Continuing from, "From Hearth And Hoe": "A favorite story in the early days of the Camp TVA-22 related to some of the men from the North who encountered a sow and a litter of piglets. When the sow attacked them, the men killed her, caught the piglets, returned to camp, and reported that they killed a bear. The southern boys said that the Yankees did not know the difference between a sow and a bear. Malcolm Patterson, assigned to Camp TVA-22, recalled: 'The Yankee men did not know how to fell a tree. When they began cutting a tree, they would chop around the tree much like a beaver and allow it to fall any place it pleased. They had to learn.' Another local source noted: 'Many CCC boys were from cities and did not know a cow from a horse.'
The first men to arrive in Union County were from Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, New Jersey, New York, and several New England states. Jim Heiskell, Minnis Harvey, Lee Turner, UL 'Sheepy' Monroe, John Nelson, Paul Rosenbalm, Charlie Booker, Curt Booker, Adrian Booker, Jack Smith, and Roy Oaks were local men who were among the first assigned to Camp TVA-22. Temporary facilities, which consisted of tents, were set up by the newcomers. As preparations were made, more men arrived by train at Tazewell, where they were transported by truck to the Maynardville camp. As the camp neared its completion, its population grew to approximately 250 men. Three saw mills and a planing mill turned out enough timber to replace the tents with wooden barracks, a mess hall, kitchen, storehouses, and recreation building. Approximately 70,000 cedar posts, varying in length from 8 to 12 feet, were produced to be used at various TVA sites.
Camp TVA-22 worked on a large project to control soil erosion encompassing several farms. Gullies were plowed over and dams formed by boards, brush, straw, or cemented limestone rocks constructed to protect the area until a root system could begin. Some eroded places were seeded with Bermuda grass or ceresia lespedeza, while others were planted with black locust, black oak, poplar, persimmon, cedar, or pine trees. Additional projects were established to fight forest fires, build fences, string telephone lines, raise watch towers, and build roads and foot trails." Part 7 will be the final installment of the CCC In Union County series.