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Camp Okoboji, SP-9, Iowa

PAYMASTER CABIN AT CAMP FAWN LODGE, CA, SAVED 

Submitted by:  Gay Berrin, Member

Plans by the State of California to remove a historic Civilian Conservation Corps-built “Paymaster’s Cabin” at Fawn Lodge have been withdrawn in response to letters and phone calls from concerned Trinity County, California, residents, the Trinity County Historical Society, and a letter from CCC Legacy President Joan Sharpe.

Camp Fawn Lodge F-298 was active from April 1935 through the middle of 1936.  It was a State-sponsored camp amongst other camps in Trinity County sponsored by the U.S. Forest Service.   There were a total of eight CCC camps within Trinity County.  Like the Forest Service camps, Fawn Lodge centered its work activities in the surrounding forest, including construction of fuel breaks and telephone lines.  Enrollees were trained in fire suppression and responded to forest fires.  For recreation, they were active in baseball and other sports, frequently competing against teams from other camps in the Redding and Eureka CCC districts.

The camp area became a California Department of Forestry—now called CalFire—fire station, its crew responding to structure and wild fires during the fire season.  Recently CalFire made plans to expand and modernize the fire station.  Reasons included lack of adequate housing and bathroom facilities that met State housing and safety codes, lack of space for modern firefighting equipment, and continually increasing maintenance costs for the old buildings.

The plan would require the removal of the two remaining original CCC buildings left from the old Fawn Lodge CCC camp:  a “Paymaster’s Cabin” and a “Kitchen/Mess Hall” building.  The Paymaster’s Cabin is in good condition, retaining enough integrity for potential eligibility to the National Register of Historic Places.  The Kitchen/Mess Hall over the years has been modified and is not in as original condition.

A 97-page report detailing the proposed project was released September 14 by CalFire and gave the public a 30-day window in which to submit comments.  Redding resident Robert Maxey, a retired CalFire captain who had served at Fawn Lodge for about ten years, alerted the Trinity County Historical Society in Weaverville of the plan. Maxey had actually lived in the Paymaster’s Cabin during his tour at Fawn Lodge, and he was aware of the facility’s previous CCC heritage.  He related his deep concerns about the planned removal of the two structures.  The historical society in turn contacted CCC Legacy President Joan Sharpe, a local county supervisor, a State senator, and others.

Most of the letters in response to this asked the State to reevaluate the plan and to allow the historic structures to stay.  Trinity County Historical Society President Rod Plew wrote, “The two buildings are integral to Trinity County history regarding the 1933-1942 occupation here by the CCC…

“We are losing more CCC buildings as time goes on.  It is important to preserve what we have.  In Trinity County, we believe the only other structures left are one from Camp Mad River that stands on private property near Ruth and a second one from Camp Hawkins Bar that stands on private property at Hawkins Bar.  The Fawn Lodge structures were part of a unique State operation and they are two of a very few such CCC buildings surviving today.”

In response to the letters and phone calls, CalFire changed the plan.  The public comments had a real effect, according to CalFire Senior Environmental Planner Dan Foster in Sacramento.  Foster sent copies of the letters to all the people involved in the planning, all over the State.  They were impressed, he said.  The engineers were “highly motivated” to go back to the drawing board.  They created another alternative, “reshifted” buildings to allow for the new changes, and now have a way in which to keep one of the historic CCC structures, the Paymaster’s Cabin.

Foster explained that keeping both buildings would not be possible.  The Kitchen/Mess Hall requires a large amount of remodernization to meet codes, including the replacement of old electrical wiring.  California State allows funding for new structures but any maintenance or modernization comes from project funds, which the small Fawn Lodge Engine Crew just doesn’t have.  Additionally, just a few days earlier another State structure, built in the 1950s, burned down from faulty wiring.  This increased the concern about being able to properly take care of the Kitchen/Mess Hall.

Even though there is not much project money, Foster thinks that if they plan it right, they should be able to keep the Paymaster’s Cabin for another 20-30 years.  He would like to see its continually being used, which will help keep it in better condition.

Little Remains of CCC Camp at Havilah, CA

by Mark L. Howe, Archeologist, Kern River Ranger District, Sequoia National Forest

The Sequoia National Forest is a land of prehistoric and historic sites in the western portion of Kern County.  The forest is full of history of the Sierra Nevada and our different cultures from before written time. 

The Forest Service, by law, is to conduct an archeological reconnaissance (Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act) of project areas to examine if prehistoric and historic resources are present.  What this reconnaissance does is determine whether impact of projects will damage or destroy these irreplaceable resources and what can be done to preserve them if possible.  Our job as archeologists on the Piute Grazing project was to examine if cattle grazing in this area of the forest will impact archeological resources and to record them as found. One important historic site to American History from the 1930s that was in this project is the Havilah Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) camp location.

This camp was established in 1933/34 in the Havilah area on Forest Service land. The CCC camp location was coordinated with Frank Cunningham (Forest Supervisor) to establish a camp near Havilah. Cunningham’s official correspondence with a F. G. Munzer from Bakersfield states that, “In order to handle 200 men from one camp, it is necessary for us to place them where there is ample water, camping room ... and work within a reasonable distance. My present thought is to establish one camp at Havilah.”

The camp was established with orders to have an 80’ warehouse, a guard station, ranger station and other various buildings built. We have a list from July 13, 1935 of individuals who worked in the Havilah and Bodfish camps or area. This list is in our documents file and can be accessed by writing to the Sequoia National Forest for a copy.

Today the only surviving structure is the warehouse which is used as the garage both for fire engine 45 and the Breckenridge hotshot crew at Havilah. Across the road and to the south of this standing structure we found the remains of the original CCC camp built during the 1930’s.

The camp is no longer there but the remains of foundations, depressions, and piping with artifacts still are. We set about recording these and came across a total of 25 different features. These consisted of latrines, root cellars, foundations of buildings with steps, walls and pits. One of our structures is the Dining Hall/Recreation Hall. This has a complete side stair case of rock and cement with retaining wall on the east side.

An entrance of similar dimension is on the north side with the remnants of a main fire place in background and smaller interior side fireplace on the right. These foundations are interesting and unique for they were made to stand the test of time as we see here.

Another structure we called the Administration Hall has a large three step entrance way. Both of these structures and others have vanished except for these low lying stairways and sidewall foundations.  These foundations were all under about 1 inch of dirt with numerous bushes and trees growing in and around them. A “sidewalk” from the Dining Hall north to the Administration Building is composed of local rock in a vertical pattern.

One can walk down this area and not even notice this feature today due to overgrowth of grasses and brush. The last structure to mention out of the numerous features is the boiler room. This is a flat concrete foundation with side walls of broken granite spread out on the sides. Walls of milled wood were originally installed as confirmed by milled wood we found along the sides. The foundation has a central drain and boiler foundation in the middle portion of the structure. An interesting note; we found inscriptions, prints and paint on the cement after 75 years.

Recently the son of Doyle Henderson (Ranger at Havilah in 1935) visited the fire station and talked to the fire crew there. He left an email address but it bounces back and anyone who reads this story with information on contacting him would be appreciated.

This year is the 75th anniversary of the CCC and further information on the CCC can be found by emailing Joan Sharpe, President — CCC Legacy at ccc@ccclegacy.org. I hope that we continue to preserve the American Heritage of our history and prehistory by recording these resources before they are gone forever. Preservation of these historic artifacts and structures from the CCC days are important for our understanding the history of Kern County and the areas we call home.

CCC Legacy Journal Vol. 33 Issue 5  -  September / October 2009

Howard Seacord Builds Successful Career Based on CCC Experience

Howard Eggleston Seacord

10/17/15 – 7/17/09

Born Cortland, NY and moved to San Jose, CA at age eight. After graduating from San Jose High School, Howard went into the CCC’s where he learned to be a heavy equipment operator, a skill which became his lifelong occupation. He spent WWII working as an independent contractor for the US Army in Central America, Adak, and the Aleutian Islands. As the war was ending Howard moved to Hawaii to work on reconstruction projects throughout the Islands and married his wife, Betty in Honolulu in 1948. They returned to the mainland and settled in Santa Rosa in 1951, purchasing acreage off a rural country road called Parker Hill where he built his own home and raised his family. Also known to many as Captain Hal, Howard sailed his Chinese Junk, the Four Seas on the San Francisco Bay and Delta for 20 years. After selling their boat, he and Betty then spent the next 20 years seeing over 190,000 miles of the US in their RV. Howard’s family roots are deep. He comes from Scottish descendents named More who were the first European settlers in Delaware County NY. The Clan is now over thirteen thousand strong and the family is celebrated every five years with a reunion attended by hundreds of cousins, including Howard and his family. As an active member of Operating Engineers - Local #3 for 65 years, Howard worked on the union’s election and grievance committees as well as an equipment instructor for apprentices. He also enjoyed teaching boating safety for the Coast Guard Auxiliary. While living in Oakmont he participated in many activities including lawn bowling, petanque and the Rovers. Howard leaves Betty, his wife of 62 years, daughters, Nancy Lynn Frost (Mike) and Carol More Fitzpatrick (Matt) and two grandsons Brian (Julie) and Christopher (Teri) Frost.

 Internment was at Cortland, NY and a celebration of his good life will be held at a later date. Desired donations in his memory can be made to Memorial Hospice, Council on Aging in Santa Rosa, the Oakmont Community Fund or a charity of your choice.