Rocky Mountain Administrative History

1. Enos A. Mills, Early Estes Park, with biographical sketch by Esther B. Mills (Estes Park, Colorado, 1959), vii. In 1918 Mills married the former Esther A. Burnell of Eureka, Kansas. One daughter, Enda, was born to the couple in 1919.

2. Mills, Rocky Mountain National Park, p. 85.

Mills' major antagonist was H. N. Wheeler, the Chief Forester of the Colorado National Forest. Mills vociferously condemned what he considered to be the unwarranted tactics used by the Forest Service against his "park idea." [4] Wheeler later maintained that the Forest Service's objections were reasonable rather than malicious. He explained that the Forest Service "was not strong" for a national park because there was no Park Service to administer it. However, both Wheeler and the Forest Service favored a game refuge in the Estes Park region. In fact Wheeler contended that it was from his (Wheeler's) game refuge idea that Enos Mills developed his plans for a national park. [5]

3. Mills, Early Estes Park, xvi.

4. Mills, Rocky Mountain National Park, p. 88.

5. H. N. Wheeler had assumed charge of the old Colorado Forest in the summer of 1907, when people were just beginning to sell lots for the town of Estes Park. Prior to this time, Wheeler had been teaching school in Montrose, Colorado. He received an appointment in mid-July 1905 as ranger in the Gunnison Park Forest. On April 1, 1906, after having passed appropriate tests, he was given charge of the Montezuma Forest at Durango, Colorado.

In July, 1907 he left that post to head the old Colorado Forest, now called the Roosevelt National Forest, at one time a division of the Medicine Bow Range. Wheeler had charge of the Colorado Forest until January 1, 1921, except for the period from November, 1911 to April, 1913, when he re-organized the Cleveland Forest in California. Author's interview with H. N. Wheeler, December 20, 1963.

6. Ibid.

7. "To Whom It May Concern: Estes National Park and Game Preserve" January 21, 1910: Papers of J. Horace McFarland From File 80, Division of Public Records, Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, State Museum Building, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Xeroxed copies found in Rocky Mountain National Park Library. Hereafter cited as Papers of McFarland.

8. Mills, Rocky Mountain National Park, p. 86.

9. Letter of J. Horace McFarland to Thorndike Deland, December 19, 1910. Papers of McFarland.

10. Letter of Enos Mills to J. Horace McFarland, February 1, 1911. Papers of McFarland.

11. Letter of J. Horace McFarland to Enos Mills, February 13, 1911. Papers of McFarland.

12. Letter of Enos Mills to J. Horace McFarland, February 19, 1911. Papers of McFarland.

13. Ibid., March 20, 1911. Papers of McFarland.

14. Letter of J. Horace McFarland to Enos Mills, March 24, 1911. Papers of McFarland.

15. Letter of Enos Mills to J. Horace McFarland, April 24, 1912. Papers of McFarland.

16. Author's interview with James Grafton Rogers, July 12, 1966.

17. James Grafton Rogers, "The Creation of Rocky Mountain National Park," Trail and Timberline, no. 558, June, 1965, p. 100.

18. Ibid.

19. Author's interview with James Grafton Rogers, July 12, 1966.

20. Letter of Thorndike Deland to J. Horace McFarland, December 10, 1910. Papers of McFarland.

21. Senate Joint Memorial No. 4, Report from Committee on Public Lands, 63rd Congress, 3rd Session, January 12, 1915, found in Edmund B. Rogers, "History of Legislation Relating to the National Park System Through the 82nd Congress," mimeographed copy, 1958, unnumbered pages. Rocky Mountain National Park Library.

22. Ibid.

23. The Denver Post, January 29, 1914.

24. Letter of Enos Mills to J. Horace McFarland, March 17, 1914. Papers of McFarland.

25. Letter of Enos Mills to James Grafton Rogers, May 3, 1914. Papers of McFarland.

26. Letter of J. Horace McFarland to Enos Mills, December 28, 1914. Papers of McFarland.

27. Letter of Enos Mills to J. Horace McFarland, December 31, 1914. Papers of McFarland.

28. Morrison Shafroth, "Seeing the Bill through Congress," Trail and Timberline, no. 558, June 1965, p. 103.

29. Ibid., p. 104.

30. Ibid.

31. Ibid.

32. Editorial in the Rocky Mountain News, January 1, 1915.

33. Ibid., January 28, 1915.

34. The Denver Post, January 18, 1915.

35. Rocky Mountain News, January 27, 1915.

36. Ibid., January 16, 1915.