By Deniane Gutke Karchner
Reprinted with permission from Blue Mountain Shadows, Vol. 1, 1987
Blanding looking north as it appeared in 1935 when truckloads of CCC boys arrived from the East.  (Frank Montella photo)
 

     Imagine yourself as a fourteen-year-old girl during the spring of 1935. It is the height of the Depression, and you are out in the barn feeding your animals. Your best friend gallops her horse up to tell you that the Blanding Commercial Club  is holding a meeting to discuss the Civilian Conservation Corps in the city hall right now. If you hurry, you can both hear the opening statements. You are so eager, you drop the grain, and climb on the back of her horse, excited to get to the city hall. You know that the CCC was established by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to relieve unemployment in the United States by providing jobs for the youth. This program, so close to his heart, went to Congress only 17 days after his inauguration.
 
    As you sneak up to the city hall, you can hear voices inside the room in deep discussion. Not wanting to miss a word, you both inch closer. You are dismayed as you hear the members of the Commercial Club pessimistically saying that the town wouldn't benefit from the CCC camps. They are saying that only a small percentage of local men will be employed, while truckloads and truckloads of city boys from the East will be sent in. You look at your friend knowingly and smile. You wouldn't mind that!

    Then a prominent member of the town stands up to protest further. He says these boys will bring their worldliness to the sheltered Mormon community. They will attempt to run things because of whom they are, and they will get the girls into moral trouble. You make a face and can't stand to listen anymore. Everything is quiet and you wonder if anyone will object.

    One lone member of the council stands up, and with a quiet but firm voice tells them the camps are a good thing, and Blanding can use all of the help it can get to fight the Depression. He also says that as far as religion and outside influence are concerned, he can't understand why we send missionaries all over the world to teach outsiders the gospel if we can't accept outsiders ourselves. He reminds the council the people decide who and what principles to accept, and he advises them to accept the good the CCC camps have to offer and deal with the bad if it arises. 

     You are afraid to breathe as the vote is being taken, but you give your friend a confident smile. The vote is formally declared in favor of the CCC camps, and you let out a whoop, giving away your hiding place. Everyone in the small room casts a look your way, but they see nothing. You are already gone to tell all of your friends that the CCC days in Blanding are here.

Blanding Commercial Club Approves CCC Camp 1935

    The scene recreated here was the actual day (May 4, 1935) the Blanding Commercial Club met to vote and discuss the reality of a CCC camp in Blanding. The decision to find a CCC camp in Blanding was backed by the success of other CCC camps in San Juan County area. The first of these sites was on the LaSal Mountains, in conjunction with the Moab camp for winter work. (San Juan Record, 1 June 1933.) In addition to these, there were smaller spike or fly camps which employed men for side work.

    In accordance with the National Youth Administration's designs for the functioning of the CCC camps, the county was allotted only a small percentage of locally enlisted men. The reason behind this action stemmed from the need to get the boys out of big cities where unemployment was the most devastating. Though not as many local people were employed as had been hoped, the state of Utah provided many other camps for these boys to go to. This enabled them to receive employment and at the same time fell more at home with people from Utah. (Lyman, Karl)

    These camps in Southeastern Utah were all run basically the same way giving the town leaders an idea how the Blanding camp would be run and how it would affect Blanding. Therefore, when you talk about the Blanding camp, you can imply things about other CCC camps in San Juan County.

Mormons in Blanding Establish Town Rules for CCC Boys

Georgann Burtenshaw, Mike Gooseman (the"Grey Goose") and Fern Watkins, outside the bank in Blanding.  (G Burtensahw photo)
    The first problem members of the commercial club expected to deal with was the worldliness these city boys would bring. It was a major concern that their presence would negatively influence the sheltered Mormon community of Blanding, so they ventured to keep their worldliness within the confines of the camp. (Lyman, Karl) You can imagine how these boys felt as they were called to a special meeting with Albert R. Lyman, the patriarch of a church they hadn't even heard of. Here they were, hundreds of miles from home, being told the things they had done all of their lives were wrong, and they were expected to respect these new rules and not cause any trouble. You can assume their mouths dropped a few inches as this seemingly ordinary man exhorted to them to follow some rather out of the ordinary new concepts. He told them their box or cigarettes would not be allowed in the dance hall, and other questionable habits were to be kept within the confines of camp. (Lyman, Albert R.)

    After listening unbelievably to this doctrine, you can imagine they went back to camp feeling somewhat rebellious. This is where the conflict starts, because it is difficult to change a lifestyle in one day. Knowing this, you can understand the CCC boy's side in this first story of the conflict between two groups who do not believe the same things.

    When the boys heard the order stating there would be no booze in the dance hall, they thought it was a big joke, until they visited their first dance. The superintendent of the Mutual, an office in this new church, told them, "No booze here, boys. It you get rid of it, you can come in. But, I guarantee if you leave at all after you can come in, you're not coming back!" (Watkins 5) Looking inside, they saw Alma Jones and Gen Shumway dancing up a storm. Pointing to Alma, they said, "Why kick us out? What about that baldheaded Mormon over there! He's got to be drunker than we are!" (Guymon 12.) Then one boy shrugged his shoulders acceptingly, waited outside, turned and came right back in. The superintendent had to let him back in, because he didn't have time to even touch the bottle! It was a break point for the CCC's, and a problem for the church. (Watkins 5)
 

CCC boys arrived in San Juan County ready to work but city fathers were more concerned about the social impact they would have on Blanding.  Toddy Wozniak, third  on back row.  (Donna Wozniak photo)
 
    With the coming of the CCC's, the Mormon church was no longer fully in charge. Here were young men who didn't believe in the teachings that had been the core of all the social, governmental, and other aspects of Blanding life.

    One of the worries expressed at the town meeting was moral corruption. From the beginning the boys were told to stay away from the Blanding girls of their intentions were anything but honorable. Phil Hurst, a foreman in the CCC's told his boys right off what was expected of them:

    "Blanding is a little Mormon town and they don't believe in a lot of this stuff. I'll take you down to the show but I expect you to be like men, act like men. If you start to stepping around with any of those Mormon girls down there, by George, I want you to remember that those girls are pure and priceless in the sight of their mothers, and I don't want one dirty thing pulled off around them at all. If you can't uphold those standards with that thought, I want you to stay absolutely away from them and I just will not tolerate it otherwise."

    It would have saved a lot of heartbreak if every boy with the CCC's had been present for Hurst's speech, but they weren't. Hurst said that in every community there are girls who just literally die from hours of loneliness and longing. Suddenly you move 250 boys into a town like this, and some of these boys start to make a fuss over them. They didn't have any resistance, and they fell like a piece of straw to a fire. The girl's willingness was part of the problem, and the town boys' attitudes made up the other part. The town boys shunned the girls, and mocked them for turning to boys who made them feel wanted. Jealousy kept the town boys criticizing the popular girls also, but didn't keep them from asking them out. (Hurst)


Open Arms?  The CCC Invasion of San Juan County continued
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Last Updated July 22, 1997 by Janet Wilcox