Silver City is proud to have one of the few and best preserved structures of the Civilian Conservation Corps. The Historical Society is undertaking a monumental project of moving this structure from private land to a site just across the School House.
This historical gem was once sitting near present day Bear Gulch. It was known as Camp Pactola F-4.
It was built in 1933 and relocated in the late 40's to Silver City where it served as its post office and general store for many decades.
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) played a transformative role in South Dakota during the Great Depression, operating from 1933 to 1942 as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal. Designed to provide jobs for young, unemployed men while addressing natural resource conservation, the CCC established more than 50 camps across the state. Enrollees planted millions of trees, built trails, fire towers, and park facilities, and developed infrastructure in areas like Custer State Park, Wind Cave National Park, and the Black Hills National Forest. Their work left a lasting legacy in both environmental stewardship and rustic-style architecture, with some structures still in use today. The CCC not only helped shape South Dakota’s parks and forests, but also offered hope and stability to thousands during one of the country’s most challenging economic periods.
The project of moving this 48 X 16 building across the bridge to its new location requires careful planning with the McLinn family, the USFS, and other local entities. Through hard work over this past year, the Historical Society has been able to secure some grants, volunteer work, and other resources to help with this project. In June 2025 the ground was broken to create a foundation on forest land in preparation to the move in July.
THE BARRACKS
The Life in a Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) barracks during the 1930s was structured, communal, and often spartan. Barracks typically housed around 50 men in long, narrow wooden buildings constructed from pine lumber and covered with tar paper. Each barrack featured rows of bunks, a central pot-bellied stove for heating, and minimal furnishings. Enrollees followed a regimented daily schedule: reveille at 6:00 AM, flag-raising, breakfast, and then departure to work assignments by 8:00 AM. After returning around 4:00 PM, evenings included dinner, educational classes, or recreational activities before lights out at 10:00 PM . Despite the austere conditions, many participants valued the discipline, camaraderie, and opportunities for personal growth that the CCC provided. (1)
PHOTO: 1930's Pactola Barracks - Courtesy of Ray Hendrickson
Resource Information:
(1) cabellcountydoorstothepast.com
(2) southdakotaccc.com
(3) Interview with Jay Hendrikson. South Dakota CCC Museum in Hill City.
CAMP PACTOLA F-4
Typical CCC camps in national forests during the 1930s, including those in South Dakota’s Black Hills, followed a standardized layout designed to house around 200 enrollees and were centered around a central parade ground. Camps included multiple barracks for sleeping, a mess hall and kitchen, bathhouses, tool sheds, garages, an administrative headquarters, officers' quarters, and often an education or recreation hall. Buildings were initially temporary wood-frame structures with tarpaper but were sometimes upgraded to log or rustic-style architecture, especially in forested or park areas. Camps were sited on level ground near water sources and roads for easy access to work sites, and layouts were designed to be semi-permanent, with clear separation between living, working, and administrative areas.
CCC Camp Pactola, officially designated as Camp F-4, was located approximately 2 miles west of the former village of Pactola in Pennington County, South Dakota. The camp operated during two periods: from June 8, 1933, to October 1935, and from May 25, 1936, to 1940. Its coordinates were approximately 44.069241° N latitude and 103.483316° W longitude (2)
SUCCUMBED TO THE NEW RESERVOIR
By the time that the reservoir was conceived in the late 1940's, the camp at Pactola had already stopped operating as a CCC camp. The remaining buildings were destroyed, flooded, or moved to make way for the reservoir.
A couple of those wooden buildings made it to Silver City, however the stone marker where so many pictures were taken was never moved. Then in 1989, after a drought had made it possible for USFS volunteers to get to the marker, the stone was dug up, tilted onto a barge, and floated onto the shore where the visitor center was built just south of the face of the dam.
WORK HARD PLAY HARD
CCC men at Pactola worked long hours—often in remote, rugged environments—planting trees, building roads, fighting forest fires, and constructing park facilities. Though most had little prior training, they quickly developed skills through on-the-job experience and technical instruction. Despite the tough conditions, morale was generally high, and their work ethic left a lasting legacy in conservation and public infrastructure still visible today.
But according to Jay Hendrickson, a Mystic native and CCC camp enrollee, the camps also allowed time for education and recreation. "We had every Wednesday and Saturday afternoons and all day Sunday off from work so we had time for recreation. There was baseball, basketball and boxing and a recreation room in the camp. The men ran track, went swimming, played checkers and chess and cribbage. We could also go to Hill City to watch a movie or go to a dance at the Legion Hall. The Legion Hall was the building that now has the museum (Black Hills Institute of Geological Research Museum). They always had a band," said Hendrickson. (3)
PHOTO: 1934 Peter McClaren of Plumb Axe Co. with a 42 inch circumference log cut by him in 39 seconds at the Pactola camp F-4
