Wistful Wednesday : 1936 Lovelis Lake

1936 was the year that Far Guy’s Dad, Marvin was at The Civilian Conservation Corps camp at Lovelis Lake.  I wrote about our failed attempt earlier this week.

I took a photo at a display at Itasca State Park.

We needed more info!
I contacted a Facebook friend, David a High School classmate.   He responded quickly to my plea for info.  He suggested getting in touch with his cousin Robert who hunts in that area.  Later that same day we found Robert and Far Guy got a better idea of where the camp was.  In the meantime fellow blogger and researcher extraordinaire Iggy located an Oral History of a fellow who was in the CCC’s at the same time and also emailed a fellow who had visited the camp at Lovelis Lake.
We deduced that the camp was between 1/2 and 3/4 mile from Highway 113 on Anchor Matson Road.   It ended up being 3/4 mile..and guess what we saw?

Crap…we were dejected.   All this land belongs to the State but parts of it are leased.   Technically it is not private property...but…we are so close.
Far Guy pulled the car into the driveway to turn around and then I saw it.  Plain as day.

The chimney that the Historical Marker mentioned.

Back in there amongst those trees is where the camp used to be.  It is on the west side of the Anchor Matson road.
We headed over to Itasca State Park to get a season pass and to the visitors center.

Itasca State Park is not open for the season yet, but they were having school tours so we were able to visit the CCC display.  We knew this list existed because cousins Bonnie and Wayne photographed it for us last year or the year before.  I also had a copy at the Hubbard County Historical Museum.  It lists all the name of the young men that worked in the park.
There was also a map.

This time Lovelis is called Loveless.  This is the second known error in spelling.   This map also led to another adventure that I will relate someday soon.  That lake on the map just south of Lovelis Camp is really just a pothole, Lovelis Lake is North of the old CCC camp.
Finding Lovelis Lake CCC camp was not easy. We were lucky. You may say why was it important?  Only a few people know where these camps were, most of the CCC enrollees are dead.  It is a bit of history that we were able to figure out and leave behind for the next generation.
I am kind of enjoying retirement and being able to do whatever the day brings!

Wistful Wednesday: 1936?

This photo may have been taken in the summer of 1936.  The babe in arms was born in October of 1935, I believe it is my Aunt Anna.  The fellow holding the baby is most certainly my Uncle Wilbert, he was born in 1912, so he would have been 23 years old.  The little girl who I think is my Aunt Marie would have been just about 7 years old and that little boy..could be my Dad who would have been almost 9 years old…or is it Uncle George who would have been almost 12 or Uncle Adolf who would have been 13 that year?

The only clue we have is that this is “Wilbert’s Family” and it is.. just which members? ( My Aunt Senia wrote on the photo)

I don’t see my Dad in the little boys face, but I don’t see my Uncles faces either.  I do kind of see my Aunt Anna in that cute little chubby baby face.  Aunt Marie, the little girl on the left has her face down, so it is really hard to tell if it is her or not.

This is a school photo of my Father..possibly taken about the same time. I need to restore this photo..it is in very poor shape.

I still cannot decide if it is my Dad or not.  Now that I have the photo enlarged I will have him look at it someday:)

Wistful Wednesday: CCC Camp 1936

The Civilian Conservation Corps was part of the New Deal proposed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. It was a public relief program for unemployed men after the Great Depression. The CCC workers worked on natural resource conservation from 1933 to 1942. They built buildings and made roads and trails in State and National Parks.

Far Guys Dad worked in the CCC Camp at Lake Itasca in 1936. He recalled a really cold winter. The deer were starving, so they were told to distribute hay bales, the deer kept dying, but their bellies were full of hay. Deer cannot digest hay in the winter their stomachs are used to twigs and what ever else they can browse. In the spring he helped to plant trees and clear out trails around the Headwaters of the Mississippi.

This photograph was taken on February 10, 1936. On the back of the photo is the date and this notation. 52 BELOW ZERO.

I am hoping that my Grandchildren will take note of this story someday, perhaps one day when they walk across the rocks of the Headwaters on a warm day they will have a new appreciation for the cool shade of the tree lined walkway back to the parking lot:)