History

Monthly Features

Yellowstone National Park

On March 1, 1872 President Ulysses S. Grant signed legislation protecting more than 2 million acres of wilderness in present-day Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming. The legislation created Yellowstone National Park—the nation's (and world's) first national park established to preserve and protect the natural wonders contained within its borders.

After President Franklin D. Roosevelt's established the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) to get unemployed Americans working during the Great Depression, more than 3 million young men got jobs with the CCC to improve and conserve the nation's public lands. Corps participants working at Yellowstone National Park constructed footpaths through Yellowstone's Norris Geyser Basin, built campgrounds at Mammoth Hot Springs, fought forest fires, combated invasive insect species, and maintained hundreds of miles of park roads and hiking trails.

You can learn more about Yellowstone and America's other natural treasures at the February 2015 Web page dedicated to America's National Parks and Forests.

Photo courtesy of the National Parks Service.

Civilian Conservation Corps Recruiting Poster

President Franklin D. Roosevelt proposed establishment of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) on March 21, 1933. After Congress enacted the Emergency Conservation Work Act on March 31, Roosevelt issued Executive Order 6101 establishing the CCC on April 5, 1933.

Between 1933 and 1942, millions of men ages 17–28 worked to preserve and protect the nation's public lands through a variety of improvement, restoration, erosion and flood control, and conservation projects.

Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Gila National Forest Civilian Conservation Corps Entrance Sign

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) enrollees received training, three meals a day, clothing, a place to sleep, and a monthly wage for their work on the nation's public lands. During its 9 years, the CCC would have camps in all 48 states, Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The CCC established 17 conservation corps camps in or near the Gila National Forest in Silver City, NM, between 1933 and 1942. The corps unmarried, unemployed, male participants constructed ranger stations, camping and picnic areas, constructed roads, strung telephone lines, and completed erosion and fire control projects that continue to benefit Gila's visitors.

Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress.

1790 Census Act

On March 1, 1790, President George Washington signed the 1790 Census Act into law.

The nation's first census was taken as of the first Monday in August (August 2), 1790. U.S. marshals collected the name of the head of each family and the number of people in each household in the 13 states; the districts of Kentucky, Maine, and Vermont; and the Southwest Territory.

Upon completing the count, marshals forwarded the data for 3,929,214 people to Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson.