Chickamauga and Chattanooga Administrative History

CHAPTER III:
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE ADMINISTRATION (continued)

D. Roads

Under National Park Service administration road development and improvement continued at Chickamauga and Chattanooga from the 1930s to the present. In 1933 there were 72.43 miles of roads in the park, with some $510,000 earmarked for maintenance following transfer from the War Department. [87] But early in 1934 an agreement concluded with Catoosa County, Georgia, placed maintenance of all of Ringgold Road outside the park with the county once that highway was improved. The National Park Service contracted for its regrading and resurfacing. In 1934 and 1935 improvements were completed on Alexander Bridge and several approach roads; some roads and trails were obliterated, while paving of parts of the Reeds Bridge and Lafayette roads was accomplished. [88] Several miles of roadways were graveled and oiled in 1935 by workers from Emergency Conservation camps located in the park. In 1936 Superintendent Randolph observed that the road system "has been very much improved with Public Works funds administered by the Bureau of Public Roads of the United States Department of Agriculture." [89] Another transfer of an approach highway occurred in 1938 with conveyance to Walker County, Georgia, of the McLemore Cove Road. [90]

During the early 1940s work began in surveying and improving the Glass Mill Road along with others in the park with the aid of the Public Roads Administration. Most of the construction was completed under contract with private firms. [91] In 1948 certain remaining approach highways were transferred to the State of Georgia; these consisted of the Lafayette Extension Road south of the park, the Reeds Bridge Road to the east, and the Lafayette Road to Rossville north to the Tennessee line. Simultaneously, the Vittetoe-Chickamauga Road southwest of the park, the Lee and Gordon Mill Road, and part of the Glass Mill Road were conveyed to Walker County, Georgia. The road portions transferred totaled ten and one-half miles. [92] The policy of relinquishing possession of Government roads continued into the next decade. In 1954 several park-owned streets in the community of Chickamauga (formerly Crawfish Springs) were deeded to the town. The Government donated $50,000 to Chickamauga for maintaining the streets. [93]

Longtime efforts to relocate U.S. Highway 27 continued during the 1950s and 1960s. For years unsuccessful attempts had been made to route through traffic, especially trucks, around the park on alternate highways to eliminate congestion and danger to park visitors. In the early 1980s the objective of the Mission 66 program facet for Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park was relocation of U.S. 27. Resisting proposals to build a four-lane highway across park land also occupied Service personnel, [94] but elimination of the old road bisecting Chickamauga Battlefield was of paramount concern under a master plan prepared in 1964. That plan envisioned relocating the highway to skirt the west boundary of the park and restoring the battlefield to its 1863 appearance. National Park Service authorities agreed to finance much of the construction should Georgia highway officials approve it. [95] During the late summer of 1966 the state began a preliminary survey for the relocation of the road. By then it was planned to build the new four-lane highway for commuters to the west, retaining the old road for park visitors. This plan contemplated the removal of seventeen stone monuments, one of them weighing forty-two tons, from the path of the newly projected highway onto adjacent ground. [96] In addition to the monuments, part of a road, a parking area, and a trail at Glenn Hill near Wilder Tower were removed in 1966. [97] Public hearings were held in 1967, [98] and in his annual report for that year Superintendent Cook summed up as follows:

The relocation of U.S. Highway 27 was brought one step closer to reality in 1967 with the completion of a preliminary survey to determine the exact route. It now remains for the State of Georgia to continue the project. Highway 27 bisects Chickamauga Battlefield. When it is relocated it will skirt the western edges of the park and separate visitors from commuter traffic with greater safety resulting for all. Relocation will also reduce nighttime access to the park which will significantly reduce vandalism and other protection problems. [99]

From that point forward the road project met successive delays stemming largely from legal compliance requirements of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. Although an Environmental Impact Statement financed by the National Park Service for completion by the State of Georgia was underway in 1977, the entire project was given a lower priority by the Georgia legislature that year. Meantime, necessary historical and cultural surveys of alternate routes ordered by the Advisory Council additionally slowed progress. [100] Contingent on the relocation of U.S. Highway 27, the park hoped to revise its battlefield tour route and develop a tram system for guided tours of the park. While public hearings went on regarding the matter, park officials concerned themselves with installing bicycle paths and new trail signs in 1979 and 1980. Budget cuts in 1981 again stalled the relocation of Highway 27, and in August, 1982, Secretary of the Interior James Watt decreed that the thoroughfare through the park would not be widened to four lanes. [101]

E. Civilian Conservation Corps

Much of the road construction at Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park during the 1930s and early 1940s was tied in with other work projects completed by Civilian Conservation Corps personnel under the Emergency Conservation Works Administration. In June 1933, two 200-men camps were authorized for the park. These were to be administered by the War Department but supervised by the National Park Service which was then about to assume management of the area. [102] The first camp, occupied by black workers and complete with mess halls, kitchens, and baths, was placed at Fort Oglethorpe, just outside the park, and was called Camp Booker T. Washington. Superintendent Randolph estimated that the men would help in "grubbing out underbrush, trimming and thinning out the trees, taking down dead timber and other miscellaneous work in beautifying the grounds, caring for the roads, trails and etc." [103] Some of their labor went to repair roads and general clean up projects at Point Park. Members of the Booker T. Washington Camp were shortly divided into CCC Camps MP-1 and MP-2, at Chickamauga Park (Fort Oglethorpe). Another CCC camp, known as Camp MP-5, was organized that autumn at Chattanooga-Lookout Mountain Park and contained a large number of white forestry workers from Idaho and New York. [104] This unit was named Camp Adolph Ochs. Later, a Civil Works Administration facility was founded on the west side of Lookout Mountain and was named Camp Demaray. This camp soon became CCC Camp MP-6. Crews from both camps planted bushes, dogwood, and other shrubbery along the roads on the mountain, laid concrete sidewalks, and built benches, picnic tables, and stone ovens. A retaining wall was built around Point Park, and gutters and sidewalks were placed there. A number of men from the mountain camps were assigned to the park to provide lectures and guide service to visitors. [105] Meantime, the Chickamauga Park camps worked to check erosion, remove stumps, mow the fields, prune and remove dead timber, open fire trails, and repair roads. [106] Total strength of the four CCC camps in 1935 was about 700 men. Work programs were coordinated by Emergency Conservation Works Administration personnel stationed at park headquarters. [107]

During 1935 scheduled CCC work involved grading soil around park monuments, laying flagstone walks at the DeLong and Bragg Reservations, repairing bridges, and constructing a horse trail on Lookout Mountain. Other projects entailed planting more Dogwood trees and removing a large number of trees from around Wilder Tower. [108] Early in 1936 one of the camps on the Fort Oglethorpe reservation, MP-2, was disbanded. [109] The remaining unit at Chickamauga Park spent the balance of the year planting trees, maintaining roads, preventing erosion, and adjusting slopes, while the Lookout Mountain camps built more fire trails, erected a cable guard along the highway, and undertook development of several scenic and historical trails. [110] In 1937 men from the various camps constructed a bridge across Lookout Creek near Skyuka Springs, built a foot trail between Point Park and Cravens House, and planted trees around the Administration Building. In September Camp MP-5 was disbanded, shortly followed by Camp MP-1, as the Civilian Conservation Corps program for the park gradually concluded. Only Camp MP-6 on the west side of Lookout Mountain remained; because of insufficient work this camp, too, was eventually terminated on October 1, 1939. [111] However, CCC activities continued through the services of a nearby unit in Tennessee, and late in 1940 plans were made for establishing a new camp at the park. [112] In 1941 CCC Camp Chickamauga-Chattanooga National Military Park, Tennessee NP-4, was set up on Lookout Mountain and continued much of the fire protection work started earlier. The camp was closed in April, 1942, the last CCC association with the park. [113]

F. Park Protection

Law enforcement and protection remained an important duty at the park after its transfer to the National Park Service. The problem of livestock control was partly alleviated when all cattle were prohibited from grazing on park lands after January 1, 1935. But repeated incidents of theft and vandalism plagued officials throughout the 1930s and 1940s. For example, in 1934 cannonballs composing the shell monuments had to be spot welded together to curb thefts of the relic ordnance. And in 1940 park rangers were kept busy watching for persons stealing small pine and cedar trees during the Christmas season. [114] More serious problems, such as the discharge of raw sewage onto park lands by residents and private businesses on Lookout Mountain, also drew the attention of park authorities. Threatened court action prompted settlement of the matter by one offending enterprise in 1947. [115] Generally, however, park law enforcement personnel have concerned themselves with a myriad of petty offenses, such as disorderly conduct and desecration and damage to the monuments. In 1967 the Illinois and Maryland monuments were damaged, the latter most severely. In 1981 and 1982 more vandalism occurred to monuments located on Missionary Ridge. Incidents of poaching and automobile accidents were also happening with greater frequency. [116]