White Sands Administrative History

CHAPTER FOUR: GLOBAL WAR AT WHITE SANDS,
1940-1945 (continued)

The issue of most concern to Faris about the military was its insatiable appetite for land. The NPS could bargain with the Army about White Sands because of its national stature. The same could not be said for state and local land officials, who instead saw the Army as an answer to their prayers. Arid desert soil that had thwarted private development schemes for decades suddenly held great value, given the Army's need for vast open spaces with sparse vegetation where ecological harm would be less odious than on land near populated areas. State officials also became enmeshed in political intrigue as a result of wartime demands for land, and by August 1942 a grand jury in Santa Fe had indicted the state land commissioner, H.R. Rodgers, for mismanagement of his office. The NPS believed that this would delay any suitable exchange program at the monument for the duration of the war. Compounding this political pressure was creation in October 1942 of a "land acquisition board" that sought three sections of monument property for the Alamogordo air base. The park service withstood this appeal, as it would again in November 1944, when former New Mexico governor John E. Miles ran for state land commissioner on a pledge to restore "all federal lands possible" to the state. Faris suggested privately to NPS superiors that White Sands give up 79 sections in the northwest quadrant of the monument; an area that "may contain scattered selenite crystals and even some scattered gypsum deposits." Referring to Alkali Flat, Faris believed that the political aggravation caused by resistance to Miles was not worth the "waste land" on the west side of the dunes. [34]

Strain upon the monument's land and water base further exacerbated conditions caused by extensive military visitation and training exercises. As early as October 1942, Custodian Faris called a section of his monthly report "War Jitters." Civilians commented on their fears that wartime rationing of tires, gasoline, and oil would prohibit future visits to the dunes. They also complained of the additional sixteen-mile round trip from headquarters to the picnic area as another wartime nuisance. There was a momentary relaxation of visitor concern in January 1943, when the original fears gave way to release of pent-up demand for access to White Sands. In April of that year, Faris detected what would become America's postwar attitude towards outdoor recreation. "Public sentiment seems to be," said the custodian, "work harder and play harder, and our area furnishes the play outlet." Yet five months later (September 1943), the pattern of scarcity had returned, not to ease until the summer of 1945 (coincident with the Allied victory in Europe). [35]

Where civilians could not fill the dunes as they had in years past, military personnel rushed in by the thousands. The Army brought its Military Police (MP's) to supervise uniformed troops, and the White Sands staff remarked more than once about the good behavior of such large groups. The United Services Organization (USO) also planned activities at the dunes, among which were Tuesday breakfasts for soldiers' wives, and use of the museum lobby on winter evenings. Custodian Faris paid special attention to the "weekly visit of convalescent patients from the Air Base hospital as a means of outdoor recreation." The soldiers expressed great appreciation for the services provided at White Sands, taking as much park literature as Faris could provide, as well as gypsum that they sent home for Christmas gifts. They in turn promised to bring their families to the dunes at war's end. Evidence of this regard for White Sands came in November 1942, when the National Parks Magazine printed an article in its winter issue entitled, "Soldiers' Paradise." Isabelle Story of the NPS information office decided that White Sands exhibited the type of service that the NPS wished to provide the military, and made the dunes the cover story for this nationwide publication. [36]

Assisting the staff in meeting the needs of servicemen at the monument was Tom Charles' concession. Park service officials granted Charles permission in January 1942 to build his facility adjacent to park headquarters. Charles would offer the only food, beverage, and dry goods store along the eighty-mile route between Alamogordo and Las Cruces, and the closest such outlet for soldiers at the air base. Charles' sons enlisted in the Army soon after Pearl Harbor, leaving Tom and his wife, Bula, once again to commute to the dunes. By May 1942, Charles reported that his primary customers were soldiers, who regarded his concession as a "canteen," purchasing soft drinks and cigarettes in large quantities. The former park custodian did worry about the long-term effects of reduced civilian traffic, and corresponded with railroad agents to continue publicizing the dunes as in their prewar advertising. [37]

The commitment of Tom Charles and his family to White Sands played a significant role in the prosperity of their concession work. From 1941-1945, the White Sands Service Company generated over $38,000 in sales, and returned nearly five percent in profits (this despite two years of losses: 1942 and 1944). Tom Charles, however, could not keep up the pace of commuting to and from the monument. By late 1942 he missed work on several occasions, replaced at the concession stand by Mrs. Joe Shepperd, wife of the White Sands maintenance worker. In March 1943, Tom Charles succumbed to illness, dying at age 69. At his funeral the pallbearers included Johnwill Faris and his monument staff. Former park service director Horace Albright, now president of the U.S. Potash Company, wrote to Bula Charles that Tom had persuaded him "by the force of his vast knowledge, unanswerable logic and high enthusiasm" to create the national monument. The local chamber of commerce asked Johnwill Faris to permit them to install a plaque honoring Charles at park headquarters. Charles Richey demurred, noting NPS policy that discouraged such actions. In its place, said Richey, the chamber should petition the state legislature to rename a section of U.S. Highway 70 as "Tom Charles Parkway," a gesture that Richey believed "would be a magnificent memorial in commemoration of his work." [38]

Figure 33. Clay-plated road washed out by heavy rains (1940s).
(Courtesy White Sands National Monument)

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