Page:Michael Welsh - Dunes and Dreams, A History of White Sands National Monument (1995).pdf/63

 Chapter Three momentum for Play Day, with attendance at 3,500. Among the activities appealing to the crowds were "Camp Fire Dances" by the "Mescalero Boy Scouts." Charles Lindbergh Shanta Boy, aged seven, drew much applause for his efforts. Other dancers included Wendell Chino, who twenty years later would commence his long tenure as the Mescalero tribal president. Then on July 4th, White Sands hosted an Independence Day picnic that lured all the state's major political leaders (Governor Tingley, Senators Chavez and Hatch, etc.), each eager for voter recognition in the campaigns that year. Senator Chavez then returned with Hatch and Tingley in early August to speak at the dedication ceremonies for completion of the U. S. Highway 54 project (from El Paso to Alamogordo). Among his remarks at the dunes, Chavez called the park service "one of the finest groups in the employ of the Government."

Praise for NPS work came in conjunction with planning for the permanent facilities that would enhance visitors' experiences. The NPS branch of plans and designs had difficulty agreeing upon the location of the visitors center, museum, and headquarters complex. Frank Kittredge rejected the White Sands master plan in 1935 and 1936 because of these differences of opinion. Kittredge wanted the entire compound back in the dunes, so that visitors had to venture into the monument and thus engage its distinctive ecology. The presence of WPA workers made it imperative for NPS staff to draft their final plans. John Happer also took charge of the headquarters work, but could not use his full allotment of WPA funds until design figures were in place. Tom Charles wrote to Pinkley warning of the loss of "50 to 60 percent of the money set up for that project." Then Happer learned that he would use all his funding before July 1, and had to negotiate with the NPS and WPA for access to other revenues. The U.S. Department of Labor then set wage rates from 20 to 25 percent higher at White Sands, based upon application of the Davis-Bacon Act rules to the Alamogordo area (Davis-Bacon adjusted wages on federal projects to align local rates to national standards). NPS auditors took note of the excessive costs at White Sands, but believed that it could not interfere at present. Said George Collins of the regional NPS office: "[The] history of RDP work at White Sands and general relationship down there would, we think, bring out a good deal of local controversy not unmixed with politics."