Agate Fossil Beds Administrative History

Land Woes and Organizing the Exhibits, 1970

The new year 1970 began with Homer Rouse and personnel from the Office of Land Acquisition and Water Resources, Western Service Center,* compiling yet another compromise to present to the Cook heirs while at the same time preparing a condemnation complaint. Submitted by Fagergren on March 27, the compromise called for a scenic easement on all ranchlands inside the legislative boundaries as well as a right-of-way along the county road with the future goal of an improved roadway to the quarries. Also included was the "right of first refusal" giving the government the first opportunity to buy the ranch in the event the heirs decided to sell it. Part of the proposal not written in the easement was a request for a letter signed by all the heirs granting the Service permission to enter the grounds to study the area and structures. Confident of a settlement, Homer Rouse declared: "It is our belief that this will meet with their whole hearted approval." [96]

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*Following a reorganization, these were the new appellations for the Office of Land and Water Rights and the San Francisco Planning and Service Center. John E. Ritchie replaced Thomas Kornelis as chief of the WSC division.

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Gloom descended when Robert Simmons, on behalf of the Cook heirs, rejected the March 23 compromise out of hand. Disagreeing with the standard terms of a scenic easement agreement the family planned to submit its own terms which did not promise to bring a settlement any closer. In a May 8 telephone conversation with Simmons, Fagergren again failed to reach an agreement. The National Park Service promptly filed a complaint action with the Department of Justice to acquire the scenic easement and access road easement on the disputed 850.39 acres. Superintendent Homer Rouse preferred to wait for site establishment, already long delayed, after a court settlement. [97]

Despite the initiation of legal proceedings, the National Park Service continued to negotiate for a settlement. The heirs, led by Dorothy and Grayson Meade, wanted to retain gas and oil exploration rights or be compensated for the loss of their present lease while retaining the right to lease for future directional drilling. They also wished to secure area concession rights to open a gift shop or other commercial establishment. Another scenic easement proposal was rejected in July as too restrictive.

A setback in the negotiations came in the early morning of November 6, 1970, when Midwest Regional Director Fred Fagergren died in his sleep. The loss of this key player contributed to complications which delayed a final settlement for several years. The Midwest Regional Office pressed ahead by injecting a monetary incentive for a settlement. Previously, the Cook heirs had always expressed a willingness to donate scenic easements. The Park Service added $10,000, which Simmons rejected while countering with an asking price of $50,000 with other amendments. By the end of the year, the Justice Department called for continued negotiations by the Park Service with the Cook heirs for an out-of-court settlement. On November 27, Service attorneys submitted another revision. It cited a more attractive purchase price, the hope being that five years of continuous negotiations might finally come to an end. [98]

While land acquisition remained a perpetual thorn in the side of park development, other programs showed real progress. Installation of visitor center exhibits, delayed nearly a year, were finally approaching completion. By March, the Miocene Age wall mural was painted and exhibit bases were under construction. The Midwest Regional Office assured the park of a May 1 completion date, and sent two other professionals to conduct preliminary studies on a trail bridge to cross the Niobrara as well as a self-guiding nature trail to the quarries. [99]

On schedule, contract supervisors Eugene Kingman of Omaha and Charles McLauglin of Lubbock, Texas, arrived on May 1 and installed the visitor center exhibits. They were aided by monument staff, augmented by a seasonal historian and a seasonal laborer. [100] The trail, footbridge, and a fossil exhibit were all completed in the spring of 1970. Bridge abutments were poured in mid-May with great difficulty because bags of cement had to be floated across the Niobrara on logs. The focal attraction on the one-mile trail was the twelve-foot reliefed remains of a two-horned rhinoceros at Carnegie Hill Project reliefing work was directed by Ted White with the assistance of Tobe Wilkens of Dinosaur National Monument, Roy Weaver, and seasonal laborer Terry Osborne. The tractor front end loader from Scotts Bluff, operated by Homer Rouse, widened the initial trench. On May 20, the reliefing crew began cutting into the cliff to uncover virgin deposits. Work continued up to the July 13 opening date of the "Fossil Hills Trail."

Additional reliefing came in the fall. On September 15, a team from Dinosaur National Monument arrived and worked with Weaver on Carnegie Hill. They reliefed a four- by fifteen- by twenty-foot area, reaching a rich bone layer on September 17. During the work, visitors were constantly warned not to disturb the exposed fossil specimens. In the ensuing weeks, Roy Weaver and Terry Osborne finished the relief work. In order to ensure protection until permanent plexiglass exhibit cases could be installed the following year, they back-filled the bone layer. [101]

Relations with the Cook heirs remained correct and cordial. Homer Rouse's request for permission to measure and photograph the ranch buildings was granted. Mrs. Dorothy Meade responded that she had no objection to the Park Service having accurate recordings in case some or all of the structures were destroyed by fire or other disaster. [102] Because the family rented the ranch house during the winter, the Service's Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) dispatched Charles Lessig to the area. Lessig, accompanied by Tom Weeks from Omaha, arrived October 13 to accomplish the task before the new tenants moved in. [103]