Big Bend Administrative History

¹ For a good discussion of the war in Texas and the West, see Gerald D. Nash, The American West Transformed: The Impact of the Second World War (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1985).

² Memorandum of W.F. Ayres to the Acting Regional Director, Region III, NPS, January 7, 1939, RG79, NPS, SWRO, Santa Fe, Correspondence Relating to National Parks, Monuments and Recreational Areas, 1927-1953, Box 11, Folder: 610:01 Purchasing of Lands #1 Big Bend, DEN NARA.

³ Memorandum of Ayres to the Acting Regional Director, Region III, NPS, January 9, 1939, RG79, NPS, SWRO, Santa Fe, Correspondence Relating to National Parks, Monuments and Recreational Areas, 1927-1953, Box 11, Folder: 610.01 Purchasing of Lands #1 Big Bend, DEN NARA.

⁴ Memorandum of Earl A. Trager, Chief, Naturalist Divison, NPS, Washington, DC, to Acting Regional Director, "Region 3," January 16, 1939; Trager to Dr. Robert T. Hill, Dallas, TX, January 16, 1939, RG79, NPS, SWRO, Santa Fe, Correspondence Relating to National Parks, Monuments and Recreational Areas, 1927-1953, Box 20, Folder: 731.02 Topography of Parks, DEN NARA.

⁵ Memorandum of Ayres to the Acting Regional Director, Region III, January 19 1939, RG79, NPS, SWRO, Santa Fe, Correspondence Relating to National Parks, Monuments and Recreational Areas, 1927-1953, Box 2, Folder: 120-07 (NPS) Proposed Legislation Big Bend, DEN NARA.

⁶ John N. Harris, Jr., Dallas, to The State Park Board, Austin, January 24, 1939; Will Mann Richardson, Chief Clerk, TSPB, to Harris, January 26, 1939, Townsend Collection, Folder 4, Archives of the Big Bend, SRSU.

⁷ Maier to Record, January 24, 1939; Maier to Winfield, January 24, 1939; Memorandum of Maier to the NPS Director, January 24, 1939, RG79, NPS, SWRO, Santa Fe, Correspondence Relating to National Parks, Monuments and Recreational Areas, 1927-1953, Box 2, Folder: 120-07 (NPS) Proposed Legislation Big Bend, DEN NARA.

⁸ Memorandum of Maier to the NPS Director, January 24, 1939.

⁹ "Park Area Described As ‘Mysterious, Wild Country With Peculiar Effect On Those Fortunate Enough To See It,'" Alpine Avalanche, January 27, 1939.

¹⁰ Memorandum of Ayres to the Acting Regional Director, Region III, NPS, January 31, 1939, RG79, NPS, SWRO, Santa Fe, Correspondence Relating to National Parks, Monuments and Recreational Areas, 1927-1953, Box 2, Folder: 120-07 (NPS) Proposed Legislation Big Bend, DEN NARA.

¹¹ "Elliott Roosevelt Stresses Value of Park in Big Bend," Fort Worth Star Telegram, February 4, 1939.

¹² "Bellow Bred Out Of Bulls, Complains J. Frank Dobie," Pampa (TX) News, February 10, 1939.

¹³ Maier to Townsend, Februrary 21, 1939, RG79, NPS, SWRO, Santa Fe, Correspondence Relating to National Parks, Monuments and Recreational Areas, 1927-1953, Box 11, Folder: 610.01 Purchasing of Lands #1 Big Bend, DEN NARA.

¹⁴ Richardson to Hillory A. Tolson, Regional Director, NPS Region Three, Santa Fe, February 23, 1939, RG79, NPS, SWRO, Santa Fe, Correspondence Relating to National Parks, Monuments and Recreational Areas, 1927-1953, Box 11, Folder: 610.01 Purchasing of Lands #1 Big Bend, DEN NARA.

¹⁵ Memorandum of Maier for Files, February 27, 1939, RG79, NPS, SWRO, Santa Fe, Correspondence Relating to National Parks, Monuments and Recreational Areas, 1927-1953, Box 11, Folder: 610.01 Purchasing of Lands #1 Big Bend, DEN NARA.

¹⁶ Memorandum of Ayres to the Acting Regional Director, Region III, NPS, February 28, 1939, RG79, NPS, SWRO, Santa Fe, Correspondence Relating to National Parks, Monuments and Recreational Areas, 1927-1953, Box 2, Folder: 120 (NPS) Legislation (General), DEN NARA.

¹⁷ Daily Report of Ayres to "Austin Headquarters," March 1, 1939, RG79, NPS, SWRO, Santa Fe, Correspondence Relating to National Parks, Monuments and Recreational Areas, 1927-1953, Box 2, Folder: 120-07 (NPS) Proposed Legislation Big Bend, DEN NARA.

¹⁸ Ibid.

¹⁹ Daily Report of Ayres, March 4, 1939, RG79, NPS, SWRO, Santa Fe, Correspondence Relating to National Parks, Monuments and Recreational Areas, 1927-1953, Box 2, Folder: 120-07 (NPS) Proposed Legislation Big Bend, DEN NARA.

²⁰ Tolson to Carter, March 7, 1939, RG79, NPS, SWRO, Santa Fe, Correspondence Relating to National Parks, Monuments and Recreational Areas, 1927-1953, Box 2, Folder: 120-07 (NPS) Proposed Legislation Big Bend, DEN NARA.

²¹ Memorandum of Maier for State Supervisor Fuller, March 17, 1939; Maier to Record, March 17, 1939, RG79, NPS, SWRO, Santa Fe, Correspondence Relating to National Parks, Monuments and Recreational Areas, 1927-1953, Box 2, Folder: 120-07 (NPS) Proposed Legislation Big Bend, DEN NARA.

²² Memorandum of L.C. Fuller, State Supervisor, Recreation Study, NPS, Austin, to the Acting Regional Director, Region III, March 21, 1939, RG79, NPS, SWRO, Santa Fe, Correspondence Relating to National Parks, Monuments and Recreational Areas, 1927-1953, Box 2, Folder: 120-07 (NPS) Proposed Legislation Big Bend, DEN NARA.

²³ Wirth to the NPS Director, April 28, 1939, RG79, NPS, SWRO, Santa Fe, Correspondence Relating to National Parks, Monuments and Recreational Areas, 1927-1953, Box 9, Folder: 504 (NPS) Publications (General) [Folder 2], DEN NARA; "Vacationing in Texas," Dallas News, April 30, 1939.

²⁴ Adrian Wychgel, New York City, to Cammerer, May 3, 1939, RG79, NPS, SWRO, Santa Fe, Correspondence Relating to National Parks, Monuments and Recreational Areas, Box 11, Folder: 610.01 Purchasing of Lands #1 Big Bend, DEN NARA.

²⁵ "Amon Carter Warns That Signing of Bill Is Only First Step in Creating Park," Houston Chronicle, May 13, 1939.

²⁶ "Anything as Big as Big Bend Calls for Use of Big Pen," Fort Worth Star Telegram, May 14, 1939; Memorandum of Maier for the NPS Director, May 13, 1939, RG79, NPS, SWRO, Santa Fe, Correspondence Relating to National Parks, Monuments and Recreational Areas, 1927-1953, Box 11, Folder: 610.01 Purchasing of Lands #1 Big Bend, DEN NARA.

²⁷ Milton F. Hill, Marfa, TX, to Maier, March 31, 1939; Maier to Hill, April 27, 1939; Hill to Maier, July 4, 1939, RG79, NPS, SWRO, Santa Fe, Correspondence Relating to National Parks, Monuments and Recreational Areas, 1927-1953, Box 22, Folder: 867 Tours (General), DEN NARA.

²⁸ Hill to Maier, July 4, 1939.

²⁹ "Robstown Editor Races Rio Grande," Corpus Christi Caller-Times, May 28, 1939; "Pair Swims Treacherous River Through Canyon," Tyler (TX) Telegraph, May 29, 1939; "Brothers Swim Perilous Canyon," The Albuquerque Journal, May 29, 1939.

³⁰ "Scenario - by H.W. Kier, ‘Big Bend' National Park, Capt. E.E. Townsend," Townsend Collection, Box 9, Wallet 24, Folder 1, Archives of the Big Bend, SRSU.

³¹ Ibid.

³² Ibid.

³³ Katharine Seymour, San Antonio, to Maier, June 12, 1939, RG79, NPS, SWRO, Santa Fe, Correspondence Relating to National Parks, Monuments and Recreational Areas, 1927-1953, Box 9, Folder: 504 (NPS) Publications (General) [Folder 2], DEN NARA.

³⁴ Maier to Seymour, June 22, 1939, RG79, NPS, SWRO, Santa Fe, Correspondence Relating to National Parks, Monuments and Recreational Areas, 1927-1953, Box 9, Folder: 504 (NPS) Publications (General) [Folder 2], DEN NARA.

³⁵ A.M. Turney, County Attorney, Brewster County, TX, to Wendell Mays (Mayes), Commissioner State Park Board, Austin, July 28, 1939, Townsend Collection, Folder 4, Archives of the Big Bend, SRSU.

³⁶ "Tourist Opportunity," Fort Worth Star Telegram, September 12, 1939.

³⁷ Maier to the NPS Director, October 19, 1939, RG79, NPS, SWRO, Santa Fe, Correspondence Relating to National Parks, Monuments and Recreational Areas, 1927-1953, Box 11, Folder: 610.01 Purchasing of Lands #1 Big Bend, DEN NARA.

³⁸ Morelock to Maier, November 4, 1939, RG79, NPS, SWRO, Santa Fe, Correspondence Relating to National Parks, Monuments and Recreational Areas, 1927-1953, Box 9, Folder: 504 (NPS) Publications (General) [Folder 2], DEN NARA.

³⁹ Frank D. Quinn, Executive Secretary, Texas State Parks Board, Austin, to Brewster C. Kenyon, Long Beach, CA, November 16, 1939, Townsend Collection, Folder 4, Archives of the Big Bend, SRSU; Memorandum of Wendell E. Little, Planning Coordinator, NPS, Washington, DC, to Mr. Sager and Mr. Thompson, November 9, 1939, RG79, NPS, SWRO, Santa Fe, Correspondence Relating to National Parks, Monuments and Recreational Areas, 1927-1953, Box 11, Folder: 610.01 Purchasing of Lands #1 Big Bend, DEN NARA.

⁴⁰ Memorandum of Tolson for Mr. Fred T. Johnston, NPS, Washington, DC, November 10, 1939, RG79, NPS, SWRO, Santa Fe, Correspondence Relating to National Parks, Monuments and Recreational Areas, 1927-1953, Box 11, Folder: 610.01 Purchasing of Lands #1 Big Bend; Maier to Morelock, November 15, 1939, RG79, NPS, SWRO, Santa Fe, Correspondence Relating to National Parks, Monuments and Recreational Areas, 1927-1953, Box 9, Folder: 504 (NPS) Publications (General) [Folder 2], DEN NARA.

⁴¹ A.C. Jones, Dallas, TX, to Governor W. Lee O'Daniel, Austin, December 4, 1939, Townsend Collection, Folder 4, Archives of the Big Bend, SRSU.