Hard work and a good deal

The Civilian Conservation Corps supplied jobs to more than 77,000 Minnesotans during the Great Depression. In nearly one hundred interviews, the "boys" look back on their time in the CCC, during which many of them became men. African American enrollees tell of the segregated policies enforced in the army-run camps; workers for the CCC-Indian Division remember reservation projects that included rebuilding a fur trade-era stockade at Grand Portage. Together, these men give voice to early efforts that advanced the conservation of Minnesota's natural resources five decades in a few short years.