6. The Indian Division of the CCC did not reside in camps
The Great Depression was particularly hard on the Native American tribes in the west, and the CCC created the Indian Division to provide work on and near the reservations where many resided. On paper, they were designated in groups which were called camps, but the Indian Division did not erect camps, instead moving the enrollees and their families from job location to job location, providing an allowance to offset rental expenses. Enrollees from the Native American tribes were accepted between the ages of 17-35 and they worked on diverse projects including the construction of roads and dams, and erosion control systems.
The Indian Division provided training which went beyond the on-the-job training offered to and by the rest of the CCC. Classes were established to improve literacy and to provide specific job skills outside the range of a particular construction or improvement project. There was training as truck drivers and heavy equipment operators, animal husbandry, carpentry, surveying, gardening, and many more areas which provided skills not previously offered on the reservations. The training expanded to include academic subjects by 1941, and more than 80,000 Native Americans participated in the programs offered by the CCC in conjunction with tribal leaders and the Commissioner of Indian Affairs.