During the Great Depression the U.S. Government
established more than 140 CCC camps in New Mexico. Vehicles used by CCC
enrollees were federally owned and were issued special CCC license
plates. These plates bore a designation indicating the branch of the
government which provided the vehicles, and/or what projects were being
worked on. Because most of the work done by the CCC involved projects in
national parks, national monuments and national forests, most CCC
license plates had designations for the Department of the Interior or
the Department of Agriculture. A few projects done in support of the
U.S. military used vehicles whose plates were designated “War
Department,” the agency now known as the Department of Defense.
CCC tags are large, heavy, thick steel plates measuring 6¾" x 13½", each
weighing a full pound. The vast majority (but not all) CCC plates
were undated, but their period of use was from 1933 to 1942. At least
some were issued as pairs, but it is not known if all were,
as there also exists an even larger (8" x 14")
and very common generic “front” plate which has only the CCC
emblem and the inscription “This Driver is Required to Drive Carefully.”
For a complete list of New Mexico CCC camps, their locations and dates
of establishment, see
http://www.ccclegacy.org/CCC_Camps_New_Mexico.html
See also U.S.
Government and Boat for
other types of license plates issued by the federal government within
New Mexico.
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Dated Front Plate |
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Undated Front Plate |
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Photo credits: Undated
Front Plate courtesy Phil Hill. All others by Bill Johnston.
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CCC
Camp BR-58 Carlsbad Project, New Mexico. Enrollees applying concrete
lining on a canal under the auspices of the Bureau of Reclamation.
National Archives photo,
ca. 1940. The truck has a CCC Department of the Interior license plate. |
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This
photograph, widely-published under the caption “Motorist asking
directions from State Trooper along Route 66, New Mexico (1939),” is a
classic example of incompetent research and record keeping. The man at
the right in the ill-fitting uniform and filthy shoes is not a “State
Trooper” at all, but a gas station attendant—most likely from the
Phillips 66 service station just to the left of the car. To see what a
real New Mexico State Policeman looked like at the time,
click here.
Incompetence aside, the photo does show at least one interesting
feature, a CCC Department of the Interior license plate on the car. |
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