Agate Fossil Beds Administrative History

Another Death and A Harsh Reality, August 1968

On August 9, 1968, Mrs. Margaret C. Cook died unexpectedly of a blood clot following routine surgery. [59] The death of the woman who almost single handedly led the fight for the 1965 authorization act left the National Park Service to deal with her four stepdaughters: Margaret Hoffman, Dorothy Meade, Winifred McGrew Howard, and Eleanor Naffziger. With Margaret C. Cook's life tenancy thus terminated, her stepdaughters asserted their full ownership rights to the Agate Springs Ranch. At the request of Grayson Meade, negotiations were immediately opened. Superintendent Richard Holder lamented, "The daughters oppose our plans, and will resist our efforts to obtain the land in fee." [60]

The renewal of negotiations saw an August 28 meeting in Robert Simmons Scottsbluff office between Simmons, Fred Fagergren, William Gray of the San Francisco Land Office, the Meades, and the Hoffmans. Objectives were discussed and Fagergren, before the meeting ended, indicated he had not been aware of all the factors involved. The strongest Park Service argument for acquisition of disputed Agate Springs Ranch land centered around daemonelices. Grayson Meade, however, had previously identified 137 daemonelices on land which was cut off from the main ranch. He argued these were better for display purposes and more conveniently located than the three principal formations on the disputed tract. The Meades and Hoffmans offered to donate the headquarters ranch buildings if the Service would remove them from their grove. [61]

The Scottsbluff meeting resulted in a land acquisition program review by Midwest Regional Director Fred Fagergren on September 5, 1968. The following day Fagergren issued five possible alternatives. His recommendations were notable for the omission of immediate condemnation of the two tracts and the acceptance of the concept of scenic easements. [62]

Three days following Mrs. Cook's death, the Western Plains Construction Company of Lincoln, Nebraska, began construction of roads, parking areas, and utilities in the Niobrara Valley opposite the Fossil Hills. [63] With the receipt of the final two trailers, Richard Holder set a target date of November 1 for an unofficial opening before winter halted construction. A formal opening in conjunction with an establishment ceremony (which depended upon the success of land acquisition) was forecast for late spring or early summer of 1969. [64]

On September 9, Margaret C. Cook's will was filed in probate court without challenge. Attorney Lester A. Danielson and the First State Bank of Scottsbluff were appointed executors. The April 2, 1968, document bequeathed to the National Park Service items in the ranch house and post office* "with the hope that they will be kept at Agate Fossil Beds National Monument." Mrs. Cook gave the government a blank check for almost everything inside the ranch house, but those articles not desired by the Service were to go to three relatives: nephews Stephen A. Chase and Rupert W. Crozier, and sister Laura C. Chase. [65]

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*U.S. Postal officials closed the Agate Post Office on November 30, 1968, with no objection from the National Park Service. Antique furnishings, also park property under Margaret C. Cook's will, were removed for storage by Roy Weaver. Some area residents expressed dismay that the Park Service did not act to keep the facility open. See Holder to Regional Director, 2 December 1968, H14.

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As the will underwent probate, staff members of both Senator Roman Hruska and Carl Curtis devised a "change in position" which urged Director George Hartzog to halt the effort to acquire the core of the Agate Springs Ranch. [66] Senator Hruska himself, upon learning about it, vetoed the initiative [67] and the two proposed compromise letters to Hartzog and Simmons were redrafted. [68] The letter, dated September 30, 1968, and signed by Hruska, Curtis, and Congressman Dave Martin, informed Simmons:

It should be noted that the ranch headquarters area has been included within the Monument boundaries since before enactment of the legislation, and all the land to the east of the Cook Ranch has already been acquired by the Park Service on that assumption. For that reason, it has seemed doubtful that the Service will give up its plan to acquire the ranch headquarters area. The Service has now advised us that the Cook Collection of Indian artifacts is to be displayed in the ranch home, not in the Visitor Center yet to be built. [69]

The vacancy created by Management Assistant Al Werking's departure in July was finally filled on September 22, when Park Ranger Roy W. Weaver entered on duty. Weaver, a ranger trainee, had served three months at Albright Training Center and nine months at Yellowstone National Park. Ranger-in-Charge Roy Weaver reestablished a permanent Park Service presence at Agate Fossil Beds, relieving some of the heavy burden from Richard Holder. A weekends-only policy was reinstituted at the visitor contact trailer. [70]

Among Weaver's duties was oversight of the security and maintenance of the Cook ranch house in coordination with the Hoffmans and ranch foreman Bud Forsling. Weaver readied the home for winter by draining the pipes and adding anti-freeze, and shutting off the gas and electricity. He installed a lock on the "Bone Room" and securely stored the valuable silver and cut-glass items in an upstairs room. In cooperation with Margaret Hoffman, Weaver collected the late Mrs. Cook's files for both the Service and attorney Lester Danielson. In early November, Weaver patrolled the grounds during the auction of the Forsling and Cook machinery. He arranged with Mrs. Hoffman to keep the visitor contact trailer at the Agate Springs Ranch for the winter at a rental fee of five dollars per month for a seven-month period. Meanwhile the office and residence trailers were relocated to the interim headquarters site. [71]

In late September, Lester Danielson pressed for a speedy disposition of the Cook estate. Complicating the situation was the development that not all of the items were at the Agate Springs Ranch. In 1966, Mrs. Cook had transferred a large number of antiques to Fort Robinson State Park for storage. Eighty-five separate items ranging from vintage automobiles to buggies to furniture were at Fort Robinson under the care of the Nebraska Games and Park Commission. A new superintendent was in charge of Fort Robinson and it was feared the items might be dispersed if the Service did not act quickly. Holder asked Fagergren for a museum curator and/or historian to conduct an inventory and determine what items could be used at Agate Fossil Beds, other parks, or offered to the heirs. [72] That the Park Service sought to establish priorities for the objects reveals an early management interest in setting limits on the Cook Collection, if not preliminary preparation for an eventual divestiture of unwanted objects.

A comprehensive inventory came on October 9, 10, and 11. Mrs. Nan Rickey, a curator from the Washington Office; the Regional Solicitor; two daughters of Harold Cook; Roy Weaver; and Richard Holder participated Curator Rickey went room-by-room and building-by-building compiling a list of historical items desired by the National Park Service. [73] Holder noted that it represented "a vital step in determining our entire future course of action, with regard to both land acquisition and development." Referring to a simultaneous land acquisition compromise submitted to Fagergren, Holder mused it "could solve many of the problems which have plagued us for over three years, [but] without prompt action on this proposal, we will be forced to enter into arrangements for hasty (and expensive) storage of a vast quantity of material, at some location off the immediate premises." [74]

The compromise, rejected by the Cook sisters, prompted Richard Holder to recommend condemnation action. On a more positive note, interim headquarters construction concluded on November 20. The complex lacked only directional signs and exhibits for full operation. The Service withheld final payment pending adjustments on the water chlorination system by the Western Plains Construction Company. [75]