Big Bend Administrative History

At a distance of one-half century and more, the activities in the Big Bend country prior to the park's opening in the summer of 1944 remain quite remarkable. From land acquisition to facility construction to resource management, the National Park Service had expended a great deal of time and money in preparing for the day when Big Bend National Park became the twenty-eighth unit of the NPS system. For the next five decades, park service personnel and planners would work to strengthen the management and operations of Big Bend, facing the same obstacles of distance, isolation, aridity, border relations and community concerns about the federal presence in their midst. From Ross Maxwell in 1944, to Jose Cisneros 50 years later, park superintendents sought solutions to the tasks of building construction, roads and trails development, visitor services and concessions, resource management, and law enforcement. Frank Deckert, the park superintendent at the start of the twenty-first century, would inherit those five decades of history as he addressed the need for stable funding of park operations and upkeep of Big Bend's physical plant.

When Superintendent Ross Maxwell reflected in July of 1945 on the first year of Big Bend's existence, he could be forgiven for comparing his park to a frontier experience. Among his first tasks, and that of his small staff of five, included "the conversion of the old CCC camp buildings into a temporary park office, warehouse, truck and tool sheds, shops, and residences for the park employees." Maxwell's first ranger, Oren Senter, would devote his patrols to "becoming acquainted with the local ranchmen who were still living in the park, meeting local representatives of federal and state agencies, local civic clubs and other citizens." Senter, Maxwell, and the rest of the Big Bend staff sought out these groups to explain "to them the policies and objectives of the National Park Service so that they could help with our protection program." [1]

Aiding the NPS in its first year of operations was the Texas State Highway Department, which maintained some 75 miles of roads through Big Bend. A problem for Maxwell and the NPS staff was the presence of some 40,000 head of livestock allowed to graze on park land for the duration of the war to meet beef-production contracts. By the end of the 1945 fiscal year, Maxwell could report a 90 percent decline in stockraising within the park. As for concessions, "miscellaneous service permits were issued to local residents to provide lodging, meals, groceries and gasoline and oil to park visitors." The National Park Concessions, Inc., sent its president, H.S. Sanborn, to Big Bend in April 1945 to plan for postwar visitor services. The park also benefited from the NPS's decision to host the regional superintendents' conference at Big Bend, as well as a forest-fire training meeting. This attention encouraged Superintendent Maxwell, as it coincided with visits from regional NPS officials that first year. [2]

Fifty years later, when the park's budget stood at $4.5 million, the first expenditures seemed meager. Yet Maxwell noted that the appropriation of $15,000 (as well as $2,170 for staff overtime) allowed him to fund the positions of chief ranger, clerk, foreman, and laborer. The superintendent also devoted some $2,136 to fire prevention, which he described as "fire tools, horses, riding saddles, pack saddles, horse feed and other fire protection equipment and supplies." Maxwell dedicated some $1,560 to an "erosion control project in the temporary park headquarters" in the Chisos Basin. Auditors for the park service came to Big Bend after the first six months of operations, and declared the park to be in good fiscal condition. [3]

Speaking of the challenges that Big Bend faced in attracting visitors in its first year, Maxwell informed his superiors that "like all the Southwest the Big Bend is a dry country." Overgrazing contributed to the barren slopes, but the prohibition of stock raising, especially at higher elevations in the park, promised the return of vegetation. Big Bend also benefited from positive coverage in the regional news media, most notably the December 2, 1944 issue of the Saturday Evening Post. Maxwell could report that "a photographer and research writer from Life Magazine spent six weeks in the area gathering material for an article." In addition, NPS collaborator Freeman Tilden "prepared articles on this and other parks during an extended stay here." The superintendent could not "claim fame for large travel figures during the 1945 fiscal year." Yet "not many days have passed that someone has not visited the area." The bulk of the early visitors hailed from the Lone Star state, and "many of them came just to see what 'their national park' is like." Maxwell reported that "some war defense plant workers have found this a quiet place to take a few days' rest." In like manner, "fishermen from the Texas plains like to try their luck at cat fishing in the Rio Grande." He concluded that "in all a few hundred people each month take a chance that their tires and gasoline will 'hold out' and come to the Big Bend." [4]

Two years after the opening of Big Bend, Maxwell could detect patterns of operations that would persist for decades to come. "The appropriation is small," he wrote to his NPS superiors in July 1946, "and we are handicapped by a small staff and inadequate equipment." Yet the former NPS regional geologist could claim that "there has been some progress in maintenance, protection, and conservation." He praised the "change-over from private ownership and usage to National Park Service administration" as "smooth." Maxwell also reported that "Service policy on conservation was reasonably well accepted by the local people." Neighboring ranchers "cooperated by helping gather their stray stock and drive it from the park or build drift fences on or near the boundary." Twenty-four months of stock-free resource management meant that "flowers that were sparce [sic] in former years are now common." Similar conditions prevailed for the fauna of Big Bend, leading its superintendent to predict that "in a few decades the area will approach the biologic conditions that existed a few centuries ago." [5]

Better environmental conditions joined with the close of World War II to expand visitation totals dramatically. "With V-J Day and the lifting of gasoline rationing," wrote Maxwell, "there was a marked increase." The superintendent cautioned that "a total of 6,000 visitors is not a large figure, but for a new area having very limited public facilities, poor roads, and when the most of our visitors have old cars and poor tires it indicates that travel will be heavy." The majority of visitors were "vacationists," and Maxwell found it "gratifying to know that many have stayed several days, in some cases longer than they had planned, because they enjoy being in the pioneering atmosphere away from the crowds of the cities, factories and the War." At first, three vendors offered services to the traveling public "with the understanding that they would vacate as soon as National Park Concessions, Inc., could furnish the necessary public services." NPCI began a construction campaign in the spring of 1946 that would bring some 20 "prefabricated cabins" to the Chisos Basin, along with meal service, a store, and service station. The Kentucky-based concessionaire also agreed to provide visitor facilities "at a river site for this coming winter." [6]

In matters of road maintenance, Maxwell reported that by August of 1945 the state of Texas had discontinued its operations within the park boundaries. The NPS regional office in Santa Fe thus provided Big Bend with "one motor patrol grader" and an operator. Maxwell noted that "we have been able to keep the roads open, but part of the time they have been in poor condition because of insufficient equipment and lack of personnel." To aid in the expansion of the park's road system, the U.S. Public Roads Administration undertook a survey in January of 1946, starting with the entrance at Persimmon Gap and surveying nearly 29 miles. [7]

Road networks would assist the NPS and NPCI in planning for "concession development, campgrounds, headquarters development, [a] road maintenance program, and trail system." Maxwell and officials of both agencies agreed that "temporary guest facilities would be placed in the Basin." They also called for visitor services at the Daniel's Ranch site on the Rio Grande, and selected a site near Panther Peak for administrative headquarters. To achieve these goals, Maxwell and NPS officials also filed applications for water rights from the Rio Grande. Staffing of the park had increased in fiscal year 1946 to eight, with a budget of $25,368 (an advance of nearly 60 percent). Publicity also grew in the second year of operations, with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram highlighting both the park's attractions and the obstacle of in-holdings to park management. "The majority of Alpine citizens," concluded Maxwell, "will support any activity to acquire the remainder of the private lands." [8]

By the spring of 1947, Superintendent Maxwell could include discussion in his annual reports of the return of scientific researchers to the park. "Professional men are finding this area interesting," wrote Maxwell, among them "pressmen, photographers, explorers, short story writers, lecturers, and representatives of all the natural sciences." Himself a student of the park's geology, Maxwell recorded visits by scholars from such campuses as the University of California, Berkeley, Harvard University, the University of Michigan, and the University of Texas. The Geological Society of America continued its substantial geological research at Big Bend, and Peter Koch, formerly a photographer for the Cincinnati Enquirer and the husband of Big Bend's administrative assistant, Etta Koch, had traveled throughout the United States showing his slides "that have brought in thousands of requests for technical and non-technical information on the park." [9]

The park concessionaire also had much to report for fiscal year 1946, with its operations in the Chisos Basin including four housekeeping cottages and a second small building used as a grocery store, restaurant, and kitchen. NPCI also opened its 21 "prefabricated huts," of which seven were used as employee housing and the remainder for overnight guests. A three-hut unit served as a modern bathhouse, comfort station, and linen storage room. Maxwell concluded of the park's concessionaire that, "in spite of a shortage of funds, materials, and manpower, National Park Concessions has done a good job." The superintendent's evidence was that "the guests like the service and the operation appears to have a bright future." [10]

Less optimistic was Maxwell's notice that "the well that supplies water to the concession operation failed materially." The superintendent was surprised that "the well has failed to furnish adequate water even for the winter and spring operation," requiring the park staff to haul water to the Chisos Basin and the NPS to fund emergency drilling of a new well. NPCI also surveyed the Basin for additional sources of spring water, and began the reconditioning of a former water system at the old Graham Ranch, to be used as a temporary source for the concessions' Rio Grande development. At the same time, the Public Roads Administration (PRA) continued their survey of a road from the planned headquarters site at Panther Peak to the Daniels Ranch. This augmented the earlier study of a route from Persimmon Gap to the Chisos Basin, with proposed bridge sites identified as well. [11]

In matters of equipment acquisition, Maxwell noted that, "prior to this year all our equipment and most of our hand tools had been acquired on a transfer basis from other National Park Service areas." Then "our big break came when we were able to obtain about $84,000 worth of surplus property from the Army and War Assets Administration." This latter agency collected supplies and materiel from military installations decommissioned at the end of the Second World War, offering them to civilian federal agencies. In this fashion, Maxwell managed to acquire road construction and maintenance equipment, trucks, pickups, power plants, powered shop tools, numerous varieties of hand tools, and considerable quantities of building materials and supplies. This good fortune meant that "now our roads are good and can be driven safely except during and immediately following a rain." [12]

The issue of private in-holdings continued to burden park planning, as "their existence will certainly retard the road building program for some of these tracts are on the right-of-way and others are close by." Maxwell also noted that "there is grazing on some of the private unfenced tracts," making it "impossible to keep those herds off the adjacent park land." More troublesome was the fact that "the price of candelilla wax has been exceptionally high," and "private landowners are anxious to get all they can." Maxwell reported that "their boundaries are not only unfenced, but unsurveyed." The superintendent reminded his superiors that "considerable time has been expended toward convincing the State legislators that sufficient funds should be appropriated in order to purchase these small tracts and thus eliminate the private in-holding problems forever." Maxwell believed that "the legislators appear to be in sympathy with the problem but little toward actual legislation has been accomplished." [13]

By 1947, Maxwell's main difficulty was funding. "We started and operated during the war," he reported, "with small appropriations and it has taken every available dollar to purchase the essential materials and supplies." In addition, "all our structures, including residences, office, shop, warehouse, etcetera, were converted from old CCC barracks or from former ranch buildings." The CCC facilities had been built more than ten years earlier, and "these conditions have made living difficult and especially so since the headquarters is eighty miles from the nearest town." Maxwell warned that "these hardships have caused dissatisfaction among some of the employees and their comments and actions have lowered morale and decreased the efficiency of most of the staff." [14]

Beyond this, said the superintendent, "every branch of this administrative unit is under-staffed, and every branch head, together with his various assistants, has more duties than he can possibly properly perform." Maxwell conceded that "all we can do is to try to select the more important problem and delay acting on those that appear to be minor in nature." Echoing a lament known to later generations of NPS employees as "deferred maintenance," Maxwell reported that "some things have gotten away from us." One example that he cited was that "it is impossible for one clerk and one clerk-stenographer to handle all fiscal and personnel matters, attend to the purchasing, warehouse, correspondence, and file." Big Bend's chief ranger, George Sholley, and his three district rangers "cannot keep control over everything in a 700,000 acre tract, especially so when there are not any checking stations and the boundary is not fenced." The park had only one mechanic, one maintenance man and one laborer "to convert the old buildings to residences, care for the maintenance on all automotive and heavy equipment, all buildings and utilities, plants, sanitation, etcetera." [15]

Despite this grim scenario, Maxwell concluded on a more optimistic note. Big Bend joined other NPS sites in greeting record numbers of postwar visitors, "the crowds have been cared for, and certain accomplishments have been realized." Admitting that he had filed a "more gloomy outlook," the superintendent admitted that "perhaps those accomplishments should be summarized to show that our Service has advanced in spite of its many handicaps." [16]

As the nation distanced itself from the strain of war, the staff of Big Bend National Park could devote more attention to expansion of its facilities in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Park workers reconnected the irrigation system at the Daniels ranch, allowing the planting of some 1,000 seedlings of cottonwood, willow, and tamarisk. Water was found in sufficient quantity at the proposed headquarters site of Panther Junction. Road maintenance advanced with the addition of war-surplus equipment, and the federal government allocated to the park $35,000 to purchase private land near Persimmon Gap for a new road alignment with the entrance highway. The Texas state legislature also contributed $12,000 for the acquisition of private in-holdings at Big Bend, but by the summer of 1948 state park officials had yet to expend the funds. [17]

One year later, Superintendent Maxwell could report to his superiors that land acquisition had accelerated, with the private Big Bend Park Association donating $3,000 to augment the state's $12,000 appropriation. This permitted the state parks board to purchase nine sections of private land and negotiate for two additional sections, for a total of 7,040 acres. All that remained of the original 706,000-acre survey was 9,000 acres of private land. Visitation continued to increase, and NPCI had to divide its cabins with partitions to accommodate more overnight guests. Maxwell noted that the cost of maintaining the war surplus vehicles strained the park's road budget, while oiling projects on the 100-plus miles of gravel and dirt roads were limited in 1949 to the seven-mile stretch of the Green Gulch-Basin route. The superintendent complained that "the Armed Forces obtained the economic value from their equipment at an early date, and by the time it was passed on to us the most of it could not be operated without recurring repairs." Adding to Big Bend's woes was the specialized nature of war materiel. "When one of these devices fails," wrote Maxwell, "it takes months to get a replacement part." [18]

Maxwell's complaints about budgetary constraints grew as visitation to Big Bend surged with the larger pattern of American travel in the years after the war. Where the superintendent had counted only 2,500 visitors in 1944, five years later he registered 60,000 patrons at Texas's first national park (and claimed to be on a pace in 1950 to break that record). More visitors meant expansion of the concession operations. B.F. Beckett and NPCI agreed to establish a horseback riding service in the Chisos Basin. In addition, Maxwell entered into a five-year agreement with Peter Koch to provide photographic services in the Basin. The road network grew in 1950 by 7.7 miles, as the T.C. Gage Construction Company of San Antonio paved the loop road in the Panther Junction area. Panther Junction also had four residential dwellings constructed, along with a 150,000-gallon water reservoir, an underground power system and liquefied-petroleum gas system. Maxwell negotiated with neighboring ranch owners to collect wire and fence posts located within the park and place them along the northwestern boundary. The superintendent reported that this "has greatly reduced our trespass grazing problem and also improved our public relations with the adjoining ranchmen." The Cartledge property near Castolon, on the other hand, received a permit to continue grazing until the NPS acquired the land. All of this activity led Maxwell and local park sponsors to initiate plans in the spring of 1950 to host a dedication of Big Bend that October. Among its highlights was a personal invitation extended to President Harry S. Truman to attend, along with the President of Mexico. [19]

The year 1950 brought changes to Big Bend, as it did much of America once President Truman announced the nation's entry into the Asian conflict with North Korea. This precluded the president's travel to Big Bend, and the subsequent delay of the dedication ceremony for another five years. Big Bend was asked by the Department of Defense to provide "ample space for the military personnel to set up camp for isolated recreational purposes." Superintendent Maxwell agreed to extend special-use permits to soldiers, but warned his superiors that the park had "a very limited number of accommodations in the way of cabins and meals for anyone, either military personnel or the traveling public." He argued instead that "any proposed trip of that kind should be planned well in advance so that accommodations can be obtained." Park staff could offer to soldiers "campfire programs, lectures, and advice about the area regarding individual hikes, horseback trips, photography, or various types of activities." Maxwell also agreed to "cooperate with the defense officials at any time regarding activities that might appear to be detrimental to the safety of our nation." [20]

This latter point about criticism of NPS sites concerned Maxwell, who devoted a long section in his 1951 report to "public relations." He noted that "Big Bend and San Jose Mission [in San Antonio] are the only National Park Service areas in Texas." While the state had purchased the acreage for Big Bend, "the ideals, rules, regulations, conservation practices, protection of wildlife, including predators, elimination of grazing, and other policy matters were foreign to the majority of the citizenry." Since Big Bend faced criticism, said Maxwell, "the improvement of our public relations became paramount." First to challenge the NPS were local ranchers, irritated at the park service's rules on predator control and grazing leases. Maxwell made it a point to attend stockmen's association meetings, where he "seldom argued, but let them argue and when they were through, explained our conservation and protection program, with an invitation to visit the park to see the effectiveness of our protection policy." The superintendent had more success with officials of the U.S. Soil Conservation Service. "Through our invitations and encouragement," said Maxwell, "they have made day trips with ranchmen to the area." The superintendent also accepted an offer from a San Angelo sportsmen' club, located in the heart of what Maxwell called the "sheep and goat industry." Finally, Maxwell cultivated friendships with reporters in west Texas. "To those that you can trust," he told his NPS superiors, "it is well to send them little news releases on such subjects as rainfall, range recovery, condition and abundance of game, road condition, and fishing." [21]

For the year 1952, Maxwell would report much the same for his park. Road and trails construction gained in mileage, while the Boquillas and Persimmon Gap ranger stations were modernized. Nearer to the Panther Junction area, said Maxwell "the old K-Bar Ranchhouse was completely renovated, modernized, wired for electric current; new floors, doors and windows added" so that an NPS employee could inhabit the dwelling. Houses at Government Spring and Grapevine also received attention that year. The conflict in Korea, however, brought a new threat to park resources: the heavy ore hauling operations initiated during the fiscal year by M.G. Michaelis, Jr., and O.D. Burleson. Maxwell informed his superiors that "extensive deposits of high-grade fluorspar exist in Mexico directly south of the Park at distances from a few miles to 50 or 60 miles from the International Boundary." Since "acid grade fluorspar is a critical defense mineral," said Maxwell, the only feasible outlet into the United States from these mines ran through the park. The superintendent reported that the ore trucks carried out some 200 tons daily of fluorspar, and "expected that the daily traffic may reach 500 tons." For Big Bend this meant that "damage to our light pavement and inconvenience to visitor travel are inevitable." The only saving grace, Maxwell concluded, was that "damage to the desert scenery of the area is so restricted as to be negligible." [22]

Maxwell's superiors in Santa Fe and Washington expressed surprise at this request, while agreeing to the change of management. Conrad Wirth, now the director of the park service, told Maxwell: "It was quite a shock to me to note . . . that you are suffering from a semi-paralysis of your arm and leg." Wirth advised Maxwell "to get yourself back in good physical condition," and he hoped that "the baths, combined with complete rest and relaxation, will have you feeling fine within a short time." Regional director Tillotson recalled in mid-December seeing Maxwell in Santa Fe two months earlier, and noted that "it was very evident to all of us that you were in a much poorer physical condition than I or any of the rest of us had ever seen you." Tillotson insisted that Maxwell take the leave to go "to Hot Springs or some place where you can get clear away from the office, and anything that may have been worrying you." He believed that Big Bend had "an excellent staff," and that "you can be sure that all affairs of the park are in highly competent hands." [23]

Maxwell's sudden decline in health led the NPS to remove him a year later as superintendent, replacing the former regional geologist with Lemuel A. ("Lon") Garrison. A former chief ranger at Grand Canyon National Park, Garrison would serve two years as superintendent at Big Bend (1952-1954). His primary task would be to restore the goodwill between local residents and the park that had suffered through the turbulence of the last months of the Maxwell era. Evidence of this important task of operations came with Garrison's first annual report (fiscal year 1953), wherein "Public Relations" was the first category. "Relationships with surrounding communities," said Garrison, "have continued good throughout the year." The park hosted a series of what Garrison called "Show-Me Days," wherein communities in west Texas were invited to special tours of Big Bend. Garrison and his rangers also "visited many communities throughout the State emphasizing the value to Texas, of Big Bend National Park." One reason for the good reception to these gestures, said Garrison, was that "due to the prolonged [drought] conditions in this region, the usual economy based on stock raising is on the decline." In its place, said the superintendent, "the potentialities of the tourist business have appealed to business men in adjacent communities." [24]

As if the controversy over Maxwell's departure was not enough, Superintendent Garrison entered Big Bend in what would become the tenth year of a prolonged drought. Garrison noted "serious adverse effects on vegetation, spring flows and water table levels." Stock ponds fed by natural springs had dried up, and wells had to be dug deeper to find lesser quantities of water. "Wells at Panther Junction and the Chisos Mountain Basin," reported Garrison, "do not yield sufficient water to meet summer needs and a pump will be installed in one of the wells near K-Bar to furnish water to be hauled to the Basin." The superintendent remarked that "during May, the Rio Grande is dry, except for pools from above Santa Elena Canyon to Hot Springs." He also learned that "no crop was planted at San [Vicente] and the crop at Solis ranch was lost due to lack of water." Garrison predicted that "present conditions point toward failure of the cotton crop at Castolon, while poor range conditions forced ranchers to feed cattle "which has made their financial situation precarious." Drought also drove wildlife further into the Chisos Mountains, where in the summer of 1953 "one lion, which persisted in molesting people . . . was destroyed." Garrison's staff also had to corral feral burros to reduce the competition of these animals with native wildlife for forage and water. [ 25]

In Lon Garrison's second year of his superintendency (1954), Big Bend took a major step toward addressing the concerns expressed about amenities and services with the completion of an electric power line into the park. The Rio Grande Electric Cooperative, Inc., connected Big Bend to its main line east of Alpine, with service being provided to the Boquillas ranger station and "the proposed Hacienda Rio Grande and Mexican Village development sites." In so doing, reported Garrison, the park had "eliminated 10 power generating units used by the National Park Service and permitted replacement of gasoline power units, at wells and pumps, with electric motors." Big Bend also could provide "electric lights in guest cabins and improved refrigeration" for the NPCI concession facilities. The state of Texas highway department also contributed to the improvement of services in the park, with the completion of State Route 118 from Alpine to the park's west entrance. [26]

In matters of employee housing, however, Garrison had less optimistic news to report for fiscal year 1954. "Adequate housing at planned locations," he wrote, "must be provided for Service employees without further delay to achieve desirable levels of economy and efficiency in park administration." He noted that CCC structures in place since the mid-1930s "were utilized for housing, office, warehouse and storage space." These were to be temporary, but "no program for renovation and rehabilitation was followed as funds were not provided for such a project." Since 1950, the NPS had constructed four residential buildings at Panther Junction. Fourteen employees and their families, wrote Garrison, "still occupy sub-standard quarters in the badly deteriorated CCC buildings," which the superintendent warned "cannot be maintained in even minimum acceptable condition." These "old buildings, of dried cut, highly flammable material, constitute a serious fire hazard and a constant threat to the safety of the occupants." The same could be said for the existing structures at Grapevine Hills, K-Bar, and Government Spring. [27]

What Garrison proposed was to consolidate employee housing at a central location, as "moving all but two of the employees to Panther Junction would eliminate or greatly reduce the hauling of water a distance of 12 miles to supplement the available water supply and effect an important saving." The superintendent wanted 20 new housing units at Panther Junction, two in the Chisos Basin, one at Persimmon Gap, and two at "Santa Elena Junction." He believed that "efficient park administration and protection, employee morale, health and safety, and economy of operation cannot be achieved until adequate employee housing is constructed." In the meantime, a temporary employee's house trailer and tent site had been selected at Panther Junction to initiate the plan to have most of the seasonal park employees reside there. At that moment, Garrison had seasonal rangers, fire control aides and approximately sixteen temporary laborers, truck drivers and skilled or semi-skilled employees living in tents in the Chisos Basin. Panther Junction offered a "central location where they report for work each morning." The U.S. Geological Survey had sent members of its Groundwater Branch to Big Bend, where they found that "the water available from the K-Bar Wells appears to be adequate to meet all anticipated needs at Panther Junction for the next ten years or indefinitely." Garrison also included plans for "the new service station which the Concessioner proposes to build." At the eastern and western ends of the park, Garrison could report better news. "The domestic water supply at the Boquillas ranger station and the Government Spring residence," said the superintendent, "were improved by complete cleaning and enclosure of the springs, by small concrete block houses, installation of electrically operated pumps and improved storage tanks." [28]

In January of 1955, Lon Garrison and his family left Big Bend so that he could accept an appointment in Washington, DC as chief of protection and conservation for the park service. To replace him, the park service dispatched George Miller as the park's third superintendent. Soon after his arrival, Miller could report that the Southwestern Bell Telephone Service had extended its line to Panther Junction, and by March 1955 had reached the Chisos Basin with telephone connections. "Not only does this greatly improve our communications," wrote Miller in his annual report for 1955, but it also "cuts down on our official travel costs, facilitates operations and is a real convenience to visitors." Motorola Communications and Electronics, Inc., also accepted a contract that year to install better radio service throughout the park. Yet a third achievement in Miller's first year as superintendent was completion of "one of the most distinctive water systems of the Service." No fewer that three lines of pipe ran "over very rugged terrain" to Panther Junction, reported Miller, with a 1,500-foot lift and a 500,000-gallon storage tank constituting the $150,000 project. Miller also noted that "we are planning to undertake an experiment in concentrating visitor use facilities where water is available." [29]

The year 1955 was memorable for Big Bend because of the decision to host the long-delayed park dedication. Superintendent Miller collected details of the park's operational history for media and tourism officials to distribute in advance of the November 21 ceremony. From the park's inception, Miller told F.W. Burton, chairman of the organizational committee of the Texas Tourist and Development Foundation, the NPS had expended some $4 million "for the construction of roads, trails, and other facilities — all directly or indirectly related to making the area accessible and available to the people of the country." Miller also had learned from NPS officials in Washington of the new construction program known as MISSION 66, in which the federal government planned to spend approximately $13,000,000 to develop roads, trails, parking areas, campgrounds, picnic areas, water and sewer systems, visitor centers, employee housing. Additional evidence of the scope of MISSION 66 operations was Miller's statement that "private capital in the estimated amount of two and one-half million dollars will be required for the development of overnight accommodations for the traveling public." The superintendent conceded that "a concessioner willing to spend this amount of money in the next ten years has not yet been found." Yet Miller hoped that with the increase in government funding, such a concessionaire could be found. [30]

To demonstrate the need for investment in Big Bend's infrastructure, Miller asked Burton of the Texas tourist agency whether "your organization may be in a position to help locate capital for such development." The superintendent acknowledged that few Texans came to Big Bend. As the park was "of national caliber and significance," said Miller, it was "advertised nationwide and we do have a large percentage of out-of-state visitors." He then cited visitation totals for the previous decade:

These numbers reflected the fact that Big Bend charged no admission fees, and until 1953 the park had no traffic counters at the entrances. "The park is presently administered, maintained and operated by a staff of 30 permanent employees," augmented by summer seasonal employees. "It is expected," Miller told Burton, that the permanent staff will more than double as the park becomes more developed, with the resultant increase in visitor travel." Then he advised the Texas tourist agency official that "under the MISSION 66 program we shall be spending over a million dollars this fiscal year on major roads, buildings and utilities." Miller's park had seen a six-fold increase in staffing since the day that Ross Maxwell had entered on duty, and the growth in facility expenditures in the first year of MISSION 66 equaled one-quarter of all funds invested in Big Bend in its first eleven years of operations. In like manner, visitation had increased exponentially, with the high point of 1952 representing an advance of a factor of 110. [31]

Miller's pride in Big Bend's accomplishments reached its apogee on November 21, 1955, when Douglas McKay, Secretary of the Interior gave the keynote address at the park's dedication. Standing before a crowd of 1,100 visitors and dignitaries from the state of Texas, the Republic of Mexico, and the NPS, McKay looked out over the landscape and declared the ceremony "a proud and memorable occasion." With the United States and Mexican flags flying together in the fall breeze, the Interior secretary apologized for the absence of "that great son of Texas and noble American, Dwight D. Eisenhower." The president had suffered a heart attack earlier that year, but McKay conveyed Eisenhower's wish to praise "this, the seventh largest of all our twenty-eight national parks." The former Supreme Allied Commander in World War II wanted the audience that day to know, said McKay, that he valued Big Bend's creation "not alone because of his very deep and sincere appreciation of the priceless value of our national parks, nor because Big Bend is in his native state." More important to the career soldier was "the fact that this park was conceived as a symbol of international peace." McKay recalled that Big Bend "was formally established on June 12, 1944, while our soldiers were fighting to establish a beachhead in France." Unfortunately, said the Interior secretary, "when peace finally came after that terrible war, it proved only temporary." Instead, "plans for this dedication ceremony had to be shelved while sons of Texas joined other American boys on the bloody battlefields of Korea." [32]

With conflict in Far East resolved, McKay could convey to the attendees the president's belief that "people of all nations seem now to look more to their hearts than to their armed might in developing plans for a peaceful world." Thus the Interior secretary found it "altogether fitting, then, that in this era of heartfelt hope, we should dedicate this great gift from the people of Texas to the people of America." McKay especially praised the work of the "International Good Neighbor Council" to resurrect the dream of an international peace park between the United States and Mexico. In a reference to the Cold War tensions still affecting world affairs, McKay reminded his audience that "the pooling and mutual sharing of great scenic treasures along those borders [between the United States, Canada, and Mexico] is an inspiring example to the troubled peoples behind the iron and bamboo curtains of the way free men and women can live in peace and friendship." As if to emphasize the challenge of peace in the postwar era, the Interior secretary noted that "the land is peaceful now, and always shall be, but it was not always so." From the volcanic eruptions of eons before, to the warfare between Indian tribes and the Spanish, to the "cattle rustlers and outlaws" of the nineteenth century, Big Bend had a cultural legacy that marked it as unique in the NPS system. [33]

The twentieth century had a different story to tell, thought McKay, as "peace came to this wild country when free men settled down and learned under democracy to live with one another as neighbors." The Interior secretary cited "Captain Everett Ewing Townsend" as one of "the early teachers of the virtues of law and order and the principles of good neighborliness." To the longtime rancher and public servant, said McKay, "all of us are forever indebted for the part he played in paving the way for the establishment of Big Bend National Park." Townsend's foresight, and that of Horace Morelock and Amon Carter, declared McKay, was evidenced by the fact that "only 28 of the 181 areas in the National Park System can bear that proud title [of national park]." The Interior secretary also praised the citizens of Texas, who "did not ask Uncle Sam to acquire the land." Once the NPS opened the gates to Big Bend, "it was not easy or comfortable to visit this beautiful wilderness area." Yet from a base of 850 visitors in its first year, predicted McKay, "ten years from now — in 1966 — the number of visitors to Big Bend will approximate 500,000, according to our National Park Service experts." Such visitation patterns could threaten the serenity of the Chisos Basin, said the Interior secretary, and "to permit this to happen would be a desecration." Yet McKay comforted his audience by intoning: "It shall not happen. That I can promise." [34]

Then McKay offered a breathtaking synopsis of the planning process that the park service had in mind for Big Bend. "The rugged beauty of the Chisos Mountains," he declared, "will be preserved by restraining over-development." The former automobile dealer from Salem, Oregon, conceded that "of course, the facilities now here must be improved and modernized." Yet "park planners feel . . . the construction of roads and the developed area in the Basin has progressed just about as far as it can without harming the scenery." Instead "future plans contemplate the establishment of an attractive village in an oasis near the river in the vicinity of Hot Springs." "Here the Park's principal visitor accommodations would be concentrated," said McKay, with "motels, cabins, stores and other visitor facilities . . . created and operated by park concessioners." Once the NPS installed "roads, water and sewage facilities and public campgrounds," it then would build "a spur road [to] take visitors to the spectacular Mariscal Canyon area." Yet another development was contemplated "for the Santa Elena Canyon area with provision for expansion to meet the growing needs of the future." [35]

This grand scheme for Big Bend comprised part of the larger MISSION 66 initiative, so called "because we hope to reach its objectives in 1966 when the National Park Service will celebrate the golden anniversary of its establishment by Congress." McKay claimed that "in my long career as a public official [including service as mayor of Salem, Oregon, and governor of Oregon], no duty has been more rewarding or brought me more personal satisfaction than that of exercising stewardship over the parks in which our people find enjoyment." He declared MISSION 66 "one of the most important developments in the entire history of the National Park Service," especially in light of his discovery upon taking office in 1953 that "the Park Service was attempting to take care of almost 50 million visitors in a park system developed to handle about half the number." Since the peak of CCC and New Deal construction, "the demands of World War II, the Korean War and the cold war had forced curtailments all along the line." [35]

McKay then placed Big Bend's MISSION 66 improvements within the context of system-wide efforts to rejuvenate the park service. The NPS budget had increased under the Eisenhower administration some 40 percent (to $45 million), making Big Bend's $1 million allocation for fiscal year 1956 eight percent of the entire NPS increase. McKay emphasized that "we have encouraged concessioners to make substantial improvements toward improving and expanding the facilities they operate." He also noted proudly that "we have added new land to the system every year." MISSION 66 reflected what the secretary called "aggressive action . . . to put the park system in shape to meet future demands which are clearly foreseeable." Mindful of the congressional mandate "that the park areas must be preserved for the benefit and enjoyment of the American people," McKay seized the opportunity at Big Bend's dedication to remind his audience that "the thought of rationing use of our parks is repugnant to me." Americans, however, "must face the hard truth that visitor enjoyment is impaired by masses of people who crowd to the same spot to see the same view at the same time." Warning that "rationing the beauty of our national parks might be the only solution if we stood still," the Interior secretary nonetheless concluded that "we can reject such a suggestion only because we are moving forward" in parks like Big Bend. [36]

Little did Douglas McKay or his audience at the 1955 park dedication realize that MISSION 66 would mark the high point of facilities development at Big Bend for decades to come. When Superintendent Miller prepared his annual report for fiscal year 1956, he could note that the president's Bureau of the Budget had approved of "construction of twenty badly needed residences at park headquarters, the completion — except for bridges — of a surfaced road to the Rio Grande Village area, and an initial development at the Graham Ranch site that will provide the much needed facilities for the visiting public." The administration had rejected the NPS's original request for $18 million in MISSION 66 funds for Big Bend, settling on the lesser figure of $13 million. This renewed interest in the park crossed over to land acquisition, where in August 1956 the NPS purchased the 1,420-acre J.W. Gilmer property at San Vicente for $50,000. In addition, Miller could report the acquisition of the 500-acre Don Thomas ranch at Solis, which cost the NPS $40,145. Still remaining as in-holdings were the Ulice Adams property, some 640 acres south of Boquillas Canyon, and the 320 acres owned by the Tinsley family of Spokane, Washington. Finally, Big Bend reacquired acreage used by the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) for a tracking station. [37]

For the next generation, planning at Big Bend rarely encompassed new structures, roads, bridges, or visitor accommodations. A pattern that Big Bend shared with other parks that benefited from MISSION 66 largesse was a slow decline in the upkeep and maintenance of their facilities. This was attributable to two factors: the creation in the 1960s and 1970s of many more units of the NPS (up to 370 by the year 2000), many of them historic sites with building rehabilitation as their primary need. In addition, there was a sense by 1965 that parks like Big Bend had received their share of support. Visitation rarely peaked above 350,000 for the remainder of the century (a far cry from Douglas McKay's prediction in 1955 of one-half million by 1966). Not until the early 1990s would the NPS (at its historic planning conference in October 1991 in Vail, Colorado) develop a plan to address park needs left languishing for three decades and more. In the meantime, Big Bend would face a future not recognized by Douglas McKay and his audience on that sunny day in 1955, with brand-new buildings and an optimism to match.

Figure 19: Rio Grande Village Store

Endnotes

¹ Maxwell, "Annual Report, Big Bend National Park," July 6, 1945, RG79, NPS, SWRO, Santa Fe, Correspondence Relating to National Parks, Monuments, and Recreational Areas, 1927-1953, Box 2, Folder: 200 (NPS) Administration and Personnel Big Bend, DEN NARA.

² Ibid.

³ Ibid.

⁴ Ibid.

⁵ Maxwell, "Annual Report, Big Bend National Park," July 1, 1946, Science and Resources Management Library, Big Bend National Park.

⁶ Ibid.

⁷ Ibid.

⁸ Ibid.

⁹ Memorandum of Maxwell for the NPS Director, May 28, 1947, RG79, NPS, SWRO, Santa Fe, Correspondence Relating to National Parks, Monuments, and Recreational Areas, 1927-1953, Box 3, Folder: 207 Reports (General) Folder 1, DEN NARA. For a more thorough treatment of Etta Koch's reminiscences of Big Bend, see Etta Koch, Lizards at the Mantel, Burros at the Door (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1999).

¹⁰ Ibid.

¹¹ Ibid.

¹² Ibid.

¹³ Ibid.

¹⁴ Ibid.

¹⁵ Ibid.

¹⁶ Ibid.

¹⁷ Maxwell, "Annual Report for Big Bend National Park, 1948," July 12, 1948, RG79, NPS, SWRO, Santa Fe, Correspondence Relating to National Parks, Monuments, and Recreational Areas, 1927-1953, Box 3, Folder: 207 Reports (General) Folder 1, DEN NARA.

¹⁸ Maxwell, "A Report of the Most Significant Events of the 1949 Fiscal Year at Big Bend National Park, Texas," n.d., RG79, NPS, SWRO, Santa Fe, Correspondence Relating to National Parks, Monuments, and Recreational Areas, 1917-1953, Box 3, Folder: 207 Reports (General) Folder 1, DEN NARA.

¹⁹ Memorandum from the Superintendent, BIBE, to the NPS Director, "Material for Director's Annual Report," June 5, 1950, Science and Resources Management Library, BIBE.

²⁰ Maxwell, "A Report of the Most Significant Events of the 1951 Fiscal Year at Big Bend National Park, Texas," n.d., RG79, NPS, SWRO, Santa Fe, Correspondence Relating to National Parks, Monuments, and Recreational Areas, 1927-1953, Box 3, Folder: 207 Reports (General) Folder 1, DEN NARA.

²¹ Ibid.

²² Ibid.

²² Memorandum of Maxwell to the NPS Regional Director, Santa Fe, "Request for Annual and Sick Leave," November 28, 1951, RG79, NPS, SWRO, Santa Fe, Correspondence Relating to National Parks, Monuments, and Recreational Areas, 1927-1953, Box 4, Folder: 250 Personnel, DEN NARA.

²³ Wirth to Maxwell, December 10, 1951; Tillotson to "Ross" (Maxwell), December 14, 1951, RG79, NPS, SWRO, Santa Fe, Correspondence Relating to National Parks, Monuments, and Recreational Areas, 1927-1953, Box 4, Folder: 250 Personnel, DEN NARA.

²⁴ Memorandum of Lemuel A. Garrison, Superintendent, Big Bend National Park, to the Regional NPS Director, Santa Fe, November 20, 1952, "Arrival at Big Bend," RG79, NPS, SWRO, Santa Fe, Correspondence Relating to National Parks, Monuments, and Recreational Areas, 1927-1953, Box 4, Folder: 250 Personnel, DEN NARA; Garrison, "A Report of the Most Significant Events of the 1953 Fiscal Year at Big Bend National Park, Texas," Science and Resources Management Library, BIBE.

²⁵ Garrison, 1953 Fiscal Year Report.

²⁶ Garrison, "A Report of the Most Significant Events of the 1954 Fiscal Year at Big Bend National Park, Texas," Science and Resources Management Library, BIBE.

²⁷ Ibid.

²⁸ Ibid.

²⁹ George W. Miller, Superintendent, Big Bend National Park, "A Report on the Most Significant Events of the 1955 Fiscal Year at Big Bend National Park, Texas," Science and Resource Management Library, BIBE.

³⁰ Miller to F.W. Burton, Chairman, Organizational Committee, Texas Tourist and Development Foundation, Austin, Texas, August 30, 1956, File A 22, Texas Tourist Foundation 1956, RG79, NPS, Big Bend National Park Files; Press Release, National Park Service, November 5, 1955, "Secretary McKay to Dedicate Big Bend National Park at Special Ceremony," RG79, NPS, Box 12, File No. 079.66.0098 798993, Big Bend National Park Files, National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), Federal Records Center (FRC), Fort Worth, Texas.

³¹ Ibid.

³² "Address by Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay at the Dedication of Big Bend National Park, Texas," November 21, 1955, RG79, NPS, Box 12, File No. 079.66.0098 798993, Big Bend National Park Files, NARA, FRC, Fort Worth; Miller, "A Report of the Most Signficiant Events of the 1956 Fiscal Year at Big Bend National Park, Texas," Science and Resources Management Library, BIBE.

³³ Ibid.

³⁴ Ibid.

³⁵ Ibid.

³⁵ Ibid.

³⁶ Ibid.

³⁷ Miller, "1956 Fiscal Report."