“Civilian Conservation Corps Camp – State Fair Grounds”

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 projects of the SCS-4 were done on private land under supervision of the Soil Conservation Service. WWI veterans of Company 4725V and North Dakota enrollees of Company 2770 worked on the 190,000-acre Wolsey Shue Creek erosion project (the first in the state) and the Karnstrum demonstration farm 3 1/2 miles northeast of Wolsey. They used shelterbelts, cover crops, rough tillage, strip farming and stock dams to control run-off and improve grazing utilization. They built Third Street Dam in Huron, Lake Dudley Dam near Hitchcock and the Lake Dakota Dam and Boy Scout Camp near Miller. Tours showing results to farmers aided in the organization of soil conservation districts in Beadle, Clark and Spink Counties.

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

Beadle County, Southeast corner of State Fair Grounds SD 37 truck Route to Gate 7 (3rd street) (2006)