The Dent County Historical Society has dedicated Saturday as a to allow people to explore or share history.
A visit to the old Boss Civilian Conservation Corps site is planned at 2 p.m. that day in what was once the Clark National Forest, now the Mark Twain National Forest, in the Salem Ranger District. Participants will meet at 2 p.m. in the Boss Assembly of God Parking Lot, east of Salem, on Highway 32 and follow the leader to the site. All are asked to wear the appropriate clothing for hiking in this relic of history in Dent County, which will include exploration of the CCC site abandoned at the start of World War II. Parents will need to supervise their children as they explore the area.
The CCC was a volunteer work relief project for unmarried men aged 18 through 25. It was created during the Great Depression by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and was active from 1933 to 1942.
The men learned how to build fire towers, bridges, ponds, roads and the housing in which they lived. Reynolds County Road 903, which starts going east from Marcoot Tower, is a road that was rebuilt by the CCC men; pullouts on the old road are on one side and then, on the other side, trail segments were left behind.
Dent County had four CCC Camps: Boss, Bunker, Indian Trails Conservation and Montauk State Park. Montauk State Park is lucky to have places that can be used, like the old shelter, or viewed, like the spillway.
At 10 a.m. that morning, the Dent County Historical Society will have a workshop, “Telling the Story of the Upper Current River from the Road,” at the James Family Center at James & Gahr in downtown Salem.
The event will allow people to share their family stories, photos, maps and newspaper clippings. The goal, say organizers, is to have people bring things to the workshop to be scanned immediately or bring a flash drive with items to share that can be downloaded on a computer. Organizers plan to have a computer and scanner and a technician to scan the items on the spot. A worksheet will be provided that the contributor can fill out to accompany the contributions, plus sticky notes to identify people or places along the Upper Current River. It is an opportunity to share with the community, they add.
On Feb. 24, there will be a workshop for people who have family who lived in the Round Spring area of the Current River who would like to share their stories, photos of homes along the Current River from Ashley Creek, Montauk, and Sinking Creek to Round Springs. Suggested contributions may include family Stories, newspaper clippings or pictures of people, homes and barns.
The workshop will be at 2 p.m., again at 3 p.m., and another session at 4 p.m. at the Shannon County Museum on Main Street in Eminence. There is a limit of 10 people at each session.
For more information, contact Deloris Gray Wood, president of the Dent County Historical Society, at 573-729-2545.
