UP THE SWIFTWATER

A Pictorial History of the Colorful Upper St. Joe River Country
by Sandra A. Crowell and David O. Asleson

Contributions of CCC
The effect the Depression had on the St. Joe Valley was different from some parts of United States. There were no bread lines, no broken businessmen here. Instead, the valley stepped into a whole new aspect of its development when President Franklin Roosevelt created the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1933.

An editorial in the Tin Can Tamarack, a newspaper produced at the Tin Can Camp, summed up the philosophy of the CCC. "... Men trained in the University of Life learn all types of trade, a measure of discipline, other fellow's rights, elimination of vicious habits and anti-social tendencies."

What the CCC meant to this area was an influx of about 1,000 men in camps dotted up-and-down the St. Joe Valley. There were camps at Bond Creek (St. Joe City), Falls Creek, Big Creek (Herrick), Spring Creek, Marble Creek, Hoyt Flat (a veterans' camp), Avery, Tin Can Flat, and Conrad's Crossing. Additional spike camps were set up at Bathtub, Bird Creek, Turner Flat, and Roundtop. Each camp had at least 120 men, and some had as many as 500 at their peak. They were under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Army out of Fort Wright in Spokane with the Army and Naval Reserve captain and lieutenant. The men wore olive drab fatigues leftover from World War I.

The work for the CCC boys was clear-cut. In 1931 it was impossible to travel from St. Joe to Avery by road. For over twenty years the only way in or out of the town of Avery was by rail -- or by poling canoe, or by foot if one were so inclined. The CCC work projects were to be supervised by the Forest Service, a civilian contractor would supply the equipment and planning, and the CCC boys would provide the labor. So in 1934 work on the concrete bridge in Avery was started under the supervision of contractor Henry Fleming at the cost of $80,000. The CCC proudly installed a plaque signifying that the work in been done by Company 1991, F-120 (Avery camp). Downriver the men built the bridge crossing the railroad track near St. Joe City and the concrete bridge over Falls Creek.

In the entire Valley needed road work. The N.R.A. (National Relief Administration) workers had built the road from Avery to Packsaddle Campground in 1933-34, and the CCC took over the project from there to Red Ives Ranger Station. The entire Red Ives compound was CCC handiwork. Finally in 1938 the road connecting Avery and Red Ives was completed, a big improvement over the 57-mile Kelley Creek-Bathtub-Beaver Creek route. That hastened the end of packers and pack strings. Going down river, the CCC broke a road from Avery to St. Maries. The valley was open at last to automobiles.

Probably the biggest project tackled by the CCC boys was the Fishhook Tunnel. Much of the time, two shifts worked on the tunnel. Some tunnel it was, too: 415 feet long, 20 feet high, 24 feet wide. The project took ten tons of blasting powder in 2,277 holes; the muck pile of 150 cubic yards a day was used for road fill. Then during the time of slack funding, the men cleared the trail to Lake Creek. It was a happy night when the boys saw moonlight at the end of the tunnel on May 23, 1939. Today the tunnel has the distinction of being the only haul road tunnel in Region One.

Who were these young men who came to work up the swiftwater? They came mostly to this particular area from New York, New Jersey, and Arkansas; many had names and accents foreign to northern Idaho.

A few of the boys had no skills and little education, while just as many were very capable, so their jobs were planned accordingly. Their manner and attitudes varied as much their backgrounds. A few had definite criminal tendencies learned off the big-city streets, and on occasion, work leaders were threatened by their charges. That was the exception rather than the rule of course, for for most of the time there was a great deal of work going on. In the off-hours, there were a variety of activities. The camps had pool and ping-pong tournaments, boxing matches, horseshoe games; the boys fished, hunted, swam. Their softball leagues played against the town, other camps, and between their own barracks. They had weekly church services and invited the town to massive Christmas dinners. One enterprising young man, Charles Poindexter, was so determined to develop his hobby of photography that he created his own darkroom in the bottom of a large cedar tree on Bird Creek. He lined the ceiling with burlap, used the creek for water baths, and fought off squirrels to protect his prints. This was such an unusual thing to do that Grit newspaper featured it as a human interest story in 1964.

And the CCC boys were well-noted for another activity in Avery especially, but no doubt they pursued it whenever the opportunity arose. The Tin Can Tamarack explained well in this note May, 1939: "There has been quite a lot of action downtown among the lads trying to steal the girls away from one another." No wonder, with so many men and the eligible girl population of Avery being somewhat limited!

When the '40's rolled around and Hitler's tanks rumbled through Europe, the Army began some calisthenics and rifle-training in the CCC camps. Then the lottery and draft calls increased, and the nation turned its eyes to threat of war. The camps were closed as their enlistees went on to defend the country. One group left behind this nostalgic verse:

"You are leaving Avery with lots to regret
But when you get home don't ever forget
To remember the "Edol," remember the 'Stein'
Remember the fund at the old 'Canteen'."

Somewhere, sometimes, perhaps someone still remembers the "Edol" and the 'Stein;" but youth and time pass quickly and even the presence of the CCC in St. Joe country is a vague memory now.