GUADALUPE MOUNTAINS An Administrative History

CHAPTER V: MINERAL RIGHTS AND LAND ACQUISITION (continued)

The McKittrick Canyon Right-of-Way Exchange

Even before the official establishment of Guadalupe Mountains National Park on September 30, 1972, park personnel realized the existing access road to McKittrick Canyon presented a serious problem. When Wallace Pratt donated his land in McKittrick Canyon, he gave the government a choice of access routes. The route was chosen from a map, rather than from a survey of the terrain. The chosen right-of-way proved to be located in a canyon drainage where road construction would be extremely expensive. Instead of using this right-of-way, visitors to McKittrick Canyon used an existing ranch road, belonging to Wallace Pratt's daughter-in-law, Alice Pratt. In April 1973, the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce indicated their displeasure to the Park Service when they learned that Alice Pratt had put a daily limit on the number of cars using her road: four on weekdays, ten on weekend days. Although Park Service officials already had begun negotiating for a land exchange with Alice Pratt, Congressional legislation authorizing the exchange would require considerable time. [58]

Three years passed before negotiations with Alice Pratt, Creighton L. Edwards, and Nancy Jane Tucker, the joint owners of the approximately 80 acres in question, were complete and legislation authorizing the exchange was passed. Donald Dayton, Superintendent of Carlsbad Caverns and Guadalupe Mountains National Parks during this period, recalled that negotiations with Alice Pratt required extreme delicacy. The land exchange brought back hard feelings that had existed among the Pratt children at the time of their father's land donation. They felt they had already given enough. Wallace Pratt refused to intercede in the proceedings because he had deeded the property containing the desirable right-of-way to his daughter-in-law and no longer had control over the matter. [59]

In spite of her concerns about family feelings, Alice Pratt's primary concern was that Al Parker, the man who leased the ranch, was satisfied with the road and the exchange agreement. Before Pratt agreed to the Park Service proposal, surveyors for the government marked the route of the road so that she could see it on the land. [60] One of the first concessions required was construction of cattle underpasses to allow Parker's cattle access to grazing and water. [61] When the subject of transfer of mineral rights came up, Pratt was adamant that Nancy Jane Tucker not be required to relinquish her 2/9 mineral interest in the property. In a telephone conversation with Brewster Lindner, Chief of Land Acquisition in the Southwest Regional Office, Pratt said that "the mere mention of Nancy Jane Tucker's name" made her want "to drop the whole proposal." She feared that even though Lindner had assured her that Tucker's interest would not be required, someone later would demand that the interest be extinguished and then another "horrible" family feud would erupt. Within two weeks the regional office provided an Administration Certificate guaranteeing Tucker would not be approached for at least five years from the date of the property exchange. [62]

As negotiations continued, park personnel tried different ways to limit the number of cars crossing the Parker ranch. Initially, visitors obtained keys to the gate of the ranch road from the Frijole contact station and returned them on an honor system. Although this method limited access to McKittrick Canyon, it still did not guarantee that visitors would stay on the road and would not disturb Parker's land or cattle. In June 1973, in an effort to allow more persons to visit the canyon each day, a shuttle-van service was instituted. A ranger drove the 15-passenger van that departed hourly from the McKittrick Canyon turn-off on Highway 62/180 and returned on the half-hour. While this method created more traffic on the ranch road, it provided better visitor control on the private property. [63]

Alice Pratt recognized the care with which the Park Service personnel handled the exchange of the McKittrick Canyon right-of-way. Her letter of March 1976, transmitting the signed deed to Lindner said, "I hope that the end of these dealings will not be the end of our contact as it has been a pleasure to deal with representatives of the government with such kindness and consideration as yours." However, Al Parker had to contend with the Park Service and the public for two more years. The first phase of construction on the road to McKittrick Canyon was not finished until the summer of 1978. In May 1980, negotiators completed the exchange of mineral rights for the right-of-way. [64]

West Side Access Road Right-of-Way

Part of one section of the land acquired from Hunter outside of the park boundaries had been designated as an access route from Highway 62/180 to the west side of the park. Rather than retain the entire section when only a road right-of-way was needed, the government traded all but a 200-foot-wide strip through the section, plus half of another of the sections outside the park boundary, to the State of Texas for the same amount of land in Brewster County, Texas, to be used by Big Bend National Park. The exchange was completed on November 4, 1974. [65]

A scenic easement, 1,320 feet wide (660 feet on either side of the right-of-way), accompanying the right-of-way gave the Park Service the authority to approve or disapprove the construction of buildings within the area of the easement, to prohibit the removal of timber or shrubs within the area of the easement without written approval, to prohibit the placement of any offensive or unsightly material upon the easement land, and to prohibit signs or billboards except those no larger than 18 by 24 inches, advertising the sale of property or produce. [66]

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