Note: The following is one of a series of articles looking at events in the formation of Bulloch County.

Part II

According to the 1937 “Annual Report of the Director of Emergency Conservation Work,” a total of 40 Civilian Conservation Corps camps were being operated in Georgia.

They were, as follows: nine national forest camps; 10 private forest camps; nine soil conservation camps; two national monument camps; six state park camps; and four military reservation camps.

Then, in the 1939 “Annual Report of the Director of the Civilian Conservation Corps,” it showed that a total of just 27 CCC camps were being operated in Georgia.

They were distributed as follows: five national forest camps; five private forest camps; nine soil conservation camps; three national park camps; four state park camps; and one biological survey camp.

Perry Merrill’s book, “Roosevelt’s Forest Army” (1981) revealed that Civilian Conservation Corps work included 3,638 miles of telephone line; 425,829 erosion control check dams; and control of 25,082 acres preventing erosion.

In addition, the Civilian Corps workers planted 1,672,905 trees for gully control; planted 22,915,095 trees for reforestation; and performed wildfire fighting which kept them busy for 153,022 man days.

On Sept. 21, 1933, the Bulloch Times-Statesboro News-Statesboro Eagle stated Georgia had the most Civilian Corps camps in the South: 30 under the state forest service, and sevent under the United States Forest Service.

There are three lists of Georgia's camps. One, the "CCC Legacy," has a web page located at http://ccclegacy.org/CCCCampLists.html. This page identifies a lot of information about most of these individual camps.

J.C. Paige's work, entitled the “Civilian Conservation Corps and the National Park Service, 1933-1942, an Administrative History,” was published by the National Park Service in 1985 and also gives a lot of information.

In addition, I.W. Wood's Historic Preservation master's thesis, entitled “History That Will Not Vanish: Preserving the Legacy of the Soil Conservation Service,” completed in 2008 at UGA, has several lists.

The local camps include Camp #460 near Fort Pulaski, opened 5/10/1934 (national monument #1, national park-3); and Camp #1426 near Bloomingdale, opened 11/27/1933 (private forest #61 or 81).

And, the 16th CCC camp, Camp #2636, which opened 6/20/1933 near Brooklet (private forest #66); and Camp #3465, located at Millen Springs (state park #6 or 16), north of Millen, which opened on July 2, 1939.

Six years later, the Millen Springs camp, which was located on privately-owned land managed by the U.S. Forest Service, who oversaw the area's fire control crews.

The Bulloch Herald of July 4, 1940 reported that "48 boys" from Bulloch County had left for Millen Springs Civilian Conservation Camp #3465.

Sara Hall, Bulloch County Welfare director, said, "These young men between the ages of 18 and 25 had enrolled in the Emergency Conservation Work Act, (or the) Civilian Conservation Corps."

Every Civilian Corps candidate had to be unemployed, unmarried, and 18 to 26 years of age. Rules were relaxed for war veterans in the program, however. Many of these men reenlisted again.

Inman Foy, chairman of the Bulloch County Welfare Board, oversaw corps efforts in Bulloch County.  Georgia Corps Director H.B. Meldrin inspected the Millen facility.

He approved of the camp’s education program, living quarters, kitchen and dining hall, and officer's headquarters, and formally congratulated the Civilian Conservation Corps and the camp.

The Atlanta Constitution issue of Sept. 29, 1940 disclosed “the State of Georgia... (reported) there are 9,300 boys in camps in Georgia and other states.”

In seven years, the Georgia camps cost the federal government $53,480,000, “of which $15,500,000 was allocated to dependents of enrollees. The enrollees allot $22 to $25 a month cash allowance to dependents.”

According to Perry Merrill’s book, Roosevelt’s Forest Army (1981), there were 78,630 men enrolled in the corps in Georgia. They earned an estimated $19,480,065 in wages during their service.

Records show Georgia had a total of 127 camps, including 19 African American camp which housed the state’s 13 companies of African American corps workers.

Georgia's workers installed 3,638 miles of telephone lines, planted 1,672,905 trees for gully control, planted 22,915,095 trees in numerous reforestation efforts, and spent 153,022 “man days” fighting wildfires.

On June 26, 1940, Georgia's Ogeechee River Soil Conservation district approved the proposed projects. The district stated it would employ two conservationists to oversee the corps projects.

The reforestation's projects accounted for more than half of all their projects in the nation. On Feb. 6, 1941, final approval was given for the Ogeechee River Soil Conservation projects.

Roger Allen is a local lover of history who provides a brief look each week at the area's past. E-mail him at rwasr1953@gmail.com.