Such was the land in the 1930s but when Euro-Americans first had arrived in southwestern Indiana, they encountered a vast hardwood forest, a fertile landscape where Native Americans had lived for generations. Euro-American settlers slashed and burned forests to clear land for farming. Within a few generations of repeated planting of corn, the soil had been depleted; the wind had blown away valuable top soil in the absence of trees and other windbreaks. Thus, in the 1930s as the Great Depression struck, small farmers in these hilly uplands were suffering. This was made worse by the fact that some of the unemployed population in the cities had moved back to rural areas and had begun living in previously abandoned buildings and cabins.^[2]

In response to the Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt launched a bundle of programs as a part of a “New Deal” for the country. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and the Resettlement Administration (RA) were two creations of the New Deal. The Resettlement Administration purchased non-productive farm land from the poorest farmers in Martin County and resettled them to communal farms near Loogootee and Vincennes, Indiana; local residents dubbed these communal farm areas “Little Russia.” Some of the homes of those resettled farmers are still present along US 41 near Vincennes.^[3]

This eroded farm land became part of the “White River Land Utilization” a 32,000-acre federal land holding managed by the United States Soil Conservation Service.^[4] In addition to Martin County, the government also acquired land from Greene County. While most land was sold voluntarily by local farmers, a publication from around that time notes that “in Greene County . . . protest meetings were held in country schoolhouses when it was believed that the government planned to buy eroded land there and retire it from production.”^[5] Displaced farmers faced difficulty in relocation; most lacked the skill for other types of work or the funds to purchase new, more expensive farmland. After the relocation, some “became tenant farmers; others moved to town; few had the means to buy elsewhere.”^[6]

After its purchase of the eroded land, the Indiana Department of Conservation, who managed the land for the federal government, mandated the area be both forested and open for public use. To that end, Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) workers constructed lakes, buildings, roads, picnic areas, and trails for use by the general public. Even though the Indiana Division of Forestry supervised work crews, federal funds supported the effort.^[7] Some CCC workers lodged in the nearby community of Scotland, a small crossroads community established in 1837 and named for the homeland of many of its first residents.^[8] The Scotland Hotel, which had provided a resting place for weary travelers since 1879, housed these workers.^[9]

After World War II broke out in Europe in 1939, the effectiveness of German submarine (U-boat) warfare became evident. American policy makers considered establishing naval bases at inland locations—far from the coastline and the reach of German U-boats. The Navy selected the lands acquired during the White River Land Utilization project for the construction of a new naval base. The Naval Ammunition Depot was commissioned in 1941 and named in honor of naval hero Commodore William Montgomery Crane (1784-1846) in 1943.^[10] As the depot developed, the federal government sought additional land in Jackson and Taylor Townships in Greene County and other neighboring areas. Rather than pursue voluntary land options, the Department of the Navy filed condemnation suits to compel land owners to vacate selected properties. In many cases, the federal government required homeowners, who received an average $20.75 per acre for their land, to move within days of learning of the acquisition.^[11]

As its growth continued, the Naval Depot implemented an unofficial policy to employ local residents to offset the economic impacts caused by the acquisition of farmland. ^[12] The Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane Division (NSWC Crane), as it is known today, became the largest employer in Greene County shortly after it opened its doors in 1941. The mission of the facility was to prepare, load, renovate, receive, store, and issue all types of ammunition, including pyrotechnics and illuminating projectiles.^[13]

Crane had intended and unintended consequences. It boosted Scotland’s population in the 1940s.^[14] The naval depot also impacted the economy of Greene County by providing county citizens over thirty-five thousand dollars in bi-weekly wages (or nearly 1 million annually) in 1947, which was the third highest of the ten surrounding counties (just behind Martin and Lawrence Counties).^[15] Work continued at Crane into the 1950s and 60s as weapons used during the Vietnam War were prepared at the center. Crane remains an important component of the economy of southwestern Indiana, serving as one of Indiana’s largest high-tech employers with over 2,000 scientists, engineers, and technicians out of its total workforce of 3,100.^[16]

In the post-modern  era, Crane has embraced a focus on natural resources and conservation within its massive land area: there is a designated forester and a controlled timber harvest every year to maintain the health of the trees. In addition, Crane supplied the White Oak trees used for the recent restoration of the USS Constitution, better known as “Old Ironsides,” the world’s oldest commissioned warship.^[17]

[1] William B. Barnes Sr., Natural Resources and the Great Depression in Martin County and South-Central Indiana. Weintraut & Associates, ed. Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Bureau, 2005, 47.

[2] Robert L. Reid, Back Home Again: Indiana in the Farm Security Administration Photographs, 1935-1943 (Bloomington & Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1987), 1.

[3] Barnes, Natural Resources, 21, 55-58.

[4]Horace Donald Crawford, “White River land utilization project in Martin County, with 800 acre lake, will be dedicated Friday, September 15,” Indianapolis Star September 10, 1939, accessed December 21, 2016 via newspapers.com.

[5] Indiana Writers’ Program, Indiana: A Guide to the Hoosier State (New York: Oxford University Press, 1941), 372; Dorothy Riker, The Hoosier Training Ground: A History of Army and Navy Training Centers, Camps, Forts, Depots, and Other Military Installations within the State Boundaries during World War II (Bloomington: Indiana War History Commission, 1952), 263.

[6] Riker, The Hoosier Training Ground, 263.

[7] Barnes, Natural Resources,26, 71, 76. 

[8] I-69 Evansville to Indianapolis Tier 2 Studies, Historic Property Report, Section 4, US 231 to SR 37, Prepared for Federal Highway Administration and Indiana Department of Transportation, 35.

[9] I-69 Evansville to Indianapolis Tier 2 Studies, Historic Property Report, Section 4, US 231 to SR 37, Prepared for Federal Highway Administration and Indiana Department of Transportation, 110-112.

[10] Barnes, Natural Resources, 125-126; Riker, The Hoosier Training Ground, 264-265, 276.

[11] Riker, The Hoosier Training Ground, 266-267; Barnes, Natural Resources,126; “Map Plans for Obtaining New Forest Acreage,” The Bedford Daily-Times Mail (Bedford, Indiana), July 28, 1943, 1 (discusses the land optioning process, delays, and the final takeover of purchased lands).

[12] Riker, The Hoosier Training Ground, 276; Anthony Haag, interview with Melissa Burlock of Weintraut & Associates, Inc., March 13, 2016, Section 4, I-69 Evansville to Indianapolis, IN, Tier 2 Study Community History Project.