Arnold Sherwood Bates photograph collection, circa. 1936; 1943

In March 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt drafted the Civilian Conservation Corps (C. C. C.). It's purpose was to restore millions of acres of devastated forests and other exhausted public lands. It was also a way to provide the economically depressed United States with temporary work and training for young men in the aftermath of the Great Depression.

Arnold Sherwood Bates served within the C. C. C. around 1936. Originally from Arkansas, Bates joined hundreds of young men in Camp Pike at Little Rock, Arkansas to form Company 5702 of the C. C. C. There they trained and eventually made their way to Camp F-123 North Fork located near Pierce, Idaho.

Some of the work the Bates and the company completed with at Camp F-123 included working on multiple Blister Rust control projects, fish rearing, road maintenance projects, and various camp construction projects.