092
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Title
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092
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Transcription
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The (Civilian Conservation Corp), the CCC Camps were established in 1933. One of the professors that I met, Claton W. Watkins, was head of the Nebraska Forestry Dept. and was in charge of the Nebraska CCC projects. Seldom a week would pass that I didn't have an opportunity to speak with him, and I never missed an opportunity to ask him what the possibility were for a job when I got my degree. He would often say to me, "There is nothing new today, but keep asking, it looks as if there will be an opportunity soon."
On July 1, 1934, Watkins called me and said, " Can [sic] you get me a transcript of your grades, and a history of your past experience?" Transcript of grades, yes, but past experiences! I went broke raising cattle, it didn't seem to me to be a very good history, but it didn't seem to bother him, because on July 15th he handed me a contract to sign, a contract for one year, as Flood Control Engineer at a CCC camp at Fairbury [sic] Nebr.
On Aug. 1, I reported for work at Fairbury. I had never asked Watkins what the pay would be, and he often remarked that I was the only person he had ever hired that did not ask what the pay would be. I don't remember how I felt about the pay, because I was getting $60.00 a month and I knew that it would be better than that. The job paid $160 a month, and I was never paid so well to learn as much as that first year out of college.
The family joined me in September, and we were able to live again. We soon started to pay back the money we owed, but it took us about 15 years to get the debt paid.
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Rights
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Metzger Memories
