Designation: SCS-6  Date: 2021-03-13

Fechner

South Dakota Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp aprox. 3 miles east of Sturgis, SD

1936, 10/15 - 1942, Sum, 2765
1942, Spr - 1942, 07/27, 4725V
Operate as D-Army-1 during 1934-35
Date Closed: 1942

Camp Fechner was located in 1934 on a beautiful site on the west edge of Fort Meade in a natural bowl bordered on three sides by pine clad hills. Built by Company 2758, the mess hall, bath house, and latrine were used for the first time in August. On October 1, 1934, the barracks were completed (1935). The officers' quarters overlooked the entire camp from a high hill. A line drawn from that point bisected the camp, passed through the stem of the T-shaped kitchen-mess hall, bisected the bath house and ended between the large latrine and an auxiliary store room (1935).

An extension of the cross of the T of the mess hall crossed the headquarters building near the camp entrance and the recreation hall at the other end of camp. The 10 barracks faced a circle with a 300-ft radius centered on the camp axis, with the two middle barracks located between the mess hall and the bath house and store room (1935).

Officers' Quarters Fireplace, 2015 - courtesy photo

A road entered camp by headquarters building perpendicular to the camp axis and passed the kitchen-mess hall and recreation hall, then circled to the offices' quarters. Gravel sidewalks connected most of the buildings (1935).

Camp Fechner was designated D-Army-1 from July 1934 until the fall of 1935 when it was temporarily closed for almost a year.

On October 15, 1936, it was opened as Camp SCS-6 and retained that designation until July 27, 1942, when it was closed as a CCC camp.^x

The work of Fechner SCS-6 was supervised by the Soil Conservation Service (SCS) and was done on private lands. Enrollees demonstrated the value of contour and strip farming, shelterbelts, stock dams and pasture furrows to reduce erosion, prevent runoff and better utilize grazing land. The camp, which billeted the district headquarters staff, was used as a prisoner-of-war compound during WWII.

^xDerschied, Lyle A. "The Civilian Conservation Corps in South Dakota, 1933-1942." Brookings, SD, South Dakota State University Foundation Press, 1986. No longer in print. Available at some libraries but may not be checked-out.

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