New Release
Amid the depths of the Great Depression, President Franklin Roosevelt formulated a bold plan for putting millions of unemployed Americans to work and restoring the nation’s public lands. Between 1933 and 1942, over 86,000 Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) enrollees worked on Oregon’s national forests, state parks, and tribal lands. Their labor transformed the landscape and created some of the state’s most beloved recreational areas.
The scale and scope of their accomplishments are staggering. In Oregon alone, the CCC built 50,000 miles of forest roads, 20,000 miles of trails, 3,000 acres of public campgrounds, 1,500 bridges, and hundreds of fire lookouts. CCC crews risked their lives fighting epic wildfires and restoring Oregon’s damaged forests.
Today, it’s almost impossible to travel around the state without encountering reminders of their legacy, from irrigation canals to ski lodges. This is the story of how they did it.
The Skyline Trail began as a network of footpaths created by Oregon’s indigenous tribes. Early fur traders and explorers followed, seeking safe routes over the unmapped Cascades. Judge John Breckenridge Waldo later spent decades exploring the mountain trail between Mount Hood and Crater Lake and led the campaign for the area’s preservation.
In the early twentieth century, the route became a popular backcountry escape for hunters, anglers, and outing clubs like the Mazamas and the Obsidians. The remote mountain footpath inspired books, poems, photo exhibits, and travelogues. Bend’s famous ski club, the Skyliners, would take its name from the trail.
During the 1920s, the U.S. Forest Service proposed turning the path into a scenic highway. But when the highway proved impractical, the Skyline was reinvented, becoming the foundation of America’s greatest long-distance hiking trail.
Long before Mount Bachelor became one of the country’s largest ski areas, the booming timber mills drew workers to Oregon’s forested hills. In the early 1920s, Scandinavian immigrants started a community ski club, and their passion for the mountains created a vibrant outdoor culture centered on skiing and winter recreation. As the timber industry collapsed in the 1950s, Bend businessman Bill Healy opened a small ski hill on the slopes of Bachelor Butte. That resort, set in the heart of the Deschutes National Forest, helped turn a fading logging town into a hub for tourism and outdoor recreation.
Oregon’s tradition of volunteer search and rescue began during the territorial days when Good Samaritans came to aid those in need. In the early twentieth century, outdoor clubs like the Mazamas, the Skyliners, and the Obsidians served as informal search and rescue units, keeping Oregonians safe in the mountains, rivers, and wilderness. After World War II, Oregon’s SAR teams began to professionalize and became some of the most effective units in the country. Today, SAR volunteers continue a long tradition of selfless service and professionalism, answering the call so others may live.
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Glenn Voelz 