Ms. Manscill appears to have swallowed the party line, along with the sinker and hook. She states: "The Shenandoah National Park brought help to an area that was suffering from the Great Depression. The CCC camps in the Park brought jobs to young men who had little hope for their futures. And the Park continues to help the growth and development of the surrounding area." The people driven off the land for the SNP were self-sufficient, living simple lives. They were not desperately "suffering from the Great Depression." Their lifestyle, being so simple, was not much changed by the Depression compared with those whose lives were disrupted by the loss of employment and purchasing power in urban areas. From the perspective of educated, urban policy makers, the simple lifestyle was backward, and poor. Their attitude toward those whose land ownership stood in the way for a recreational resource for those who owned autos, was similar to that of whites describing Native Americans as savages while forcing them off the land. The residents owned the land in most cases. They were paid a lump sum (not generous) and made to live in an urban environment for which they were unsuited. Most of the land was acquired by the State of Virginia prior to the 1930 drought and well before the creation of the CCC in 1933. When the park was authorized in 1926, the CCC was not even a thought. The CCC camps brought men from other places (mostly urban) that were suffering from the dismal economy. They benefited, as do today's hikers, at the expense of the former inhabitants. People with political and economic power imposed their will for their own purposes on those who lacked such power, and used propaganda to justify their actions. Sic semper populus. sharpe To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-roots.html