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A significant impact in New Mexico
The effects of the Great Depression during the 1930s stretched across the country into New Mexico. The establishment of the Civilian Conservation Corps was one of many New Deal programs meant to stimulate local economies and provide jobs for the overwhelming numbers of unemployed. Because of its major presence in New Mexico, the CCC worked on several projects throughout the state, including Rattlesnake Springs and Bandelier National Monument, aimed at benefiting both its members and residents of New Mexico.
By the time the CCC program ended in 1942 at the start of World War II, 32,000 men had worked throughout New Mexico developing the state's park system. They worked with the CCC for up to two years and earned thirty dollars a month.
Rattlesnake Springs
Rattlesnake Springs is located in southeastern New Mexico near Carlsbad Caverns. The springs come from ground water that bubbles up through the bedrock. In 1938 the CCC came to this area, and the camp that set up here became home to sixty-two workers and was officially named NP-1-N. The work the men here performed included tilling and landscaping the area, planting several cottonwood trees, laying trails for visitors, and extending the existing irrigation ditch.
Today the Rattlesnake Springs campsite stretches for eighty acres and is a detached part of the Carlsbad Caverns Natural Park. While here, the CCC built living quarters, a kitchen and dining facility, a recreation hall, a school, and an infirmary. During World War II the Carlsbad Air Base used the buildings built by the CCC. Most of these structures are no longer at the site, but the cottonwood trees that line the picnic grounds remain as reminders of the work that the men of camp NP-1-N did at the springs.
Bandelier National Monument
Bandelier National Monument, located on the eastern slopes of the Jemez Mountains of New Mexico, has a deep history that is rich in the native culture of New Mexico. CCC workers here built thirty-one structures in the pueblo revival style in and around the Frijoles Canyon at the monument. They also constructed the first road to the monument, making it accessible to visitors.
Largely due to the work of the CCC, in 1987 the area of the Bandelier National Monument was designated a National Historic Landmark. The size of the park has grown over time to its current size of about 33,000 acres. It includes over 2,500 surveyed archaeological sites.
The work of the Civilivan Conservation Corps
The work that the CCC did in New Mexico greatly improved the newly created state park system during the 1930s. In addition to the work done at Rattlesnake Springs and Bandelier National Monument, the men of the CCC also developed Hyde, Elephant Butte, Conchas, Bottomless Lake, and Santa Fe River Parks, among others.
The CCC also undertook beneficial projects in New Mexico in addition to those in the state parks. Former governor Clyde Tingley was instrumental in helping the state obtain CCC projects. His efforts yielded a CCC administrative center New Mexico and various new projects for the CCC in the state.