The Making of a Park

What role should Victorian women assume? The Golden Manual or the Royal Road to Success (1891) offered the answer to "who makes the best wife." She should be "Industrious, Rising Early, Frugal, the Tidy Housekeeper, the Queen of the Kitchen, and Sunshine in the Home." Beauty was "to be coveted," although no woman was to be blamed or despised for her plainness." Then it posed the ultimate question: "But who is to tell whether a girl will make an industrious woman?"
Some middle- and upper-class women were breaking the home mold. They were involved in clubs, civic projects (like renaming Durango's streets until the male city council scratched the whole idea), and other projects beyond the home.
A classic example of women's new role came with the creation of Mesa Verde National Park. "Discovered" before the founding of Durango and increasingly visited in the 1890s, sites were being trampled by tourists as they collected souvenirs. Mesa Verde was disappearing before their eyes.

To the rescue galloped a determined group of women led by Virginia McClurg and Lucy Peabody. Joining with them stood an equally resolute group of Durangoans that included Estelle Camp, Alice Bishop, and Jeanette Scoville.
Starting in the '90s, they lobbied, wrote articles, cajoled, spoke, and showed glass lantern slides to arouse public interest before it was too late to save Mesa Verde. No doubt some men felt such activity went beyond the bounds of women's roles, but that did not stop them.
They finally organized the Colorado Cliff Dwellings Association to advance their work. While the goal was clear in their minds, the control differed. Some wanted it to be a woman's park, others a state park, and most a national park. They brought "experts" to Mesa Verde, conducted tours, and even signed a treaty with the Utes to gain the sites, an agreement the government promptly disallowed.
Finally, it came down to lobbying Congress. It took a while to convince reluctant Congressmen, but finally, during the 1905-06 session, they managed to get a bill through both houses. On June 29, 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt - conservationist and outdoorsman - signed the bill creating the park.
Sadly, just before all this happened the movement fell apart over a variety of issues and jealousies. For the next generation, partisans of McClurg and Peabody continued to struggle over who should get the credit.
It really mattered little. What mattered was that they had saved Mesa Verde, created a park, establishing the first cultural park in the world.

In this ca. 1910 photo, Clint and Fred Jeep show off pots and artifacts they reportedly collected from Eagle Nest cliff dwelling, ouside the national park. Decades of such private collecting and resultant destruction led to the establishment of Mesa Verde National Park in 1906. Fred Jeep was "chief ranger" in the park for several years, operating tourist services near Spruce Tree House with his wife Oddie and their children. In the 1920s, Superintendent Jesse Nusbaum ended the practice of hiring people as a political favor, replacing them with professional rangers.