Civilian Conservation Corps Camp

Camp F-3 (Este), located one-half mile west astride Estes Creek, was the first South Dakota camp opened and one of the last closed in the Civilian Conservation Corps, a federal relief program during 1933-1942 that gave jobless men work renovating abused lands. The Army built 48 200-man camps in South Dakota and provided food, clothing, medical care, pay, and programs of education, recreation, and religion for 23,709 enrollees, single men aged 17-25 who sent $25 of their $30 wage to their families, and war veterans, while camps and work projects were supervised by another 2834 men. The Office of Indian Affairs ran smaller units for 4554 American Indians. Este was part of the federal CCC program to renovate forests and build more recreation areas. Work supervised by the U. S. Forest Service included tree thinning, pruning, and planting; fire prevention and supression; grazing land improvement; rodent and insect control; and recreational development. Enrollees removed dead, diseased, and suppressed trees, used for poles, posts, and firewood, and brush from many acres of forest; removed flammable debris from forests and nearby areas; and extinguished forest fires. They built Daltun dam, campground, and ski course; Box Elder Forks campground; Steamboat Rock picnic area; Waite Gulch and Spruce Gulch dams; and Merritt-Estes and White Gates Roads. CCCs remodeled ranger residences and erected a ranger station and telephone lines.

South Dakota · United States