Copyright by Neel Gregory Baumgardner 2013
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Copyright by Neel Gregory Baumgardner 2013 The Dissertation Committee for Neel Gregory Baumgardner Certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: Bordering North America: Constructing Wilderness Along the Periphery of Canada, Mexico, and the United States Committee: Erika Bsumek, Supervisor H.W. Brands John McKiernan-Gonzalez Steven Hoelscher Benjamin Johnson Bordering North America: Constructing Wilderness Along the Periphery of Canada, Mexico, and the United States by Neel Gregory Baumgardner, B.B.A, M.B.A. Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin May 2013 Bordering North America: Constructing Wilderness Along the Periphery of Canada, Mexico, and the United States Neel Gregory Baumgardner, Ph.D. The University of Texas at Austin, 2013 Supervisor: Erika Bsumek This dissertation considers the exchanges between national parks along the North American borderlands that defined the contours of development and wilderness and created a brand new category of protected space – the transboundary park. The National Park Systems of Canada, Mexico, and the United States did not develop and grow in isolation. “Bordering North America” examines four different parks in two regions: Waterton Lakes and Glacier in the northern Rocky Mountains of Alberta and Montana and Big Bend and the Maderas del Carmen in the Chihuahuan Desert of Texas and Coahuila. In 1932, Glacier and Waterton Lakes were combined to form the first transboundary park. In the 1930s and 1940s, using the Waterton-Glacier model as precedent, the U.S. and Mexican governments undertook a major effort, ultimately unsuccessful, to designate a sister park in Mexico and combine the two areas into another international space. Finally, in 1994, Mexico established two protected areas, including the Maderas del Carmen, adjacent to the Big Bend. Ideas about parks and wilderness migrated across borders just as freely as the flora and fauna these spaces sought to protect. Moreover, a multiplicity of views and forces, from three different Park Services, the visiting public, private enterprise, local landholders, competing government agencies iv and international NGOs, and even the elements of nature itself, all combined to shape the trajectory of park development. v Table of Contents List of Maps and Pictures ...................................................................................... ix Introduction..............................................................................................................1 Case Studies....................................................................................................3 Project Questions and Methodology...............................................................8 National Parks and Protected Spaces............................................................12 Putting Wilderness Back on the Map ...........................................................15 “Nature’s Periphery”: The Business of Parks...............................................20 Setting Boundaries in the Borderlands .........................................................25 Transboundary, or International Peace, Parks ..............................................28 Conclusion ....................................................................................................32 Chapter 1 - Making National Parks in the Northern Rockies and Chihuahuan Desert ......................................................................................................................34 The Northern Rockies: A Story of the U.S./Canadian Borderlands .............39 The Chihuahuan Desert ................................................................................44 On the Inside Looking Out ...........................................................................50 A Monopoly of Use ......................................................................................68 Conclusion -- Worthless Lands?...................................................................74 Chapter 2 - Finding Wilderness: Assigning Labels and Meanings to the Elements of Protected Spaces ...........................................................................................79 Early Wildscapes of Waterton Lakes............................................................81 Early Glacier Wilderness ..............................................................................86 Early Big Bend Wilderness...........................................................................96 Conclusion ..................................................................................................110 Chapter 3 - Constructing Wilderness: Differentiating Parcels in Protected Spaces113 “The Fall Line”: Formalizing Wilderness in the Parks...............................113 Making Glacier Wild ..................................................................................121 Making Big Bend Wild...............................................................................129 vi Making Waterton Wild ...............................................................................138 A Wilderness for the Maderas del Carmen.................................................148 Conclusion ..................................................................................................155 Chapter 4 - From Rails to Concrete: The Business of Parks and Preservation ...157 Business Beginnings: The Evolution of H.H. Hanson................................160 Louis Hill’s Great Northern........................................................................166 Small Business in Big Spaces.....................................................................178 A Wilderness Economy in Nature’s Periphery...........................................184 A Natural Brand and Balance Sheet ...........................................................190 Conclusion ..................................................................................................198 Chapter 5 - Dividing Lines: Inscribing the 49th Parallel and the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo del Norte...........................................................................................200 Taming the 49th Parallel ..............................................................................204 Two Halves of a River: the Rio Grande and Rio Bravo del Norte .............217 Good Fences: Sorting Wildlife and Domestics along the Mexican Border225 Two-legged Migrants..................................................................................231 A Closed Border .........................................................................................235 Conclusion ..................................................................................................237 Chapter 6 - Transboundary Parks: Bridging Borders and Combining National Parks ....................................................................................................................240 Parks on the 49th Parallel.............................................................................244 What’s in a Name? – Waterton Glacier International Peace Park..............251 A Southern Peace Park?..............................................................................255 Sorting out Public and Private Interests: Maurice Minchen, Cananea Cattle, and Miguel Gonzalez................................................................................263 An Integrated Waterton-Glacier .................................................................280 Transnational Cultural Attractions: The Northwest Passage, Waterton Townsite, Gilberto Luna, and Boquillas.............................................................284 Integration and Division in the Big Bend ...................................................292 Conclusion ..................................................................................................299 vii Epilogue: “Troubled Wilderness”........................................................................301 Bibliography ........................................................................................................306 Archival Sources.........................................................................................306 Printed and Secondary Sources...................................................................309 viii List of Maps and Pictures Map of Protected Spaces along Montana and Alberta.............................................5 Map of Protected Spaces along Chihuahua, Coahuila, and Texas...........................7 Photo series from the top of Santa Helena Canyon (May 1923) - E.E. Townsend58 Calumet Baking Powder Can Top (Author’s photo) ...........................................109 1912 Great Northern Railway Route Map...........................................................171 1923 Great Northern Railway Annual Report Cover ..........................................190 Map of the 49th Parallel along the U.S.-Canada Border.......................................205 Map of the U.S.-Mexico Border ..........................................................................218 View of Santa Helena Canyon proposed dam sites (February 1942) ..................222 “Repurposed” fencing near the former Homer Wilson Ranch in Big Bend (Author’s Photo)..............................................................................................227 Waterton-Glacier