Civilian Conservation Corps marking its 90th anniversary
By Alan Daugherty
On April 5, 1933, the National CCC program began meeting multiple American needs.
Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 6101 to begin a program of placing young boys from needy families to work. General Douglas MacArthur received assignment to be head of
all camps throughout the United States.
Some local boys had been selected that same month as enrollees into the program. Their assignment to the Fort Wayne camp was due to the fact that Wells County’s camp would not begin for another two years.
Also in 1933, it became significant for Ouabache State Park’s history that two Bluffton attorneys had been called by the Governor McNutt. Virgil M. Simmons received his appointment as Commissioner of Indiana Department of Conservation. Kenneth Kunkel accepted a request to head up the Fish & Game Division.
Those familiar with Ouabache State Park will recognize the Kunkel Lake name, a manmade lake dug by CCC Boys of 1592. Simmons named the lake in 1940 after his friend and colleague Kunkel on the first day fishing became allowed.
Between the years 1933 and 1942, CCC Camps enrolled more than 3 million boys who planted more than 3 billion trees. CCC boys grew into strong men, were educated and became some of the first soldiers volunteering for World War II. The boys were allowed to keep a very small portion of their $35 pay per month for personal use, the remainder was sent to their parents.
A small water-filled quarry on the far west side of Ouabache, the northeast corner of White Bridge crossing the Wabash River, became a building stone source for Ouabache’s structures. Those yet standing and used today included the park office and incubator building, dubbed locally as “The Hatchery.”
Camp 1592 became one of only a few 1936 camps across the nation initiating the use of soup bowls in the mess hall. In May of that year, the first three bison arrived to begin a herd in the park, which remains today. The first bison birth occurred in the park in 1940. Ouabache proudly hosts the only live bison herd of any Indiana state park.
Wells County State Forest and Game Preserve produced 150,000 game birds annually. Raccoon houses held a breeding capacity of 1,000. Large animal enclosures supported bison, elk, fallow deer and white tailed deer below the firetower. A “vermin house” on the property located near Trails End Shelter contained wildlife animals and birds for viewing such as black bears and cubs, a cougar, coyotes, skunks, owls, eagles, a bobcat and more.
Although the CCC program celebrated its 90th Anniversary in 2023, Ouabache State Park had its own cause to celebrate as Ouabache State Recreation Area officially became an Indiana State Park in 1983. Ouabache State Park celebrates 40 years in 2023.
Camp 1592 celebrated CCC anniversaries
The CCC Camp’s boys that originally built Ouabache State Park celebrated each Corps anniversary with an open house. One year it included The Candlelight newspaper publishing a multi-page booklet describing all of the activities and facets of the camp and park as well as history.
On July 1, 1935, Company 1592 organized under the new command of Lt. J. Ferris. At the time, the camp compound buildings had not as yet been completed, being constructed by local Wells County FERA men. The first enrollees of Company 1592 utilized a tent for cooking.
The Army remained in charge of the young men assigned to Bluffton’s camp. Technical Service, mostly made up of local skilled men in metalwork, masonry, carpentry, forestry, etc., oversaw groups of the young boys through working hours of each day. Tech Men guided, taught and encouraged the young workers.
About 1,000 acres of eroded pasture fields began changing due to the efforts of Bluffton’s CCC Camp boys.
The early groups predominately arrived from southern Indiana and Kentucky. This accounted for the reason the park Lodge fireplace keystone included both Indiana and Kentucky stones.
In their Anniversary Booklet the boys wrote, “On the whole, however, we believe that our efforts have not been in vain and feel kindly toward this transformation and gladly invite you to go over the entire property with the sole idea that it was built for your use, a monument, that will be handed on down from generation to generation.”
In honor of CCC 1592, Ouabache State Park houses one of the two CCC Worker Statue life-size bronze sculptures in Indiana, thanks to the support of award-winning Friends of Ouabache State Park.
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