GUADALUPE MOUNTAINS An Administrative History

CHAPTER X: CULTURAL RESOURCE ISSUES (continued)

The Glover Site

Chapter V describes the problems associated with the acquisition of the Glover property for inclusion in the park. In 1972, after condemnation proceedings, the Glovers accepted a cash settlement of $55,000 and received the right to live on their property and operate their business until the death of the last surviving spouse. Walter Glover died in 1973 at the age of 94; Bertha Glover died in August 1982 at the age of 89. [39] During the decade in which Bertha Glover continued to operate the Pine Springs Cafe, she and the park personnel at Guadalupe Mountains maintained a friendly, if distant, relationship.

A month after Bertha Glover's death, Area Manager Ralph Harris met with Mary Glover Hinson, the Glover's only daughter, who had been living with her mother. They discussed how much time Hinson needed to close the business and vacate the buildings. Hinson asked to wait at least until the end of the tax year. On September 14, 1982, after personnel in the Regional Land Resources Office determined that December 31, 1982, would be a "fair and reasonable" date for vacating the property, Superintendent William Dunmire sent a letter to Hinson notifying her of the year-end deadline. A few days later, William Bramhall, Chief, Division of Land Resources, wrote to Hinson and informed her of her eligibility for reimbursement for costs of moving. In mid-October, anticipating the imminent possession of the buildings on the Glover tract, Regional Director Robert Kerr wrote to the Associate Director of Cultural Resources Management in the Washington office of the Park Service, requesting authority to dispose of the structures in the Glover complex that were more than 50 years old. [40]

The response of the Associate Director to Kerr's request was undoubtedly postponed by the unexpected turn of events that occurred two weeks later. On October 26 a national newspaper carried the story of Mary Hinson and announced that Texas Senator Lloyd Bentsen had sent a written request to Superintendent Dunmire asking for an extension of time for Hinson to vacate the cafe. Earlier in October, the El Paso Times had carried a story about Hinson's pending dislocation, but it apparently drew little attention. The story in US News, however, definitely attracted attention. Early in November the story received television coverage on NBC and ABC. The coverage was not favorable to the Park Service. [41]

On November 2, Dunmire responded to the letter he had received from Bentsen. He acknowledged that the Park Service would be amenable to allowing Hinson more time to vacate, but that she would be required to pay rent on the buildings during the extended time period. He also addressed the planned removal of the buildings on the Glover tract. Saying that he still believed that it was in the highest public interest to remove the buildings to enhance the scenic integrity of the highway corridor, Dunmire told Bentsen that he had asked Park Service architects for another evaluation of the Pine Springs structures. [42]

At the same time, staff members from the offices of Secretary of the Interior James Watt and Congressman Richard White also became involved in the question of extending Hinson's occupancy of the Pine Springs buildings. Associate Director for Operations, Stanley T. Albright, from the Washington office of the Park Service responded briefly and factually to the query from the Interior Department, advising the staff member of the means of acquisition of the Glover property, the reservation attached to it, and the termination of the reservation with the death of Bertha Glover. He described the buildings on the property and emphasized the fact that the newspaper had distorted the situation by referring to Hinson's dislocation as an eviction. [43]

Dunmire responded to Congressman White's inquiry, which had been prompted by a communication from Duane Juvrud, Mary Hinson's attorney. White apparently was concerned with the water rights that were attached to the land the Glovers sold to the United States. Dunmire assured White that the water rights and the severance of those rights from the Glover's remaining 3,700 acres were included in the property for which the Glovers received compensation. He also indicated that Hinson should not assume that there would be excess water available from the sources on the former Glover property to divert to her ranch land adjacent to the park. Addressing another of White's queries, regarding the feasibility of Hinson continuing to operate a facility such as her parents had operated, Dunmire told White that a market study conducted in 1981 indicated a concession would not be economically feasible. He also pointed out the high cost of rehabilitating the Pine Springs store building to meet standards of safety and structural soundness. [44]

On November 30 Dunmire confirmed in writing the conversation he had with Mary Hinson the previous day. He had agreed to her request for a six-month extension of occupancy, setting June 30, 1983, as the date by which she would vacate the property. Dunmire also confirmed granting Hinson access to the Park Service water source at Pine Springs for residential, non-commercial use on her property adjacent to the park boundary. Hinson would be responsible for the cost of the line and hookup. A charge for water would be made, based either on cost or comparable rates in the City of Carlsbad, New Mexico, when Hinson had relocated her residence to this property. The following day Dunmire notified Senator Bentsen of the agreement. [45]

In spite of the apparent finality of the agreement between Dunmire and Hinson, due to the public and Congressional support Mary Hinson was able to gain, she still occupied the Pine Springs Cafe beyond the June 1983 extension. In the spring of 1983, hoping to "cool the issue" and believing that the decision was not harmful to the park, Superintendent Dunmire acquiesced to Hinson's request to continue to occupy the Pine Springs buildings for another year. He renewed her right to occupancy again in June 1984 and June 1985. [46] During these years Hinson paid $50 per month for rent and charges for water used in the store. In 1984, when construction of the park boundary fence cut off the water supply for livestock on land which Hinson had leased to J.C. Estes, park managers worked out an agreement with her to continue to provide water for a specified time until Estes could get a fair price for his cattle. That same year Dunmire also confirmed Hinson's right to use a Park Service access road to reach her property. Park Service personnel graded a short spur road from the paved road to the boundary line between the park and Hinson's property and installed a gate in the boundary fence to facilitate access to her property. [47]

Late in 1983 a staff member of the Regional History Division reassessed the historical significance of the buildings in the Glover complex. In a report entitled "Evaluation and Alternative Management Strategies: Pine Springs Camp (Glover Property) Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Texas," Laura Souilliere documented the Glover property from its establishment in the early twentieth century to its contemporary status. The Texas Historical Commission reviewed the report and determined the Glover property to be eligible for listing in the National Register under Criteria A, C, and D: it represented "an historic type frequently seen in desert regions of the Western United States," had made a "substantial contribution to the development of isolated desert population," and the oral history Mary Hinson could provide, "together with documentation from the property, [could] yield information important to the understanding of lifeways of early 20th Century families in this region of Texas. . . ." [48]

In January 1984, Melody Webb, Regional Chief of the Division of History, notified Dunmire of the decision of the State Historic Preservation Officer regarding the Pine Springs buildings. In anticipation of Hinson's vacating the cafe in June 1984, Webb advised Dunmire to add $7,000 to funds programmed for the demolition of the Pine Springs buildings to ensure that adverse effects would be mitigated through additional oral history, photography, and a full inventory of the contents of the buildings. [49] Webb's plans to document the buildings did not materialize, however, because of Hinson's continued occupancy.

Richard Smith succeeded Dunmire as Superintendent of Guadalupe Mountains on March 30, 1986. Smith attacked the thorny problem of the Glover property with the vigor of a new man on the job. Within a month he had reviewed the "voluminous" files relating to the property and had summarized their contents and implications for the Regional Director. He recommended that Hinson's use and occupancy permit not be renewed for another year and suggested that the Texas Congressional delegation and Hinson be notified immediately of that intention. He closed his memorandum by saying:

I am well aware that we risk considerable public controversy if we decide to pursue this course of action. . . . I am convinced, however, that we should not continue to issue the 1-year use and occupancy agreements to Mrs. Hinson. The Congress has specifically prohibited the NPS from permitting activities in derogation of park values. . . . I am sure we are sanctioning a use that we have no legal authority to permit. To close out the use and occupancy at the expiration of the current permit would be the proper course of action for the preservation and protection of park values. [50]

Early in June 1986, Donald Dayton, who was then the Acting Regional Director, notified the Associate Director for Park Operations in Washington of the "potentially sensitive political issue" of the decision not to extend Hinson's special permit. He noted that Hinson would be given four months past the June 30 expiration date to vacate the Pine Springs buildings, that Congressional offices would be notified of the decision via letters dated June 20, and that Hinson would be notified on June 26. He reviewed the unfavorable news coverage that occurred in 1982 and warned that public controversy was again possible. [51]

The promised letters to the Congressional delegation recalled the original controversy, told of the annual renewals of the special use permit, and described the only legal way in which the Pine Springs Cafe could continue to operate: as an official concession that met public health and liability insurance standards and for which a fair market rent was paid. Smith's letter also described the proposed four-month extension of time to permit Hinson to vacate the buildings and the compensation for moving expenses for which she was eligible. Copies of the letter went to Senator Bentsen, Senator Phil Gramm, and Congressman Ronald Coleman. [52]

Smith's letter to Hinson established November 1 as the final date for vacating. He pointed out that he had no legal authority to continue the special use permit and offered no alternatives to her. Finally, he reiterated her eligibility for reimbursement for moving expenses. [53] A month later Smith responded to a request from Hinson and sent copies of the letters in which Dunmire had committed the Park Service to providing water and access to her property adjacent to the park. He reassured her that the Park Service intended to honor these commitments. [54]

In September park managers released the news that funds to complete documentation of the history of the buildings on the Glover tract would be available in 1987. The news story was released September 19 and appeared in the Carlsbad Current-Argus on September 22. It contained the announcement that Mary Hinson's special use permit had not been renewed. In spite of what appeared to be orderly progress toward the park's final possession of the Glover buildings, Hinson was not ready to give up. Less than a week after Smith issued his news release about the Glover tract, Secretary of the Interior Donald Paul Hodel overturned the Regional decision to not renew Hinson's special permit. According to the story that appeared in the Washington Post on September 25, Hodel had learned of Hinson's problem from Bentsen and had decided to permit Hinson's occupancy for five more years. [55]

Smith accepted defeat with grace. In March 1986 he complied with arrangements made after Hodel's decision and sent the Congressional delegation copies of the "Letter of Authorization," which had been approved by the Department of the Interior, to permit Hinson's continued use of the cafe until January 1, 1992. The authorization stipulated that no capital improvements could be made to the building and that repairs affecting the historical integrity of the cafe were to be coordinated with the Texas Historical Commission. (In his cover letter Smith reported that the Texas State Historic Preservation Officer had already been consulted about a roof repair for the cafe.) The authorization also required Hinson to meet applicable state health and safety codes and to assume liability for damages to third parties which were incurred in the cafe. Hinson would continue to pay a nominal rental fee for the building. After obtaining the new agreement, Hinson spent little time at the Pine Springs property. She lived in El Paso and the spouse of one of the employees of the highway department operated the store for her. [56]

When the Texas State Historic Preservation Officer declared the Glover buildings eligible for listing in the National Register, park managers were mandated to preserve the buildings, at least until they had been thoroughly documented. The agreement reached with Hinson in 1987, which involved the State Historic Preservation Office in decisions about repairs to be made to the cafe, gave the park managers somewhat more leverage in assuring that the integrity of the buildings would be retained until they could be fully recorded. However, since the Park Service did not intend to retain the buildings, repairs to the cafe or any of the other buildings in the complex would force expenditures which would not have been incurred if the Park Service had obtained possession of the buildings in November 1986. In any event, the cordial but distant relations between Hinson and the Park Service made management of the cultural resources at the Glover site difficult.

By 1987 three superintendents had dealt with the problems associated with the Glover property. Donald Dayton's goals had been to gain the confidence of Walter and Bertha Glover and establish a good relationship with them. In an interview in 1987, Dayton concluded that he and other park personnel had succeeded in those objectives. Ralph Harris, who became Area Manager after Dayton left the Superintendency, concurred with Dayton's assessment. The next Superintendent, William Dunmire, faced a more difficult task--dislocating Mary Hinson from the property. He did not succeed. Looking back at the events related to the Glover property that took place during his Superintendency, Dunmire recalled that it was a "painful situation. We took some big knocks." He also believed, in retrospect, that the lease extension did not hurt the park and "the whole deal wasn't worth the negative publicity [it generated]." His hindsight suggested that the negative publicity might have been circumvented by a better public relations plan. The next Superintendent, Richard Smith, tried a better public relations plan. He warned the Congressional delegation of his plans to gain possession of the Glover property and even had the support of the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce and staff members of the Current-Argus in his effort. But he was defeated by larger politics, the kind with which no Park Superintendent or Regional Director could argue. The role of the new Superintendent, Karen Wade, will undoubtedly be similar to Dayton's, to wait patiently until 1992, following the mandate to care for the buildings on the property and trying to maintain good relations with Mary Hinson.

Management of the park's cultural resources placed decision-makers in the unenviable position of having to identify and evaluate the resources, then wait for considerable periods of time until funding became available for the additional research that was needed to rationalize the management process. By 1987 most classified historic structures had been stabilized and could be held for a number of years without further serious deterioration. In addition, two of the park's historic resources had been successfully adapted for reuse. Managers did well with their small budgets. In 1987 the prehistoric resources also were in holding patterns, but more precariously so, because they were less easily monitored than the historic structures. After fifteen years of operation, resource managers had fulfilled the requirements of the law as well as funding had allowed, but it appeared that much more time might pass before they acquired more sophisticated management tools.

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