At the beginning of the Twentieth Century, to most Americans this remote corner of the Southwest was little more than windswept desert, a dry and brittle void on the national landscape. Until the year of the great stock market crash, there was no paved road connecting El Paso with Carlsbad. During this time, the surrounding region witnessed early attempts at oil and gas exploration, struggles with development, transportation, the impact of the Great Depression, and incipient tourism.
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Guadalupe Mountains National Park
Article 1: The Forces at Work
During a period of fifty years a number of social, political, and economic factors combined to bring about the establishment of Guadalupe Mountains National Park. Three of those factors might be singled out as crucial. One was philosophical and the other two factors were economic. Read more
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Guadalupe Mountains National Park
Article 2: Judge J.C. Hunter and Early Park Plans
Judge J. C. Hunter was a prime mover in the group boosting the idea of a park centered on McKittrick Canyon in the Guadalupe Mountains. In 1924 he had visited the inaccessible but spectacular canyon for the first time. Hunter was from Van Horn, Texas, a ranching community approximately halfway between Carlsbad and El Paso, and 65 miles south of the southern end of the Guadalupe range. Read more
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Guadalupe Mountains National Park
Article 3: The El Paso Boosters and the Texas Legislature
Although Texas had set up a state parks board in the mid-1920s, by 1930 it still did not have a state park system. Read more
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Guadalupe Mountains National Park
Article 4: 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. The proximity of these lands to the scenic splendors of the Guadalupe Mountains raised the issue of extending the Carlsbad Caverns boundaries. Read more
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Guadalupe Mountains National Park
Article 5: 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. 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. Read more
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Guadalupe Mountains National Park
Article 6: The 1938 Revival
For three years the Guadalupe park proposal received little attention. Then, in April 1938, Herbert Maier and a team of four resource specialists investigated the entire Guadalupe range, to its southern extremity in Texas. Maier and the survey team concluded that except for the southern extremity of the range, the mountains provided little in the way of scenic or wildlife values. They recommended against extending the boundaries of Carlsbad Caverns to include the area. Read more
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Guadalupe Mountains National Park
Article 7: The 1940s and 1950s
In spite of the depressed state of the national economy, the 1930s had been a time of expansion and improvement for the parks; the work performed by the Civilian Conservation Corps had been particularly beneficial. The optimism of the park officials who investigated the Guadalupe extension to Carlsbad Caverns was part of that wave of expansion and improvement. The 1940s, however, brought a new Director to the Park Service and new attitudes toward the national park system. Read more
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Guadalupe Mountains National Park
Article 8: The Early Park Movements
From 1925 to 1945 a relatively sustained effort existed to establish a park in the Guadalupe Mountains of Texas. The effort, however, was highly fragmented. Little substantive exchange took place between interested citizens and park agencies. Boosters were interested in expanding tourism because their communities would experience economic benefits. Read more