Reporting from Yosemite National Park — The economy was in a shambles. Millions of Americans were out of work. Saying something drastic needed to be done, the newly elected president announced a massive economic stimulus package aimed at repairing the nation's sagging infrastructure and putting people back to work.
The first "emergency agency" established by President Franklin D. Roosevelt was the Civilian Conservation Corps, which eventually put 3 million men to work in the national park system.
By the end of the program in 1942, CCC workers had built scores of bridges, constructed flood-control projects, cut 97,000 miles of fire roads and planted 3 billion trees, prompting the nickname "Roosevelt's Tree Army."
The rustic, rock-and-timber buildings and massive lodges constructed by highly skilled artisans are now famously part of the national parks' visual style, often referred to as "parkitecture." In parks such as Yosemite -- where an unusual number of projects were undertaken -- the CCC's imprint remains.
Now, some in Congress and elsewhere are reaching back to embrace Roosevelt's Depression-era strategy by calling for a similar parks restoration program to be included in President Obama's economic stimulus plan. The House version of the bill has $2.25 billion earmarked for projects in parks. The Senate version is still under debate and expected to be voted on Monday.
The CCC was born with the Depression in full roar and one out of four American wage earners out of work. Tens of thousands of unemployed and hungry young men took to the road rather than be a burden to their families.
The Labor Department recruited around the country, and the corps became a much-desired job. The program accelerated so quickly -- 300,000 men joined in three months -- that at the time it was the most rapid large-scale mobilization of men the country had ever witnessed.
Each enrollee signed on for a one-year stint and was paid $30 a month -- with a stipulation that $25 be sent home to support their families. In addition to young men, the corps also hired what it called LEMs, or "local experienced men," to lead work in skilled trades.
Former National Park Service Director Roger Kennedy, whose forthcoming book about the CCC and the parks is called "When Art Worked," said the program was intended to heal the spirit of the workers as well as the nation.
