Column: Remembering life in the Triple-C and riding the rails

Published 12:00 am Friday, December 28, 2001

In more recent years the Triple-C label could be based on the Commodity Credit Corporation.

Friday, December 28, 2001

In more recent years the Triple-C label could be based on the Commodity Credit Corporation. However, back in the 1930s and before World war II, those initials referred to the Civilian Conservation Corps, what some folks called the CC’s,&uot; or more accurately the &uot;CCC.&uot;

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The Civilian Conservation Corps was an agency set up by the federal government to hire unemployed young men for conservation work during the Depression years. The corps was a part of the New Deal program in 1933 and administered in part by the U.S. Army. This program provided training and employment. For many high school graduates of that era the CCC provided the only real job opportunities.

The CCC both conserved and developed natural resources through such activities as planting trees, building dams and fighting forest fires. More than two million young men served in the CCC before it was terminated by Congress in 1942.

There are indications that the CCC men served for six month terms in the camps which consisted of tents and rather crude wooden barracks. Most of the CCC camps were located in and near U.S. Forest Service areas, National Park sites, and some state parks and forests.

Here in Minnesota most of the camps were based on the Superior and Chippewa National Forests. The nearest CCC camps I’m aware of were located near Lanesboro and in the Whitewater area between Rochester and Winona.

Two of the young men from Albert Lea who served with the CCC were George (Breezy) Gregerson and Einar (Fred) Fretheim. They grew up in homes near the corner of Front Street and Lincoln Avenue and were close friends.

In a recent letter, Fred explained why George was given his particular nickname. He wrote, &uot;Early on, George obtained the nickname of ‘Breezy’ because he was never at a loss for words and quick retorts.&uot;

Breezy was the oldest son of Tillie and Gilbert Gregerson. He graduated from Albert Lea High School in 1934. In fact, the Memory Book for this class confirms his nickname with the slightly different spelling of &uot;Breezie.&uot;

Job prospects in 1934 weren’t too great, so Breezy signed up for a six month term in the CCC. He was sent to a camp near Bigfork, located about half way between Grand Rapids and International Falls.

Fred graduated from Albert Lea High School in 1935 and made a trip up north to visit Breezy in the CCC camp. Then, when Breezy came back to Albert Lea, he talked his buddy into taking a trip &uot;on the rails&uot; to visit Breezy’s uncle out in western Iowa. Here’s how Fred describes this trip in his letter.

&uot;It started when we hopped an M. & St. L. (Minneapolis and St. Louis Railroad) freight train at the Front Street crossing near our homes. We rolled south out of Albert Lea that cold fall day, sitting in an open boxcar with our legs dangling out of the open door, smoking cigars, with only a couple of bucks in our pockets, As days passed, we soon ran out of money and like thousands of other young ‘knights of the road’ at that time, we knocked on neighborhood doors for handouts. … We drifted across the state of Iowa to Illinois and back to Albert Lea.&uot;

During what Fred calls the &uot;dirty thirties,&uot; the cheapest, and sometimes really dangerous, way to travel from place to place was on the freight trains. Some folks called these freeloading passengers hoboes; others called them bums. Anyway, the railroad firms unwillingly provided the free transportation for these wanderers.

After riding the rails, Fred and Breezy signed up for six month tours in the CCC and were sent to a camp near Isabella, located in the Superior National Forest between Ely and the North Shore. Breezy completed his second period of service in the CCC and came back to Albert Lea. Fred stayed for another year and served as an assistant leader.

We’ll continue this narrative in the next column with more information about life as a short time hobo and what happened to Breezy during World war II.

Here’s wishing a Happy New Year to everyone!

Feature writer Ed Shannon’s column appears Fridays in the Tribune.