Big Bend Administrative History

¹ Welsh, A Special Place, A Sacred Trust, 28-29; Elmer J. Edwards, "To the Big Bend Away! Newest National Park Is Widest of the Open Spaces, Offers Most to Vacationists Seeking Nature at Its Rawest," West Texas Today, Volume 26, No. 3 (May 1945): 6. West Texas Today was published by the West Texas Chamber of Commerce, based in Abilene.

² Gomez, A Most Singular Country, 175.

³ Gerald D. Nash, The American West in the Twentieth Century: A Short History of an Urban Oasis (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1977), 137-38; Richard W. Lowitt, The New Deal and the West (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1984), 218; Walter Prescott Webb, The Great Plains (New York: Grosset and Dunlap, 1976 reprint), iv.

⁴ Welsh, A Special Place, A Sacred Trust, 34; "First Steps In Creating Big Bend National Park Taken By Abilenian," Abilene (TX) Reporter News, June 11, 1944.

⁵ "First Steps In Creating Big Bend National Park;" John Jameson, The Story of Big Bend National Park (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1996), 19; Welsh, Dunes and Dreams: A History of White Sands National Monument (Santa Fe: National Park Service, 1995), 32.

⁶ Michael Kammen, Mystic Chords of Memory: The Transformation of Tradition in American Culture (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1991), 450-51, 458, 460, 462; Sellars, Preserving Nature in the National Parks, 91.

⁷ Jameson, The Story of Big Bend National Park, 23; Gomez, A Most Singular Country, 176; House Bill No. 26, "A Bill To Be Entitled An Act changing the name of the Texas Canyon State Park to Big Bend State Park," September 1933 (?), Everett Ewing Townsend Collection, Box 9, Wallet 24, Folder 4, Archives of the Big Bend, Sul Ross State University, Alpine, TX (cited as Townsend Collection, ABB).

⁸ Ross A. Maxwell, "Summary Of Events That Led To The Establishment Of The Big Bend National Park," n.d. 1949 (?), Record Group (RG) 79, National Park Service (NPS), Southwest Regional Office (SWRO), Santa Fe, Correspondence Relating to National Parks, Monuments, and Recreational Areas, 1927-1953, Box 2, Folder: 101 NPS History, Rocky Mountain Branch, National Archives and Records Administration, Denver, CO (cited as DEN NARA); Sellars, Preserving Nature in the National Parks, 126, 133; Welsh, A Special Place, A Sacred Trust, 37.

⁹ Conrad L. Wirth, Assistant Director, NPS, State Park Conservation Work, Washington, DC, to Herbert Maier, NPS, Denver, CO, July 24, 1933, RG79, NPS, SWRO, Santa Fe, Correspondence Relating to CCC, ECW, and ERA Work in National Parks, Forests, and Monuments and Recreational Areas, 1933-1934, Box 96, Folder: 204-01 CCC By Field Officers, DEN NARA.

¹⁰ James G. Anderson, "Land Acquisition in the Big Bend National Park of Texas," unpublished master's thesis, Sul Ross State College, 1967: 39; F. A. Dale, District Inspector, NPS, Austin, TX, to Major John D. Guthrie, Eight Corps Area (U.S. Army), Fort Sam Houston, TX, September 26, 1933, RG79, NPS SWRO, Santa Fe, Correspondence Relating to CCC, ECW, and ERA Work in National Parks, Forests, and Monuments and Recreational Areas, 1933-34, Box 96, Folder: 601-03 (CCC) Camp Sites, DEN NARA.

¹¹ Herbert Maier, District Officer, E.C.W., Austin, TX, to Wirth, October 2, 1933, RG79, NPS SWRO, Santa Fe, Correspondence Relating to CCC, ECW, and ERA Work in National Parks, Forests, and Monuments and Recreational Areas, 1933-34, Box 96, Folder: 601-03 (CCC) Camp Sites, DEN NARA.

¹² Dale to Maier, October 6, 1933, RG79, NPS SWRO, Santa Fe, Correspondence Relating to CCC, ECW, and ERA Work in National Parks, Forests, and Monuments and Recreational Areas, 1933-34, Box 96, Folder: 601-03 (CCC) Camp Sites, DEN NARA.

¹³ Maier to Townsend, October 12, 1933, RG79, NPS SWRO, Santa Fe, Correspondence Relating to CCC, ECW, and ERA Work in National Parks, Forests, and Monuments and Recreational Areas, 1933-34, Box 96, Folder: 601-03 (CCC) Camp Sites; B.C. Tharp, Department of Botany and Bacteriology, University of Texas, Austin, November 16, 1933; C. H. Mueller, "The Vegetation of the Chisos Mountains of West Texas," unpublished manuscript, 1933, RG79, NPS SWRO, Santa Fe, Correspondence Relating to National Parks, Monuments, and Recreational Areas, 1927-1953, Folder: N/A, Box 94, DEN NARA. Mueller's work came from the introduction to his master's thesis, submitted in 1933.

¹⁴ Jameson, The Story of Big Bend National Park, 25; Anderson, "Land Acquisition in the Big Bend National Park," 40; Roger W. Toll, Department of the Interior, Office of National Parks, Buildings, and Reservations, Denver, CO, to Arno B. Cammerer, Director, Office of National Parks, Buildings, and Reservations, Washington, DC, march 3, 1934, RG79, NPS, Central Consolidated Files (CCF) 1933-1949, Big Bend National Park 207 Files, Box 826, National Archives and Records Administration, Archives II, College Park, MD (cited as DC NARA II).

¹⁵ D.E. Colp, Chairman, Texas State Parks Board, Austin, to Maier, February 6, 1934, RG79, NPS SWRO, Santa Fe, Correspondence Relating to CCC, ECW, and ERA Work in National Forests, Monuments and Recreational Areas, 1933-34, Big Bend National Park-Bryce Canyon National Monument, Utah, Box 97, Folder: 601-03.1 (CCC) Applications for Camps, DEN NARA; Lane Simonian, Defending the Land of the Jaguar: A History of Conservation in Mexico (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1995), 1-2; Michael C. Meyer and William L. Sherman, The Course of Mexican History, Fifth Edition (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995), 596.

¹⁶ Harry L. Dunham, District Inspector, E.C.W., Austin, to Maier, February 6, 1934; R.O. Whiteaker, Parks Engineer, Texas State Parks Board, Austin, February 6, 1934, RG79, NPS SWRO, Santa Fe, Correspondence Relating to CCC, ECW and ERA Work in National Forests, Monuments, and Recreational Areas, 1933-34, Big Bend National Park, TX-Bryce Canyon National Monument, UT, Box 97, Folder: 601-03.2 (CCC) Abandoned Camps, DEN NARA.

¹⁷ Maier to Wirth, February 18, 1934, RG79, NPS SWRO, Santa Fe, Correspondence Relating to CCC, ECW, and ERA Work in National Forests, Monuments, and Recreational Areas, 1933-34, Big Bend National Park, TX-Bryce Canyon National Monument, UT, Box 97, Folder: 601-03.2 (CCC) Abandoned Camps, DEN NARA.

¹⁸ Ibid.

¹⁹ Ibid.

²⁰ Toll to Maier, February 19, 1934, RG79, NPS SWRO, Santa Fe, Correspondence Relating to CCC, ECW, and ERA Work in National Forests, Monuments and Recreational Areas, 1933-34, Big Bend National Park, TX-Bryce Canyon National Monument, UT, Box 97, Folder: 601-03.2 (CCC) Abandoned Camps, DEN NARA.

²¹ Gomez, A Most Singular Country, 177, 179; Maier to Wirth, April 9, 1934, RG79, NPS SWRO, Santa Fe, Correspondence Relating to National Parks, Monuments and Recreational Areas, 1927-1953, Box 1, Folder: 000 General Big Bend, DEN NARA; Jameson, The Story of Big Bend National Park, 27.

²² Maier to Wirth, April 9, 1934, RG79, NPS SWRO, Santa Fe, Correspondence Relating to National Parks, Monuments and Recreational Areas, 1927-1953, Box 1, Folder: 000 General Big Bend; Ben H. Thompson, Department of the Interior, Office of National Parks, Buildings, and Reservations, University of California, Berkeley, to The Director, NPS, Washington, DC, April 18, 1934, RG79, NPS CCF 1933-49, Report Ben Thompson File, BIBE 207 Files, Box 826, DC NARA II; Sellars, Preserving Nature in the National Parks, 95.

²³ Ben H. Thompson, "Report Upon the Wild Life of the Big Bend Area of the Rio Grande, Texas," April 18, 1934, RG79, NPS CCF 1933-49, Report Ben Thompson File, BIBE 207 Files, Box 826, DC NARA II.

²⁴ Ibid.; Sellars, Preserving Nature in the National Parks, 96.

²⁵ Thompson, "Report Upon the Wild Life of the Big Bend Area."

²⁴ Ibid.

²⁵ Ibid; Thompson to the NPS Director, April 18, 1934.

²⁶ W.G. Carnes, Chief, Western Division, NPS, San Francisco, to Dr. L.I. Hewes, Deputy Chief Engineer, Bureau of Public Roads, San Francisco, May 4, 1934, RG79, NPS SWRO, Santa Fe, Correspondence Relating to National Parks, Monuments and Recreational Areas, 1927-1953, Box 1, Folder: 000 General Big Bend, DEN NARA.

²⁷ Gomez, A Most Singular Country, 179; Anderson, "Land Acquisition in the Big Bend National Park," 44; Colp to Commanding General, Headquarters, Arizona-New Mexico District, CCC, Fort Bliss, TX, June 1, 1934, RG79, NPS SWRO, Santa Fe, Correspondence Relating to National Parks, Monuments and Recreational Areas, 1927-1953, Box 11, Folder: 609 (CCC) Leases, DEN NARA.

²⁸ Nason to Maier, June 1, 1934; Maier to Herbert Evison, NPS, Washington, DC, July 23, 1934; Memorandum of "Pesonen" to Maier, "Drought Camp Application, Big Bend, DSP 1, Texas," July 28, 1934, RG79, NPS SWRO, Correspondence Relating to CCC, ECW and ERA Work in National Forests, Monuments and Recreational Areas, 1933-34, Big Bend National Park, TX-Bryce Canyon National Monument, UT, Box 97, Folder: 601-03.1 (CCC) Applications for Camps (2 of 3), DEN NARA.

²⁹ H. (Harry) Langley, Resident Landscape Architect, Grand Canyon National Park, AZ, to Carnes, July 24, 1934, RG79, NPS SWRO, Correspondence Relating to National Parks, Monuments and Recreational Areas, 1927-1953, Box 1, Folder: 000 General Big Bend, DEN NARA.

³⁰ Carnes to Maier, August 8, 1934, RG79, NPS SWRO, Correspondence Relating to CCC, ECW, and ERA Work in National Parks, Forests and Monuments and Recreational Areas, 1933-34, Box 95, Folder: Project 1005, DEN NARA.

³¹ Ibid; Sellars, Preserving Nature in the National Parks, 134.

³² Maier to Carnes, August 16, 24, 1934, RG79, NPS SWRO, Santa Fe, Correspondence Relating to CCC, ECW, and ERA Work in National Parks, Forests and Monuments and Recreational Areas, 1933-34, Box 95, Folder: DSP 1, DEN NARA.

³³ Ibid.

³⁴ Ibid.

³⁵ Carnes to Maier, September 19, 1934, RG79, NPS SWRO, Santa Fe, Correspondence Relating to National Parks, Monuments and Recreational Areas, 1927-1953, Box 1, Folder: 000 General Big Bend, DEN NARA.

³⁶ Maier to State Park ECW, NPS, Washington, DC, Oct. 31, 1934, RG79, NPS SWRO, Santa Fe, Correspondence Relating to CCC, ECW and ERA Work in National Forests, Monuments and Recreational Areas, 1933-34, Big Bend National Park, TX-Bryce Canyon National Monument, UT, Box 97, Folder: 601-03.1 (CCC) Applications for Camps (2 of 3), DEN NARA.

³⁷ Herbert Evison, Supervisor, NPS State Park Division, Washington, DC, to Maier, November 27, 1934, RG79, NPS SWRO, Santa Fe, Correspondence Relating to CCC, ECW and ERA Work in National Forests, Monuments, and Recreational Areas, 1933-34, Big Bend National Park, TX-Bryce Canyon National Monument, UT, Box 97, Folder: 601-03.1 (CCC) Applications for Camps (1 of 3), DEN NARA.

³⁸ Nason to Maier, December 6, 1934, RG79, NPS SWRO, Santa Fe, Correspondence Relating to CCC, ECW, and ERA Work in National Parks, Forests and Monuments and Recreational Areas, 1933-34, Box 95, Folder: DSP 1, DEN NARA.

³⁹ Jameson, The Story of Big Bend National Park, 103; W.D. Smithers, Alpine, TX, to Maier, n.d. (December 1934?), RG79, NPS SWRO, Santa Fe, Correspondence Relating to CCC, ECW, and ERA Work in National Parks, Forests and Monuments and Recreational Areas, 1933-34, Box 95, Folder: DSP 1, DEN NARA.

⁴⁰ E.E. Townsend, "Adjoining Area In Mexico," unpublished manuscript, n.d. (December 1934?), RG79, NPS SWRO, Correspondence Relating to National Parks, Monuments, and Recreational Areas, 1927-1953, Box 94, Folder: N/A, DEN NARA.

⁴¹ Ibid.

⁴² Maier to Smithers, December 14, 1934, RG79, NPS SWRO, Santa Fe, Correspondence Relating to CCC, ECW, and ERA Work in National Parks, Forests and Monuments and Recreational Areas, 1933-34, Box 95, Folder: DSP 1, DEN NARA.

⁴³ Maier to Townsend, December 19, 1934, RG79, NPS SWRO, Santa Fe, Correspondence Relating to CCC, ECW, and ERA Work in National Parks, Forests and Monuments and Recreational Areas, 1933-34, Box 95, Folder: DSP 1, DEN NARA.