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The National Park Service and the Grisham-Hunter Ranch

In January 1934 Toll returned to Texas and toured the proposed park land with J. C. Hunter. Hunter indicated his interest in creating a park and offered the Grisham-Hunter Corporation's 43,200 acres to the federal government for $237,600, which was the corporation's cost for acquiring the land. Hunter also indicated that the corporation was not interested in holding the land indefinitely and that if the Park Service did not buy the land, it would be disposed of in some other way. He suggested that summer-home sites might be sold to wealthy people, while land unsuited to that type of development could be held in joint ownership by the residents as a private game preserve.

The Grisham-Hunter corporation did not own all of the land that was proposed for the Guadalupe Mountain park. Toll learned that "Guadalupe Point" [El Capitan] was owned by J.C. Williams and 200 acres at Frijole Post Office were owned by J.T. Smith, who valued his land and improvements at $10,000. Wallace Pratt owned the land at the mouth of McKittrick Canyon and was not interested in selling it. Toll had been advised, by sources he did not reveal, that Pratt had no interest in the park idea and preferred to see the land used for private summer homes.

In the 1930s the federal government was not in the business of purchasing private property for park lands. National parks created from private lands had been purchased by philanthropists who then donated them to the national park system. Toll seemed to be undisturbed by the fact that all of the lands of the proposed Texas park were in private ownership and that one of the owners was known to be uninterested in selling. Indeed, when he made his recommendation, he even ignored Cammerer's directive that the Texas park would have to stand on its own. He suggested that while the Texas land was not suitable as a separate national park, he did believe it would be a valuable addition to Carlsbad Caverns, even if it had to be administered as a detached unit of that park.

Toll was the first of many to suggest a road connecting the Guadalupe ridge with Carlsbad Caverns. Believing that the road would provide a scenic and shorter alternative to U.S. 62 for visitors to Carlsbad Cavern, he envisioned a road taking off from U.S. 62, west of El Capitan, skirting the west face of the mountains, reaching the crest, and then continuing to the Caverns. To support this suggestion, Toll depended upon Simons' agreement with the Texas highway commission to build $500,000 worth of roads if the park became a reality.

The Director received more input about the proposed extension to Carlsbad Caverns in April 1934. George Wright and Ben Thompson visited the area that month, this time as part of a survey of wildlife management in the parks. Wright wrote the report of their findings. He recommended adding the southern Guadalupes to Carlsbad Caverns National Park, but cautioned that the eastern boundary of the extension should lie close to the foot of the mountains so it would not encroach on land used for livestock grazing. He added that McKittrick Canyon was the most scenic of the canyons on the eastern face of the Guadalupes, providing opportunity for development of hiking and camping features as well as possibilities for an "unusual wildlife preserve." Finally, Wright recommended that the elk herd introduced into McKittrick Canyon be "either greatly reduced or extirpated entirely, if this area becomes a national park." Wright viewed the Canadian elk (cervus canadensis canadensis), which Hunter transplanted to replace the extinct Arizona Wapiti (cervus merriami), as an exotic species that inhabited the slopes of the canyon nearest the stream bed, and destroyed "native and extremely picturesque vegetation."

Cammerer accepted the advice of Toll and Wright. In September 1934 he proposed to Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes that the area of the Guadalupe Mountains in Texas and about 30 square miles of the Lincoln National Forest in New Mexico be added to Carlsbad Caverns as a detached area. He also suggested that a 1,000-foot-wide parkway connect the two areas.

In spite of the flurry of reports and reconnaissance trips, the annual reports of the Secretary of the Interior indicate the seriousness of the interest of the Department of the Interior in the Guadalupe Mountains park. Each year the report listed areas that were being considered as additions to other parks or as separate parks. The Texas area received no mention in any of the annual reports from 1934 to 1945.



Content adapted from Judith K. Fabry's "Guadalupe Mountains National Park: An Administrative History," published in 1988.

Part of a series of articles titled The Early Movements to Establish a Park in the Guadalupe Mountains.

Guadalupe Mountains National Park

Last updated: September 16, 2021