The Civilian Conservation Corp was started on April 5th, 1933 by President Roosevelt. Also known as the "Tree Army," it was mainly made up of unemployed men from rural settings during the Great Depression. The CCC operated under the army's control and issued World War I uniforms. By 1935, over 500,000 men lived at CCC camps for anywhere from 6 months to 1 year. The main outcome of the CCC was planting millions of trees on land affected by fire, soil erosion, or timber harvesting, and it was responsible for over half of the nation's reforestation on both public and private lands. Other tasks included digging canals and ditches, building wildlife shelters, stocking fish, restoring battlefields, and clearing campgrounds. Through this work, the men made $30 a month. The buildings on this site were built by the CCC at May and Day Lake camps between 1934 and 1938 under the direction of the U.S. Forest Service. A total of 6 buildings were built, but only the Marcell Lodge, 2 workshops, an oil house, and a storage building remain today; the ranger building was replaced in 1967. These buildings reflect the quality and craftsmanship put into CCC construction, and 4 are now on the National Register of Historic Places list.