21 May 2011 History revisited: Remembering the CCC Camp at Damascus
While the buildings are gone and there are few physical reminders of what once was, Dan Dipert has strong memories and feelings about the CCC Camp at Damascus. It is where he fell in love with the 501, learned the skills to be successful in business and met the woman who would be his wife for more than 60 years.
A native of Oklahoma, Dan quit school in the 11th grade because he didn’t have clothes suitable for school. “It was the middle of the Great Depression,” he said. “Nobody had money for clothes.”
Dan was among the 2.5 million men, ages 18-25, who participated in the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), a public work relief program that operated from 1933-42. It provided unskilled manual labor jobs related to the conservation and development of natural resources.
Joining the CCC, Dan was sent to school to become a cook and baker. When he arrived in Arkansas, he was impressed by the beauty of the state and its people. “I had never seen a tree,” he joked. “Everyone was neighborly. That’s when I fell in love with this community.”
In the winter of 1934, Dan was working at Camp Moore near Jasper when orders were sent to set up a camp at Damascus. Armed with his field kitchen loaded in a truck, Dan and the rest of the cadre headed out. “We looked at a map for Damascus, Arkansas, and it wasn’t on the map,” he said, explaining that the group was told to head to Morrilton. Taking Highway 9, they ended up in Choctaw, where they stopped and asked for directions. Still unsure of the town’s location, the group stopped at a one-room Esso service station with a hand pump.
“We asked where Damascus was, and he says you’re in Damascus.”
While his eyesight is diminished, Dan can still point out the large tree that team members sat under with their mess kits to eat their lunch that day. “That tree has to be more than 100 years old . . . I remember it as if it was yesterday.”
Dan is quick to point out that he wasn’t a gourmet cook but rather a mess steward in charge of preparing three meals a day for about 200 men. His budget was 52 cents per day per man. Dan said the men ate “the finest meats,” and for some it was their first introduction to vegetables like broccoli, Brussels sprouts and cauliflower.
“One of the dishes I liked was Hungarian goulash,” he said. “They loved spare ribs, and I made my own recipe.”
Dan’s specialty was baked pies. Today, in his 90s, he finds baking to be therapeutic. “When I get depressed because of my old age because I can’t do things like I used to, the way I work it out is to go to the kitchen. My neighbors like to see me depressed,” he joked.
The kitchen had four wood stoves. Dan recalled during hot weather that those working in the kitchen would wear a towel around their head and drink a gallon of ice water. “It wasn’t easy. I remember it well.”
The CCC was responsible for many projects still enjoyed today in the 501, including trails in the Hot Springs area and Mather Lodge at Petit Jean State Park. “We built them with shovels and wheelbarrows.”
Those at the camp received $30 per month. They were able to keep $5 per month, and the balance was sent home. “That was the height of the Great Depression. There wasn’t a soul who had any money. You can imagine how that put money back in circulation. I think the CCC and WPA brought us out of the Great Depression.”
The CCC helped change the local landscape in several ways. In addition to helping farmers with conservation practices, the camp helped to stimulate the local economy. “This community changed a lot once the camp came in.”
Men at the camp also dated local girls. It was while stationed in Damascus that Dan met and fell in love with his wife, Vernelle Brown. “I fell in love with my wife, the community and the people in it.” They married on Christmas Eve in 1936.
After the CCC camp, the Diperts moved to Tulsa, where Dan managed a restaurant. He worked 12 hours a day, seven days a week. “I worked a year without even an hour off.” The Diperts returned to Damascus in 1938, and Dan opened Coffee Dan’s. “It’s a great community. I fell in love with it a long time ago.”
His experience at the CCC camp served him well. “That knowledge stayed with me the rest of my life,” he said. “Coffee Dan’s became very popular and very successful. We fed actors, congressmen and all the governors.”
Of course, it all began when Dan traveled to Damascus to help set up the CCC camp. “I remember so much about it.”
