The Civilian Conservation Corps was launched April 5, 1933, to alleviate distress caused by unemployment by establishing camps where young men worked on forest and park conservation projects and on soil erosion on farms under army management. They were paid $30 per month, of which $25 was sent home, and they also received housing, food, medical and dental care, and educational benefits. The young men who served in this park and in 26 other CCC camps throughout Tennessee became part of the CCC legacy in Tennessee. A junior Colored CCC company, 3459, TVA-P-N, was located twenty-one miles northeast of Corinth, Mississippi. In July 1935, twenty-three Colored enrollees were organized into an advance cadre at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, and sent to Counce, Tennessee, forming Company 3459, which bore the name of Paul Lawrence Dunbar. Under Lieutenant Leland T. Rogers, the detachment arrived at the camp location in mid-July and on July 24, 1935, increased to 176 enrollees coming from Chattanooga and Memphis. In Pickwick Dam Park, the CCC built trails, overnight cabins, trailside shelters, guard rails, and stone walls, and also installed drinking fountains and stone marker at appropriate spots within the park.