August 8, 2015

Mystery photo of the day.

P1140382

It's not a slide. Note the pointed wedge at the bottom. Clue (from a nearby sign):

P1140384

ANSWER:



(Click to enlarge and read.)

19 comments:

Quaestor said...

When the CCC was instituted the big environmental question of the day (they didn't use those terms, however) was soil erosion. That construction is a drainage flume. The wedge-shaped bit at the base is intended to slow the water to prevent backwash from undermining the spillway.

dustbunny said...

A WPA project?

Quaestor said...

It would be interesting to see a photo of that area before the flume was installed.

Michael said...

Well, we can't have our present underclass build these kinds of things in return for money and a bit of dignity. Hot outside. Dirty. Bugs.

Quaestor said...

A WPA project?

The Civilian Conservation Corps wasn't part of the Works Project Administration, though the intent (unemployment relief) was similar. The CCC was run by the Army Corps of Engineers (War Department) whereas the WPA was a separate entity.

One major difference is that the CCC had opportunities for unskilled and semi-skilled workers, while the WPA with its emphasis on major construction projects favored skilled workers.

Quaestor said...

Well, we can't have our present underclass build these kinds of things in return for money and a bit of dignity.

The single most important accomplishment of the Sixties generation.

Rob said...

The CCC poster is both sexist ("A Young Man's Opportunity") and racist (the people pictured do not look like America). Certainly the evil fruits of the sexist, racist tree must be destroyed. Heigh heigh, ho ho, the drainage flume has got to go!

Etienne said...

Internet says SCS-11 was Mount Horeb camp.

It says SCS-11 did erosion control projects on private land mostly, as there was no large public lands. 1935 was their first year it looks like.

Quaestor said...

When I was an undergrad I spent my first three semesters in a WPA dorm. It's still in use today, though it has been remodeled (more WCs, lounge and vending on every floor, Gigabit ethernet, etc.)

Most construction today won't last 70 years. I'll wager my old dorm will still be standing and in use in its centenary year.

Etienne said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Michael K said...

The CCC was a major factor in getting America semi-trained for WWII. In WWI the army was appalled at the poor condition of so many young men. Britain was in worse shape for the WWII army.

It is one of the few FDR programs I support without reservation.

Deb said...

My father joined the CCC when he was about 16 years old and was sent to California. He joined the Army and was stationed at Pearl Harbor.

virgil xenophon said...

My father was in the CCC in the late 30s just prior to going to college. He helped to build Lake Decatur, Decatur, Illinois, then graduated from Illinois State, was drafted as an enlisted man in the 1941 draft (The one-yr enlistment OHIO DRAFT--"Over The Hill In October"-- which was to end in Oct 1942 which Pearl Harbor made mute.) went to OCS school and became an Inf Company Commander in the 42nd Rainbow Div (MacArthurs' old WW I DIV) and fought in the ETO. Every time we passed the lake when I was a child in the 50s post war he would proudly point and say: "I helped build that lake!"

virgil xenophon said...

PS: And what Rob said! (And he's only half kidding...would be LOTS of lefty crazies today that would seriously entertain the thought...hell, they are currently ACTIVELY agitating to blow up the Hetch Hetchy reservoir dam that supplies San Francisco with almost ONE HUNDRED PER-CENT(100%) of its water just to bring the river back to a "state of nature.")

Quaestor said...

The CCC was a major factor in getting America semi-trained for WWII.

Germany had a similar program, which under Hitler became the Reichsatbeitsdienst or RAD (National Labor Service). The RAD really emphasized the paramilitary side of their activities, even to drilling with shovels as if they were rifles. The CCC boys gained physical fitness and learned how to live in camps or barracks, and that was about the extent of the paramilitary features of the program.

The big achievement of the RAD was the autobahn. Using virtually nothing but hand tools the RAD build about 40 miles of Autobahn 1 from Berlin to Mücheberg, mostly as a propaganda stunt (Germans can build with their hands what other races can't build with machines). The rest was build by Organization Todt by conventional means.

Quaestor said...

They are currently ACTIVELY agitating to blow up the Hetch Hetchy reservoir dam that supplies San Francisco with almost ONE HUNDRED PER-CENT(100%) of its water just to bring the river back to a "state of nature."

Those same batshit brains are almost entirely responsible for California's water crisis. The impound capacity of California's reservoirs hasn't significantly increased since the early 1970s even though the statewide population has nearly doubled over the last 45 years.

Ann Althouse said...

Quaestor nailed it instantly.

I put up photos of 2 more signs, giving the details.

cubanbob said...

Quaestor said...
They are currently ACTIVELY agitating to blow up the Hetch Hetchy reservoir dam that supplies San Francisco with almost ONE HUNDRED PER-CENT(100%) of its water just to bring the river back to a "state of nature."

Those same batshit brains are almost entirely responsible for California's water crisis. The impound capacity of California's reservoirs hasn't significantly increased since the early 1970s even though the statewide population has nearly doubled over the last 45 years.

8/8/15, 4:39 PM"

Who wants to bet these fools think they will be able to get by with Perrier and rainwater?

Smilin' Jack said...

It's not a slide.

It will be in about two months.