The CCC at Prairie Creek

The CCC at Prairie Creek. . , Company 1903 Comes to the Prairie , In October 1933, CCC Company 1903 moved from Hyampom, in Trinity County, to Prairie Creek. Along with the 113 enrollees were seven soldiers , three officers, three sergeants, and a cook , who would run the camp. The company set up wooden barracks and other buildings, all near the northwestern edge of the prairie, and went to work. Their area of operations stretched from the Little River (near Trinidad) all the way to the Smith River, east of Crescent City., A Wide Range of Work , The crews of Company 1903 kept busy with many different tasks. They cleared debris from the roadsides of the recently completed Redwood Highway, cleaned up patches of rhododendrons and azaleas, constructed park roads, fought fires, and built several structures for various north coast state parks. Many members of the company were from the Bay Area, and during the workers’ off hours baseball teams representing Oakland and San Francisco competed to be “champs of the Camp.”, The C’s Lasting Legacy at Prairie Creek, At Prairie Creek itself, Company 1903 constructed the park’s campgrounds and picnic facilities and did roadside cleanup. Their most memorable contribution, however, is the building you are now standing in, which was originally designed as the park custodian’s lodge. According to the company reports, “This lodge was constructed entirely of material prepared and/or manufactured by CCC employees with the exception of the window lights, plumbing fixtures and flue.” The building’s roof beams and plank doors were hand-hewn; the interior walls and plank floor were made from hand-split boards; the stone fireplace, wood shingles, and slab steps were also handcrafted , all done by young men honing their construction skills who, while they learned, created a wonderful work of art., [inset , bottom left] , Gee! I wish those C’s would build me something too… like a little porch I could go under when it gets too sunny out. Here’s Samantha the salmon. [Coho (Silver) Salmon] She really travels , do you know where she goes? (Hint: it sounds like the name of the Civilian Conservation Corps workers.) Murray, by the way, is like an undercooked steak because both of them are pretty rare (hee-hee), Now, let’s take a trip to the Redwood Room. I’ll show you the way if you look for me on the far wall.