Agate Fossil Beds Administrative History

Evacuating the Ranch House, 1969

Roy Weaver, wife Carol, and son Jeff were the first National Park Service family to experience an Agate winter in late 1968 to early 1969. Their experience was hard, but valuable lessons were learned. The National Weather Service had installed a weather-monitoring station at the monument six weeks before the first major snowstorm struck the area in mid-December. The storm was typical for the region. Thirty-mile-per-hour winds and wind chills averaging forty degrees below zero halted the already sparse visitation. The county road to the interim headquarters area drifted closed in several places prompting Weaver to request the future use of snow fences. Vehicles failed to start. Telephone and electrical lines went down. Water lines froze. The harshness of the elements nevertheless brought area residents closer together. George Hoffman and his ranch hands helped clear the roads and start frozen vehicles.* The Weavers spent Christmas Day in the Hoffman's home. [76]

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*In a related vein, winter was not the only hazardous season. Summertime brought with it the proliferation of wildlife, particularly rattlesnakes. In one summer, a total of twenty-two rattlesnakes were removed from around the Park Service trailers. One of Carol Weaver's unpleasant tasks before allowing her son to play in the yard was to patrol with a shovel in all the areas the snakes were likely to hide. Such were some of the not-so-unusual happenings of life at Agate, Nebraska.

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Roy Weaver spent January 18, 1969, clearing pathways through the cluttered attic of the Agate Springs Ranch House. He did not reorganize any of the items, fearing that any over-concentration of weighty objects might cause the attic floor to collapse. Five days later, Weaver went to historic Fort Robinson to empty the fort's stable, hotel attic, and dining hall of Cook Collection items in storage there. The material filled two pickup trucks. On January 31, another load was transported to Agate for storage. The items half-filled "Uncle Jack's House" (the former residence of John Cook, Captain Cook's brother), a small house among the cluster of buildings at the Agate Springs Ranch headquarters. Larger items such as horse-drawn carriages and other vehicles remained at Fort Robinson. [77]

With the coming of spring, Weaver found himself spending his lieu days branding cattle and fighting small fires on neighboring ranches. With the seasonal assistance of laborer Terry Osborne, he also installed directional signs, set a flagpole in a concrete base, and planted trees, shrubs, and grass in the interim development area. [78]

About 250 cottonwoods and Russian olive trees were planted and had to be watered by hand two times a week during the hot summer and once a week during the remainder of the growing season. The task required all morning to complete. Because there was no maintenance work space, craft activity took place outdoors on sawhorses. The comfort station trailer, divided into male and female sections, possessed a center section used for storage of tools. Whenever the seasonal ranger vacated his trailer, Weaver converted it into a temporary maintenance shop. Weaver later recalled: "We operated under the I & RM concept. Traditionally that is known as Interpretation and Resource Management but the AGFO modification was Interpretation, Rangerin' (resource management/protection), and Maintenance." [79]

Richard L. Holder transferred to the position of Programs Specialist in the Southeast Regional Office in Atlanta on March 23, 1969. Scotts Bluff's Chief of Interpretation and Resources Management Benjamin Ladd served as Acting Superintendent of the two monuments in the interim administrative period.

On May 16, Robert G. Simmons, Jr., legal representative of the four Cook daughters, notified the Park Service that family members intended to occupy the ranch house for the summer on June 1. He wrote that while his clients respected the government's rights and property interests, they would not be responsible for the care or maintenance of the historical items. [80]

In mid-June, Dinosaur's Geologist/Paleontologist Ted White arrived to sort geological and paleontological material of the Cook estate for exhibit and storage. White gave the Diceratherium slab (placed next to the ranch house in 1934) a new plaster jacket and readied it for removal to the interim visitor center. White found the slab, a right-angle triangle, incompatible with the concrete exhibit base and cover, equilateral triangles. White had to cut the slab in half so that the facilities for exhibiting it could be utilized. The half containing a skull would be exhibited while the other half was jacketed for storage.

White expressed dismay at Margaret C. Cook's donation of the Cook fossil mammal collection* to the American Museum of Natural History: "In as much as it is impossible to establish a paleontological research center without fossils, that activity must be postponed indefinitely." [81] He also assessed the precarious political situation and telephoned Omaha with an urgent plea for a twelve- by sixty-foot storage trailer to contain the most precious items. Acting Superintendent Benjamin Ladd concurred, stating the collections at the ranch were there "at the sufferance of the daughters, and it is possible that we might be told to remove the material within 24 hours. We would have no choice but to comply." He added that some fossils and furniture were already ruined by the weather. At the family's request, a small outbuilding was vacated for their use as sleeping quarters and the structure's contents were crowded into other buildings. [82]

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*This was the collection Harold J. Cook amassed throughout his life from fossil areas other than Agate.

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New Superintendent Homer L. Rouse, formerly of Joshua Tree National Monument, California, who entered on duty in late June 1969, arrived just in time to participate in the first evacuation phase of the Agate Springs Ranch House. Dr. and Mrs. Grayson E. Meade, the family residents who had asked that ranch buildings be cleaned out, were pleased that the Cook Collection materials were being moved into outbuildings which the Meades did not plan to use immediately. The Meades indicated they considered the arrangement temporary, only until the Service could remove all the objects in a couple of weeks.

Interpretive Specialist Charles H. McCurdy from the Midwest Regional Office was present on July 31, 1969,* for the removal of the Diceratherium slab to headquarters. Benjamin Ladd operated a lowboy and forklift. Every thing went well until the slab was being lowered into position at the visitor center trailer when it began to break up. The plaster jacket held it together, but a week of intricate stabilization work was required before it could be put into final position. White instructed Weaver on the techniques of fossil reliefing on the unbandaged portion of the slab. McCurdy was struck by Weaver's dedication:

One might well wonder what there is for a ranger to do at AGFO. Well, Roy Weaver has been putting in a lot of extra time, much of it dealing with the Cook collection. He has good relations with the Meades. He used most of his lieu days to work with Dr. White. His knowledge of the Cook collection is amazing, almost photographic. I got the feeling that he knows every item even though the collection was inventoried on a very general basis. Under his watchfulness, the collection is in good hands until it can be packed up. [83]

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*At 7:45 p.m. on this same day, Weaver responded to a lightning-ignited fire at the Agate Springs Ranch. The only pumper at the scene of the range fire belonged to the Park Service. The fire was under control in ninety minutes. See Agate Daily Log No. 1, entry 31 July 1969.

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On July 7, Regional officials decided the Cook Collection material at the Agate Springs Ranch would be transported to Fort Larned National Historic Site, Kansas, for storage. [84] In Homer Rouse's first meeting with the Meades, Dorothy Meade asked to keep some of the furniture, but remained adamant on fighting the Service's land acquisition effort:

Mrs. Meade brought up the subject of National Park Service acquisition of the ranch, and she informed me that the Park Service would have to condemn the land to ever get it as they plan to retain ownership indefinitely. I advised her that there was no immediate plans concerning the ranch. This exchange was all very cordial, she just wanted to let me know where we stand. [85]

Rouse recommended that, as a goodwill gesture to maintain amicable relations with the family, a special loan agreement be issued to permit the Meades to retain some furniture. Allied Van Lines workmen arrived on July 31, to begin a four-day packing effort, phase two of the ranch house evacuation. Photographs and family records were separated to be stored at Scotts Bluff along with the remainder of the collection already there under the 1963 agreement. The workmen also moved the items from Fort Robinson. [86]* Dr. Ted White and Historian Nan Rickey arrived on July 29 to lend their expertise on sorting and evaluating historical and paleontological items. Cook family members assisted, as did Homer Rouse and Roy Weaver. Manila tags were placed on all items desired by the Park Service. Historian Rickey, overwhelmed that a three-generation family had kept every scrap of written correspondence, asked the heirs to help her sort through what was known as the "Cook Papers Collection." Things of historical significance were separated from the mundane (bank stubs, canceled checks, etc.). Private material, that which the Cook daughters did not want to become public property, were also placed in a separate pile and later examined by Rickey. [87]

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*The objects stored at Fort Robinson originally came from a large barn at the Agate Springs Ranch. Mrs. Cook had terminated all insurance coverage on the ranch buildings—including the house—and did not want to spend any money to repair the dilapidated barn which then had to be torn down. Keeping buildings in repair and fully insured was a stipulation of Harold Cook's will, a provision his second wife chose to ignore. See Mrs. Grayson E. (Dorothy Cook) Meade, interview with author, Agate Springs Ranch, 22 May 1986, transcript, p. 14.

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The movers started in the attic and removed an estimated three tons of material through an opening twenty-three inches in diameter. After sorting, only half of the items were packed. On the third day, two small moving vans arrived and all but eight items were loaded. Mrs. Margaret Hoffman signed a museum loan form for two beds and six pieces of bedroom furniture with the understanding that when the house closed in September, Roy Weaver could then load them in a pickup and take them to Larned, Kansas.

The evacuation effort ended at 6:30 p.m., August 4. A total of 18,070 pounds were shipped at a cost of $1,777.91. Rouse reported that without Rickey and White "to weed out junk," the weight and volume of the shipment would have doubled. He concluded:

Seeing their family treasures packed and moved out was somewhat of a traumatic experience for all three of the sisters who were present throughout the entire operation. They remained amiable even at times of stress, which are inevitable under such conditions. I wish to commend the outstanding efforts of Ranger Weaver, Doctor White, and Mrs. Rickey in accomplishing this project with such consideration for the family. I believe that their efforts have greatly improved our public relations standing with the three sisters. [88]

The Diceratherium slab was jockeyed into final position on July 19. Eugene Kingman of the Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha, contractor for four interpretive exhibits, arrived for an inspection tour on September 11 to review plans and measurements. An entrance sign, constructed by Lindell Signs and Display, Ralston, Nebraska, was placed on Highway 29, as were other boundary markers. The same month, a portable compressor for the chlorination system went on-line, but caused a malfunction of the hypoclorinator. Rouse notified Western Plains Construction Company, the original contractor, to repair the system. Rouse recommended delaying any progress in land acquisition until spring when he hoped the Cook sisters would be more receptive. Rouse called for postponing establishment ceremonies further, also until the following year when exhibits could be in place. [89]

On September 3, 1969, three Midwest Regional Office personnel conducted a management appraisal report for Agate Fossil Beds National Monument. J. L. Dunning, Fred Dickison, and LeRoy Brown called the Agate Fossil Beds interpretive program "especially well done" in light of limited staff and temporary facilities. The appraisers noted the principal resource, the fossil beds, "are ignored at the present time because of budgetary and personnel ceilings. This area could become a real attraction if on the site (in situ) exhibits are uncovered and displayed in a manner appropriate for this important paleontological story." [90] The report called for an interpretive prospectus to be prepared. As for planning and development:

As long as the visitor has to wade the river to view the fossil beds, there does not appear to be any need for further expansion of existing facilities. Construction of an access road in 1975 will require an expanded interpretive program. Additional seasonal housing as well as visitor contact facilities will be required. [91]

The study also recommended the addition of a utility building to serve as a fire cache, vehicle storage, paleontological storage and maintenance shop. [92]

In October 1969, Weaver devoted considerable attention to exploring monument lands in search of fossils for exhibit purposes. With a rented horse from the Hoffman Ranch, Weaver found an excellent devil's corkscrew specimen which he reliefed off a cliff face and transported to the visitor center for display. In the course of exploring the Stenomylus Quarry, the ranger unwittingly stumbled upon a rattlesnake den near the top of the quarry hill. Noting his narrow escape from snakebites, Weaver recorded in the Agate Daily Log, "I was more careful from then on." [93]

Among tasks in December 1969 was gathering data for the park's resource management plan. Over the next several years, Roy Weaver complied checklists of all flowering plants and grasses as well as the mammals, birds, and reptiles which he had personally viewed and identified. A second checklist contained those species of flora and fauna which visitors reported seeing on the monument or in the area. [94] Weaver also arranged the negatives in the park's photographic archives and began organizing a print segment of the same photography file. [95]