The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a New Deal program developed under the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt to provide jobs to the unemployed during the great depression of the 1930s. The program was initially designed to employ young men and after grew to include World War I veterans. The CCC was just what was needed to improve the 15,000 acres that had been recently acquired by the State of Texas for the establishment of Palo Duro Canyon State Park. The first three companies of CCC enrollees, made up of World War I veterans, arrived in Amarillo via train on July 11 and 12, 1933. After setting up their camp, the first task for the early workers was the construction of the road from the rim of the canyon to its floor. The fourth veterans company arrived in December of 1933
The early veterans groups at the canyon were initially integrated, but the African American troops were reassigned to Sweetwater, Texas in 1934. Two companies of segregated African American enrollees arrived from east Texas in August 1935. the final group of workers to labor in the canyon was comprised of youth members, and when the group left the park in December 1937, the project at Palo Duro Canyon was one of the few to include workers from each of the three special groups - veterans, African Americans and juveniles.
The projects completed by the CCC from 1933 until 1937 included public buildings (such as El Coronado Lodge) and cabins constructed of native sandstone, roads, bridges, culverts and hiking and bridle trails. Many of which are still in use today.
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