Part 6

As early as 1919 a U.S. Forest Service report expressed the idea that “Sage Creek Basin contains a large acreage of land that can be used for a game preserve for buffalo, elk, deer, antelope and mountain sheep.”[259] In 1935 the proposed Badlands National Monument plus the Badlands Recreational Demonstrational Area (most of which was later included in the national monument when it was established in 1939) were considered to be favorable localities for the reintroduction of buffalo, mountain sheep, and pronghorn.[260]

However, after the national monument was established, the NPS believed that the area was too small to provide a wildlife range.[261] Dr. Murie’s report

recommended that no buffalo be introduced on the monument because of the artificial conditions under which they would have to be maintained. If it were deemed desirable to fence an area for buffalo the most suitable spot would be north of Cedar Pass.[262]

Concerning bighorn sheep he “recommended that the bighorn be introduced when the opportunity develops, and that Sheep Mountain Peak be added to the monument for the use of the bighorn.”[263]

Pronghorn, commonly referred to as antelope, were seen during the 1940’s on rare occasions in Badlands National Monument and just outside the north boundary. However since 1959, 100 or more head have been reported annually in the national monument. These animals have come from the outside since there has not been any formal reintroduction of pronghorn inside the boundary.[264]

Immediately after grazing was terminated on national monument lands in 1962, the range underwent a remarkable recovery, due to the abundant rainfall of the 1962 and 1963 seasons. Questions arose as to why the range was not being utilized. Superintendent Frank Hjort recommended that bison be reintroduced as a means of getting the wildlife restoration program underway.[265]

In November 1963 the first herd of bison, comprised of 28 head from Theodore Roosevelt National Memorial Park in North Dakota and Fort Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge in Nebraska, were released in Sage Creek Basin. In October of the following year, this herd was enlarged by an additional 25 head from Theodore Roosevelt. The herd has done well and by the end of 1967 numbered 122 individuals.[266]

Since 1963 the buffalo have shown that they prefer the remoteness of Sage Creek Basin and have demonstrated little desire to leave that area.[267]

In January 1964 in cooperation with the South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks Department, bighorn sheep were reintroduced. Twelve head of Rocky Mountain Bighorns from Colorado were released in a 370-acre holding pen with the view toward eventually restocking Badlands National Monument and other parts of South Dakota. This flock was supplemented by ten more animals the following month.[270]

Unfortunately, losses were suffered by both adults and lambs during the first two and one-half years. The situation improved early in 1966 with no further losses until the summer of 1967 when the peak flock of 27 individuals suffered a severe setback. In September, when all but 13 had succumbed to a respiratory infection, the bighorn were released from the holding pasture. They now roam the rugged Badlands south of Pinnacles Overlook.[271]

In February 1964, the NPS purchased Cedar Pass Lodge, together with 72 acres of the surrounding land, for $275,000 from the Millard family. The lodge is now being run on a contract basis by a concessioner.[272]

Increased travel to the area during the years of Mission 66 fully justified the expanded development program of the national monument. From 1956 to 1966 the number of visitors increased 65 percent (see Appendix A).

Because of this great increase in travel, the summer visitor may find some of the scenic-overlook parking areas full, the visitor center crowded, and the nightly campground amphitheater program with “standing room only.” Since increased visitor use is practically assured in the foreseeable future, plans are already being made to provide additional facilities for visitors to Badlands National Monument.

APPENDIX A ANNUAL NUMBER OF VISITS TO BADLANDS NATIONAL MONUMENT SINCE ITS ESTABLISHMENT[273]

Year Total Visits Percent increase or decrease over previous year

1938[a] 175,000 1939 205,100 17.2 1940 190,243 -7.2 1941 252,878 32.9 1942 87,231 -65.5 1943 10,149 -88.4 1944 10,349 2.0 1945 31,377 203.2 1946 230,403 634.3 1947 339,843 47.5 1948 384,133 13.0 1949 373,076 -2.9 1950 447,654 20.0 1951 607,965 35.8 1952 580,902 -4.5 1953 658,691 13.4 1954 664,997 1.0 1955 630,881 -5.1 1956 663,246 5.1 1957 701,094 5.7 1958 810,837 15.7 1959 825,184 1.8 1960 878,625 6.5 1961 833,279 -5.2 1962 1,044,768 25.4 1963 1,073,971 2.8 1964 1,079,837 0.5 1965 1,091,261 1.1 1966 1,094,754 0.3 1967 1,188,666 8.6

[a]The figures for 1938 have not been used to calculate total visitation to the national monument since the year is before the area was officially established.

Average annual increase in number of visits in the last 15 years has been about 5%.

In September 1954, 15½ years after the national monument was established, the five millionth visit was recorded. A total of ten million visits was attained just seven years later in July 1961. On August 16, 1966, Superintendent Frank A. Hjort officially welcomed a traveler and his family who represented the 15 millionth visit to Badlands National Monument. At the present rate of travel increase, the 20 millionth visit is expected in 1970. As of December 31, 1967, the total number of visits to the national monument since its establishment in 1939 is 16,991,394.

The NPS travel year has been the same as a regular calendar year since January 1, 1953. Before that date, the NPS travel year was from October through September. However, total visits prior to 1953 have been recalculated to show actual calendar year totals.

APPENDIX B CUSTODIANS AND SUPERINTENDENTS of Badlands National Monument[274]

1. Howard B. Stricklin Acting Custodian August 11, 1939-December 31, 1943 Custodian January 1, 1944-July 18, 1944 (Military furlough; July 19, 1944-January 13, 1946) Custodian January 14, 1946-July 13, 1948 2. Warren K. Leland Custodian July 19, 1944-March 20, 1945 3. Lyle K. Linch Acting Custodian June 22, 1945-January 13, 1946 4. John E. Suter Custodian July 27, 1948-December 31, 1948 John E. Suter Superintendent January 1, 1949-January 8, 1953 5. John A. Rutter Superintendent April 12, 1953-November 30, 1957 6. George H. Sholly Superintendent January 26, 1958-August 19, 1959[b] 7. Frank E. Sylvester Superintendent February 15, 1960-October 29, 1960 8. John W. Jay, Jr. Superintendent December 11, 1960-October 31, 1962 9. Frank A. Hjort Superintendent February 10, 1963-September 23, 1967 10. John R. Earnst Superintendent October 22, 1967-

[b]Mr. Sholly died from a heart attack on the evening of this date.

APPENDIX C PICTURE CREDITS

The sources for illustrations used in this publication are shown below. Dates when each of the photographic illustrations was taken are noted, if known, in parentheses. Department of the Interior, National Park Service has been abbreviated to DINPS for use in designating illustrations supplied by the NPS. The numbers to the left correspond to figure numbers under the illustrations in the text.

1. Report of a Geological Survey of Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota; and incidentally of a portion of Nebraska Territory, 1852, page 196. 2. Figure 64, page 127, South Dakota School of Mines Bulletin 13, November 1920. 3. Report of a Geological Survey of Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota; and incidentally of a portion of Nebraska Territory, 1852, between pages 196 and 197. 4. DINPS (November 20, 1967). Note: The Badlands Natural History Association is grateful to Mr. Leonel Jensen, local rancher, for help in locating the site of this trail. It is in S-1/2 sec. 30, T. 1 S., R. 15 E. of the Black Hills Meridian. 5. South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, Rapid City, South Dakota. 6. The Rapid City Daily Journal, Monday, September 27, 1965. 7. Louis Blumer, Wall, South Dakota (about 1911). 8. A.E. Johnson, Interior, South Dakota (December 1906). 9. Ted E. Hustead, Wall Drug Store, Wall, South Dakota (1907). 10. Plate No. 56B, South Dakota School of Mines Bulletin 13, November 1920. 11. Keith Crew, Interior, South Dakota; from a postcard mailed June 5, 1909. 12. Leonel Jensen, Wall, South Dakota (fall 1908; Louis J. Jensen family). 13. Leslie Crew, Interior, South Dakota; from a postcard mailed December 19, 1908. 14. Rise Studio, Rapid City, South Dakota. 15. Black Hills Studios, Inc., Spearfish, South Dakota. 16. DINPS. 17. DINPS. 18. DINPS (December 6, 1964). 19. DINPS (1938). 20. DINPS (about 1934). 21. DINPS (June 1941). 22. DINPS (June 7, 1950). 23. DINPS. 24. DINPS (spring 1964). 25. DINPS (August 1960). 26. DINPS (September 16, 1959). 27. DINPS (summer 1962). 28. DINPS (July 1962). 29. DINPS (January 9, 1964). 30. DINPS (January 25, 1964).

The Badlands Natural History Association wishes to extend its sincere thanks to these individuals and organizations for granting the association permission to use the illustrations.

APPENDIX D Footnotes and References

All references used in compiling this history are on hand in the Badlands National Monument library or files for further study. Where actual reports, correspondence, or books were not available, copies have been obtained from such sources as the National Archives, Library of Congress, National Park Service, and various public and university libraries.

For the sake of simplicity, the following abbreviation has been used where appropriate:

PNC—copies of items from the Peter Norbeck Collections, University of South Dakota, Vermillion, which pertain to the establishment of Badlands National Monument are in a bound volume in the national monument library.

[1]Dee C. Taylor, Salvage Archeology in Badlands National Monument, South Dakota (Missoula: Montana State University, 1961), pp. 79, 80.

[2]Ibid., p. 75.

[3]Ibid., p. 80.

[4]Herbert S. Schell, History of South Dakota (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1961), p. 16.

[5]Ibid., pp. 17-23.

[6]Ibid., pp. 24-36.

[7]Lt. G.K. Warren, Preliminary Report of Explorations in Nebraska and Dakota in the Years 1855-’56-’57 (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1875), p. 26; J.R. Macdonald, “The History and Exploration of the Big Badlands of South Dakota,” Guide Book Fifth Field Conference of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology in Western South Dakota, ed. James D. Bump (Sponsored by the Museum of Geology of the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, Rapid City, August 29-September 1, 1951), p. 31.

[8]Hiram M. Chittenden, and Alfred T. Richardson, eds., Life, Letters and Travels of Father Pierre-Jean De Smet. S.J., 1801-1873 (New York: Francis P. Harper, 1905), vol. 2, pp. 622, 623.

[9]Charles L. Camp, ed., James Clyman American Frontiersman 1792-1881 (Cleveland: The Arthur H. Clark Company, 1928), p. 24.

Note: Dale Morgan was of the opinion that the jornada which Clyman describes was through country south of the White River, and that Smith’s party by-passed almost entirely that portion of the South Dakota Badlands now set apart as a national monument [Dale L. Morgan, Jedediah Smith and the Opening of the West (Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc., 1953), p. 386, f.n. 10]. Just a year later, however, Morgan published new evidence found in the Gibbs map to back up the opposite interpretation of Clyman’s journals. He now believes that the Smith party followed the White River exclusively, keeping to the north bank all the way to possibly near the mouth of Willow Creek, located east and a little south from the present town of Hot Springs, South Dakota. This means the party would have at least seen, and perhaps passed through the present Badlands National Monument. [Dale L. Morgan and Carl I. Wheat, Jedediah Smith and his Maps of the American West (California Historical Society, 1954), p. 49.]

[10]Reuben G. Thwaites, ed., Travels in the Interior of North America by Maximilian, Prince of Wied (Cleveland: The A.H. Clark Company, 1906), vol. 3, p. 90.

[11]Chittenden and Richardson, op. cit., p. 624.

[12]Ibid., pp. 624, 625.

[13]Cleophas C. O’Harra, The White River Badlands (Rapid City: South Dakota School of Mines, Bulletin No. 13, Department of Geology, November 1920), pp. 123, 128.

[14]John Francis McDermott, ed., Journal of an Expedition to the Mauvaises Terres and the Upper Missouri in 1850, Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 147 (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1952), p. 1.

[15]Macdonald, op. cit., p. 31; American Journal of Science, vol. 3, no. 7, 2d series, January 1847, pp. 248-250; O’Harra, op. cit., pp. 23, 24, 110-117, 161.

[16]McDermott, op. cit., p. 1.

[17]Ibid.

[18]Ibid., p. 2; Macdonald, op. cit., p. 31.

[19]E. de Girardin, “A Trip to the Bad Lands in 1849,” South Dakota Historical Review, I (January 1936), 60.

[20]Ibid., p. 62.

[21]Ibid.

[22]Ibid., pp. 64, 65.

[23]David Dale Owen, Report of a Geological Survey of Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota; and Incidentally of a Portion of Nebraska Territory (Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo, and Co., 1852), pp. 196, 197.

[24]Ibid., pp. 197, 198.

[25]Ibid., pp. 198-206, 539-572.

[26]McDermott, op. cit., pp. 2, 3, 54, 55, 59.

[27]Ibid., pp. 60, 61.

[28]Ibid., p. 65.

[29]Ibid., p. 64.

[30]Ibid., pp. 3, 4.

[31]Ibid., p. 2.

[32]Lt. G.K. Warren, “Explorations in the Dacota Country in the Year 1855,” Senate Ex. Doc. No. 76, 34th Congress, 1st Session (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1956), p. 76.

[33]Ibid., pp. 66-76.

[34]Letter, Will G. Robinson, Secretary, South Dakota State Historical Society, to John W. Stockert, September 26, 1967; South Dakota Historical Society, South Dakota Department of History Report and Historical Collections (Pierre, S.D.: State Publishing Company, 1962), vol. XXXI, p. 280.

[35]Warren, op. cit., p. 76.

[36]Ibid., p. 74.

[37]O’Harra, op. cit., pp. 24, 161-163.

[38]Ray H. Mattison, ed., “The Harney Expedition Against the Sioux: The Journal of Captain John B.S. Todd,” Nebraska History, XLIII (June 1962), 92, 130.

[39]Ibid., p. 122.

[40]Ibid.

[41]O’Harra, op. cit., p. 25.

[42]Charles Schuchert, and Clara Mae LeVene, O.C. Marsh, Pioneer in Paleontology (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1940), pp. 139-168; U.S. National Park Service, Soldier and Brave (New York: Harper and Row, 1963), pp. 135, 136.

[43]O’Harra, op. cit., p. 26.

[44]Macdonald, op. cit., p. 32.

[45]O’Harra, op. cit., p. 29.

[46]Macdonald, op. cit., p. 33.

[47]Louis Knoles, Forest Ranger, “A Report on the Bad Lands of South Dakota,” 1919, pp. 20, 21.

[48]Ibid., p. 2; Letter, Mrs. E.T. Jurisch, Farmingdale, South Dakota, to George Crouch, Wall, South Dakota, May 24, 1965.

[49]Knoles, op. cit., p. 22.

[50]Jackson-Washabaugh County Historical Society, Jackson-Washabaugh Counties 1915-1965 (Marceline, Mo.: Walsworth, n.d.), p. 11; Interview, A.E. Johnson, Interior, S.D., by John W. Stockert, January 30, 1968.

[51]Robert M. Utley, The Last Days of the Sioux Nation (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1963), pp. 40-59.

[52]Ibid., pp. 184-199.

[53]Frederic Remington, “Lieutenant Casey’s Last Scout,” Harper’s Weekly, XXXV (January 31, 1891), 86.

[54]Knoles, op. cit., p. 4.

[55]William H. Burt, and Richard P. Grossenheider, A Field Guide to the Mammals (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1964), p. 75; Knowles, op. cit., p. 22; Louis Blumer, Wall, S.D., interview by John W. Stockert, January 15, 1968.

[56]Walker D. Wyman, Recorder, Nothing But Prairie and Sky (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1954), p. 46.

[57]Ibid., pp. 47-52.

[58]Ibid., pp. 75-81.

[59]Jackson-Washabaugh County Historical Society, op. cit., pp. 11, 136, 142.

[60]Interview, Leonel Jensen, Wall, S.D., by Ray H. Mattison, June 2, 1965; statement confirmed by A.E. Johnson, Interior, S.D., February 10, 1968.

[61]Schell, op. cit., p. 343.

[62]Photograph identified by Grace Sullivan Blair, Martin, S.D., A.E. Johnson and Rolla J. Burkholder, Interior, S.D.

[63]Schell, op. cit., p. 343.

[64]Ibid., p. 256.

[65]U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Fifteenth Census of the United States: 1930 Population, Vol. I (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1931), pp. 1015, 1019.

[66]Luman H. Long, ed., The World Almanac 1966 (New York: New York World-Telegram and The Sun, 1966), p. 375.

[67]Letter, Senator Peter Norbeck to Prof. W.C. Toepelman, University of South Dakota, May 22, 1922, PNC, p. 3.

[68]Interview, Leonel Jensen, Wall, S.D., by John W. Stockert, March 20, 1967.

[69]Congressional Record, 61st Cong., 1st Sess., 44:50, 58, 115, 128.

[70]Knoles, op. cit., pp. 17, 18.

[71]Ibid.

[72]Gilbert C. Fite, “Peter Norbeck,” Dictionary of American Biography, ed. Robert L. Schuyler (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1958), XXII, 491, 492.

[73]Bernice White, ed., Who’s Who for South Dakota (Pierre, 1956), p. 103; South Dakota Legislative Manual, 1931 (Pierre: State Publishing Company, 1931), p. 455.

[74]Edmund B. Rogers, comp., History of Legislation Relating to the National Park System Through the 82d Congress: Badlands National Monument South Dakota (1958), S. 3541, 67th Cong., 2d Sess.; Congressional Record, 67th Cong., 2d Sess., 62: 6173.

[75]Ibid.

[76]Congressional Record, 67th Cong., 2d Sess., 62:6233; Rogers, op. cit., H.R. 11514, 67th Cong., 2d Sess.

[77]Rogers, op. cit., Executive Order of Warren G. Harding, October 23, 1922.

[78]Letter, Commissioner, General Land Office, to Senator Norbeck, August 28, 1923, PNC, p. 11.

[79]Congressional Record, 67th Cong., 4th Sess., 64:5573.

[80]Congressional Record, 68th Cong., 1st Sess., 65:215; Rogers, op. cit., H.R. 2810, 68th Cong., 1st Sess., S. 3541, 67th Cong., 2d Sess.

[81]Letters, Senator Norbeck from Attorney General B.S. Payne, January 11, 1922, Prof. W.C. Toepelman, May 17, 1922, and W.H. Tompkins, U.S. Land Office, May 26, 1922, PNC, pp. 1, 3-7.

[82]Letter, Senator Norbeck to Vice President H.E. Beebe, Bank of Ipswich (S.D.), May 5, 1924, PNC, p. 15.

[83]Interview, M. Emma Quevli, Interior, S.D., by John W. Stockert, February 6, 1968.

[84]Letter, Senator Norbeck to J.W. Parmley, Ipswich, S.D., November 7, 1927, PNC, p. 32.

[85]Ibid.

[86]P.D. Peterson, Through the Black Hills and Bad Lands of South Dakota (Pierre, S.D.: J. Fred Olander Company, 1929), p. 23.

[87]Ibid., pp. 23-33.

[88]Letter, James M. Palmer, Secretary, Wonderland Hiway Association, to Senator Norbeck, October 22, 1927, PNC, p. 20.

[89]Letter, Senator Norbeck to Parmley, November 7, 1927, PNC, p. 32.

[90]Ibid.

[91]Ibid.

[92]Letter, Senator Norbeck to Secretary of the Interior Hubert Work, November 2, 1927, PNC, p. 31.

[93]Letter, Senator Norbeck to Representative Williamson, April 10, 1928, PNC, p. 49.

[94]Ibid., pp. 49, 50.

[95]Rogers, op. cit., S. 4385, Calendar No. 1280, 70th Cong., 1st Sess.; H.R. 13618, 70th Cong., 1st Sess.; Congressional Record, 70th Cong., 1st Sess., 69:8046.

[96]Congressional Record, 70th Cong., 1st Sess., 69:9224; Rogers, op. cit., Senate Report No. 1246, Calendar No. 1280, 70th Cong., 1st Sess.

[97]Congressional Record, 70th Cong., 1st Sess., 69:9589.

[98]Robert S. Yard, “National Parks Situation Critical,” National Parks Association, November 7, 1928, PNC, p. 129.

[99]Letter, Senator Norbeck to Yard, December 3, 1928, PNC, pp. 126, 127.

[100]Letter, NPS Acting Director A.E. Demaray to Senator Norbeck, December 1, 1928, PNC, p. 122.

[101]Congressional Record, 70th Cong., 1st Sess., 69:10007; 2d Sess., 70:3807.

[102]Rogers, op. cit., House of Representatives Report No. 2607, 70th Cong., 2d Sess.

[103]Memorandum, NPS Director Arno B. Cammerer to Secretary of the Interior, July 6, 1938.

[104]Rogers, op. cit., House of Representatives Report No. 2607, 70th Cong., 2d Sess.

[105]Congressional Record, 70th Cong., 2d Sess., 70:4302, 4303.

[106]Congressional Record, 70th Cong., 2d Sess., 70:4404.

[107]Congressional Record, 70th Cong., 2d Sess., 70:5015, 5089; Rogers, op. cit., House of Representatives Report No. 2808, 70th Cong., 2d Sess.

[108]Ibid.

[109]Congressional Record, 70th Cong., 2d Sess., 70:5225.

[110]Memorandum, NPS Director Cammerer to the Secretary of the Interior, July 6, 1938; Hillory A. Tolson, Laws Relating to the National Park Service, the National Parks and Monuments (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1933), pp. 302-305.

[111]Congressional Record, 70th Cong., 2d Sess., 70:3198, 3812; Rogers, op. cit., S. 5779, 70th Cong., 2d Sess.; Senate Report No. 1842, Calendar No. 1869, 70th Cong., 2d Sess.

[112]Congressional Record, 70th Cong., 2d Sess., 70:3490; Rogers, op. cit., H.R. 17102, 70th Cong., 2d Sess.

[113]Interview, Ted E. Hustead, Wall, S. D., by Ray H. Mattison, June 2, 1965; “Bad Lands Becomes National Monument,” The Rapid City Daily Journal, January 28, 1939.

[114]Memorandum, NPS Regional Director Howard Baker to the NPS Director, June 6, 1956 (includes copy of “Proposal of Name for an Unnamed Domestic Feature,” Board of Geographic Names).

[115]Ibid., Weldon W. Gratton, “History of the Operator’s Development at the Pinnacles Area Badlands National Monument” (NPS Region Two, Land and Recreation Planning Division, September 23, 1948; Information from E.N. (Curley) and Ilo Nelson (Cedar Pass Lodge concessioner, 1964-____), February 9, 1968.