Fort Union Administrative History

Figure 11. Since 1974 living history has been a major interpretive method of the fort. This photograph shows Acting Chief Ranger T. J. Sperry and his wife Nicki Sperry doing daily interpretive activities in the summer of 1990. Courtesy of Fort Union National Monument.

As one of the Park Service's main objectives for management, the knowledgeable presentation of this historic site to the public often takes a great deal of administrative effort. Working closely with the regional office, local community, and various experts, the park staff has been skillfully conducting an unending dialogue between the past and the present by making the monument a showcase of American frontier history for the visitor. Because of its excellent interpretive program developed in the past 36 years, Fort Union National Monument stands as an inspiring classroom, as well as tourist stop.

At the beginning, poverty struck every corner of the proposed Fort Union National Monument. Non-existence of any support facilities and the lack of interpretive material and reference information about the fort's past posed a major obstacle to the establishment of an operational park. In 1955, when the Park Service started developing it, the only comprehensive study of Fort Union available was Edward Steere's 108-page report written in 1938. With a limited amount of literature on the subject, the monument had to compile a tour guide for future patrons. Also, a visitor trail containing explanatory signs was necessary. The park's first administration, which had only one person, faced a tough challenge to meet these needs.

Acting Superintendent Wing lost no time in creating a temporary interpretive program. As soon as he took up residence in Las Vegas, he started to compose an interpretive leaflet. Within three weeks, Wing produced the first draft of the text and sent it to Santa Fe for comment. After he finished writing it in late December 1955, he began to plan a self-guided tour of the Third Fort in anticipation of opening the monument to the public in the following summer. [1] It took another two months to complete the plan for a temporary visitor route. At the same time, Anna Wing drew the cover design for the leaflet. [2] It showed a covered wagon in the foreground with the ruins of the fort in the distance. By the spring of 1956, the monument was ready for full-scale operation of its interpretive project.

In March, with the assistance of his wife, Wing began to lay out a visitor trail through the ruins. Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado supplied cut-out letters for use on the interpretive signs along the route. This enthusiastic and talented couple did a speedy job. Before the ribbon-cutting ceremony, they put the last touch on the visitor trail. [3] Also, the mimeographed tour guide arrived at the fort on time from the printer. Opening-day guests were greeted with a tri-fold leaflet containing a road directory and several fort pictures. [4] Following the interpretive signs and reading the illustrative leaflet, people for the first time enjoyed a guided tour of Fort Union.

In activating a comprehensive interpretation program, the monument could not ignore collecting historic items and displaying them. The lack of sheltered space and historic artifacts had limited the park's capabilities to offer a rich exhibition. But Superintendent Wing managed to present a few things on opening day. While walking into the temporary visitor center, the first visitors spotted several framed maps and photographs on the walls. [5] These historic pictures whetted people's appetite to learn more about the history of Fort Union. A month later, the park staff built a 10-foot display cabinet in the lobby to house artifacts found among the ruins. And another set of five old photographs joined the existing ones. [6] Not only did this exhibit provide an attractive orientation for the public, but also a mini-museum was born.

From this humble beginning, the museum grew faster than anything else in the first few years. After the monument initiated the ruins rehabilitation project, the archeological team led by George Cattanach, and later Rex Wilson, excavated numerous artifacts in the area. Unearthed objects included almost everything from glass bottle to a steam engine. As interested citizens learned of the establishment of Fort Union National Monument, they donated artifacts either collected at the site or inherited by their family. For example, Francis A. Timoney of Colorado Springs bestowed on several cases of unspecified U.S. Cavalry gear. [7] They created a nucleus around which to build displays. Through both excavation and donation, the monument owned a collection of 7,500 specimens by 1960. [8]

Storing these historic artifacts posed a problem. The nouveau riche had to find a safe place to deposit its unexpected wealth. After the cells of the stone jail at the fort proved insufficient, the recreation hall of Valmora, New Mexico, provided brief shelter for the material recovered through ruins stabilization activities. [9] In 1959, Fort Union ordered six museum cabinets for storage purposes, and the park staff put the catalogued specimens into the cabinets and moved them to the park residences' garages. [10] From the 1960s, the museum collections "permanently" rested in temporary metal storage buildings that lacked any moisture or temperature control. Plans to build a standard museum collection room have not succeeded because of lack of funding. Today more than 10,000 objects are still waiting for proper curatorial facilities.

The preparation of permanent museum exhibits proceeded without difficulty. While the park employees were busily sorting, cleaning, and cataloguing the newly acquired items, outside assistance aided in the planning of a long-standing display. Curator Per Culdbeck of the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe volunteered his expertise in the restoration of copper, brass, and steel artifacts. [11] Historian Arthur Woodward provided valuable advice concerning the historical background of Fort Union. In 1959 when the construction of the visitor center was to be completed, the Park Service asked its Western Museum Laboratory in San Francisco to design and install Fort Union's permanent museum exhibits with an American frontier history theme. A few days before the official dedication of the monument, four members of Western Museum Laboratory set up the exhibits in the visitor center. [12]

Along with the development of the museum, the monument staff improved its interpretive tour guide. Almost from the very beginning, the administration realized that the three-page mimeographed leaflet used at the opening ceremony was too brief and could not satisfy people's interest. In December 1956, an eight-page information folder supplemented the original handout. It provided the visitor with basic knowledge about the past of Fort Union. [13] The following March the park staff revised and enlarged the primitive leaflet, incorporating new signs on the map and better photographs into the text. Soon the new edition of the Fort Union trail guide was available for sale at the visitor center. [14]

For the interpretive program to be successful, the job of bringing more visitor to the monument was crucial. From day one, the park administration strove to attract as many visitors as possible, thereby creating a symbiotic relationship between the park and the visitor. During the first months local citizens constituted more than eighty percent of total visitation. The infrequency of outside visitors was due to the newness of the monument, the absence of prominent highway signs, and the nonexistence of the entrance road on maps. To make Fort Union a "national" monument rather than a local recreation area, the park staff extended their work beyond the monument boundary.

Cooperating with state and private organizations, Fort Union quickly developed a plan for advertising. In October 1956, the New Mexico Highway Department helped install a sign showing the daily business hours of the monument at the junction of the entrance road (NM 477) with Highway 85. Also, the department proposed to move the Fort Scenic-Historic Marker to the same area. [15] In the park, a traffic counter began to record the number of entering vehicles. Three years later, the regional office allowed Fort Union, Inc., a non-profit organization that helped promote Fort Union National Monument, to set up another sign advertising the fort at the intersection of US 85 and NM 477. [16] As everybody expected, these signs increased traffic flow toward the monument.

In addition to the roadside advertising, the Park Service practiced other publicity methods. Much as a business corporation approaches market strategy, the monument sought out customers rather than waiting for their arrival. Through Fort Union, Inc., the park distributed free information leaflets at hotels, restaurants, and gas stations in the state. As a liaison officer between the park and society, Fort Union, Inc., often conducted trips to the ruins, published postcards of the fort, and dispersed interpretive literature among citizens. [17] The organization also sponsored an essay context for high school students on any topic related to the fort. Meanwhile, the park staff frequently delivered talks at various places including Rotary Clubs, the State Hospital, and public schools. Because of these aggressive campaigns, Fort Union National Monument soon became familiar to many New Mexicans.

With the increase in visitation, Fort Union needed a full-time historian to carry out the interpretive work of the monument. For almost two years, Superintendent Wing acted as a part-time interpreter; he designed the trail, wrote the guide, and directed visitors. An extra person would make it possible for Wing to concentrate on administration. In the spring of 1957, he drove down to Albuquerque and visited the Department of History at the University of New Mexico, and sought to recruit a graduate for the proposed historian position. [18] His trip was fruitless, but in September tour leader Donald Mawson of Carlsbad Caverns National Park agreed to take the position. A month later, he reported for duty at the fort. [19] The arrival of Mawson coincided with a new phase of the interpretive program.

Beginning in 1957, full-scale research into Fort Union's past took the lead in all interpretive activities. As soon as Mawson became acquainted with the area, he set to work on the James W. Arrott Collection at the Rodgers Library at New Mexico Highlands University in Las Vegas. The study of historical documents significantly improved his ability to guide visitors and to answer their questions. At the same time, the regional office asked contract historian Arthur Woodward to write a book-length report on the history of Fort Union. Two years later, he produced a well researched paper entitled "Fort Union, New Mexico--Guardian of the Santa Fe Trail." It gave the most comprehensive picture of this nineteenth-century military post up to that time.

Two other frontier scholars, Chris Emmett and Robert Utley, were also working on the same topic. In 1957, James Arrott, a founding father of the monument, interested historian Emmett in writing a history of the fort. He spent eight years on the project before the University of Oklahoma Press eventually published his book, Fort Union and the Winning of the Southwest (1965). In 1959, Southwest Regional Historian Utley authored a special report, "Fort Union and the Santa Fe Trail," for the National Survey of Historic Sites and Buildings. His concise account of the fort not only provided government officials with clearer ideas about the historical significance of the military post but also showed to the Park Service the potential of good interpretive material. In 1962, he expanded his paper into a handbook. Because of its solid research and colorful writing, Fort Union National Monument immediately became a popular handbook. Today, almost thirty years after its first publication, students and visitors alike are still enjoying Utley's classic work.

The study of Fort Union also included oral history. Since a few eyewitnesses of the nineteenth-century frontier were alive, the park staff, encouraged and directed by Superintendent Hastings, conducted a series of personal interviews with the people who had lived during the fort's heyday. As living archives, they offered valuable information that supplemented the written documents. For instance, 103-year-old Hough Loudin recalled the social life of the military personnel at nearby La Cueva, a former recreation spot for officers. The Reverend Jay Wilson of Laramie, Wyoming, discussed an early Protestant church at Wagon Mound. And Ramon C. Baca talked about the "good old days" at Loma Parda. [20] The oral history program continued until the mid-1960s when interest shifted to living history. By that time, the monument had obtained an extensive collection of tape-recorded interviews for its library.

In 1961, Park Service Washington Office Historian Roy E. Appleman visited the fort and inspected its overall development. He found that the "museum exhibits, self-guided foot trail, and personal services...[were] not only good but superior to most similar features and services in most of the other units of the [Park Service] system." [21] Within a short period after its establishment as a national monument, Fort Union had developed an interpretive program, which enabled visitors to experience the ruins in an enjoyable and educational manner.

Beginning in the early 1960s, the interpretive program entered its second stage, a period of refinement. Without any major change in principle, the program improved in many aspects. Because of New Mexico's large Hispanic population, the monument planned to provide bilingual services. In 1962, Ranger Patricio Quintana prepared a Spanish language version of the self-guided trail booklet. [22] Although the Spanish language was less common than English in the park's operation, Quintana's task showed the consciousness of the administration to a bilingual approach.

The dated English version of the self-guided trail leaflet received more attention. In 1967, the monument decided to revise the text and to add a colored cover. The Southwest Parks and Monuments Association, a non-profit organization of promoting national parks and monuments in the region, kindly handled the printing. In June, just before another heavy tourist season, the new leaflet arrived at the fort. On the cover, a picture of a frontier soldier superimposed on a general view of Fort Union. The new guidebook, as Superintendent Hastings reported, was spectacular, and the park staff were anxious to dispose of the old leaflets so that they could start selling the new ones. [23]

Offsite talks and presentations, initiated by Kittridge Wing, became more common and popular during Hastings's administration. In 1961, Hastings assembled a set of slides accompanied by a tape with a musical background for his standard slide show. It introduced to the public Fort Union National Monument, as well as the National Park Service at-large. [42] In the same year, historian Dale F. Giese of Carlsbad Caverns National Park succeeded Donald Mawson, who transferred to Tumacacori National Monument in Arizona. Both Hastings and Giese frequently delivered speeches or presented slide shows at various places such as New Mexico Highlands University, the State Hospital, the Mora-San Miguel Electrical Cooperative, the American Legion, the Las Vegas Rotary and Lions Clubs, the Masonic Lodges, Kiwanis Clubs, and Castle Junior High School. [25] These offsite presentations strengthened the relationship between the park and the community.

The monument regularly informed the media about its most recent activities. Accordingly, the press and radio releases kept the public aware of changing activities at the site. Meanwhile, the fort sought to reach larger audiences through either educational or entertainment programs. In May 1968, Clear Sight Cable Television in Las Vegas began a biweekly series under the title "Fort Union, New Mexico--Yesterday and Today." It aired through September and resumed in February 1969 for another season. The following month, historian Nicholas Bleser recorded a 30-minute program about the fort for KNME-TV of Albuquerque. [26] The program was broadcast on April 4, 1969. The footage of Fort Union also appeared on other television stations in the state.

The national monument needed more national publicity as well. Whenever a professional cameraman showed up at the fort, regardless of his purposes or affiliation, the park personnel offered assistance. As early as October 1958, a Life magazine photographer visited the fort to take pictures for an article on the old West. In July 1963, the Manco Recording Company of Fort Worth, Texas, filmed a documentary movie about Fort Union and the surrounding area. Two years later, a team from Screen Gems, Inc., shot film at the ruins to use in an advertisement for 1966 Chryslers. [27] All of these activities helped increase the national exposure of Fort Union.

Ironically, Fort Union personnel interpreted the historic site without an interpretive prospectus for eleven years. In 1965, a year after Giese left for the University of New Mexico to pursue a Ph.D. degree, administrative assistant Nicholas J. Bleser filled the vacant park historian position. He started to work on an interpretive prospectus and completed the first draft in March 1967. The prospectus presented three objectives: to explain the history of the American frontier, to stimulate the imagination of the visitor, and to provide access to detailed information. [28] It dealt primarily with the monument's physical improvement, such as the approach road, signs, photos, and the visitor trail. Although the 43-page document offered little in the way of new approaches or effective methods, it explained and justified contemporary practices.

Under the auspices of the prospectus, various improvements made visits to the park more enjoyable. In 1967, an army escort wagon and mule dump cart were placed in the center of the mechanics' corral. These vehicles of the 1880s created a vivid historic scene among the unadorned walls. Also, more than 30 metal photo plates featuring historic pictures were erected throughout the ruins for visitors to compare how the buildings appeared at present with how they looked in the nineteenth century. [29] A year later, park employees installed a replica cell door at the stone jail building and then added a new exhibit at the location of the Star Fort. [30] Piece-by-piece physical improvements animated this historic site.

In addition to the improved visual image of the fort, an audio system was introduced into the ruins areas to enrich the historic atmosphere. Park personnel had long realized that visitors often endured stillness along the 1.6-mile trail. The prospectus suggested that occasional soft notes of a bugle call could bring back the sounds of frontiersmen and their daily chores. In November 1970, the Park Service installed an audio system on the eastern end of the parade ground. It consisted of a recorder and clock-controlled speaker. The new device played thirty different calls, at regular intervals of sounds that were heard daily during the 1880s. Those "sounds of the past" gave the visitors a sense of the bustling activity of the garrison. [31]

After a three-year trial, in which the monument actively sought public opinion, the Park Service replaced the audio equipment with a high quality system. Following the suggestions of electrical engineer Daniel Zigler, the fort administration decided to relocate the speakers. According to the new plan, two speakers were mounted back-to-back horizontally on two 15-foot metal stands, running along the same lines as the top portion of the wall, which camouflaged them from the visitor. Elevated from the ground, the speakers projected the sounds much farther, to every corner of the ruins site. [32]

Other audio devices also served as powerful interpretive tools. In 1970, for the first time, the monument set up two small audio stations among the ruins to tell about the history of the post. Regularly delivering the pre-recorded messages, the stations operated basically the same as did the bugle call system. [33] After a test period chief ranger Robert Arnberger decided to place eight extra message repeaters along the visitor trail to supplement the existing ones. In 1974, under a $2,486 contract, Cockrell Electric of Las Vegas erected the metal pedestals. [34] Southwest Audiovisual Depot helped make the tapes, which featured first-person dialogues revolving around incidents in the Red River Indian War of 1874. Each station had a speaker and push button. Whenever visitors pushed the button, they listened to the conversations. [35] Together with the bugle call system, the message repeating stations further broke the quiet atmosphere of the ruins.

In addition to those internal improvements, good public relations were crucial for attracting more people. To strengthen ties with the local community, the park staff took some of the museum collections to various places in the region and set up itinerant exhibits. For example, in 1968, the fort arranged a show at the museum at Springer, New Mexico. [36] In 1972, a Fort Union exhibit graced the lobby of the Bank of Las Vegas and later traveled to the Southwest Public Service Company. The bank employees thought that it was "the best received display ever." [37] In the same year, with the cooperation of the State Highway Department, Fort Union placed new exhibits at the nearest I-25 southbound rest area to stimulate traffic flow to the monument. [38]

Meanwhile, the Fort Union staff encouraged people to spend their special days at the fort. From Rough Riders reunions to Boy Scouts' adventures, special events often took place in the park. In the summer of 1971, the park initiated a fiesta called "Las Vegas Day at Fort Union." On that day, the one-dollar entrance fee was waived as a gesture of goodwill to all neighbors. As a result, five hundred people showed up. [39] Because of the success of the fiesta, the park staff planned to expand the event the following year. Sponsored by the Las Vegas Fiesta Committee, the second annual "Las Vegas Day Fiesta" occurred on August 13, 1972, and included a free luncheon for all the participants. The delicious aroma of barbecue beef, posole, chile, and beans lured a crowd of 1,200 people. Many of them saw the ruins for the first time. [40]

Other special events included an International Student Day and a Veterans Day observance. In the spring of 1972, with the help of Highlands University, Fort Union hosted a party for foreign students. Under a contract with the United States Department of Information, Patton Enterprise of Santa Fe filmed the activities for Hurst Metrotone News. [41] Working with the Veterans of Foreign War Post 1547 in Las Vegas, the park invited veterans to hold the Veterans Day observance at the fort. On October 23, an unexpected snowstorm forced all activities into the visitor center but the spirits of 250 veteran remained high throughout the ceremonies. [42]

Among the special visitors were foreign journalists. As a presentation of the American frontier legend, Fort Union drew the attention of Europeans, who were fascinated by western American history. In July 1969, three members of the Italian television station RAT-TV visited the fort and shot film for a program entitled "The History and Legend of the West." Seasonal ranger-historian Lois Emrick presented a talk and rifle demonstration to the camera team. [43] In September 1977, a film crew from West Germany came to film the historic structures at both the monument and the nearby ranch for a public education television series in the fatherland. [44] Fort Union National Monument was gaining international fame too.

Figure 12. Acting Chief Ranger T. J. Sperry and Ranger Frank Torres were two key players during the 1991 living history program. Courtesy of Fort Union National Monument.

While making progress toward the goal of attracting more visitors, the park interpretive program suffered a temporary setback in 1973. Fifty percent of the permanent staff--administrative clerk Theresa Fulgenzi and Superintendent Claude Fernandez--transferred in June, just before the summer tourist season. Assuming the duty of acting superintendent, chief ranger-historian Robert Arnberger was unable to concentrate on his primary duties. Also the Arab oil embargo of 1973 curtailed American tourism. The gasoline shortage caused a substantial decrease in visitation. The park's offsite talk and presentation schedule became less active for the same reason. [45] The park staff, however, did not await the recovery of visitation. Instead, the new administration, headed by the recently arrived superintendent, Ross Hopkins, worked hard to make the interpretive program more attractive.

The previous experience gained from the rifle and uniform demonstrations revealed to park administrators that a living history program might be successful. In early 1960s, historian Dale Giese introduced an idea of living history for the interpretive program. Occasionally, he arranged for a few "frontiersmen" and horses to wander among the ruins in order to give visitors a sense of frontier life. Since then park personnel had periodically worn old Army uniforms and fired weapons for visitors. Those activities often stimulated people's curiosity to ask questions about the fort's past. [46]

One day, a couple of girls from Texas burst into the visitor center, where historian Bleser was on duty. He was wearing a period reproduction uniform of an 1883 sergeant-major in the 23rd Infantry. The girls asked if there were any Indians around as in the old days. Bleser jokingly replied that there was one right now who was out chopping weeds on the grounds, pointing to Ralph Lujan, a Taos Pueblo youth working at the fort under a ten-week neighborhood youth corps program. Delighted by his presence, the two girls dashed out from the visitor center and ran to Lujan. They asked him to autograph their trail guides. When the girls came back, they topped off Bleser's day by asking, "did you capture him?" [47]

Despite positive reactions from visitors, the uniform and rifle demonstrations did not develop into a living history program until the 1970s. Becoming less creative and energetic in his late years at the fort, Superintendent Hastings, a conservative bureaucrat, showed little interest in such an idea of living history. He neither encouraged nor prevented rangers' initiatives. [48] Under Superintendent Fernandez's administration, living history gained more ground but his short tenure passed the opportunity to develop a living history program along to his successor.

When Superintendent Hopkins, a military history fan, arrived at the fort, he decided to undertake a departure in interpretation by shifting emphasis to living history. Living history in the National Park Service by the early 1970s, had been a "trendy" concept and the thing to do in interpretation. It was natural that Hopkins plunged Fort Union into the living history arena. Intending to attract more visitors, Southwest Regional Director Frank F. Kowski supported Hopkins' approach. [49] In 1973, planning for a living history program became one of the primary goals. As a loyal friend of Fort Union, Southwest Parks and Monuments Association continued its support of visitor services. In September, Hopkins requested financial assistance. The association donated $1,000 as "seed money" to begin the program. The following month the organization gave the monument an additional $4,000 to purchase uniforms, equipment, firearms, and other items. By the end of the year, approximately $6,000 had been donated for the project. [50]

Beginning in April 1974, on weekends, the park staff, dressed in clothing of the nineteenth century, portrayed military and civilian life on the frontier post. Offsite talks and presentations promoted the theme of living history. Anticipating a full-scale program for the busy tourist summer, Hopkins hired three seasonal employees: Walter Hood, C. Susan Love, and Paul S. Shampine, all from the Texas A&M campus. After two months of dress rehearsals, the living history program deputed on June 16. Waiving the regular entrance fee for the day, Superintendent Hopkins extended an invitation to all residents of Las Vegas and the region. At noon, retired regional director Frank F. Kowski and the present director Joseph Rumburg opened Fort Union's living history program by firing the six-pounder howitzer. Echoing the past, it announced the birth of a new era of interpretation. [51]

With daily presentations throughout the summer, the living history program offered visitors a chance to see nineteenth-century frontier life. Shampine wore a blue coated uniform of the First Colorado Volunteers and Hood posed as a civilian craftsman while Love, in bonnet and wide-skirted calico dress, portrayed an army wife. In front of tents erected behind the visitor center, they demonstrated to visitors the daily routines of frontier army life. The more popular reenactment included woodstove cooking, cloth dying, soap making, candle dipping, and weapons firing. In order to make the program more meaningful, the living history personnel involved visitors. For instance, one Sunday the park rangers were making plum duff dumplings. Instead of watching, some visitors stepped in to knead the dough. After they were cooked, the dumplings were handed out for the visitors to taste. [52] Although many of these replica uniforms and primitive demonstrations were not historically accurate, they stimulated the visitor's interest in the ruins. As the Denver Post said, people felt that they had "relived at old Fort Union." [53]

The living history demonstrations recessed over the winter and resumed the following May. To do an even better job in the second season, chief ranger Robert Hoff and seasonal ranger Stephen Walker went to Fort Davis National Historic Site in Texas to participate in a Park Service course, "Camp of Military Instruction." [54] During the week of intensive training, they learned much about military life, which helped improve the living history program. A few days after they returned, the monument's living history program began another season.

To kick off the living history program for the summer of 1975, Susan Love and Paul Shampine were married in an unusual style at the fort on June 8, creating much drama for the opening day. Everyone who attended the wedding--bride, groom, flower girls, bridesmaids, parents, and even the Methodist minister Terry Voss--was clad in period clothing. Because this was the first wedding held at Fort Union since the 1880s, it received considerable publicity. Several local and regional newspapers including the Denver Post reported the event with detailed articles and photos. [55]

During the second season, the living history program improved in both quantity and quality. As part of the demonstration, the interpreters kept fresh ground coffee, which was the frontier soldiers' main beverage, hot and available for sampling. Occasionally, visitors tasted the soldier's typical meal of salt pork and hardtack. For the first time, a blacksmith's forge operated near the tents. Among the interpretive personnel, each individual had specific assignments. In addition to his performance, he was required to tell of his unit's role in the past, explaining all related topics to the visitors. [56] The park rangers no longer waited for a crowd. They were as likely to be talking to two people as to twenty-five. [57]

Both the visitors and the staff, but particularly the latter, were delighted with the results of the living history program. The well-prepared program not only stimulated the public's desire to ask more questions but also induced them to stay at the site longer than before. Where the average visitors used to spend an hour at Fort Union, they were now likely to be there twice as long. Visits of four or five, and even six hours, were not unusual. [58] The magnetism of living history was amazing.

The park administration exploited the success of the living history project by extending it beyond the monument's boundaries. Whenever there was an opportunity to give a talk or a demonstration in the local community, Fort Union sent its personnel. The biggest offsite presentation of 1975 took place at the De Vargas Shopping Center in Santa Fe. Because of inflation and the energy shortage of the previous year, the state of New Mexico and the Park Service promoted local tourism aimed at New Mexicans. Encouraging people to "rediscover" New Mexico, the state government and the Southwest Regional Office co-sponsored an "inflation vacation exhibition" at the De Vargas Mall from June 11 to 14. While all eleven national park sites in the state shared a booth, Fort Union had its separate display with the theme of "living history in the Old West." Led by Shampine and Love, the Fort Union team, all in period clothing, contributed the event's best presentation. [59]

At the beginning, the living history program received dissenting reports from chief ranger Arnberger. He expressed that unlike reconstructed Fort Davis, Texas, the ruins of Fort Union offered no setting for living history. The noise of cannon and rifle demonstrations fractured the ghost-like beauty of Fort Union, which spoke for itself. Using live ammunition, weapons firing also posed a serious threat to the public safety. Rangers in period clothing robbed the park of green and gray uniforms. Since Hopkins had become addicted to living history, Arnberger's legitimate concerns had little effect on his superior's determination to pursue his hobby. Arnberger reluctantly but dutifully participated in the living history program, which he called, a "circus." [60]

In the fall of 1975, the two-year-old living history program went into "mothballs." In a speech before the National Press Club earlier in the year, National Park Service Director Gary Everhardt reminded the audience that some services in the park system were going to be reduced because of lack of funds. Consequently, the Regional Office in Santa Fe thought that Fort Union's living history program was too costly despite the fact that it produced a seventeen percent increase in visitation in 1975. In response to the suggestion of Santa Fe, Superintendent Hopkins agreed to suspend the living history project indefinitely so that the monument could direct all available resources to ruins preservation. Hopkins expressed hope that the park would resume the popular program in the future, as soon as it became economically practical. [61]

The cancellation of the project directly impacted visitation. In 1976 and 1977, two years in row, visitation to the park plummeted. During the same period, a 50 percent reduction in the interpretive staff precluded the usual summer extension of park business hours. This affected the monument negatively too. Thus, visitation in 1976 decreased by nine percent in comparison to that of 1975; visitation in 1977 declined by another six percent from 1976. The Park Service tried to lure visitors back by lowering the entrance fees at Fort Union, but with limited results. [62]

During the decline in visitation, the monument managed to spend more time and resources on the improvement of its existing interpretive facilities. In anticipation of increased reliance upon self-guiding means, the park administration decided to upgrade the visitor trail at the Third Fort and to revise the decade-old guidebook. In 1976, all audio stations were rehabilitated and new trail guides printed. Catalogued for the first time, all books at the library went on newly-built wooden shelves. Above all, the most significant improvement was the museum exhibits. Because of energy conservation needs, the park reluctantly cancelled a plan to construct eight exhibits for the Bicentennial Celebration of the United States and rotate them through northeastern New Mexico communities. Instead, a new lobby exhibit for the visitor center was installed. [63] Those internal improvements helped ease the pain of cancelling the living history program.

In 1978 after a two-year hiatus, the living history presentations returned to Fort Union. New Regional Director, John Cook, played a key role in resuming the program by appropriating more funds to the fort. [64] Dusting off the old army uniforms and oiling up the replica military rifles, the park rangers started offsite talks and presentations. To help the ranger get a better feel for nineteenth-century military life, Hopkins sent a few of his men to attend a six-day camp in military instruction at Fort Laramie, Wyoming. Joined by two dozen comrades from other national parks, they lived as frontier soldiers, 24 hours a day. As soon as these highly trained "soldiers" returned, Fort Union began onsite living history performances on June 5. [65] In July, the staff presented the first weapons firing demonstration since September 1975.

Overall living history enhanced the fort's interpretative program. Unfortunately, visitors did not immediately return to Fort Union in large numbers. In the summer of 1978, the New Mexico State Highway Department inadvertently removed the Fort Union signs along Interstate 25. Visitation had been slowly increasing but began to drop after the removal of the signs. Although the signs were replaced in April 1979, visitation continued to decline due to a drop in tourism caused by a fuel shortage and economic recession. [66] Visitation for 1979 reached its lowest point since 1961. The nation's sluggish economic situation prevented a quick recovery of tourism through the early 1980s. It took 15 years for the park to attain the attendance numbers of 1972. Not until 1988 did Fort Union see a surge in the numbers of visitors.

Beginning in 1980, after Superintendent Hopkins, a living history advocate, left for Saguaro National Monument, Fort Union National Monument modified its living history program. An extravagant, summer-long living history program had become a burden to the park. Rangers agreed that a well organized event could draw more people to the site in one day than the monument normally did in a month. Thus, Superintendent Crane decided to change the fort's interpretive course by arranging a few special events, with a living history motif. Soon after the unit manager Carol Kruse arrived, she quickly institutionalized "special events," as a standard for future interpretation. [67]

Among creative ideas was a "Children's Christmas at Old Fort Union." On December 28, 1980, between ten o'clock in the morning and two o'clock in the afternoon, the fort hosted an old-fashioned Christmas celebration for local children. While eating cookies made from nineteenth-century recipes, children played old games such as Leap Frog Relay, There, Squat, Bird, Beast, and Skip. Also, a costumed ranger vividly told young visitors some frontier children's stories, most of which they had never heard before. More than 300 children and their parents attended the celebration. The event was so well-received that the park considered making it an annual affair. [68]

Tasting the success of this special event, the interpretive personnel tried a few more ideas. Besides the second annual children's Christmas party, another fiesta called "A Family Day at Fort Union" was held on July 12, 1981. Two hundred thirty-five people spent a pleasant afternoon at the fort. In 1982 and 1983, the monument hosted only one large event each year. But it invited more performers, including both the New Mexico and Colorado Volunteers as well as several Boy Scout troops. In addition to drills, flag ceremonies, and conducted tours, these "frontier soldiers" demonstrated adobe making, hardtack baking, scrub board washing, butter churning, horse shoeing, and other routines of frontier life. Each two-day show attracted more than 500 visitors. After a period of experimentation, the park was ready to try a more spectacular event for 1984. [69]

To commemorate the founding of the first fort on July 26, 1851, Fort Union National Monument hosted a gala entitled the "Fort Union Founders Day" celebration on July 28 and 29, 1984. Little different from previous special events, the Founders Day mainly served to carry out the park's living history program. Forty-two volunteers-in-parks (VIPs) contributed 684 hours to make the program run smoothly. Handled by Mike Pitel of the New Mexico Travel and Tourism Department, news coverage appeared in several newspapers and magazines, including New Mexico and Sunset magazines. At the same time, park employees spoke on KFUN and KNMX radio stations in Las Vegas to publicize the upcoming event. As a result, visitation reached an all-time high, with 1,622 persons attending the two-day party. [70]

After the initial triumph, the Founders Day became an annual attraction, which occurred on the fourth weekend of July. Each year some fresh ideas and services were injected into the program. Starting in 1985, the park served a barbecue to all Founders Day visitors. Thus, tourists, particularly travelers from other areas, stayed longer at the site. In return, their presence helped the local economy. According to the New Mexico Economic Development and Tourist Department, the Founders Day celebration of 1985 generated $56,200 in travel industry gross receipts for San Miguel County, where Las Vegas was located. [71]

The living history program became more dramatic. For example, in 1986, Ann O'Shea, proprietor of "Old Clothes Only" store in Las Vegas, portrayed a prostitute from the nearby Loma Parda. A curious crowd gathered to hear her lecture as she sauntered up the visitor trail. Changing characters a moment later, Ann along with five other women conducted a "Temperance Rally" march followed by a speech on the "Evils of Alcohol." [72] The park developed the living history performance from simple skills demonstrations into refined skits.

Meanwhile, an outside event boosted the park's interpretive program. In the 99th Congress, House Representative Bill Richardson from New Mexico introduced a bill (H.R. 4794) to designate the Santa Fe Trail as a national historic trail. The bill received opposition from landowners along the route. They appeared before the House subcommittee and expressed the concerns of private landowners. The bill passed the House but suffered a lingering death in the Senate. [73] In 1988, Richardson reintroduced the bill with certain revisions to the 100th Congress. This time, the bill passed both houses and President Ronald W. Reagan signed it into law. The Santa Fe Trail officially became a national historic trail. [74]

A growing interest in the Santa Fe Trail inspired the park administration to make some adjustments in interpretation. Because of its close ties to the Santa Fe Trail, Fort Union National Monument became a multi-theme park. In supporting the campaign for Richardson's bill, chief ranger Dave Roberts gave a speech on the Amtrak train running between Trinidad, Colorado, and Raton, New Mexico, in 1986 when the Santa Fe Trail Symposium was held in the region. [75] A year later, the fort changed the name of the Founders Day to "Soldiering on the Santa Fe Trail." The pageant remains the largest annual gathering at the site.

Nineteen eighty-eight was an important year for the monument. The congressional effort to declare the Santa Fe Trail a national historic trail helped market Fort Union. Consequently, visitation increased. To maintain this momentum, the park hosted three special events instead of one. In addition to "Soldiering on the Santa Fe Trail," "The Santa Fe Trail--the Early Years" and "An Evening at Old Fort Union" added two more shows to the park's interpretive program. In June, for the first time, the park administration opened the First Fort to the public. Because of its separate location, the First Fort hosted visitors only one day a year, usually on the Memorial Day weekend. Also, a Christmas open house was held on December 17 when students from Wagon Mound decorated a Christmas tree with reproductions of historic ornaments. The park's VIP, Nicki Sperry, researched and provided information to the school for the manufacture of the ornaments. Through the event, the students learned a great deal about the costumes, traditions, and material aspects of Christmas at the frontier post. [76] All of those developments, at both national and local levels, contributed to a revival of interest in the monument. Annual visitation increased by 25 percent.

Nevertheless, an even bigger season was ahead. While continuing to benefit from the historic trail activities, Fort Union did not forget to exploit the modern highway network. In 1988, with the help of the State Highway Department, the monument relocated its signs on I-25. The signs in both directions were moved farther away from the exit connecting the entrance road to the interstate. Thus, travelers now had more time to decide whether to visit the ruins. This old highway trick again worked well, and intercepted some hesitant or reluctant tourists who would have passed the exit if the signs had remained at the original locations. [77] In 1989, annual visitation for the first time reached the 20,000 mark.

Entering a new decade, Fort Union National Monument witnessed continued improvement in interpretation. The three special events held in the two previous summers were repeated in 1990. Since those annual pageants had established reputations, they drew people from as far away as Denver. Congressman Bill Richardson and Governor Gary Carruthers also visited the fort. But excluding special guests, attendance declined for the first time since 1979 after a decade of steady growth. There were three reasons: first, the honeymoon of the Santa Fe National Historic Trail celebration was over; second, the Persian Gulf crisis began in August and raised gasoline prices; and third, unpleasant weather occurred more frequently. These factors forced annual visitation to drop by fifteen percent. However, fewer visitors did not automatically mean less progress in interpretation. Acting chief ranger T. J. Sperry continued to improve the quality of interpretation, making everything historically more accurate. The interpretive program was the pride of the park and it accounted for Fort Union being one of three finalists in the 1990 Lon Garrison Gold Award competition, a contest for the best interpretive program in the Southwest Region. [78] In 1991, Fort Union won the award.

Fort Union recently commemorated the 100th anniversary of the military post's abandonment, as well as the closing of the American frontier. The special ceremony to honor those historic events occurred on May 15, 1991. At seven o'clock in the evening, the band from Robertson High School of Las Vegas welcomed visitors. Despite a strong wind, 300 people remained in high spirits. Superintendent Myers gave an introduction. Then, history professor Michael Olson of Highlands University delivered the keynote speech to commemorate the significant role the fort played in the conquest of the West. Finally, the park interpretive personnel and volunteers, all in military uniforms and led by acting chief ranger T. J. Sperry, lowered and folded the American flag, recapturing the historic scene. As another success in the interpretive activity, the jubilee ushered the park into a new era. In 1991, annual visitation reached a new historical record of 22,300. [79]

Thirty-six years of experience in interpretation has produced a fine, mature program designed to encourage an unending dialogue between the manager and the visitor. The principal theme is the American frontier; and the chief goal is a marriage of recreation and education. Today, people can enjoy visiting the ruins while learning about frontier history. The park also serves as a research institute. Its library contains more than 1,600 Western books and numerous rolls of microfilm. The museum collection contains more than 10,000 objects. Fort Union National Monument has become a classroom for both tourists and scholars.