Camp Oregon Caves

Stories from the heart of the Siskiyou Mountains, Cave Junction, Oregon

Some history stories disappear without a trace but this isn’t the case for the Oregon Caves Civilian Conservation Corps, a camp that was once located on Highway 46 about eleven miles from Cave Junction. For almost ten years, more than 200 individuals called this place home.

The camp was established in the winter of 1933-1934 as part of President Franklin Roosevelt’s Emergency Conservation Work (ECW) Act, more commonly known as the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). Sometimes nicknamed Roosevelt’s Tree Army, the CCC was established with the intended objective of putting America’s unemployed youth to work on critical conservation work fighting soil erosion and declining timber resources. On top of this, the program was also able to complete projects that increased the economic infrastructure of many communities, including Cave Junction.

Probably the most impressive aspect of the CCC was the speed at which it was implemented. From Roosevelt’s inauguration on March 4, 1933, to the induction of the first enrollee on April 7, only 37 days had elapsed. Since most of the recruits were on the east coast and the majority of camps were on the west coast, the task of transporting recruits was one of the first challenges faced by the program. The Army was given the task of organizing transportation. The military also used its own regular and reserve officers, together with regulars of the Coast Guard, Marine Corps and Navy to temporarily command camps and companies.

The military was not the only organization to evoke extraordinary efforts to meet the demands of this emergency. Leadership in the Department of Agriculture and Department of Interior were responsible for planning and organizing work to be performed in every state of the union. This is how Siskiyou National Forest and Oregon Caves National Monument became involved in the CCC camp known as Camp Oregon Caves.

The young, inexperienced recruits worked six days a week and were provided with a place to live, meals and a monthly check of $30 out of which a mandatory $25 allotment was sent home to the recruit’s family. In communities close to the camps, local purchases by camps staved off failure of many small businesses. Overall, the benefits of the CCC program were felt in the economy of cities and towns all across the nation.

Camp Oregon Caves, a Civilian Conservation Corps camp near Oregon Caves National Monument as it appeared in 1940. State Highway 46, Cave Junction, southwest Oregon Siskiyou Mountains

Camp Oregon Caves as it looked in 1940. Recreation hall on the far right with barracks in the right background. Mess hall center right with supervisor residences and workshops in the middle background. Administration office center right with flag pole in the foreground. Building on the far left may have been the superintendent's residence.

Right - A menu cover for the Christmas dinner served in, 1936 provides a birds eye view of the camp showing all the buildings including those seen in the 1940 photograph above. Note that the flag pole is located between the mess hall and recreation hall. The four barracks are seen in the upper right of the drawing.

There were benefits also felt in the camps themselves, most of which were brought about by the education programs provided for crew members. Throughout the Corps, more than 40,000 illiterates were taught to read and write and many others earned their high school diploma or learned a trade that they could use when they left the program.

The CCC began to feel its decline in 1940 when the war in Europe was emerging as the subject of greatest concern to Roosevelt and the Congress. By the time it closed in 1942, more than three million young men had participated in the CCC with a combined accomplishment of erecting 3,470 fire towers, constructing 97,000 miles of fire roads, devoting 4,235,000 man-days to fighting fires, and planting more than three billion trees. The CCC also worked on the development of recreational facilities in National Parks, including Oregon Caves National Monument.

During its peak years, Camp Oregon Caves had four barracks, an administration building, recreation hall, cook house, bath house, shops and residences for supervisory staff. An athletic field provided a place for outdoor sports while facilities for indoor games were provided in the recreation hall. Motion pictures were shown one night a week while educational and recreational activities were scheduled on other evenings.

The history of Camp Oregon Caves followed in the footsteps of the CCC program nationally with each camp being large enough to support a “company”, a crew of about 200 individuals. Over the nine years the camp was in operation, four companies, all of which were from out of the area, occupied this site. The first group in the camp was a crew from Nebraska who spent the winter of 1933-1934 setting up the initial structures at the base. The following year, Company 1634 from Illinois, occupied the camp and remained there until the fall of 1936. They were replaced by Company 3873, a Texas organization that remained for one year before being replaced by Company 5483 composed of members from Georgia, North Carolina, Alabama, and Tennessee. All of these crews were stationed at Camp Oregon Caves in the winter months and moved to a camp at Crater Lake National Park to work on projects in the summer.

After the camp closed in 1942 the structures at the base were slowly scavenged, mostly out of need for building materials during World War Two. Some of the buildings were moved to the Siskiyou Smokejumper Base and used for about ten years before they were town down and replaced with the buildings that presently occupy that site.

The buildings may be gone from Camp Oregon Caves but many of the projects these crews completed are still used and enjoyed today including the Illinois Valley airport, Grayback Campground, and the rock wall landscaping of the Oregon Caves historic district.

If you would like to visit the historic Oregon Caves CCC camp, drive about eleven and a half miles out of Cave Junction on Highway 46 (the Oregon Caves Highway) and look on the left for the cabin-like Grayback Guard Station just before the Grayback Creek bridge. Behind this building, which was constructed by the CCC around 1936, is the Chinquapin Group camp, a camp that has recently been established for visiting schools and volunteer work crews. Beyond the Chinquapin Camp, look for terraces where the recreation hall and barracks were once located. A little further past the terraces is is a large meadow that may have been used as the recreation field for outdoor activities. For more information about the one mile loop trail see Cedar Guard Station Loop Trail.

The CCC program served a vital need at a time of national hardship and served the nation by converting human despair into a constructive page of American history. It is a piece Josephine County heritage we can be proud to claim.

In 2008, the Civilian Conservation Corps celebrated its 75th anniversary since its establishment in 1934. The Forest Service is working to improve this site as an addition to the tourism story travelers can enjoy when they visit the Highway 199 corridor. The improvements they are considering include a wheelchair accessible trail and interpretive signs to help visitors appreciate the size of the camp and the work that was accomplished by this Depression era work program. Work will also be done to renovate the interior of the historic Grayback Ranger Station, the only building remaining on the site of Camp Oregon Caves.

Story by Roger Brandt

	Workers from Camp Oregon Caves install rock stairs at Oregon Caves. These stairs are still used to walk up from the parking lot to the Oregon Caves visitor center.
	Civilian Conservation Corps rockwork at Oregon Caves continues to be a hallmark landscaping characteristic of Oregon Caves' historic district and lodge.

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