Compiled by Neil Ainslie
We are fortunate that the Candlelight Newsletters from Civilian Conservation Corp Camp 1592 of the Wells County State Forest and Game Preserve, now Ouabache State Park, have been archived online.
This gives us a glimpse into the daily life of the young men who built this park.
With only pens, paper, manual typewriters, two-ply “spirit masters” and a Spirit Duplicator (often referred to as a “Ditto”Machine or a “Mimeograph”), these young men typed the articles, hand drew pictures and duplicated this monthly newsletter onsite.
This was the class project of the
English vocational class, one of many vocational classes offered after the day’s work and evening meal.
As I compile their memories for this issue, I have the ease of a word processor (with spell and punctuation checking) and an e-reader. Then this article, with all the others, is brought together in a desktop publishing program to produce this magazine on the web, all without paper. With technology fully integrated into our lives, we should marvel at the roll-up-their-shirt-sleeves ingenuity of these young men.
If you are interested in the duplication process, search YouTube for “STANDARD FLUID SPIRIT PROCESS DUPLICATOR 1930’s to 1940’s”.
The following excerpts are from the October 1939 Issue of the Candlelight. (Note: I have tried to be as true to their original text, to the point of including their typing, spelling and punctuation mistakes. Also, we need to understand that the American English language has had at least three major shifts in standardization since 1939.)
TALL FIRE TOWER ERECTED
On the game farm-forest you will find a fire tower. You may climb it and have a birds eye view of the entire property. If you like figures, you will see forty two acres of quail pens, forty two acres of pheasant pens, sixty three acres enclosed with vermin-proof fence, and twenty-one acres of enclosed and covered on top. Those are some of the things to look for at the Wells County Forest and Game Preserve. You can go there and picnic. You can use the picnic tables, the whole some and tested drinking water, at the shelter house, the ovens and a generous supply of fire wood.
TO THE NEW MEN
CCC Co.1592 extends its hand in greeting to the new fellows, most of them are far away from home, strangers to our ways and customs in the three C’s. Make yourselves at home, for this is your home, for at least six months. The conditions are just what you make of them. Your appearance, the appearance of your bed and mess gear all are taken into consideration by your superiors and marked either for you or against you as the case may be. Your clothing has been issued, take care of it, it belongs to you. Things that are’nt plain to you, your barrack’s leader will be glad to explain. Obey orders and all will be well. May your enrollment in the CCC be a happy one. Good luck to all of you! “Pat” Robinson
PRIZE MENU OF THE MONTH
Sunday dinner, October 29, 1939: Fried Chicken, Giblet Gravy, Snowflake Potatoes, Buttered Peas, Lettuce and Peach Salad, Bread, Butter, Coffee, Lemon Pie , and Ice Cream.
SHEET METAL CLASS
Mr. Harkley, teacher of the sheet metal class has placed his students on a productions basis and is turning out breeding pens, far beyond his expectation
John Kight, former “Top Kick” writes that he is employed by the Fairview Nursery at Fort Wayne, Ind.
Howard Toot and Robert Olund report that they have received employment at Bendix Shomber Corporation at South Bend, Indiana. (Interesting note: Bendix, Huntington Pant, has donated funds to several Ouabache State Park projects through the Friends group recently. Eighty-four years later, and there is still a connection between the two.)
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