Here at Big Ridge we are about to get a new recruit ranger. His name is Josh Powell. Josh is a bright young man with a lot of ambition.
He grew up on a farm in Clinton not far from the Clinch River. He started his journey in state parks at Norris Dam State Park as a seasonal. He also worked for a summer a Cumberland Mountain State Park.
Josh will be finishing police academy this spring and will be a full-time park ranger at Big Ridge.
What inspired me to write this article is Josh's passion for the history of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). All of the parks that have been mentioned thus far in this article were built by the CCC. The CCC was created by our 32nd president, Franklin D. Roosevelt. It was part of the New Deal programs.
The idea was to take young men from across America, ages 18 to 25, and provide jobs and on-the-job training. This was a time when jobs were hard to find, and the country was in an extreme economic depression.
The program was not without criticism. Many called it socialism and communism because the young men were given uniforms and put in units like the army. Despite its criticism, the project left a lasting positive effect on the country, building many of the country's current state and national parks including the Great Smoky Mountains.
Because of the conservation efforts, along with the building of parks, like planting trees to reclaim farm land damaged by poor farming practices, the CCC earned the nickname Roosevelt’s Tree Army.
Well over a million trees have been said to have been planted around what is now Norris Lake by the CCC.
Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) was in its infancy during this time and had just used imminent domain to acquire tens of thousands of acres in the Clinch and Powell river valleys. The land was acquired for the creation of Norris Lake, and CCC camps were popping up everywhere in this newly acquired government land.
One camp was company 297 in Loyston, Tennessee. This would be the camp that created Big Ridge State Park. One of the best looks back into history to see what camp life was like for these boys was a newspaper that was created just for the boys at camp.
The paper at CCC Co. 297 was called The Dam Overflow. This paper was created by the boys at camp and everyone was encouraged to write and submit anything and everything. The articles were great, with lots of humor and valuable details of the CCC boys’ experiences.
These experiences included what it was like to learn and work on things like the Big Ridge Dam, the Recreation Hall, and cooking at the chow hall. Other experiences mentioned were their free time activities like basketball, baseball, boxing, and square dances.
Most of the boys were from bigger cities up north and had never seen or heard of square dancing. Girls were bused in from Knoxville and Luttrell to entertain the boys and teach them square dancing.
The sports, like basketball, were very organized. Company 297 was apparently pretty good with a record of 11 wins and 4 losses. The hardest loss was the championship game against team TVA - P10. It was said that Co. 297 was the better team but TVA - P10 won the game.
Other funny and interesting looks into their lives were stories like two boys going into town of Loyston to determine who was the better pool player. Both boys drinking beer as they played, ended up having to be carried back to the barracks and continued to argue for days who won the billiards match.
Another great story is about a young man named Edward Keller from Co. 297 who started his enrollment in Montana when the CCC began in 1933. He worked five months when his company was sent to Loyston where he worked 15 more months.
During his time at the camp in Loyston he meet a local girl named Blanche Stooksbury. After his enlistment ended, he traveled back to Loyston to marry her and they moved together back to his hometown of Celereon, New York.
Some stories were tragic. A few stories were of accidents that happened while working for the CCC at Camp 297. The camp, being in the town of Loyston, meant the boys had to be trucked up to Big Ridge to work. The trip every day to work took away from time on the job site of Big Ridge. Two different incidents cause the death of two young men on this trip. One young man's life was lost due to falling out of the truck along the trip.
The other tragic story from The Dam Overflow periodical was of an accident between the truck hauling the CCC boys and a TVA truck. The story was told that the TVA truck side-swiped the CCC truck as they were passing causing three of the CCC boys to be injured. The CCC boy that was injured the worst was put in a passing TVA vehicle and was rushed to Loyston to see a doctor. The boy died on the trip back to Loyston.
Three boys died fighting a forest fire and one went missing after being reported as last seen going for a swim and never was seen again despite efforts to find him. Even a reward was offered for the whereabouts of the boy or his remains.
Many of the boys would get homesick and did not like CCC camp life, but many did like it. Many of the country boys reenlisted many times, because despite being away from home, they liked the work and got three hot meals a day, which was a lot better than many had at home during the Depression.
These young men worked hard and matured a lot due to their experiences in the CCC. They learned a lot of skills about life and working that helped them when they went back home. For many of these boys it was good practice for military life, as many of them would go to join the war front of World War II just a few years later.
We could learn a lot as a country from the great work accomplished by this project called the Civilian Conservation Corps. My favorite Tennessee parks are a product of this program.
If you are interested in learning more about the CCC and the parks that were built due to them, come and meet Josh Powell, our new ranger. He loves to share his knowledge of this great New Deal program.