Are We There Yet?

Devil's Den trail recalls CCC's importance

A bronze statue honors the Civilian Conservation Corps workers who labored to create Devil’s Den State Park starting in 1933.
A bronze statue honors the Civilian Conservation Corps workers who labored to create Devil’s Den State Park starting in 1933.

DEVIL'S DEN STATE PARK -- Stripped to the waist and posed with a double-bladed ax, the life-size bronze figure all but ripples with physical exertion.

Set on a 4-foot-tall pedestal overlooking the stone dam on Lee Creek in Devil's Den State Park, he's not the statue of anyone famous. He represents the several thousand previously unemployed members of the federally funded Civilian Conservation Corps put to work developing the park during and after the Great Depression.

By hiking the park's CCC Interpretive Trail, Devil's Den visitors can grasp the importance of the 1933-1942 program in easing the agonies of America's mass unemployment. The quarter-mile walk circles through the ruins of CCC Camp No. 2.

The nine stops along the trail are designed, as a park brochure explains, "to help you visualize the camp and the daily lives of the young men assigned here during park construction." CCC work took place at six Arkansas state parks, with the remaining Devil's Den structures considered one of the nation's best preserved project sites.

Posted on the statue of the CCC worker is a slogan that seems more modest than inspiring: "We can take it." A plaque tells visitors that "this statue is a tribute to the dedication, attention to detail and ability of the enrollees, leaders and commander of the CCC."

Like the statue's figure, most workers were physically fit young men. The rules required them to be unmarried, unemployed and between 18 and 23 years old. The age span was later expanded to 17 to 28.

The CCC was considered the most popular of all of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal programs. Nationwide, about 3 million men were enrolled, serving up to two years in six-month increments. They received housing, food, clothing and an allowance of $30 a month -- $25 of which had to be sent home to their parents or other family members.

At Devil's Den, the CCC laborers built cabins made of native stone and logs, the stone dam, campgrounds, offices, a restaurant, hiking trails and other amenities. Renovation of aging structures took place in the 1960s and 1970s, with the park gaining designation in 1994 as a National Historic District and placement on the National Register of Historic Places.

The park is also known for its sandstone crevice area, which contains about 60 crevice caves. The longest, Devil's Den Cave, extends 550 feet into the hillside. The caves, which provide homes for a variety of bat species, are currently off limits to the public.

As a posting at the visitor center explains, "All caves in Devil's Den are closed due to white nose syndrome, a fungal disease killing millions of bats." Those mass deaths are taking place across the United States.

Also closed, probably until next spring, is the park's cafe and gift shop, damaged recently by an electrical fire. But visitors can still find plenty to enjoy here. A brochure maps out seven marked hiking trails, ranging in length from the 1/3-mile Woody Plant Trail to the 5.6-mile Fossil Flats Trail.

According to the brochure, Fossil Flats "is the park's main mountain bike trail, but it is great for hiking as well. It is named for the flat, fossil-filled limestone found in the creek. This trail offers many things to see including historic sites, bluffs, wildflowers and creek crossings."

That's a ride or walk especially tempting in October, when temperatures have moderated and fall colors are emerging on the trees.

To reach Devil's Den State Park, take Interstate 49, Exit 45 (Arkansas 74 near Winslow), west for 7 miles. Or take I-49, Exit 53 (Arkansas 170 at West Fork), west for 17 miles. The park's visitor center is open 8 a.m.-5 p.m. daily. Admission is free. Call (479) 761-3325 or visit ArkansasStateParks.com.

Weekend on 10/22/2015

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