CCC site - Crystal Recreational Area, Montgomery County, Arkansas

Collier Creek was named after Martin and Mary Belle Collier, who settled in the remote lower valley in 1812 when Caddo Indians and buffalo were still in the area. Martin Collier died c.1820 leaving Mary to raise ten children including Jefferson b.1818, the first Caucasian child to be born in the area. Jefferson became a farmer, married, begot fifteen children, served in the Civil War and founding member of two Masonic Lodges. His son Harrison became a county surveyor. Collier Creek is a stop on the Crystal Vista Auto Tour - online map.

There was also one near Oden, named Buck Nob and one across the road near Big Brushy Recreational Area. A CCC worker who had worked at Buck Nob said there I first worked at a sawmill stacking lumber, than I was transferred to work at the top of a tower at a Ranger station. My duty was to keep in touch with other tower people in checking on fires and if we located a fire we were to notify the camp that was close by. Passes were issued on Saturday afternoon. Not everyone got passes so many had to stay in camp in case of fire. If we did not get a pass this week-end then it is possible you might get one the next weekend if everything worked out OK. Photo No. 371347, Sam Horne in the fire dispatch office, Ouachita National Forest, August 1938.  
The CCC program gave employment to Americans in economic distress during the depression. it was a federal works program and the enrollees, many young men, built numerous recreational areas, replanted forest, fought fires and made roads. Projects included:
Collier Springs Shelter, ca. 1939, on Forest Service Rd 177, NE of Norman
Crystal Springs Camp Shelter, ca. 1939, Forest Service Rd 177, E. of Hwy. 27.
Crystal Springs Dam, ca. 1939, near Norman
Charlton Bathhouse, ca. 1938, near Alf, way between Mt Ida and Hot Springs
Charlton Spillway/Dam, ca. 1938, half way between Mt Ida and Hot Springs.
Norman Square
Shady Lake Recreation Area, located on a scenic 25-acre lake formed by a Civilian Conservation Corps dam constructed in the 1930s.
At Shady Lake consider hiking to the the Tall Peak Trail which accesses the Tall Peak Fire Tower, built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s. On a small lake created by a dam and at least three spring fed creeks, this place was created by the CCC during the depression. Today it is a ACE site.
Womble District Administrative Site House No. 1, ca. 1940, just east of Mount Ida. N. of Hwy. 270 e. of Mt. Ida c. 1940 frame structure.

From Hwy 270 E take Logan Gap Rd (just west of the Mt Ida Airport) south, turn right on to Forest Road 177 along Twin Creek and follow the signs. At the intersection of 177 and 2237 take the windy and hilly 177 Forest Rd one mile. The roads are gravel and best traveled when dry. In the late 1930s the CCC built a picnic pavilion that enclosed the spring. There is an outhouse across the road and up a shade steep slope. Just upstream there is a tiny waterfall. Collier Creek starts three miles upstream on Bear Mt., [1660'], and drops 300' before reaching Collier Spring is at 1,300 feet. The creek continues to drop another 500' before it flows under Hwy 8 and into the Caddo River, about a mile north of Caddo Gap.