U.S. federal Works Agency.
Works Progress Administration.
New York
- W.P.A. In the Susquehanna Country
Northwestern
University Library
Evanston,
Illinois 60201
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COUNTRY
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The WPA in the Susquehanna Country
3n American ®otoernment cannot permit Americano to otarPe.
—President Roosevelt
The rich dairy country comprising the counties
of Broome, Chenango, Cortland, Delaware, Ot¬
sego, Sullivan, Tioga, and Tompkins make up
District 8 in the New York State setup of the
Works Progress Administration.
By the very topography of the country which
makes it one of the largest sources of the milk
supply of New York and other large cities, it is
also made peculiarly susceptible to floods. The
low, rolling hills, dotted with cattle, have been
deforested for agricultural purposes, and the
sharp upthrusts of the Appalachian range give
velocity to the run-off of sudden rains which sends
small creeks rushing along in turbulent destruc¬
tion.
Milk is a highly perishable commodity. Delay
in shipment means not only loss to the consumer,
but also to the producer. It is imperative, there¬
fore, that communications in this particular sec¬
tion be kept as open and accessible as possible.
This is where the difficulty arises from the
floods. Roads and bridges were washed out in
recent floods (July, 1935, and March, 1936), clos¬
ing highly important farm-to-market roads. Most
of these roads and bridges have been restored,
or are in the process of being restored, by WPA.
Were federal funds not available for the work,
it is unquestionably true that many such roads
would have to have been abandoned through
lack of local funds for their repair.
The New York State Department of Agricul¬
ture, Bureau of Farms and Markets, reports the
fluid milk shipments from counties in this district
totaled 1,984,479,000 pounds in 1934.
In this same district, according to the State
Department of Education, there were enrolled in
schools 84,577 children. A large number of these
children are enrolled in union schools and their
only feasible means of transportation between
their homes and the schools is by school buses.
In fact, it is estimated there are 46,024 children
enrolled in supervisory districts, outside the cities.
Many of these school bus roads also were
washed out and the localities were dependent on
WPA for their restoration, a dependence that
was not in vain.
Numerous projects for flood control, or stream
control, were carried out in this section, as
throughout the entire Southern Tier. The only
means of controlling the quick rushing waters
which annually cause more or less damage, is by
creek bed clearance, construction of new banks
and dikes, and such other means as will keep the
streams within their banks.
These are the immediate means employed.
Reforestation, or some permanent means of con¬
trol at the source, is the only answer to the flood
danger, but WPA work proved in the floods of
March, 1936, that a great deal of the danger to
life and property may be controlled by the means
it adopted. Wherever WPA dikes were built,
bridges constructed and roads filled in and pro¬
tected after the July, 1935, flood, the damage
last March was greatly reduced.
The motorist may see for himself the stark
scars of silt and sand banks which cross and criss¬
cross the green fields and rolling meadows of this
show place of the State. It is hard to conceive
that the rivulets, the murmur of which can hardly
be heard, are the implements of death and de¬
struction that heavy rains and quick thaws never
fail to make them.
The WPA moved swiftly toward the accom¬
plishment of its purpose in district 8. During the
first half of November the number of projects in
operation throughout the district increased from
70, employing 1,700 workers, to I 16 projects, giv¬
ing much needed work to 2,902 persons. During
this period, the district office reported to State
administration headquarters that enough alloca¬
tions had been made to cover immediate relief
load needs, and were geographically distributed
in such a way as to permit discrimination in start¬
ing projects where they were most beneficial to
the communities as well.
[ I ]
By December 15th, 169 projects were in oper¬
ation, employing 3,702 men and 141 women. At
this time the eligible relief labor virtually had
been absorbed by WPA.
At this same time a project sponsored by the
town of Pitcher, Chenango County, for the im¬
provement of four miles of the Pitcher-Brackle
road, was completed at a sixty-two per cent sav¬
ing under the estimated cost.
On February 20th there were 187 projects
operating, all at request of local sponsors. There
were employed 3,561 men and 35 women. Pro¬
jects continued to speed to completion. The town
of Maryland was provided with an improved
year-round Crumhorn road, a school bus route
which had been usually impassable in the spring.
The town of Roseboom boasted an improved
Pleasant Brook road, formerly a dirt road, which
was added to the improved town highway sys¬
tem. The city of Oneonta had an area cleared
for an addition to its reservoir system, and the
way cleared for a new spillway, greatly increas¬
ing its water supply capacity.
The village of Trumansburg was sorely hit by
the July flood. A bridge was washed away, sewer
lines broken, and street surfaces damaged. Re¬
pair work began September 4, 1935, and was
completed February 10th, relieving the village of
a heavy financial burden.
The town of Delaware, Sullivan County, had
listed the Hortonville-Jeffersonville road as the
most important road unimproved. Work was
started October 29, 1935, and by February 18th,
this year, the town had an improved road for
6.5 miles.
Such accomplishments are clearly recognized
by the people of the district, and are appreciated
for their worth.
By March 20th the district WPA office was
able to report completed a gravel fill in Fall Mills
road and construction of a retaining wall to hold
it in place. The work started January 16th and
was completed March 13th. Sidney, Delaware
County, reported completion of three-quarters of
a mile of the Wellsbridge-Otego road, which was
started December 2nd. It was finished March
2nd. All of this work was done under trying win¬
ter conditions.
Roxbury reported completion of 1,000 feet of
road sub-base, ten inches thick; the McGraw-
Marathon bridge in Cortland County, started
September 9th, was completed February 27th
and remained firm although inundated by the
March flood a few weeks later. The city of Cort¬
land was rid of a flood nuisance by construction
of storm sewers in South Main and William streets.
The village of Marathon, Cortland County,
still bears some scars of the July flood. Streets
were filled in, regraded and conditioned. The
work, begun August 26, 1935, was completed
March I Ith.
The city of Ithaca was seriously stricken by
the floods. The city board of public works ap¬
pealed to WPA to assist in repairing gutters and
curbs, building concrete walls as a protection
against another flood; strengthening the Lake
street bridge, and in numerous other ways help¬
ing the city back to normal life. The last of this
work was completed March 9th.
In the first ward of the city of Binghamton the
child population is approximately 7,000. The sec¬
tion was without playground facilities. Traffic
accidents became a serious problem for city
officials.
Residents of the area petitioned the City
Council to provide a playground for their chil¬
dren. The work now under way consists of drain¬
ing a low swampy section and grading a rough,
rolling piece of land. When the work is com¬
pleted, and it is progressing apace, the city of
Binghamton will have added to its recreational
facilities a playground including a baseball field,
tennis courts and other equipment.
The Latrop Avenue sewer, which will drain a
section of the city of Binghamton where im¬
pounded rainwater created a nuisance and a
public health menace, is progressing rapidly to¬
ward completion. In some parts of the cut it
has been necessary, in order to establish a proper
level, to dig twenty-five feet.
In addition to improving conditions in one of
the best residential sections of Binghamton, the
[ 2 ]
MUCH DAMAGE was saved by this type of work in March, 1936, when turbulent
streams carried away roads and bridges. Pictured is the steel and wooden dike
built along Owego Creek.
THIS BRIDGE, crossing Galatea Creek in Cortland County, is a typical example of
the type of bridge constructed by local sponsors and WPA.
I 3 1
THIS WPA PROJECT, IN THE VILLAGE OF SPENCER, is for the construction of a model community athletic field and a home athletic
ground for a central District High School, being constructed by PWA nearby. The work has progressed to a degree where the drain¬
age has almost been completed and rough grading done. Contrast this with the picture on the opposite page.
I MODEL ATHLETIC FIELD constructed by WPA in the village of Candor, Tioga county. This uas rough space, unavailable for any
useful purpose. The work consisted of grading the ground, resurfacing the field for a baseball diamond, construction of the backstop,
two dugouts and a bleachers, giving the village much needed recreational facilities.
THE "IDLER"?
<?£CU ELSTRA REMEARSAL
SAFETy INSTRUCTION
A 5£WINQ PROJECT
A NUl^SEfty SCHOOL
new sewer, running 800 feet to the Susquehanna
River, will also divert from the city's new sewage
disposal plant a great deal of the load of which it
would under other circumstances have to dispose.
With the sponsorship of the city, WPA co¬
operated in constructing a new steel and brick
municipal garage and carpenter shop. The build¬
ing will house the workshop of the sewer depart¬
ment, the paint shop and other city departments.
The structure adds materially to the economical
operation of city departments.
WPA'S job was not done with these accom¬
plishments. They are selected only as illustrations.
Other worthwhile projects submitted by the com¬
munities were carefully and sympathetically con¬
sidered.
Many WPA workers were finding employment
in private industry, or in other branches of fed¬
eral work. Nevertheless, the good work went on
and the tourist may still see roads dotted with
WPA crews engaged in all manner of work.
Some are improving school grounds, others are
filling in roads which were endangered in the
March flood; many are clearing out creek beds
and building rip-rap bulwarks against subsequent
floods; others are working on, or have completed,
wood, sheet piling and concrete retaining walls.
Others are working on playgrounds. Many
more are engaged on the reclamation of dump or
swamp land for local athletic fields.
Many years the work of these men will stand
along the roadsides of the Susquehanna valley
section and the Chenango valley. The work will
stand as a lasting rebuke to the persons who for
selfish reasons are wont to minimize and criticize
the achievements of the WPA worker.
Communities' WPA accomplishments meet the
eye at every'turn of the road in the Susquehanna
and Chenango valleys.
For instance, the village of Spencer, Tioga
County, for many years suffered an unsightly
swamp covering some thirteen acres just on the
borders of the village. Those persons with the
abnormal sense of sarcasm who snickered loudly
at swamp drainage projects and "mosquito con¬
trol" should have seen it. Or not having seen it
I 8 1
they might be respectfully referred to residents
of Spencer who did see it.
The village sow in WPA the opportunity to rid
themselves of it forever. The village sponsored a
project, not only to drain the swamp but to sub¬
stitute in its place a model recreation field con¬
sisting of an athletic field and swimming pool, the
latter to be a skating rink in winter.
Most of the land has been drained. Rough
work on the swimming pool has started. Work
toward completion of the project is speeding
along. (Pho+o page 4). Wi+hin sight of the field
a new Central School is being constructed by
PWA. So the unsightly and unhealthful swamp
which plagued residents of Spencer will serve not
only as a recreation center for the village, but
will be a model athletic field for the new Central
School, foundations of which have been com¬
pleted.
In the neighboring village of Candor work on
an athletic field is nearing completion. (Photo
page 5). A grandstand with dugouts, and back¬
stop for a baseball diamond, have been built. The
field also will include two tennis courts. This also
will serve the dual purpose of providing a recrea¬
tion center for the surrounding country, attract¬
ing visitors to the village, and affording the village
school its own athletic conveniences.
This work, of course, could not have been car¬
ried on by these villages wholly on their own
finances. WPA, they will tell any skeptic whc
care to inquire, is a friendly and sympathetic aid.
One of the flood projects which may be seen
by the passing tourist is in the village of Owego,
Tioga County. In the disastrous flood of July,
1935, the banks of Owego creek, running through
the western section of the village, were swept
away and consequently a large section of the vil¬
lage was flooded, with considerable damage. The
village sponsored a WPA project to erect a dike
along the banks which hod been washed away.
This work has been completed and stands as a
reminder to the passerby of the typical WPA
job. (Photo page 3).
A project now under way in the city of Ithaca
will provide a model community center for the
southern section of the city, (Photo page II). For
( 9 1
BUILDING A no A 0
FLOOD CONTROL. PROJECT
CREEU GELD CLEARANCE!
STATE GAfAE FARM PROJECT
years a more or less ramshackle frame structure
provided the only facilities for community gath¬
erings. This will be replaced by a handsome cin¬
der block construction. A gymnasium, which also
may be used as an auditorium, an activities room,
which may be used as a dining room, with kitchen
adjoining, locker rooms and other facilities will
be provided.
The building will provide quarters for Girl and
Boy Scout Troops, the Cultural Congress (minors),
two women's clubs, a Home Bureau unit, Parent-
Teachers Association, the Christmas Club, which
annually distributes baskets of food at Yuletide";
a Men's Forum, and other organizations will carry
on their activities in the new structure.
This is another job, sponsored by the city of
Ithaca, of which both the city and WPA feel
proud. The foundation work is progressing rapidly
and it is expected the building will be enclosed
before cold weather.
It is indeed hard to visualize from the pleasant
shadowed valleys, the velvety green hills and the
peaceful villages and hamlets which character¬
ize the Ssuquehanna and Chenango sections, the
chaos twice visited upon the country by floods.
It was stark death and destruction which swept
down these same rolling slopes in July, 1935. Res¬
idents were overtaken in their homes, farmers in
the fields, motorists on the roads, Death resulted
in all too many instances. This, unlike the March
flood, was what is known as a "flash flood." Sud¬
den rains swept down through the small stream
beds, adding a thousandfold to their ordinary
volume.
Like a mammoth scythe the rushing water
swept everything away before it. While miles of
roads were whipped away, bridges were carried
off as ruthlessly as if they were made of paper
instead of sturdy steel; homes were wrested from
their foundations and swept away with their ter¬
rified occupants.
Hardly anything escaped the destructive
sweep of the suddenly maddened streams.
At that time the Works Progress Administra¬
tion was in its infancy.
The machinery for administration of the vast
job had hardly been set. But without hesitation
the WPA began, hand in hand with the stricken
communities, rebuilding the damaged roads and
bridges, reconstructing dikes and creek banks.
This work slands at the moment as a testimonial
to the efficiency of Ihe work done by WPA men,
taken from relief rolls. In most instances the dikes,
rip rap banks, repaired roads and bridges, were
erected by WPA, sponsored by the communities
where they are located, after the destructive July
flood of last year.
The heavier, but more gradual flood of March,
1936, placed these projects under an acid test.
In all but a few isolated instances where WPA
projects were in the process of operation and so
not sufficiently guarded against the March
floods, there was no damage. In the instances
where WPA projects were damaged, the loss was
small and quickly repaired so the work could go
on.
It is no wonder that the harpies find it inadvis¬
able to criticize WPA in most of the communities
in this section.
It is not easy to convince the residents of this
flood stricken area that the men who came to
them in their hour of greatest need with the first
assistance, who have rebuilt their roads, provided
their communities with better streets, sewer sys¬
tems, reservoirs, playgrounds and recreational
facilities; who renovated their school buildings,
administrative buildings and fire and police sta¬
tions; who toiled side by side with them in the
almost superhuman task of reconstruction, are
"loafing" on the job just with a lively sense of the
federal security wage they draw.
The "Delhi Daily Express" said in an editorial
just previous to the first of the present year:
"The federal government is gradually retiring
from the field of relief as employment is increas¬
ing. On January first the government will cease
paying any share of home relief. The cost of home
relief will be borne forty per cent by the state
and sixty per cent by the localities. The federal
government is still paying almost the entire cost
of work relief through the WPA, providing for the
pay rolls and part of the material cost.
"It is a fortunate thing for Delaware county
that when the change in the relief setup went into
[ 10]
f.L mi.
trudge
Office of fleiuulf -
THE NEW' SOUTH SIDE COMMUNITY CENTER at Ithaca, as the architect visual¬
ized it. This will provide modern recreational jacilities for a large section of the city.
Contrast it with the picture at the bottom of the page, showing the old center at the
right, and the foundations of the new structure.
effect that enough WPA projects had been cre¬
ated so that every able-bodied man who was on
relief rolls on November I, will be insured a job
if he wishes to work. If he does not want to work
he will not be eligible for home relief."
Speaking of the work of the Delaware county
WPA manager, the paper went on to say that as
a result of his work: "Delaware county will have
one of the lowest relief loads of any county in the
state this winter and at the same time there will
be gangs of men at work in nearly every town¬
ship, making needed improvements with but little
cost to the county or towns."
Residents of the section for the most part took
a long headed view of the opportunity offered
every community by WPA and the numerous pro¬
jects either completed or in operation attest to
the wisdom of their course, despite partisan ef¬
forts to point otherwise.
Later events were to prove viciously false the
inuendo that WPA men preferred to work on fed¬
eral projects on the theory advanced by the
critics that they did not have to work hard.
From this always fecund source came whispers
that these same men who were laboring to restore
a whole section of the state to its former con¬
dition, would not accept jobs in private industry
if they were offered.
Beginning at the first of the year the march
from WPA jobs back to private industry began.
The men proved the critics false again and when
jobs were offered at reasonable salaries in pri¬
vate industry, they did not hesitate to make the
change.
The transfer increased as opportunities for em¬
ployment increased.
In the semi-monthly report covering District 8
over the period of March 20 to April 19, it was
noted that more than 300 men had left WPA
projects to return to private employment.
By so doing none of these men sacrificed their
standing with WPA and are eligible for reem¬
ployment on WPA projects when and if the jobs
they obtained outside terminate.
This turnover, as in the cases of the completed
projects, turned the criticism against the critic.
When floods again struck the section in March
of this year, WPA was a smoothly functioning
machine. Men were available everywhere in the
flooded section and the work they accomplished
was beyond even the vicious whisper of the par¬
tisan sniper.
The WPA is going ahead in the Susquehanna
country as it is in other sections of the state and
nation. New worthwhile projects are being pre-
sentejd and taken up irt the usual routine. Men are
being given the decent opportunity that every
American deserves, the opportunity to work for
his living and the support of his dear ones.
These WPA men will continue the good work
they have so commendably accomplished up to
now. They will continue to clear out the silt and
rock from the unsightly scars that mark the over¬
flowed banks of the now pleasantly idling creeks.
They will continue to build roads and bridges so
that the priceless milk supply of the country can
be shipped to market. They will continue to clear
the way for the school bus and its precious cargo.
They will continue to improve roads that will bring
tourists to the pretty villages that dot the country¬
side and give a better appreciation of the beauty
of this verdant country.
They will continue on with their manifold tasks
and continue to give loyal service and make
worthwhile contributions to their communities and
their country.
And should any such catastrophe again be
visited upon this section as was the case in July,
1935, and March, 1936, these same men will not
hesitate to risk their lives and work to the point of
exhaustion to relieve suffering, rescue the victims
from danger, and then quietly resume the routine
task of restoration and repair.
The WPA worker has come a long way in the
year he has worked. Behind him lies a road of
happy homes and communities, improved busi¬
ness conditions, more stable community financial
systems, needed repairs and improvements and
generally, a better country to live in.
It is a road that he should and can look back
upon with a stirring pride. Topping the rise of the
hill and resuming his way he can look forward with
the assurance that the work he will do, will con¬
tinue to be the high type of work he has done.
When partisan rancor has found its proper
place in the disregard of the public, he may feel
confident that the appreciation of his work will
live in the continued use of the facilities with
which he has provided his own and other com¬
munities, facilities which would have been denied
them for many years, if, indeed, they would ever
be provided.
It is gratifying to be assured that the praise of
the future, as well as of the present, will drown
out the cruel jibe of the roadside idler and give
the WPA worker the accolade he so richly de¬
serves.
[ 12]
COMPILED AND ISSUED UNDER THE
DIRECTION OE LESTER W MERZOO,
NEW YORW STATE ADMINISTRATOR,
WORMS PROGRESS ADMINISTRATION
CLEMENT V. CONOLE
DISTRICT DIRECTOR