Page 11 - BuildingJob inIowa
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The New Deal book rebinding and repair.16 Many were projects. Since at least two dams were
in Iowa and carried out by the Civil Works Service built in the Wapsipinicon watershed us-
Buchanan (CWS), created as a white collar coun- ing FERA funds, it is clear that substan-
County terpart to the CWA. While not designed tial FERA work relief projects continued
specifically to assist women in need of in Iowa after the end of the CWA. How-
Although the full “alphabet soup” of work relief, the CWS came to employ a ever, it may be a sign of the shortcom-
New Deal programs operated in Iowa, large number of women.17 In Buchanan ings of that program that neither of the
the focus here is on the three programs County, all known CWS projects were two FERA dams discussed below was
that funded the construction of dams in carried out by women. These projects completed on time, and both eventually
the Wapsipinicon River watershed. New included staffing schools with cleaning had to be completed using WPA grants.
Deal dams include the Littleton and In- and clerical staff, nurses and teachers;
dependence Low dams (CWA), Quas- clerical work in city and county govern- Although the WPA lasted for much lon-
queton and Coggon dams (FERA and ment offices; and sewing or mending ger than the CWA, it is noteworthy that
WPA), and Frederika Dam (approved by clothes for families on relief.18 fewer WPA projects were undertaken in
WPA). With the exception of the Cog- Iowa during the seven years that pro-
gon and Frederika dams, all were lo- By October 1933, 163 people in Bu- gram operated (5,222) than the num-
cated in Buchanan County. chanan County were receiving unem- ber of projects undertaken during the
ployment relief.19 With the announce- CWA’s brief five-month history (5,975).
Approximately 5,975 CWA projects ment of the CWA the following month, Of the WPA projects in Iowa, 65 percent
were undertaken in Iowa, creating one Independence newspaper urged (3,399) were construction projects,
53,250 jobs.13 The numbers ranged local officials “to get busy working out and nearly a third (1,607) were road,
from 21 projects in Washington County local projects. It is a big proposition street and bridge projects.24
to 282 projects in Polk County. Bu- and getting in on it by the county, city
chanan County had close to the state- and communities would be beneficial WPA projects in Buchanan County, as
wide average, with 63 projects.14 to all concerned.”20 By mid-December, elsewhere, focused predominantly on
Buchanan County was “one of twenty- improving streets and roads, but also
Statewide, the largest single category nine counties in the state that ha[d] its included indoor work such as nursing,
of CWA projects was road and street quota of men at work, being one of the sewing and serving school lunches.
work, which included grading, gravel- earliest to get that record.”21 In Janu- With the exception of the completion
ing, adding curbs and repairing pot- ary 1934, the number of Buchanan of the Quasqueton Dam in 1935, no
holes. Another roughly one-third of County residents on the unemployed WPA projects in Buchanan County are
the projects were non-street repair or list had risen to 882, with 451 CWA known to have involved the construc-
construction projects, which included placements.22 tion of major buildings or structures.25
building dams, park buildings, and oth-
er structures; repairing schools; and In all, CWA expenditures
laying water mains and sewer lines. In in Buchanan County be-
Buchanan County, these projects in- tween November 1933
cluded construction of two dams; work and August 1934 to-
on a water main in Winthrop; septic taled $98,685.64—ap-
tank and river channel work in Lamont; proximately $1.7 million
construction of a storm sewer in Inde- in 2013 dollars. Nearly
pendence; maintenance and redeco- two-thirds of this amount
ration work in the schools in Hazleton went towards wages and
and Lamont; relocating a flagpole in salaries, with the rest
Fairbank; and providing air markers to divided between equip-
identify eight Buchanan County towns ment and materials.
from the air.15 Nearly 70 percent of the
total amount was sup-
The remaining CWA projects included plied by the federal gov-
both white collar jobs and non-con- ernment. The remaining
struction blue collar jobs. They includ- amount consisted of lo-
ed janitorial services, home nurse visits, cal funds provided by the
stenography, clerical work and library state and county.23
Information on FERA 1936 map of WPA projects in Buchanan County, Iowa (from
projects in Iowa is not Special Collections Department, Iowa State University Library).
as readily available as
it is for CWA and WPA
Building Jobs in Iowa—New Deal Dams of the Wapsipinicon River Watershed in Northeast Iowa 9
