CCC Camp for Sale

By David B. Cummings

This is the story of how we came to live in a Civilian Conservation Corps camp.

It started in the summer of 1996 my father and mother Richard & Joy Cummings decided to invest in their children and grand children. They envisioned a lodge, a family business for us a place in the mountains, and asked that we start searching the surrounding states to see what we could find. We were living in Salt Lake City, Utah at the time. I had lived there long enough to know that I did not want to raise my family there and everyone else tended to agree with me on that point, so we set off looking.

It started as the shot gun effect at first searching Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, Nevada finding places by mail and the internet then checking them out in person whittling the options down one at a time, winter came and went it is 1997 now and still searching, we knew what we wanted, but did it exist? I felt it did. At this time I was looking at a place in Island Park, Idaho but as luck would have it we found this place in Smiths Ferry Idaho that very same week, it was up for auction in November and that was cutting it close to winter, so we found out who owned the property, it was Boise Cascade.

They had got the property in a land trade from the forest service as I was told, we made our offer and it never made it to auction, the place seemed a little rough at first glance but very beautiful workmanship and a mountain setting like no other the tamaracks were a flush of gold over the whole valley. By now it was late November and getting cold time to move, I left my wife and son in Salt Lake City with her family while I got the place livable, my brothers and I packed a truck then headed north to Idaho, as soon as we arrived from our 8 hour trip we unlocked the door it was cold inside no heat hook ups some rocket scientist cut a hole in the old fireplace sheet metal the people that were here before us did not take very good care of the place in fact just the opposite. We dug out an old wood burning stove from the truck and hooked it up now we had heat but no power it was the week end the power company would be here on Monday the water hook up was something different we still had to find the spring. The snow was on its way and we were not prepared for winter’s fury that hits this high up, needless to say it was a bad one with lots of snow and no equipment to move it.

In June of 1999, my wife and son came up to live. It was my wife's childhood dream to live in the mountains in a log cabin. She was trilled to be able to see her dream come true. Life was great.

In 2001 we bought the video store in Cascade. My wife was expecting our 2^nd child. In June 2002 our baby girl was born. When she was 4 months old we started bringing her to work with us. Everyone watched our children grow we made many friends and met lots of neat people. In 2005 our 3^rd child was on the way, our daughter was now 3 and our oldest was 10,our family is growing and things are changing it was time to move on.

We have no regrets, it has been an honor living here the people I have met and things that I have learned and found out about this place and the C.C.C, dates carved into walls along with names as well the fine craftsmanship built into all of the buildings, Swedish cope logs with dove tail ends on some of the buildings, the C.C.C used finish craftsmen to over see the construction of this camp the axe brothers I believe were there names, this was camp S-227 and home to company 280 occupied on June, 3, 1933, from what I know company 280 was organized in New York and was one of the first company’s to be transported out west by train.

Those men did road construction, forest work, and from what I understand some railroad work as well, I have A new found respect for all the men that worked in the C.C.C, times were hard and they did what they had to do to keep their family’s alive along with this great nation. I have taught my young children what I have learned not just about where they live, but about why this place was built and how desperate things must have been at that time, I found A gold slew made out of the trim from when this place was built, hidden in the top of one of the buildings I told my son people did not have any money back then most everything that they made was sent home and this was someone’s way to make a little extra. Makes you thankful for what you have, I will donate it to the McCall museum for others to see.

My father has passed away, mom still likes to visit but it is getting harder for her, my brothers one left along time ago to Arizona (he did not like the snow), my brother Scott is moving to Alaska (he must like the snow), and as for me, my wife and I want a horse ranch off the beaten path and to do something different with our lives, but we will never forget this place and the impact it has had on this family.