Grant-Kohrs Ranch Administrative History

That same day, coincidentally, a new superintendent was assigned to the area. Jimmy D. Taylor was a seasoned NPS veteran who had served as superintendent at Fort Larned National Historic Site for the previous five years. Since joining the Park Service in 1963 as a seasonal ranger, the Cheyenne, Wyoming native had been a ranger at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Capulin Mountain (now Volcano) in New Mexico, Colorado's Mesa Verde, and Capitol Reef in Utah. Taylor proved to be particularly well suited for the job that lay ahead. [45]

Taylor and Warren got along well from the outset. Certainly, the new superintendent's western origins and his experiences at numerous southwestern parks were assets at Grant-Kohrs Ranch. The new park manager recognized that Con had bruised feelings resulting from his perceived bad treatment by the Park Service. That in mind, Taylor made a concerted effort to communicate and cooperate closely with Warren, paying particular attention to listening to his concerns about the ranch and its development by the Service. It is a tribute to Superintendent Taylor's diplomatic skill that the relationship could be turned around at all. In 1996 Taylor would reflect on his effort to establish rapport and mutual respect as one of the main ingredients to the successful resolution of the lands issue. Even though Taylor admitted that Con did not always understand what the Park Service was doing, or necessarily agree with its actions, communications remained open and generally cordial. [46]

Despite the dawn of a new era of cooperation, Taylor soon had the unpleasant duty to inform Warren of yet another pitfall in the process of acquiring his lands. Since the passage of the legislation to increase the ceilings, Congress had imposed a freeze on new land acquisitions. This reversal apparently created no adverse reaction from Con, who by this time had become numb to the ways of bureaucracy. [47] The proposal to purchase the remaining Warren lands would languish for several more years.

Other land issues also arose during the 1980s. When Taylor learned that the Milwaukee Railroad was declaring bankruptcy in 1982, he contacted the company to see if an arrangement might be made whereby the NPS could purchase the 100-foot-wide right-of-way through the park lands. The railroad corridor had been a fixture in the historic scene at the ranch since the mid-1880s, when the Utah and Northern Railroad had initially purchased a right-of-way from Conrad Kohrs. Thus, the land protection plan recognized a need to preserve that element of the historic scene. [48] That same year the sent out a track crew to salvage rails, ties, and other property, beginning at the south boundary of the ranch site and proceeding through Deer Lodge. Successful negotiations, aided enormously by the revised legislative authority, resulted in the park's acquisition of the additional 27.67 acres, with rails intact, for $40,973.00. [49]

Taylor's superintendency was characterized by his initiatives to bring a better sense of order to the entire operation, including the plans for land resources. Like his predecessors, he continued to beat the drum of warning that the easements on Con Warren's land were just as loose as they had always been and that if Warren decided to sell to someone else, the NPS could find itself in a difficult situation. Taylor maintained that "it is absolutely essential that the scenic easement land west and north of the ranch remain as they presently are, open and basically undeveloped." [50] He was persistent in recommending the acquisition of the inholdings, both for that reason and so that the historic ranching operations could be expanded. Warren himself was less active in the ranching business, primarily because he had sold his herd. Subsequently, he began leasing some of the easement lands to other local ranchers. Although Con seemed disinterested in negotiating more restrictive language for the easement agreement, the new tenants began proposing non-traditional uses of this land, including the installation of irrigation systems and plowing the meadows to plant potatoes. The Park Service's worst fears were being realized. [51]

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Superintendent Taylor worked with the staff at the Rocky Mountain Regional Office to prepare a revised Land Protection Plan, which was finalized on May 21, 1985. The new title, replacing "land acquisition plan," was a reflection of provisions mandated by the Land and Water Conservation Fund requiring land management agencies to prepare comprehensive documents outlining their strategies and needs for protecting lands. This forced park management to define "management purposes and public objectives" both within and outside of park boundaries. As to Con Warren's 840-acre scenic easement, Taylor reasserted that "the easement issue remains one of, if not the most critical, issues facing the park." Taylor's challenge was to "convince those setting NPS priorities that it is important." [52] At the end of 1986 the superintendent emphasized that Warren was in his upper 70s and in poor health. "The situation can only become more complicated and almost certainly more expensive if the NPS does not make this purchase in the very near future," Taylor reported. [53] However, when he approached Warren about authorizing an appraisal, the latter declined, probably because local land values had depreciated in recent years. Now it was Con who was playing hard to get.

Nevertheless, the Park Service persisted inn its campaign to obtain the necessary funding that would permit the making of a firm offer. Warren must have sensed the time was finally right by consenting to the appraisal in 1987. The sum of $600,000.00 was therefore included in the NPS appropriation for fiscal year 1988 and in May of that year the regional lands chief, Dick Young, was able to offer a total of $485,250.00 for Tracts 115, 117, 120, and 121. This included a life estate on Con's house and associated buildings on a single acre. [54] Con, a cowboy to the end, expressed concern for the welfare of his last remaining horse, "Whiskey." One acre would not allow any pasture for the horse, so Con requested the inclusion of a life estate for the animal as well. And, to make sure, he wanted it in writing. Taylor granted the request on June 15, 1988, and the day following Con turned over the deed to the property. The NPS gained a total acreage of 1059.85, including the large Tract 117 which was vital to interpreting the open range viewshed toward the mountains. [55]

One anomaly occurred in the final purchase. The Warren property designated as Tract 117 actually extended southward beyond the park boundary to the country road and Hillcrest Cemetery. This left a small 120-acre parcel outside the Site that, if developed, would impose an adverse impact on the viewshed southwest of the ranch. The size of this tract, known as the Apple Tree Pasture, was useless to Warren for ranching purposes. Regional Lands Chief Dick Young found a solution in the Uniform Relocation Act (P. L. 91-646) by employing a provision that would authorize the NPS to purchase this land as an "uneconomic remnant." The inclusion of this parcel demands that the boundary be re-legislated. [56]

The acquisition of the Warren parcels not only achieved the long-time NPS goal of gaining full control over the ranching leases, it also granted to the government water rights associated with the lands. The West Side Ditch Company, descended from the West Deer Lodge Ditch Company formed in 1889, was an irrigation cooperative incorporated in 1917 to supply water for agricultural, domestic, and mining purposes to seven shareholders. The canal itself, carrying water northward from Clark Fork (formerly the Deer Lodge River) and Modesty Creek, closely traced the 4,600-foot contour line in Section 32. In a separate instrument, Conrad Warren sold to the National Park Service the one hundred shares of company stock he had owned for many years. [57]

Also conveyed with the remaining Warren lands were the rights to 125 miners inches of water from the Kohrs-Manning Ditch, added to the 6 miner's inches that had come with the original 130-acre historic site. [58] The irrigation system had been constructed as a joint venture by Conrad Kohrs and a Judge Manning of Deer Lodge in about 1870, as an improvement on an existing hand-dug ditch dating to 1860. This rather short canal tapped Clark Fork near the southern boundary of the Site, and extended through the park crossing Sections 33 and 28. Final water rights for the property averaged 30 gallons per day per animal unit based on reasonable carrying capacity and historic use. This additional water came from streams, primarily Peterson and Reece Anderson Creeks, in addition to springs and wells. [59]

With almost perfect timing, Jim Taylor accepted a transfer to Colorado National Monument effective July 30, 1988. He could take great pride in having resolved the major inholding issues and obtaining the water rights to the properties. The high note marking his departure was made all the sweeter by his success in rebuilding Con Warren's confidence in the National Park Service. [60]