Leaving Pittsburgh

 
CCC cabins. Few people realize the scope of the CCC. The program put into place by President Roosevelt during the depression to employ young men. At it’s peak in1935 , 2,600 camps employed 500,000 young men.  We’re most familiar with the work that was done in state and national parks but it also included these projects:

more than 3,470 fire towers erected;

97,000 miles of fire roads built;

4,235,000 man-days devoted to fighting fires;

more than 3 billion trees planted;

7,153,000 man days expended on protecting the natural habitats of wildlife; 83 camps in 15 Western states assigned 45 projects of that nature;

46 camps assigned to work under the direction of the U.S. Bureau of Agriculture Engineering;

more than 84,400,000 acres of good agricultural land receive manmade drainage systems; Indian enrollees do much of that work;

1,240,000 man-days of emergency work completed during floods of the Ohio and Mississippi valleys;

disease and insect control;

forest improvement — timber stand inventories, surveying, and reforestation;

forest recreation development — campgrounds built, complete with picnic shelters, swimming pools, fireplaces, and restrooms

The cabins above , in Raccoon Creek State Park, were in  disrepair with leaking roofs and missing chinking in the logs. They were built from wormy chestnut trees that had died from blight. These trees are now almost extinct  but they once covered acres of the eastern US, an estimated 3 billion trees. We’re so happy that we , along with other volunteers and park employees, were able to save the cabins.

More pictures here-http://cid-4ce32117b0082fb8.photos.live.com/browse.aspx/Leaving%20Pittsburgh