Works Progress Administration & Civilian Conservation Corp Marked Tools

[William]

I recently found a hatchet head in good shape with basically no pitting in a barn in South Carolina. On the top of the head u can faintly read the letters CCC.

[bear_man]

William, how big were the "C" stampings?  On my splitting wedge, they're exactly 3/16" tall — my memory must've glitched; I recalled that they were shorter.

[Charles Garrett]

AH yes, I remember those days.  The WPA was a bust except for those that benifited.   CCC was as it turned out a great source of ready trained recruits for WW2.  A friend of mine was CCC and then a Battan marcher and spent the war in a Japanese prisoner mine .  He survived and last saw him a year ago.  He was a year older than me.  Many stories he told.  A couple of years ago Japan took the survivors back for a tour and apology.  Chuck Garrett

[Tim Byrd]

Looking to buy any and all tools Stamped W.P.A. or C.C.C. . Wooden handled tools are usually burnt marked with initials. Steel is either stamped or engraved. Thank you

I own a shovel with wpa stamped on it

[amecks]

On destroying perfectly good stuff:  I had a boss who's brother guarded German prisoners in a camp in England.  After the war ended the bicycles that servicemen used to get around were all gathered in a huge pile - to be scrapped.  Had they not done that the bicycle makers would have been put out of business.
Al

[Aunt Phil]

A little over half a mile from my place is Hamlin Beach State Park, a more or less ignored part of the State Park System so tax money can be spent elsewhere.  It began as a CCC camp that evolved into a POW camp for World War II that housed first Italian and then German POWs.

A few years back the Camps attracted a lot of attention from folks interested in history.  This is a fairly accurate writeup on the place.
http://friendsofhamlinbeach.org/cccpow.html

Lately it seems like the interest of those people has moved on to something else.

[michigancraig]

some where in the collection ihave a wooden level prob 2-3 foot it is painted red and stamped CCC

[gertrudestrong]

I have a 12-tined wooden-handled pitch fork stamped WPA. Would anyone like to make an offer on it?

[Catch22!]

The US Forest Service has an archaeology volunteer program called Passport in Time http://www.passportintime.com/index.html.  The program has done digs and restoration work at a number of CCC camps.

I would bet they have turned up a number of tools in their projects