GUADALUPE MOUNTAINS An Administrative History

CHAPTER X: CULTURAL RESOURCE ISSUES (continued)

Adaptive Use of Historic Resources

Resources managers have overseen the modifications needed to adapt two of the historic resources of the park--the ranch complex at Frijole Spring and the Ship on the Desert--for use by Park Service personnel and researchers who are working at the park. While resource managers made certain that the historical integrity of building exteriors was maintained, modifications to the interiors have made the Frijole buildings and the former Pratt residence into functional administrative facilities.

Frijole Ranch Facilities

In 1876, near Frijole Spring, the Rader brothers built the front portion of the present ranch house using native stone as their construction material. The Raders were the earliest cattle ranchers in this area of the southern Guadalupes. In 1906 the Smith family took over the ranch, becoming successful truck farmers as well as cattle ranchers. The Smiths made numerous additions to the ranch house. In 1910 they added dormers and a gabled roof covered with shake shingles. Then, around 1925 they built three rooms onto the rear of the house and added some new outbuildings--a bunkhouse, double toilet, pumphouse, and a wall-- all built of rubble stone masonry (see Figures 36 and 37). During the same time period the Smiths also constructed a frame spring-house and schoolhouse. While the Smiths lived at Frijole their home served as a community center and also as the local post office. [24] At the time that the federal government acquired the property, the Frijole ranch was the headquarters for J.C. Hunter, Jr.'s, Guadalupe Mountains Ranch. The historical significance of the Frijole ranch complex lies in its representation of early ranching in the Guadalupes as well as its significance to the community that grew up near Guadalupe Pass. In 1972, when Dave Battle assessed the Frijole structures, he determined they were eligible for listing in the National Register. Regional historians prepared and submitted the nomination late in 1977, which was subsequently accepted for listing. [25]

Park managers immediately recognized the interpretive value of the Frijole ranch and spoke of it in those terms in the early planning documents. All plans focused, however, on interpretations of the complex as a whole, to be viewed from outside, rather than restoring the interior of the buildings for any kind of interpretation. These plans, which persisted to 1987, may have reflected the long-term shortage of administrative facilities at Guadalupe Mountains that made it almost imperative to adapt the Frijole buildings for administrative use. However, adaptive use also was in line with the principles of cultural resource management, which encourage use of secondary structures to ensure their preservation. Park Ranger Roger Reisch lived at the Frijole ranch house from 1969 until 1980; his good nature and dedication to the park permitted him to accept without complaint a less-than-modern building that had also begun to deteriorate. [26] During the latter-1970s park personnel made some repairs and changes, primarily cosmetic, to the Frijole buildings. The ranch house was painted, the chimney was repaired and stabilized, and a new shake roof and shutters were added. The barn and springhouse were treated with wood preservative, and the springhouse was replastered. [27]

Between 1983 and 1985, personnel from the Regional Office and the park, assisted by contractors, completed major rehabilitation and renovation of the ranch house, barn, and other outbuildings, added a new septic system, and connected the water system for the Frijole complex to the Pine Springs well. In the ranch house, workers installed new support timbers beneath the floors, insulated the interior walls, reconstructed the dormers, installed storm sashes, replaced the electrical wiring, rebuilt and remortared portions of the chimney, and stabilized and remortared the foundation and the southeast exterior wall. The barn renovation included removing and replacing rotten siding, repairing doors, installing a plywood floor in the hay storage area, rodent-proofing the tack room, improving outside drainage, and installing new wiring. The double outhouse received a new and stronger roof structure and new roofing material; the wooden floor was strengthened and covered with tile flooring; interior finishes were restored or replaced with tile; and doors, toilet, shower, and lavatory fixtures were replaced. Workers replaced the roof and roof structure on the bunkhouse, replaced doors, reglazed windows, and repaired sashes. The springhouse also received roof work. A temporary drainage system installed around the schoolhouse allowed the wooden siding to dry out after years of contact with the earth. All utilities were placed underground and old lines were removed, but the posts and poles were left in place. In October 1983 the Frijole Ranger Division took over the ranch house as its headquarters and work space. [28]

Ship on the Desert

Regional historians believed that the importance of Wallace Pratt, combined with the style of architecture of the Ship on the Desert, qualified the structure for listing in the National Register. Architects conceived the building in International style and designed the former residence of Wallace and Iris Pratt to resemble an oil tanker. Begun in 1941 and completed in 1945, after wartime interruptions, the six-room house is basically a single story with a deck room on the second story (see Figure 38). The main floor contains six massive transverse walls built of native stone with structural steel providing the framework for the building (see Figure 39). A two-car garage and guest quarters form an ell on the northwest end of the house. The Ship was nominated to the National Register in 1978. The Keeper of the National Register returned the nomination in 1979, reminding the Regional staff of the Park Service that a structure must be 50 years old to be listed in the National Register. The Pratt residence would not be eligible until 1995. In 1985 Peter Maxon of the Texas Historical Commission spoke with Bill Bushong at the National Register office, inquiring whether there might be some flexibility about the Ship nomination. Maxon received a negative response. Subsequently, White Associates, a Lubbock architectural firm, prepared a new nomination, to be retained by the Regional Office until the appropriate time for submission. At the same time, White Associates developed a cyclical maintenance plan for the Pratt residence, designed to keep the structure historically accurate and structurally sound pending listing in the National Register. [29]

The Ship has seen nearly as much administrative use as the Frijole ranch house. It served as a residence for Peter Sanchez from 1962 to 1963, for Roger Reisch from 1964 to 1969, then was the residence for Area Managers John Chapman, Bruce Fladmark, and Ralph Harris. After Harris moved out, renovations began. Since the house is some distance off the road to McKittrick Canyon and is unlikely to serve any interpretive purpose for the park in the foreseeable future, park managers planned to use the Ship as living quarters and work space for groups that were doing research at the park. In 1983 contractors installed 89 thermal windows. The next year a new pump and well equipment improved the water system. In 1985 the kitchen was remodeled: workers repainted cabinets and covered red tile walls and exposed wooden shelves with plastic laminate. In 1986 contractors reroofed the entire structure and supplied information about periodic maintenance necessary to validate the ten-year guarantee. While park managers originally intended to replace the flagstone deck that once covered the roof as a part of the re-roofing project, costs prohibited the restoration. [30]

Barry Sulam, Regional Historical Architect, noted at the end of the roofing project that preparation of a Historic Structure Report would enhance the chances of listing the Ship in the National Register. He also outlined a number of tasks that remained to be completed to preserve the "more significant original features" of the Ship. They included: replacement of the flagstone pavers on the roof deck, replacement of green glass and plexiglass panels with thermal glass, repair and replacement of exterior doors and hardware, waterproofing of interior masonry walls, rehabilitation of wooden slat blinds, restoration of interior color schemes and wall coverings, and replacement or repair of lighting fixtures and door and window hardware. [31]

Managing the Historic Resources

The greatest handicap for resource managers as they made decisions relating to the park's historic resources was that a Historic Structure Report had been prepared for only one structure: the Pinery. Similarly, there were no Historic Structure Preservation Guides for the classified structures. Without these two documents, resource managers do not have the baseline information from which management decisions can be made. Management recognized the need for these documents and made them high-priority items in resource management plans in both 1984 and 1987, but as of 1987 lack of funding had prevented their accomplishment.

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