Jessie Foote Jack

Jessie W. Foote was born March 4, 1862, in Dakota Territory to Obed and Mary Foote of Indianapolis, Indiana. She had two brothers, Obed, Jr. and George. She attended school through the sixth grade.

In 1899 she married William Howard Jack. He was president of the Crowfoot Cattle Company, with ranch interests in three New Mexico counties. As a prominent Republican and member of the New Mexico Cattle Sanitary Board, he had many influential friends. He died in El Paso, Texas, on February 16, 1916, leaving Mrs. Jack to carry on their business enterprises. They had no children.

Mrs. Jack expressed her interest in becoming the custodian for the proposed Capulin Mountain (now Capulin Volcano) National Monument as early as February 9, 1915. Although unusual, she was not the first woman custodian. Edna Townsley Pinkley was appointed custodian at Casa Grande Ruins National Monument in Arizona for about eight months during her husband’s leave of absence, beginning in October 1914. Both women used political connections to advance themselves for the positions.

Mrs. Jessie Foote Jack (left) and Mrs. Mary Elizabeth Owen (right) in 1920. (Capulin Volcano National Monument photo)

Mrs. Jack’s interest stemmed primarily from her grazing concerns and her determination that the area should not be fenced off from cattle. She was appointed custodian on August 15, 1916, just six days after the monument's establishment. As the National Park Service (NPS) had not yet been established, she was initially hired as the non-resident custodian by the General Land Office. She was paid $1 per month to provide security for the monument, the same salary offered to the other “$12 custodians” who were men.

The NPS was created just 10 days later. She is conspicuous as the only woman officer in the NPS director's reports to the secretary of the Department of the Interior. The ranchwoman conducted her first inspection of the approximately 680-acre monument on horseback on October 3, 1916. Her second inspection was in February 1917, before she returned to Paris, Illinois, to be with her mother for several months. Patrol work was completed by her ranch hands in her absence.

Mrs. Jack's conflict of interest in obtaining a grazing permit did not appear to bother NPS management, and grazing was not considered a threat to the monument. In spite of her business experience, NPS chief clerk F.W. Griffith warned deputy director Horace M. Albright that "the custodian is a woman and might not be able to handle the details.” She applied for a five-year grazing lease but was only granted a renewable annual lease by Director Stephen T. Mather.

As custodian, Mrs. Jack prepared budget requests and summary reports for the Washington Office, counted visitors, patrolled the monument, and installed signs. The fledgling NPS had little money available, and most of her requests went unfunded. Her proposed road development and visitor's house were not funded until years later.

Mrs. Jack spent an increasing amount of time in Paris, Illinois, to help her ailing mother. On July 16, 1923, she resigned as custodian. She recommended Homer Farr as her replacement. Her tenure officially ended on August 13, 1923. Another woman site manager wouldn’t be appointed until Gertrude S. Cooper became superintendent at Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site in New York in July 1940.

Mrs. Jack died on April 25, 1945, in Paris, Illinois, at the age of 83. She is buried in Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis.

Sources:

Ancestry.com [Illinois and New Mexico census records, birth and death records, residence records], accessed 9/9/2020.

Assembled Historic Records of the National Park Service (HFCA 1645) in the NPS History Collection, Harpers Ferry Center.

National Park Service. (2019). "Jessie Foote Jack" available at https://www.nps.gov/cavo/learn/historyculture/jessie-foote-jack.htm (accessed 9/9/2020).

Schneider-Hector, Dietmar. (2002). Jessie Foote Jack--"A Capable and Worthy Woman": The Origins of Capulin Volcano National Monument.

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To learn more about women and the NPS Uniform, visit Dressing the Part: A Portfolio of Women’s History in the NPS.


This research was made possible in part by a grant from the National Park Foundation.