Agate Fossil Beds
Administrative History
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CHAPTER 1:
THE COOKS OF AGATE SPRINGS RANCH (continued)
A State Park at the Fossil
Quarries?
Since 1909 when Kate Graham Cook was committed to the Nebraska
Hospital for the Insane in Lincoln, James H. Cook prayed for her
recovery. By 1920, all hope was abandoned. To avoid legal difficulties
in the event of his death, Captain Cook petitioned to have his son
appointed as Kate's guardian to handle all of her affairs. Ownership of
the Agate Springs Ranch transferred to Harold J. Cook, but was placed in
a Trust Agreement. Necessitated by Kate's mental incompetency, the trust
stipulated the son had no right to sell, divide, or otherwise dispose of
any property held in trust. If he attempted to do so, all of his rights
would cease automatically and revert to the real owner, James H. Cook.
[8] Such were the legal avenues the Cooks
used to retain their property.
By the 1920s, the Agate Springs Ranch was a popular tourist spot. On
display in the ranch house were not only the Sioux Indian and Old West
objects, but fossil displays. Many went to the quarries to observe the
on-going excavations. In 1921, more than 5,000 visitors came. The
popular appeal and interest prompted James H. Cook to act on a recurring
ideahow to preserve this historic and scientific resource. In the
fall of 1921, Cook mailed a confidential form letter to all of his close
friends with an appeal to help him preserve a portion of the Old West.
Citing Fort Laramie as the epitome of romance and Old West history, Cook
wrote:
It seems fitting, therefore, that there should stand in this region.
. . some sort of a perpetual monument or memorial, which should
represent, in a measure, the old Plains days and life, so that those who
are to follow can actually see and come in personal contact with some
phases of that life and a replica of those early days.
For many years it has been a cherished ambition and desire of mine to
erect at the Agate Springs Ranch, upon a commanding site, an exact
replica, in every detail, of old Fort Laramie; stockade and bastions to
be constructed along the most solid and substantial lines possible, and
yet preserve all the old original features intact. All building material
used in the construction of the memorial would be of adobe or cement and
cottonwood logsa monument that shall stand for all time. The Agate
Springs Ranch can furnish all the required material except for the
cement.
The interior of the fort proper would be given over to sections
devoted to displays of Indian art of the old times, and to replicas of
the overland trail days; to the fossilized remains of prehistoric
creatures taken from the Agate Springs quarries, and to such other
features as would be proper and fitting for such a memorial. A lecture
room would be a prominent feature, where learned men could, by motion
pictures or lantern slides, furnish entertaining instruction along
scientific lines and lecture on out-of-doors topics. [9]
Cook also envisioned an Indian village on the grounds surrounding the
fort where visitors could observe the Native American lifestyle and
purchase craft items. He was not interested in the operation becoming a
"money-making proposition," but could allow for a small fee for
maintenance and upkeep. Cook added:
It is my belief that the Fort Laramie memorial, with its entertaining
features and attractions, would soon become the mecca of all autoists
from the East to the West, and vice versa, and with the contemplated
building of a railroad through this valley, thousands of others would be
attracted to this spot. [10]
Cook's plea to his close friends proved disappointing. There were few
positive responses to form a joint stock company for a monument
commemorating the old frontier days. Undaunted, James H. Cook was in Los
Angeles in March 1922, lobbying for financial support for his dream. The
Cook family was optimistic that the monument ideal would be realized.
Harold J. Cook began his own campaign to establish a State Highway in
the area to ensure increased visitation. As president of the Good Roads
Association in the 1920s, he pushed for a road to replace the rough
trail which ran north and south (Gering to Harrison) and passed by the
Agate Springs Ranch. [11] He used his
father's dream of a monument and/or historical museum as well as the
fossil beds to justify the need for a road. Results came in 1923 when
engineers of the Nebraska Department of Public Works began surveying
Nebraska 29 from Harrison to Agate. [12] By
1929, the last link, Mitchell to Agate, was completed and opened to
motorists. [13]
Harold Cook also served on the Nebraska State Park Board in the
1920s. The movement to preserve Nebraska's natural and historic areas,
coupled with the failure to attract private investment in the monument
ideal, inspired him to suggest the Agate Springs Fossil Quarries as a
potential state park. The suggestion captured the interest of members of
the Nebraska Federation of Women's Clubs (NFWC). Four NFWC members
visited the Agate Springs Ranch on October 23, 1925, and discussed the
state park proposal with the Cooks. [14] In
early 1926, the NFWC Conservation Department began working on the
details for establishing the new state park, one of which was a letter
of inquiry to Nebraska Governor Adam McMullen. Governor McMullen
subsequently asked Harold Cook's opinion of the NFWC's efforts. [15] Cook's response came in an April 22, 1926,
letter:
Some little time back, you asked me what I thought of the proposition
made by certain Women's Club members, that the state take over the Agate
Springs Fossil Quarries, which I own. I appreciate the intention behind
this move, but I question its being very practical. In the first place,
if handled by the state, it is of a nature that should be handled
entirely outside of politics, and be assured perpetual, proper care and
attention,and be handled by men who know such things, and
understand and can interpret them,or a large degree of their
educational use and value is lost. In the next place, I cannot afford to
donate those quarries or a good sized section of the ranch to the State;
and I very greatly question the legislature being willing to pay us a
sum for those beds that we could afford to consider. I AM anxious to see
these wonderful deposits preserved properly, and perpetuated for public
benefit and use; but as a practical matter, it does not seem likely to
me that this can at this time be accomplished in just that way. Possibly
it can. If so, I will be glad to consider any practical suggestions that
anyone has to offer to solve the problem. [16]
Governor McMullen agreed with Cook that the legislature would
probably not be willing to pay what the quarries were worth. [17]
Ironically, it was during the summer of 1926 that the deed in which
Harold relinquished fee ownership of the fossil quarries was filed at
the Sioux County Courthouse. On July 17, 1926, in a preliminary division
of property prior to divorce, Cook transferred ownership to Eleanor
Barbour Cook,* while retaining the "exclusive right in perpetuity. . .
for the purpose of digging, excavating for, collecting, examining, or
exhibiting fossils in the hills. . . or for preparing the fossil bones
contained therein." Cook also reserved the right to build a road to the
hills and to erect buildings for "preparing, housing, collecting, and
exhibiting" the fossils. [18]**
*Apparently the transaction took place three years prior to the
filing of the deed, July 6, 1923. The conveyance was performed in the
presence of Margaret F. Crozier, the woman Harold Cook married following
his divorce in 1927. Miss Crozier was hereafter noted as "the stimulus
for the breaking up of the family." See Robert Simmons to Senator Roman
Hruska, letter, 8 June 1963, box 192, Departmental Correspondence, 90th
Congress 1st session, folderDepartment of the Interior, National
Park Service, 1967, Papers of U.S. Senator Roman L. Hruska, Nebraska
State Historical Society.
**No mention of this change in fee ownership was made in subsequent
correspondence on the state park issue.
While the prospect for State involvement at Agate appeared bleak, the
NFWC intensified its efforts. In October 1926, one member proposed to
the State NFWC Convention that the club itself take over the Agate
Springs Ranch and operate the combined ranch and fossil beds, a
suggestion which angered Harold Cook. Although the proposal was not
considered, the convention agreed that a bill had to be introduced in
the winter session of the legislature before the new State elections
brought the possibility of an unfavorable political climate. A NFWC poll
of the legislature revealed many Nebraska senators favored the Agate
Springs Fossil Quarries State Park, but with so many new state park
proposals, chances of passage appeared bleak. By December 1926, NFWC
prepared a draft bill and submitted it to Harold J. Cook for review. The
NFWC's philosophy was for the State to acquire the fossil quarries
immediately; details for the park's administration could be worked out
later. [19]
In a January 20, 1927, response to NFWC State Chairwoman Elizabeth C.
Hoefer, Harold Cook confessed that it was indeed shameful that the
wonders of ancient Nebraska could only be viewed outside of the State,
in the Carnegie Institute in Pennsylvania or American Museum in New
York. Admitting that the State should act to preserve its own treasures,
he stated:
As I have a family to consider, and am not so situated financially
that I can afford to donate these beds, and in view of what I KNOW their
value to be, in dollars and cents, either developed to sell the material
they contain to educational institutions, or as an attraction to
tourists and students, I am sure I am not asking a high sum in relation
to their value when I put a figure of one hundred thousand dollars on
these fossil beds and the land about them of sufficient area for all
practical purposes.
As you are aware, I have not been at all keen about the state or
anyone else taking this over; I appreciate its value, and know how to
handle it; but I have so many other interests that take and demand my
time and attention that I find it very hard to protect and develop this
as it should be; and, as there is surely ample evidence to prove, we
have surely contributed very largely and free to the public of the state
and outside, and for years with no charge of any sort whatsoever, as a
contribution we really could not afford. We can no longer do this, and
it is obvious that such an important natural asset, one that has no
known duplicate in the whole world, should be held in public trust, and
not in private hands, subject to the vicissitude and caprices of private
ownership. [20]
Cook told Mrs. Hoefer that he had been approached by hotel and other
commercial interests, including private developers, but wanted the State
to have the first opportunity to acquire the quarries. He concluded,
"Unless this legislature acts favorably upon this and now; I can
say frankly that it is very apt to be the last chance they can have to
get it, at this, or a very much higher price. I do not say this to
coerce, but as a matter of plain fact, plainly stated." [21]
At the request of Governor McMullen, Harold Cook postponed his
resignation from the Nebraska State Park Board until the park board and
legislature acted on the Agate Springs Fossil Quarries question. [22] Cook disliked the "ticklish situation" he
found himself in, sitting on both sides of the fence. In a lengthy
January 22, 1927, letter, Cook presented his position on the state park
issue to the Governor:
I well realize that such deposits SHOULD be handled either by the
state, or some other competent, permanent organization, to assure their
not getting into the hands of either vandals or fanaticsor
side-show clap-trap artists!! And I also well realize that they are NOT
secure from just this, as long as they are in our hands for any accident
could easily happen at any time to father or me which might precipitate
endless complications. I well know the commercial possibilities of
exploitation of these fossil beds. In fact various people and interest
have already discussed such possibilities with us seriously. Thousands
of people are already visiting the place and fossil beds annually as it
is, as you know. I cannot afford to give them away, and neither have I
any desire to hold the state up, should they decide to take them over.
At the value of $100,000 that I put on those beds, I am sure that it is
possible to make them pay good interest, as a straight commercial
proposition, were that the consideration.
In fairness to my family, in case the state does not see fit to do
this, it is quite probable that I will be compelled to resort to some
type of Commercial development of them as things have gone to a point
where I cannot afford any longer to donate all of these things as I have
in the past to the museums from all over the world, and maintain free
exhibits for the benefit of the increasing thousands who come there to
see and to study. I regret the necessity of this, and wish that it might
be handled as it should be, simply for public benefit and at most,
enough charged to make itself sustaining. It really has wonderful
possibilities and surely must not be boxed up or lost to the world. It
is as yet hardly scratchedas to the amount of material present.
. . . in case the state SHOULD decide to take this over as a state
reserve and monument, or park or spot for research symposiums, or what
not, as it may be designated, I can well see the desirability of my
being connected with it at least long enough to get it properly
organized and in efficient hands and with a set of proper working
regulations in line with public interests and welfare. I have had to
maintain a similar impartial position in other matters I have been in
before, and so I believe I could in this, if it is desired that I do so.
[23]
In a March 1927 letter to Nebraska State Senator Emerson R. Purcell,
member of the legislature's Fish and Game Committee, Harold Cook further
elaborated his concept of a state park at Agate. Reducing his monetary
requirement to $80,000, he stressed the importance of immediate action
and that he would like to use the money to help educate his four
daughters. Of critical significance to future events however, Cook
expressed concern that the amount of acquired park land be limited. He
professed that surrounding lands would remain active ranchland free from
unsightly development. Cook wrote:
The land is held in fee simple, and is unincumbered and with clear
title. The Bone Hills themselves, at their base, probably occupy twenty
or thirty acres, stating the area offhand. At the price mentioned, we
would deed over with the bone hills themselves, an acreage of 160
acres, surrounding them and including them which should be all there if
any point in the state taking over, unless it wants to do it on a
much larger scale, to make a game park or something of that sort, which
is a separate and distinct matter, as I see it, and with no special
relation to the Bone Hills. That would give ample room for
anything the state might want to do with them, and would not be hard to
fence, and would give all the room around them needed in any manner. As
the surrounding lands on three sides are rough hills, it will remain
wild enough, from a scenic standpoint, to satisfy anyone, without the
state needing to take it over to protect it. [24] [emphasis added]
No positive action had come from the Nebraska Legislature when, in
June 1927, President and Mrs. Calvin Coolidge came to the Black Hills of
South Dakota to vacation. Governor McMullen and Harold Cook both urged
the towns of Crawford and Harrison to extend official invitations to the
First Family to visit western Nebraska to see the fossil quarries and
other historic sites. [25] Unfortunately,
the President's secretary wrote from Rapid City that the Coolidges would
be unable to take time out to visit Agate. [26] A presidential visit would have provided
the capstone for the establishment of a state park at the fossil
quarries.
In August 1927, NFWC Chairwoman Elizabeth Hoefer arrived at Agate
Springs Ranch to visit with the Cooks and tour the fossil quarries. Mrs.
Hoefer contended that the legislature was not eager to consider the
Agate state park bill because of funding requirements for the new State
Capitol, an elaborate, but expensive, architectural wonder. She hoped
when construction was completed, the State and/or Nebraska State
Historical Society would, at the very least, acquire the Cook Indian
Collection. [27]
The Nebraska Legislature finally acted in 1928. The senators called
upon the Nebraska State Park Board* to inspect the Agate Springs Fossil
Quarries and make recommendations on its candidacy for addition to the
State Park System. Following a meeting of the park board at Agate, Cook
again offered his resignation to Governor McMullen citing his precarious
conflict of interest. Stating he would not take part in the park board's
recommendations concerning his own property, Cook repeated his offer on
December 8, 1928, but with a one-year deadline:
I made the state an offer of these Quarries, providing the last
legislature saw fit to take them over, at a flat price of $80,000; but
said I could not agree to hold that offer open; I well know they are
worth much more than that amount; and I can capitalize them and make
them pay good interest on a much higher valuation; but I hate to see
them commercialized; and I know they should be in other than private
ownership, for permanent protection and usefulness. Inasmuch as the last
legislature had the matter continued over pending investigation of the
beds, I will now repeat that offer to the state, of Eighty Thousand
Dollars for those quarries. However, if the present legislature should
not see fit to take them over, the state will not get another
opportunity to get them at anywhere near this figure as I intend to take
active action, one way or another with them, this coming year.
Should the state take it over, I will be glad to do anything in our
power to act directly, or in an advisory capacity, to see that this is
handled in an efficient manner, in line with educational and scientific
and business needs in the case. It can easily be put on a self
sustaining basis or be made to return a profit large enough to carry on
and develop extensive and most valuable scientific research, and prepare
some of the finest and most striking exhibits ever made in America, or
anywhere else for that matter. I have some very definite recommendations
to make in case the state DOES desire to take it over. [28]
* One explanation for the inertia on the state park issue was the
ineffectiveness of the State Park Board itself. At this time, Nebraska
had only three units in its park system. The board had no authority, but
served as merely an advisory group for the governor. Harold Cook himself
was unable to attend any meetings in 1927 because he was not even living
in the State of Nebraska, but working as a curator at the Colorado
Museum of Natural History in Denver. See Adam McMullen to A. F.
Buechler, Editor, Grand Island Daily Independent, letter, 8
October 1927, box 7 Departmental Correspondence, folder 16 Park Board
1926-1927, McMullen Papers, Nebraska State Historical Society.
Nebraska Republican Governor McMullen, who decided against a bid for
re-election, was in the waning months of his term. He advised Cook
against resignation while the matter was still under consideration.
Because a final decision would not be made during the McMullen
administration, the lame duck Governor suggested it would be more
appropriate to tender any resignation to his successor. [29]
The new political machine in Lincoln led by Republican Governor
Arthur J. Weaver* differed little from the McMullen era. During 1929,
the Agate Springs Fossil Quarries State Park Bill languished. It
effectively died in late October when economic catastrophe was triggered
on Wall Street in New York City. With the nation entering the Great
Depression, any notion of the development of the fossil beds by either
the State of Nebraska or the Cook family vanished. The state park
question was never again revived.
*Governor Arthur J. Weaver served a single term, 1929 to 1931. Upon
leaving office, Weaver took the bulk of his administration's papers with
him. Of the small amount deposited at the Nebraska State Historical
Society, nothing pertaining to state parks is contained therein. Indeed,
succeeding governor Charles W. Bryan (Democrat, 1931-1935) did not have
a State Park Board. It is a possibility, therefore, that this entity
ceased to exist following Adam McMullen's term. See Governor Arthur J.
Weaver Papers and Governor Charles W. Bryan Papers, Nebraska State
Historical Society.
Ironically, the potential financial windfall represented by the
fossil quarries almost became the focal point of a family legal battle.
As early as 1922, Eleanor Barbour Cook had left her husband and taken
the four Cook daughters to live in Chadron where she had a teaching
position. In late 1928, Mrs. Cook filed for divorce. In an initial
meeting with his estranged wife's lawyers, Harold Cook agreed to an
amicable property settlement outside of court. By September 1929,
however Eleanor Cook was threatening legal action to acquire a fair
share of the ranch for herself and the four Cook daughters. In a
September 25 letter to the attorneys, Harold Cook explained the
provisions of the trust agreement under which he was the de facto owner
of the Agate Springs Ranch solely because of his mother's mental
condition, with no right to sell, divide, or dispose of any trust
property. Any attempt by himself or others to do so would result in
cancellation of the trust and full rights reverting to the real owner,
James H. Cook. If the divorce resulted in a court fight over the
property, Harold Cook stood to lose his interests, but so, too, would
Eleanor Cook and the children. Harold declared:
. . . my father naturally resents any attempt to divide and parcel
out his property, while he lives, without consideration either of him or
his rights in the matter.
On the other hand, if no such attempt is made to force a division of
the property under such a suit, as I told you both personally, I will
gladly sign any proper and reasonable contract or agreement to the
effect that when this property does come into my hands.., upon my
father's death, I will at once proceed to a definite assignment of their
respective interests in such amounts as may be agreed upon at this time
as reasonable and proper, in line with accepted standards of fairness.
[30]
Although he married Margaret F. Crozier the following year, this
sense of family obligation and personal honor led Harold Cook to make
good on his 1929 promise. In 1949, seven years after his father's death,
Harold Cook executed a will which provided for his real property to be
divided equally among his four daughters. This provision is what caused
havoc in future efforts to establish a monument at the Agate Springs
Fossil Quarries.
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Last Updated: 12-Feb-2003
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