Blasterz had no idea that the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge (then known as the Aransas Migratory Waterfowl Refuge) was built by the CCC and was also part of the Bureau of Biological Survey of the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The Bureau of Biological Survey is now known as the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
After we read this information sign near the fishing pier and the picnic grounds, all of the older concrete infrastructure we spotted along the way in the refuge makes sense. There are numerous concrete culverts, drainage ditches, embankments, a spillway and service roads that all looked very 1940s to us.
Today, the only remnant of the CCC Camp 880 itself is the ruin of a concrete flagpole support and its concrete base, which is monumented with a US Coast and Geodetic Survey Benchmark disk (AN0406 Q 594), overlooking San Antonio Bay.
From the NGS Datasheet: (
visit link)
AN0406 DESIGNATION - Q 594
AN0406 PID - AN0406
AN0406 STATE/COUNTY- TX/REFUGIO
AN0406 USGS QUAD - TIVOLI SE (1975)
AN0406
AN0406 *CURRENT SURVEY CONTROL
AN0406 ___________________________________________________________________
AN0406* NAD 83(1986)- 28 17 22.(N) 096 48 34.(W) SCALED
AN0406* NAVD 88 - 3.96 (+/-2cm) 13.0 (feet) VERTCON
AN0406 ___________________________________________________________________
AN0406_MARKER: DB = BENCH MARK DISK
AN0406_SETTING: 36 = CONCRETE
AN0406_STAMPING: Q 594 1942
AN0406_STABILITY: B = PROBABLY HOLD POSITION/ELEVATION WELL
AN0406
AN0406 HISTORY - Date Condition Recov. By
AN0406 HISTORY - 1942 MONUMENTED CGS
AN0406
AN0406 STATION DESCRIPTION
AN0406
AN0406''DESCRIBED BY COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY 1942
AN0406''6.9 MI SSE FROM AUSTWELL.
AN0406''6.9 MILES SOUTH-SOUTHEAST ALONG A SHELL ROAD FROM THE CITY WATER TOWER
AN0406''AT AUSTWELL, REFUGIO COUNTY, 1.6 MILES SOUTH-SOUTHWEST ALONG A ROAD
AN0406''ALONG THE BAY. AT THE SITE OF A C.C.C. CAMP, NEAR THE CENTER OF THE
AN0406''CAMP, AT THE FLAGPOLE, IN THE NORTHEAST CORNER OF THE CONCRETE BASE,
AN0406''90 FEET WEST OF THE BAY SHORE, AND 1 FOOT HIGHER THAN THE GROUND. A
AN0406''STANDARD DISK, STAMPED Q 594 1942."