Cortez launches grant-funded study of 1939-41 CCC soil camp history

Cortez has moved to document a sizable New Deal presence north of town after winning a $22,736 History Colorado grant to research Civilian Conservation Corps Camp SCS-14-C (Company 3837). City leaders and local archaeologists are calling for residents with family ties to share photos, letters, artifacts or memories to help reconstruct daily life at the camp and add those stories to city records.

The camp operated from 1939 to 1941 near the Carpenter Natural Area and housed roughly 200 enrollees at a time in a town whose population was about 1,800. Workers carried out soil conservation projects across Montezuma County and parts of Southwest Colorado, including work in Dolores and San Miguel counties. Recorded projects included building fences, stabilizing stream banks, constructing check dams, improving pastures and even graveling sections of Main Street at the courthouse.

Archaeological field work completed in 2024 by Woods Canyon Archaeological Consultants Inc. documented 13 archaeological sites and seven isolated finds within the Carpenter and Geer Natural Areas, offering new insight into the camp’s footprint and daily operations. Ryan Spittler, principal investigator at Woods Canyon, said many enrollees came from outside the region - Oklahoma, New Mexico and Texas - though he believes a few families with ancestral ties still live locally.

“On the weekends, or certain times, they were able to go on leave, go to church Sundays, maybe to a restaurant or a bar in town. So, they were somewhat intertwined in the community,” Spittler said. “It wasn’t just like this isolated camp at the northern edge of town.” He added that the project aims to learn what daily camp life was like and preserve those stories for city records. “In 2024, Woods Canyon completed a cultural resource survey of the Carpenter and Geer Natural Areas at the city’s request. The survey documented 13 archaeological sites and seven isolated finds, offering new insight into the camp’s footprint and daily operations,” Spittler said.

For Dolores County residents this work ties personal family histories to visible changes on the landscape. The camp’s labor shaped ranch pastures, stream channels and public roads that remain part of everyday life; uncovering records and artifacts can clarify how federal conservation efforts affected local land use and livelihoods. The city’s researchers intend to combine archival research, archaeology and community contributions to build a fuller picture of the camp’s role in town life and the wider region during the Depression.

Residents who believe they have photographs, letters, objects or family stories connected to CCC Camp SCS-14-C are asked to contact Ryan Spittler at ryan@woodscanyon.net or (970) 564-9640. As the project proceeds, those materials will inform the city’s historical record and help preserve a chapter of Cortez’s New Deal past for future generations.