I remember it was a cold cloudy November day when my wife Marge and I along with our neighbors Joe & Joan Hampl discovered the old moss and leaf-covered foundations in the woods. Marge knew this was where the old CCC camp had once stood; she had first seen it over 50 years ago as a young kid. As we walked along stepping over fallen tree trunks, dodging branches and cockle burrs, we saw a big block of concrete resting on what seemed like a bed of leaves and in another location a concrete-lined pit. I wondered how many and what kind of buildings were here. Curiosity turned into an obsession to know the details. The research to uncover the facts about the camp that was “lost in the woods” led to the publication of this book.  At 5 A.M. on a fall Sunday morning in September 1935, a Northern Pacific passenger train stopped at the depot in the tiny town of Nisswa, Minnesota. The train carried members of Company 4751 of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). Captain Stenslie, Carl Shogren and men from the Minnesota Emergency Conservation Work (ECW) force met Captain William W. Welsh, the Company Commander, his army staff and nearly 200 enrollees fresh from Camp Lincoln, North Dakota. The men and boys were loaded on to trucks and driven about 10 miles to t he southeastern shore of Pelican Lake where a CCC campsite was under construction. Tents were erected and the group began the task of cutting trees, pulling stumps and grading the soil. By the end of October twenty-one buildings had been erected with electric lights, a 192 ft. well drilled, and hot and cold water was running in various buildings. A telephone line to Brainerd had been completed. Coal and wood had been stockpiled. The camp was now ready for its first winter. CCC Company 4751 occupied Camp Pelican S-76 from September 15, 1935 to August 11, 1938. During that time over 600 men and boys worked in the camp and surrounding areas in the Crow Wing and Pillsbury State Forests. Today nothing remains of the camp save for a few concrete footings and foundations and piles of metalwork lost in the woods. Through narrative and photographs this is the story of Camp Pelican. |
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LOST IN THE WOODS
Subpages (1):
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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