Salina, UT - Part 2

Thursday, Sept 7, 2017

We woke to a beautiful blue non-smokey sky this morning. What a blessing! 

This morning we saw a few more of the birds around here.

Here in Salina we found a CCC/POW Camp Museum.

This statue was just outside the museum. The CCC, Civilian Conservation Corps, was created by President Franklin D Roosevelt in 1933, during the Great Depression. It was designed to employ unemployed, single, physically strong young men 18 to 25 years old (later expanded to 17-28). We learned they men were required to be young due to the extreme physical requirements. Salina Creek Camp F-32 CO-479 was located here until 1942 when the CCC program ended.

Over the CCC's 9-year life, about 3 million young men were employed. They were paid $30 a month and $25 a month was required to be sent back to their family. During the time of the CCC, enrollees planted nearly 3 billion trees to help reforest America, constructed trails, lodges and related facilities in more than 800 parks nationwide and upgraded most state parks, updated forest fire fighting methods, and built a network of service buildings and public roadways in remote areas.

We found this museum very interesting.  Then we learned that after the CCC closed the camp, the US Army used it as a German POW camp.

This is a small part of the camp that was reconstructed.

This model shows what the POW camp looked like. It housed 250 German POWs.

This Willys Jeep was used at the POW camp. It still runs and is used in parades and special events.

This was a very interesting excursion today. See the next post for our next excursion of the day.