Stanley Watson

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was one of Roosevelt's most successful New Deal agencies. It offered unemployed young men a chance to be productive by working outdoors. Over two and a half million young men were taken off the streets and put to work building roads, bridges, and dams, and reforesting. They were even paid $30 a month—most of which was made to go home to the parents. The author of the following article, Stanley Watson, describes his life hoboing around the country and how the educational opportunities the CCC offered changed his life. He later attended Washington State University and wrote a book about his experiences during the Depression.

Early in the winter of 1933 a ragged, shabby youth might have been seen trudging Westward upon the national highway bearing the number thirty. That youth was the writer...