The CCC was created as a "workfare" organization to provide employment opportunities to 18-25 year old youth. The pay was set at $25 per month for basic enrollees, with most of that pay (generally $20 per month)sent back to parents or guardians of the enrolled youth. This provided much needed assistance to many families that were too proud to receive public assistance, and put otherwise unemployed youth to productive use inimproving our natural resources.

The CCC reached a maximum enrollment of 500,000 by 1937, thus giving many a way out of the cycle of poverty created by the great depression of the 1930's. It was disbanded on June 30, 1942, seven months after theUnited states entered World War II.

In Michigan, The CCC operated over 100 camps, and is said to have planted over 485,000 trees, mostly in the northern two-thirds of the state. The CCC Museum at North Higgins Lake State Park, opens to the public from theMemorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend, is a tremendous source of information for those interested in the history of the CCC in Michigan. Interestingly enough, the only known Michigan CCC tokens are from Company 672at Camp Higgins Lake, 4 miles west of Roscommon, the current location of the CCC Museum!

In addition to the youth enrolled In the CCC, there was also a Veterans Conservation Corp~ (VCC), which comprised approximately 10% of the total enrollment in the CCC. The vast majority of the enrollees in the VCC werewere World War I veterans. The pay for the veterans conservation Corps was about the same as what they made in the military, about a dollar a day, but in the veterans Conservation Corps they had to endure a lot less. Trenchfoot, cooties, mustard gas, and machine gun fire were not a part of the VCC job description. Work for the veterans included plant1ng trees, soil conservation work, building of state parks, development of the nationalforests, and a host of other services.

CCC camp tokens were generally issued in 5¢ and 10¢ denominations due to the limited amount of spending money (generally $5.00 per month) allotted to the enrollees. About 1/4 of the tokens issued were of the"Tree" type, an attractive stock reverse,with some of these being issued for the Veterans Conservation Corps. The balance of the tokens known come from various makers, including a number of E.A. Schmidt issuedtokens, as well as those of other makers.

Most of the known tokens are scarce to rare, with only a handful of tokens within the series that could be considered common. Many coupon books were also issued by the CCC camps, but the decision was made not to list themin the present article. The present listings include only metal &. fiber tokens.

Paul Manderscheid adds:

CCC Camp Exchange Coupons
Ken Berger writes:

For the complete TokenCatalog entries, see:
10 Cents CCC Token Greenbriar, AR(http://tokencatalog.com/token_record_forms.php?
action=DisplayTokenRecord&td_id=219171&inventory_id=165191&td_image_id=93157
&attribution_id=222691&record_offset=11)
5 Cents CCC Token Greenbriar, AR(http://tokencatalog.com/token_record_forms.php?
action=DisplayTokenRecord&td_id=255787&inventory_id=208750&td_image_id=114685
&attribution_id=260645&record_offset=12)
5 Cents CCC Token Watsonville, CA(http://tokencatalog.com/token_record_forms.php?
action=DisplayTokenRecord&td_id=446803&inventory_id=474344&td_image_id=301919
&attribution_id=459256&record_offset=25)
10 Cents VCC Token Atlantic, IA(http://tokencatalog.com/token_record_forms.php?
action=DisplayTokenRecord&td_id=188770&inventory_id=128261&td_image_id=72823
&attribution_id=191740&record_offset=0)

For more information on the Civilian Conservation Corps, see:
Civilian Conservation Corps (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilian_Conservation_Corps)

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
NUMISMATIC NUGGETS: APRIL 22, 2018 : Civilian Conservation Corps. Token (http://www.coinbooks.org/v21/esylum_v21n16a35.html)