By 1933 the effects of the Depression had made a significant impact on park operations and development. Regular appropriations for the park were reduced by some 15 percent, resulting in a decrease of temporary per diem employees who comprised the majority of the summer construction crews. The reduction in regular park appropriations also meant less funds were available for construction and development. The steady decline in regular park appropriations continued throughout much of the 1930s, averaging between 45 and 60 percent of pre-Depression levels. Not until 1938 did regular park appropriations return to levels approaching those of the pre-Depression years.
To fill the shortfall in regular funding for the construction and development programs at Crater Lake and other national parks, public works programs were established by the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The New Deal public works employment and funding agencies, in particular the Emergency Conservation Work (ECW) and Public Works Administration (PWA), provided a large infusion of men and funds to the park to enable management to complete a significant portion of the construction and development plans that had been approved in the late 1920s. Thus, the funds and manpower supplied by the New Deal agencies became an integral part of the park construction and development program. Without this impetus the ongoing work of developing Crater Lake according to its master plan would have come to a standstill during the 1930s.
Under the ECW program two Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camps were established in Crater Lake National Park during June 1933. Camp No. 1 was set up temporarily in the “plaza” at Government Camp on June 12, and within two weeks the men were available for work. By that time there were 206 men at the camp, and of this total 172 were assigned to field work, 28 to camp duty, and 6 to clerical work. On July 1 and 2 the men were moved to new quarters “located on the opposite side of the road.” At first the men were housed in tents, but work soon began on frame buildings, consisting of a messhall, toilet, showers, and cold storage. Officers for the camp were housed in the new ranger dormitory.
It was originally determined to locate Camp No. 2 at the Wineglass on the Rim Road across the lake from the lodge. Heavy spring snows, however, made this objective impossible. The camp was thus located at Lost Creek, but the original name was retained to facilitate clerical work in Washington. After establishing a temporary camp on June 12, the men were moved to a permanent camp on July 5.
The men of both camps engaged in various construction, development, and maintenance projects from June 12 to September 30, 1933. The activities of the men in Camp No. 1 were concentrated on four principal projects: camp construction, insect control, landscaping, and roadside cleanup. Some 15,950 acres of forest were treated for insects. Landscaping was performed along the rim from the Information Building to the lodge as well as around the ranger dormitory, superintendent’s residence, naturalist’s residence, and three employee residences at Government Camp. The landscaping included the planting of sod, shrubs, and bushes, using peat hauled from a bog in Munson Valley and top soil taken from a dump hillside area along the east entrance road. The rim landscaping brought to completion the three-year-long objective of bringing back vegetation between the road and the rim all the way from the head of the trail to Crater Lake Lodge.” Eight miles of roadside were cleaned up, while two miles were partially cleaned.
Camp No. 1 enrollees also participated in other projects during 1933. These included:
Reconstruction and repair of eight miles of telephone line that had been downed by snow and wind falls
Planting of 120,000 fish in Crater Lake
Assistance in surveying 25 miles of roads and trails and sectionizing over an area of 70 square miles
Construction of three log patrol “snowshoe cabins” at Bear Creek, National Creek, and Maklak Spring to provide shelter for winter patrols and hunting season administration
Construction of twelve miles of new truck trails, formerly known as motorways, and maintenance of 82 miles of old truck trails for fire protection
Marking of 72 miles of park boundary for the information of park employees and hunters
Construction of a frame horse barn in the rear and to the south of the utility group at Government Camp (approximately on the site of the old horse corral).
Manpower for fire fighting
Twenty acres of public campground cleanup
