Nostalgia & History > Railroad Civilian Conservation Corps

Pictures 4, 5, and 6.

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Pictures 7, 8, and 9.

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A friend of mine that is 93 now and a retired railroader was in the Three C's during the Depression. He is from northwest Ohio but was sent to Nevada? I believe. He said they sent a lot of eastern boys out West and the western boys East.

He recounts one incident where three guys wondered from camp in their truck and got into a snowstorm. Two froze to death and one survived by climbing inside a hay bale during the storm but had to have some digits on his hands and feet amputated account of frost bite.

God bless ol' Otto, the master! And the places he got to never fail to amaze me, in a time long before interstates or even paved road in many locations. Interesting to see a UP light Mikado before being "UP-ized" around the tender, cab, stack, etc. Thanks for sharing these classics. Kurt.

And wasn't Otto just a postal worker?

1372 Wrote:
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> God bless ol' Otto, the master! And the places he
> got to never fail to amaze me, in a time long
> before interstates or even paved road in many
> locations. Interesting to see a UP light Mikado
> before being "UP-ized" around the tender, cab,
> stack, etc. Thanks for sharing these classics.
> Kurt.

wabash2800 Wrote:
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> And wasn't Otto just a postal worker?
>
Just a postal worker? At one time just a postal worker was an honored and valued profession. When Otto took these pictures being a postal worker was a high status, and most importantly in the 30's well paying job.
Sorry to sound cranky....

I wasn't putting down being a postal work just marveled that he would have the time and resources to travel and take all those photos even as a postal worker.


bisbeekid Wrote:
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> wabash2800 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > And wasn't Otto just a postal worker?
> >
> Just a postal worker? At one time just a postal
> worker was an honored and valued profession. When
> Otto took these pictures being a postal worker was
> a high status, and most importantly in the 30's
> well paying job.
> Sorry to sound cranky....

bisbeekid Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> wabash2800 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > And wasn't Otto just a postal worker?
> >
> Just a postal worker? At one time just a postal
> worker was an honored and valued profession. When
> Otto took these pictures being a postal worker was
> a high status, and most importantly in the 30's
> well paying job.
> Sorry to sound cranky....

My grandfather was a postal worker, in the days before email and junk mail, the post office was the main form of communication, and yes an honored profession. Times have changed a bit.

Times have indeed changed. Right into the 1950's in Oakland, CA, mail was still delivered twice a day on weekdays. Phones were only then beginning to saturate the population, with a large number still on party lines. Mail was a much more important communication channel.

It's high time for a really good article in Trains or something about the man. He was a true visionary.

As a retired high school teacher, you should be teaching history somewhere. Your posts are thought provoking, informative and the writing is exceptional. Thanks and keep them coming! One of my grandfathers and two greatuncles were CCC boys.

norm, the Oakland you describe sounds exactly like the Muncie, IN, in which I grew up during the same era. Double-daily mail, sparse phones, none of this instant communication mania of today. For the 1st ten years of my life, our family had no phone at all, no TV, a big coal stove for heat and the wonderful Philco radio for news and entertainment. And, of course, steam whistles echoing at all hours.........