Crater Lake National Park: Administrative History by Harlan D. Unrau and Stephen Mark, 1987
APPENDIX C13: Experiences Of A CCC Enrollee At Camp Wineglass, 1934
Camp Wineglass was in a beautiful setting about 3 miles from the ranger station [at Lost Creek], and close to a general road that went to Fort Klamath, where our mail arrived. Fort Klamath was a site of a small Indian agency headquartered there at that time.
We lived in tents with wooden floors and wooden sides about 4′ high, heated with one small heater. They looked like ice cream cones turned upside down, but they sure done [sic] the job. Our first job after arriving from Calif. was snow removal from the Lake Area road and side wall going to the lodge. The personnel were mostly from Illinois with some from Mich. and East Coast and Florida (19 colored guys from there). They lived in a separate area not integrated with the whites.
The work was done in the spring and summer of 1934. We were concentrated in tents according to the alphabetical listing of your last name (8 men to a tent). I was in Company C, along with other people with names beginning with C and D. Hence the whole lot of enrollees were in different Co.’s. There were about 250 men to a camp. Each one of these companies had a leader and an assistant, whose job it was to see that every man was up for roll call, breakfast at a certain time, beds made, tent cleaned, sides rolled up and ready for work detail on the grade by 7:30 A.M. Most of our work at Camp Wineglass consisted of road work, building roads so that fire trucks could get close to the fires. We had our own truck drivers (I was one). We worked with long handled shovels, picks, grubbing hoes, brush axes etc., and were fed hot meals on the job. Army field ranges were set up outside and meals were prepared and served army style (we ate out of mess gear and canteen cups). We loved it (until we constructed our latrines, play rooms, mess hall ourselves); our wash house was a small creek that run [sic] ice cold and clear water near our tents; we used that water for our hygiene purposes, cooking, drinking, washing teeth etc., and I know of no one who got sick from it. A far cry from today’s polluted streams.
We built sidewalks up at the lake and also some log cabins, under supervision of Forest Rangers all local men, all very good men, they also helped with the supervision of the work details. There was 11 camps in the Medford District, under the direction of a Mr. Dickner, who was a very respected man. He may have been from Klamath Falls.
P.S. This is a brief synopsis of our work performed. There was something like 2-1/2 billion small trees planted by the C’s overall. We fought some forest fires too. . . .
President Roosevelt and Robert Fechner visited Camp Wineglass briefly. We put on a show for them and their party. We had the best camp of the 11 in the Medford District.
We had really good boxers and wrestlers and a championship baseball team.
William Bill Coulson
September 29, 1986
Letter in Museum Collection, Crater Lake National Park.
***previous*** — ***next***
