OPINION

REX NELSON: Atop Mount Nebo

They were, for the most part, tough men who came from poor families in rural areas of Arkansas. They were men who hunted rabbits and squirrels throughout the year just to put meat on the table; men who plowed land behind teams of mules in order to plant cotton; men who chopped weeds between the cotton plants by hand in the summer and picked cotton by hand in the fall. From 1933-35, they built many of the roads, bridges and buildings still being used on Mount Nebo in Yell County.

By 1932, with the nation in the grips of the Great Depression, the national unemployment rate reached 23 percent. More than 13 million Americans had lost their jobs. Arkansas already was a low-income state, and some families began having trouble simply putting food on the table. In 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt came up with the idea of the Civilian Conservation Corps. Roosevelt had been elected in November 1932 after promising that he would go to Congress during his first 100 days in office with programs designed to pull the country out of the Great Depression. The president signed the law creating the agency on March 31, 1933. Commonly known as the CCC, the corps gave young men jobs while at the same time helping the country preserve its natural resources. By September 1933, there were 1,468 camps of about 200 men each nationwide, with at least one camp in every state. By September 1935, there were 2,635 CCC camps.

"Reserve officers of the Army ran the camps, which provided food, clothing, shelter, education and morale," Patricia Paulus Laster writes for the online Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture. "The Department of Labor selected the young men through state agencies and welfare offices. Those enrolled had to be between 18 and 25 years old (later adjusted to 17 through 23), U.S. citizens, of good moral character, out of school and in need of employment. Enrollees could volunteer for a six-month period and re-enroll every six months for up to two years. Later in 1933, separate camps were authorized for veterans of the Spanish-American War and World War I. Their duties were assigned according to their age and physical condition without restriction on marital status or age. Arkansas had four veteran camps."

During the recent two-day trip along Arkansas 7 that's the subject of an essay on the front page of this section, we spent a night in a state park cabin atop Mount Nebo. It was one of the state Department of Parks & Tourism's modern cabins, but the Depression-era work of the CCC was all around us. Mount Nebo soars 1,350 feet above the surrounding Arkansas River Valley. It was a landmark for early European settlers who traveled on the Arkansas River. Local historians believe that the wife of Louis White of Dardanelle, who owned land around the springs on the mountain's Bench Trail, named the mountain after the one in the Bible from which Moses saw the Promised Land.

The Summit Park Hotel was built in 1889 to allow those who could afford rooms a chance to escape the summer heat. Wealthy travelers would disembark from steamboats on the Arkansas River and then be shuttled in wagons to the summit. At the height of Mount Nebo's popularity, there were two hotels and hundreds of privates homes, arbors and tents that housed up to 5,000 people during the hottest months. Several of the almost 50 private homes still on the mountain have been in the same families since the late 1800s. The Summit Park Hotel, which wasn't insured, burned in 1918 and wasn't rebuilt. Following the fire, Nebo began to decline in popularity. Visitors now came on day trips from nearby Dardanelle and Russellville.

In 1924, the community of Mount Nebo received publicity for being the first town in the state to have a city government composed entirely of women. The female slate was elected in April 1924 to replace the mayor and other members of the city council. In some cases, the women defeated male members of their own families.

In an effort to attract tourists to the mountain again, members of the Dardanelle Chamber of Commerce began urging state officials in 1926 to make the mountain a state park. Money was raised to purchase land that could, in turn, be turned over to the state. In 1928, a deed of 500 acres owned by the state due to delinquent taxes was given to the Arkansas State Park Commission. Delinquent taxes, which were common during the Great Depression, allowed the state to acquire even more land. Mount Nebo State Park became the second state park in 1928. The first had been established atop nearby Petit Jean Mountain. The park now consists of almost 3,000 acres.

In July 1933, CCC Company V-1780 was established on Mount Nebo. The "V" indicated that the company was made up of World War I veterans. Only about 10 percent of CCC camps nationwide were veterans' camps. The men working on Mount Nebo were mostly between the ages of 35 and 45. They tended to be native Arkansans who were married and had children back home who needed support. Payday came once a month, and each worker received $30. They could only keep about $5. The rest was sent home. Despite the low pay, most of these men re-enlisted. Life, it turns out, was better on the mountain than at home. They had uniforms, three meals a day and job training opportunities. They worked hard as they constructed buildings, roads and trails. But they had time late in the afternoon and in the evening to play games, visit with each other and write letters. The typical day began with reveille at 6 a.m. followed by breakfast at 7 a.m. Work began at 8 a.m. and lasted until at least 3 p.m. with lunch usually served in the field. Classes sometimes were offered late in the afternoon, dinner was served at 6 p.m., and lights had to be turned out by 10 p.m.

Company V-1780 ceased to exist on Oct. 25, 1935. The wood and sandstone rocks used by the CCC to construct state park facilities were native to the mountain. CCC projects ranging from cabins to stone bridges to a pavilion overlooking the Arkansas River still stand as a testament to the work of the men who for a short but productive period called Mount Nebo home.

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Rex Nelson is a senior editor at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

Editorial on 12/10/2017

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