“Civilian Conservation Corps Camp – Sheridan”

camp f-24: Sheridan: Located at the site of the large campground Companies: 793 - - 6/13/39-May 422748 - - 6/24/40-Fall 40

Detachments of 793, 791, 756 - - 8/14/38-6/12/39

The Civilian Conservation Corps was 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. Camps and work projects were supervised by another 2834 men.

The Office of Indian Affairs ran smaller units for 4554 American Indians.

Camp F-24 was part of a national CCC program to renovate forests and build more recreation areas. Work projects, supervised by the USDA Forest Service, included tree thinning, pruning and planting; fire prevention and suppression; rodent, disease and insect control; grazing land improvement and recreational area development. Enrollees built the earthen body and WPA the concrete structure of Sheridan dam. CCs at Lake Mitchell sidecamp started work on 08-14-1938. They were joined by detachments from Camps Tigerville, Custer and Lightning Creek until June 1939 when Company 793 opened the camp. Camp Pactola provided a detachment in 1940 to finish it. The use of bentonite to grout substrata cracks to prevent underground leakage was developed here. The 280 acre lake had 7 miles of shoreline.

Erected in 1991 by CCC Alumni, the South Dakota State Historical Society, the South Dakota Department of Transportation and Black Hills National Forest.

Pennington County, 3 miles north of US 16 & US 385 -6 miles northeast of Hill City