Sweeping Rocks Out of George Washington’s Eyes:
Curtis Severson and His Labors with the Civilian Conservation Corps
Curtis Russell Severson: 1915-2006
My second cousin, Curtis Russell Severson, spent three years
as a worker with the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), part of President
Roosevelt’s New Deal. He was assigned to the Pine Creek Camp near Mt. Rushmore
in South Dakota, and spent time doing manual labor to help the craftsmen
blasting and carving the giant faces of four presidents out of the side of the
mountain.
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| Curtis in 1937 at college |
Curtis was born September 26, 1915 in Brookings, South
Dakota. His father was Chester Severson, one of Julia Peterson Severson’s three
sons. Julia was my great-aunt, sister of my paternal grandfather Paul Peterson.
Curtis’ mother was Rena Nettum Severson. Curtis was the oldest of Chester and Rena’s
four children.
When Curtis graduated from high school in the early 1930s,
the country was in the midst of the Great Depression. Jobs were non-existent,
and most families were struggling to put food on the table. While Curtis’
father, Chester, was still employed at the time of the 1930 census as a loan
and insurance broker, business was probably slow given the economic situation.
The family probably needed Curtis to earn money; additionally, he wanted to
attend college and needed money for that. Curtis made the best of the limited
opportunities available to him and joined the CCC in 1934 at age 19.
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| Company 1793 at Pine Creek |
He was assigned to Company 1793 stationed at the Pine Creek
Camp near Keystone, South Dakota. The location was near Mount Rushmore, where
Gutzon Borglum was at work creating the giant presidential faces out of the rocky cliff
face. The federal government encouraged Borglum to make use of the CCC
employees—they would be free labor on an expensive project. However, Borglum
felt the CCC employees were of low skill and poorly organized; he preferred
well-trained stonecutters. He even rejected using the CCC men to build a stone
staircase to the viewing area.
However, Borglum must have made use of at least a few CCC
laborers for the menial jobs of clean-up, because later in life, Curtis wrote
down this brief account of his work on Mount Rushmore:
“To Whom It May Concern:
I worked on Geo. Washington’s eyes in 1934, as a member of
the C C Camp behind Mt. Rushmore. I swept the rocks out of G. Washingtons eyes
after the jackhammer guy had busted rocks out of the eyes. My job was to sweep
rocks out of G. Washingtons eyes.
Curtis R Severson
Date of Birth 9-26-1915
CCC-1934-1936, then S. Dak. State College grad 1940.”
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| Workers on Lincoln's eyes in late 1930s. Gives an idea of conditions. |
It isn’t clear how many days Curtis spent working on Mt. Rushmore. His company, 1793, built several large projects over the years he was with them, so they took up the majority of the company’s time and effort.
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| 1934 image of Mt. Rushmore taken by CCC worker--only face partly complete is Washington |
According to records maintained by the CCC Museum of South Dakota on Company 1793:
“The main projects in the first year constituted the
building of Horsethief Lake, the construction of three vehicle bridges, the
development of roads, and general "clean-up" of the area. In April
1934 landscape development around Horsethief Lake was started--the building of
picnic areas, fine grading, and trails. Road sloping was begun, a guard rail
was built, and two bridges were completed.
The major development during the winter of 1934-35 was the
construction of the Custer State Park Museum. It was built of stone with log
superstructure. Work also included the construction of a shelter and a
double-unit latrine at Horsethief Lake. One parking area was completed, 1 mile
of trail developed, and four foot bridges were constructed.
During the summer of 1935 work on the museum was continued,
and a shelter and latrine were developed at the north end of Horsethief Lake.
Fireplaces and tables were also built in the picnic area at the lake. Work
along the road consisted of the construction of 480 rods of log guard rail, the
grading of 5000 sq yd of road slopes, and the building of .7 mile of road.
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| Curtis may be in this photo, second row with hat? 1793 guys at Pine Creek Camp |
The major project for the winter of 1935-36 was the
development of t he Grizzly Bear Camp Ground. Projects in this development
included the construction of a latrine, picnic shelter, vehicle bridge, roads,
tables, and well and pump house. Work was done on landscape development around
the Custer State Park Museum, but due to heavy snows those projects were not
completed.”
The men also had time for recreation and entertainment. Pine
Creek Camp featured eight barracks, recreation hall, commissary, headquarters,
hospital, laundry, bath house, mess hall, and officers' and foremen's quarters.
The men had a baseball team, a basketball team, and attended classes with
fellow workers as instructors. Curtis was active in these pursuits. He was on
the basketball team, and taught a class in business. His CCC record states he
finished his time there with the rank of SP-1 Assistant Leader.
Following his years in the CCC, Curtis attended South Dakota
State College, where he majored in general science. He was active in campus
activities and governance, finishing up as Student Body President. He worked
his way through college, and earned a $100 scholarship, a large sum in those
days.
Curtis graduated in 1940, and married another student,
Maxine Wood from Iowa, a few months later. He started out in sales, then took a
position with the Brookings Chamber of Commerce before entering WWII. He had
been in the ROTC program or its equivalent in college, so he was mustered in as
a lieutenant. He spent 28 months with the infantry in the Aleutian Islands
before going to officer training school at Fort Benning, graduating as a
captain. He was stationed at Camp Shelby in Mississippi.
Following the war, he was employed by Ralston Purina Corp. in
the sales department for 31 years. He retired in 1978 as a sales manager. He
and Maxine had two children, and moved to Gainesville, Georgia in 1972. He was
active in many charitable and service groups throughout his life.
Curtis is the sort of person who should be honored on Labor
Day. He worked hard all his life, and was committed to giving back to his
community and his neighbors. I especially love his obvious pride in his small
contribution to the construction of Mt. Rushmore. His labor may have been
menial, but it was an essential contribution.
Sources:
https://southdakotaccc.org/camp.php?camp-name=SP-1-Pine-Creek
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/16417210/curtis-r.-severson
https://southdakotaccc.org/photos.php
The Ben Petranek Photo Collection of Co. 1793 in 1934. https://southdakotaccc.org/photo.php?read-about=RP-442
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