By Steve Lent, Crook County Historian
Camp Wickiup of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was located west of La Pine near Wickiup Butte. The camp was established on April 15, 1940. CCC Companies 596 and 3530 were based at the camp. The first company lived in tents for ten months until seven permanent barracks were completed. The camp had an enrollment of 600 men and had facilities similar to Camp Redmond located just east of Redmond. Facilities included a system of barracks, a mess hall, a recreation hall and maintenance buildings.
The main camp was Camp Redmond and Camp Wickiup was a satellite camp and it was unusual for CCC camps to have two main operating camps with one commander. They were closely associated because of the large North Unit Irrigation Project they were working on. Enrollees at Camp Redmond were involved in the construction of canals for water delivery to the North Unit Project. The North Unit Project involved constructing a water storage reservoir on the Deschutes River and construction of irrigation canals for delivery of stored water to the farm lands near Madras. Water for the canal system was diverted from the Deschutes River just north of Bend.
The primary purpose of the enrollees at Camp Wickiup was to work on preparing Wickiup Dam for water storage for the North Unit Project. Men cleared timber from the site of the reservoir, stripped the dam site, dug the cut-off trench and placed impacted earth for the reservoir embankment. It was unusual for CCC enrollees to operate heavy equipment but camp enrollees on this project often operated equipment. It was a major undertaking to clear the timber at the site of the reservoir as well as constructing the large rock and earth face of the dam. A new dam was necessary to increase the water storage on the Deschutes River as most water rights were already filled in the storage system of Crane Prairie Dam.
Camp Wickiup and Camp Redmond became the largest CCC camps on the west coast. The outbreak of World War II removed most of the CCC enrollees at Camp Wickiup but Mennonite conscientious objectors were sent to the camp to continue work on the project. They performed very well but were only at the site about one year. The camp eventually closed in July 1946.
The North Unit Project was completed in 1946 and irrigation water transformed the Madras vicinity from a dry land crop farming region to one of the most productive and diversified farming centers of Central Oregon. Wickiup Dam and reservoir also proved extended recreational opportunities.