Day Lake CCC Camp

Day Lake CCC Camp. Building a Better America. An important chapter of American history took place here. First, the Day Lake CCC camp provided jobs. Later, it held prisoners of war., American's First Major Conservation Program , At the height of the Great Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt formed the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) to provide jobs and to restore the environment. Nationally, the CCC program cost $3 billion. It removed 15 million families from the welfare rolls and employed three million young men. In Minnesota, $85 million was spent and 84,000 enrollees participated., Investigate the remnants of the Day Lake CCC Camp on both sides of Highway 38. On the west side are the remains of a concrete shower. East of the highway and up a hill, discover an outdoor stone stairway and chimney, remnants of the Camp Mess Hall. See how many old camp foundations and sites you can find., Nationwide, the CCC camp crews often were called the "tree army." They were responsible for planting more than two billion trees across the United States in nine years. Other tasks included road construction, site preparation, surveys of lakes, wildlife and streams and even rodent control. Ironically, after its closing, much of Day Lake Camp was replanted with red pine, hiding many of the telltale signs of this historical story., A Unique Past , The Day Lake CCC Camp was one of 20 camps established in Minnesota during the Great Depression. Its first enrollees were African Americans from Kansas and Missouri. Day Lake was the only camp in the forest to host African Americans in the segregated CCC program. These men came in 1933 to work in Company 786., Day Lake CCC Camp was one of only six that lasted past the CCC era. It became one of four camps in the Chippewa National Forest that housed German prisoners of war during World War II (1943-45). As the Allied Forces gained in the battles of North Africa, they shipped war prisoners to the U.S. The prisoners worked in local saw mills and for private logging firms. Their wages went to the U.S. Army. Guards were present, security was minimal and few escapes were ever reported., 1930s: Great Depression, seven out of ten northern Minnesotans were out of work , 1933: Franklin D. Roosevelt elected president, New Deal and Civilian Conservations Corps began , 1933: Construction of Day Lake CCC Camp , 1939: W.W.II began , 1941: US entered W.W.II, Minnesota iron ore and forest products used for war needs. , 1943: Prisoner of war camps established in Minnesota