Then and Now: Camp Francis H. Cook employed men on Mount Spokane

Early newspaperman and developer Francis Cook pioneered the road to Mount Spokane, but it was still a rustic track when he died in 1920. Cook had a cabin there and dreamed of the area being a park where visitors could enjoy the views of 14 lakes and three states.

The area was given to the state parks system in 1927. The Great Depression spawned a series of government programs like the Public Works Administration, the Works Progress Administration and the Civilian Conservation Corps to employ some of the millions of men who couldn’t find work.

On Father’s Day 1934, the CCC opened Camp Francis H. Cook near Cook’s old cabin. The 200 young men of Company 611 lived in tents while they built trails, roads and shelters around the park. WPA crews improved roads leading to the mountain while the CCC crews worked on the main road inside the park.

The most enduring legacy of the CCC era may be the park’s Vista House, built in 1933 near the summit with CCC labor from the Riverside State Park camp. The granite lodge is a day-use facility that is often photographed when it is coated with snow.

At its busiest, there were 45 CCC camps around the Inland Northwest, directed from offices at Fort Wright. Nationally, the program employed 550,000 men ages 17 to 25 in a quasi-military camp structure. Clarence Smith, a former $100-a-month mechanic, earned $45 helping at Seven Mile Camp, the closest one to Spokane. He fought fires and built the suspension bridge in Riverside State Park.

Camp life wasn’t easy. There were lots of fights among the young men. “They’d make them put gloves on and fight,” Smith said. Many ran away to nearby Spokane. Others complained constantly about food and living conditions. But, he said, “It got kids off the street and taught them how to do something.”

Congress voted to shut down the CCC during World War II, and it was closed out in 1943.      - Jesse Tinsley