CCC Corrals in Washington County

CCC Corrals in Washington County. . The Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) was created by Congress in response to the Great Depression and signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on April 5, 1933. The purpose of the CCC was to create thousands of public works jobs for young men. The young men were required to forward a portion of their federal pay to help support their families at home. These young men, from all over the country, lived in CCC camps and worked on a variety of projects such as building roads, fencing range for livestock, and installing flood control structures., Washington County was home for several of these CCC camps. One of their local projects was the construction of cedar-post-corrals to assist in the management of livestock, both cattle and sheep, which grazed the public lands. These corrals, built of closely spaced posts cut from juniper trees, were joined together with heavy wire twisted around the posts to make a solid fence. These cedar-post-corrals were called Unit Corrals., At least five corrals were constructed in various locations in the County. They were used for handling and managing the livestock. There were three larger and two smaller corrals built. One of the smaller corrals, located between Gunlock and Veyo, as well as one of the larger, located in Pine Valley, are still in use today. Other corral locations included Central and St. George (in the Fort Pierce Industrial Area), while the largest corral was located just off of SR-9 between LaVerkin and Virgin., This corral's design is unique in that it was built to accommodate both cattle and sheep. While all of the corrals were built with chutes for loading the livestock onto trucks, the SR-9 corral was built with two side-by-side crowding alleys. The first alley was built with tall posts for handling cattle, while the second adjoining alley was built with shorter posts to accommodate sheep. The shorter fence allowed the sheep herders to easily reach the animals and keep them moving through the alley to the loading chute. After loading, the trucks then transported the market livestock to railcars in Modena or Cedar City, Utah, or Lund, Nevada., Kolob and Cedar Mountain were primarily sheep country when the corral was built. This corral was used to hold herds overnight as they were trailed to or from their summer pastures on Kolob and Cedar Mountain to their winter pastures on the Arizona Strip. It was the main location for the sheep to be sheared of their winter wool before going on the mountain for the summer. It was not uncommon to see several herds of sheep out in these flats waiting for their turn to be sheared. After shearing, the wool was put into large burlap bags that held about 200 pounds of wool each. These bags were then hauled to the rail head and shipped to market., As sheep were replaced by cattle the focus of the corral changed. Since the location of the corral was actually a few miles west of the main trail, it wasn't used for this purpose as often as it might otherwise would have. Additional corrals were also built on the Arizona strip including Gould's, White Pockets, Clayholes, Short Creek, Fredonia, and Littlefield., To the southeast of this corral lies Sheep Bridge on Sheep Bridge Road. The bridge spans a deep narrow canyon formed by the Virgin River as it cuts its way through thick layers of sedimentary rock. Both the bridge and road were aptly named after the thousands of sheep that trailed across the bridge each spring and fall as they made their biannual pilgrimage between summer and winter pasture., The corrals, and especially the corral overseeing the Hurricane Cliffs on SR-9, represent a time slice of Americana and serves as a silent reminder of our great western livestock heritage. Many generations of ranchers who homesteaded and grazed the vast openness came to rely on these CCC improvements, as did residents in the more populous areas of the County who benefited from other infrastructure improvements., The CCC program was phased out with the onset of World War II. The discipline of camp life helped ease the transition of thousands of these young men into the nation's swelling armed forces. Washington County salutes, honors, and wishes to forever recognize the sacrifices of the CCC members by preserving the memory of the Unit Corral on SR-9 and recognizing it as a Washington County historical site., Dedicated to the heritage and hardworking cowboy spirit of Washington County, exemplified by former County Commissioner Alan Gardner 1996-2016., Captions , (Photo #1) A Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) camp near Zion National Park. , (Photo #2) The narrow sheep alley with shorter posts on the one side and taller posts on the inside to form a wall for the cattle alley. , (Photo #3) Large gate leads to cattle alley. Small Gate leads to sheep alley. , (Photo #4) Sheep shearing crew , (Photo #5) Loading chute, where cattle and sheep were moved up the ramp to the platform and onto trucks. , (Photo #6) First sheep bridge