Big Bend Administrative History

As spring approached in the year 1938, promoters of the park could take some satisfaction in the continued stream of positive news features about Big Bend, and of the organization of the statewide fundraising committee. On March 10, Morelock sent to James Record "two checks in the sum of $100 each from Dr. J.E. Mowinkle and Mr. H.R. Smith, both of them oil men from San Antonio." Mowinkle and Smith (the latter the brother of Sul Ross history professor G.P. Smith), "have traveled widely in the United States, in Mexico, in Canada, and in Europe," said Morelock. H.R. Smith told the Sul Ross president that "we are interested in the Big Bend National Park to the extent that we should like to make at least two more personal trips into this area, taking photographs and perhaps a movie of the park area both on the American side and the Mexican side." Smith further claimed that "‘the climate of the Big Bend section alone justifies the establishment of a Big Bend National Park, and the picturesque grandeur of the scenery is not surpassed by the scenery of any other national park I have seen--and I have visited practically all of them.'" Mowinkle expressed similar delight with Big Bend's "‘geological possibilities,'" which he called "‘unsurpassed by any other area in the United States.'" Mowinkle believed that "‘the study of geologic formations in the Big Bend will be tremendously helpful in solving the geologic problems of other areas in Texas.'" In more practical terms, said Mowinkle: "All of Texas will profit financially by virtue of a national park and the oil interests, as well as many other big business concerns, will be direct beneficiaries of additional revenues that will come to Texas because of a national park.'" [17]

To Horace Morelock, the contributions of Smith and Mowinkle proved the merits of an aggressive statewide campaign to raise funds for Big Bend's land-acquisition program. Thus he worked with Wendell Mayes, chairman of the state parks board, to select an executive committee for the park initiative. "Naturally," Morelock informed Amon Carter, "we must have on this committee not only people with a vision for Texas and its future, but people whose standing in Texas will guarantee the success of the campaign." For that reason, "it is the consensus of our opinion and the opinion of many other people that you should be chairman of the Executive Committee." Morelock identified as reasons for Carter's role the fact that "the Fort Worth Star-Telegram has done more for West Texas than any other newspaper, and has taken an unusual interest in the Big Bend National Park project as such." This, plus Carter's "standing in Texas and [his] ability to achieve worth while objectives," Morelock contended, "will guarantee the success of the campaign." The Sul Ross president asked Carter's advice on the draft plan for the statewide committee, and surmised that "the Press of Texas should give wide publicity to the [Austin] meeting" to be called by Governor Allred. To Herbert Maier, Morelock reported that "things are moving along in rather good form, and I believe that by the middle of April the park engine will have full steam up." The Alpine chamber would contribute to this committee's work by printing a 36-page bulletin filled with illustrations of the future park area. "We are asking four well-known artists (Gutzum Borglum, Xavier Gonzalez, Audrey Dean Nickols, and Mr. Teel)," said Morelock, "to furnish us free of charge one of their autographed paintings of this section, the same to be reproduced in colors in the bulletin." To make the point even more emphatic, Morelock asked Maier to verify the statement that Big Bend marked the first time that Congress made its pledge of support "in advance of deeding the land to the national government." Finally, Morelock wondered if "the National Park Service could arrange with the government of Mexico for a representative who would appear on this program [in Austin], and who would indicate just what the Mexican government has done." He believed that "this number [400,000 acres] would add a great deal to the program," and asked Maier: "Will you please see what can be done on this score?" [18]

This latter request reflected a flurry of activity on the Mexican side of the future Big Bend International Park, instigated when Morelock sought that nation's endorsement of the private fundraising campaign. Daniel F. Galicia responded to a letter sent to him in late April regarding a road to be built from the city of Monterrey in the state of Coahuila northward to the Rio Grande. Galicia apologized for not answering Townsend for some two weeks, saying: "Please excuse the delay which was caused by an excess of work, which you well know that I have." For his part, the chief of forestry for the Cardenas administration inquired of "the Secretary of Communications and Public Works for his cooperation in the opening of said roads in the lands which soon will be declared a National Park and called ‘Sierra del Carmen.'" This correspondence had followed the ten-day trip that Galicia had taken into the future international park with Texas oil men H.R. Smith and J.E. Mowinkle. Townsend had guided the party of NPS officials, Texans, and Galicia some 50 miles south of Boquillas, where they camped for several days at the "San Ysidro ranch" and inspected the Sierra del Carmen and the Fronteriza Mountains. The Dallas News reported on April 5 that the group had high hopes for a successful survey, given the rumor that Governor Allred might call a special session of the Texas legislature the following month to consider the Big Bend land-acquisition program. The News then spoke of the work of "an international park committee organized some time ago [that] has ironed out any difficulties that might arise over border situations." Among these, said the Dallas paper, was "a tentative agreement" that "if the park becomes a reality to allow citizens of both countries into both sides of the park without the formality of passports." [19]

The international park survey team ventured into Mexico just as a late winter storm descended upon the Sierra del Carmen. The party, said the Alpine Avalanche, was "whipped by bitter winds, blinded by dust, half frozen by the cold of high mountains." Nonetheless, they returned with what the Avalanche called "the first pictures of the scenic region taken specifically and exclusively for park promotion purposes." The excursion had been a "‘gift' of two San Antonio men to the park promotion cause [Smith and Mowinkle], . . . and it is known that this trip cost them into four figures [over $1,000]." Along with Townsend, Galicia, and the oil men were Sul Ross's G.P. Smith, Allen Smith (the nephew of the Smith brothers), John Ponder of San Antonio, John King and Earl Moore of the Dallas News staff (the latter the staff photographer), two students from Sul Ross (Horace Jones and John Dear), and Mexican customs official Jesus Guerrera. Townsend recalled that the weather deteriorated as the party rode on horseback above 8,000 feet in altitude. "‘We had not taken adequate bedding for such a cold spell,'" Townsend admitted, "‘not anticipating such a drop in temperature.'" They had "plenty of wood'" with which to build fires, but "‘the winds blew terrifically,'" he told the Alpine Avalanche, "‘shutting off views with dust clouds.'" The weather notwithstanding, Townsend and others took many excellent pictures. Then he recounted how "Senor Galicia expressed himself as delighted with the scenic region and eager to see an international park created." Galicia further declared to Townsend "an intention of cooperating in every way." The party emerged "out of the wilderness," said the Avalanche, "in a mood of pleased satisfaction with what was accomplished in the way of pictures and knowledge gained." [20]

Much of the success of the survey party could be attributed to the skills and diplomacy of Everett Townsend. Earl Moore wrote to Townsend upon his return to Dallas to thank him for his services as guide. "I consider meeting you and knowing you one of the greatest events of my life," said Moore, as "you represent a type of man which I have always admired." Townsend's reply revealed the source of Moore's adulation, as he said of the surveying party: "It was just about the finest lot of fellows I was ever out with." Townsend, who had recently escorted the National Geographic crew into the Big Bend country, and who had guided Governor Allred the year before, said of the Smith-Mowinkle party: "Each was true grit to the bone." Even John King and Earl Moore, whom Townsend characterized as "the two tenderfeet and ‘rears,' the News-Boys," emerged as "heroes." While "neither had ever hubbed any real hardships or ridden more than a few miles," said Townsend, "they came through like He-Men." Townsend, who had seen many photographs of the Big Bend in his day, considered Moore's shot of the Sierra del Carmen as "simply marvelous." That plus the portrait of Townsend in the field would "occupy a page in that Jimmy Allred scrapbook" kept by Townsend. [21]

While Townsend and the Smith-Mowinkle party planned their work on behalf of the international park, the acting director of NPS Region III (Herbert Maier) delivered an address on March 22 to the Texas State Planning Conference. Maier told the state's planning officials that "a major project of this sort [Big Bend], designed to benefit a people at large can usually only be consummated after a lengthy, and sometimes exhaustive, educational campaign." Thus Maier wished to identify the key features of the Big Bend fundraising initiative, doing so by placing the endeavor in the larger context of NPS park development elsewhere. By 1938, said Maier, the NPS had but four park sites awaiting congressional approval: "Mount Olympus in the State of Washington, the King's River Canyon in California, the Everglades in Florida, and the Big Bend area of Southwest Texas." Maier surmised that "if, and when, these four areas have been acquired, there may not be any more additional National Parks added to the system because the Lord did not create any others." Big Bend also benefited from the ironic demand of an urbanizing nation for escape from "the congestion of cities and intensified farming areas." Maier considered it "the duty of society, functioning through the Federal and State governments to provide such playgrounds" as Big Bend might become. He then outlined for his audience the vastness of Big Bend; dimensions that he saw fitting for the "nation's largest state." Among its charms was the fact that Big Bend offered "the outstanding example of U.S-Mexican border scenery." In addition, "the wildlife capacity of the range when reestablished through National Park Service protection methods," said Maier, "will probably be greater per acre than that of the Yellowstone with its heavy lodgepole forests." Maier also suggested that "few regions in the United States afford such an opportunity for demonstration of reversion to proper land usage;" a reference to the disastrous practices of grazing in the Big Bend country after the turn of the century. [22]

For Maier, "the feature of most spectacular interest after the Chisos Range is the Rio Grande itself." Beyond its natural beauty, the river provided the only permanent body of water in the entire area. "Sufficient and potable water for serving the public," Maier told the Texas planners, "if this is to become a major recreational area, may be obtained in ample quantities by surface drainage at points where utility and public service units may be established." He noted that officials of the United States and Mexico had recommended that "a strip of land five miles in depth would also skirt the Rio Grande opposite the American side to the West and for its full length so that both sides of the three canyons would be included" in an international park. In addition, "investigation has shown that it should not be too difficult a task to later build a road from the Mexican area to join with the Main Mexico City Highway at Monterrey." This brought to Maier's mind the fact that "general plans for the development of each area have at the request of the Mexican Government been considered as a single problem." NPS planners had recommended "that the main approach road from the North terminate at a tourist center to be located in the lower Chisos Mountains with a system of horse-trails affording the only connection between this and the principal points of interest in the higher country." One route could lead southwest to Santa Elena Canyon, with another angling southeast to Boquillas. "From thence," said Maier, "the road could skirt the base of the Del Carmen and Fronteriza ranges in the Mexican area to Canyon del Fresnos up through which access would be had to a principal tourist development." Maier also envisioned that "from the international bridge at Boquillas a road is proposed skirting the Rio Grande westward on the Mexican side and affording spectacular views down into the Mariscal and Santa Helena Canyons." On the American side, "little more than a service road is planned . . . so that no artificial barrier will discourage a free flow of wildlife to and across the River." To Maier this meant: "In other words, it is not planned to encircle the Chisos Mountains with a road system." [23]

When determining the "atmosphere in the region," Maier defined this as "decidedly one of manana." Thus park planners believed that "everything must be done in developing the area to preserve for the tourist seeking rest and recreation the Spanish-Mexican atmosphere." He called for "an architecture for government and operators buildings [that] might well be based on Spanish-Mexican lines." Maier foresaw the "hacienda" as "a prototype for a main tourist lodge while perhaps a few of the already existing native adobes along the river might be retained as minor tourist stopping places." He recounted the declaration of NPS director Cammerer that "the international project [was] ‘a gesture toward international good will that might set an example to other nations.'" Maier stated that "undoubtedly such a major project would go far toward bringing the two races together." He then added on the American side the concept of a working longhorn ranch. "It is felt by some," said Maier, "that it is as important to reestablish here a herd of longhorns under their original conditions as it has been to preserve the buffalo that roamed the plains before them in the Yellowstone." Adding to the aesthetic value provided by the longhorn ranch would be its "historic value." "The old spring and fall round-up and branding party," Maier noted, "would afford the keenest interest and value to many who visit this park." [24]

Should Texas's planners support the Big Bend park, Maier claimed that the Lone Star state would accrue "pronounced financial benefit." "Virtually every state in the union," said the acting Region III director, "and most foreign countries are bidding for tourist patronage." Maier presciently portrayed tourism as "a comparatively new industry, brought into being by the facilities for travel by paved highways, and the automobile, and by the new life of shorter working hours and more abundant leisure which has been forced upon us." Maier conceded that "there were tourists before the automobile." Yet these were "comparatively few and mostly of the wealthy class." With the advent of the car culture, "today's tourist ranges from the bottom to the top of the social scale with a large bulk composed of the great middle class." Texas made its first foray into the tourism business with the 1936 centennial, but in the words of Maier, "this objective is passed." "The ideal thing," he advised his audience, "would be to have a permanent major objective" for travelers; a situation resolved by inclusion of Big Bend into the NPS system. Then, too, Maier reiterated predictions made by his listeners, the Texas State Planning Commission, that "the population of Texas will increase by a million and a half in the next 20 years." Between tourism and population growth, Maier claimed, "the American public spends tens of billions of dollars annually for recreation in all of its forms and this sum filters into almost every variety of business." The Lone Star state would be remiss, Maier concluded, if it did not embrace this plan for "proper land use" with such good fortune at its doorstep. [25]

When Maier returned to his Santa Fe office, he wrote back to Horace Morelock with a more detailed description of his remarks to the Texas planning conference, and his sense of the merits of private fundraising for land acquisition (the only activity underway regarding Big Bend throughout 1938). Maier noted the discussions with the Fort Worth Star Telegram, the Texas State Parks Board, and the NPS to convene the statewide fundraising committee. The parks board director, William Lawson, had told Maier that "the delay was the result of Amon Carter's conjecture that the money can be raised from some private source." Maier disagreed, confiding in Morelock: "I doubt very much that Mr. Carter will succeed in this, but of course it is well worth trying." The NPS official could not think otherwise, as "in any campaign of this sort a long delay means stagnation." Maier also had to clarify a point raised by the Sul Ross president about the uniqueness of the Big Bend fundraising initiative. Where Morelock believed that Big Bend broke precedent as the "first case in history where such [congressional authorization] was made prior to the acquisition of the land by the State," Maier suggested that "this is the usual procedure." Until "the interested groups have an advance guarantee" of a land base for a park, "Congressional authority simply amounts to the guarantee that the Secretary of the Interior will accept the area as a national park if and when the land has been deeded to the federal government." [26]

Once Maier had corrected Morelock's impression of Big Bend's land program, he then addressed the Sul Ross president's plans for the meeting in Austin of the fundraising group. Morelock wanted someone from the Cardenas administration in Mexico to speak before the Texas officials. Maier suggested Daniel Galicia, who "spends a great deal of time at El Paso and Laredo--usually the latter." Maier claimed to "know Senor Galicia well," and believed that he would accept an invitation to the Austin gathering. "You will recall," said Maier, "that [Galicia] gave a brief talk at Congressman [Ewing] Thomason's luncheon at Alpine in October [1937]." Maier did caution Morelock, however: "He is not given to speaking in English but he does pronounce his words well and I guess he would be willing to say just about anything we coached him on." [27]