THE SANTA FE CONFERENCES
The annual meetings of superintendents of national
parks with other administrative officials of the National Park Service
were held in Santa Fe last October 2 to 7, inclusive. These officials
then took an active part in the Third National Park Conference of the
American Planning and Civic Association, held in Santa Fe from October 8
to 10, inclusive. The combined groups, on October 11, started a
1,200-mile automobile tour of some of the outstanding scenic and
archeologic areas in New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, and Arizona, The trip
terminated in Grand Canyon National Park on October 17.
Meetings of the Park Service officials were held in
the Laboratory of Anthropology. Associate Director A. E. Demaray brought
greetings from Director Arno B. Cammerer, and reviewed some of the major
activities of the year.
Questions relating to federal appropriations were
discussed by Representative James G. Scrugham of Nevada, Chairman of the
House Appropriations Sub-committee on Department of the Interior
expenditures.
Colonel Richard Lieber of Indianapolis,
Vice-President of the Amer ican Planning and Civic Association, told of
recent studies relating to the charging of fees for use of various
recreational facilities in state parks and other recreational areas.
y Superintendent Edmund B. Rogers of Yellowstone
National Park, was elected Chairman of the Conference, and Coordinating
Superintendent Herbert Kahler of Castle Pinckney National Monument,
South Carolina, was elected Secretary. Chairman Rogers appointed
Superintendent Elbert Cox of Morristown National Historical Park, New
Jersey, as Vice Chaiman; Superintendent Lawrence Merriam of Yosemite
National Park, as Second Vice Chairman; and Acting Superintendent R.
Taylor Hoskins of Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky, as
Sergeant-at-Arms. All officers will serve for one year.
The Conference was formed into committees to study
various Service problems. Reports of these committees formed the basis
of a general report, with recommendations, to Director Cammerer.
The American Planning and Civic Association's initial
day in Santa Fe, on Sunday, October 8, was devoted to social gatherings.
There was a musical program in St. Francis Auditorium, followed by a
reception in the State Art Museum at which the hosts were Dr. and Mrs.
Edgar L. Hewett and Mrs. George H. Van Stone. Dr. Hewett is the Director
of the Museum of New Mexico and the President of the School of American
Research. At the Fiesticita in La Fonda that night, under auspices of
the New Mexico chapter of the association, there was a Spanish dinner,
and a program of Spanish songs and dances.
Horace M. Albright of New York. City, President of
the American Planning and Civic Association, presided at the opening
business session, on Monday morning, October 9, in the City Hall
Auditorium. Welcome speeches were given by Governor John E. Miles of New
Mexico, Mayor Alfredo Ortiz of Santa Fe, and Regional Director Hillory
A. Tolson of Region III of the National Park Service. There were
responses by Assistant Secretary of the Interior Oscar L. Chapman,
Assistant Director Tomes J. McEntee of the Civilian Conservation Corps,
and Superintendent O. A. Tomlinson of Mt. Rainier National Park.
Colonel T. B. Catron of Santa Fe, Chairman of the New
Mexico chapter, spoke on "Santa Fe, Where Three Civilizations Meet." He
outlined the city's early history, and told of the Indian, the
Spanish-American, and the Anglo-American cultures in the "Ancient City"
of today.
S. Herbert Hare of Kansas City, Mo., a Fellow of the
American Society of Landscape Architects, presided at the Monday
luncheon, in La Fonda, where afternoon and evening sessions were held.
Irvin J. McCrary, City Planner of Denver, spoke at the luncheon, on
"National Parks in the National Plan."
Miss H. Marie Dermitt of Pittsburg, Pa., a member of
the association's Board of Directors, presided at the afternoon session,
when the speakers were President Albright, who discussed "The National
Park System and Its Future"; Richard M. Leonard of San Francisco,
representing the Sierra Club, who talked on "The Use of Wilderness
Areas"; T. C. Vint, Chief of Planning, National Park Service, whose
subject was "National Park Roads and Parkways"; and George L. Collins of
the Land Planning Division, National Park Service. Mr. Collins read a
paper on "Identifying Areas of National Park Calibre".
At the close of the afternoon meetings, visits were
made to some of the gardenband homes in Santa Fe.
There was a buffet supper in the New Mexican Room of
La Fonda that night, after which an evening session was held. Marvin C.
Nichols of Fort Worth, Chairman of the Texas chapter of the American
Planning and Civic Association, presided. The speakers and their
subjects were:
James J. McEntee, Assistant Director of the Civilian
Conservation Corps, "The CCC in National Parks and Monuments"; Frank C.
W. Pooler of Albuquerque, New Mexico, Regional Forester of the U. S.
Forest Service, "Recreation in Wilderness Areas"; and Conrad L. Wirth,
Supervisor of Recreation and Land Planning, National Park Service,
"National Recreation Area Study". Associate Regional Director Herbert
Maier of Region III of the National Park Service, read a paper prepared
by Earle S. Draper of Knoxville, Tennessee, Director of Regional
Planning Studies for the Tennessee Valley Authority. The subject was
"Planning for Water Recreation on a National Scale."
Dr. Hermon C. Bumpus of Duxbury, Massachusetts,
Chairman of the Advisory Board on National Parks, Historic Sites,
Buildings and Monuments, presided at Tuesday morning's session. The
speakers and their subjects were: Superintendent Frank Pinkley of the
Southwestern National Monuments, "Southwestern National Monuments";
Jesse L. Nusbaum, Senior Archaeologist of the National Park Service,
"Our Archaeological Heritage"; Dr. Herbert E. Bolton, Chairman,
Department of History, University of California, "History in the
National Parks and Monuments"; Miss Pearl Chase, Chairman of the Plans
and Planning Branch of the Community Arts Association in Santa Barbara,
California, "Preservation of Natural Beauties and Recreational Values in
National Parks."
Colonel Richard Lieber of Indianapolis, Vice
President of the association, presided at the luncheon, when Associate
Director A. E. Demaray of the National Park Service, spoke on "The
National Park Service - An Interpretation."
In the afternoon a visit was made to Region III
Headquarters of the National Park Service, after which there was an
inspection of exhibits in the Laboratory of Anthropology. The exhibits
were explained by the Director, Dr. H. Scudder Mekeel.
President Albright presided at the dinner that night,
in La Fonda, when Assistant Secretary of the Interior Oscar L. Chapman
was the principal speaker. He stressed the need for added conservation
of our natural resources, because of the present war in Europe. Other
speakers were Jay Downer of New York City, a member of the association's
Board of Directors; and Associate Director A. E. Demaray of the National
Park Service.
Over sixty of those who attended the Conference
started on the motorcade that left Santa Fe on Wednesday morning,
October 11. A stop was made at the San Ildefonso Indian Pueblo, en route
to the Bandelier National Monument for lunch. From Bandelier the group
traversed the Valle Grande of Jemez Crater, via Cuba, across parts of
the Jicarilla and Navajo Indian Reservations, with a detour to the Chaco
Canyon National Monument. The night was spent in Farmington, New Mexico,
from where a visit was made the next morning to the nearby Aztec Ruins
National Monument. Lunch was had in Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado.
The remainder of that day and all of Friday was spent in Mesa Verde,
where Navajo Indians reenacted parts of their sacred ceremonies, in full
costume. The party left there on Saturday morning, October 14, for Utah
to be guests of the Moab Lions Club at a barbecue luncheon served at
Dead Horse Point in the proposed Escalante National Monument. The
visitors were entertained at a buffet supper that night in Moab.
Leaving Moab on Sunday morning, the party proceeded
via Monument Valley, to Gouldings Trading Post, Utah, for a barbecue
lunch, and then entered Arizona to inspect the Canyon de Chelly National
Monument. Dinner was in the Ganado Mission to the Navajos, in Ganado,
Arizona, and the night was spent there. After traveling much of two days
in the Navajo Indian Reservation, the Hopi Indian Reservation was
crossed on Monday afternoon and several of its important villages were
visited. The Grand Canyon National Park was reached that evening, via
Desert View and the South Rim Road. Trips on the South Rim of the canyon
were taken on Tuesday, October 17, after which the motorcade
disbanded.
Some of the travelers returned to Santa Fe and
stopped en route in the Petrified Forest National Monument and other
areas. One group made a side trip into the Kaibito Springs area of
Northeastern Arizona to trace a portion of the route taken by Father
Silvestre Velez de Escalante in 1776, and to search for an inscription
reported to have been written by him on a ledge of rock. Escalante's
route from the Colorado River "Crossing of the Fathers" to Kaibito
Springs was confirmed. The inscription was not found. The members of
this party were Dr. Herbert E. Bolton, Chairman of the Department of
History, University of California, who is a member of the Advisory Board
on National Parks, Historic Sites, Buildings and Monuments; Regional
Director Hillory A. Tolson, Regional Historian Aubrey Neasham, and
Associate Regional Forester Ward Yeager, of Region III; Dr. George P.
Mammond, Dean of the Graduate School, University of New Mexico; Jesse L.
Nusbaum, Senior Archaeologist, and George P. Collins of the Land
Planning Division, National Park Service. Dr. Bolton has made tentative
plans for another search next spring when it is possible that his party
can be accompanied by Mr. H. L. Baldwin of Salt Lake City, who claims to
have seen the inscription in 1884 when he was mapping the Echo Cliffs
Quadrangle for the United States Geological Survey.
The Conference was the first of the annual joint
meetings with National Park Service officials to be held outside of
Washington, D.C., and it was declared to have been one of the most
successful that has been held. The program and the details of
organization were handled by Miss Harlean James, Executive Secretary of
the American Planning and Civic Association.
National Park Service Areas in Region III.
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