An objective of the CCC program, which put upwards of 600 men to work in the North Dakota badlands, was to provide a maximum opportunity for labor at a minimum cost for construction materials and equipment. With little more than strong backs, shovels, and picks, the CCC built roads, trails, and structures. In building structures they utilized native materials, such as the local sandstone, which they quarried themselves with star drills, sledgehammers, and sweat.

Here in the badlands, the CCC accomplished a variety of projects including road and trail construction, development of picnic areas, construction of comfort stations, and restoration of the Chateau de Mores and the de Mores packing plant site. Their work, along with the work of the Emergency Relief Administration (E.R.A.) and the Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.), can still be seen in the park and in the area, including the picnic area shelter in the North Unit, the River Bend Overlook shelter, the Old East Entrance Station in the South Unit, portions of the park’s road and trail systems, road culverts, and buildings at the de Mores State Historic Site.

Three CCC Companies, #2767, #2771, and #2772, operated in the badlands from 1934 to 1941. Their camps were established along the Little Missouri River in the North and South Units of the present-day Theodore Roosevelt National Park, and along Jones Creek in the South Unit. About 200 men, each earning $30 a month, worked at each of the camps. Most of the money they earned was sent home to the men’s families, and most men lived on $5-8 a month for toiletries, postage, haircuts, and occasional entertainment. CCC enrollees received lodging, meals, clothing, and medical and dental care. Although they lived and worked on a regimented schedule, the men had time to continue their education through evening classes and had Saturdays and Sundays for leisure. Many of the men formed lifelong friendships.