at Bald Ridge wasabandoned. Bald Ridge was called a“Crow’s Nest”. It was built in the topof a high tree and was one of the firsttowers in the area. The territory wascovered by the Texas and Roby Tow-ers.

The enrollees continued theirefforts at reforestation. By the end ofApril, they had planted 63,320 pinetrees on a little over 97 acres. The Lick-ing Nursery distributed a total of3,462,350 tree seedlings of fourteen dif-ferent species to eight parks andorganizations.

In the fall, the Forest Service Rangerdwelling was completed by Company1732. This turned into quite a complex.The craftsmanship is excellent with theuse of cut limestone, not the nativerock work found in the buildings atthe camp. Elsewhere, buildings wereframe with lapboard siding.

Old Settlers Gazette 2005 - Page 40

The native stone chimney of the Recre-ation Hall still stands amid the foun-dations and rock work at the isolatedsite of Blooming Rose. Photo by TerryPrimas.

Camp 1732 boys working on the Evening Shade to Cookville road in southernPulaski County. Courtesy of Western Historical Manuscript Collection—Rolla.

The complex grew to four buildingswhich include the Ranger residence,office, and two garages. When all ofthe work was completed is not known.The site now is the location of theRolla Tourism Bureau.

Projects by other nearby campsincluded rock work, dams, and shel-ters at Meramec State Park, MontaukState Park, and Bennett Springs StatePark. The rock guard wall on the oldRoute 66 curve near Devil’s Elbow wasanother project.

After four years in existence, FDR’sprogram of “simple work” had affect-ed home and landscape throughoutthe country: supplied 2 million jobs;360 million dollars sent home;3,800,000 man days fighting forestfires; 3000 lookout towers constructed;87,000 miles of roads and trails built;45,000 miles of telephone line erected;2,700,000 acres of timber improved;and 700,000 acres of park and campgrounds developed.

Old Settlers Gazette 2005 - Page 41

Ft. Wood Auto Sal-vage

Bill Farnham Thank You Newcomb Hardware

Rolla Ranger Station constructed bythe Blooming Rose boys. Clockwisefrom top: Ranger dwelling; vehicleservice building; Station Office. Notpictured is the large vehicle garage.Photos by Terry Primas

Funnel andfuel canfound atthe camp.

Old Settlers Gazette 2005 - Page 42

A Growing Legacy The George O. White Nursery

The CCC Camp at BloomingRose did many public worksprojects: building fire towers,banking to retard soil erosion,and planting trees is the shortlist. One of the most enduringprojects started by the CCC isthe George O. White State For-est Nursery.

In 1934, a Forest Serviceemployee inspected some prop-erty north of Licking for nurs-ery use. The Forest Servicebought two tracts of this landtotaling 40 acres in 1935 for$2360, averaging $59 per acre.

Using CCC and WPA labor,the nursery was started. Thecamp included two barracks, akitchen and mess hall, and asmall building that served asthe exchange. The boys built anursery office, nurseryman’sresidence, shop and warehouse,deep well, overhead irrigationsystem, pumphouse, cold stor-age, oil house, cone storageshed, and a refrigerated seedstorage building.

When the CCC was discon-tinued in 1942, the nursery wasclosed and leased for farm cropproduction. The nursery wasreopened after the war and theMissouri Department of Con-servation took over operation,adding land through the years.Total acreage now is 754.

In 1990, the 400 millionth treewas distributed from the nurs-ery. Today’s production aver-ages about 10 million plantseach year. In recent years, 70different species of trees, shrubsand prairie plants have beengrown. Each year, over 13,000orders are filled.

That first Forest Serviceinspector was George O. White.He became the first StateForester of Missouri. When heretired in 1960, the nursery wasrenamed and dedicated in hishonor.

The George O. White StateForest Nursery is the only statenursery. It began with the sweatof the boys at Camp 1732Blooming Rose. The nursery islocated about three miles northof Licking on State HighwayCC.

Top left: Blooming Rose side campat nursery site, 1937.Row 2: Nursery office in fore-ground; garage on left; nursery-man’s quarters and garage in cen-ter background; part of the pinecone shed is visible on right. Row3: (left) CCC enrollee crew andWPA crew; (right) lifting shortleafpine stock from seed beds. Row 4:Tamping soil.Pictures courtesy of The George O.White State Forest Nursery, Mis-souri Department of Conservation.

1938

Work continued on improving thecamp. A new room was added to theCanteen. An addition was built ontothe Education Building to house adarkroom for the new and popularphotography class. A floral plantingprogram resulted in a profusion ofblooms at Blooming Rose in the springand early summer. Twenty-one specieswere planted, ranging from asters tozinnias. Roses were not among them.

The continually improving educa-tional program reflected strong leader-ship and the interests of the enrollees.In addition to the standbys such asAuto Mechanics, Typing, and RoadConstruction, new courses wereadded: Photography, Foreman Train-ing, Teacher Training, Leathercraft, andJournalism. The radio class now hadit’s own broadcast station, W. U. F. L.Three enrollees recieved eighth gradediplomas. Twenty-one students weretaking a correspondence course fromthe University of North Dakota inCamp Study. Zane Grey novels werethe most popular books in the travel-ing library.

Construction projects were numer-ous. Road construction continued withtruck trail 31, which tied into the Beu-lah Road about one-half of a mile eastof Blooming Rose and ran southwestto the Slabtown Bridge (Phelps CountyRoad AT today.) A double shift wasworking on Paddy Creek Bridge fortruck Trail 321. A new series of projectsbuilt five ridge ponds around Dukeand Blooming Rose. The Houston tele-phone line was under construction.

Recreation was not ignored. A soft-ball tournament among the nine bar-racks was organized. Those interestedin hardball played on the baseballteam that challenged camps at Compe-tition, Success, and Newburg. A report-ed for the camp newsletter, probablydisplaying prose skills learned in Jour-nalism class, described the June dance.

To the syncopation of Bob Smith’s Swing-sters of the Rolla School of Mines, 30 cou-ples dance the light fantastic in the MessHall. At the same time, an even one hun-

dred old and young, male and female, fatand slim, picked them up and layed themdown to Hank Hanks, rhythm band forsquare dancing exclusively. The “Rec andMess Halls” were beautifully decorated.The dancing continued ‘till 12:30 and itwas the opinion of the majority that a goodtime was had by all.” (The Oak Tree, June24, 1938.)

Apparently, the only sour note of thenight was struck on the way to thedance. Everett Spitler was driving atruck loaded with girls from Rolla andhit a mule.

The Fairview fire tower had beencompleted and no new towers were inthe works. However, approval wasreceived to build additional facilities atthe Roby Tower. A garage and cisternwere to be added to the watch cabinalready built. It was remarked that thesite would be beautiful. This oldesttower in Missouri was first manned byPalmer Russell, making him the firsttowerman in Missouri.

In October, representatives of theRural Electrification Administrationvisited the local communities. Thiscaused the newsletter editor to waxpoetic.

The promoters of the Rural Electrifica-tion Project have been canvassing allprospective customers south and west ofEdgar Springs, including Company 1732.To have lights that will stay lit. To havelights that you can read by. To have lightsin case that you have to take a short walkdurin gthe night and want to peruse thelibrary (outhouse). A million stars for alight. (The Oak Tree, October 14, 1938.)

Resources about the activities atBlooming Rose after 1938 have notbeen found. It surely lasted until theend of the CCC era.

The end of that era began in latesummer of 1941. The economy wasmuch improved and employment wasup. The number of new recruits dwin-dled. There were 900 camps with lessthan 200,000 enrollees. The Corps waspopular with Congress, there had beenno scandals, and the results wereworthwhile. However, after Pearl Har-bor, Congress had other priorities. A

joint congressional committee took ahard look at all government programsto determine which ones were essentialto the war effort. Its findings recom-mended that the CCC be abolished byJuly 1, 1942.

There never was an official termina-tion of the program. Congress simplydidn’t fund it. Instead, they appropri-ated $8 million to liquidate the agency.

The country got its money’s worth.The Armed Forces inherited at least ahalf million men who knew the rigorsand ways of camp life. They had expe-rienced Army discipline in the CCC.Isolated farm work had given way toteamwork.

Those to whom we spoke had a tonenot of nostalgia but almost that of rev-erence. Participation had helped themand their families through lean times.

The editor of The Oak Tree oftenextolled the industry of the boys and,in one issue, intoned “may the legacyof the CCC be forever remembered.”Those with the memories are fadingbut the legacy is around us in ourforests, fish hatcheries, and state parks.Many of the young do not know whotoiled on those projects. It may take amovie or a mini-series to put theachievements of the boys back into ourcollective cultural memory.

Old Settlers Gazette 2005 - Page 43

“...may the legacy of the CCC be forever remembered.”

It Was Personal, Too

Listing a string of statistics does not tell of the individualimpact of the CCC. Phillip Sheldon, owner of Sheldon’s Market inDevil’s Elbow, was an enrollee and expressed his admiration forPresident Roosevelt.

“I loved that man. He probably kept me out of jail. You coulddo two things, work or steal, and there was no work so I didwhat I had to do. I went into the CCC. The original pay was thir-ty dollars but after I was in awhile, I went into operating a dozerand I got six dollars a month more. That six dollars was all mine.They sent thirty dollars home. The camp was pretty crude. It wasout by the airport on Fort Leonard Wood. Later on, when theCCC camp was done away with, they put a POW camp there.The buildings were long green wood buildings. At the time I wasthere, there were 83 boys in the camp.”

When Bill Ryno of Duke was asked how he felt about going intothe CCC, he replied,

“I ‘m glad I did. It was my first experience away from home. Iwould have never got that far on my own. As I look back now, Iwould have probably acted a little bit different than what I didbut it was a good experience. So many young boys like myself,we didn’t have a job. The only jobs there was if you were luckyenough. When I came back out in ‘41, I went to work for a farmerdown here for a dollar a day and my room and board and a horseto ride. I felt like I was lucky to get that and I worked for amonth doing that, I guess, helped put a trough in and all that.Things then began to open up at Fort Leonard Wood. I didn’t geton in ‘41 but in ‘42 I did. I went to work over on the artilleryrange. Part of the CCs were still over there and we had to cut allthe timber, I mean nothing over two feet off the ground, fromBloodland to Palace, all over Cookville.”

Postcards Buy/Trade/Sell Rich’s Last Resort Charlie’s Cars

Old Settlers Gazette 2005 - Page 44

F-9BLOOMING ROSE

C.C.C. CAMP

Mapped 12/15/36 by R. C. Suther-land

Traced 1/26/37 by L. E. GrafftRetraced 8/1/83 by K. L. Hess

Revised 6/25/05 by Terry Primas

This map of Blooming Roseshows the placement of build-ings and the main camp road in1937. The site is no longer easi-ly accessible by road. The campwas located southeast of thejunctions of Highways J and Knear Duke. Many of the build-ing foundations still exist, alongwith a large stone barbecuegrill structure (8 feet long) andone smaller one.

At full strength, the camp hadabout 200 enrollees plus super-visory staff from the Army andForest Service. Their forest andconservation projects were car-ried out in parts of three coun-ties: Phelps, Pulaski, and Texas.

The map was found in theForest Service Collection heldby the Western Historical Man-uscript Collection at the Uni-versity of Rolla. Bill Ryno, wholived in a hollow nearby, pro-vided clues to the location ofthe Powder House, which wasnot on the original map.

One of the local young men who took the discipline of the CCC into the Army and World War II wasLes Bales of Waynesville. Sgt. Bales is front row center holding his son Jimmie, who was the mascot ofthe 2nd Platoon, Troop B at Fort Riley, Kansas (September 24, 1945). Courtesy of Jim and Dickie Bales.

Sources Interviewees for this article were Bill Ryno, Duke; Phillip Sheldon, Devil’s Elbow; and Clemmie Willbanks, Beulah.

Stan Cohen, The Tree Army: A Pictorial History of the Cvilian Conservation Corps, 1933-1942 (Missoula,Montana: PictorialHistories Publishing Company, 2001) provides an overall history of the CCC.

Of particular use were approximately 35 issues of The Oak Tree, the Blooming Rose Camp newsletter, spanning the years1935-1938. Also, the 1937 Official Annual of Area Six provides information on the forming of company 1732. Theseresources were found at the CCC Museum and Research Center, National Association of Civilian Conservation CorpsAlumni (NACCCA) Headquarters located at Jefferson Barracks, St. Louis, MO. The Center’s web site also served up anexcellent brief history, “Roosevelt’s Tree Army”. NACCCA’s web site is http: www. cccalumni.org. Our thanks to thestaff and, especially, to Donna Broome for help in locating materials about Blooming Rose.

Permission to reproduce the period photographs was granted by the Western Historical Manuscript Collection-Rollaand Gregory A. Hoss, Nursery Superintendent, The George O. White State Forest Nursery, Licking, MO.

Not Only Flowers Bloomed

Alvin Willbanks was fromKoshkonong, Missouri. He was inthe CCC at Blooming Rose andwas stationed at the Roby Toweras part of the fire watch. ClemmyManes lived with her family nearElder Spring, which was not farfrom the tower. Some people whoowned a tavern near Roby and thetower had built a dance place out-side.

“My father”, Clemmy said, “hewas a violin player and my broth-er played the guitar. They pIayedat the dance hall and got paid forit. I didn’t go nowhere unless myparents were with me at that time.I went with them so that’s why Iwas at the [square]dance andthat’s where I met Alvin but henever did dance to amount to any-thing. We [the family] went likeevery Saturday night for awhileand we just got to talkin’. He start-ed to come by the house courtin’then. This went on for severalyears and we got married in 1936.

They first lived at EveningShade and then moved to a placenear Beulah, in Phelps County.The house was just a couple ofmiles from the Blooming RoseCamp. Alvin died in 1980 butClemmy still lives near Beulah.