[3] President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal program provided nationwide relief from the Great Depression, by funding make-work job projects through agencies like the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and the Works Progress Administration (WPA).

In 1934, the New Deal's lakes and ponds work plan identified Marion County as an eligible drought area, and a project was conceived for public employment and water conservation.

The county petitioned a public vote on the project to employ 300 men and 150 teams with New Deal funding of US$70,000 (equivalent to about $1,537,000 in 2023), which was approved 5,261 to 2,061.

[1] Marion's population of 2,000 included only approximately 8 black people, so the lake project was considered a feat of interracial collaboration predating desegregation.

The Marion County Record reported for three years on the high standards of the entire regiment and of the community's hospitality.

[1] The project was reportedly constantly visited or inspected by many federal relief agencies and the army, with several dignitary receptions.

[1] In 1937, Marion County Lake was essentially completed on schedule, and the construction crew attributed the ongoing severe drought as a "blessing".