Page:Michael Welsh - Dunes and Dreams, A History of White Sands National Monument (1995).pdf/59

 Chapter Three became clear. A.E. Demaray wrote to E.H. Simons of the El Paso chamber of commerce to explain the controversy raging within the park service. San Francisco and Washington staff wanted all development clustered at the park entrance, "so [that] the visitor may get the unique experience of seeing a world without vegetation." The staff wanted "man-made intrusions" left out of the heart of the dunes, allowing the visitor, in Pinkley's words, to engage "the vast silence and weird beauty" of this "sacred area." Such patrons, whom Pinkley called "national" visitors, came "from far distant states … to get the full thrill of the White Sands." Pinkley offered no statistics on the volume of national visitation, and by the end of 1935 no clear resolution seemed at hand.

The conflicting pattern of booming attendance and NPS reluctance to accommodate local demands led civic officials to explore alternatives in the vicinity of the monument. Fortunately, a rancher named L.L. Garton owned property immediately south of U.S. 70 within one-half mile of the park entrance. Garton and previous owners had tried to develop the acreage, which included the only easily accessible potable water between Alamogordo and White Sands. Garton had purchased 1,240 acres around the well in 1916, after a group of Otero County businessmen had failed to discover oil on the property. They did find "mineralized" water at 94 degrees Fahrenheit; too alkaline to grow crops like cotton, but warm enough to provide area residents with the equivalent of a "hot-springs resort." In 1930 Mr. Garton stocked his "lake" with muskrats, black bass, sunfish, bullfrogs, and oysters to create an "aquatic farm" for the enjoyment of his guests. Four years later this experiment had also failed, and Garton entertained inquiries from Dr. F.B. Evans, president of the Alamogordo chamber, and NM A&M president Dr. Harry L. Kent to sell the land to the park service.

In order to ascertain the merits of the Garton property, the NPS in March 1935 sent Ardey Borell, SWNM naturalist technician, to White Sands. His six-day visit impressed Borell with the abundance of waterfowl in the high desert (53 species of birds). "At present very few Western Parks or Monuments provide sanctuary for waterfowl," Borell informed his superiors, a circumstance that Garton's sale to private owners would jeopardize. Borell's conclusions about the lake's ecological value meshed with the report of Tom Charles' son, Ralph Charles, who served in Las Cruces as a "land planning consultant" for the National Resources Planning Board (NRPB). Ralph Charles had written in December 1934 that Garton, then aged 75, would sell the entire property at low cost. From this "recreational possibilities could be developed," as well as the bird refuge, an opinion echoed in January 1935 by Elliott Barker, New Mexico state game warden.