The headquarters for the Forestry Service in the Chippewa National Forest is located in a CCC building at Cass Lake, Minnesota. It was built in 1935 using huge red pine logs, slotted together in the Finnish style using notches and grooves.
Stonework is evident in the foundation, which utilizes native fieldstone embedded in concrete. But the most impressive feature is the massive fireplace near the building's entrance (top photo). Glacial boulders were split, and the two halves situated opposite one another on each side of the fireplace to yield an impressive and pleasing symmetry (most evident near the keystone at the top of the arch in the second photo). The stones are glacially-deposited local material, probably largely granite; more than 265 tons of them were used to create the massive 50-foot-high stucture. Where the chimney rises through the second floor of the building (third photo), I believe the figure of an angel was intentionally created by the stonemasons.
Cass Lake is situated between Leech Lake and Lake Winnibigoshish in north-central Minnesota. This building is a working office, but it is open to the public during the workday, and a variety of educational materials and displays are available for viewing.
Technical note: Photography was difficult on the day I visited, because the mix of natural light from the windows and the artificial light from incandescent bulbs made the selection of exposure and light balance particularly complex. The colors displayed above are therefore not quite true; I probably should retake the pix on a cloudy day.
My grandpa was in the CCC in 1933/1934 company 705, Pike Bay, MN; the company that built the building in your pictures. I don't know if he actually worked on the building. My dad told me that grandpa planted trees, LOTS of trees. Thanks for sharing the pictures, I've never been there.
ReplyDeleteLaurel
Elbow Lake, Minnesota
I am wondering if there exists any CCC records from the pre-WWII era (especially of 1939-1940 Minnesota).
ReplyDeleteMy father fresh off the boat from Karelia, arrived back home to Minnesota in 1937 as a 17-year-old, with no possessions other than that he could carry. He escaped Stalin’s workers’ paradise, but his older brother had to stay in Russia. His parents were allowed to go to Finland (because of their US passports).
He and his siblings were born in Minnesota. The entire family moved to Karelia as his father chased the dream of Stalin’s Workers’ Paradise. They were in Karelia from 1931 to 1937.
From Oct 1937 to Sept 1941, he lived with his grandparents in Itasca County, Minnesota.
He worked as he could from 1937 to 1941, including from 1939 to 1940 ish in the CCCs (Civilian Conservation Corps). He says it was Chippewa National Forest.
He spoke fondly of his time in the CCC, and he learned construction and bulldozer operation.
Do CCC rolls exist with lists of names?
GS, I would bet that such information exists, but I don't know where. Here are some links that might get you started on that search:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ccclegacy.org/CCC_Museums.html
http://www.mnopedia.org/civilian-conservation-corps-minnesota-1933-1942
https://libguides.mnhs.org/ccc/members
I think that third one might be the best place to start in terms of Minnesota history.
BTW, I have moved the CCC blog posts to my other blog, here -
http://tywkiwdbi.blogspot.com/search/label/Civilian%20Conservation%20Corps
Good luck with your search. I'm a huge fan of the CCC and wish a similar program would be re-created now.
Thank you so much for sharing these photos. My grandfather worked for the CCC at Cass Lake during this period of time. Would you mind if I share them with my family on my genealogy blog if I link to your page?
ReplyDeletePlease help yourself to the photos to use any way you wish. The ones on this page will enlarge with a click, and you can copy/paste them into your blog.
DeleteMy other posts about CCC stonework are in my other blog in a category there:
http://tywkiwdbi.blogspot.com/search/label/Civilian%20Conservation%20Corps
(but no other photos of the Cass Lake site)