The Proposed Extension of Carlsbad Caverns

Concurrent with the Texas legislative efforts, the National Park Service investigated the possibility of extending the boundaries of Carlsbad Cave National Monument, which at that time encompassed only one square mile. On May 14, 1930, Congress gave the area national park status and authorized the extension of the boundaries. A total of 192 square miles of land surrounding the monument had previously been withdrawn by Executive Orders in 1924, 1928, and 1930. The withdrawn lands were all in New Mexico and extended west to the Lincoln National Forest boundary. The proximity of these lands to the scenic splendors of Guadalupe Peak, El Capitan, and McKittrick Canyon raised the issue of extending the Carlsbad Caverns boundaries even farther.

As a part of the preliminary survey of wildlife in the national parks undertaken in 1931, Ben Thompson and George Wright, of the University of California, visited Carlsbad Caverns and the lands of the proposed extension. The researchers expressed views that diverged slightly from the traditional "monumental" attitudes toward national parks. Although they noted the relatively minor economic usefulness of the lands and recognized the scenic and recreational values of the Guadalupe Mountains, they found the unique wildlife resources of the Guadalupes to be equally important. They noted that the Guadalupe Mountains were then or previously had been home to four native species which were not represented in other national parks: the Merriam turkey, the Texas bighorn, the collared peccary, and the Mearns quail. Thompson and Wright suggested that the peccary, which had been extirpated from the park, could be reintroduced. A remnant population still existed in the desert lands east of the Pecos River. Wright also noted the possibility that Texas would make the southernmost tip of the Guadalupes a state park and might donate it to the national park system if the boundaries of Carlsbad Caverns were extended.

In September 1931, without visiting the area, F. A. Kittredge, Chief Engineer of the San Francisco Field Headquarters, gave the Director a more traditional assessment of the lands of the proposed boundary expansion. He saw no advantage in extending the boundaries of Carlsbad Caverns. To him, the cave was the only attraction there, not the distant vistas or archeological features.

During the 1930s, years of rapid expansion of the national park system, Roger Toll, Superintendent of Yellowstone National Park, spent his off-season time touring proposed park areas for the Park Service. As Superintendent of the nation's premier park, Toll was a powerful person in the Park Service and his opinions carried much weight. In November 1931, Toll visited Carlsbad and West Texas; he spent four days surveying the proposed extension to Carlsbad Caverns. Toll suggested that the withdrawn lands would be valuable for park purposes only if some 55 square miles of the southeastern part of the Lincoln National Forest were also added. The land in the Lincoln National Forest contained the best scenic canyons and most of the known archeological features of the area. However, Toll believed the archeological features were not "sufficiently remarkable" to justify extension of the park. Two experts supported his assessment of the archeological resources: Jesse Nusbaum, director of the Laboratory of Anthropology in Santa Fe, and well-known archeologist H. P. Mera. Ultimately, Toll recommended adding only 43 square miles around Carlsbad Caverns.

Toll made another report to the Director of the Park Service after his trip to New Mexico and Texas. The second report concerned two park proposals that had been submitted to the Park Service. One, the Guadalupe Mountain National Park, Texas, proposed principally for its mountain scenery, had been suggested by Harold J. Brodie of Winnipeg, Canada. Brodie's proposal focused on the scenic qualities of El Capitan and Guadalupe Peak area. The other proposal, McKittrick Canyon National Monument, Texas, had been proposed by Vance Prather, secretary of the Kentucky State Park Commission. Prather had been impressed with the quantity of game in the canyon. After describing the proposals to the Director, Toll suggested that the two proposals should be combined because they involved the same general area.

Although these proposals fell outside the proposed boundary extension for Carlsbad Caverns, Toll had investigated the lands during his November trip. He met with Simons of the Guadalupe Mountain Park Association and learned about the Grisham-Hunter Corporation's land holdings and of the existing option to purchase the land for $200,000. Referring to his report on the lands that had been withdrawn around Carlsbad Caverns, Toll suggested to Director Horace M. Albright that since the Texas land adjoined the southern boundary of the Lincoln National Forest it might become valuable if the land in the Lincoln National Forest were also added to Carlsbad Caverns. He concluded, though, that since the land in Texas was entirely in private ownership there was no need for action by the Park Service at that time.

Local stockmen disagreed with the assessment that had been made by the Park Service regarding the economic importance of the withdrawn lands around Carlsbad Cavern. In 1933, Arno Cammerer, who had replaced Albright as Director of the Park Service, notified Toll of the opposition expressed by this group to the westward expansion of Carlsbad Caverns and told him that plans for the boundary extension had been dropped. As a result of this change, he instructed Toll that the proposed park land in Texas be considered entirely on its own merits, separate and apart from Carlsbad Caverns.

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