“Civilian Conservation Corps – French Creek”

camp sp-3 (dsp-1 in 1934): NE 2 miles, end of CSP road on French Creek. Company: 2757 - - 7/28/34-10/1/41

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.

Work, supervised by Custer State Park and the National Park Service, included quelling forest fires, building a stone lookout and ranger’s quarters on Mt. Coolidge, 25 miles of minor roads, 70 miles of telephone line, 11 miles of boundary fence, 20 bridges and a park custodian’s log house and barn. The CCC constructed the 14-room Blue Bell lodge and a dozen cabins, developed 5 springs with water tanks for bison, developed Canyon Lake Park and fish hatchery in Rapid City, converted Galena log community building into a park office, and eliminated bark beetles from the southern half of the Park. They sawed the lumber, planed the logs, washed the sand and crushed the rock used on many building projects, and removed debris from 50 miles of park roadsides.

Erected in 1990 by CCC Alumni, South Dakota State Historical Society, State Department of Transportation and Custer State Park.

Custer County, Northeast 2 miles, end of CSP road on French Creek