“Civilian Conservation Corps Camp – American Island”

camps sp-5 & scs-7 (american island): 1/2 mile S of old river bridge. SP-5 Company: 4725V 6/26/1935-10/7/1937

SCS-7 Company: 4726 10/15/38-8/14/41; 2746 8/15/41-2/28/42

The Civilian Conservation Corps was a federal work-relief program during the Great Depression. From 1933-1942, the CCC provided work for 31,097 jobless men in South Dakota - - about 1700 war veterans, 4554 American Indians, and 2834 supervisors. The U.S. Army provided 200-man camps, food, clothing, medical care, and pay, and educational, recreational, and religious programs. The Office of Indian Affairs provided similar services for units on Indian reservations.

American Island now inundated by the waters of Lake Sharpe, was losing 16 feet of shoreline annually due to erosion. WWI veterans of SP-5, supervised by the National Park Service, back- sloped the shore with revetment consisting of a mat of woven willows weighted with blocks of shale. They improved the park by building seven tourist cabins, a bathhouse, race track, barn and parking areas. They also planted 2,500 woody plants.

Enrollees of SCS-7, supervised by the Soil Conservation Service, built stock dams, planted shelterbelts and demonstrated modern farming practices to reduce soil erosion. They also removed blow-dirt and laid revetment.

Erected in 1990 by the CCC Alumni, the South Dakota State Historical Society, the South Dakota Department of Transportation and the Soil Conservation Service.

Brule County, 1/2 mile south of old river bridge