A couple months ago I received an email from an author in Ohio, Gary, who is writing a booklet about a now deceased WWII soldier from Ohio who in his youth had worked at the Civilian Conservation Corps “Camp Wickiup”. Gary made extensive searches of historical records but could not pinpoint the location of the camp, which he knew from various accounts was within the area that had been inundated by Wickiup Reservoir.
Prior to the dam being built, the area was known as “The Wickiups” due to the remains of an old Piute fishing/hunting camp as evidenced in this 1915 map:
The camp was opened in 1938 to house CCC workers logging the reservoir site and building the dam.
Gary sent some photos he’d found of the camp, but there were no telling geographic clues to where it was located:
I’d never heard of the camp so I had him contact my friends John and Jean, a retired couple who are hands down the most knowledgeable history sleuths in the area.
John and Jean knew of other CCC camps in the area, but not Wickiup. They searched all the likely local and state records to no avail concerning the exact location. They know just about everyone in town over the age of 80 but none of the thin gray line were of any help. So they drove down to the reservoir and started chatting up campers, fishermen, and USFS folks. A Camp Ground host recalled seeing a map at the South Twin Lakes resort store and sure enough, there was this aerial photo on the wall with the "Old CCC Camp" labeled:
The location was somewhat vague on the old photo (and it turned out, incorrect), but when they got home and google earth’d it, the ruins of the camp jumped out:
Since the reservoir is low now, the dog and I took the kayak out to take a look see at the camp remains.
There’s lots of mud flats right now and a good many birds, including pelicans, cranes, herons, ospreys and eagles.
The stumps show that this was a big oldgrowth Ponderosa Pine forest when it was logged in the 1930s
After a paddle of 1.5 miles we got to the camp. At its peak the camp had over 600 workers and from Gary’s photos it appears that the barracks were not built on permanent, substantial foundations. The majority of the remains (6) are the concrete foundations of what appeared to be bathhouses, with 5 toilet fixtures in one room and maybe a community showers in the other:
The north row of concrete slabs in the aerial photo I believe are the “camp shops and garage” shown in a snowy 1939 photo.
The southerly two remains in the aerial were larger 30’X40’ structures without the toilet facilities. The easterly one has what may have been a 3 holer outhouse next to it:
Once WWII began, Camp Wickiup became a “Civilian Public Service” (CPS) camp for Conscientious Objectors. They continued the work on the reservoir site, fought forest fires and built roads.
The CPS camp was closed in 1946 and the camp was razed in 1947.
It would be interesting to find out if the CCC had standard plans for their camp buildings. I’ve seen lots barracks photos, but none of these more substantial buildings.
From the boat ramp by Wickiup Butte:
