White Sands Administrative History

CHAPTER THREE: NEW DEAL, NEW MONUMENT, NEW MEXICO
1933-1939 (continued)

The Vaca story had by late 1938 become more acceptable to park service officials, perhaps because of passage in Congress in November of a $200,000 appropriation to fund 4C's pageants, one of which the organizers hoped to stage at White Sands. Yet Charles encountered strong opposition within the NPS for printing and selling his own literature on the dunes. Tourists for years had asked for some publication giving the essential historical and ecological data of the monument. In November, Charles notified Pinkley that he had shipped to a local printer the text and photographs for his pamphlet. The SWNM superintendent knew that the park service could not stop Charles if he sought no profit from the sale. He also disliked Charles' use of official NPS photographs, including George Grant"s pictures (about half the prints). Pinkley then suggested that Charles contact Dale S. King, NPS naturalist and executive secretary of the newly created "Southwestern Monuments Association." This latter group would publish and distribute literature on the region's park service units, and its fund raising capacity meant that Charles "would be freed of any personal expense" in his promotion of the dunes. [66]

Charles' pamphlet, and the plans for the 4C's, demonstrated the maturing process at work in the monument. Throughout 1938, the NPS pushed to eliminate all remaining "in-holdings" (private claims on monument lands), with closure on the Arizona Chemical Company drilling at Lake Lucero, and the Mal Walters grazing rights in the northeast corner of the monument. Arizona Chemical wanted to mine for "glauberite," a sodium-calcium sulphate, then extract the more valuable sodium compounds. NPS geologist Franklin C. Potter visited Lake Lucero to observe the company's test drilling, and came away satisfied that existing technology made the process unprofitable. He did learn, however, that area merchants sold selenite crystals as tourist souvenirs. Potter worried that the large concentrations of amber-colored selenite at the lake would tempt entrepreneurs; a concern dismissed by Charles, who mentioned the availability of selenite on private land around the monument. Arizona Chemical eventually agreed that sodium production was not feasible at Lake Lucero, but not until they had spent considerable sums for drilling, real estate purchases, and the legal services of Santa Fe's most prominent attorney, Francis C. Wilson (owner of Wilson Oil Company, and the U.S. special attorney for the celebrated 1920s "Pueblo Lands Board" cases). [67]

The Mal Walters lease created somewhat more controversy, in light of the harshness of the Ridinger lease affair. A long-time rancher in the basin, Walters had filed under the 1934 Taylor Grazing Act for 13 sections of public land for his 150-200 head of cattle. He wanted access to seven sections (4,590 acres) of monument land adjoining his ranch; land that he had purchased prior to the creation of White Sands, but for which he had failed to acquire legal title. Tom Charles advised Pinkley that Walters could only graze one cow per 640-acre section of monument property because of its sparse vegetation. Frank Pinkley agreed, telling Washington officials: "As a matter of simple humanity . . . it would appear proper to grant the old man a permit." Herbert Maier, acting director of NPS 's Region Three (now based in Santa Fe), applauded Pinkley's decision, saying: "It is most gratifying to see a letter of this sort come over the desk." Maier saw in Pinkley's action a useful precedent: "It proves that the Park Service is by no means lacking in cooperation with local landowners, and that our superintendents are sympathetic with the principal problems of the local people." [68]

White Sands' search for water proved even more contentious in 1938, as Judge Lawson pressed his claim that the NPS misunderstood his intentions in selling Dog Canyon ranch. In a letter to the Santa Fe regional office, Lawson noted the haste with which park service personnel moved. They had feared the loss of the land and water at such a reasonable rate (Lawson claimed to lose $5,500 in the transaction), which the judge countered with the promise of delivery of the water and retention of the land for sale to another rancher. As for Lawson's failure to pay the state for title to Dog Canyon, the park service realized that it would have to deliver to the state land office an additional $1,250, then invest over $30,000 to start construction of the pipeline. Given the modest accomplishments to date at Garton Lake, despite heavy federal spending, the decline of New Deal programs in the late 1930s, and the delays inherent in a court suit to condemn Dog Canyon, the NPS moved in December to "compel delivery of title." Planning for fiscal year 1940 had already begun, and a lack of water would deter the anticipated rush of visitors to the 4C's programs at the dunes. [69]

Figure 17. Patrolling the dunes (1930s).
(Courtesy White Sands National Monument)

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