“Civilian Conservation Corps Camp – Sand Lake “BF-2 (Sand Lake): 4 miles South at refuge headquarters. Company: 2749 - - 6/28/1935-7/31/1939”

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.

BF-2, supervised by the Bureau of Biological Survey, created the 21,451 acre Sand Lake National Wildlife Refuge and started the 3,248-acre Waubay Waterfowl Refuge. Enrollees cleared the land of buildings and old fences before constructing several dams, islands, roads and trails, headquarters buildings and the 100-foot observation tower. They also planted trees, ground cover and food crops.

The 6,600-foot Houghton Dam and the 3,200-foot Columbia Dam created the 5,000-acre Mud Lake and the 6,000-acre Sand Lake where tens of thousands of migrating waterfowl rest each year.

Erected in 1990 by CCC Alumni, the South Dakota State Historical Society, the South Dakota Department of Transportation and the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

Brown County, SD 10 in land bridge in middle of Lake (2006)