TALKING TRAIL

In the years between 1933 and 1942, Civilian Conservation Corps camps were popping up all across the United States. At its peak, Montana was home to 32 camps throughout Big Sky country. One of those camps was here, at Camp Needmore. Its story begins nearly 90 years ago, in 1935, when a delegation arrived from Billings to inform local forest rangers that a CCC camp would be built five miles south of Ekalaka, near the Needmore Ranger Station. Within three months of the announcement, Camp Needmore was open.

The camp consisted of ten buildings. Four barracks, a recreation hall with administration offices and a camp store, a bathhouse and drying room, hospital, and large dormitory for CCC officers and forestry quarters welcomed close to 152 men to the camp, which was often referred to as the “windy valley” camp. At its prime, 200 enrollees and supervisors occupied the camp, working on fencing, forest thinning, building forest trails, spring development, and other work necessary to improve the value of the Ekalaka division of the Custer National Forest.

Camp Needmore saw its fair share of struggles. Measles, mumps, and scarlet fever afflicted dozens of residents of the camp, resulting in quarantine. The summer months brought green grass, clear skies, and wildflowers, though the wind often whipped across the prairie. The short summers made way for long, hard winters. In fact, the winter of 1935-1936 was among the coldest and snowiest on record. Vehicles were left running for extended periods of time to ensure they would be operational when needed. Snow left roads impassable, travel reliant on a small dozer with a nine-foot blade. The task wasn’t easy and a former operator said it was like shoveling snow with a teaspoon. The CCC left in 1936, though the story did not end here for Camp Needmore.

For four years following the departure of the civilian conservation corps, Charles Hahnkamp served as the caretaker of the camp. In 1940, the CCC returned again to build storage dams and small reservoirs in the area. They left for the final time that fall. The camp was returned to the forestry service for supervision.

Camp Needmore was taken over by American Legion Post #60 in 1946. It served as a wonderful location for annual 4-H camps and was filled with the sounds of children relishing in their summer vacations. The camp went through periods of deterioration, reconstruction, and rebirth and is still in use to this day. It is open year-round, although the freezing temperatures require the water be turned off during the winter. Nearly every weekend in warm weather and hunting seasons, the camp is reserved for 4-H camp, weddings, reunions, church groups, visitors, and hunters.