Death Valley National Park: A Winter Park Visitor’s Favorite

Death Valley National Park is the largest national park in the lower 48 contiguous United States. The park’s history is one of the best examples of the passion—and politics—exemplified in the creation of a park. For decades, people who visited Death Valley and came to love it asked, “How come Death Valley is only a national monument and not a national park?” Its size, grandeur and spectacular scenery were of national park quality.

Steve Mather, the first director of the National Park Service, originally visited Death Valley in 1927 at the invitation of Pacific Coast Borax Company, which had discontinued mining there. Mather, formerly an advertising executive with the company who was the originator of the 20 Mule Team Borax logo, commented that Death Valley was of national park significance, but there was no chance of it becoming a national park because of his borax connections.

Upon Mather’s death in 1930, the conflict of interest died. Most of the land already belonged to the federal government. Horace Albright, Mather’s successor as National Park Service director, worked to make Mather’s dream of a national park area at Death Valley a reality. Finally, in February, 1933, President Herbert Hoover proclaimed Death Valley National Monument. But the “Park” designation was to languish for more than 60 years, despite efforts by many political and naturalist groups to achieve it.

Over the years, miners had established thousands of mining claims. Death Valley Scotty’s Castle lured thousands of tourists into the desolate environs. The desert began to be impacted by the sheer numbers of people who had discovered the recreational values there. Human intrusion into the desert appeared it could have deleterious effects on flora, fauna and the land itself.
Lobbying by political and conservation groups became intense. In the 1980s, the government ruled most of the mining claims invalid. In 1994 both houses of Congress passed the Desert Bill and President Bill Clinton signed it into law. Finally, Death Valley became a national park.

KC Publications’ Death Valley: The Story Behind the Scenery, written by a former Death Valley National Park ranger, details not only an interpretation of the geology and grandeur of the park area, but tells the compelling story of man’s relationship to it. The publisher’s other two Death Valley books include In Pictures…Death Valley, Nature’s Continuing Story and Death Valley Scotty’s Castle: The Story Behind the Scenery. Information on the complete offerings from KC Publications is available online at http://www.nationalparksbooks.com . The company’s address is 2000 W. Wickenburg Way, Ste. 500, Wickenburg, AZ 85390