This is the Civilian Conservation Corps camp at Schultz Pass near Flagstaff. The young man in the photograph is Ed Eyrich. He was the driver for the Shultz Pass unit, and was responsible for bringing supplies from Cottonwood and mail from Clarkdale.

The Civilian Conservation Corps was established in April 1933 in the first phase of President Roosevelt’s New Deal. The corps was intended to provide employment and vocational training for young men who were out of work because of the Great Depression. The corps built roads, cleared trails, planted trees in the national forests and worked in the national parks.

By July 1933, 1,500 CCC camps had been established with 200 members each. Since the cooperation of four federal departments—War, Interior, Agriculture and Labor—was required to organize the CCC, the speed with which the camps were set up was remarkable.

To join the corps, a young man had to be a U.S. Citizen, unemployed, of good character, between the ages of 17 and 23, unmarried, out of school, and physically and mentally fit to do vigorous work. Enrollees served six-month terms and could reenroll for a maximum of two years.

Corps members were paid $30 a month, $25 of which was sent to their families. In addition, they were given meals, housing, clothing and health care. In return, each enrollee had to work a forty-hour week. Vocational training and elementary and college level classes were available, which provided opportunities for training and education not ordinarily available to young men at the time.

Ed Eyrich entered the CCC in 1933. He served with a unit that worked at the Grand Canyon in the summers and in Sedona in the winters. The men transplanted trees, built a park entrance and tennis court at the Canyon and worked on Schnebley Hill road. Since Eyrich knew how to drive, he was designated camp driver and once a month went to Phoenix for supplies.

At the end of the year, Eyrich returned home to Phoenix but was unable to find work. He soon reenlisted and was sent to Flagstaff to help prepare a new camp at Shultz Pass. Again, he became camp driver, picking up supplies and mail, and one time even providing ambulance service for a man suffering from acute appendicitis.

He left the CCC in August of 1936 when he married a Flagstaff girl. He was unable to find work and was preparing to return to Phoenix, when a job became available at the Arizona Lumber and Timber Company in Flagstaff. He worked as a mechanic for the company and its successor until his retirement in 1979.

The CCC lasted until the U.S. entered World War II. By the spring of 1942, most able-bodied men had enlisted, and the camps were closed. Today all that remains of the Shultz Pass camp is the concrete slab used for the tent floors.—

—Arizona Capitol Times archive. Photo courtesy Ed Eyrich.