The Adirondack Museum Presents: Adirondack Civilian Conservation Corps: History, Memories and Legacy of the CCC

By Mirror Staff

Friday, March 2, 2012

Join the Adirondack Museum for the 2012 Cabin Fever Sunday series. The series hits the road again with the fifth program, the “Adirondack Civilian Conservation Corps: History, Memories and Legacy of the CCC.” The program will held in North Creek, N.Y. on Sunday, March 11, 2012.

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a public works program that operated from 1933 to 1942 as part of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal. In the Adirondacks, enrollees built trails, roads, campsites and dams, they stocked fish, built and maintained fire towers, observers’ cabins and telephone lines, fought fires, and planted millions of trees. Learn about camp life and Adirondack projects with author Marty Podskock.

This program will be held at the Tannery Pond Community Center, North Creek, N.Y., and will begin at 1:30 p.m. Free to members and children; $5 for non-members. For additional information, please call (518) 352-7311, ext. 128 or visit www.adirondackmuseum.org.

Marty Podskoch, a retired reading teacher, is the author of three other books: Fire Towers of the Catskills: Their History and Lore (2000); Adirondack Fire Towers: Their History and Lore, the Southern Districts (2003); Adirondack Fire Towers: Their History and Lore, the Northern Districts (2005). While gathering stories of the forest rangers and fire tower observers, he became fascinated with other aspects of the Adirondacks such as the logging and mining industries, the individualistic men who guided sportsmen, the hotels they stayed in, the animals, railroads, etc. Marty and his wife, Lynn, live in Colchester, CT where they are close to their family and two granddaughters, Kira and Lydia. He enjoys hiking in the nearby Salmon River Forest and is doing research on the CCC camps of the Adirondacks and Connecticut. For more information, visit www.cccstories.com.

Cabin Fever Sunday programs are sponsored by the New York Council for the Humanities, and the Glenn and Carol Pearsall Adirondack Foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life for year-round residents of the Adirondack Park: www.pearsallfoundation.org.

The Adirondack Museum, accredited by the American Association of Museums, shares the history and culture of the Adirondack region in 22 exhibits on a 32-acre campus in the Central Adirondacks. The museum is supported in part by public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency. For additional information, visit www.adirondackmuseum.org or call (518) 352-7311.

Tags: Adirondack Museum, Adirondacks, Civilian Conservation Corps, History, Marty Podskoch

The Civilian Conservation Corps in the Adirondacks

By Mirror Staff

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Adirondack Civilian Conservation Corps Camps: History, Memories and Legacy of the CCC By Marty Podskoch

Marty Podskoch, the author of books on fire towers in the Adirondacks and the Catskills, has turned his attention to the Civilian Conservation Corps in the Adirondacks.

His Adirondack Civilian Conservation Corps Camps: History, Memories and Legacy of the CCC was published earlier this summer.

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a public works program that operated from 1933 to 1942, as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal. It targeted single men, 18-25 years old, and veterans in relief of families who had difficulty finding jobs during the Great Depression. The program provided unskilled manual labor to environmental conservation and to development of natural resources in rural lands.

The US Army supervised the camps, which had 200 men each. The earliest camps were set up in these Adirondack towns and counties: Arietta and Speculator (Hamilton); Bolton Landing (Warren); Tahawus, Newcomb, Schroon River and Port Henry (Essex); Wanakena and Benson Mines (St. Lawrence); Paul Smiths, Goldsmiths, Tupper Lake, Lake Placid, and Fish Creek Pond (Franklin). There were eventually 26 camps in the Adirondacks.

Enrollees signed up for 6 months and worked a 40-hour week for $30 per month. The government sent $25 to the enrollee’s family and the enrollee received $5. The young men received good food, uniforms, and medical care. At first they lived in tents; later they lived in wooden buildings. These young men and war veterans were able to help their families and develop a sense of worth.

In the Adirondacks enrollees built trails, roads, campsites and dams, stocked fish, built and maintained fire towers, observers cabins and telephone lines, fought fires and planted millions of trees. The CCC disbanded in 1942 due to the need for men in World War II.

Nationwide, enrollees planted nearly 3 billion trees to help reforest America, constructed more than 800 parks nationwide, updated forest fire fighting methods and built a network of service buildings and public roadways. In nine years, 2.5 million young men participated in restoring public appreciation of the outdoors.

In 2006 Marty Podskoch turned from chronicling the history of fire towers in the Adirondacks to gathering information on the CCC camps in the Adirondacks. Over the next five years he traveled to towns in and around the Adirondacks and gave presentations on the CCC camps. CCC alumni, their families, and friends shared their stories and pictures.

Adirondack Civilian Conservation Corps Camps: History, Memories and Legacy of the CCC is now available through Trees, the Bolton Landing book store.

Tags: Adirondacks, Civilian Conservation Corps, History, Marty Podskoch, Trees Adirondack Gifts