The Stephen Mather Memorial Plaques by Don Lago Good Start

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The Stephen Mather Memorial Plaques by Don Lago Good Start “There will never come an end to the good that he has done.” The Stephen Mather Memorial Plaques by Don Lago good start. beautiful and ancient, but sacred, a The last line on the Mather plaque, refuge for the human spirit. A Cali- t had always seemed obvious to “There will never come an end to the fornia native, Mather made trips to me that Grand Canyon’s Mather good that he has done,” was spoken the Sierras, climbed mountains, and Point should have a sign explain- by Michigan Congressman Louis joined the Sierra Club when it was Iing who it was named for. People who Cramton on the floor of the U.S. only a dozen years old. Mather met are camping in the Mather Camp- House of Representatives in January, and had a long talk with John Muir, ground and attending ranger pro- 1929. Cramton served on the House who filled Mather with indignation at grams in the Mather Amphitheater Public Lands Committee, and was the despoiling of the Sierras. Yet the and enjoying the view from Mather one of Congress’s strongest support- national parks and America’s con- Point would begin to wonder who ers of Stephen Mather and the Nation- servation movement now required this Mather person was. To make it al Park Service. Cramton spoke on the something more than just vision and clear that Stephen Mather, the first occasion of Mather’s resignation as indignation. They required some- director of the National Park Service, director of the NPS, but since Mather one with the political and manage- was appreciated at Grand Canyon, had suffered a stroke and the progno- rial skills to build an agency, inside the NPS had installed not just a nor- sis was poor, Cramton’s remarks had the U. S. government, that could de- mal wayside sign, but a large, artistic, the ring of a eulogy. A year later, on fend and expand the national parks bronze plaque paying tribute to him. January 22, 1930, Mather suffered an- against powerful economic and po- Since I had always associated the other stroke and died. litical forces. It required someone Mather plaque with Mather Point, I Soon after Mather’s first stroke with the rare combination of Stephen was puzzled when I first noticed the and resignation, his friends and sup- Mather’s personality and experience. exact same plaque in another national porters started a private organization, In 1893 the young Mather, working as park. It seemed incongruous, almost the Stephen T. Mather Appreciation, a newspaper writer, was hired by the as if another park bore a sign explain- to plan some sort of memorial to him. Pacific Coast Borax Company to come ing the view from Hopi Point. Had The executive committee was full of up with an advertising slogan for its this other park made a copy of Grand prominent names, including Gilbert borax soap and detergent. Mather Canyon’s sign? I asked a ranger about Grosvenor of the National Geograph- came up with the slogan and image of their plaque, but he didn’t know any- ic Society, General John J. Pershing, the “20-Mule Team” brand. The presi- thing about it. Over the years I noticed and Congressman Cramton. They dent of the borax company disliked the Mather plaque in other parks, came up with forty-two ideas for me- Mather’s idea, but Mather prevailed, but no one seemed to know how it morials, and had a lively debate about and the borax company made a for- had gotten there. The rock strata be- them. There was strong opposition to tune. The 20-Mule Team, invoking the neath Mather Point remember 1.7 bil- the idea of a plaque, including oppo- romance of the Wild West, became lon years of events, but park rangers sition from Mather’s friends inside one of the enduring advertising sym- come and go more quickly, and even the National Park Service, including bols of the 20th century. Later Mather the National Park Service, which is Horace Albright, who had succeeded started his own borax mining com- officially dedicated to remembering Mather as director. Mather had always pany and made his own fortune, but history, holds many memories only disliked the idea of plaques, statues, Mather also observed the greed and on papers buried in archives, if at all. and other human monuments inside machinations of mining companies Eventually I contacted the national the national parks. National parks and other private interests. headquarters of the National Park were supposed to be about the gran- In 1914 Mather wrote a long letter Service and asked about the history deur of nature, not about the transient to the Secretary of the Interior com- of the Mather plaques. In response to heroism of politicians, generals, or ex- plaining about how private compa- my inquiry, NPS historians queried plorers. When admirers of John Muir nies were threatening the national one another, but no one knew much had come to Mather and proposed parks, and about how poorly the about it. Fortunately the folks at the that a small plaque honoring Muir national parks were being managed. NPS Mather Training Center in Harp- be placed in Yosemite, Mather had The Secretary of the Interior replied ers Ferry had remained more curious refused, even though John Muir was that if Mather didn’t like the way about their namesake, and they sup- Mather’s hero. the parks were being run, he could plied me with a 1997 research paper Stephen Mather shared John come to Washington and run them by David Nathanson that provided a Muir’s vision of nature as not just himself, as director of a new National 6 : Grand Canyon Historical Society www.GrandCanyonHistory.org Park Service. Mather put his skills E. W. Marland, as a salesman and manager to work an Oklahoma building a loyal constituency for the oil tycoon who national parks, building the National would also serve Park Service, and expanding and im- as Oklahoma’s proving the park system. Mather built governor and a coalition that spanned bird watch- congressman. ers, artists, politicians, and railroad Marland was a corporations. He set high standards great admirer for the national parks, enduring stan- of the American dards that have made America’s na- pioneers and tional parks the model for the world. felt that pioneer Even when railroad corporations had women hadn’t become crucial allies for bringing the been sufficiently public to the national parks and for honored for their fighting off powerful mining corpora- role in build- tions, Mather ordered the Union Pa- ing America. In One of the many Stephen Mather plaques. cific Railroad to decentralize its plans 1926 Marland for its lodges at Zion, Bryce, and the invited twelve North Rim of the Grand Canyon so prominent sculptors to a dinner party, ing’s Statuary Hall, three were done that human architecture wouldn’t promised them $10,000 just for cre- by Baker. For the Pioneer Woman compete too much against the scen- ating a model for a Pioneer Woman statue Baker created a strong woman ery. And yes, even when lovers of statue, and $100,000 if they won the striding heroically forward, her gaze John Muir wanted to place a tribute public contest. Many of the sculptors on the western horizon, holding a Bi- to Muir in Yosemite, Mather disliked were more famous than Baker, such ble in one hand and her son’s hand in the idea of national parks looking like as Alexander Stirling Calder, who her other hand. Baker thought of her every courthouse square in America. had done the statue of George Wash- as an American Joan of Arc. The stat- In the end, Mather was persuaded to ington at Washington Square Arch in ue is 27 feet high and weighs 12,000 allow John Muir into Yosemite. New York City, and whose son Alex- pounds. It was cast by the Gorham In the end, the Stephen T. Mather ander would become famous for his Company of Providence, Rhode Is- Appreciation decided on a bronze mobiles. Baker’s model was the big land; Gorham was famous for its fine plaque. Horace Albright reluctantly winner, beating the #2 choice by two silver, used in the White House from went along: “I did not want to stand to one. Lincoln to Bush, but it also operated a in the way of the activity of the Mather Bryant Baker had an unlikely be- bronze foundry. The Pioneer Woman Appreciation group.”1 ginning for a sculptor of American statue remains Baker’s most famous Hoping for something special, the heroes. Baker was born in London in work. When Baker died in 1970, the Mather Appreciation selected sculp- 1881, the son and grandson of pro- Marland Estate purchased the sculp- tor Bryant Baker to create the plaque. fessional sculptors. Baker learned tures and plaster casts in Baker’s New On April 22, 1930, three months after his skills helping his father build the York studio and moved them to a stu- Mather’s death, Baker had received Victoria and Albert Museum. While dio on the grounds of the Marland enormous national publicity with still an art student Baker won several mansion in Ponca City, and it also ac- the dedication of his Pioneer Woman medals and won royal favor, leading quired Baker’s papers. statue in Ponca City, Oklahoma. Forty to his sculpting royal subjects. When Baker had communicated with thousand people attended the Pioneer the Great War broke out, Baker tried Stephen Mather in 1925, though the Woman statue dedication ceremony to enlist in the British army, only to be purpose isn’t clear.
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