Indiana Dunes

Administrative History

A Signature of Time and

Eternity:

The Administrative History 

of Indiana Dunes National 

Lakeshore, Indiana

by

Ron Cockrell

Historian

1988

United States Department of the Interior

National Park Service

Midwest Regional Office

Office of Planning and Resource Preservation 

Division of Cultural Resource Management 

Omaha

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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Indiana Dunes

Administrative History

TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Dunes are to the Midwest what Grand Canyon is to Arizona and Yosemite is 

to California. They constitute a signature of time and eternity. Once lost, the loss 

would be irrevocable.

Carl Sandburg

COVER

DEDICATION

PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

PART I: THE STRUGGLE TO ESTABLISH AN INDIANA DUNES NATIONAL 

LAKESHORE

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER I: THE EARLY YEARS

Settling the Dunes

The Early Preservation Movement

Stephen T. Mather and the Sand Dunes National Park

"First Save the Country, Then Save the Dunes," 1917—1919

Establishment and Development of the State Park

Endnotes

CHAPTER II: TAKING AIM IN THE 1950s

Dorothy Buell's Save the Dunes Council

"Indiana's Third Senator" Takes the Dunes Battle to Congress

The Great Lakes Survey

Endnotes

CHAPTER III: PORT VERSUS PARK

Three Years of Struggle, 1960—1962

The Kennedy Compromise, 1963—1964

Endnotes

CHAPTER IV: AUTHORIZATION OF AN INDIANA DUNES 

NATIONAL LAKESHORE, 1965-1966
Lyndon Johnson's Program 

Department of the Interior's Proposal 

A Legislative Miracle

Endnotes

CHAPTER V: THE TUG OF WAR CONTINUES, 1967—1968

A Park, But No Money

The Marshaling Yard Controversy

Support from the Great Lakes Area Field Office 

Birth of the Indiana Dunes Advisory Commission 

Endnotes

CHAPTER VI: A NATIONAL PARK SERVICE PRESENCE AT 

INDIANA DUNES, 1969—1971

The First Summer Visitor Season, 1969

Land Acquisition

J. R. Whitehouse Arrives

The First Operations Evaluation

The Nixon Administration's "Lukewarm Attitude"

Collapse of Compromise: The Question of Lakeshore Expansion

Endnotes

PART II: THE STRUGGLE TO ADMINISTER THE INDIANA DUNES NATIONAL 

LAKESHORE

INTRODUCTION

Endnotes

CHAPTER VII: POLITICS AND PARKS

Operations, 1972

Dedication/Establishment Day, September 8, 1972

Endnotes

CHAPTER XI: CHAPTER VIII: GROWING PAINS, 1973—1976

Operations, 1973—1976

Nathaniel P. Reed Visits the Dunes

Fiasco in Indianapolis: West Beach Development

Campaign for Lakeshore Boundary Expansion Endnotes

CHAPTER IX: COMING OF AGE, 1977—1979

Operations, 1977—1979

West Beach Dedication

Bailly I Nuclear Debate

Dunes Expansion Hearings Continue

Endnotes

CHAPTER X: THE GREAT TURNING POINT, 1980
Operations, 1980

A Future Course: The General Management, 1977—1980

The Dunes Expansion Act of 1980

Endnotes

CHAPTER XI: REAGANOMICS OR RETRENCHMENT?

Operations 1981—1983

Preservation of South Shore Railroad History

Secretary Watt's "Hit List" 

Triumph of the Bailly Alliance 

Management Efficiency 

Endnotes

CHAPTER XII: THE SINGING SANDS OF INDIANA DUNES

Operations, 1984—1987

Expiration of the Advisory Commission

Paul H. Douglas Center for Environmental Education

The 1986 Expansion Bill

High Lake Levels and Shoreline Erosion

Endnotes

CONCLUSION: TWO DECADES IN PERSPECTIVE

Endnotes

PART III: BIBLIOGRAPHY 

PART IV: APPENDIXES

A. Historic and Contemporary Site Photographs

B. Legislation

C. Chronological List of National Park Service Employees

D. Annual Visitation Figures

E. Annual Budgetary Figures (ONPS)

F. Administrative Positions Charts

G. Area and Boundary Maps

PART V: INDEX (omitted from the on-line edition)
Indiana Dunes

Administrative History

DEDICATION

This administrative history of 

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore 

is dedicated to its first

National Park Service superintendents:

James R. ("J. R.") Whitehouse 

and

Dale B. Engquist

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Indiana Dunes

Administrative History

PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

To this day, I'll always feel that I had a partner at Indiana Dunes who really 

appreciated what we were all about.

Superintendent J. R. Whitehouse recalling the role of former Assistant Secretary 

of the Interior Nathaniel P. Reed at Indiana Dunes.

The United States Congress' 1966 authorization of Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore 

represents the culmination of a movement which began in 1916 to establish a "Sand Dunes 

National Park." It is indeed an honor for this National Park Service historian to compile the 

first administrative history of this unit of the National Park System because the sand dunes of 

northwest Indiana were the first new area to be considered by Stephen Tyng Mather, the

much revered founder and first director of what has become the nation's principal resource 

preservation agency. Although the Sand Dunes National Park proposal had Mather's 

enthusiastic support, national policies as well as world events prevented the addition of the 

area to the National Park System during Mather's day. The ensuing fifty years spawned an 

increasingly bitter battle between the forces of conservation and development which did not 

abate with the November 5, 1966, authorization of Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.

Having never visited Indiana, or its beautiful lakeshore extending east from Chicago, prior to 

initiating this project, my perspective in this administrative history is certainly that of an 

outsider. Mindful of my employment with the National Park Service, I have endeavored to 

remain objective in this narrative. I have not refrained from reporting on any of the highlyemotional debates, what one dunes—saver aptly called "the knock—down, drag—out fights," 

nor have I tried to coverup or explain away the mistakes made by park managers.

There are many stories intertwined in these pages. Each one would make an interesting book 

on its own. The principal stories are those at the park level and those at the Midwest Region, 

Washington Office, Departmental, and Congressional levels. On an intersecting and parallel 

path are the roles of the Advisory Commission, environmentalists (especially the Save the 

Dunes Council), industry, State and local governments, and a wide assortment of community 

groups. While there are many ways this history could be presented, my challenge was to 

select materials from National Park Service archives and files and recount it from a Service 

perspective. My audience is primarily Service employees, present and future, who need to 

know why decisions were made and the background of developments.

Two 1983 books have documented the intense battle to establish the Indiana Dunes National 

Lakeshore and subsequent controversies: Sacred Sands by J. Ronald Engel and Duel for the

Dunes by Kay Franklin and Norma Schaeffer. This work does not duplicate the admirable 

efforts of these authors. "A Signature of Time and Eternity" builds upon these two books and 

portrays Indiana Dunes from the Service's perspective by utilizing as many agency sources 

(written and oral) as possible. It is not expanded to include the history of the Indiana Dunes 

State Park, an entity within the national lakeshore's authorized boundaries that remains under
the State of Indiana's jurisdiction.

I accomplished preliminary research in 1985, with my first visit to the area July 22 to August

2. Upon my initial tour of the national lakeshore, Curator/Historian Marty Marciniak's 

enlightening commentary proved beneficial to my grasp of the complexity of Indiana Dunes. 

Upon beginning research, I was absolutely overwhelmed by the quantity of source materials. 

I have no means to substantiate it, but Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore must rank among 

the System's "most studied" units. While the volumes of scientific, resource management, 

and planning documents are impressive, I concentrated on the most significant reports and 

relied on file materials as basic primary sources. At the time of my research, the national 

lakeshore had three filing groups: Active Files (1980 to present); Inactive Files (principally 

the mid to late 1970s to the present); and Stored Files (those deemed unnecessary for 

operational purposes and stored in an outbuilding at the Bailly Administrative Area). The 

Superintendent's Management Library and the Visitor Center Library also proved to be

excellent archival sources.

Progress on this project halted in 1986 as other Regional research priorities intervened. I 

resumed research and writing in March 1987, beginning with two enlightening interviews 

with former Superintendent J. R. Whitehouse and Assistant Secretary of the Interior 

Nathaniel P. Reed in their delightful Florida retirement homes. Additional oral history

interviews were conducted in August with Superintendent Dale Engquist, former member and

Chairman of the Indiana Dunes Advisory Commission John Schnurlein, Executive Director of

the Save the Dunes Council Charlotte Read, and Save the Dunes Council Engineering 

Chairman Herbert Read. This latter group is to be congratulated for its fortitude and 

generosity because when the interview tapes were lost by the airlines in the chaotic aftermath 

of Chicago's flood (at great anguish to the author), all of the interviewees graciously 

consented to repeat the process the following month.

Part I contains the early history of the area to 1971, the year preceding establishment of the 

national lakeshore. Part II contains events from 1972 to 1987 and focuses on the various 

aspects of National Park Service administration of Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. While 

this history generally presents events chronologically, certain material must be delivered 

topically to be understood. Similarly, in Part II, each chapter is headed by a section titled 

"Operations" in which important, albeit mundane, information concerning all principal 

aspects of Service operations (administration, development, maintenance, interpretation, 

resources management, planning, law enforcement, etc.) can be discussed before subsequent 

chapter entries delve into specific—oftentimes controversial—topics.

Many people involved in this project deserve a note of special thanks. Foremost are the 

interviewees listed above as well as George Palmer, Don Castleberry, and George B. 

Hartzog, Jr. I am forever indebted to Superintendent's Secretary Ruthanne Slamka, not only 

for her assistance during my research trips, numerous requests for information, and 

organizing (twice!) the logistics of the interviews, but for her excellent skills in meticulously 

recording the minutes of the Indiana Dunes Advisory Commission meetings. Ruthanne's 

transcripts in and of themselves present an interesting quarterly glimpse into the lakeshore's 

divisional operations as well as the raging controversies of the day. Other members of 

Superintendent Engquist's capable staff are also to be commended, including Larry Waldron,

Warren Snyder, Marty Marciniak, Kora Krajcir, Betty Rinehart, and Dorothy Gambrill. In the 

Midwest Regional Office, Secretary Marge Poehling faithfully transcribed the many oral 

history interview tapes and corrected without complaint the red—inked pages from my 

merciless editing.

Ron Cockrell

December 30, 1987
Indiana Dunes

Administrative History

PART I

PART I:

THE STRUGGLE TO ESTABLISH AN INDIANA 

DUNES NATIONAL LAKESHORE

The people of the mills, the shops, and the stores are the backbone of the great 

cities. They are the producers of wealth and the human species; and the 

opportunity for those people to get the full value of the out of doors is made 

almost impossible. The great national reservations of the West are beyond their 

reach and the parks of the cities, valuable as they are, do not possess the wild 

beauty of the master's hand nor do they inspire the soul in the same degree. . . . 

The Dunes of Northern Indiana are almost within a stone's throw of perhaps one 

of the greatest industrial communities of the world. It is the only landscape of its 

kind within reach of the millions that need its softening influence for the 

restoration of their souls and the balance of their minds.

Jens Jensen, arguing for the establishment of a Sand Dunes National Park in

1916.

Introduction

Chapter One, "The Early Years," discusses the historic settlement of Indiana's dunelands, the 

ecological discoveries of Henry Cowles, and the initial dunes preservation efforts of Chicago

—based groups such as the Prairie Club. By 1916, dunes enthusiasts united under the 

National Dunes Park Association (NDPA) to advocate the establishment of a Sand Dunes 

National Park. One of their fellow conservationists and Prairie Club members, Stephen Tyng 

Mather, was in a powerful position to help. Mather, the first Director of the newly authorized 

National Park Service, led the park movement by examining the Indiana Dunes as the 

Service's first new area proposal. Unfortunately, World War I and its aftermath created new

national goals and Mather and the NDPA turned to Richard Lieber, father of the Indiana State 

Park System, to preserve the dunes. Assisted by NDPA officer Bess Sheehan, Lieber 

successfully lobbied the Indiana Legislature to authorize the Indiana Dunes State Park in

1923. Three years later, the state park's new bathhouse opened and soon the facility became 

one of the most popular in Indiana.

Chapter Two, "Taking Aim in the 1950s," elaborates on Dorothy Buell's 1952 founding of the 

Save the Dunes Council in response to mounting development pressures which threatened to 

engulf the fragile dunelands. The paramount threat was the State of Indiana's long—sought 

goal of building a deepwater port on its small section of lakeshore. When the small citizens 

group was unsuccessful in converting a single member of the Indiana political establishment 

to save the dunes for a park, it turned to Senator Paul H. Douglas in neighboring Illinois. 

Douglas agreed to lead the effort and introduced legislation in 1958 for an Indiana Dunes
National Monument. The Save the Dunes Council volunteers faithfully assisted Senator 

Douglas by providing vital information as well as finding flaws in U.S. Army Corps of 

Engineers reports which advocated placing the proposed Port of Indiana in the heart of the 

Central Dunes—the keystone of the park initiative. Concurrent with these events was the 

National Park Service's Great Lakes Survey (1957—1958) led by Allen T. Edmunds. The 

Survey identified potential new units along the Great Lakes shoreline for Federal and State 

recreational areas. Not surprisingly, Indiana Dunes rated high for national park status.

Chapter Three, "Port Versus Park," records the period from 1960 to 1963 in which the 

struggle reached loggerheads. Variations in the legislation called for an "Indiana Dunes 

National Scientific Landmark" as well as various combinations of parcels in an effort to 

make the project more palatable to Indiana. A breakthrough came in 1961 when Congress 

authorized Cape Cod National Seashore. Not only did the Cape Cod bill set the Federal 

precedent of purchasing natural parkland, but it was an area beloved by President John F.

Kennedy, a fact which Paul H. Douglas exploited to draw sympathetic parallels to the Indiana 

Dunes. President Kennedy orchestrated what became called the "Kennedy Compromise" in 

which the administration favored both a port and a park in the Indiana Dunes. One

formidable opponent was House Minority Leader Charles Halleck whose district 

encompassed the dunes. Kennedy's assassination sent the bitter ballgame into extra innings.

Chapter Four, "Authorization of an Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, 1965—1966," 

elaborates on President Lyndon B. Johnson's support and the slow progress of the Indiana 

Dunes legislation. While urban parks were a natural component of Johnson's Great Society, 

the movement was hampered by the confusing array of bills. In January 1966, the Department 

of the Interior's proposal advocated a twelve—unit national lakeshore of nearly 9,000 acres.

In a masterful bit of parliamentary manuevering, a dunes park bill finally passed through 

Congress and on to Lyndon Johnson's desk. The bill Johnson signed on November 5, 1966, 

authorized a park of 8,100 acres (including the State Park)—a considerable difference from 

the original proposal of 11,700 acres. Although the Park Service's Northeast Regional Office 

in Philadelphia immediately dispatched a master planning team, Congress failed to 

appropriate funds for land acquisition and staffing. At the same time, Paul Douglas lost his 

bid for reelection, thus silencing the strongest dunes—saver in Congress. Because Indiana 

Dunes National Lakeshore was a park on paper only and threatened by hostile interests, the 

Save the Dunes Council resolved to remain in business to protect its hard—won prize.

Chapter Five, "The Tug of War Continues, 1967—1968," relates how efforts to get land 

acquisition and staffing appropriations bore fruit when the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore 

Land Acquisition Office opened in June 1968. Conservationists were alarmed when the 

National Park Service failed publicly to silence efforts by the local railroad to build a freight 

marshaling yard on national lakeshore authorized lands. Instead, the Park Service's director 

cunningly ordered the purchase of properties along the proposed transportation corridor in 

order to thwart the railroad's plan. At the same time, the Northeast Regional Office continued 

to seek a compromise in the form of a scaled—down facility. The railroad eventually 

withdrew its proposal. Unaware of the behind—the—scenes manuevering and angered by the 

bureau's public stance, the Save the Dunes Council regarded the Park Service's motives with 

suspicion. Simultaneously, the Service opened a field branch of its Philadelphia Regional 

Office in East Lansing, Michigan, principally to oversee Indiana Dunes as well as the Apostle 

Islands and Sleeping Bear Dunes park proposals. Allen T. Edmunds led this Great Lakes

Area Field Office and masterfully put out fires such as adverse zoning changes and presented

Service policies and goals before innumerable public meetings.

Chapter Six, "A National Park Service Presence at Indiana Dunes, 1969—1971," discusses 

land acquisition progress as well as the disturbing absence of development funds. In 1969, 

Darwin E. Williams arrived as Management Assistant to supervise four seasonal rangers
during the first summer visitation season at West Beach. While the local opposition became 

less vociferous as land acquisition accelerated, Williams initiated a vigorous building 

demolition and removal program. In 1970, a small permanent staff began to come on board. 

In October, James R. Whitehouse became the national lakeshore's first superintendent. 

Whitehouse, who had never served as a superintendent and whose career included positions 

with the Jobs Corps, was not the traditional, so—called "National Park Service professional" 

dedicated to "toeing the party line." Whitehouse deftly walked the Indiana Dunes tightrope 

and worked closely with conservation groups as well as industry. Progress continued as the 

park staff moved into a headquarters and visitor center in a former church building. 

Whitehouse sought a declaration of taking for the historic Bailly Homestead and helped 

secure the first development funding for West Beach.

At the national level, the Nixon administration launched its "Parks to the People" program, 

but this generosity did not extend to Indiana Dunes, especially when Rogers C. B. Morton's 

appointment as Secretary of the Interior led to a feeble effort to deauthorize Indiana Dunes 

National Lakeshore. Within the National Park Service's Washington and Northeast Regional 

Offices there was a pervasive laissez—faire attitude toward the new national lakeshore. The 

Save the Dunes Council and other conservation groups only intensified efforts to secure 

development funding and turned to friends in Congress like Sidney Yates (Democrat—

Illinois) on the Interior Appropriations Committee to get results.

In Congress, the first of many lakeshore expansion bills floated, signaling the Save the Dunes 

Council's intention to double the size of the park and regain parcels deleted from bills a 

decade previously. Predictably, the State and business community denounced it as an effort to 

choke—off both the Port of Indiana and lakeshore industries. To most observers, it seemed

the battle over the dunes would never end.
Indiana Dunes

Administrative History

PART I

CHAPTER ONE:

THE EARLY YEARS

Should public regard or private means procure it for the country, it will be the 

only national park within reach of millions of workers for weekend pleasure. The 

Yosemite, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Adirondack, White Mountain, and other 

national parks always will be sacred to the few who have money and plenty of 

time. Here is a chance for the powers that be to show regard for the working 

people of the middle West, who are, after all, the pillars of America. Could there 

not be at least one national park within reach of the masses of the citizens and 

their children?

"Miss McCauley's Column," circa 1918 [1]

Settling the Dunes

Fur trader Joseph Bailly was one of the first known Euroamerican settlers in the Calumet 

region of what later became northwest Indiana and northeast Illinois. Prior to Bailly's arrival 

in 1822, however, the area was traversed by various peoples. Most archeological evidence of 

prehistoric settlement suggests the harsh topography of the Calumet—swamps and sand 

dunes—deterred anything but transient habitation. Indians came to the area during the 

summer and then migrated to the Kankakee River area to winter. By the seventeenth century, 

the Miami, Ottawa, Potawatomi, and Wea tribes occupied the region when French explorers 

arrived to claim the area as "New France." Father Jacques Marquette led one of the first 

groups of French fur traders and missionaries through the Calumet in 1675. In 1753, the 

French and their Indian allies operated a fur depot, Petite Fort, which was near the mouth of 

Fort Creek, within today's Indiana Dunes State Park. With Great Britain's triumph in the 

Seven Years' War, the entire Ohio valley became the reserve of British fur traders who used 

Petite Fort until reverses in the American Revolutionary War forced them to abandon it in

1779.

Post—bellum American settlers flocked to the fertile farmland of the southern Indiana 

Territory, avoiding the swamps and dunes of the Calumet as an inhospitable no man's land. 

Six years after Indiana attained statehood in 1816, Joseph Bailly and his family became one

of the first known settlers of the "Indiana Dunes." Bailly, a Canadian fur trapper, was the first 

to recognize the area's commercial potential, but by the time of his "squatting" on Indian

lands, the fur trade was in decline. Bailly built a trading post on the Little Calumet River, 

between the Lake Shore Trail—the trace connecting Fort Dearborn (Chicago) and Detroit—

and the Calumet Beach Trail. By settling the area, Bailly hoped to prosper from the travelers 

along the latter trail. The continued decline in the fur trade, however, forced Bailly to open a 

tavern to prevent his indebtedness from further escalating.
A mail route was established in 1831, followed two years later by a stage line along the 

Calumet Beach Trail (present—day Highway 12). When Michigan City was platted in 1833, 

additional settlers arrived and land speculation boomed. The same year saw the signing of the 

Treaty of Chicago and the removal of the last Indian reservations in the area. Bailly, joining 

in the speculation fray, platted a village one mile northwest of his homestead site called 

"Bailly Town." The new settlement failed following Bailly's death in 1835. Joseph Bailly's

legacy is physically reflected in the form of several log structures as well as the family's large 

home, construction of which began in 1835.

The Bailly family subsequently began a sawmill business to supply the area's building boom. 

In the 1860s, this logged—over land was sold to Swedish immigrants such as the Chellbergs 

(Kjellberg) who established productive farms along the periphery of the Indiana Dunes. The 

Swedes were followed by an influx of German settlers. [2]

By the turn of the century booming communities on Indiana's lakeshore included Whiting, 

Hammond, East Chicago, Woods Mill, Crown Point, Chesterton, and Porter. In LaPorte 

County, Michigan City prospered with its harbor and a growing number of industries. To the 

west, Porter County was principally agrarian with small towns built along several railroad 

lines which gave farmers access to the vast Chicago marketplace. Along the lakeshore dune 

ridges towered nearly 200 feet above Lake Michigan. The area featured interdunal ponds and 

blowouts stretching nearly a mile inland. Behind these dunes was the "Great Marsh," a band 

of swampy terrain extending from Michigan City across Porter County to what is now Lake 

Street in Lake County. Further to the south was another band of dunes where the Chicago, 

South Bend, and South Shore Railroad and a series of roads were built, and beyond that were 

the farm fields. In Lake County, a low ridge of dunes skirted the lakeshore and abutted the 

wetlands of the Grand and Little Calumet rivers. There were very few people who lived in 

these desolate areas. [3]

The Early Preservation Movement

Henry C. Cowles' investigations while a botany student at the University of Chicago formed 

the foundation of the dunes preservation movement. In 1899, the Botanical Gazette published 

Cowles' work, "Ecological Relations of the Vegetation on Sand Dunes of Lake Michigan,"

and set the course of modern botany. Cowles meticulously documented the intricate

microcosm of plant life amidst the bogs, woodlands, dunes, and swamps in an area between 

Mount Tom and Mount Holden in present—day Indiana Dunes State Park. Cowles' efforts 

established a new discipline of plant ecology; early animal ecologists also adapted Cowles' 

methodology. Henry Cowles' concentration on the Indiana Dunes brought international 

attention to its intricate ecosystem. [4]

As early as the 1880s, a decade preceding Cowles' study, commercial interests began 

exploiting the lakeshore. Sand mining companies hauled huge quantities of sand from the 

dunes for use in Chicago landfills and building industries. In one unpopulated area near the 

mouth of the Grand Calumet River, the Illinois Steel Company, a subsidiary of U.S. Steel, 

purchased land in 1905 and began constructing a new steel manufacturing plant the following 

year. A new community, named after the corporation's finance committee chairman, Elbert H. 

Gary, thrived nearby. Woodlands, swamps, and dunes were eradicated to accommodate the 

new structures. [5]

By the end of the first decade of the twentieth century, it was apparent that the urban 

industrial sprawl from Chicago would continue its rapid encroachment on the Indiana Dunes. 

Hoosier Slide, just west of Michigan City, at 200 feet high was the largest sand dune on 

Indiana's lakeshore and a popular attraction for climbing and sliding. In twenty years, the

Ball Brothers of Muncie, Indiana, manufacturers of glass fruit jars, and the Pittsburgh Plate
Glass Company of Kokomo, Indiana, carried Hoosier Slide away in railroad boxcars. 

Northern Indiana Public Service Company (NIPSCO) bought the denuded site to build a 

power generating station. [6]

From Gary to Michigan City, industry ringed Indiana's lakeshore. Local residents and some 

Chicagoans recognized the threat and organized to meet it. In 1908, the Playground 

Association of Chicago initiated the "Saturday Afternoon Walks" in the dunes. The 

popularity of the weekly event prompted Thomas W. Allinson, Jens Jensen, and Henry C. 

Cowles to form the Prairie Club of Chicago in 1911. All three men served on the club's 

conservation committee with industrialist Stephen T. Mather, future first Director of the 

National Park Service. For the Midwest, the Prairie Club became the counterpart of the

Appalachian Trail Club in the East and the Sierra Club in the West. The Prairie Club was the 

first group to propose that a portion of the Indiana Dunes be protected from commercial 

interests and maintained in its pristine condition for the enjoyment of the people. [7] The 

following year club president Jens Jensen purchased "the Beach House" east of Mount Tom

in Tremont where the group could assemble and strategize. For thirteen years, Jensen, the 

"Dean of American Landscape Architects" and Superintendent of the Chicago Park System, 

spoke throughout the region promoting the dunes and earning for himself the title "Apostle of 

the Dunes." Friends of Our Native Landscape, founded in 1913 by Jensen and dedicated to

the "spiritual power in the American landscape," joined the Prairie Club for the weekend 

walks in the dunes. [8]

The idea of establishing a park in the Indiana Dunes germinated for several years, and the 

concept blossomed in the spring of 1916. Rumors circulated about the impending dredging of 

Fort Creek at Waverly Beach to accommodate Lake Michigan ships loading sand directly 

from railroad cars. Many were convinced Mount Tom was to go the way of Hoosier Slide. 

When Prairie Club members staged their annual picnic at the Beach House, they decided to 

take the offensive against the industrial interests despoiling the Indiana Dunes. They voted to 

form the National Dunes Park Association (NDPA) to promote the establishment of a

national park on Indiana's lakeshore. On July 16, a mass meeting at Waverly Beach to 

inaugurate the effort resulted in three special trains from Chicago carrying 5,000 people to 

the dunes. With a theme of "A National Park for the Middle West, and all the Middle West 

for a National Park," a principal goal was to raise money to buy enough duneland to turn 

over to the Federal Government for a national park. Elected officers of the NDPA were 

Armanis F. Knotts, Thomas H. Cannon, and Mrs. Frank (Bess) Sheehan. On the board of 

directors were Jens Jensen, Henry C. Cowles, John O. Bowers, and George M. Pinneo.

The popular appeal of the NDPA's message was phenomenal. Less than two months later, on 

September 7, U.S. Senator Thomas Taggart (Democrat—Indiana) successfully presented 

Resolution 268 before the Senate calling on Secretary of the Interior Franklin K. Lane to 

explore the feasibility of obtaining segments of three Indiana counties for a Sand Dunes 

National Park.* The stage was set for the opening round of the battle for a park in the Indiana 

Dunes. [9]

*Thomas Taggart served as Mayor of Indianapolis (1895—1901) and Chairman 

of the Democratic National Committee (1900—1908). On March 20, 1916, 

Taggart was appointed to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by 

the death of Senator Benjamin F. Shively. On November 7, 1916, following the 

general election in which he ran to fill the position, Taggart resigned upon his 

defeat. The first national legislative heralder of the save the dunes movement 

died in Indianapolis on March 6, 1929. See U.S. Senate Document No. 92—8, 

Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774—1971 (Washington, 

D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1971), p. 1786.
Stephen T. Mather and the Sand Dunes National Park

Stephen Tyng Mather left Chicago in 1915 to serve as an assistant to his friend, Franklin K. 

Lane, President Woodrow Wilson's Secretary of the Interior. Mather, a wealthy Chicago 

borax manufacturer imbued with a deep appreciation of the environment, went to 

Washington to manage the neglected national parks. On August 25, 1916, President Wilson 

signed the National Park Service Act, and Lane later appointed Mather the first director of 

the new bureau. As a member of two organizations promoting a Sand Dunes National Park, 

Mather found himself in an ideal position to promote just such an entity to benefit his native 

Chicago and the Midwest. Within two weeks of the National Park Service Act, Mather met 

with Senator Taggart to draft a resolution authorizing an investigation of the "advisability of 

the securing, by purchase or otherwise, all that portion of the counties of Lake, Laporte, and 

Porter, in the State of Indiana, bordering upon Lake Michigan, and commonly known as the

'Sand dunes,' with a view that such lands be created a national park." While Congress made 

no appropriation for the study, local preservation groups assumed Mather's expenses, 

including a one—week trip to the dunes, Chicago, and Michigan City. [10]

Mather held hearings on October 30 to gauge local sentiment on the proposed national park. 

Meeting in a courtroom in the Chicago Federal Building, 400 people attended and forty—two 

spoke in favor of the park to "save the dunes." There were no opponents. Individuals

testifying were Henry C. Cowles, University of Chicago botanist; Earl H. Reed, artist and 

writer; Otis Caldwell, Chicago Historical Society president; Lorado Taft, sculptor (and future 

father—in—law of U.S. Senator Paul H. Douglas); T. C. Chamberlain, University of Chicago 

geologist; and Julius Rosenwald, founder of Sears, Roebuck, and Company. Some other 

organizations represented were the Prairie Club, Indiana Academy of Science, Chicago 

Association of Commerce, and the Illinois Audubon Society.

The most convincing testimony was that of Henry Cowles. The botanist had dedicated twenty 

years of his life to the Indiana Dunes and still took his students there for intensive academic 

study. The dunes were known throughout the world for their ecological importance. Cowles 

related the story of a group of European scientists with only two months in the United States 

who compiled a list of places to spend their time: the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Yellowstone, 

and the dunelands of southern Lake Michigan. [11]

Mather's assistant, Horace M. Albright, accompanied him to the dunes and compiled the 

National Park Service's report to Congress, [12] which was submitted to Secretary Lane on 

December 20. The document represented a potential turning point for Federal land acquisition 

policy for the Park Service director proposed the government purchase the land for a national 

park from private interests, a practice hitherto verboten by Congress. He cited the example of 

the $50,000 appropriation to buy a tract in Sequoia National Park which was insufficient to 

meet the $70,000 price tag, the deficit amount coming from the National Geographic Society. 

Mather identified a strip of lakeshore twenty—five miles long and one mile wide for 

acquisition. This represented 9,000 to 13,000 acres at a price of $1.8 to $2.6 million. The park 

should be "contiguous and dignified," with no isolated tracts outstanding, Mather believed.

Federal developments in the Sand Dunes National Park would be scant. Four or five roads 

connecting the lakeshore with the state highway would take motorists to the lake. A road 

along the shore itself was also a possibility, but development was not pressing because of the 

convenient rail lines traversing the dunes. As for Park Service administration, a 

superintendent and two permanent rangers were all the personnel needed for visitor

protection and interpretation with additional seasonal help during the summer. Estimated cost 

for the manpower would not exceed $15,000 a year. [13]
Mather declared that the Indiana Dunes were unmatched anywhere in the United States, if not 

the world. The area was convenient to five million people in the Chicago metropolitan area as 

well as millions of other Americans in the center of the nation. The principal segment of the 

proposed national park stretched from Miller to Michigan City, the northeast corner of Lake 

County to Porter County. Mather wrote:

The beauty of the trees and other plant life in their autumn garb, as I saw them 

recently, was beyond description.

Here is a stretch of unoccupied beach 25 miles in length, a broad, clean, safe 

beach, which in the summer months would furnish splendid bathing facilities for 

thousands of people at the same instant. Fishing in Lake Michigan directly north 

of the dunes is said to be exceptionally good. There are hundreds of good camp 

sites on the beach and back in the dunes. [14]

Mather discounted the value of land near Gary for the park either because the dunes were less 

spectacular or the land was too near industrial areas. Mather discussed the unique values for 

which Yellowstone, Yosemite, Crater Lake, Sequoia, Mount Rainier, Glacier, Rocky 

Mountain, Mesa Verde, and Grand Canyon (at the time pending) merited national park status. 

The Sand Dunes of Indiana, Mather believed, deserved the same designation:

The sand dunes are admittedly wonderful, and they are inherently distinctive 

because they best illustrate the action of the wind on the sand accumulated from 

a great body of water. No national park or other Federal reservation offers this 

phenomenon for the pleasure and edification of the people, and no national park

is as accessible. Furthermore, the dunes offer to the visitor extraordinary scenery, 

a large variety of plant life, magnificent bathing beaches, and splendid 

opportunities to camp and live in the wild country close to nature.

If the dunes of this region were mediocre and of little scenic or scientific 

interest, they would have no national character and could not be regarded as 

more than a State or municipal park possibility. My judgment is clear, however,

that their characteristics entitle the major portion of their area to consideration as 

a national park project. [15]

Because opponents were not present at the Mather hearing does not mean there was no 

serious opposition to the park proposal. The center of this opposition was in Porter County, 

Indiana. Led by the press, business and political leaders, and the Valparaiso Chamber of 

Commerce, the critics attacked the immense area under consideration and charged it would 

undermine the tax base of the region and permanently close the lakeshore to industry. Many 

believed U.S. Steel Corporation was the power behind the park movement because it wished 

to keep its competitors out. [16]
Indiana Dunes

Administrative History

PART I

CHAPTER ONE:

THE EARLY YEARS (continued)

"First Save the Country, Then Save the Dunes," 1917—1919

On December 20, 1916, Mather submitted his report to Secretary Lane who approved the 

report and forwarded it to Congress in early 1917. To help promote the park cause, Stephen 

Mather used his own money to publish and distribute the report. Thereafter, the outlook 

appeared bleak. Senator Taggart, the champion of the dunes in Congress, left office following 

his electoral defeat. Another vocal champion, Stephen T. Mather, was silenced when he 

suffered a nervous breakdown in the spring of 1917 and could not lobby for the park. The 

crippling blow came on April 6 when national priorities inexorably changed as the United 

States entered World War I. With revenues targeted for the national defense, any 

Congressional expenditure for the establishment of a Sand Dunes National Park appeared 

doomed. The popular slogan "Save the Dunes!" became "First Save the Country, Then Save 

the Dunes!" [17]

Undaunted, the National Dunes Park Association and other preservation groups were 

determined to continue the save the dunes campaign. Supporters took the Prairie Club's 

annual outdoor festival concept and expanded it into a historical pageant called "The Dunes 

Under Four Flags." The dunes pageant would tie the area to American history while 

portraying the beauty of the duneland through dance, music, and poetry. The Dunes Pageant 

Association, incorporated in Chicago in February 1917, commissioned Thomas Wood 

Stevens, president of the American Pageant Association, to compose a pageant similar to his 

other successful shows in Newark and St. Louis. Memorial Day 1917 was the first 

performance at the Waverly Beach blowout—a natural amphitheatre amidst the sand dunes—

in the present—day state park. It was rained out, but the following weekend, 25,000 people

jammed into the area for an unforgettable pageant with 600 actors. It was capped by a stirring 

grand finale, singing the national anthem. [18]

The pageant enjoyed widespread publicity thanks to area women's clubs. Newsreels spread

the event throughout the country. Petitions proliferated. Each member of Congress received a 

copy of the pageant brochure. One author contends the pageant spawned a civil religion and a 

formidable political constituency for saving the dunes by creating a "community united by 

mutual sympathy." [19]

As United States involvement in the war deepened, NDPA members acknowledged their 

inability to halt the despoiling of the dunes during the conflict. They vowed to renew the 

fight "the minute the war is over." [20] They kept the issue before the public, however, as 

witnessed by what one Chicago columnist wrote in 1918:

Unless the State of Indiana or the United States takes the matter in hand, 

commercial plants will crowd the entire lake frontage. The matter resolves itself 

into a decision of humanity. Shall the million[s] of mill workers be condemned
to the slavery of labor without recreation in the big plants on the lake shore, or 

shall they be given the privilege of open—air spaces and pure air in which to 

renew strength and courage in their brief hours away from the mills? [21]

While the war ended in late 1918, the Sand Dunes National Park initiative floundered badly 

in 1919, faced by the post—war prosperity and the mounting opposition of politicians and 

business interests. [22] Evidence of this fatal NDPA pessimism can be seen in the May 15,

1919, meeting of the Chicago committee. The group conceded that a prolonged educational 

campaign was needed to convince Congress to "purchase" the national park. After that 

arduous process, there would be no dunes left to save. The group admitted the NDPA should

drop the national park struggle and pursue administration of the Indiana Dunes by the State of

Indiana itself. [23]

Establishment and Development of the Indiana Dunes State Park

In 1919, William P. Gleason, superintendent of the Gary Steel Works and president of the 

Gary Park Board, succeeded A. F. Knotts as NDPA president. Gleason convinced U.S. Steel 

to donate 116 acres of lakeshore near Miller Woods (first called Lake Front Park, later 

Marquette Park) which became the first tract of the Indiana Dunes to be reserved for the 

public good. [24]

This success was accompanied by a feature in National Geographic magazine which showed 

the intricate beauty of the pristine dunes, but warned: "under commercial occupancy the 

growth of centuries could be destroyed in a short time. It would be a catastrophe if this 

opportunity for preserving an incomparable breathing spot on Lake Michigan should be 

neglected." [25] In addition, the Chicago chapter of the General Federation of Woman's 

Clubs convinced the national organization to designate November as "Save the Dunes 

Month" with each chapter devoting one program to study the Sand Dunes National Park 

proposal. Their rallying call was "Women of the East, let us join together to secure the first 

National Park east of the Mississippi River! Women of the West, who realize the advantages 

of the preservation of Natural Scenery, help us to save the finest specimens of Dune 

formation in the world!" [26]

The movement away from Federal involvement accelerated nevertheless. Origins of Indiana's 

interest in establishing its own State Park System began in 1916, when an Indianapolis 

business leader and municipal reformer recommended the State establish its own park system. 

A member of the Indiana Historical Commission (IHC—overseer of the State centennial), 

Richard Lieber found himself chairman of the IHC's State Park Memorial Committee. By the 

end of the year, Lieber succeeded in raising private funds to purchase McCormick's Creek 

Canyon and Turkey Run which became Indiana's first state parks. Lieber also called for the 

acquisition of a portion of the Indiana Dunes for a state park. In 1919, the Indiana Legislature 

approved the formation of the Department of Conservation and Republican Governor James

P. Goodrich appointed Lieber its first director. [27]

By late 1920 or early 1921, National Park Service Director Stephen Mather and Assistant 

Director Horace Albright were convinced the fight for establishment of the Sand Dunes 

National Park was fruitless. Combined with scant political support in Indiana, the new 

Federal administration of Warren G. Harding ushered in a new era of Republican

conservatism which nixed the plan. No dunes park bill was introduced before Congress. More 

importantly, Mather and Albright no longer believed in the cause. With industry's relentless 

push on each end of the lakeshore, Indiana Dunes was "unacceptable for National Park

status." Albright recalled, "Mr. Mather was just too busy to get back to the Dunes project and 

he gradually came to the conclusion that the only hope for them lay in the state park 

movement." [28]
Mather abdicated saving the dunes to his friend Richard Lieber. Both men organized the first 

national meeting of state park employees in 1921. Two years later, they reassembled at 

Turkey Run State Park where the National Conference on State Parks formed with Mather

the first president and Gary's Bess Sheehan (NDPA officer) its secretary. Indiana's park 

system was the model in the United States and its leader redoubled his efforts to add the 

Indiana Dunes to its fold. [29]

Lieber had the full cooperation of the preservation groups who favored Federal involvement, 

namely the National Dunes Park Association, Prairie Club of Chicago, and the Nature Study 

Club of Indiana. In January 1921, Governor James P. Goodrich left office, but not before he 

endorsed the Indiana Dunes State Park proposal. In his inaugural address, Governor Warren 

McCray likewise embraced the concept. McCray proposed that if Calumet interests could 

raise $1 million, he would ask the Legislature for matching funds. Senators Robert Moorhead 

and Charles Buchanan were sent to visit the dunes. Highly enthusiastic, Buchanan introduced 

a bill to establish the Indiana Dunes State Park.

In a 1921 speech to a duneland gathering of Hoosier newspaper editors, Lieber explained that 

nowhere else in the Midwest could the working class better relate to its American heritage. 

Lieber, a German immigrant, saw the dunes in the shadow of Chicago and Gary as a safety 

valve on the ever—boiling social melting pot. Reserving the beautiful dunes as parkland

could only further the "Americanization" process. [30]

When the Gary chapter of the NDPA voted in 1922 to abandon the effort for a national park 

in favor of a smaller state park, the organization, except for some of its stalwart members, 

effectively died. Gloomily acknowledging the collapse of hopes for National Park Service 

involvement and the Indiana Legislature's reluctance to act on the state park bill, Lieber 

declared in his 1922 annual report that it was now "the privilege and duty of Indiana, with 

private assistance, to preserve this heritage and God—given spot." [31] Lieber proposed 

purchasing 2,000 acres along three miles of lakeshore. To finance the venture, he called for a 

two mill tax increase on each $100 of personal property over seven years.

To assist Lieber's campaign, a new champion emerged to save the dunes: Bess Sheehan, 

NDPA secretary. Sheehan was also the energetic head of the Dunes Park Committee of the 

Indiana Federation of Women's Clubs which represented 600 units. With this powerful lobby 

group behind her, Sheehan personally took the issue directly to each legislator. The capstone 

was a January 26, 1923, stereopticon lecture before a special joint evening session of the 

Legislature to which the solons' wives were invited. Sheehan spoke for two hours, eloquently 

presenting the argument and showing the beauty of the area. The effort paid off. On the last 

day of the session, the senate passed the bill with some help from former U.S. Senator 

Thomas Taggart. In a letter, Bess Sheehan confided her previously hidden apprehension to 

her friend, Catharinne Mitchell:

The people here [NDPA Gary chapter members] all gave up the struggle; seemed 

I was the only one who stuck. Had I known how discouraged the others were I 

guess I would have given up too. I only began to sense it about the time I began 

to dare to hope for success, and that was the eleventh hour. [32]

On March 6, 1923, Republican Governor Warren McCray signed the bill authorizing the 

Indiana Dunes State Park. A new battle, however, was about to begin. The Indiana Dunes had 

changed considerably since Stephen Mather issued his national park proposal in 1916. The 

Dunes Highway, or U.S. Highway 12, now provided Chicago motorists fast, easy access to

the area. The new roadway, agitation over which segment of lakeshore the State intended to 

purchase for the park, and the platting of two resort communities (Dune Acres and Ogden 

Dunes) caused land speculation to escalate. Land prices skyrocketed as real estate interests
acquired large tracts of land.

With the prices escalating, Lieber realized it would require more time to raise enough funds 

for the park. Compounding the problem, no Indiana tax money could be used until the two 

mill assessment expired in 1930. To save the dunes from complete commercial exploitation, 

Lieber could not wait that long. He and Bess Sheehan began an ambitious fund raising drive 

which concentrated on wealthy Calumet citizens and industrialists. Indiana schoolchildren 

also sent in their pennies, but for the next two years, the results were disappointing.

Lieber broke the stalemate when he invited Indiana's new Republican governor, Edward 

Jackson, on a dunes tour in May 1925. Jackson was so impressed by what he saw and by 

Lieber's plea that the area might soon be lost that the governor authorized the Dunes 

Purchasing Board (a division of the State Conservation Commission) to expend some of the

$200,000 in tax revenue to purchase 500 acres of duneland. Both Lieber and Jackson hoped 

this action would induce the Calumet's entrepeneurs to take notice of Indiana's determination 

to establish the new park. On August 29, 1925, Mount Tom, 110 acres owned by John O. 

Bowers (a Gary attorney), became the first tract acquired. Bowers sold at half the market 

value to set a precedent. The same month, the boundaries of the new park were announced.

This act was followed in early 1926 by a generous $250,000 donation from U.S. Steel's Judge

Elbert H. Gary. Sears and Roebuck president Julius Rosenwald gave $50,000. [33]

On July 1, 1926, four years ahead of original plans, the Indiana Dunes State Park opened to 

the public. In the first three months, nearly 63,000 people came. In tribute to the man who 

first placed the save the dunes issue before the American people a decade before, Richard 

Lieber erected a bronze plaque of Stephen Mather on a stone memorial in the center of the 

new park. [34] Reflecting on their long struggle, Bess Sheehan, in a letter to Lieber, declared 

the Federal park effort had not failed, but simply took a new form:

What did happen, as I have analyzed it, was, that the encouragement and interest 

then gathering momentum in state officials, state organizations and a few Indiana 

men and women of vision, induced the Indiana leaders to believe that it would be 

easier and quicker to create a state park, than a federal, and with the rapidly 

encroaching civilization, time was very precious. I should therefore prefer this 

statement to convey the thought that the encouragement forthcoming from

Indiana people was the determining factor in the change from the federal to the 

state park idea. [35]

Modest physical development of the state park took place rapidly following opening day.

State workers enlarged the existing parking lot at Waverly Beach to an 850—car capacity and 

Fort Creek in this vicinity was channeled into a culvert. Nearby Duneside Inn, a converted 

farmhouse, was fashioned into a tourist hotel. By far the greatest development was the 

pavilion. Completed in the fall of 1929, the limestone structure included a bathhouse on the 

second level and a restaurant and store (to service tourists and area cottagers) on the lower 

level. A fire lookout tower stood at the summit of Mount Jackson as did the "State Cottage,"

a summer home for Indiana's governors. A campground was available to the public as were a 

series of trails which linked the three "mountains" of the park—Mts. Tom, Holden, and 

Jackson—collectively called "Tremont."

Roads were scarce in the park area. Two were in the vicinity, but only one connected to the 

park. Constructed in 1931, the main entrance from Highway 12 was six—tenths of a mile 

long amidst a 500—foot wide right—of—way donated by Samuel Insull, Jr., owner of the 

Chicago, South Bend, and South Shore Railroad. [36]

Other development pressures necessitated the construction of Burns Ditch (1923—26). This
large drainage canal which connected the Little Calumet River to Lake Michigan decimated 

much of the "Great Marsh" by drying the landscape out and permitting forestation of the 

area. [37]

Established and developed before the onset of the Great Depression, the 2,182-acre Indiana 

Dunes State Park was indeed a reality. Richard Lieber intended to keep it simple; the 

lakeshore would be developed in one area and the interior dunes kept as near pristine as 

possible, "serviceable [largely] for public welfare organizations; a place where we can bring 

the weary and hopeless ones, especially bring the little orphans into the sunlight." [38]
Indiana Dunes

Administrative History

PART I

CHAPTER ONE:

ENDNOTES

1. "Miss McCauley's Column," circa 1918 newsclipping (no publisher) from the Catherine A. 

Mitchell Papers, Chicago Committee Vice President, National Dunes Park Association, 

S2112, Subject—State Parks, Dunes, 1917-1919, Indiana State Library.

2. A. Berle Clemensen, Historic Resource Study, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, Indiana

(Denver: Denver Service Center, National Park Service, 1979), pp. 1-4, 14-15, 18, 20.

3. "The Prairie Club and the Indiana Dunes," a speech by Herbert Read to the Duneland 

Historical Society, 19 February 1987, Chesterton, Indiana, transcript from the personal papers 

of Herbert Read

4. Ibid., pp. 26-7

5. Ibid., p. 22.

6. Carter H. Manny, "Hoosier Slide: The Greatest Mountain of Sand Which Existed in the

Indiana Dune Area Along Lake Michigan," manuscript, n.d., Carter H. Manny Papers, 1890-

1920, folder S926, Indiana State Library, Indiana Division.

7. George S. Cottman, Indiana Dunes State Park: A History and Description, Publication 

Number 97 (Indianapolis: State of Indiana, Department of Conservation, Division of Lands 

and Waters, 1930), p. 35, Lakeshore curator's files—Indiana Dunes State Park.

8. J. Ronald Engel, Sacred Sands: The Struggle for Community in the Indiana Dunes

(Middletown, Ct., Wesleyan University Press, 1983), pp. 45-6, 80; Powell Moore, "Tales of 

the Indiana Dunes," The Calumet Region: Indiana's Last Frontier, reprinted (Indianapolis: 

Indiana Historical Bureau, 1977), p. 597; and Sylvia Troy, "Citizen Action for Preservation," 

The Indiana Dunes Story: How Nature and People Made a Park (Beverly Shores, Indiana: 

Shirley Heinze Environmental Fund, 1984), p. 32.

9. Engel, Sacred Sands, p. 81; Moore, "Tales of the Indiana Dunes," pp. 597-8; and

Clemensen, Historic Resource Study, p. 23.

10. Stephen T. Mather, Report on the Proposed Sand Dunes National Park Indiana, U.S. 

Department of the Interior, National Park Service (Washington: U.S. Government Printing 

Office, 1917), p. 5, Lakeshore curator's files—#2639.

11. Ibid., p. 43.

12. Horace M. Albright to Earl Reed, letter, 27 November 1957, transmitting copy of the

Mather hearings report, Lakeshore curator's files—#2639.
13. Mather, Report on the Proposed Sand Dunes National Park Indiana, pp. 11-12, 14.

14. Ibid., p. 9.

15. Ibid., pp. 10-11.

16. Moore, "Tales of the Indiana Dunes," p. 598.

17. Engel, Sacred Sands, pp. 18-19.

18. Thomas Wood Stevens, Book of the Historical Pageant of The Dunes, Port Chester,

Indiana, on Lake Michigan: May 30 and June 3, 1917 (Chicago: The Dunes Pageant 

Association, 1917), pp. 1-3, Lakeshore curator's files No. 2588; and Moore, "Tales of the 

Indiana Dunes," p. 599.

19. Engel, Sacred Sands, pp. 19-20.

20. Mrs. Catherine A. Mitchell to members of the National Dunes Park Association, form 

letter, 4 January 1918, Mitchell Papers, S2112, Subject—State Parks, Dunes, 1917-1919, 

S2112, Indiana State Library, Indiana Division.

21. Ibid., "Miss McCauley's Column," newspaper clipping, n.d. [circa 1918].

22. Richard Lieber to James P. Goodrich, Governor, State of Indiana, letter, 19 May 1937, 

Lieber Papers, L91 General Correspondence 1937, Box XIV, Folder 1, Indiana State Library, 

Indiana Division.

23. Chicago Committee of the National Dunes Park Association, 15 May 1919, meeting, by 

Secretary pro tempore Catherine A. Mitchell, Mitchell Papers, S2112, Subject—State Parks, 

Dunes, 1917-1919, S2112, Indiana State Library, Indiana Division.

24. Engel, Sacred Sands, p. 247.

25. Orpheus Moyer Schantz, "Indiana's Unrivaled Sand—Dunes A National Park 

Opportunity," Reprinted by Special Permission from the National Geographic Magazine, 

May 1919 (Gary: National Dunes Park Association, 1919), Lakeshore curator's files.

26. General Federation of Woman's Clubs, Announcement, "Save the Dunes," Catherine A. 

Mitchell Papers, S2112, Subject—State Parks, Dunes, 1917-1919, Indiana State Library, 

Indiana Division.

27. Engel, Sacred Sands, pp. 249-50.

28. Kay Franklin and Norma Schaeffer, Duel for the Dunes: Land Use Conflict on the Shores

of Lake Michigan (Urbana/Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1983), p. 36.

29. Engel, Sacred Sands, pp. 249-50.

30. Cottman, Indiana Dunes State Park, p. 37; and "Richard Lieber Biographical Study," [no 

author], manuscript excerpt of Master's thesis, pp. 257-260, Lakeshore curator's files—State 

Park.

31. Engel, Sacred Sands, p. 251.

32. Bess M. Sheehan to Catherine A. Mitchell, letter, 23 March 1923, Mitchell Papers, 

S2112, Subject—State Parks, Dunes, 1917-1919, S2112, Indiana State Library, Indiana
Division.

33. Richard Lieber to James P. Goodrich, Governor, State of Indiana, letter, 19 May 1937, 

Lieber Papers, L91 General Correspondence 1937, Box XIV, Folder 1, Indiana State Library, 

Indiana Division; Moore, "Tales of the Indiana Dunes," pp. 600, 606-7; Clemensen, Historic

Resource Study, p. 28; and Engel, Sacred Sands, p. 252-3.

34. Sylvia Troy, "Citizen Action for Preservation," p. 33; and Engel, Sacred Sands, p. 253.

35. Bess Sheehan to Richard Lieber, letter, 5 September 1929, Lieber Papers, L90 Director's

Correspondence 1919-1933, Indiana State Library, Indiana Division.

36. Cottman, Indiana Dunes State Park, pp. 19, 28, 39-40.

37. "The Prairie Club and the Indiana Dunes," a speech by Herbert Read to the Duneland 

Historical Society, 19 February 1987, Chesterton, Indiana, transcript from the personal papers 

of Herbert Read.

38. Richard Lieber to Mrs. McCormick, letter, 24 March 19(1923, Lieber Papers, L90

General Correspondence, folder—January-June 1923, Indiana State Library, Indiana Division.
Indiana Dunes

Administrative History

PART I

CHAPTER TWO:

TAKING AIM IN THE 1950s

I felt we were in the grip of an almost irreversible force, which would overrun 

those who loved the dunes and sweep on to Michigan City and beyond. Then we 

would have a continuous jungle of asphalt and steel, with pollution of air and 

water, with no place for the millions of pent—up city folk to seek refuge, quiet 

and renewal. It seemed impossible to stop this movement, but one moonlit 

evening [in the Indiana Dunes] I made a secret pledge that if I could help to do

so I would.

Senator Paul H. Douglas [1]

Dorothy Buell's Save the Dunes Council

For two decades, the Great Depression and World War II and its aftermath pushed the issue 

of saving any more duneland into the background. These two momentous events, however, 

did nothing to halt the progression of industrial and commercial development in the dunes.

As a result of Indiana Dunes State Park's enormous popularity, one realty company developed 

a large tract on the park's east boundary into a resort community called Beverly Shores. (A 

component of the realtor's promotion was the 1935 acquisition and relocation of six model 

homes from Chicago's 1933—34 Century of Progress International Exposition) as well as 

other structures modeled after famous American buildings. [2] Pleased by the wide appeal

and revenues generated by the Dunes State Park, the State of Indiana did not seek to expand 

or make any substantial developments to it. Rather, the state began exploring ways to induce 

more industry into its sliver of lakeshore.

The Indiana political and business communities were encouraged by the growth of Chicago 

steel industries in the direction of the south shore of Lake Michigan and sought to entice 

them to jump the Illinois—Indiana border. Built in the 1880s, United States Steel

Corporation's South Works was the first and largest of the steel plants on the lakeshore. Soon 

after three other steel mills located on the Calumet River in Illinois: Acme Steel, Wisconsin 

Steel Works of International Harvester, and Republic Steel. The old Youngstown Steel and 

Tube Company mill at the mouth of the Calumet River was already planning to abandon its 

Illinois facility in favor of a new site at Indiana Harbor (built in 1916) to the west of Gary 

where Inland Steel Company also had a plant. The largest steel mill complex in Indiana and 

second largest producer in the nation was none other than U.S. Steel's Gary Works. Within 

this complex were its subsidiaries, American Bridge Company and Universal Atlas Cement 

Company, for which U.S. Steel constructed two harbors: Gary Harbor and Buffington

Harbor. All of this development was in Indiana's Lake County. With the continuous expanse 

of steel mills the only prospect for further industrial expansion between Chicago and Gary
along Lake Michigan's south shore was to reclaim land from the lake by use of fill. Another 

option was to expand industrial development into neighboring Porter County. This latter 

scenario excited Hoosier developers.

As early as 1929, Midwest Steel Company, a subsidiary of National Steel Company, 

purchased 750 acres in the vicinity of Burns Ditch in Porter County for a future plant. 

Midwest Steel officials determined that they would not follow U.S. Steel's precedent and 

build its own harbor. Instead, the company began lobbying for Federal funding. U.S. Army 

Corps of Engineers reports in 1931 and 1935 recommended against using tax dollars to build 

a harbor at Burns Ditch because it would only benefit one company. A similar 1944 Corps 

study evaluated all Indiana sites, but determined that existing Illinois and Indiana harbors 

were sufficient. Midwest Steel Company, therefore, shelved its plant construction plans yet 

again. [3]

Meanwhile, conservation forces, sated by the state park victory, dwindled. Following its 1940 

annual meeting, the National Dunes Park Association, purposeless and disillusioned by the 

seemingly inevitable industrial onslaught, quietly faded away.

While the dunes preservation flame flickered, it did not go out. In 1949, an Ogden Dunes 

family visited White Sands National Monument. Dorothy Richardson Buell, while moved by 

White Sands' grandeur, thought her own Indiana Dunes possessed greater qualities. As a 

young girl, Buell had performed in the Prairie Club—sponsored dunes pageants. Returning 

home, the Buells stopped for diner in Gary where Dorothy Buell spotted a fateful sign 

announcing the formation of a citizens group to save the dunes. Led by a University of 

Chicago professor, the Indiana Dunes Preservation Council (IDPC) identified unspoiled areas 

and recommended nearly seven miles of lakeshore for preservation. The IDPC garnered few 

positive developments. In early 1952, during a meeting of the Chicago Conservation Council, 

Dorothy Buell advised that historical precedent be followed to reignite the dunes preservation 

movement. Buell recounted Bess Sheehan's struggle and recommended that the effort be 

heralded by women. After the meeting, Buell decided to follow Sheehan's example and lead 

the revived movement herself.

On June 20, 1952, twenty-one women congregated in the Buell home and listened to Bess 

Sheehan relate events of thirty years past. The group discussed an alarming 1949 Corps of 

Engineers report which advocated a deepwater port for Indiana. While not opposed to the 

port, the group called for adding nearly five miles of lakeshore to the Dunes State Park. The 

women announced to journalists they would dedicate their lives to saving the dunes. With 

that assertion, the Save the Dunes Council was born. [4]

Indiana's opposition to adding more land to the Dunes State Park soon became apparent to 

the Save the Dunes Council. A united front of the political and business communities sought 

to maximize economic development along the limited lakeshore. The idea of setting aside 

more parkland was anathema to the economic planners who were working to secure Federal 

funds to construct a gigantic "Port of Indiana" at Burns Harbor (or Ditch). Expanding the 

existing mills and attracting still other steel companies to the area were other top priorities.

Instead of despairing at the overwhelming opposition, the sacred mission of saving the dunes 

inspired the women to redouble their efforts. The Council's purpose was to preserve the 

natural environment and recreational potential of the dunes. To attain the goal, the Council 

launched a nationwide membership and fund—raising drive. One of its first successes was

the purchase of Cowles Tamarack Bog, fifty—six acres in Porter County. Sold for delinquent 

taxes, it is ironic that the difference of the balance—beyond the meager donations—came

from Bess Sheehan. Sheehan, the guardian of the National Dunes Park Association's treasury, 

donated the fund's total of $751.68 to attain the $1,730 purchase price. Thanks to the
organization which first formed decades before to save the dunes, Cowles Bog was secure. 

[5]

Besides expanding its membership, the Council began establishing links with other 

conservation organizations, cultivating contacts with women's clubs throughout Indiana, 

meeting with legislators and chambers of commerce, lobbying editorial boards of regional 

newspapers, encouraging local preservation zoning, and delivering public programs. The 

Council also organized a "Children's Crusade to Save the Dunes."

Buell looked to historical precedent once again. If Stephen Mather once pushed for a Sand 

Dunes National Park, what was the attitude of the contemporary National Park Service? 

Director Conrad L. Wirth and his Region II Director in Omaha,* Howard W. Baker, 

supported a potential national monument in the Central Dunes as well as a one—mile stretch 

of 830 acres owned by Inland Steel adjacent to Ogden Dunes. In June 1953, Region II 

Director Baker participated in "A Day in the Dunes" sponsored by the Save the Dunes 

Council. Baker spoke in favor of an expanded state park or new national park. [6]

*In 1937, when the National Park Service's Region II headquarters was 

established, Indiana fell under the jurisdiction of the Omaha office. When the 

Region V office opened in 1955, Indiana came under the supervision of the 

Philadelphia office. See Harold P. Danz, ed., Historical Listing of National Park

Service Officials (Washington, D.C.: National Park Service, Department of the 

Interior, May 1986), p. 20.

In 1954, Save the Dunes Council established an advisory board composed of scientists Edwin 

Way Teale and Myron Reuben Strong; Bess Sheehan; artist Frank V. Dudley; writers Donald 

Culross Peattie and Harriet Cowles; conservationist Richard Pough; and philanthropists Mrs. 

Charles Walgreen and Mrs. Norton W. Barker. With increasing press coverage, the activities 

of the Council and its advisory board gained wide notoriety and support.

Buell was reluctant to jeopardize the Council's tax-exempt status by delving into the political 

arena. She worked hard to keep the effort a largely female movement focused on educating 

the public. The primary educational issue involved the proposed port. Buell wanted to avoid 

confrontation and political machinations. Council attorney Leonard Rutstein determined to 

change this platform by inviting environmentalist and public relations specialist Thomas 

Dustin to a meeting. Rutstein and Dustin informed the women that they would never win the 

battle unless the Council broadened its base and worked in political circles. The move

worked. Thereafter, men were welcomed as members and a new strategy emerged concerning 

industrial development: separate the proposed port from the favored site in the Central Dunes 

at Burns Ditch. The Council argued that Indiana already had two ports at Indiana Harbor and 

Michigan City, and that those could be expanded. Additionally, they pounded away at

whether it was ethical to use tax dollars for the benefit of the two area steel companies. [7]

Soon after taking office in 1953, Indiana Republican Governor George N. Craig announced 

initial plans to construct a harbor for ocean—going boats between Ogden Dunes and Dune 

Acres by selling $35 million to $70 million in bonds. While the Indiana Legislature rejected a 

state financing plan in bonds. While the Indiana Legislature rejected a state financing plan in

1955, it did approve funding to purchase 1,500 acres at Burns Ditch. The state intended to 

secure Federal funding for the new port and begin development quickly before the opponents 

had a chance to mobilize. Governor Craig also encouraged private funding for the harbor.

To combat the governor's plan, the Save the Dunes Council launched a one million dollar
fund—raising campaign targeted against the proposed mills, grain elevators, chemical plants, 

and coal shipping facilities which were expected to flock to the new port area. [8] The 

campaign had barely begun when, in 1957, Bethlehem Steel Company pledged itself to the 

proposed port at Burns Ditch and began purchasing land in the Central Dunes through its 

realty agent, the Lake Shore Development Corporation. Land values skyrocketed to almost

$3,000 an acre. Allegations abounded in which state and local officials allegedly encouraged 

the speculation to benefit the port project over the park. [9]

Save the Dunes Council repeatedly solicited the Indiana Congressional Delegation to 

introduce legislation preserving the lakeshore by incorporating the dunes into the National 

Park System. A resounding "no" came from the industry—minded solons. It was in this 

context that the Save the Dunes Council looked outside Indiana for a champion of the dunes, 

namely Paul H. Douglas, U.S. Senator from neighboring Illinois. [10]
Indiana Dunes

Administrative History

PART I

CHAPTER TWO:

TAKING AIM IN THE 1950s (continued)

"Indiana's Third Senator" Takes the Dunes Battle to Congress

Approaching Paul H. Douglas to herald the dunes preservation movement in Congress proved 

to be an excellent move. Although from Illinois, Douglas was no stranger to the Indiana 

Dunes. Following his 1931 marriage to Emily Taft, daughter of sculptor Lorado Taft, the 

couple built a summer cottage in the dunes. Summertime and weekends in the dunes with his 

family left an indelible mark on Douglas' soul. He regarded those times as "one of the

happiest periods of our lives":

Like Anateus, I retouched the earth and became stronger thereby. We had rare 

privacy, with mornings of quiet study and work, afternoons of swimming and 

walks along the magnificent beach and in the fascinating back country.... What 

remained was idyllic and an ever—present source of physical and spiritual 

renewal. I seemed to live again in the simplicities of my boyhood. [11]

Dorothy Buell first approached Douglas to sponsor a bill to authorize an "Indiana Dunes 

National Park" in the spring of 1957. Douglas, familiar with the negative stance of the 

Indiana Congressional Delegation, targeted Senator Homer Capehart. Douglas suggested that 

Capehart could become a hero by leading the dunes effort and thereby have the Federal park 

bear his name. Intrigued, Capehart told Douglas he first had to consult with the "boys in 

Indianapolis." The inevitable answer came: the boys "have other plans." Douglas decided he 

would introduce the legislation himself. Fittingly, he unveiled the bill to establish "Indiana 

Dunes National Monument" in Dorothy Buell's home on Easter Sunday 1958. He cited the 

popularity of the Save the Dunes Council as an indication of widespread public support 

enabling him to go against the wishes of Indiana's political and business community. [12]

Few could have predicted the magnitude of the vehemence unleashed on Senator Douglas. 

Media, industry, and political organizations combined accusing Douglas with interfering in 

Indiana's affairs, serving as a Chicago carpetbagger plotting against Indiana's economic 

development, and working to establish a park to placate the minorities of Chicago. Douglas' 

opponents derisively referred to him as the "Third Senator from Indiana." [13] Indignant 

Hoosiers pointed to an underground coalition of Illinois politicians and industrialists who 

were hiding behind Senator Douglas' "Save the Dunes" movement in order to stop the Port of 

Indiana. Douglas' nefarious coalition was also believed to be joined by dunes area industry 

which hoped to keep competitors out. [14]

Nevertheless, Paul Douglas introduced his bill, S. 3898, on May 26, 1958. The stirring speech 

delivered on the Senate floor was a forerunner of the conservation movement which 

blossomed in the late 1960s. It provided for an Indiana Dunes National Monument composed 

of 3,800 acres in the Central Dunes. On the same day, Representative John Saylor of 

Pennsylvania—the home state of Bethlehem Steel—submitted a companion bill in the House,
H.R. 12689. [15]

The Council undertook a nationwide petition drive to support the legislation. They produced a 

dramatic film depicting the impending industrial peril facing the dunes. Council members 

developed lobbying skills by visiting all House and Senate members, preparing testimony,

and learning the ropes of the legislative process. Their efforts began paying off as the 

national press corps and conservation groups such as the Izaak Walton League endorsed the 

movement. [16]

The key players on both sides of the issue realized the battle would be bitter and protracted. It 

soon became apparent to Douglas and the Save the Dunes Council that formidable political 

opposition would succeed in bottling the legislation up in the respective Interior and Insular 

Affairs subcommittees. Close cooperation with the Federal Government's principal 

preservation agency, the Department of the Interior's National Park Service, was vital in the 

fight to save the dunes.

The Save the Dunes Council already had an advocate with the Department of the Interior. 

Earl H. Reed, Jr., a Council member, also served on the Secretary of the Interior's Advisory 

Board on National Parks, Historic Sites, Buildings and Monuments. It was largely through 

Reed's prodding that the Advisory Board in April 1958 unanimously called for preserving the 

dunes by incorporation into the National Park System. [17] Simultaneous with the dunes 

controversy in Congress was the initiation of the National Park Service's Great Lakes Survey 

which would evaluate the feasibility of Federal park areas on the shores of the Great Lakes, 

including Indiana's embattled lakeshore.

The Great Lakes Survey

The greatest difficulty dunes conservationists had to address was to justify preserving an 

urban recreation area in light of the traditional American ideal of a national park. Comparing 

the model of Yellowstone National Park, reserved from the public domain in a wilderness 

setting, to Indiana Dunes was difficult for many citizens. United States Government policy 

since the inception of the republic was to encourage private, capitalist development and 

settlement of the continent. The 1872 authorization of Yellowstone itself was a milestone in 

that a significant segment of nature was reserved for the public good. The Yellowstone ideal 

tended to preclude less spectacular, recreational areas like the Indiana Dunes where 

population and development pressures threatened to envelop the land. [18]

Although omitted from its scope, the roots of the 1957—58 Great Lakes Survey can be found 

in the National Park Service's seashore preservation study conducted with Civilian 

Conservation Corps workers in 1934—35. The study identified potential national and state 

recreation areas along the Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific coasts. Fifteen possible Park Service 

areas were targeted with Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, atop the list. Authorization for Cape

Hatteras National Seashore came on August 17, 1937, and included seventy miles of seashore 

and 28,500 acres. Largely owned by the state, the remaining areas North Carolina purchased 

and donated to the National Park Service.

With the disruption of World War II, no more seashore legislation was successful until 

interest was revived in the initiative in the 1950s. By this time, few shoreline areas remained 

unspoiled and an incredible eighty—five percent of shoreline was privately owned. With 

dwindling shoreline available for public access and recreational purposes, it became clear the 

Federal Government had to act. Reviving the former 1934—35 study, those remaining 

potential park areas were re—evaluated. A separate aspect of this project, which was 

sponsored under the Park Service's MISSION 66 program, included the Great Lakes. Funded 

by entrepeneurs Paul Mellon and sister Alisa Bruce, the Great Lakes Survey began under the
direction of Director Conrad L. Wirth. [19] Wirth called on Allen T. Edmunds to organize 

the effort. Edmunds relocated from the Washington Office to the Region V Office in 

Philadelphia to evaluate the remaining shoreline opportunities of the Great Lakes. Director 

Wirth cautioned Edmunds not to be overly optimistic. The effort to include Cape Hatteras in 

the National Park System had taken fifteen years. Wirth advised Edmunds not to get 

discouraged if nothing came out of the Great Lakes Survey. [20]

Survey activities took place in the summers of 1957 and 1958 to determine what segments of 

remaining shoreline qualified for preservation as natural, scenic, or recreation areas. Sixty—

six units were identified. Five were targeted for potential inclusion in the National Park 

System: Pigeon Point (Minnesota), Huron Mountains and Pictured Rocks (both in the Upper 

Peninsula of Michigan), Sleeping Bear Dunes (lower Michigan), and Indiana Dunes

(Indiana). The report cited the industrial and residential expansion in northwest Indiana. 

Outside of the Dunes State Park, five—and—a—half—miles of undeveloped lakeshore 

remained, but the area was targeted for expansion by three steel companies and the proposed 

deep—water harbor. The survey recommended that the Indiana Dunes merited further 

evaluation. Compilation and editing of the report delayed publication and distribution until 

early 1960. The preface of Our Fourth Shore: Great Lakes Shoreline Recreation Area Survey

contained a message from Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton. Reflecting the 

conservative position of the Eisenhower administration, Secretary Seaton stated the primary 

objective of the shoreline surveys was to help state and local governments identify new park 

areas. He instructed the Park Service to recommend no more than three areas as National 

Shoreline Recreation Areas. The three units, Seaton stated, would be selected from all of the 

candidates nominated from the Great Lakes, Pacific, Gulf, and Atlantic shorelines. [21]

In response to an inquiry from Senator Paul Douglas, the Park Service's Region V Office in 

Philadelphia dispatched a team in September 1958 to evaluate an area of undeveloped 

duneland west and south of Ogden Dunes. The team identified an additional 850 acres [22] 

which Douglas incorporated into a new 1959 bill, S. 1001. Park Service comments to the 

Department on S. 1001 were favorable, but there were a few amendments suggested. Park 

Service officials believed the designation of "National Seashore" was more appropriate than 

"National Monument." The Service also questioned the excluded areas around Dune Acres, 

Ogden Dunes, and Johnson Beach, preferring to consider all available land in order to have 

an area of sufficient size to accommodate heavy use. While the towns themselves should be 

excluded, the Service wanted unspoiled Johnson Beach to fall within the acquisition area. 

[23]

With the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway in 1959, the dunes controversy intensified. 

Hoosier politicians and businessmen were eager to exploit the economic prosperity promised 

by the linking of the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean shipping lanes. The Advisory Board 

on National Parks, Historic Sites, Buildings and Monuments reaffirmed that the Indiana 

Dunes should be incorporated into the National Park System. Senate hearings in May 1959, 

saw Douglas and a large group of supporters pleading in vain for swift action on the dunes 

park bill. An equal number of opponents, from Indiana's Governor to the President of 

Midwest Steel Corporation, testified against the proposed park. Even as Douglas spoke, an 

increasing number of power—shovels were decimating the Central Dunes. The same spring, 

Midwest Steel dusted off its thirty—year—old construction documents and began building a 

finishing plant on 750 acres at Burns Ditch. Simultaneously, Northern Indiana Public Service 

Company (NIPSCO) began clearing a 350—acre parcel to build a coal—fired generating 

plant west of Dune Acres. Douglas accused the industrialists of denuding as much duneland 

as possible in an effort to make the preservation argument moot. [24]

Despite the acrimony, Senate committee members expressed the desire for compromise, to 

find a way to accommodate both sides. They wanted to devise a formula whereby the Indiana
Dunes could have a port and a park.
Indiana Dunes

Administrative History

PART I

CHAPTER TWO:

ENDNOTES

1. Paul H. Douglas, In The Fullness of Time: The Memoirs of Paul H. Douglas (New York: 

Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1971), pp. 76-7.

2. A. Berle Clemensen, Historic Resource Study, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, Indiana

(Denver: Denver Service Center, National Park Service, 1979), p. 30; and Historian Martin 

Marciniak to Historian Ron Cockrell, letter, 9 February 1988, Cultural Resources 

Management files, Midwest Regional Office.

3. Harold M. Mayer, "Politics and Land Use: The Indiana Shoreline of Lake Michigan," 

reprinted from Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 54, No. 4, 

December 1964, pp. 509-12, received from John Schnurlein, letter to author, (1922 February

1988, Cultural Resources Management files, Midwest Regional Office.

4. J. Ronald Engel, Sacred Sands: The Struggle for Community in the Indiana Dunes

(Middletown, Connecticut: Wesleyan University Press, 1983), p. 254-5; and Herbert Read, 

Engineering Chairman, Save the Dunes Council, Inc., interview transcript, 22 September

1987, Bailly Ranger Station, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, Porter, Indiana.

5. Engel, Sacred Sands, p. 256; and "Dunes of Indiana," pamphlet of Save the Dunes Council 

published by The Chesterton Tribune (July 1957), Lakeshore curator's files—Dunes of

Indiana 1957.

6. Engel, Sacred Sands, pp. 255-6.

7. Ibid., pp. 258, 267-8; and Kay Franklin and Norma Shaeffer, Duel for the Dunes: Land

Use Conflict on the Shores of Lake Michigan (Urbana/Chicago: University of Illinois Press,

1983), pp. 132-3, 138-9.

8. Engel, Sacred Sands, pp. 259-60; and "Storm Over the Sand Dunes," Midwest: Magazine

of the Chicago Sun—Times (1 January 1956), scrapbook of Indiana Dunes National 

Lakeshore compiled by Dr. Virginia Reuterskiold, Superintendent's Office.

9. Engel, Sacred Sands, p. 260.

10. Sylvia Troy, "Citizen Action for Preservation," in The Indiana Dunes Story: How Nature

and People Made a Park (Beverly Shores, Indiana: Shirley Heinze Environmental Fund,

1984), p. 34.

11. Paul H. Douglas, In The Fullness of Time: The Memoirs of Paul H. Douglas (New York: 

Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, Inc., 1971), p. 76.
12. Ibid., pp. 536-7; and Engel, Sacred Sands, pp. 260-1.

13. Franklin and Shaeffer, Duel for the Dunes, p. 138.

14. John Schnurlein, former member and Chairman of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore 

Advisory Commission, 1967-1985, interview transcript, 23 September 1987, Superintendent's 

Office, Bailly Administrative Area, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, Porter, Indiana.

15. "Senator Douglas Sees Threat to Indiana Dunes as Symbol of National Problem," 

Conservation Special Bulletin (New York: Council of Conservationists, Inc., 26 May 1958), 

Lakeshore curator's files—file 2595.

16. Troy, "Citizen Action for Preservation," p. 34.

17. Indiana Dunes, A Department of the Interior National Lakeshore Proposal, 1966 

(Washington, D.C.: National Park Service, Department of the Interior, 1966), p. 1.

18. Lynton Caldwell, "The National Parks and American Land Use Policy," in The Indiana

Dunes Story: How Nature and People Made a Park (Beverly Shores, Indiana: Shirley Heinze 

Environmental Education Fund, 1981), p. 37.

19. Conrad Louis Wirth, Parks, Politics, and the People (Norman: University of Oklahoma

Press, 1980), pp. 192-3; 194; 196-7; and 199.

20. Allen T. Edmunds, Special Assistant to the Regional Director, Midwest Region, and 

Superintendent James R. Whitehouse, transcript of conversation, 19 August 1975, Files of 

Allen T. Edmunds, Superintendent's Office.

21. Our Fourth Shore: Great Lakes Shoreline Recreation Area Survey (Washington, D.C.: 

National Park Service, Department of the Interior, 1959), pp. 2-3, 6, 13-14, Visitor Center 

Library, file drawer three.

22. Acting Regional Director George A. Palmer to Director Conrad Wirth, 9 September 1958, 

folder L58: Miscellaneous and F.Y. 1973, Expansion Files; Stored National Lakeshore Files.

23. Acting Director E. T. Scoyen to Legislative Counsel, Office of the Solicitor, 23 March

1959, folder—W3815 Indiana Dunes, Philadelphia Federal Records Center, 4-28-035-3-3, P373677, Box 16.

24. Ibid., Director Conrad Wirth to Assistant Secretary, Public Land Management, 21 May

1959; and Engel, Sacred Sands, pp. 262-3.
Indiana Dunes

Administrative History

PART I

CHAPTER THREE:

PORT VERSUS PARK

If they don't let us have the park I will fight them to the death on the harbor 

appropriation.

Senator Paul H. Douglas, quoted by the New York Times, March 11, 1962. [1]

Three Years of Struggle, 1960—1962

A key element in the port versus park battle involved a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers report 

commissioned in 1960 to study Indiana's proposed deep—water port at Burns Ditch. The 

artificial channel, built by a contractor named Burns who was commissioned in 1926, drained 

the marshlands of the upper valley of the Little Calumet River for development as well as 

reduced the threat of flooding. For three decades, although not supporting the appropriation

of public funds, a series of Corps studies evaluated the Burns Ditch site.

Realizing what the outcome of the 1960 report would likely be, the National Park Service 

presented its position on the proposed harbor to the Corps in January 1960. The proposed 

park included the few remnants of untouched beaches, dunes, and marshes in the region with 

exceptional natural scenic values with great accessibility to a metropolitan population in 

excess of six million people. Therefore, by leveling a mile of tree—covered dunes and "the 

finest sand beach on the Great Lakes," only four miles of lakeshore would remain. After the 

port was built, further industrial development and its resulting pollutants would ensue to 

make beach activities unsafe along the entire lakeshore, including the popular Dunes State 

Park. [2]

To no one's surprise, the October 1960 Corps report concluded that the mouth of Burns Ditch 

was the ideal location for the Indiana port and recommended that Congress appropriate the 

funds. The report called for dredging the lake approach channel to a depth of thirty feet and 

the outer harbor to twenty—seven feet. With breakwaters and shoreline facilities, the total 

cost came to $34,500,000. [3] The Corps set the benefit—cost ratio at 5.66 to 1.

When the report arrived for approval at the Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors in 

Washington, D.C., Senator Douglas was ready. He asked why no other alternate sites were 

evaluated and why the public interest in parkland was not addressed. Until these questions 

were addressed, Douglas successfully urged the Board to return the report to the Chicago 

office.

Douglas' move deeply angered Indiana politicians who had boasted that the report's approval 

would be routine. An aide to Governor—Elect Matthew E. Welsh urged Welsh to "get to the 

bottom of it." He warned:
It appears to me that the entire project is in jeopardy and the situation is serious. 

Normally, the Corps of Engineers is considered immune to political pressures but 

in this instance it would appear from the known facts that Senator Douglas was 

able to exert considerable influence in securing this latest action by the Corps.

[4]

An important ally of Douglas was Save the Dunes Council member Herbert Read, son of 

artist and Council publicity director Philo B. Read. Read, a dunes advocate who worked for a 

Chicago architectural firm, became chairman of the Council's Engineering Committee after 

educating himself on harbors through reading a borrowed technical manual. The self—taught 

"harbor expert" was able to decipher the Corps of Engineers' formula for calculating benefit

—cost ratios. The Engineering Committee demonstrated the Council's resolve to take the 

offensive. Ogden Dunes resident George Anderson, a railroad research engineer, assisted 

Read in identifying various harbor alternatives and technical report errors. Chaneling the 

information to Senator Paul Douglas, the result saw the Corps agree to a series of restudies. 

[5]

Interestingly enough, pre—1949 Corps of Engineers' evaluations recommended against a

Federally—funded Indiana harbor. As early as 1930, the Corps reported:

The harbor, if constructed, will be entirely surrounded by the plant of the 

Midwest Steel Corporation, which would make its use by the general public 

impracticable. The District Engineer recommends that no work be done by the 

United States at that harbor until it can be shown conclusively that it is of direct 

benefit to the general public. [6]

Political agitation from Indiana forced another report in 1935 which garnered the same result. 

The district engineer found the commerce projections "highly speculative" and that the 

"existing facilities are adequate to supply demand for some years to come." [7] Yet another 

restudy in 1937 resulted in a report issued in 1943 with an identical conclusion. The Corps 

recommended that "selection of the site for such an improvement should be based on a 

comprehensive review of the whole available frontage rather than the consideration of the

site of Burns Ditch alone." The report concluded, however, that an evaluation of Indiana's 

shoreline was unmerited because there was no proof that a deepwater port was needed. [8]

In 1960, for the third consecutive year, the Secretary's Advisory Board recommended Indiana 

Dunes as a new unit of the National Park System. Life magazine sympathetically displayed a 

photographic essay in the context of nature against industry. Revealing the destruction of 

Midwest Steel and NIPSCO bulldozers, one caption warned, "Over the dunes hangs the 

smoky specter of steel." [9]

Nineteen sixty—one, the first year of President John F. Kennedy's administration and the 

Eighty—seventh Congress, was the first year in which more than one Indiana Dunes bill was 

introduced. In the first sign of compromise, Indiana Senator Vance Hartke introduced S. 2317 

which provided for both port and park. Paul Douglas submitted S. 1797 which provided for

an "Indiana Dunes National Scientific Landmark" of 5,000 acres which he subsequently 

amended to 9,000 acres. In the House, H.R. 6544 provided for an Indiana Dunes National 

Monument. Park Service comments, however, favored adopting the language of S. 1797 

because the Secretary could lease the lands to the State of Indiana to preserve and manage. 

The National Scientific Landmark could be administered in conjunction with the Dunes State 

Park. The bill was designed to allay Indiana's concerns about Federal appropriation of the 

land. Protection of the leased land could be assured by careful monitoring of State 

management and protection. [10]
Douglas coaxed Alan Bible, Chairman of the Parks Subcommittee of the Committee on 

Interior and Insular Affairs, to accompany him and Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall to 

the dunes to see the proposed park firsthand. On July 23, 1961, Douglas, Bible, and Udall 

arrived before the Bethlehem Steel property accompanied by an impressive entourage: 

Director Conrad Wirth; Chicago Mayor Richard Daley; the mayors of Gary, East Chicago, 

Hammond, and Whiting; and Dorothy Buell. After enjoying a day of hiking and interpretive 

talks sponsored by the Save the Dunes Council, the participants were converted to the park 

cause. [11]

In a widely publicized interview, Secretary Udall affirmed his desire to preserve the dunes as 

a national park and urged prompt Congressional action: "It is my hope that we might

preserve as large an area of national significance, not only to serve Chicago or Indiana, but to 

serve the whole country and future generations as well." To Paul Douglas, Udall asserted, 

"We ought to make a last ditch fight to save the dunes as a national park. Our great National 

Park System has no major unit in the midwestern heartland; your people need something 

above all. I hope that we can take a walk through the dunes again soon, and that it then will

be a great national park." [12]

A Congressional authorization in the summer of 1961 for Cape Cod National Seashore, 

Massachusetts (44,600 acres with forty miles of seashore), provided added support to the 

dunes park fight. Not since Cape Hatteras in 1937 had a seashore entered the National Park 

System. More importantly, Cape Cod represented a radical change in the Federal 

Government's land acquisition policy. For the first time Congress approved significant park 

enabling legislation which included the right to use Federal money to purchase natural park 

land. The old "beg, borrow, or steal system"—where new park land had to be either already 

Federally—owned or donated to the government—was gone forever. [13]

Before the Senate hearings on S. 1797 began in February 1962, the newly—established 

Indiana Port Commission (IPC) issued a critical statement on the bill charging Douglas with 

trying to kill all port planning and sabotage Indiana's economic development. In effect, the 

IPC declared, the Federal park would encompass and strangle the state's own popular park. 

The IPC further accused Douglas and his park proponents of spreading malicious 

propaganda, a "vicious campaign" of heralding a "tourist mecca" to prevent the public port 

under the "guise of conservation." Down—playing the tourist potential of the Federal park, 

IPC cited Secretary Udall's own words: "There will be very little public recreational 

development. It will, rather, be a preservation of the natural state of the dunes land area. The 

National Park System is not in the bathing beach business." [14]

The IPC as well as other park opponents painted a sinister picture of the dune savers' 

coalition and refused to recognize it for what it was. Rather, they saw the national park 

movement as a smoke screen; the real objective of Douglas and his cohorts in opposing

Porter County's harbor could only be to protect Chicago's port traffic. When IPC met with the 

Chicago port authorities and discovered no insurmountable problems, it naively believed the 

save the dunes movement would dissolve. When it did not, IPC and other port proponents 

believed the Lake County steel companies were the real powers behind the conservation 

effort. To confirm this position, they pointed at Herbert Read's active promotion of the "Tri—

City Harbor" proposal in Lake County which had the support of the mayors of Hammond, 

Whiting, and East Chicago. It promised to become the "Quad—City Harbor" with the 

endorsement of Gary's mayor who advocated the extension of the breakwater to serve his

city. When Lake County state legislators succeeded in Indianapolis in defeating an 

appropriation for the Porter County harbor, park opponents were doubly convinced Herbert 

Read was on U.S. Steel's payroll.

Gradually, port proponents used incentives to "neutralize" the Quad—City Harbor boosters.
Establishment of a Lake County crime commission purged others, including the mayor of 

Gary. With the Lake County alternative fading, Herbert Read and George Anderson focused 

on a proposal to limit facilities to the east arm of Burns Ditch, thereby preserving the dunes 

along the lakeshore. [15]

The February 1962 hearings evolved into a heated debate on the proposed Burns Ditch port. 

Proponents cited the revised January 1962 Corps of Engineers report which recommended 

Burns Harbor. Opponents featured a recommendation of President Kennedy's Outdoor 

Recreation Resources Review Commission calling for the preservation of shoreline areas near 

urban centers. The Department and Service's report was again pro—park, calling for the 

maximum acreage possible and asking for a National Lakeshore or National Seashore 

designation. The cost estimate for the roughly 9,000 acres was $8 million. [16]

In early March, President John F. Kennedy took a stand on Indiana Dunes in an important 

New Frontier speech on conservation. Kennedy outlined a program to link the nation's 

economic vitality to a movement for conservation of the natural environment. He 

recommended the establishment of additional national parks, monuments, and seashores and 

called for the authorization of park units at "Point Reyes (California), Great Basin (Nevada), 

Sleeping Bear Dunes (Michigan), Ozark Rivers (Missouri), Prairie Lands (Kansas),

Lakeshore Dunes (Indiana), and Sagamore Hill (New York)." In a speech before the National 

Wildlife Federation, Secretary Udall hailed the president's message as "but one highlight of 

the greatest decades in the conservation history of the United States." [17]

On March 23, 1962, the Corps of Engineers approved the report endorsing Burns Ditch 

Harbor. The State of Indiana immediately concurred and anxiously awaited the expected 

approval from the Bureau of the Budget.

On the heels of President Kennedy's speech, however, Senator Douglas did not believe 

Kennedy's subordinates would approve the harbor before Congress decided on the park. 

While Douglas openly criticized the flaws in the Corps' report, Governor Matthew Welsh's 

administrative aide, Clinton Green, who was also the Secretary—Treasurer of the Indiana 

Port Commission, went to Washington, D.C., for one week to lobby for the harbor. In a 

discussion Green arranged between his boss and Secretary of the Interior Udall, Udall 

accepted the idea of a harbor in the proposed park area. [18]

While the park appeared for the first time on the administration's priority list, the port also 

enjoyed White House support. Indiana had a Democrat in the governor's mansion pledged to 

securing a public port, and the minority leader in the House of Representatives, Charles A. 

Halleck (Republican—Indiana), had most of the lakeshore area in his district and had 

launched his political career decades previously based on securing a public harbor for 

Indiana. Like most Hoosier politicians, Halleck was a self—declared enemy of the proposed 

park. On March 30, the Indiana Port Commission gleefully declared that Bethlehem Steel 

contracted for the removal of more than two million cubic yards of sand for use in a landfill 

at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. The activity marked the first step in 

Bethlehem Steel's plans to break into the Chicago steel market by building a new $250 

million facility, a move officially unveiled on December 2, 1962. [19]

Fearing that the industrial—political coalition might succeed in decimating the Central Dunes,

Senator Douglas vowed to oppose appropriations for Burns Harbor until the park became a

reality. [20] At this point, Douglas knew the Kennedy White House wanted the port more than

the park. He observed that the President's advisors exhibited typical Eastern arrogance in that 

they considered nothing in the Midwest worthy of preservation.

Douglas' suspicions proved correct when he learned in early October 1962 that President
John F. Kennedy had approved the Bureau of the Budget's inclusion of Burns Harbor in the

1962 Public Works Bill. Paul Douglas immediately went to the White House to speak to 

President Kennedy. He shared with the President his well—worn photographs of the dunes, 

comparing the area's beauty and uniqueness to that of Kennedy's own beloved Cape Cod 

National Seashore. Douglas seized the opportunity to raise doubts about the validity of the 

fluctuating cost—benefit projections contained in the Corps of Engineers report, which had 

been revised from 5.66 to 1 in 1960 to 1.47 to 1 in 1962.* He argued that the issue 

transcended politics. The dunes had to be preserved at all costs.

*The errors were uncovered by Herbert Read and George Anderson of the Save 

the Dunes Council's Engineering Committee. When first informed of the Corps 

report which initially caused President Kennedy to sanction the Burns Ditch 

Harbor project, Read knew the report contained errors without even having read 

it. This perception was based on prior experience with Corps reports. When

called to the capital the following day, Read and Anderson took the evening train 

and dissected the report, making copious notes. Before a meeting in Douglas' 

office where White House and Bureau of the Budget representatives, Corps of 

Engineers generals, the Secretary of the Army, and members of the Indiana 

Congressional Delegation were present, the two private citizens recounted a list

of errors, including double—counting benefits. See Herbert Read, Engineering

Chairman, Save the Dunes Council, Inc., interview transcript, 22 September

1987, Bailly Ranger Station, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, Porter, Indiana.

The meeting with Kennedy resulted in the President rescinding his approval of the port 

project. Additionally, he instructed the Bureau of the Budget to re-evaluate the economic 

potential of the harbor as well as to seek an avenue of compromise to establish both a port 

and a park. [21] On October 3, 1962, an emergency meeting took place in Senator Douglas' 

office with Bureau of the Budget (BOB) and Corps of Engineers officials listening to a 

recitation of errors contained in the Corps' Burns Harbor report. Such in—depth analysis to 

dispute the Corps' findings was a shockingly unprecedented act. The result saw BOB reject 

the port proposal. [22] The elimination of the port from the administration's agenda outraged 

port proponents who universally denounced Douglas' interference. New battle lines were 

drawn in early 1963 as the highly charged port versus park struggle entered a new stage.
Indiana Dunes

Administrative History

PART I

CHAPTER THREE:

PORT VERSUS PARK (continued)

The Kennedy Compromise, 1963-1964

While bulldozers were leveling the middle of the Central Dunes in order to build the new 

Bethlehem Steel plant, Senator Douglas introduced yet another park bill—S. 650—to save the 

remainder of the dunes. Boundaries were adjusted to include unsold tracts in Dune Acres as 

well as land west of Ogden Dunes owned by Inland Steel. For the fourth time the Advisory 

Board on National Parks, Historic Sites, Buildings and Monuments recommended that the

area be preserved through the establishment of a national park. [23]

The Park Service's and Department's position on the Douglas bill remained the same, but

Acting Director Hillory A. Tollson interjected a warning:

We feel that, unless action is taken soon to protect and preserve this nationally 

significant resource for the enjoyment of future generations, it will be gradually, 

but surely, denuded and destroyed. Pressures to devote this area to development 

or uses that are inconsistent with the preservation objectives of S. 650 will 

continue to increase. [24]

Douglas privately felt the National Park Service was no longer as staunchly committed to the 

proposed park now that the largest unspoiled area outside the Dunes State Park was gone. 

While he had the tacit support of the administration, Douglas repeatedly encountered only 

lukewarm Interior Department approval. He believed this new attitude was dune in large part 

to tremendous political pressures as well as to the fear of harmful pollutants from the 

increasing number of area blast furnaces. Douglas later wrote disdainfully of the Service (by 

referring to it incorrectly) and its Director: "The Eisenhower—appointed head of the Bureau 

of Parks, Conrad Wirth,* who had endorsed the Dunes proposal, reversed himself in public 

before the opposition of Capehart and his merry men. He is regarded as a great 

conservationist." [25]

*No documentation was found to substantiate Senator Douglas' assertion. A 

solicitation to former Director Conrad L. Wirth to discover Wirth's position was 

made via correspondence. No response, however, was received. Also, Wirth was 

appointed during the Administration of President Harry S Truman.

In a repeat of the October 3, 1962, emergency meeting in Senator Douglas' Washington 

office, officials of the Department of the Army, Corps of Engineers, and Bureau of the 

Budget met with Douglas and Save the Dunes Council Members Herbert Read and George 

Anderson on June 28, 1963. The Council members detailed three alternatives for Burns Ditch 

Harbor designed to save the shoreline dunes of the Bethlehem Steel tract, also known as
"Unit 192." This meeting led to a Save the Dunes Council—led tour of the area for Senator

Douglas and George B. Hartzog, Jr., Associate Director of the National Park Service. [26]

In August 1963, a Park Service report identified new areas to replace that lost to the steel 

mill. The report, compiled by an inter-disciplinary team from the Washington Office and 

Northeast (formerly called Region V from 1955 to 1962) Regional Office, excluded both the 

Bethlehem Steel and Burns Ditch Harbor areas from consideration, but did target areas to the 

immediate south for inclusion in the park. The report identified a national lakeshore 

composed of four distinct units with a combined shoreline total of eight and three—quarters 

miles. [27]

In yet another high—level meeting in Senator Douglas' office with the same cast of players 

on September 5, 1963, the Corps of Engineers responded to the three harbor alternatives 

proposed by the Save the Dunes Council. Ominously, despite Douglas, Read, and Anderson's 

best arguments, the Bureau of the Budget (BOB) concurred with the overall Corps position. 

The proposals were "not acceptable to local interests," i.e., the two steel companies. In a last

—ditch effort, the Council appealed to Bethlehem Steel officials themselves. Although the 

corporation agreed that the alternatives for preserving the lakeshore dunes were feasible, it 

had already made up its corporate mind. [28]

In September 1963, BOB completed its study as requested by President Kennedy. The so—

called "Kennedy Compromise" ensued. BOB recommended the establishment of an 11,700-

acre national lakeshore. Under BOB direction, the Corps of Engineers report included 

alternate port sites, but for the recommended Burns Ditch Harbor site, the Corps listed 

reservations in accordance with the Save the Dunes Council view. Before Federal money 

could be expended, environmental and economic considerations had to be satisfied.* The 

"Kennedy Compromise Bill," drafted by the National Park Service, provided for an Indiana 

Dunes National Lakeshore in accordance with the August 1963, Park Service report. In a 

conference call to the Save the Dunes Council, Douglas recommended acceptance of the 

compromise even though the Central Dunes would be lost. To continue the fight, Douglas 

believed, would extend the deadlock indefinitely and then no duneland would be left to save. 

After much agonizing, the Council concurred.

*In retrospect, most of the Save the Dunes Council's projections for the harbor 

proved to be more accurate than the Corps' position. As for the stipulated BOB 

conditions that had to be satisfied before Federal appropriations were justified, 

according to the Council, most of these were never met. See Herbert Read to 

Ron Cockrell, letter, 26 March 1988, Cultural Resources Management files, 

Midwest Regional Office.

On October 21, Senator Henry M. Jackson, Chairman of the Committee on Interior and

Insular Affairs, introduced S. 2249 on behalf of Paul H. Douglas, Clinton P. Anderson, Vance 

Hartke, Birch Bayh, and a score of other cosponsors. The support of both Indiana Senators 

Bayh and Hartke was a heartening testimonial to the spirit of compromise. In the House, Rep. 

Morris Udall of Arizona introduced a similar bill, H.R. 8927, which was cosponsored by, 

among others, Rep. J. Edward Roush of Fort Wayne, Indiana. [29]

Despite the hopeful outlook engendered by the compromise, swift Congressional action was 

not to be. With the assassination of John F. Kennedy in Dallas the following month, the 

transition to the administration of President Lyndon B. Johnson, and the frenzied enactment 

of many of the New Frontier programs kept the Congress from considering the dunes park 

bills. Hearings were held in the Senate Public Lands Subcommittee from March 5 to 7, 1964.
Approximately fifty witnesses testified. It became apparent on the first day of hearings that 

not all of Indiana's Congressional Delegation was willing to ride on the bandwagon of 

compromise.

The stalwart leader of the opposition was Representative Charles A. Halleck. Halleck 

recounted the effort since 1935 to secure a public port to "open Indiana as a gateway of the 

greatest agricultural and industrial area" in the nation. Halleck objected to surrounding the 

port and steel mills with parkland because it would destroy the area's economic potential, 

thereby depriving his constituents of thousands of jobs. He cited the overwhelming local 

opposition to the Federal Government preserving the dunes when the State of Indiana had 

already incorporated a prime dunes tract into the State Park System—a unit which Halleck 

affirmed Indiana would never give away. He criticized the National Park Service for 

advocating the inclusion of land which did not even feature dunes. As for Park Service plans 

to establish nature trails near the industrial zones, Halleck scoffed, "I can't conceive of 

anyone even walking across the street to explore some of those parcels." [30]

A spokesman from the Gary Chamber of Commerce expressed his displeasure over the wide 

expanse of the park. [31] A resolution from the Porter County Board of Commissioners 

stated unalterable opposition to any Federal park in northern Porter County. [32] Another 

resolution from the town board of Beverly Shores also expressed opposition as did the 

Beverly Shores Citizens Commission which questioned the apparent discrimination in 

excluding "wealthy and powerful" Ogden Dunes and Dune Acres from the park. [33] Other 

Beverly Shores representatives asked the committee to either include all of the town within 

the national lakeshore or compensate the town for the loss of sixty percent of its tax base. 

[34]

Donald E. Foltz, Director of the Indiana Department of Conservation, testified that his 

organization favored the national lakeshore's authorization. Foltz reported Indiana parks were 

overused, that no new public lands had been acquired since the Depression, and the state's 

population had doubled since 1945. While he could not agree to relinquishing all or part of 

the Indiana Dunes State Park, he could support "a cooperative management arrangement" in 

the area. [35]

The testimony of Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall was decidedly favorable. 

Secretary Udall declared that to his knowledge the twenty—six Senators cosponsoring S.

2249 were the largest number of patrons for the establishment of any unit in the history of the 

National Park System. Udall recognized the national support base for the preservation of the 

dunes. He expressed disappointment in the preceding negative testimony in light of the best 

efforts initiated by John F. Kennedy in early 1963 to secure a compromise. Udall praised the 

committee for approving Point Reyes National Seashore on the Pacific Coast, Cape Cod 

National Seashore on the Atlantic Coast, and for considering the pending Fire Island National 

Seashore in New York. The Secretary pointed out that Mid—America was also a prime area 

for a national park unit in the form of Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. [36]

Augmenting Secretary Udall's testimony was Allen T. Edmunds, Assistant to the Regional 

Director of the Northeast Region and "father" of the Great Lakes Survey. Edmunds outlined 

for the committee with maps and illustrations the proposed boundaries. When asked about the 

problems of administering a disjointed park, Edmunds assured the committee that the

inherent difficulties would not be insurmountable. [37]

The highlight of the hearings was the well—delivered plea of Senator Paul Douglas. Calling 

the establishment of Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore the "most important conservation 

issue before the nation," Douglas lauded the efforts of the Save the Dunes Council: "This is 

undoubtedly one of the most public spirited, courageous, and self—sacrificing volunteer
groups in the nation." [38] Among the organized supporters of the national lakeshore, 

Douglas recognized the Izaak Walton League, Wildlife Management Institute, Sport Fishing 

Institute, National Wildlife Federation, Nature Conservancy, National Council of State 

Garden Clubs, Wilderness Society, Sierra Club, National Parks and Conservation 

Association, Citizens Committee for Natural Resources, American Planning and Civic 

Association, and Garden Clubs of America. Alongside the scientific community stood 

northern Indiana and Illinois blue collar workers represented by key labor unions: United 

Steelworkers of America and the United Auto Workers. [39]

Douglas condemned the proposed Federal harbor as infeasible and an unfair subsidy of the 

steel companies which were conspiring to block the creation of a national park. He outlined 

the Kennedy Compromise providing for both port and park. He warned the committee, "[Do] 

not lose sight of the fact that this compromise plan gave up to the bulldozers the most 

beautiful section of the Indiana Dunes. The loss is tragic. No words and no amount of profit 

to anyone can possibly justify the inability or failure of our society and Government to 

preserve the irreplaceable 'Unit 2' section of the park." [40]

Dorothy Buell added her own statement to that of Paul Douglas. Praising Douglas' 

commitment in contrast to the shunning of the dunes by Indiana politicians, Buell presented 

stacks of petitions demonstrating the widespread popularity of the proposed national 

lakeshore. [41]

In August 1964, the Senate Interior and Insular Affairs Committee reported S. 2249 favorably 

and it passed the Senate on September 29, 1964. With the 88th Congress facing its closing 

months, the conservationists remained hopeful as Representative J. Edward Roush presented

a companion bill, H.R. 12096, in July 1964. They were realistic, however, faced by the 

powerful coalition of park opponents led by the uncompromising Charles A. Halleck and 

Inland Steel. [42]
Indiana Dunes

Administrative History

PART I

CHAPTER THREE:

ENDNOTES

1. Donald Janson, "Kennedy Stand Spurs Indiana Dunes Group," New York Times (11 March

1962), Scrapbook of Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore compiled by Dr. Virginia

Reuterskiold, Superintendent's Office.

2. Great Lakes Harbors Study: Interim Report on Burns Waterway Harbor, U.S. Army

Engineers District, Chicago, Corps of Engineers, October 1960, Associate Director E. T. 

Scoyen to Col. C. F. Mitchim, Chicago District Engineer, U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, 

letter, 20 January 1960, appendix H, pp. H 1-2.

3. Ibid., preface, p. vi; and Harold M. Meyer, "Politics and Land Use: The Indiana Shoreline 

of Lake Michigan," reprinted from Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol.

54, No. 4, (December 1964), p. 513, received from John Schnurlein, letter to author, 22

February 1988, Cultural Resources Management files, Midwest Regional Office.

4. Clinton Green to Governor—Elect Matthew E. Welsh, 22 November 1960, and clipping, 

"Sen. Douglas Blocks Reports on Dunes Port," Chicago Sunday Tribune (1920 November

1960), Papers of Governor Matthew E. Welsh, Box 22, Folder 3: Indiana Dunes, Indiana State

Library, Indiana Division.

5. Herbert Read, Engineering Chairman, Save the Dunes Council, Inc., interview transcript,

22 September 1987, Bailly Ranger Station, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, Porter, 

Indiana.

6. Herbert Read to Ron Cockrell, archival records received 23 Cultural Resources

Management files, Midwest Regional Office: District Office, Corps of Engineers' 8

November 1930 report on Harbor, Indiana. March 1988, Second Chicago Burns Ditch

Harbor, Indiana.

7. Ibid.: Review Report on Burns Ditch Harbor, Indiana, 29 November 1935.

8. Ibid.: C. Keller, Colonel, Corps of Engineers District Engineer Preliminary Examination of 

the Indiana Shore of Lake Michigan, (1928 January 1943.

9. "The Vanishing Havens of Beauty," Life (29 August 1960), pp. 79-85, Scrapbook of 

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore compiled by Dr. Virginia Reuterskiold, Superintendent's 

Office.

10. Acting Director E. T. Scoyen to Legislative Counsel, Office of the Solicitor, 6 June 1961, 

folder—W3815 Indiana Dunes, Files of the Northeast Regional Office, 4-28-035-3-3, P373677, box 16, Philadelphia Federal Records Center; and J. Ronald Engel, Sacred Sands:

The Struggle for Community in the Indiana Dunes (Middletown, Connecticut: Wesleyan
University Press, 1983, p. 366n.

11. Engel, Sacred Sands, p. 265.

12. News release on the July 23 tour of Indiana Dunes with Secretary of the Interior Stuart 

Udall, Office of Senator Paul H. Douglas, 24 August 1961, Scrapbook of Indiana Dunes 

National Lakeshore compiled by Dr. Virginia Reuterskiold, Superintendent's Office.

13. Conrad Louis Wirth, Parks, Politics, and the People (Norman: University of Oklahoma

Press, 1980), pp. 198-9.

14. Clinton Green, Secretary—Treasurer, Indiana Port Commission, "A Memorandum to 

Interested Citizens," 16 February 1962, Governor Matthew E. Welsh Papers, Folder 3 Indiana 

Dunes, Box 22, Indiana State Library, Indiana Division.

15. Herbert Read, Chairman, Engineering Committee, Save the Dunes Council, to Ron 

Cockrell, letter, 7 April 1988, Cultural Resources Management files, Midwest Regional 

Office.

16. Secretary Stewart L. Udall to Senator Clinton P. Anderson, Chairman, Committee on 

Interior and Insular Affairs, letters, 23 February 1962, and to Representative Wayne Aspinall, 

Chairman, Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, 3 March 1962, 4-28-035-3-3, P373677, box 16, Records of the Northeast Regional Office, Philadelphia Federal Records

Center; and Engel, Sacred Sands, p. 269.

17. "Greatest Decade in Conservation History Predicted by Udall," United States Department 

of the Interior news release, Office of the Secretary, 9 March 1962, file—K3415 Pines. 

Kennedy's Message Mr. Udall's Press Release on Conservation, 4-28-035-3-3, P-373669, box

8, Records of the Northeast Regional Office, Philadelphia Federal Records Center.

18. Kay Franklin and Norma Schaeffer, Duel for the Dunes: Land Use Conflict on the Shores

of Lake Michigan (Urbana/Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1983), p. 162.

19. Engel, Sacred Sands, pp. 270, 275.

20. Donald Janson, "Kennedy Stand Spurs Indiana Dunes Group," New York Times (11

March 1962), Scrapbook of Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore compiled by Dr. Virginia

Reuterskiold, Superintendent's Office.

21. Engle, Sacred Sands, p. 275; Paul H. Douglas, In The Fullness of Time: The Memoirs of

Paul H. Douglas (New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, Inc., 1971), p. 540; and Kay 

Franklin and Norma Schaeffer, Duel for the Dunes: Land Use Conflict on the Shores of Lake

Michigan (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1983), pp. 163-4.

22. Herbert Read to Ron Cockrell, letter, 26 March 1988, Cultural Resources Management 

files, Midwest Regional Office.

23. Indiana Dunes, A Department of the Interior National Lakeshore Proposal, 1966 

(Washington, D.C.: National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, 1966), p. 1.

24. Acting Director Hillory A. Tolson to Legislative Counsel, Office of the Solicitor, 22

April 1963, folder—W3815 Indiana Dunes, Files of the Northeast Regional Office, 4-28-035-

3-3, P-373677, box 16, Philadelphia Federal Records Center.

25. Douglas, In the Fullness of Time, p. 540.
26. Herbert Read to Ron Cockrell, letter, 26 March 1988, Cultural Resources Management 

files, Midwest Regional Office.

27. A Report on the Proposed Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore (National Park Service, U.S. 

Department of the Interior: August 1963), Visitor Center Library, File Drawer No. 1.

28. Herbert Read to Ron Cockrell, letter, 26 March 1988, Cultural Resources Management 

files, Midwest Regional Office; and Herbert Read, Engineering Chairman, Save the Dunes 

Council, Inc., interview transcript, 22 September 1987, Bailly Ranger Station, Indiana Dunes 

National Lakeshore, Porter, Indiana.

29. A Report on the Proposed Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, 1963; Engel, Sacred Sands, 

pp. 275-6; Assistant Secretary of the Interior John A. Conner, Jr., to President of the Senate 

Lyndon B. Johnson, 18 October 1963, folder—W3815 Indiana Dunes, Files of the Northeast 

Regional Office, 4-28-035-3-3, P-373677, box 16, Philadelphia Federal Records Center (A 

similar letter was sent to Speaker of the House of Representatives John W. McCormack); and 

Herbert Read, Engineering Chairman, Save the Dunes Council, Inc., interview transcript, 22

September 1987, Bailly Ranger Station, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, Porter, Indiana.

30. Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Public Lands of the Committee on Interior and

Insular Affairs, U.S. Senate, Eighty-Eighth Congress, 2nd Session on S. 2249, "A Bill to

Provide for the Establishment of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, and For Other

Purposes," March 5, 6, and 7, 1964 (Washington, D.C.: 21-22. U.S. Government Printing 

Office, 1964), pp. 11-13, 17-19,

31. Ibid., p. 26.

32. Ibid., pp. 29.

33. Ibid., p. 27-8.

34. Ibid., pp. 114-5.

35. Ibid., p. 251.

36. Ibid., pp. 35-8.

37. Ibid., pp. 85, 87.

38. Ibid., pp. 47, 49.

39. Ibid., pp. 51-2.

40. Ibid., pp. 52-3.

41. Ibid., pp. 123-4.

42. Engel, Sacred Sands, p. 276.
Indiana Dunes

Administrative History

PART I

CHAPTER FOUR:

AUTHORIZATION OF AN INDIANA DUNES 

NATIONAL LAKESHORE, 1965—1966

To my mind, this is a very important gain for conservation because it was won in 

spite of tremendous pressure from industrial groups and local interests. The loss 

of this proposal would have had its influence on many areas now under 

consideration and conservation would have suffered a severe setback.

Indiana Dunes Project Keyman Allen T. Edmunds, November 9, 1966, following

President Johnson's signing of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore bill. [1]

Lyndon Johnson's Program

By the end of 1964, the Roush bill effectively died, bottled up in the House Interior 

committee. With the convening of the 89th Congress, Roush reintroduced the bill in early

1965 and it received the designation H.R. 51. Senator Paul Douglas and Representative 

Charles Halleck continued their port versus park political machinations. For his part, Douglas 

worked for the Senate to approve the Public Works Omnibus Bill of 1965 which included a 

stipulation providing that no funds be appropriated for Burns Ditch Harbor until Congress 

designated the Indiana Dunes a national lakeshore. When the bill reached the House, Halleck 

not only saw that the measure was deleted, but he inserted a clause forbidding any linkage 

between port and park. In conference committee, Senator Birch Bayh of Indiana worked for a 

compromise. In the final bill, Douglas prevailed when Congress approved the Burns 

Waterway Harbor (Port of Indiana), but appropriations could only come with the

authorization of an Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore by the adjournment of the 89th

Congress in late 1966. [2]

From his years of experience in Congress, President Lyndon B. Johnson knew the history of 

the port versus park battle well. He adopted his predecessor's stand on the dunes, the so—

called "Kennedy Compromise," without pause. In his February 8, 1965, State of the Union 

speech, President Johnson declared that the number of parks, seashores, and recreational 

areas did not satisfy the needs of an expanding population. Johnson proposed that maximum 

appropriations from the newly implemented Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) be 

utilized to make the 1960s a "Parks—for—America" decade. He listed twelve proposed 

national park areas he intended to target LWCF monies to acquire. Two Great Lakes units 

were on the list: Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, Michigan, and Indiana Dunes 

National Lakeshore. [3]

Several factors combined to facilitate a more advantageous outlook for the park bill. In 

concert with the President's Great Society program was the growing acceptance of urban
parks and the success of the outdoor recreation movement. President Johnson established the 

Bureau of Outdoor Recreation within the Department of the Interior and two presidential 

recreation commissions. Also critical to the dunes park movement was the growing concern 

to protect scarce coastal areas for public use. [4]

In the Senate, hearings on S. 360 resulted in a favorable report by the Interior and Insular 

Affairs Committee. Debate centered on the inclusion of noncontiguous marshy areas which 

the minority view saw as unrelated geographically and better suited to development. The 

dissenters added:

Our further concern is that the patchwork taking authorized by this bill may later 

be used as a precedent to take the best part of a landowner's holdings and leave 

him with only the scraps. It is our belief that the many problems of 

administration that are present without the inclusion of these noncontiguous

tracts are simply compounded by their inclusion, and this is amplified by the fact 

that they are located many miles from the main body of the national lakeshore. 

The map of this proposed national lakeshore has the appearance of a crazy quilt. 

[5]

In accordance with the majority view, the Senate subsequently approved on S. 360 on June

21, 1965.

Charles A. Halleck, leader of the opposition, testified during the October 2 hearings at 

Valparaiso University in Indiana. He criticized the number of dunes park bills, declaring it 

was difficult to remember from bill to bill what was included and what was excluded from 

the lakeshore.* Chairman Ralph J. Rivers limited discussion to consideration of H.R. 51 and

S. 360. [6] Congressman J. Edward Roush, sponsor of H.R. 51, reiterated the critical need for 

recreational areas by saying while there may never be a local consensus, Indiana Dunes 

National Lakeshore was certainly in the national interest. Roush lauded Lyndon Johnson's 

recent signing of the Assateague Island National Seashore bill and adopted the President's 

own words as applicable to the dunes: "If future generations are to remember us more with 

gratitude than with sorrow, we must achieve more than just the miracles of technology. We 

must also leave them with a glimpse of the world as God really made it, not just as it looked 

when we got through with it." [7]

*The list of bills follow: H.R. 51 introduced by J. Edward Roush of Indiana;

H.R. 4412 introduced by Roman C. Pucinski of Illinois; H.R. 4789 introduced by 

Barratt O'Hara of Illinois; H.R. 3833 introduced by Morris K. Udall of Arizona; 

and H.R. 6985 introduced by John P. Saylor of Pennsylvania. (H.R. 51, 3833,

and 4789 were effectively the same). In addition the committee considered S.

360 as passed by the Senate in June.

Department of the Interior's Proposal

In early 1966, the Department of the Interior produced an updated feasibility proposal to 

Congress on Indiana Dunes. Ten thousand copies were printed for the Department, made 

possible through the use of private funds. The Izaak Walton League ordered 7,000 copies 

direct from the printer for its own distribution. [8] Needless to say, Indiana, Washington, 

D.C., and other areas were saturated with the positive report.

The Department saw a real need for the lakeshore with six and a half million people within a 

fifty—mile radius and nine and a half million people with a one hundred—mile radius. 

Within fifteen years, the dunes region population would approach nearly twelve million
people. The report stated:

Located adjacent to Gary, Indiana, and only 35 miles from Chicago on the south 

shore of Lake Michigan, the proposed lakeshore presents a rare opportunity to 

improve the environment of millions of crowded city dwellers and to insure the 

enjoyment of this unusual lakeshore for future generations... Nowhere on the 

Great Lakes is the need for additinal shoreline recreation greater. It is expected 

that these people with increased population, higher income and more leisure—

will demand more in the future in the way of recreation opportunities. [9]

The proposal predicted an annual visitation of 1.2 million visitors to a developed park. By

1980, visitation could surpass two million. There was no time to waste in the effort to 

preserve the remaining dunes. The report continued:

Few other places on the Great Lakes exhibit a greater need for additional 

recreation sites than the vast Chicago metropolitan area. This remaining portion 

(Indiana Dunes) of Lake Michigan shoreline represents a potential major 

contribution towards the fulfillment of these recreational needs. Its early 

acquisition for park use would be in the best interest of public recreation.

Few spots on the Great Lakes have factors more favorably aligned for combined 

recreational use of the water, the lakeshore and the hinterland than the area of the 

proposed National Lakeshore.

Because of the low latitude and shallow depth, the waters along the Indiana 

shoreline are the warmest in Lake Michigan, rising above 60 degrees during the 

latter part of June and staying above that point until late September. Wide, gently 

sloping beaches of clean, light colored and fine grained sand are free of debris. 

This combination provides ideal conditions for pleasant swimming, strolling 

barefoot along the waterline, sunbathing, beachcombing or just relaxation in the 

refreshing breezes.

The Indiana Dunes region is an unusual complex of exceptional sand dunes, 

numerous marshes, swamps and bogs, white sand beaches, and widely 

diversified flora and fauna—a natural, scientific and scenic asset so diverse that 

it is difficult to equal anywhere in the country. [10]

The proposal divided the dunes into three zones—shoreline, inland, and wetland—and 

comprised twelve units totaling 8,894 acres. Within the zones were 950 improved properties 

(590 were permanent residences, 240 summer homes, 63 commercial installations, and 100 

other residences built since 1961). The State of Indiana owned one—quarter of the land; the 

remainder was in private hands, including Inland, Bethlehem, and National Steel. The 

estimated acquisition price tag was set at $23 million, with boundaries carefully drawn in 

order not to hinder other developments. [11]

The 1966 report clearly defined the home ownership policy for the proposed park. Owners of 

a single—family home could retain ownership and as much as three acres of land indefinitely 

provided they satisfied two criteria: the home must have been built before October 21, 1963, 

and homeowners must adhere to local zoning laws approved by the Secretary of the Interior 

within one year of the lakeshore's enactment. All homeowners willing to sell could receive an 

independent appraisal and a fair market price. The property owner could then reserve a right 

of non—commercial use and occupancy for periods of up to twenty—five years. The 

Secretary of the Interior would be empowered to secure easements to allow public access to 

beaches. Even outside the lakeshore boundaries, the Secretary could obtain (but not through
condemnation) easements to ensure visitor access to the Little Calumet River. [12]

The report included the following six recommendations for development and land use: 

The Lakeshore Dunes Unit in its entirety be considered an inviolate natural area

to be left free of any intrusions other than trails and such ungraded and unpaved 

maintenance roads as may be needed.

The West Beach Unit be used for intensive recreation pursuits such as 

swimming, sunbathing, picnicking and camping.

Camping, picnicking, and minor swimming areas be provided at the east end of

Beverly Shores near Michigan City in the East Beach Unit.

The appropriate portions of the Bailly Homestead Unit, the Burns Bog Unit and 

the Inland Dunes Unit be devoted to hiking, picnicking, camping, horseback 

riding, nature study and any other uses that appear compatible with wise use of 

the Unit.

...wetland areas (Billington Lake, Mud Lake, Little Calumet River, Blue Heron, 

and the Pinhook Bog Units) be used for hiking, nature study, and wildlife 

sanctuaries.

To achieve consistency in overall planning, development, operation and 

conservation of the National Lakeshore and Indiana Dunes State Park, the 

National Park Service work in close cooperation with the State of Indiana, and 

that, with the concurrence of the State of Indiana, the Indiana Dunes State Park 

be included as part of the National Lakeshore. [13]

In conclusion, the Department's 1966 report acknowledged that the proposed National 

Lakeshore met the criteria for a "National Recreation Area" as defined by the President's 

Recreation Advisory Council.* [14] The report left no doubt about the Department of the 

Interior's enthusiastic endorsement of Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.

*The definition of a national recreation area is "a spacious area, developed for 

high carrying capacity, offering significant recreation opportunities in answer to 

high priority needs, and conveniently located to urban areas in an area requiring 

Federal involvement."
Indiana Dunes

Administrative History

PART I

CHAPTER FOUR:

AUTHORIZATION OF AN INDIANA DUNES

NATIONAL LAKESHORE, 1965—1966 (continued)

A Legislative Miracle

When House Interior and Insular Affairs Committee hearings resumed in April 1966, the 

National Park Service was confident that finally the dunes bill would be reported out of 

committee. Of notable importance, the State of Indiana's position had mellowed. It sought to 

capitalize on the proposed park out of its own self—interest. While Indiana welcomed the 

Federal Government acquiring lands immediately bordering on the Dunes State Park, the 

State remained diametrically opposed to donating its parkland. Rather, it wished to lease the 

new Federal areas and thereby forego National Park Service management. The State frowned 

upon acquisition of noncontiguous areas, such as the Inland Steel property, as an attempt to 

"strangle" the harbor and other industrial development. [15]

The slow trend in acceptance for the park also gained momentum in 1966 because of the 

approaching Congressional elections. While the port versus park issue had always split along 

partisan lines, this dichotomy was especially acute in 1966. The proposed Indiana Dunes 

National Lakeshore was perceived as a "Democratic" program. Senator Douglas himself was 

facing a tough re—election campaign against Republican challenger Charles Percy. United in 

favor of the park by the top Democrat in the White House, Indiana's five Democratic 

representatives used their influence to promote the park bill as did Democratic Governor 

Roger Branigan, and Democratic Senators Vance Hartke and Birch Bayh. With the opening

of the second session of the 89th Congress, Senator Paul Douglas personally called on 

members of the House Interior committee to enlist their support. These collective efforts bore 

fruit. The favorable committee report came in July 1966. [16]

Park opponents engineered a crafty last—minute plan to kill the bill by inserting the Ogden 

Dunes beach into the boundaries of the proposed park. They were convinced that Save the 

Dunes Council members were interested in protecting the private beaches of their 

communities. Focusing on Ogden Dunes where Dorothy Buell was a resident, opponents 

persuaded Charles Halleck to get the beach included and then gloated to reporters that the bill 

was "dead" because the Council would find it "unacceptable." It was a classic example of 

underestimating a foe. According to Herbert Read:

We had a Save the Dunes Council Board meeting and unanimously passed a 

resolution in support of including not only the Ogden Dunes beach, but all the 

remaining privately owned beaches as well. Our opponents were confounded 

again and Charlie Halleck was in trouble with a number of his Republican 

friends who really didn't want the beach in. Oh, how we laughed at that episode. 

To this day some of our old enemies can't believe that our publicly stated 

objective was our actual objective. [17]
Help getting the bill out of the House Rules Committee and scheduled for a vote came from 

the White House. Vice—President Hubert H. Humphrey called committee members and 

Speaker of the House John McCormack to urge progress. President Lyndon B. Johnson, 

aware that polls indicated Douglas was trailing Percy, also called Speaker McCormack and 

reiterated his firm support for the park bill. Save the Dunes Council members joined with 

professional lobbyists representing labor, civil rights, and other liberal causes to promote the 

national lakeshore to each member of Congress.

On October 11, 1966, the park bill went before the Committee of the Whole. Throughout the 

afternoon and again the following morning, Charles Halleck, Joe Skubitz (Republican—

Kansas), and Rogers C. B. Morton (Republican—Maryland) led a concentrated attack against 

H.R. 51. [18] In its defense, Interior Committee Chairman Wayne Aspinall declared:

Exhaustive hearings were held by the National Parks and Recreation 

Subcommittee both in the field and in Washington. Every conceivable argument 

for and against the proposal was heard. I can honestly say no other park proposal 

has been given more intense consideration in this session of Congress than has 

been given H.R. 51. [19]

Speaker John McCormack, polling for votes on the floor, discovered that the measure would 

fail if it came to a vote. Entire delegations were absent, back in their districts campaigning. In 

a cunning political move, McCormack proposed to House Minority Leader Charles Halleck 

that the park bill be rescheduled for later in the week in order that more important business

be discussed. Believing that even more Democrats would be absent, thereby ensuring a 

humiliating defeat for the bill, Halleck readily agreed. The Indiana Dunes vote was postponed 

until Friday, October 14.

The brilliance of McCormack's move soon became apparent. One of the Great Society's 

pivotal programs was up for a vote on the same day. Ironically, Senator Paul Douglas' other 

bill, the Demonstration Cities and Metropolitan Development Act (or Model Cities Act) was 

scheduled for consideration. The White House had used every avenue to ensure that all 

Democrats would be in attendance. [20] So, too, had the conservationists who launched a 

massive telegram drive. According to Save the Dunes Council member and President of the 

Indiana Division of the Izaak Walton League Thomas E. Dustin, "If there is anything we 

could have done besides hiring a sky—writer to spell out "save the dunes" over the Capitol 

building, I don't know what it could be." [21]

The proposed Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore reaped the benefits of the shrewd, top—

level political manuevering. On October 14, 1966, a legislative miracle occurred when the 

House of Representatives passed H.R. 51 with an impressive 204—141 vote. On October 18, 

the conference committee sent the bill back to the Senate which promptly concurred with the 

House amendments. Another irony involved the simultaneous approval of H.R. 50, which 

provided for an appropriation for Burns Harbor. The port versus park struggle, almost nine 

years in the making, had come to a draw.

The park bill, authorizing $28 million for 8,100 acres, went to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue for 

President Johnson's signature. Indiana Dunes was not to become the first National Lakeshore, 

however, as President Johnson signed the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, Michigan, bill 

on October 15. Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore came into being on November 5, 1966, 

with the approval of Public Law 89—761. [22] Signed into law at the LBJ Ranch in the

Texas hill country, the President heralded the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Act as a 

great victory for the United States. A statement from the President, released by the Office of 

the White House Press Secretary from San Antonio, read:
The bill to establish the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore has been 50 years in 

the making. In 1916, the National Park Service first cited the need to preserve for 

public use the strip of uninhabited, tree—covered dunes, and white sandy

beaches stretching along the south shore of Lake Michigan from East Chicago to

Michigan City.

Over the years many bills were introduced in the Congress. But it took the 

foresight and determination of the 89th Congress—and the tireless work of 

Senator Paul Douglas—to save the last remaining undeveloped portion of this 

lakeshore area. Thirteen miles of dunes and shoreline will be preserved for 

public use and enjoyment.

Its beaches and woodlands will provide a haven for the bird lover, the 

beachcomber, the botanist, the hiker, the camper, and the swimmer.

Within a 100—mile radius of the Indiana Dunes there are 9—1/2 million people 

crowded into one of the greatest industrial areas of our country. For these people, 

as well as for millions of other visitors, the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore 

offer[s] ideal recreational opportunities. Here man can find solace and relief from 

the pressures of the industrial world.

The Members of Congress who have worked with dedication for so many years 

toward enactment of this bill deserve great credit. In addition to Senator Douglas, 

I particularly commend the diligence of Senators Hartke, and Bayh, and 

Representatives Roush, Madden, and Udall.

During the Administration more than 980,000 acres in 24 States have been added 

to the National Park System by the Congress. Twenty major conservation 

measures were passed by the 89th Congress. None gives me greater satisfaction 

than this bill to preserve the Indiana Dunes.

The great scenic and scientific attractions of the Dunes moved poet Carl 

Sandburg to say "the Indiana Dunes are to the Midwest what the Grand Canyon 

is to Arizona and Yosemite is to California."

Our entire country is made richer by this Act I have signed today. [23]

Among park proponents, the victory was tempered by the defeat of Senator Paul H. Douglas 

by Charles Percy three days later in the general election. Even before the President signed the 

legislation, the Northeast Regional Office in Philadelphia planned for the first meeting of the 

Indiana Dunes Master Plan team for mid—November. Northeast Region Project Keyman for 

Indiana Dunes was none other than Allen T. Edmunds who organized the multidisciplinary 

master plan team. [24] The team professionals included: John Wright and Richard Ketchum, 

Office of Lands and Water Rights, both from the Washington Planning and Service Center; 

Frank Barnes, Historian and Chief of Interpretation and Visitor Services, and Elmer C. 

Martinson, Park Planner and Chief of Federal Agency Assistance, both from the Northeast 

Regional Office; John J. Longworth, Civil Engineer, Development Planning and Project 

Control, Philadelphia Planning and Service Center (PPSC); and David Turello, Park Planner, 

Carl P. Schreiber, Resource Manager, Robert W. Carpenter, Naturalist, and Jeanne A. Fistere, 

Landscape Architect, all from the Office of Resource Planning, PPSC.

David Turello served as team captain. From November 13 to 20, 1966, the team made an 

initial survey of the new park, gathered data, and contacted local and state officials to learn 

of their myriad array of development plans. Turello's team encountered strong opposition to 

the national lakeshore. Turello recounted the paranoia and recommended a permanent Park
Service presence be established as soon as possible:

Rumors are being circulated that the beaches in front of the excluded towns 

within the proposal will be overrun with Chicago negroes. Also, that the National 

Park Service is planning to fence off the towns from the beach. Individuals have 

been told that the Service will insist that swimming will be restricted to

designated areas and the residents of Beverly Shores, Ogden Dunes and Dune

Acres will have to drive or walk to these designated beaches.

Of course, many are sure we will physically eject everyone who lives within the 

proposal out of their homes, etc.

In view of all the activity and plotting now underway or proposed which will 

have tremendous effect on planning and operation of the Lakeshore, we urge that 

a National Park Service representative be assigned to the area as soon as

possible. Such a representative on the site could allay many of the local day—to

—day fears and act as a liason with the various planning elements in the area. 

[25]

While Park Service officials in Philadelphia sympathized with the need for an established 

area presence, there were no operating funds for Indiana Dunes and no authorized Full Time 

Equivalency (FTE)* immediately available. Still, Allen Edmunds recommended that a 

National Park Service employee be detailed to Indiana Dunes "at the earliest opportunity." 

[26]

*Full Time Equivalency is the authority to hire one person for one year.

During this interim period, the Save the Dunes Council acted in response to plans by the 

Indiana Highway Department to widen U.S. Highway 12 into a four—lane expressway, in 

direct conflict with conservationists' plans to make Highway 12 a scenic parkway. The 

Council succeeded in blocking the move by persuading several area residents to donate 

parcels in the right—of—way to the new Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. [27] The 

Council also advocated the prompt establishment of a land acquisition office from which to 

negotiate land transactions as well as to explain the terms of the bill. Herbert P. Read, the 

Council's engineering chairman, called for such an office to counter the "ugly untruths" 

maliciously spread by park opponents. Read believed only a vigorous land acquisition 

program aimed at a wide cross—section of the populated Inland Zone (including Tremont, 

Furnessville, Porter, and the Bailly Homestead) could blunt the opponents' misinformation

campaign. The public needed positive signs that the park was indeed a reality, Read reasoned, 

and this could only be done by moving forward with land acquisition. By acquiring 

strategically located parcels, the move would also short—circuit any move by Charles

Halleck to introduce legislation reducing the size of the lakeshore. [28]

A response to the Save the Dunes Council came from the Washington Office in mid—

December 1966 from Assistant Director Howard W. Baker. Baker stated that the land 

acquisition program would be targeted toward preserving the dunes and providing public 

recreational opportunities. Undeveloped lands had first priority, especially tracts which 

provided access to Lake Michigan. The scope of the program, Baker advised, depended upon 

Congress and the availability of funds. [29]

Wishing to alleviate problems through suggesting positive National Park Service actions, 

Senator Paul Douglas offered his own advice. Before he left office, Douglas wrote to 

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall to express his concerns which mirrored those of the
Save the Dunes Council. In addition, Douglas called for the immediate purchase of the Inland 

Steel tract. Douglas declared: "Whatever it costs, this unit will prove one of the most 

extraordinary valuable rescues of open land ever achieved in a metropolitan area." To reduce 

the number of Congressional inquiries and complaints, the program should also accommodate 

hardship cases, especially the elderly and low income homeowners. Further, Douglas advised, 

members of the Secretary's Indiana Dunes Advisory Commission provided for in the 

authorizing act should be recommended by the Save the Dunes Council. [30]

With all of the advice being offered from different quarters, chances of reaching a consensus 

for the future development of Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore appeared as dim as before 

the park's authorization. With the euphoria of 1966 fading, few in the National Park Service 

could realize that the battle of the dunes had only just begun.
Indiana Dunes

Administrative History

PART I

CHAPTER FOUR:

ENDNOTES

1. Indiana Dunes Project Keyman Allen T. Edmunds, Philadelphia Planning and Service

Center, to Northeast Regional Director Lemuel A. Garrison, 9 November 1966, folder L58

INDU NL Proposal, 1962-66, (misc. and FY 1973, Expansion Files), Inactive Stored Files, 

Office of the Superintendent.

2. J. Ronald Engel, Sacred Sands: The Struggle for Community in the Indiana Dunes

(Middletown, Ct.: Wesleyan University Press, 1983), pp. 276-7.

3. House of Representatives, 89th Congress, 1st Session, Document No. 78, "Natural Beauty

of Our Country," Message from The President of the United States, February 8, 1965,

Referred to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, p. 4, book on 

Indiana Dunes Congressional Hearings in the Office of the Superintendent.

4. The Indiana Dunes Story: How Nature and People Made a Park (Beverly Shores, Indiana: 

Shirley Heinze Environmental Fund, 1984), p. 39.

5. "Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs Report together with Minority Views to 

accompany S. 360," Senate Report 334, 89th Congress, 1st Session, Calendar Number 322,

Providing for the Establishment of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, June 16, 1965, pp.

4, 10, book on Indiana Dunes Congressional Hearings in the Office of the Superintendent.

6. Hearings Before the Subcommittee on National Parks and Recreation of the Committee on

Interior and Insular Affairs, House of Representatives, 89th Congress, 1st Session on H.R. 51,

H.R. 4412 and related bills. Hearing Held in Valparaiso University, Indiana, October 2, 1965, 

pp. 2-3, book on Indiana Dunes Congressional Hearings in the Office of the Superintendent.

7. Ibid., pp. 22-3.

8. Allen T. Edmunds to the files, 19 January 1966, folder L58 INDU NL Proposal, 1962-66, 

(Misc. and FY 1973, Expansion Files), Inactive stored files, Office of the Superintendent.

9. Indiana Dunes, A Department of the Interior National Lakeshore Proposal, 1966 

(Washington, D.C.: National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, 1966), p. 2.

10. Ibid., p. 3.

11. Ibid., p. 5.

12. Ibid., p. 12.

13. Ibid., p. 13.
14. Ibid., p. 14.

15. Fritz Kessinger to Chief, Division of Legislation and Regulations, "Confidential," 11

April 1966, folder—L58 Indiana Dunes, P-435859, 4-28-049-7-1, Records of the Northeast

Regional Office, Federal Records Center, Philadelphia.

16. House of Representatives Report No. 1782, 89th Congress, 2nd Session, Indiana Dunes

National Lakeshore, July 29, 1966, Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs Report to

accompany H.R. 51, pp. 1-5, book on Indiana Dunes Congressional Hearings in the Office of 

the Superintendent; Paul H. Douglas, In The Fullness of Time: The Memoirs of Paul H.

Douglas (New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, Inc., 1971), p. 542; and Engel, Sacred

Sands, p. 277.

17. Herbert Read, Chairman, Engineering Committee, Save the Dunes Council, to Ron 

Cockrell, letter, 7 April 1988, Cultural Resources Management files, Midwest Regional 

Office.

18. Douglas, In The Fullness of Time, p. 542, and Engel, Sacred Sands, pp. 277-8.

19. Report together with Dissenting Views to Accompany H.R. 11455, 94th Congress, 2nd

Session, Report No. 94-818, February 10, 1976, book on Indiana Dunes Congressional 

Hearings in the Office of the Superintendent.

20. Douglas, In The Fullness of Time, p. 543, and Engel, Sacred Sands, p. 280.

21. Thomas E. Dustin to Allen Edmunds, 14 October 1966, file L58 Indiana Dunes, P435859, 4-28-049-7-1, Records of the Northeast Regional Office, Federal Records Center, 

Philadelphia.

22. Douglas, In the Fullness of Time, p. 543, and Engel, Sacred Sands, p. 280.

23. "Statement by the President on Approving S. 360, Establishing the Indiana Dunes

National Lakeshore," Press Release, Office of the White House Press Secretary, San Antonio, 

Texas, 5 November 1966, from National Park Service History Collection, Harpers Ferry 

Center, West Virginia.

24. Allen T. Edmunds, Chief, Office of Resource Planning, Philadelphia Planning and Service 

Center, to Regional Director, Northeast Region, 24 October 1966, folder L58 INDU NL 

Proposal, 1962-66, (Misc. and FY 1973, Expansion Files), Inactive stored files, Office of the 

Superintendent.

25. David Turello, Park Planner and Master Plan Team Captain, to Allen T. Edmunds, Chief, 

Office of Resource Planning, PPSC, 29 November 1966, file A2623 Indiana Dunes, P332927, 4-16-033-4-2, box 1, Records of the Northeast Regional Office, Federal Records

Center, Philadelphia.

26. Allen T. Edmunds, Chief, Office of Resource Planning, PPSC, to Assistant Director, 

Cooperative Activities, Northeast Regional Office, 29 November 1966, folder L58 INDU NL 

Proposal, 1962-66, (Misc. and FY 1973, Expansion Files), Inactive stored files, Office of the 

Superintendent.

27. Herbert Read, Engineering Chairman, Save the Dunes Council, Inc., interview transcript,

22 September 1987, Bailly Ranger Station, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, Porter, 

Indiana.
28. Herbert P. Read to Merrill Ormes, Vice-President, Save the Dunes Council, 14 November

1966, folder I1425, INDU 10/66 to 12/66, P-422229, 4-16-033-4-2, Records of the Northeast

Regional Office, Federal Records Center, Philadelphia.

29. Ibid., Assistant Director Howard W. Baker to Merrill D. Ormes, Vice-President, Save the

Dunes Council, letter, 13 December 1966.

30. Ibid., Senator Paul Douglas to Stewart Udall, Secretary of the Interior, letter, 22

December 1966, folder I1425, Indiana Dunes Correspondence No. 1, 1/67 to 6/67.
Indiana Dunes

Administrative History

PART I

CHAPTER FIVE:

THE TUG OF WAR CONTINUES, 1967-1968

Greetings and congratulations to one of the most unselfish groups of men and 

women who it has ever been my pleasure to know. It has been an inspiration to 

have had the chance to work with you and it has given us all keen and durable 

pleasure at having saved some of the magnificent dunes for this and for future 

generations. I think I should warn that the enemies of the Dunes have not given 

up the battle and will probably seek to throw obsticle [sic] after obsticle [sic] by 

trying to cut appropriations and by other means. We have won the important 

battle but have not yet won the war and we need to consolidate our gains to keep 

together and to push on. While I am now leaving public life forever, I want to 

work with you as a citizen and I hope I may be permitted to continue as a 

member of the Save the Dunes Council. Thank you dear friends, for all you have 

done. Let us finish the job.

Senator Paul Douglas, telegram to Dorothy Buell and the Save the Dunes

Council, December 2, 1966. [1]

A Park, But No Money

Following the November 5, 1966, park authorization, the National Park Service submitted a

$200,000 reprogramming request for fiscal year 1967 funds for preliminary land acquisition at

Indiana Dunes, Pictured Rocks, and San Juan Island National Historical Park. While the 

House Subcommittee on Appropriations for Interior and Related Agencies approved the other 

requests, it denied Indiana Dunes. The House subsequently endorsed the action, thereby 

crippling development programs for 1967. The Park Service request for $125,000 in the fiscal 

year 1968 budget also appeared doubtful. [2]

With the loss of Paul Douglas in the Senate, Indiana Dunes sorely lacked a staunch advocate 

in Congress. Some Indiana members, angered by the lakeshore's authorization, voted against 

appropriations. Funding priorities in the Northeast Region continued to be Cape Cod and 

Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, both of which enjoyed powerful 

Congressional backers. Regional funding priorities for Indiana Dunes could not be supported 

by the Service as long as the national lakeshore was perpetually in the Master Planning 

process. [3]

Project Keyman Allen T. Edmunds attributed the reversal of progress to the "tug of war" 

between the park loyalists and those sworn to oppose Park Service acquisition and 

development of the area. He continued to urge that a realty officer be dispatched to help 

squelch the rumor—mongering. While the local squabbling did not abate, Mother Nature 

helped to minimize visitation in 1967 as Edmunds explained: "We have been fortunate in one
respect this summer; the millions of alewives that have washed upon the shores of Lake 

Michigan within the area have made it an extremely uninviting place to be. The rush to 

invade private property has not come as was anticipated by so many." [4]

In July, thousands of mini—folders were distributed throughout the national lakeshore 

region. One of the Park Service publication's weaknesses was the need to emphasize to a 

greater extent the lack of Federally—owned land and facilities for public use, especially

along Lake Michigan. [5] The possibility of a turnaround in this situation, however, occurred 

on October 5, 1967, when Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall and Inland Steel 

Company announced reaching an agreement to purchase a 385—acre Inland Steel tract.

Secretary Udall agreed to purchase ninety acres, which comprised the bulk of the West Beach 

unit, immediately for $1,250,000 with an eleven—month option to acquire the remainder. 

Inland Steel granted to the Park Service the right of entry to its land for survey and 

exploration in order to conduct preliminary designs for public use facilities. Udall cited the 

acquisition as critical to the national lakeshore's development because as the largest single 

tract, it was closest to Chicago and Gary and featured an outstanding beach. [6]

According to the Park Service's Chief of Land Acquisition Philip O. Stewart who later 

acknowledged that the purchase of the Inland Steel tract appeared to many as excessive at the 

time, the transaction soon proved to be "a steal." Six months later, a condemnation action in 

the Burns Harbor area garnered an enormous court award which, had the result come earlier, 

would have tripled the cost of the Inland Steel property. [7]

President Johnson's Fiscal Year 1968 line item requests under the Land and Water 

Conservation Fund included $6,500,000 to purchase the entire West Beach Unit. The House 

Interior Appropriations Subcommittee expurgated the line item request. The National Park 

Service appealed to the Senate counterpart subcommittee to restore the entire amount, but 

succeeded in obtaining only two million dollars. The House—Senate conference committee 

reduced that amount by $500,000. [8]

Another request for funds came on November 6, 1967, when the Service asked for $752,000 

in Fiscal Year 1968 funds under the emergency acquisition clause of the Department of the 

Interior and Related Agencies Appropriation Act. Although the Bureau of Outdoor 

Recreation approved the request, the Bureau of the Budget (BOB) cleared it without

recommendation. The BOB action, which was applied across the board, was consistent with 

the administration's fiscal restraint policy. In January 1968, the Service requested an 

additional $1,245,000 in emergency funds to acquire the "corridor area" in order to assist in 

the relocation of a proposed railroad marshaling yard (see the following section). The 

combined two—million-dollar request would all but deplete the special emergency fund. 

Further, the Fiscal Year 1969 line item request in the President's budget for Indiana Dunes 

land acquisition was ten million dollars. It represented the largest single land acquisition 

request for the National Park System, engulfing twenty percent of the Service's land 

acquisition budget. [9]

Park proponents were determined to help secure the funding. Save the Dunes Council and 

other groups sent members to Washington, D.C., to testify before the appropriation hearings 

to support the Park Service's funding requests. Indiana Dunes Project Keyman Al Edmunds 

praised their tireless efforts, declaring: "Their enduring spirit and loyalty is a never ceasing 

wonderment to me." [10] In April 1968, the Congressional committees succumbed to the 

coordinated, massive lobbying effort. Al Edmunds gleefully reported:"The allotment of $2 

million in emergency funds was a great booster to the morale of those who have fought so 

hard and long for this project, and was a blow to the prestige of those opposed who have 

predicted no funds for 15 years." [11]
The favorable press coverage and local goodwill toward the national lakeshore multiplied 

with the assignment of a land acquisition office to Indiana Dunes. Adjacent to Ed's Trading 

Post on Highway 12 in Porter, the office opened on June 3, 1968, with Land Acquisition 

Officer James Sewell and Chief Appraiser Morris Spencer facing a deluge of calls and letters 

to negotiate property sales. Eighteen months following authorization, Indiana Dunes National 

Lakeshore finally had a viable land acquisition program and an office from which to provide 

valuable information to lakeshore property owners. [12]

By November, five new staff members were added, including an appraiser, cartographer, and 

three clerical workers. Seventy—nine tracts representing 442 acres were in Federal 

ownership. One of these tracts, featuring the former Ed's Trading Post, was the new location 

for the expanding land acquisition office. [13] Clearly, the park proponents were gaining 

ground in the tug of war over the Indiana Dunes.

The Marshaling Yard Controversy

On May 4, 1967, Al Edmunds and David Turello met with representatives of the Washington 

Office, Senator Birch Bayh's office, and the Chicago, South Shore and South Bend Railroad 

Company (locally referred to as the South Shore Railroad) to discuss a proposed freight 

marshaling yard within the national lakeshore. The National Park Service vigorously 

expressed its objections to the proposal. [14] The Northeast Regional Office had already 

evaluated the proposal and recommended against it to the Washington Office. Nevertheless, 

the railroad's parent company, Chesapeake and Ohio (C&O) Railroad, pressed on with its

plan to build the 750—car yard on twenty—six acres between U.S. Highway 12 and the 

existing South Shore tracks, and U.S. Highway 20.

In September 1967, David Turello and Civil Engineer John J. Longworth of the Philadelphia 

Planning and Service Center investigated all of the proposed marshaling yard sites. They 

found no other sites outside of the lakeshore boundaries for a large, flat area required to meet

minimum requirements for such a facility. Because the South Shore Railroad loomed large in 

the Service's future transportation and visitation plans, it was important not to deal the 

company a potentially fatal economic blow. Any marshaling yard, while inconsistent with the 

purposes of the national lakeshore, would have to be scaled down considerably. [15]

In the meantime, National Park Service Director George B. Hartzog, Jr., met with railroad 

officials to continue the Northeast Regional Office's efforts to convince the company to move 

curtail, or abandon the yard. Hartzog subsequently requested that the Northeast Regional 

Office draft an agreement through the Regional Solicitor to accommodate the company. 

Associate Regional Director George Palmer then hired Philadelphia environmentalist Jac 

McCormick to devise the least objectionable facility. McCormick chose ballast granite for the 

yard's base in order to be compatable chemically with the sand, no nighttime lighting, and 

extensive vegetative screening. Several meetings were held with railroad lawyers before the 

proposal went to the Washington Office.

The negotiations proved to be very difficult as the company demanded a facility which in no 

way could "blend" with the national lakeshore. Nevertheless, Director Hartzog held the trump 

card. One of Hartzog's first actions following the 1966 authorization was to authorize the 

Washington Office's Chief of Land Acquisition, Philip O. Stewart to send in his staff in order 

to thwart the yard. [16] Director Hartzog later credited this move as the "turnaround in 

fortunes" for Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. Hartzog recalled that it was:

...a silent coup engineered by Phil Stewart and his intrepid troops in closing off 

the transportation corridor. While we had to plan and negotiate for compromise, 

we also prepare[d] for battle, namely: acquire control of the transportation
corridor by optioning all the private property in a straight line from boundary to 

boundary. [17]

The Save the Dunes Council had already warned Park Service officials that C&O appraisers 

were contacting landowners in the proposed marshaling yard area. Stewart sent his "best 

troubleshooter appraiser" Waverly S. Wheeler to determine all the ownership within the U.S. 

Highway 12 and 20 corridor. Wheeler acquired options on several key tracts and appraised 

several others. Appraiser Brooks Hamilton from Midwest Region's Herbert Hoover National 

Historic Site, Iowa, arrived to acquire a large parcel strategically spanning land between the 

two highways. Ironically, Hamilton arrived at the owner's residence simultaneous with the 

C&O appraiser. The owner, Owen Crumpacker, was no friend of the new national lakeshore, 

but given the choice between the two, he favored selling to the government in order that the 

beauty of his land would be preserved. The frenzied action by Service appraisers netted the 

bulk of the key parcels within the transportation corridor within ten days. [18]

The day following the "coup," Director Hartzog received a telephone call from the president 

of the South Shore Railroad who remarked, "I don't know what you're up to, but if you're 

trying to get my attention, you have." [19] Ironically, Hartzog's crafty move almost came to 

naught had Great Lakes Area Office Secretary Barbara Jenkins and future Advisory 

Commission member Celia Nealon not acted quickly. The women, upon learning the thirty—

day option was about to expire, telephoned the Washington Office which hurriedly

dispatched a courier with a check to purchase the property. In short, with some of the land 

already in Park Service ownership, any deal struck would have to meet with the bureau's 

approval. If not, the Service would acquire the area through a declaration of taking.

In a meeting between Northeast Regional Director Lon Garrison, Al Edmunds, and George 

Nelson of the Indiana Port Commission (Burns Port Authority), Garrison and Edmunds 

became "fighting mad" by the attitude of the State of Indiana. Nelson wanted to speed up the 

realignment of U.S. Highway 12 to accommodate the marshaling yard, a tremendous asset for 

the port in that the railroad could supply the prodigious amounts of coal needed by the nearby 

industries. Edmunds recalled that Nelson "uttered in no uncertain terms that he and the Burns 

Port Authority and everybody else was against us and would fight us every step of the way." 

[20] Both Park Service men were determined that the yard would never be built—even if the 

last resort, a declaration of taking, had to be used. [21] In November 1967, Director George 

Hartzog concurred with this position. [22]

It was the National Park Service's quick foot work in thwarting the marshaling yard that 

convinced Inland Steel Company to abandon its dune development plans. In a telephone call 

to George Hartzog, Inland lawyer J. Edward Day (former Kennedy Administration 

Postmaster General) declared his client was ready to stop fighting the Park Service, settle all 

differences, and sell its lakeshore property to the Federal Government. [23]

Political pressure from industry and the State of Indiana, however, dictated that steps 

continue to be taken publicly to reach a compromise. Additionally, the railroad threatened to 

abandon all passenger service if it could not have at the minimum a three—mile marshaling 

yard. For the next two years, extensive meetings were held and the Save the Dunes Council 

and other conservation groups joined the fray. Environmentalists argued that the alkaline 

from the yard's gravel base would cause an imbalance in the acidity levels of nearby Cowles

Bog. Council member Herbert Read, the engineering chairman, identified alternative sites, all 

of which were rejected. Upon the Save the Dunes Council's demand that the South Shore 

contract go before the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Advisory Commission, the 

Commission voted to amend the language to include environmental guarantees. The railroad 

protested the action and soon after scuttled the project. [24]
The passage of time and the park supporters' stubborn persistence in advocating the national 

lakeshore's raison d'etre had again saved the dunes. A benefit of the controversy was the 

ignition of concern by the Northeast Regional Office towards Indiana Dunes, recognizing it as 

a park which required constant vigilance to protect.
Indiana Dunes

Administrative History

PART I

CHAPTER FIVE:

THE TUG OF WAR CONTINUES, 1967-1968 (continued)

Support from the Great Lakes Area Field Office

In the early post—1966 period, Northeast Associate Regional Director George Palmer was 

the preeminent Park Service heralder of Indiana Dunes. The native Hoosier loved the dunes 

and in his position of coordinating day—to—day Northeast Region operations, Palmer kept 

intensely involved in Indiana Dunes affairs. Palmer, supported by Regional Director Lemuel 

(Lon) Garrison, headed an office which was almost totally unenthusiastic about the new 

Great Lakes parks, which experienced little activity following their authorization. With the 

exception of popular Isle Royale National Park, the Northeast Regional Office staff, in the 

absence of appropriations for the Great Lakes parks, concentrated its attention on parks in its 

eastern states. [25] Regional Director Garrison never visited the park. Garrison and his 

successors, Henry G. Schmidt and Chester L. Brooks, abdicated all Indiana Dunes—related 

matters to Palmer. Telephone calls from Sylvia Troy, for example, were automatically 

referred to George Palmer. [26]

Perhaps to counterbalance this attitude, upon the urging of Senator Phillip A. Hart (Democrat

—Michigan) an auxillary office opened in East Lansing, Michigan, on July 3, 1967. The 

Great Lakes Area Office primarily served to help organize the two national lakeshores 

authorized by the 89th Congress, Indiana Dunes and Pictured Rocks, as well as to help 

administer Isle Royale National Park in Lake Superior. While the Philadelphia Office still 

held sway over the entire sixteen—state Northeast Region, the East Lansing Office was better 

equipped geographically to oversee the five Great Lakes States to the west: Wisconsin, 

Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio. The Great Lakes Area Office was also established to 

help with the other Congressionally—pending National Lakeshores (notably Apostle Islands 

and Sleeping Bear Dunes). Adding to the significance of this office, within these five states 

were twenty—four existing, authorized, or proposed National Park Service units.

With the concurrence of Director George Hartzog, Regional Director Lon Garrison chose 

Allen T. Edmunds to head the Great Lakes Area Office. Edmunds, who held the title of 

Associate Regional Director, possessed extensive credentials in the planning of the Tennessee 

and Cumberland River basins and establishing shoreline parks. Because of the great distance 

from Philadelphia, Edmunds operated like a director of a sub—Region. Edmunds was a

native of Michigan and an alumnus of Michigan State University, where the Park Service 

office was headquartered. Edmunds counted the Governor of Michigan among his wide circle 

of friends; a former classmate was Michigan's Director of the Department of Natural 

Resources. With his intimate familiarity with the region garnered through the Great Lakes 

Survey, Edmunds was indeed an ideal choice.

Additional duties of the Great Lakes Area Office included coordination with other agencies 

in the on—going River Basin studies and the Registered National Historic Landmark
Program. In Indiana and Michigan, the office inspected recreation areas relinquished to the 

states under the former Recreation Demonstration Area Program. Edmunds also became State 

Coordinator for Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin, reporting to Philadelphia 

significant events and contacts with these states. Edmunds oversaw a small support staff: 

Management Assistant James L. McLaughlin and Secretary Barbara J. Jenkins. [27]

One of the Great Lakes Area Office's earliest duties involved review of the State of Indiana's

Outdoor Recreation Plan as it related to the Indiana Dunes State Park. One troubling

provision was the future goal of expanding the boundaries to the east to connect with Beverly 

Shores,* conflicting with the national lakeshore's authorized boundaries. The Park Service 

criticized the lack of action to correct the deficiency in camping sites in the Dunes State Park. 

The Service disagreed with Indiana's desire for it to assume stewardship of camping

activities, even to the extent of taking over the state park's campground. The position was in 

keeping with an early draft of the National Lakeshore's Master Plan which called for 

camping in the Tremont area. Director George Hartzog, however, vetoed the proposal, thus 

establishing the Park Service's no camping policy in the national lakeshore. [28]

*The proposed expansion of the Dunes State Park to abut Beverly Shores had 

some local residents up in arms. The National Park Service received numerous 

offers to donate land in the area to the national lakeshore in order to block the 

move.

Park Service meetings with Indiana officials were held in the spring of 1968 to discuss these 

concerns. On the camping issue, both sides agreed to look to private enterprise to furnish 

camping facilities. As for the expansion of the Dunes State Park, Department of Natural 

Resources Director John Mitchell indicated the plan had low priority and probably would be 

reassessed. Negotiations on the donation of the Dunes State Park, however, were fruitless. 

Indiana was not interested in discussing it, [29] but Director Mitchell privately predicted that 

a favorable atmosphere for such a transfer would some day materialize.

The greatest amount of time the Great Lakes Area Office committed itself to was resolving 

land acquisition problems at Indiana Dunes. Local residents provided tremendous assistance 

in this regard. Whenever public meetings were announced in the local media—particularly 

zoning board sessions in hostile Porter County—prompt telephone calls to East Lansing 

brought Al Edmunds driving south to protest any zoning changes. [30] In Porter, for 

example, Edmunds repeatedly protested the zoning board's approval of petitions to rezone 

tracts within the authorized boundaries from residential to industrial. Written requests from

the Secretary and the Director and pleas from Edmunds before the town planning commission 

and town board still resulted in unanimous votes against the Park Service position. In private 

discussions, Edmunds learned of the town's deep resentment that the Service gave priority to 

purchasing the Inland Steel tract rather than the 180 acres within Porter. [31] Edmunds 

reported:

The petitions for rezoning of properties within the Lakeshore from residential to 

industrial or commercial will continue. They will be based on a hope for 

increased values, quicker purchase through condemnation, and a continuing hard 

core resentment of the action taken by Congress. The strength of the Service will 

be tested many times in the immediate future and I sincerely hope we will have 

the "financial muscle" available to meet the tests. [32]

By October 1968, Edmunds' hard work began to pay off. A new spirit of cooperation

emerged in Portage in Porter County. Unfavorable rezoning petitions were rejected. [33] The
Michigan Office also sponsored numerous public meetings. Edmunds or other park planners 

were present to keep the public informed of progress on appropriations, Service plans, and to 

answer landowners' questions. [34]

Another controversy Al Edmunds helped resolve was in Beverly Shores, a town whose core 

was omitted from the lakeshore under the 1966 Act. Known as "the Island" because the park 

surrounded the small enclave, Beverly Shores' tax base was heavily impacted. It even lost its 

town hall and fire station which fell within the boundaries. The park's legislative history 

indicates the Congressional subcommittees wanted an uninterrupted eleven—mile stretch of 

shoreline from the west end of Dune Acres to Michigan City upon which visitors would not 

trespass on private property. Whereas a series of dunes separated Lake Michigan from Ogden 

Dunes and Dune Acres, no barriers existed at Beverly Shores. Homes appeared on the front 

line of dunes, some even were built over the beach. The boundary designation in the beach 

areas, "from the toe of the dune to the water's edge," was not feasible at Beverly Shores and 

therein lay the controversy.

A sizeable number of homeowners with properties north of Lake Front Drive faced losing 

possession of their homes under the Park Service policy to establish the unimpeded stretch of 

public beach. Thirty—two homes were along the beach north of Lake Front Drive. In a 

November 15, 1968, meeting with 150 Beverly Shores residents, Edmunds listened to the 

homeowners' complaints. They asserted that during the years prior to park authorization, 

many proponents, including Senator Paul Douglas, assured them that all residents could sell

and lease back their homes for a retention of fifteen years. (Douglas informed the Service that 

this was indeed his understanding which, when conveyed to the people of Beverly Shores, 

helped blunt opposition to the park bill.) To allay their fears, Edmunds promised to 

recommend to Director Hartzog that the property owners along Lake Front Drive be

permitted to sell their homes to the government and select a use and occupancy reservation 

for a period of up to fifteen years on homes where construction began prior to January 4,

1965. In fact, Edmunds believed, the action was advantageous to the government. The area 

was not needed immediately for development; considerable savings could be realized through 

the lease backs as well as eliminate potential condemnation actions; and public perceptions of 

an unyielding Park Service could be allayed. [35]

Edmunds' proposal met with Director Hartzog's and Secretary Udall's approval. Through 

mitigating adverse public tensions, the event marked yet another example of the wisdom of 

opening the Great Lakes Area. [36]

Birth of the Indiana Dunes Advisory Commission

One of the provisions of the 1966 act was for the convening of an "Indiana Dunes National 

Lakeshore Advisory Commission" to assist the Secretary of the Interior in carrying out the 

wishes of Congress. According to the bill, specified state and local governments submitted 

nominees to the Secretary for his consideration. To the considerable dismay of the Save the 

Dunes Council and other conservation groups, five of the seven Commission members were 

originally opposed to the national lakeshore. The two members who helped in the pre—park 

lobbying effort were Chairman Thomas Dustin and William Lieber. [37] The other members 

were John R. Schnurlein, William J. Tobin, John Hillenbrand II, Mrs. Celia Nealon, and 

Harry Frey.

On November 4, 1967, the Indiana Dunes Advisory Commission first assembled in 

Washington, D.C., to receive instructions from Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall. Also 

present were key National Park Service officials from the Washington and Northeast 

Regional Offices. Secretary Udall told the Commission that Indiana Dunes was a pioneer, the 

first of many more National Park Service areas in the Midwest. Udall offered some advice of
his own: "The best way to resolve our problems is not to create conflicts. You will find that 

there is a high degree of acceptability by the people as they see [the park] grow, as they see 

the way [the] National Park Service interprets it." [38] Director George Hartzog added:

You are going to be faced with hard choices on this Commission. We expect this 

Commission to be creative. Indiana Dunes was the very first area Director 

Stephen Mather recommended be established as a national park. It has great 

meaning to the National Park Service. We are glad to have the people of Indiana 

represented by you. As we work with you, we expect to seek your counsel, 

guidance, and advice. Advisory commissions are of great benefit to park 

management. [39]

Three principal topics were discussed which resulted in an equal number of recommendations 

to the Secretary. First, in considering the marshaling yard controversy, the Commission 

recommended the Indiana State Highway Department, South Shore Railroad, and National 

Park Service meet to consider alternatives in which park values and transportation needs

could both be accommodated. Chairman Thomas Dustin supported an electrically—operated 

yard further west in the area bordering Bethlehem Steel and NIPSCO in an effort to lessen 

the encroachment on the national lakeshore. Second, it called for expedited funding for the

orderly establishment of the national lakeshore. Finally, the Commission encouraged good 

relations between the Service, Department of Natural Resources, and local communities and

utility companies in determining area land use. [40] Upon viewing the Advisory Commission 

in action, Edmunds later commented: "It would be difficult to find a more enthusiastic group 

than this Commission, and the feeling of responsibility for the role it is playing in

effectuating the establishment of the National Lakeshore." [41]

The infant Commission floundered as members struggled to understand their individual and 

collective roles. Members like John Schnurlein perceived that he represented the constituency 

from whom he received his appointment, the Porter County Board of Commissioners. 

Therefore, Schnurlein acted as the Commission's spokesman for the business community of 

Porter County, not an advocate for the entire Indiana Dunes region. Schnurlein, a 

businessman, soon learned that the antagonism was not between the Park Service and area 

industry because he observed only a high level of professionalism and mutual respect. 

Animosities existed at the union, chamber of commerce, and environmental group level. 

While land acquisition concerns dominated most of the early meetings, answers were

provided by Edmunds and/or Palmer. [42]

Conservation groups remained wary and critical of the Commission. Although it was a good 

tool for keeping the public informed, many viewed the Commission as a waste of time and 

thought it was slanted toward industry. Some grumbled [unfairly] that members like John 

Schnurlein served only to protect the interests of Bethlehem Steel, the principal employer in 

Porter County. [43]

During a September 1968 meeting in Indianapolis, the Commission discussed a proposed 

third Chicago regional airport to be built near Chesterton. The airport would be of prime 

importance to the Port of Indiana's development. With an approach over Lake Michigan, 

however, the passage of heavy jets over the national lakeshore would significantly diminish 

the visitors' park experience. The adverse noise factor would impact the entire lakeshore, but 

especially the West Beach and Cowles Bog areas where the jets would pass directly overhead. 

Substantial developments related to the airport would also impact the area. The Commission 

voiced its opposition to the proposed facility as damaging to both the state and national

parks. [44]

The Advisory Commission's adamancy on the proposed Chesterton jetport bolstered the
Department of the Interior's own position as the controversy continued through the following 

year. When the jetport planners proposed altering the runways to an east—west orientation 

with secondary routes pointed toward the lakeshore, Secretary of the Interior Walter J. Hickel 

appealed to Secretary of Transportation John A. Volpe to use his influence to veto the 

Chesterton location: "We are fearful that planning of this jetport near the Lakeshore by the 

local authorities and sponsors may gain momentum and establish commitments in site 

selection and land acquisition similar to the situation related to Everglades National Park." 

[45]

The growing number of opponents stemmed the developer's enthusiasm. The jetport proposal 

never went beyond the drawing board stage.
Indiana Dunes

Administrative History

PART I

CHAPTER FIVE:

ENDNOTES

1. As quoted in Kay Franklin and Norma Schaeffer, Duel For The Dunes: Land Use Conflict

on the Shores of Lake Michigan (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1983), p. 169.

2. Project Keyman Allen T. Edmunds to Regional Director, Northeast Region, 5 May 1967 

(April 1967 report), folder L58 INDU NL Proposal, 1962—66, (Misc. and FY 1973, 

Expansion Files), Inactive stored files, Office of the Superintendent; and Leslie P. Arnberger, 

Acting Assistant Director, to Thomas E. Dustin, Chairman, Indiana Dunes National

Lakeshore Advisory Commission, 8 December 1967, file—L1425 Indiana Dunes 

Correspondence 1/68—8/68, P—119120, 4—29—019—3—4, Records of the Northeast 

Regional Office, Federal Records Center, Philadelphia.

3. George A. Palmer, former Associate Northeast Regional Director, letter to Ron Cockrell,

11 October 1987, transcript of correspondence, Midwest Regional Office Files.

4. Project Keyman Allen T. Edmunds to Regional Director Lemuel Garrison, 3 August 1967 

(July 1967 report), unnumbered boxes of Indiana Dunes Files in Building No. 103, stored 

files, Office of the Superintendent.

5. Ibid., Indiana State Coordinator Edmunds to Regional Director Garrison, 4 August 1967.

6. Press Release from the Office of the Secretary, Department of the Interior, "Interior

Department to Purchase Tract from Inland Steel for Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore," 5

October 1967, folder—Land Acquisition Program, Personal Files of Allen T. Edmunds, 

Office of the Superintendent.

7. Philip O. Stewart, former Chief of Land Acquisition, Washington Office, National Park 

Service, to Ron Cockrell, letter, 24 February 1988, Cultural Resources Management files, 

Midwest Regional Office.

8. Leslie P. Arnberger, Acting Assistant Director, to Thomas E. Dustin, Chairman, Indiana 

Dunes National Lakeshore Advisory Commission, 8 December 1967, file—L1425 Indiana 

Dunes Correspondence 1/68—8/68, P—119120, 4—29—019—3—4, Records of the 

Northeast Regional Office, Federal Records Center, Philadelphia.

9. George Hartzog, Director, to Thomas E. Dustin, Chairman, Indiana Dunes National

Lakeshore Advisory Commission, 1 March 1968, file—A18 Indiana Dunes 1966—1968, P—

31420, 4—25—021—7—1, Records of the Northeast Regional Office, Federal Records

Center, Philadelphia.

10. Project Keyman Allen T. Edmunds to Regional Director Lemuel Garrison, 29 March

1968, unnumbered boxes of Indiana Dunes Files in Building No. 103, stored files, Office of
the Superintendent.

11. Ibid., 30 April 1968.

12. Ibid., and 27 June 1968.

13. Edward A. Hummel, Assistant Director, to Thomas E. Dustin, Chairman, Indiana Dunes 

National Lakeshore Advisory Commission, 7 August 1968 and 21 October 1968, folder—

Land Acquisition Program, Personal Files of Allen T. Edmunds, Office of the 

Superintendent.

14. Project Keyman Allen T. Edmunds to Regional Director Lemuel Garrison, 2 June 1967 

(May 1967 report), folder L58 INDU NL Proposal, 1962—66, (Misc. and FY 1973, 

Expansion Files), Inactive stored files, Office of the Superintendent.

15. John J. Longworth to Chief, Development Planning and Project Control, Philadelphia

Planning and Service Center, 11 September 1967, folder—A2623 Indiana Dunes, P—332927,

4—16—033—4—2, box 1, Records of the Northeast Regional Office, Federal Records

Center, Philadelphia.

16. J. R. Whitehouse Conversation with Allen T. Edmunds, Special Assistant to Regional 

Director, Midwest Region, 19 August 1975, at Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, transcript, 

Personal Files of Allen T. Edmunds, Office of the Superintendent; George A. Palmer, former 

Associate Northeast Regional Director, to Ron Cockrell, letter, 11 October 1987, transcript of 

correspondence; and George B. Hartzog, Jr., to Ron Cockrell, letter, 24 November 1987, 

H1417, Cultural Resources Management files, Midwest Regional Office.

17. George B. Hartzog, Jr., to Ron Cockrell, letter, 15 February 1988, Cultural Resources

Management files, Midwest Regional Office.

18. Ibid., Philip O. Stewart, former Chief of Land Acquisition, 17 February 1988.

19. Hartzog letter, 15 February 1988.

20. Whitehouse Conversation with Edmunds, 19 August 1975.

21. Ibid.

22. State Coordinator Al Edmunds to Regional Director Lon Garrison, 1 November 1967, 

unnumbered boxes in Building No. 103, stored files, Office of the Superintendent.

23. Hartzog letter, 15 February 1988.

24. Sylvia Troy, "The Freight Yard Battle," in The Indiana Dunes Story: How Nature and

People Made a Park (Beverly Shores, Indiana: Shirley Heinze Environmental Fund, 1984), p.

35; and James R. Whitehouse, former Superintendent, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, 

interview, 11 March 1987, Orlando, Florida, transcript, Midwest Regional Office.

25. Whitehouse interview, 11 March 1987.

26. George A. Palmer, former Associate Northeast Regional Director, letter to Ron Cockrell,

11 October 1987, transcript of correspondence, Midwest Regional Office Files.

27. "Lansing Gets Parks Office," Battle Creek (Michigan) Enquirer and News (16 May

1967), folder—A6435 Al Edmunds Move to Mich., P—373663, 4—28—035—3—3, box 2; 

Northeast Regional Director Lemuel A. Garrison to Director George Hartzog, 5 June 1967,
folder—L58 WASO, P—435859, 4—28—049—7—1; Management Assistant James L. 

McLaughlin to James A. Lee, Chairman, Great Lakes Panel, National Council on Maritime 

Resources and Engineering Development, 6 August 1968, folder—A2623 Indiana Dunes, P—

332927, 4—16—033—4—2, box 1, Records of the Northeast Regional Office, Federal

Records Center, Philadelphia; and Whitehouse interview, 11 March 1987.

28. Acting Regional Director Thomas E. Whitcraft to Lake Central Regional Director, Bureau 

of Outdoor Recreation, 27 September 1967, and Acting Assistant Director for Cooperative 

Activities Raymond L. Freeman to Director, Bureau of Outdoor Recreation, 9 October 1967, 

folder—L7019 State Recreation Plans, P—435860, 4—28—049—7—1, Records of the 

Northeast Regional Office, Federal Records Center, Philadelphia; and Indiana State 

Coordinator Al Edmunds to Regional Director Lon Garrison, 1 November 1967, unnumbered 

boxes in Building No. 103, stored files, Office of the Superintendent.

29. Park Planner Meredith B. Ingham regarding meeting with John Mitchell, Director of 

Indiana State Parks, memorandum for the files, 14 May 1968, Personal Files of Allen T. 

Edmunds; and Assistant Director for Cooperative Activities Theodor R. Swem to Director 

George Hartzog, 22 March 1968, unnumbered boxes in Building No. 103, stored files, Office 

of the Superintendent.

30. J. R. Whitehouse Conversation with Allen T. Edmunds, Special Assistant to Regional 

Director, Midwest Region, 19 August 1975, at Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, transcript, 

Personal Files of Allen T. Edmunds, Office of the Superintendent.

31. Project Keyman Al Edmunds to Regional Director Lon Garrison, 29 February 1968, 

unnumbered boxes in Building No. 103, stored files, Office of the Superintendent.

32. Ibid., 1 March 1968.

33. Ibid., 1 November 1968.

34. Herbert Read, Engineering Committee Chairman of the Save the Dunes Council, Inc., 

interview, 22 September 1987, at Bailly Ranger Station, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, 

Porter, Indiana.

35. Paul H. Douglas to George Hartzog, 28 October 1968, folder—L1425 INDU 

Correspondence No. 2, P—119120, 4—29—019—3—4, Records of the Northeast Regional 

Office, Federal Records Center, Philadelphia; and "Remarks by Allen T. Edmunds, Associate 

Regional Director, Northeast Region, Great Lakes Area Office to the Beverly Shore Public 

Meeting of November 14, 1968," folder—Land Acquisition Program and Edmunds to 

Hartzog, 18 November 1968, folder—Beverly Shores and Porter Beach, Personal Files of 

Allen T. Edmunds, Office of the Superintendent.

36. Deputy Director Harthon L. Bill to Associate Regional Director Al Edmunds, no date, 

folder—Beverly Shores and Porter Beach, Personal Files of Allen T. Edmunds, Office of the 

Superintendent.

37. J. R. Whitehouse Conversation with Allen T. Edmunds, Special Assistant to Regional 

Director, Midwest Region, 19 August 1975, at Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, transcript, 

Personal Files of Allen T. Edmunds, Office of the Superintendent; and John Schnurlein, 

former member and chairman of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Advisory 

Commission, 23 September 1987, Superintendent's Office, Bailly Administrative Area, 

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, Porter, Indiana.

38. Meeting of 4 November 1967, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Advisory Commission
Minutes 1967—1973, Management Library, Office of the Superintendent.

39. Ibid.

40. Ibid.; and John Schnurlein to Ron Cockrell, letter, 22 February 1988, Cultural Resources 

Management files, Midwest Regional Office—enclosure Rollie Bernhart, "Seeking to Protect 

Land Values," The Vidette Messenger (Valparaiso, Indiana) (6 January 1968), p. 1.

41. Project Keyman Al Edmunds to Regional Director Lon Garrison, 27 June 1968, 

unnumbered boxes in Building No. 103, stored files, Office of the Superintendent.

42. Schnurlein interview, 23 September 1987.

43. Herbert and Charlotte Read interviews, 22 September 1987.

44. Meeting of 6 September 1968, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Advisory Commission

Minutes 1967—1973, Management Library, Office of the Superintendent; and Whitehouse 

interview, 11 March 1987; and Herbert Read interview, 23 September 1987.

45. Secretary of the Interior Walter J. Hickel to Secretary of Transportation John A. Volpe,

17 November 1969, folder—Jetport, Records of the Indiana Dunes Advisory Commission.
Indiana Dunes

Administrative History

PART I

CHAPTER SIX:

A NATIONAL PARK SERVICE PRESENCE AT 

INDIANA DUNES, 1969—1971

Unestablished, not yet announced and lacking development, Indiana Dunes 

National Lakeshore nevertheless joins the National Park System during the 

Summer of 1969.

Darwin E. Williams, Management Assistant attached to the Indiana Dunes 

National Lakeshore Land Acquisition Office, comments on West Beach activities 

in July 1969. [1]

The First Summer Visitor Season, 1969

One of the goals for the Great Lakes Area Office in 1969 was to work for the establishment 

of a National Park Service administrative office and sufficient visitor services personnel at 

Indiana Dunes. Other goals included efforts to encourage state and local officials to donate 

their respective lands within the national lakeshore, to obtain concurrence by political 

subdivisions with the Secretary's zoning standards, and to secure an agreement with the 

Indiana Highway Department for the rerouting of Highway 12. [2] With the retirement of 

Associate Regional Director Allen T. Edmunds in early 1969, the goals were carried on by 

Assistant to the Regional Director (a new title) Bruce J. Miller.*

*From his summer home near Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, 

Edmunds remained in a voluntary advisory capacity on Great Lakes area issues 

to the Regional Directors of the Northeast and, after 1973, Midwest Regions. He 

provided valuable support to J. R. Whitehouse during the early years of

Whitehouse's superintendency. See James R. Whitehouse, former Superintendent, 

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, interview, 11 March 1987, Orlando, Florida, 

transcript, Midwest Regional Office.

Following the lakeshore's acquisition of the West Beach unit, problems with trespass on the 

yet—to—be—opened public lands were prevalent. Numerous complaints from Ogden Dunes 

residents resulted in the Park Service contracting with the Portage Police Department to patrol 

the area. An abandoned car and other debris were scattered over West Beach. Indiscriminate 

off—road vehicle (ORV) use destroyed one imposing dune during a two—year period. The 

dune buggies would spin their wheels going up the dunes, thereby loosening all the

vegetation and undermining the dune's stability. The lack of Service personnel was alleviated 

for at least a portion of the year when a small staff of seasonal park rangers were selected for
the summer of 1969, the first visiting season. Darwin E. Williams, from the San Francisco 

Planning and Service Center's Office of Land and Water Rights, transferred to Indiana Dunes 

to supervise the seasonal park ranger staff. Williams, who served as Management Assistant 

attached to the Land Acquisition Office, provided administrative support which allowed the 

regular staff to focus its efforts on the land acquisition program. [3]

The first uniformed seasonal rangers at Indiana Dunes were Phillip G. Lawson, Joseph E. 

Matthews III, Charles S. Metzcus, Jr., and John E. Nelson. With rangers patrolling West 

Beach, public use increased, particularly on weekends and holidays. Visitation ranged from 

as few as twenty during the week to more than two thousand on sultry weekend afternoons. 

[4]

The small seasonal staff performed admirably despite its collective inexperience and lack of 

equipment. East Lansing's Bruce Miller met with the staff at the conclusion of the season to 

discuss problems to be addressed before the 1970 season. First, signs were needed in West 

Beach to mark the lakeshore boundaries clearly. Second, beach access for emergency and 

service vehicles was difficult for they had to cross two private tracts, the owners of which 

were hostile toward the lakeshore. Third, a small trailer was needed to serve as a visitor 

contact station as well as a central operating office for the rangers. Fourth, portable outhouses 

and a drinking fountain were needed. Fifth, markers restricting boats from swimming areas 

were required to minimize safety hazards as well as to delineate boat landing areas on the 

beach. Sixth, the presence of lifeguards during heavy use periods would also facilitate good 

safety habits. Seventh, drinking of beer and running of dogs on the beach created problems

for which management decisions were required. Eighth, seasonal training programs were 

needed in first aid, rescue work, and fire fighting. Ninth, mechanization of beach cleaning 

tasks would improve staff efficiency and productivity, freeing the rangers from countless 

hours of shoveling, raking, and hauling away dead fish and other lake debris. Miller 

concluded his report:

We managed to get through last year's operation on a shoestring with a skeleton 

crew and no big flareups to cause us any embarrassment. Next year we might not 

be so lucky. Many management policies need to be established this winter. We 

cannot afford to wait until next June or July. We will have to contemplate

special regulations for dunebuggies, indiscriminate shooting, archery, horse use, 

boating controls, picnicking, sanitary rules, and law enforcement problems. It is 

an overwhelming task ahead of us.

Our beach is the focal point of our public relations for the entire Lakeshore at 

this time. How we perform and how successful we are will result in either the 

support or the opposition of a multitude of people.

I believe we face a major challenge. We can meet it head on given the support 

we request with the foresight to see that our old yardsticks for management do 

not apply to this new concept area. [5]

In November 1969, Regional Director Lemuel Garrison approved the lakeshore's third Master 

Plan. Superceding similar reports approved in October 1967 and 1968, the 1969 Master Plan 

also provided basic background information and preliminary development proposals. A 

fundamental flaw with all three of these early reports was an absence of a firm database upon 

which to justify responsible development and resources management decisions. There was a 

lack of congruity in the planning process as each Master Plan effort was led by a different 

team leader. Collectively, the Master Plans present an interesting glimpse into how park 

managers and planners identified and attempted to resolve the complex challenges of the 

Indiana Dunes. [6]
Land Acquisition

Another problem area recommended for change in 1969 involved the National Park Service 

booklet "Questions & Answers." In August 1969, Bruce Miller instructed the Land 

Acquisition Office staff to revise the booklet in order to alleviate the great difficulties the 

negotiators and appraisers encountered with property owners. A comprehensive, yet 

unambiguous, text would help shorten or eliminate the lengthy negotiation sessions. With the 

input from the Indiana Dunes staff, the Service made the new publication available by fall.

[7]

Testifying before the House Interior Committee in January 1969, Director George Hartzog 

reported that the fiscal land acquisition program "will be completed at or under the 

authorized ceilings." [8] By the end of the year, 766 ownerships representing a total of

$16,743,000 had been settled by the local office. [9] Bruce Miller reported to Philadelphia: 

"The land acquisition staff is to be congratulated for the progress it has made. As more tracts 

are purchased the opposition slowly decreases its activities. We now have an opportunity to 

commence work on developing a viable national recreation area." [10]

For those property owners not electing to receive terms of use and occupancy, Management 

Assistant Williams undertook a vigorous program of building removal or demolition. He 

lumped structures of modest value with more attractive homes to attract bidders. Williams 

launched a "one—man P.R. campaign" to promote the disposal program. [11]

While land acquisition steadily progressed through 1970, an improved working relationship 

evolved with the State of Indiana. In March, George Palmer and Bruce Miller met in 

Indianapolis with Department of Natural Resources Director John Lloyd. Lloyd agreed that 

the Service should quietly proceed with appraisal and purchase of lands the State had 

earmarked for the Dunes State Park expansion. Lloyd admitted that Indiana simply did not 

have the funds to expand its park. He agreed that preservation of the delicate dunes 

ecosystem was more important than jurisdictional concerns. [12]

By October 1970, the land acquisition staff reached a peak of twenty-four employees. [13] 

Most were clerical workers processing the avalanche of paperwork. In mid—1970, Frank 

Ucman replaced James Sewell as Land Acquisition Officer. In early 1971, Ucman began 

reducing the non—seasonal office staff to only seven employees [14] because of the success 

of the program. Director Hartzog informed Congress that all of the authorized $27,900,000 

had been allocated through Fiscal Year 1971, but an additional four million dollars would be 

needed:

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, together with Assateague [Island National 

Seashore] presents probably the most difficult area to estimate any potential 

deficit. As of August, we were projecting a total cost of $27,180,226 against a 

ceiling of $27,900,000. However, since then some of the [condemnation] cases 

tried have resulted in awards exceeding that set aside by some 495 percent. 

Whether this adversity will continue or not is most difficult to say since each 

enclave there represents a completely different situation. Based on the current 

adversity of awards and exposure to condemnation, the additional ceiling 

requirements might conceivably be as much as $4 million. [15]

An important move by President Richard M. Nixon on January 2, 1971, affected land 

acquisition throughout the National Park System. President Nixon's signature on the

"Uniform Relocation Assistance and Land Acquisition Policy Act of 1970" (or P.L. 91—646) 

provided for uniform and equitable treatment of persons displaced from their homes, 

businesses, or farms by a Federal or Federally-assisted program. The act provided for
similarly impacted property owners through uniform and equitable land acquisition policies. 

At Indiana Dunes, sale offers increased as word of the Federal payment of moving and other 

related expenses became known. Out—of—court settlements of condemnation actions also 

rose. On February 5, 1971, to ensure adequate funds were available, Frank Ucman curtailed 

the volume of negotiations. By mid—1971, the program was eighty—five percent complete 

and scheduled to conclude within approximately one year. [16]

J. R. Whitehouse Arrives

In May 1970, Northeast Region's Associate Regional Director George A. Palmer came to the 

lakeshore to confer with the Save the Dunes Council. Palmer, Bruce Miller, and Darwin 

Williams toured the park with Sylvia Troy and Charlotte Read (wife of the Council's 

Engineering Chairman Herbert Read) to discuss areas of concern. With evidence of illegal 

sand—mining, Service officials agreed to initiate declarations of taking.* When Sylvia Troy 

complained about lack of positive action on lakeshore erosion, Palmer reminded her of his 

efforts to secure a three—year study by the Corps of Engineers. The Council members also 

asked the Park Service to suggest alternate sites to the Northern Indiana Public Service 

Company (NIPSCO) in its plan to construct a nuclear power plant near the Bailly Unit. 

Finally, the Council asked for a prompt Lakeshore dedication ceremony. [17]

*Perhaps in an effort to speed the legal process, a month later the Save the 

Dunes Council complained to the press about the sand—mining and was harshly 

critical of the National Park Service. See Bruce Ingersoll, "Officials 'Slow to 

Act': Charge Dunes Mined Under U.S. Aides' Nose," Chicago Sun—Times (20

June 1970), newsclipping folder—(June 1970), Visitor Center Library.

Lakeshore dedication was also on the minds of many others during the summer of 1970. 

Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Interior Charles H. Meacham responded to the inquiries by 

restating the Department's position. Sufficient lands for a manageable unit existed only at 

West Beach, but development funds for construction had yet to be appropriated. The park 

lacked an administrative staff, including a superintendent. To dedicate the lakeshore without 

proper funding, facilities, or proper supervision, Meacham asserted, would multiply 

management problems rather than promote development. [18]

Funding for management positions finally became available after July 1, 1970. The same 

month, Management Assistant Darwin Williams and Land Acquisition Officer James Sewell 

transferred to other positions to make way for the incoming permanent park staff. During this 

interim period, Maintenance Supervisor Howard Culp oversaw daily maintenance needs and 

assumed custody of land records (until Frank Ucman entered on duty). In the absence of a 

superintendent, Chief Park Ranger (Interpretation and Resource Management) Rodney Royce 

performed daily management tasks. The Great Lakes Area Office, now composed of Assistant 

to the Regional Director James R. Whitehouse and Management Assistant Darwin Williams, 

continued to exercise responsibility for the overall management of the national lakeshore.

[19]

Four years of waiting for a superintendent came to an end on October 9, 1970, with the 

appointment of James R. Whitehouse to the position. Indiana Dunes was Whitehouse's first 

superintendency. [20]

Whitehouse, 46, began his Park Service career as a seasonal ranger at Mammoth Cave 

National Park. His first permanent position was as a historical aide at Abraham Lincoln 

Birthplace (Kentucky) with subsequent duty stations in the ranger classification at Petrified
Forest (Arizona), Everglades (Florida), and Great Smoky Mountains (Tennessee) national 

parks. Following several periods of non—Park Service employment, he served as assistant 

deputy director of the Job Corps as well as director of a Job Corps Camp, both of which 

contributed to his Park Service career. Whitehouse replaced Bruce Miller in the Great Lakes 

Area Office following assignments in the Washington and Northeast Regional Offices. [21] 

Whitehouse was known and respected by Palmer, Garrison, and Hartzog. Because he already 

served as the unofficial "Acting Superintendent" from the East Lansing Office, Whitehouse 

seemed to be an ideal choice. [22]

His new assignment coincided with the closing of the Great Lakes Area Field Office in East 

Lansing on November 1, 1970, and the subsequent opening of a similar facility in Chicago on 

May 30, 1971. As the largest city in the region and, therefore, a transportation and 

communications hub, Chicago represented a more convenient site from which to serve the 

needs of the developing Great Lakes parks. Robert Chandler served as Assistant to the 

Regional Director and supervised the Chicago Field Office. [23]

The permanent national lakeshore management staff at the end of 1970 included 

Superintendent J. R. Whitehouse, Secretary Linda Crakes, Chief Park Ranger Rodney D. 

Royce, Park Ranger Stanley Lock, Secretary Patricia A. Crook, and Maintenance Supervisor 

Howard L. Culp. [24] In January 1971, the combined administrative and land acquisition 

offices moved to the former Presbyterian Church of the Dunes, at Highway 12 and East State 

Park (or Kemil) Road near Furnessville. The expansive, multi—level structure was ideal for 

conversion into office space for park headquarters and visitor center. [25]

Some of Whitehouse's proposed modifications met stiff resistance by Northeast Region 

employees* who felt the actions, installing an audio—visual program in the sanctuary and 

removing rear pews for an exhibit area, would be akin to desecrating a religious site. The 

opposition terminated following Whitehouse's appeal to Deputy Regional Director George 

Palmer. [26]

*Another dispute involved the lakeshore's first set of office furniture which came 

from the defunct Great Lakes Area Office. When Regional Director Hank 

Schmidt asked Indiana Dunes to relinquish its only furniture to the new Chicago 

Field Office six months later, Whitehouse refused. Deputy Regional Director 

George Palmer came to the rescue and made other accommodations for the 

Chicago staff. See Whitehouse interview, 11 March 1987.

On March 30, 1971, Whitehouse announced a five—year development plan for the lakeshore 

costing $5,729,000. Warning that the plan could possibly be delayed by Congressional 

appropriations or Park Service priorities, Whitehouse outlined proposals for West Beach, 

Tremont day use, and the Bailly Homestead. He predicted planning would begin in mid—

1972 with construction the following year and extending through 1976. Proposed facilities 

for West Beach in fiscal 1974 included a bathhouse, an interpretive center, picnic sites, 

lifeguard posts, an entrance station, roads, trails, utilities, and parking areas. For fiscal 1975, 

West Beach would also have under construction a maintenance structure, comfort stations, 

dune playfields, marsh observation platforms, group day use facilities, an amphitheater, and 

additional roads, trails, and parking. [27]

In February 1971, Northeast Regional Director Henry G. ("Hank") Schmidt approved the first 

Interpretive Prospectus for Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. Prepared by the Eastern 

Service Center's Office of Environmental Planning and Design with input from

Superintendent Whitehouse, the document defined "appropriate interpretive themes and
techniques for areas requiring immediate development. Such developments will be 

experimental, flexible, and temporary in nature to allow for maximum adaptability as the park 

discovers itself and its clientele. Long—range interpretive developments are discussed 

conceptually pending research and visitor use data, both of which will require time and 

experience." [28] The Prospectus proposed the introduction of a "flexible structure" with a 

geodesic dome at West Beach which was floorless with movable side panels to ensure easy 

mobility. It could serve as a demonstration area, naturalist talk center, display center, meeting 

room, or focal point for beach activities. Boardwalks could traverse the area to connect to 

parking areas and trails to inter—dunal ponds. A boat to take small groups out into Lake 

Michigan would not only aid the interpretation of the dune phenomenon, but could also 

transport visitors to nearby industrial areas in order to see "industry at work."

While recognizing the lakeshore's authorized goal to protect the dunes from adverse human 

use, the 1971 Interpretive Prospectus proposed establishing an area in the central unit to 

provide "play sand dunes" in an area already ruined by sand mining: "The excitment of the 

dunes challenges one to climb up, fall down, race up, chase down, be surrounded by 

mountains in miniature to conquer." [29] Frequent maintenance would be required to reform 

the man—made dunes. Looking back to when historical pageants were held in the dunes, the 

authors proposed a dune amphitheater featuring a wooden deck to serve activities ranging 

from talks, demonstrations, dance, plays, and art shows.

As for the Bailly Homestead, lack of research precluded attempts at defining interpretive 

needs there. No one knew if any of the structures onsite were historically legitimate and if 

they could be restored. Future possibilities included a functioning trading post and chapel, 

headquarters for a guided historical canoe trip on the nearby Little Calumet River, and a 

demonstration farm operating in conjunction with the Bailly Homestead. On the later 

proposal, a joint interpretive center and parking facility could serve both areas, presented as 

examples of frontier life.

The Prospectus recognized that in order to get the communities in the region involved in the 

lakeshore, an extensive interpretive outreach program was vital. It would not be a simple task 

as the report warned:

The park staff may well not understand the culture life style [sic] and subsequent 

behavior of these people. The culture of urban industrial life is also a type of 

ethnicity not easily understood. There is much to comprehend: identity, 

territoriality, competition, distrust, and sensitivity—to cite a few themes. 

Exposure to similar backgrounds and social groups is best gained by adding staff 

who have had such exposure. Training of park staff not thusly enlightened is also 

warranted. It should include preparation not only in being understanding and 

exposed, but also preparation to teach understanding and to expose visitors to 

everthing the park has to offer, overtly and covertly. [30]

Finally, the 1971 report cited numerous studies which needed to be made before permanent 

interpretive initiatives could be adopted. They ranged from environmental studies of Long 

Lake and Cowles and Pinhook Bogs, to historic structures reports, to archeological surveys. 

In addition, staffing should include the following disciplines: urban programs coordinator, 

community relations specialist, environmental education specialist, interpreters and urban 

rangers (with communications skills tuned towards inner—city and minority groups), and 

lifeguards. The Prospectus urged that recruiting take place in Gary, Michigan City, and East 

Chicago and that the staff adequately represent blacks and other ethnic minorities. [31]

In addition to formulating plans, the spring of 1971 proved to be a busy time for the small 

lakeshore staff. Chief Ranger Rodney Royce negotiated with surrounding towns to provide
fire suppression services to Federal lands. Volunteer forces in Porter, Beverly Shores, Ogden 

Dunes, and Dune Acres provided fire suppression services as did the city department in 

Chesterton. Michigan City, however, declined to participate. The fire departments simply 

submitted invoices stipulating manpower and equipment costs for an hourly basis to the 

national lakeshore which in turn issued payment to the respective town treasury. The 

arrangement was temporary until the lakeshore could built up its own fully equipped 

firefighting force. As for a law enforcement staff, the lakeshore likewise continued to depend 

on area police departments. During the summer of 1971, however, a seasonal ranger force of 

twelve (commissioned deputy sheriffs of Porter County) augmented the lakeshore's two 

rangers, Rodney Royce and Stan Lock. [32]

In late April 1971, a blue—ribbon panel of environmentalists launched a five—day survey of 

the lakeshore. The fifteen—member team, which included area university experts, Herbert 

Read of the Save the Dunes Council, and Superintendent Whitehouse, explored all the units

of the lakeshore looking for means to utilize the area's beauty without harming the fragile 

dunes ecosystem. [33]

Historic preservation was foremost in J. R. Whitehouse's priorities when he invited the 

Advisory Commission to inspect the Bailly Homestead on July 30, 1971. Strewn with debris 

and occupied by squatters, the land and buildings were in a deplorable condition. To arrest

the deterioration, the Advisory Commission recommended an immediate declaration of taking 

and order of possession. [34]

Since his arrival, Whitehouse closely monitored the Bailly Homestead. Negotiations for 

acquisition began as early as August 1968, but a confused chain of title and bankruptcy 

proceedings stalled any progress. With no trial date established, the structure continued to 

languish, inhabited by six squatters and numerous dogs and goats. Destruction of the historic 

Bailly Homestead, particularly by fire, was a possibility. Whitehouse, backed by George 

Palmer, pushed for the Department of the Interior to request the declaration of taking from 

the Congressional committees. This occurred in the fall of 1971. The move to preserve an 

important symbol of Hoosier heritage met no opposition, and the Bailly Homestead National 

Historic Landmark officially became a part of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. [35]

The Bailly Homestead incident marked the development of a close working relationship 

between Superintendent Whitehouse and the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Advisory 

Commission. At each quarterly meeting, Whitehouse and his staff presented detailed status 

reports on lakeshore operations as well as current controversial issues. Although the 

Commission had no real authority, it produced three to four resolutions per meeting to send to 

the Secretary of the Interior. The Department took the recommendations under advisement,

but in most cases nothing changed. One of the more successful actions involved early 

developments at West Beach, in particular the maintenance building. Conservationists 

strongly opposed the siting of the facility and exerted pressure to stop it. After the 

foundations were poured, their efforts succeeded. Whitehouse submitted the plans to the 

Commission which evaluated the suspended project and recommended in favor of Park 

Service plans. The Commission proved to be a valuable partner. According to Whitehouse:

The way the Advisory Commission helped us, helped Indiana Dunes and me in 

particular, is that they helped to modify and soften the opposition to the park 

because they were people that were respected by the opponents of the park. They 

helped me as much in P[ublic] R[elations] as anybody, anyone that I dealt with. 

They gave balance, where if it hadn't been for them the environmentalists would 

have really tipped the scales. [36]

Funding for West Beach development became a reality in 1971 because of the efforts of
Congressman Roush in arranging a June trip to the dunes for Interior Appropriations 

Committee Chairwoman Julia Butler Hansen. In February, Roush met with J. R. Whitehouse 

in the Superintendent's home (along with Save the Dunes Council members Sylvia Troy and 

Charlotte and Herbert Read) where they strategized three hours on how to secure the funding. 

Providing an inspiring tour for the Congresswoman, Whitehouse was amazed when his 

original request for $1.2 million actually mushroomed to $2.1 million. [37]

During these early years of his superintendency, Whitehouse fully realized the difficult 

challenges his position entailed. In the words of Associate Regional Director George Palmer, 

the local Service representative was constantly "walking the tightrope between the political 

antagonists around Indiana Dunes." One example involved attendance at various local dinner 

and social meetings. Attending environmental sessions angered business interests and vice 

versa. Nevertheless, one of Whitehouse's responsibilities was to go to public meetings and 

elaborate on National Park Service policy when called upon to do so. As Palmer conceded, 

"Jim is in a very difficult community situation." [38]
Indiana Dunes

Administrative History

PART I

CHAPTER SIX:

A NATIONAL PARK SERVICE PRESENCE AT 

INDIANA DUNES, 1969—1971 (continued)

The First Operations Evaluation

On August 6 and 7, 1970, Chief of the Office of Operations Evaluation James W. Godbolt 

arrived at Indiana Dunes to conduct the park's first evaluation. Northeast Regional Director 

Hank Schmidt subsequently approved Godbolt's report on February 2, 1971. The document 

reveals the park's development (primarily at West Beach) since the first visitor season in

1967.

The seasonal ranger force remained at four with an equal number of seasonal laborers for 

maintenance. Work schedules were arranged to match weekend peak visitation periods. 

While Portage police provided flexible patrols, rangers had to contend with vandalism and 

misuse of the area by motorcycles, dune buggies, and other vehicles as well as trash—

dumping which continued unabated. The small Park Service force had access to three park 

vehicles. Park Service trash barrels were placed all along the beach and were collected 

regularly by maintenance personnel who deposited the garbage in a central bin which was 

emptied twice a week by a contractor. Under a rental contract, four portable chemical toilets 

were placed next to the parking area. Nearby stood a small storage building for tools, 

supplies, and a telephone for official communications. The West Beach parking area was 

privately owned with fees collected by the owner on weekends.

Visitation records at West Beach were first maintained beginning July 1, 1970, by taking a 

head count at two o'clock every afternoon. This figure was augmented by thirty percent to 

achieve the July total of 5,015. This number also included the substantial number of boaters 

who enjoyed coming to the national lakeshore because it was the only place in the area where 

boats could anchor or beach. During July 1970, there were 455 boats anchored offshore. Most 

of these visitors were area residents who did not understand the distinction between the 

national lakeshore and the state park. Godbolt explained:

The local people know very little about Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore and 

the resources now under Federal ownership. There is confusion as one might 

suspect in agency identity between the National Lakeshore and Indiana Dunes 

State Park. Many users believe the West Beach Unit is a State operation; a part 

of Indiana Dunes State Park. A few, however, are aware of the National 

Lakeshore status. Rangers are beginning to make more and more people aware 

that the area is a National Lakeshore and administered by the National Park 

Service as they contact visitors during patrols and other personal services 

activities. [39]

While area beaches prohibited the use of alcoholic beverages, such was not the case at West
Beach. With the presence of ranger patrols, however, there were few serious incidents. 

Adverse effects by off—road vehicles (ORVs) had declined through signage and the erection 

of barricades at the intersections of trails and roads. Open fires were prohibited after one 

grassfire destroyed two hundred yards of vegetation on one prominent dune. For protection of 

property and good public relations, Godbolt recommended the Director's prohibition on 

permanent Service quarters be reevaluated for the West Beach area. His other 

recommendations follow:

1. Additional seasonal park rangers be employed to provide late—hour patrols.

2. Recruit law enforcement—oriented seasonal employees.

3. Initiate a law enforcement training program.

4. Establish a radio communications system.

5. A strong law enforcement background should be required for the second 

permanent supervisory park ranger position authorized in Fiscal Year 1972.

6. Hire lifeguards to service designated, protected sections.

7. Develop operating standards for visitor use activities and resource 

management.

8. Acquire a four—wheel drive vehicle with a slip—on pumper for fire 

suppression activities.

9. Negotiate a Memorandum of Understanding with area fire—control 

organizations.

10. Develop a Natural Resources Management Plan.

11. To reduce Park Service maintenance workload, negotiate Special Use Permits 

to provide for landscape maintenance on Federal lands between private 

residences.

12. Instead of burying dead fish along the shoreline, they should be hauled away.

13. Vehicular and equipment needs should be evaluated; a one and one—half ton 

dump truck and a tractor with a front end loader and other attachments should be 

acquired. [40]

The Nixon Administration's "Lukewarm Attitude"

When President Lyndon Johnson left office in January 1969, the Republican Party led by 

Richard M. Nixon took control of the Executive Branch and appointed Governor Walter J. 

Hickel (Republican—Alaska) to be Secretary of the Interior. In his 1970 State of the Union 

address, President Nixon delivered an environmental message in which he stressed parks and 

public recreation areas. Nixon further embraced and elaborated on the "parks to the people" 

concept. [41]

For political reasons, this goodwill did not translate into enthusiasm for Indiana Dunes 

National Lakeshore. As discussed previously, partisan politics targeted the national lakeshore 

as a "Democratic" park. Lakeshore supporters charged the Nixon Administration with being 

"lukewarm" toward the park. This resulted in the Department adopting a cautious approach
which delayed planning for development. Park Service stewards privately agreed with this 

assertion. [42] For the Nixon Administration, Indiana Dunes was "a park that was shoved 

down their throats." [43]

In fact, hostile legislative activities began soon after the 1966 Lakeshore authorization with 

bills to reduce the park's size. In 1969, Indiana Representative Earl F. Landgrebe, who 

succeeded Charles Halleck as Second District Congressman, introduced legislation to have a 

three—unit park composed of 2,000 acres. [44] Landgrebe's action was an effort to appease 

his many anti—lakeshore constituents. Because both houses of Congress were controlled by 

the Democratic Party, Landgrebe knew his bill stood little chance of being considered and no 

chance of being passed. Nonetheless, Landgrebe sent a clear message that the lakeshore's 

adversaries had not been silenced by President Johnson's November 1966 action, but would 

remain vocal in their opposition. [45]

Advisory Commission Chairman Thomas E. Dustin accused Landgrebe of "needlessly and 

wastefully resurrecting old controversies which reasonable men long ago put behind them." 

Dustin pledged to do all in his power to defeat the initiative which he termed a 

deauthorization bill. [46] Because the bill continued to languish in committee, Secretary 

Hickel and Director Hartzog remained silent on it until late 1969, when, in a response to the 

Save the Dunes Council, Under Secretary Russell Train revealed the Department did not plan 

to consider it. Train added, "Secretary Hickel stands firmly behind the concept of bringing 

parks to the people, and will do whatever he can to see the lakeshore completed and opened 

to the public as rapidly as budgetary constraints will permit." [47]

With the resignation of Secretary Hickel in the fall of 1970, President Nixon appointed his 

replacement in January 1971: Maryland Representative Rogers C. B. Morton. The Save the 

Dunes Council and other conservation groups did not welcome Morton's appointment because 

he had voted against the park's authorization in 1966. There was reason for alarm. In early

1971, Secretary Morton instructed the National Park Service to prepare a justification for the 

deauthorization of Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. Assistant Director for Park 

Management Edward A. Hummel passed the assignment on to Northeast Deputy Regional 

Director George Palmer,* who dutifully prepared the deauthorization position paper in which 

he stressed the political consequences of the move. Apparently, park opponents in Beverly 

Shores had succeeded in influencing friends in the Department to investigate deauthorization. 

The Indiana Dunes Advisory Commission was not particularly concerned that the effort had 

much support, but did regard it as a threat because of Department of the Interior involvement 

in it. The effort proved to be an exercise in paperwork. Political reality soon consigned the 

deauthorization papers to a file drawer. [48]

*George Palmer decided against telling J. R. Whitehouse about his distasteful 

task. Whitehouse recalled, "George... told me at a later date, two years later. If 

he'd told me then it would have been too much! At that given time, I was having

a hard time just surviving the situation." See Whitehouse interview, 11 March

1987.

Concurrent with the Morton appointment was the revelation that no development funds for 

Indiana Dunes were listed in the Administration's new budget. Indiana Senator Birch Bayh, a 

dark horse candidate for president, committed himself to obtaining the funding through 

negotiating with the Department and Service. Failing that, Bayh pledged to attach a rider to 

the Interior appropriations bill. [49]

In May 1971, Senator Adlai Stevenson (Democrat—Illinois) asked the Senate subcommittee
on Interior appropriations to add $1,440,000 for Indiana Dunes planning and construction. 

Stevenson stated that since the financial restraints of 1970 had eased, there was no longer any 

reason not to move ahead with construction activities. [50]

The following month, the House approved $455,000 for planning, thanks to the efforts of 

Representative Sidney R. Yates (Democrat—Illinois). The action resulted in making the 

national lakeshore's first development funds available on July 1, 1971. [51] The struggle in 

obtaining the appropriation proved the effectiveness and vitality of the Save the Dunes 

Council—led conservation coalition against the administration's "lukewarm attitude."

In a May 1971 Oval Office meeting, President Richard Nixon asked Florida environmentalist 

Nathaniel P. "Nat" Reed to serve as Assistant Secretary of Interior for Fish and Wildlife and 

Parks and preside over the greatest dispersal of conservation monies in the nation's history 

under the Land and Water Conservation Fund. Nat Reed, who served in Interior until the 

expiration of President Gerald R. Ford's term in January 1977, credited the evolution of the 

"lukewarm attitude" to the growing public pressure to expand Indiana Dunes National 

Lakeshore: "It was sort of a Democratic Park; it was considered a political park. Its creation 

had been a political decision, not on a resource basis. Secondly, it was hideously expensive 

real estate to acquire." [52]

In the fall of 1970, President Nixon had been sold on the two Gateway National Recreation 

Areas in San Francisco and New York City on the condition that these two areas serve as 

models for the states and that no more Gateway—type units be added to the National Park 

System. Nixon did not want to trigger the proliferation of national recreation areas and face 

bankrupting the U.S. Treasury. Nonetheless, fear gripped the Nixon Administration when the 

horrendously steep appropriations for the two Gateways became a sobering reality concurrent 

with "new Gateway" proposals being introduced in Congress, including Cuyahoga Valley in 

Ohio, Chattahoochee River in Georgia, and Santa Monica Mountains in California. This 

paranoia helped to bolster Nat Reed's own view of Indiana Dunes, that it was not a recreation 

area and therefore less expensive to develop. Reed believed Indiana Dunes was too fragile to 

be a recreation area. Recreation development belonged exclusively along the shoreline to be 

devoted to swimming and only on a limited scale. The remainder of the park, Reed believed, 

should be disturbed only by foot trails to give visitors a truly "quiet experience." [53]

Collapse of Compromise: The Question of Lakeshore Expansion

The push to change the status quo at Indiana Dunes first came in late June 1971, when the 

two Senators from Illinois, Adlai E. Stevenson III and Charles H. Percy, introduced a bill to 

rename the national lakeshore after former Senator Paul H. Douglas. Support in the House 

came from Sidney R. Yates (Democrat—Illinois).* Congressman Earl Landgrebe denounced 

the move as "insensitive," adding, "To most residents of the Indiana Dunes area, the name of 

Paul Douglas represents every effort by Chicago interests to keep us in a state of economic 

serfdom." [54] Landgrebe called Douglas's fight for the park a "front" to stop construction of 

the Port of Indiana.** Although not as vehement, bipartisan opposition to the name change 

formulated. With most Hoosier politicians against the change, Secretary Rogers C. B. Morton 

stated the long—held policy of not renaming a park, especially after someone still living.

[55] The Indiana Dunes Advisory Commission concurred with the position during its July 30,

1971, meeting. [56]

*Both Percy and Yates were former students of Paul Douglas at the University

of Chicago; both men considered Douglas their political mentor. See Whitehouse 

interview, 11 March 1987.
**Landgrebe was so incensed by the move that he attempted to discredit it by 

poking fun at it. Selecting the noted native son of Peru, Indiana, Landgrebe 

introduced a bill suggesting that Congress rename the park "Cole Porter's 

National Lakeshore." See Whitehouse interview, 11 March 1987.

Encouraged to act in part by Congressman Landgrebe's ongoing hostility, the Save the Dunes 

Council published a proposal in April 1971 to expand the national lakeshore. While many 

perceived the action as a collapse of the compromise achieved in the 1960s, the Save the 

Dunes Council only sought to recover all of the lands promised in the original, so—called 

compromise bill. As Landgrebe and his supporters had never reconciled themselves to the 

lakeshore, neither had the Council reconciled itself to the compromises which omitted key 

areas from the lakeshore. Following four months of careful study of ecological, geological, 

and natural features, the Council stood ready on the park's fifth anniversary to ask Congress

to include specific open lands and buffers. These additions included dune ridges, interdunal 

ponds, meadows, and bogs, most of which were covered under the original 1963 compromise 

bill. Also recommended by the Council were semi—developed lands, including the remainder 

of Beverly Shores, and scenic river valleys and wetlands. [57]

The Save the Dunes Council devoted intense scrutiny to the three populated "islands" within 

the national lakeshore's boundaries: Dune Acres/Porter Beach, Ogden Dunes, and Beverly 

Shores. It decided to endorse inclusion of the "Beverly Shores Island" over the other two for 

a number of reasons. Primarily because Beverly Shores had a lower population density per 

acre and had clearly outstanding natural values, the Council believed its inclusion could be 

justified before Congress more easily. Population density differed from town to town.

Because three-quarters of the developed portion of Dune Acres was in its northeast quadrant, 

the "empty" three segments were targeted for inclusion. On the other hand, Beverly Shores' 

population was scattered throughout its limits and no significant area could be acquired 

without claiming private homes. The boundaries of the Island were drawn in 1963 by a 

member of the House Interior Committee concerned with cost—cutting. With its relatively 

small impacted areas, structures could be removed in order to restore the landscape. 

Strategically placed in the East Unit, the Beverly Shores Island was larger than the nearby 

Indiana Dunes State Park. [58]

The resumption of the port versus park controversy came on July 29, 1971, when 

Congressman J. Edward Roush (Democrat—Indiana) introduced H.R. 10209 with thirteen 

cosponsors. The bill provided for an additional 7,023 acres which effectively doubled the size 

of the 1966 park. Emulating Paul Douglas, Roush led a walk through the dunes to publicize 

his bill. Securing a special use permit from J. R. Whitehouse, the Roush party, which

included other congressmen, hiked through the proposed additions on August 28 and camped 

in the dunes overnight. Shortly afterwards, in the Senate, Vance Hartke and Birch Bayh 

introduced S. 2380, a companion to Roush's bill. [59]

Principal opponents of the expansion plans were Landgrebe, Indiana Republican Governor 

Edgar Whitcomb, the Indiana Great Lakes Commission, and Bethlehem Steel. They 

vigorously denounced the proposed additions which encompassed the Port of Indiana, 

Bethlehem and National Steel plants, and the NIPSCO power plant thereby negating any 

future expansion. [60] Locally, a "National Park Limits Committee" formed to fight 

lakeshore expansion.

The highly—charged atmosphere was potentially explosive for Superintendent Whitehouse 

and his staff. Roush invited Whitehouse to attend an October 25, 1971, public meeting at the 

Red Lantern Inn to discuss inclusion of the Beverly Shores "Island" in the expansion bill. 

Adopting the same strategy of Northeast Regional Director Chester Brooks during a meeting
with the National Park Limits Committee, Whitehouse expressed no position on the bill. He 

explained that until Congress requested the National Park Service's position through 

Secretary Morton, he could offer no opinion on the matter. [.6.1.]
Indiana Dunes

Administrative History

PART I

CHAPTER SIX:

ENDNOTES

1. Management Assistant Darwin E. Williams to Regional Director Lon Garrison, 29 July

1969, folder A2623 Trip Reports (Indiana Dunes), Records of the Indiana Dunes National

Lakeshore Advisory Commission (hereafter cited as Advisory Commission Records").

2. Associate Regional Director Allen T. Edmunds to Regional Director Garrison, 23 January

1969, folder—"New Areas," Files of Allen T. Edmunds, Office of the Superintendent.

3. Meeting of 18 April 1969, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Advisory Commission

Minutes 1967—1973, Management Library, Office of the Superintendent; and Herbert Read, 

Engineering Chairman, Save the Dunes Council, interview, 22 September 1987, at Bailly 

Ranger Station, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, Porter, Indiana, transcript.

4. Management Assistant Williams to Regional Director Garrison, 29 July 1969, folder—

A2623 Trip Reports (Indiana Dunes), Advisory Commission Records.

5. Assistant to the Associate Regional Director Bruce J. Miller to Regional Director Garrison,

29 October 1969, folder—Al Edmunds File, Personal Files of Allen T. Edmunds, Office of 

the Superintendent.

6. A Master Plan Report for Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, Indiana (National Park 

Service, October 1967); A Master Plan Report, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore (National 

Park Service, October 1968); and Master Plan: Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore (National 

Park Service, November 1969), all in the National Park Service History Collection, Harpers 

Ferry Center, West Virginia.

7. Assistant to the Associate Regional Director Miller to Land Acquisition Officer James 

Sewell, 29 August 1969, unnumbered boxes in Building No. 103, stored files, Office of the 

Superintendent.

8. "Lakeshore Land—Buying Progresses," Gary Post—Tribune (18 January 1969), 

newsclipping folder—(January 1969), Visitor Center Library.

9. Meeting of 16 December 1969, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Advisory Commission

Minutes 1967—1973, Management Library, Office of the Superintendent.

10. Assistant to the Associate Regional Director Miller to Regional Director Garrison, 16

January 1970, unnumbered boxes in Building No. 103, stored files, Office of the

Superintendent.

11. Ibid., Management Assistant Williams to Regional Director Garrison, 13 January 1970.
12. Advisory Commission Chairman William Lieber to Harry W. Frey, letter, 25 March 1970, 

folder—State Park, Advisory Commission Records, Office of the Superintendent.

13. Meeting of 9 October 1970, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Advisory Commission

Minutes 1967—1973, Management Library, Office of the Superintendent.

14. Ibid., Meeting of 22 January 1971.

15. "Policies, Programs, and Activities of the National Park Service and the Bureau of 

Outdoor Recreation, "Hearings Before the Subcommittee on National Parks and Recreation 

of the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, House of Representatives, 92nd Congress,

First Session, April 1—2, 1971" (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1971), 

found in book on Indiana Dunes Congressional Hearings, 91st, 92nd Congress, Management 

Library, Office of the Superintendent.

16. Meetings of 22 January and 16 April 1971, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Advisory

Commission Minutes 1967—1973, Management Library, Office of the Superintendent.

17. "U.S. Park Land Acquisition Reported Now 85% Complete," Gary Post—Tribune (1 May

1971), newsclipping folder—(May 1971), Visitor Center Library.

18. Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Interior Charles H. Meacham to Representative Abner

J. Mikva, 2 June 1970, folder—A8215 Dedication of Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.

19. Meeting of 18 and 19 June 1970, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Advisory

Commission Minutes 1967—1973, Management Library; and Assistant to the Regional 

Director James R. Whitehouse to the staff of Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, 22

September 1970, unnumbered boxes in Building No. 103, stored files, Office of the

Superintendent.

20. "Pick Boss for Dunes Lakeshore," Gary Post—Tribune (9 October 1970), newsclipping 

folder—(October 1970), Visitor Center Library.

21. James R. Whitehouse, former Superintendent, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, 

interview, 11 March 1987, Orlando, Florida, transcript, Midwest Regional Office.

22. George A. Palmer, former Associate Regional Director, Northeast Regional Office, 

interview, 11 October 1987, transcript of correspondence, Cultural Resources Management, 

Midwest Regional Office Files.

23. Whitehouse interview, 11 March 1987; and Management Assistant Darwin Williams to 

Regional Director Garrison, 19 November 1970, unnumbered boxes in Building No. 103, 

stored files, Office of the Superintendent.

24. Ibid., Superintendent J. R. Whitehouse to Regional Director Garrison, 21 December 1970, 

folder—A66.

25. Meeting of 22 January 1971, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Advisory Commission

Minutes 1967—1973, Management Library.

26. Whitehouse interview, 11 March 1987.

27. Elwin G. Greening, "Five—Year Lakeshore Plan Outlined: Cost Is Estimated at $5.7

Million," The (Michigan City) News—Dispatch (31 March 1971), newsclipping folder—

(March 1971), Visitor Center Library.
28. Interpretive Prospectus, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, Indiana (Philadelphia: Office 

of Environmental Planning and Design, Eastern Service Center, February 1971), p. 1.

29. Ibid., p. 12.

30. Ibid., p. 18.

31. Ibid., pp. 19—20.

32. Meeting of 16 April 1971, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Advisory Commission

Minutes 1967—1973, Management Library; "Dunes Lakeshore Park to Add Rangers for 

Policing," Gary Post—Tribune (17 April 1971), newsclipping folder—(April 1971), Visitor 

Center Library; and Whitehouse interview, 11 March 1987.

33. "Begin Survey of Lakeshore," Vidette Messenger (26 April 1971), news—clipping folder

—(April 1971), Visitor Center Library.

34. Meeting of 30 July 1971, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Advisory Commission

Minutes 1967—1973, Management Library.

35. Ibid., Meetings of 30 July and 22 October 1971; Deputy Assistant Secretary of the

Interior Curtis Bohlen to Advisory Commission Chairman William Lieber, letter, 23 August

1971, file—Secretary of the Interior, Records of the Advisory Commission, Office of the

Superintendent; and Whitehouse interview, 11 March 1987.

36. Whitehouse interview, 11 March 1987.

37. Ibid.

38. Associate Regional Director George A. Palmer to William L. Lieber, letter, 15 November

1971, L58 Expansion of Park (H.R. 10209), Misc. & F.Y. 1973, Stored Files.

39. Regional Director Henry G. Schmidt to Superintendent Whitehouse, 8 February 1971, 

(report enclosed), A5427 Operations Evaluation.

40. Ibid.

41. "Message on Environment: Message from the President of the United States Outlining 

Legislative Proposals and Administrative Actions Taken to Improve Environmental Quality, 

February 10, 1970, 91st Congress, 2nd Session, H.R.—Doc. No. 91—225, Indiana Dunes

National Lakeshore Congressional Hearings, 91st, 92nd Congress (Washington, D.C.: U.S. 

Government Printing Office, 1970).

42. J. L. Dunning to J. R. Whitehouse, letter, 12 October 1982, A82 J. R.'s Retirement Party 

Arrangements; and Kay Franklin and Norma Schaeffer, Duel For The Dunes: Land Use

Conflict on the Shores of Lake Michigan (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1983), p. 223.

43. Whitehouse interview, 11 March 1987.

44. Ernie Hernandez, "Landgrebe May Get Aid From Nixon, Hickel," Gary Post—Tribune (9

May 1969), newsclipping file (May 1969), Visitors Center Library.

45. Nathaniel P. "Nat" Reed, former Assistant Secretary of the Interior, interview, 9 March

1987, Hobe Sound Florida; and James R. Whitehouse, former Superintendent, Indiana Dunes

National Lakeshore, interview, 11 March 1987, Orlando, Florida, transcript, Midwest
Regional Office.

46. Thomas E. Dustin to Hon. Earl Landgrebe, letter, 15 May 1969, folder Indiana Dunes, 

Files of Allen T. Edmunds, Office of the Superintendent.

47. Meeting of 16 December 1969, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Advisory Commission

Minutes 1967—1973, Management Library.

48. Whitehouse interview, 11 March 1987; Palmer interview, 12 October 1987; and John 

Schnurlein, former member and chairman of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Advisory 

Commission, interview, 23 September 1987, at Superintendent's Office, Bailly Administrative 

Area, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, Porter, Indiana, transcript.

49. Bruce Ingersoll, "Indiana Dunes Omitted in Park Service Budget," Chicago Sun—Times, 

(21 January 1971), newsclipping file (January 1971), Visitor Center Library.

50. Ibid., "Stevenson Asks Development: Dunes Park Funds Sought," Gary Post Tribune (11

May 1971), newsclipping file (May 1971).

51. Ibid., Harlan Draeger, "First Dunes Funds Clear Key Hurdle," Chicago Daily News (23

June 1971), newsclipping file (June 1971).

52. Reed interview, 9 March 1987.

53. Ibid.

54. Ibid., "Naming Lakeshore For Ex—Sen. Douglas Gets Bipartisan Opposition," The

Indianapolis Star (2 July 1971), newsclipping file (July 1971).

55. Ibid., and Meeting of 22 October 1971, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Advisory

Commission Minutes 1967—1973, Management Library.

56. Meeting of 30 July 1971, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Advisory Commission

Minutes 1967—1973, Management Library.

57. Proposed Additions to the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore (Beverly Shores, Indiana: 

Save the Dunes Council, Inc., April 1971).

58. Herbert Read to Ron Cockrell, letter, 6 April 1988, Cultural Resources Management files, 

Midwest Regional Office.

59. J. Ronald Engel, Sacred Sands: The Struggle for Community in the Indiana Dunes

(Middletown, Connecticut: Wesleyan University Press, 1983), p. 283; and "The Park 

Expansion—Phase II Begins," Save the Dunes Council Newsletter (August 1971), L58

Expansion of Park (H.R. 10209), Misc. & F.Y. 1973, Stored Files.

60. "Governor and State Commission Oppose Lakeshore Park Expansion," Chesterton

Tribune (15 September 1971), newsclipping file (September 1971), Visitor Center Library.

61. Superintendent Whitehouse to Associate Regional Director George Palmer, 4 November

1971, L58 Expansion of Park (H.R. 10209), Misc. & F.Y. 1973, Stored Files.
Indiana Dunes

Administrative History

PART II

PART II:

THE STRUGGLE TO ADMINISTER AN INDIANA 

DUNES NATIONAL LAKESHORE

You know before you got there that I was about the only one who had faith in 

the Dunes and if you had failed, I would have, too. Your success proved me 

correct and for that I really appreciate your work even more than many others.

Former Northeast Associate Regional Director George A. Palmer, on the 

occasion of J. R. Whitehouse's retirement. [1]

Introduction

Few can dispute that the history of Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore is steeped in perpetual 

political manuevering or that the lakeshore's initial base of support came from the Democratic 

Party. Nevertheless, this is not to denigrate the important contributions of Republicans like 

Pennsylvania's John Saylor who was instrumental in getting the 1966 bill out of committee 

and through the House of Representatives. Two Republicans who voted against the 1966 bill 

and later acted to benefit the national lakeshore were Congressmen Rogers C. B. Morton of 

Maryland and Gerald R. Ford of Michigan. As Secretary of the Interior in 1971, Morton 

sanctioned a deauthorization effort. True to the fickle winds of national politics, Secretary 

Morton himself appeared as the keynote speaker along with President Nixon's eldest daughter 

at the September 8, 1972, dedication ceremony. The well—orchestrated media event saw 

Secretary Morton hailing Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore as one of the "crown jewels" of 

the President's "Parks to the People" program. Gerald Ford, succeeding to the presidency 

following Nixon's resignation, found himself coaxed out of exercising the pocket veto on 

expanding Indiana Dunes' torturous boundaries by overwhelming Senate support in the 

aftermath of Paul Douglas' death.

Park management agonized to demonstrate progress. A prevalent negative public comment 

was that the Federal park had been around for a decade and there was nothing to show for it 

but controversy and more controversy. By the mid—1970s, National Park Service staff grew 

and initiated new environmental education and interpretive programs. Purchased homes were 

no longer simply demolished or removed and the sites allowed to revert to nature. Many 

became picnic areas. Trails proliferated. Beach access and parking improved. As evidence of 

the national park's presence increased, hardened public attitudes began to thaw. A series of 

festivals at the Bailly Homestead and Chellberg Farm fostered a new sense of community

and began to heal long—festering wounds.

Much of the credit for accomplishing work—intensive projects belongs to youth—oriented 

public works programs such as the Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) and the Young Adult
Conservation Corps (YACC). These programs accomplished tasks which the national 

lakeshore did not have the manpower to perform. Without the YACC, the Lakeshore could 

not have gained an immediate foothold at the Bailly Administrative Area.

As with anything involving human efforts, mistakes were made. To the agency's 

consternation, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore simply did not fit into any of the traditional 

molds for a national park. Indiana Dunes had its own unique set of problems. It bore little 

similarity to the two Gateway national recreation areas in New York and San Francisco. 

Perhaps the best example of trying to impose "Gateway" values came in 1973 with the 

unveiling of the West Beach Development Concept Plan which proposed a voluminous 

recreational complex incompatible with the lakeshore's resources. The Service took its lumps 

and learned from its embarrassing blunder. Public involvement in the development planning 

process subsequently became a keystone of Park Service operations. The lessons learned at 

places like Indiana Dunes have earned the Service an excellent reputation for coordinating 

complex, intergovernmental planning efforts.

Superintendent James R. Whitehouse maintained good relations with groups throughout the 

community and region. He effectively utilized the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore

Advisory Commission and its diverse membership to keep informed of developments in State 

and local governments. With his vast array of contacts, Whitehouse was often able to 

checkmate potential threats to the national lakeshore. Because Whitehouse frequently worked 

behind the scenes to achieve results he sometimes was accused of not acting in earnest to 

protect the park. Many people did not appreciate the fact that the National Park Service was 

one of many Federal agencies operating under specific laws and regulations. When an 

industry or local government also functioned according to law, there was little that could be 

done to resolve conflicts. Behind—the—scenes actions, however, sometimes resulted in the 

denial of necessary construction permits.

The foremost threat to the national lakeshore was NIPSCO's construction of the Bailly I 

nuclear power plant. NIPSCO proposed to mitigate dewatering of Cowles Bog National 

Natural Landmark by building a slurry wall to isolate the bog from the massive nuclear plant 

and its fly ash ponds. The lakeshore staff worked with the Save the Dunes Council and 

Congressman Sidney Yates to obtain a Science Office to study this as well as other resource 

management threats. While the inter—governmental fight against Bailly I took place at the 

national level, no one could deny that the local park staff adamantly opposed Bailly I. A 

vivid portrayal of this came in the form of a Chicago Tribune photograph of uniformed 

Assistant Superintendent Don Castleberry pointing to the gaping hole of the nuclear site and 

declaring, "We can't allow this to happen in our National Park!"

With successful bills in 1976, 1980, and 1986, lakeshore boundary expansion remained a 

constant topic of debate. Local park management hosted several Congressional committees 

investigating a long list of proposed additions. Whitehouse and his staff provided tours and 

briefings and elaborated on the pros and cons of managing specific proposed parcels. Unlike 

with Bailly I, they acted in a non—advocacy role, never crossing the line of becoming 

proponents or opponents of any bill. So important was the situation that the Washington 

Office designated its own project keyman for Indiana Dunes. [2] One individual who worked 

in the Washington Office's Office of Legislation asserted that no other unit represented more 

complexity or challenge than did Indiana Dunes. [3]

President Ronald Reagan's appointment of James G. Watt as Secretary of the Interior brought 

into policy—making positions individuals who espoused anti—big government and a lack of 

sympathy for environmental concerns. Based on an aborted effort to deauthorize Indiana 

Dunes and several other parks, conservationists feared that the Reagan philosophy might 

eventually doom the National Park System itself. This alarmist outlook has proven to be
unfounded. During the Reagan years, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore continued to make 

steady, albeit slow, progress.

Chapter Seven, "Politics and Parks," summarizes the events of 1972 and details the rapid 

chain of events leading up to the sudden dedication ceremony organized by the Committee to 

Re—Elect the President. This came after months of prodding by the Advisory Commission 

which requested the event in order to alleviate the community's concern that the Nixon 

Administration did not support Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.

Chapter Eight, "Growing Pains, 1973—1976," relates the slow progress of developments 

capped by construction beginning at West Beach in 1975. The same year the Service began 

negotiations with the U.S. Army to acquire its NIKE missile base for use as the lakeshore's 

headquarters. Assistant Secretary of the Interior Nat Reed put his job on the line by his 

insistence upon testifying against Bailly I. While Reed was unsuccessful in convincing the 

Department to become a joint intervenor, Reed's unequivocal stance ended the 

administration's "lukewarm attitude" and disspelled the "Democratic park" concept. The 

brouhaha over West Beach development caused the Service to reevaluate and change its 

"planning in a vaccuum" practice. On expansion, Nat Reed expressed his intent to sanction 

only "reasonable" expansion and not to play "catch up" with the missed opportunities of the 

early 1960s. In 1976, President Ford finally approved a bill adding more than 3,700 acres.

In Chapter Nine, "Coming of Age, 1977—1979," the staff doubled while facilities tripled. 

YCC and YACC activities began as did a concerted effort to combat off—road vehicle 

(ORV) usage in newly added areas. The West Beach bathhouse dedication also took place 

symbolizing the first (and only) principal recreational development. The Science Office came 

on—line while the Coronado Lodge closed by order of the State Fire Marshal. In 1979, 

headquarters relocated to the Bailly Administrative Area, the former NIKE base, thus 

providing a central, expansive facility from which to operate the extensive lakeshore. With 

the change to a Democratic administration, a more vigorous stance to seek mitigation of 

threats was taken against Bailly Nuclear I, at the same time the Bailly Alliance formed 

against the nuclear project. The Department largely imposed an agreement on the utility 

company to seal the fly ash basins connected to its extant Bailly generating station.

Chapter Ten, "The Great Turning Point, 1980," reveals the watershed year in Indiana Dunes' 

history with the completion of the General Management Plan. The three—year effort 

culminated in a blueprint for future management and development of the national lakeshore. 

The year also saw the passage of the second expansion bill, but only after its primary areas 

were deleted for being too controversial. With less than five hundred acres added, Congress 

seemed to be indicating, as one staff member claimed, that it was "sick and tired" of the 

expansion issue.

Chapter Eleven, "Reaganomics or Retrenchment?," discusses the first three years of the new 

administration with James G. Watt at the Interior Department helm. At the park level, Dale 

Engquist succeeded J. R. Whitehouse as superintendent following intensive lobbying by the 

park and regional community, while austerity measures were instituted in the name of 

"Management Efficiency." During the first months of the Watt tenure, conservationists rallied 

to defeat a deauthorization effort. Subsequently, land acquisition files were audited, but no 

improprieties were found; visitation counting was investigated following charges of inflating 

figures which were later shown to have been unfounded; and Land Protection Plans were 

mandated which explored alternatives to land acquisition. Bailly I went down to defeat in

late 1981 when NIPSCO pulled the plug after conceding that innumerable delays had raised 

costs to a prohibitive level.

Chapter Twelve, "The Singing Sands of Indiana Dunes," brings the study to 1987 with yet
another expansion bill seeking to "round out" the national lakeshore's peculiar boundaries. It 

is a testimony to a dedicated staff performing increased services in a time of budget cuts and 

personnel ceilings with assistance from the private sector-a lively Volunteers In Parks 

program and its outgrowth, a nonprofit corporation called Friends of the Indiana Dunes 

National Lakeshore. The period also saw the termination of the Advisory Commission and

the construction of the Paul H. Douglas Center for Environmental Education, a facility 

designed with input from school children.
Indiana Dunes

Administrative History

PART II

PART II:

ENDNOTES

1. George A. Palmer to J. R. Whitehouse, letter, 18 October 1982, A82 J. R.'s Retirement

Party Arrangements.

2. This section was summarized from opinions provided by the following sources: Herbert 

Read, Engineering Chairman, Save the Dunes Council, interview, 22 September 1987, at 

Bailly Ranger Station, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, Porter, Indiana, transcript; Don H. 

Castleberry, former Assistant Superintendent, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, 1974—

1978, interview, 3 September 1987, at Midwest Regional Office, Omaha, Nebraska, 

transcript; Dale B. Engquist, Superintendent, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, interview,

16 September 1987, at Midwest Regional Office, Omaha, Nebraska, transcript; and Charlotte 

Read, Executive Director, Save the Dunes Council, interview, 22 September 1987, at 

Superintendent's Office, Bailly Administrative Area, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, 

Porter, Indiana, transcript.

3. Arthur E. ("Art") Eck, former member of Washington Office Office of Legislation, to J. R. 

Whitehouse, letter, 15 October 1982, A82 J. R.'s Retirement Party Arrangements.
Indiana Dunes

Administrative History

PART II

CHAPTER SEVEN:

POLITICS AND PARKS

The establishment of Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore will help to carry out my 

father's directive to bring parks to people. For many years, parks were

established where wilderness was. Yellowstone, Shenandoah, the Great Smokies 

and Acadia are all areas of great natural beauty far from crowded cities. But 

since 1971 we have had a new emphasis. Through the Legacy of Parks program, 

initiated by my father, we are putting parks where people are.

Remarks by Mrs. Julie Nixon Eisenhower upon the dedication of Indiana Dunes

National Lakeshore on September 7, 1972. [1]

Operations, 1972

Northeast Regional Director Chester L. Brooks approved a second operations evaluation 

report for Indiana Dunes on January 21, 1972. The team was composed of the following 

Northeast Region personnel: Chief of Operations Evaluation Benjamin J. Zerbey; Operations 

Evaluation Specialists Dennis E. McGinnis and Earl W. Estes; and Property and Procurement 

Officer Michael Koper. The evaluation took place in late September 1971 and found Indiana 

Dunes operated adequately with its staff of three professionals. The team did not believe that 

the park, although administratively small, was understaffed.

The majority of staff time involved protecting lands and buildings. Other than the desk at the 

Tremont visitor center, there was no visitor services program. Superintendent J. R. 

Whitehouse spent most of his time on public relations activities, maintaining almost daily 

contact with members of the Indiana Dunes Advisory Commission and offices of 

congressmen and senators in Indiana and Illinois. The team worked with Whitehouse on 

reorganizing administrative services to include a management assistant position similar to the 

chief of operations at Assateague Island National Seashore. This incumbent would take

charge of daily in—park operations thereby freeing the superintendent to concentrate on 

public relations and external affairs. Because the workload had not yet reached a level where 

the position was needed, the team recommended a reassessment within six months.

The team found a good start on the environmental education program (EEP) by Park Ranger 

Stan Lock. Lock held a workshop for Duneland School District teachers where planning for 

an Environmental Study Area trail began. Except during the summer, Lock spent half of his 

time on this program.

Operations evaluation recommendations included encouraging the hiring of minorities to fill 

vacant positions, development of training and incentive awards programs, initiation of 

position performance standards, and speedy removal of government—acquired structures.
Finally, the team advocated an early determination on the ownership of all roads within the 

lakeshore boundaries in order for a sound management plan to be formulated. [2]

Gains in interpretation during 1972 included the development of four exhibits by Harpers 

Ferry Center. Placed in the Tremont visitor center, the panel exhibits depicted the area's 

geological evolution, public use, historic resources, and planned development. Harpers Ferry 

Center also revised the park's minifolder. Contact with visitors at the Tremont visitor center 

desk was seven days a week from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. With the birth of a park cooperating 

association agency under Eastern National Park and Monument Association, visitors could 

also buy books and other dunes—related materials.

The previously discussed environmental education program featured the initiation of a 

citizen's advisory council in 1972. Composed of six local educators and conservationists, the 

council, which operated under the Volunteers In Parks (VIP) program, gave coordinator Stan 

Lock guidance on EEP development. Lock's leadership lapsed for one year, however, as he 

entered the Service—sponsored EEP study at George Williams College. Lock returned to 

Indiana Dunes in June 1973 with a Master of Arts degree in Environmental Education 

Management.

With the welcome assistance of the newly—established park radio communications system, 

seasonal rangers conducted law enforcement activities on weekends. Seasonals augmented 

the two law enforcement technicians for regular beach foot patrols during the busy summer

months. During late December 1972, the lakeshore implemented the U.S. Magistrate System.

In maintenance, 141 vacant buildings were removed under contract during 1972. With the 

assistance of a small team of seasonal laborers, Maintenance Supervisor Howard Culp 

oversaw the maintenance requirements of five park quarters, the visitor center and its 

grounds, and roadside cleanup activities in these vicinities. During the summer, crews 

regularly combed the beaches, removing alewives and discarding debris. (In a special

cooperative effort between the Department of the Interior and the State of Michigan, alewives 

were put in check by the introduction of coho salmon—predators—into Lake Michigan.) A 

special project involved the Bailly Homestead following the declaration of taking. 

Maintenance workers fenced in the National Historic Landmark, installed security lights, and 

cleaned up the Bailly Cemetery. In late 1972, removal of debris and landscaping activities 

began.

By year's end, a total of $2.3 million in construction and project planning funds became 

available. Interpretive Prospectuses and Area Development Plans for West Beach, Bailly 

Homestead, and Tremont Day Use Area were approved. Beyond the park level, the National 

Park Service, Environmental Protection Agency, and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers formed 

an environmental task force to establish a monitoring system in order to identify any adverse 

affects in and around the national lakeshore. Robert Chandler, Assistant to the Regional 

Director in the Chicago Field Office, represented the National Park Service. [3]

On June 1, 1972, the American Youth Hostel organization opened a facility at the Dunes 

Motel on Highway 12, two miles west of lakeshore headquarters, now the site of the Horse 

Trail parking area. Operating under a five—year Special Use Permit, the hostel represented 

the first of its kind in Indiana. [4]

Public relations activities continued to dominate Superintendent Whitehouse's time. In 

August, he launched a campaign targeted at Michigan City to secure the donation of Mount 

Baldy. Benefits to the city, Whitehouse reasoned, included relieving pressure on the city's 

own park system and the Service's commitment to combat the beach erosion problem. 

Whitehouse informed Mayor Randall C. Miller: "I am convinced that the Mt. Baldy
developed area would be a definite plus factor to the economy and recreational needs of the 

Michigan City area. Once Indiana Dunes becomes an on—going, fully developed park, 

Michigan City would obviously become the northern gateway to the Lakeshore." [5]

Aside from voicing concerns on potential adverse affects, Whitehouse and local conservation 

groups were powerless to prevent the visual pollution caused by a 350—foot cooling tower 

added to the new NIPSCO power generating station in 1972. On the park's eastern boundary 

at Michigan City, the plant's design first featured pumping heated water directly into Lake 

Michigan, a move opposed by the State and the fishing industry. The area's need for more 

electrical power, however, resulted in the cooling tower, and efforts to mitigate the visual 

intrusion were ignored. [6]

Dedication/Establishment Day, September 8, 1972

In the presidential election year of 1972, the politically—charged bill to expand the 

boundaries of Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore never left the House subcommittee. 

Secretary of the Interior Rogers C. B. Morton asked the National Park Service to study the 

additional lands proposed in H. R. 10209 and recommend which tracts to include and 

exclude. The Senate voted to raise the land acquisition ceiling by four million dollars, but it 

did not clear the House. [7]

Led by Chairman William Lieber, grandson of Indiana State Park System founder Col. 

Richard Lieber, the Advisory Commission continued to advocate dedication of the national 

lakeshore during 1972—the 150th anniversary of the Bailly Homestead and the 100th 

birthday of Yellowstone National Park. During the Commission's March 24 meeting, 

Associate Regional Director George A. Palmer received its unanimous opinion on the matter. 

The members felt that Secretary Morton's presence and show of support would garner 

widespread community confidence in the Nixon Administration's commitment to the national 

lakeshore. To demonstrate State and Federal cooperation, the Advisory Commission felt the 

ceremony should take place at Indiana Dunes State Park. [8]

As late as the Advisory Commission's June 23 meeting, however, no firm commitment had 

been made. [9] Several weeks later, as the general election approached, the situation changed 

dramatically. On July 31, the Department informed the Washington Office that the 

establishment ceremonies would occur on September 8, and Assistant Secretary for Fish and 

Wildlife and Parks Nathaniel P. Reed would attend for Secretary Morton. [10] The park 

proceeded with planning for the event, including printing the dedication program. Three 

weeks later, the Secretary's schedule changed so that he could attend the dedication

ceremony. The Secretary's advance team arrived, scrapped everything, and began anew. [11]

The day prior to the event, the office of Congressman Earl Landgrebe and the district 

chairman for the Committee to Re—Elect the President (CREEP) announced the President's 

daughter, Julie Nixon Eisenhower, would accompany Secretary Morton as a special guest 

speaker. To the park's consternation, a White House team descended on the lakeshore and 

produced yet another new platform and program. Indiana Senator Birch Bayh's proposed 

"live" telephone broadcast message from his Washington office was nixed by the White 

House planners. [12] Quite clearly, the swift chain of events reaffirmed that politics and 

parks—especially at Indiana Dunes—were intimately intertwined. Only one Democrat, 

Representative Ray J. Madden from Gary, was on the platform as a speaker. Porter County 

Republicans were on hand as greeters, carrying signs and distributing campaign buttons for 

the reelection of the President. Save the Dunes Council, represented on the platform by 

Dorothy Buell (who was not on the White House—produced program to speak), charged the 

event was blatantly political, arranged at the last—minute as a CREEP "media extravaganza." 

[13]
Rogers Morton, who had initiated a deauthorization effort a year—and—a—half earlier, 

endeavored to strike a chord of conciliation in his speech. Morton hailed the dunes as "one of 

the crown jewels" of President Nixon's Legacy of Parks program, "an enclave... a peaceful 

respite for 10 million Americans who live and work nearby." Morton credited Richard Nixon 

as the first President to make environmental quality a national priority. Citing the ceremony

as the culmination of a half—century of efforts both inside and outside of government to 

save the dunes, Morton called the national lakeshore's establishment a "lasting tribute to 

Senator Douglas's efforts." [14]

Following a short speech by Mrs. Eisenhower in which she highlighted her father's Parks to 

the People campaign, Governor Edgar Whitcomb and a host of other dignitaries delivered 

brief remarks. Advisory Commission Chairman William Lieber served as master of 

ceremonies. Following the dedication ceremony, dignitaries attended a luncheon and 

reception hosted by the Advisory Commission with funds donated by local industry and 

commercial interests. There, Chairman Lieber read telegrams from Paul Douglas (who could 

not attend because of illness) and Senators Vance Hartke, Birch Bayh, and Adlai Stevenson 

III. In an impromptu news conference, Secretary Morton said he planned to discuss the 

proposed expansion bill with the President and then formulate a policy statement. The

Secretary warned that if the park was enlarged, development could be delayed until sufficient 

funding became available. Morton welcomed cooperation with the Dunes State Park, but did 

not express any preference on the issue of donation. [15]

Although September 8 is acknowledged as the date of ceremonial establishment, according to 

the authorization act, official establishment came only with a statement from the Secretary of 

the Interior published in the Federal Register. This came on September 20, 1972, with the 

following notice:

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, Indiana

Establishment

Notice is given pursuant to section 3 of the Act of November 5, 1966, (80 Stat.

1309; 16 USC 460u), that there has been acquired within the boundaries of the 

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore an acreage which is efficiently administrable 

for the purposes of said Act and, therefore, the Lakeshore is hereby established.

September 8, 1972 Rogers C. B. Morton, 

Secretary of the Interior [16]

Six years after Congressional authorization, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore was an 

"established" reality. Formal recognition of the park by the Republican administration 

nonetheless proved the infant Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore continued to weather 

partisan politics masterfully.
Indiana Dunes

Administrative History

CHAPTER 1:

PART II

CHAPTER SEVEN:

ENDNOTES

1. "Remarks by Mrs. Julie Nixon Eisenhower," transcript, 7 September 1972, A8215

Dedication of Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.

Operations, 1972

2. Acting Regional Director George A. Palmer to Superintendent J. R. Whitehouse, 

(transmittal of Operations Evaluation Report), 31 January 1972, A5427 Operations 

Evaluation.

3. Superintendent's Report for Calendar Year 1972, Management Library.

4. Superintendent Whitehouse to Northeast Region Public Affairs Specialist Bob Burns, 14

September 1972, D34 AYH—Coronado Lodge.

5. Superintendent Whitehouse to Michigan City Mayor Randall C. Miller, 9 August 1972, 

File—Michigan City/LaPorte County, Advisory Commission Records, Office of the 

Superintendent.

6. Norma Schaeffer and Kay Franklin, "Industry Versus Preservation," The Indiana Dunes

Story: How Nature and People Made a Park (Beverly Shores, Indiana: Shirley Heinze 

Environmental Fund, 1984), p. 26; and James R. Whitehouse, former Superintendent, Indiana 

Dunes National Lakeshore, interview, 11 March 1987, Orlando, Florida, transcript, Midwest 

Regional Office.

Dedication/Establishment Day, September 8, 1972

7. Superintendent's Report for Calendar Year 1972, Management Library.

8. Associate Regional Director George A. Palmer to Director George Hartzog, 31 March

1972, A8215 Dedication of Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.

9. Meeting of 23 June 1972, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Advisory Commission

Minutes 1967—1973, Management Library, Office of the Superintendent.

10. Ibid., Associate Regional Director for Cooperative Programs Ben Butterfield to

Superintendent Whitehouse, 1 August 1972.

11. Ibid., Associate Regional Director Palmer to Director Hartzog, 11 August 1972; and
Whitehouse interview, 11 March 1987.

12. "Julie Due In Area," Vidette Messenger (7 September 1972), news clipping file

(September 1972, Visitor Center Library; and Whitehouse interview, 11 March 1987.

13. Schaeffer and Franklin, Duel For The Dunes: Land Use Conflict on the Shores of Lake

Michigan (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1983), pp. 196—9; and Herbert Read, 

Engineering Chairman, Save the Dunes Council, interview, 22 September 1987, at Bailly 

Ranger Station, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, Porter, Indiana, transcript.

14. "Morton Dedicates Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore," Department of the Interior News 

Release, Office of the Secretary, 8 September 1972, A8215, Dedication of Indiana Dunes 

National Lakeshore.

15. Ed Zuckerman, "Dunes Politics: Bayh, Stevenson 'Out' of Dedication," Post Tribune; Bob 

Jackson, "Morton Asks Everyone to Preserve Heritage," News Dispatch; and Rollie Bernhart, 

"National Lakeshore Established at Dunes State Park Ceremonies," Vidette Messenger (9

September 1972), newsclippings file (September 1972), Visitor Center Library.

16. Notice of Establishment of Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore by Secretary of the Interior 

Rogers C. B. Morton, 20 September 1972, Federal Register, p. 19389, A8215 Dedication of 

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.
Indiana Dunes

Administrative History

PART II

CHAPTER EIGHT:

GROWING PAINS, 1973-1976

Some of the proponents of the bill tell us that no President has ever vetoed a 

park bill. It is [our] sincere belief that this bill, in its present form, is a likely 

candidate for that dubious honor! Congressman Gerald Ford voted against the

bill (H.R. 51) in 1966. What is there about this bill that would lead one to believe 

that he would change his mind?

Representatives Joe Skubitz and Steve Symms, presenting dissenting views on

H.R. 11455, a bill to expand Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore (February 10,

1976). [1]

Operations, 1973—1976

1973

Natural disaster struck in mid—March 1973 when a fierce storm packing winds up to sixty 

miles per hour swept Lake Michigan and brought ten— to twelve—foot waves crashing 

down on the national lakeshore. The severe beach erosion threatened to undermine nearly

forty homes and sweep them into churning Lake Michigan, which had risen in recent years to 

record high levels. At one point, the lake advanced inland and sixty—five feet of beach was 

lost. As the three—day storm grew steadily worse, area residents appealed to President Nixon 

for Federal intervention. Superintendent J. R. Whitehouse and Representative Earl Landgrebe 

requested an urgent meeting with Indiana Governor Edgar Whitcomb. Whitehouse agreed to 

permit the erection of a temporary retaining wall through the use of riprap (sections of 

concrete and rock). The debate on the revetment split the Advisory Commission down the 

middle. John Hillenbrand, a Commission member who also served as Chairman of Indiana's 

Natural Resources Commission, adamantly opposed the revetment. In retrospect, Whitehouse 

grew to conclude that although his decision to permit the revetment was mandated by public 

pressure, it ultimately was a mistake because it perpetuated the status quo: With Beverly 

Shores Island thus protected, the impetus to add it to the lakeshore diminished and the 

"temporary" revetment had the potential of becoming permanent. Whitehouse ultimately 

decided, however, that corrective measures to control the erosion and rebuild the beaches 

could begin later.

Governor Whitcomb mobilized the National Guard to render assistance, particularly in the 

area of Beverly Shores where a 3,800—foot section of Lake Front Drive partially washed 

out. National guardsmen began erecting a three—mile retaining wall along the devastated 

beachfront by using an abandoned house and roadway as building materials. Workers issued 

an appeal for more broken concrete or any other debris (including wrecked cars) for the 

massive revetment.
The Northeast Regional Office allocated $5,000 in emergency funds to assist Beverly Shores' 

efforts to combat the erosion. The combined labors helped to mitigate the erosion damage. 

No homes were lost, but seven residential septic systems were damaged and failed to meet

State sanitary codes. The Park Service worked with county health authorities to ensure the 

repaired systems complied with code requirements. [2] Four houses, however, were beyond 

repair and the residents sought to sell them outright to the lakeshore. Assistant Secretary Nat 

Reed made the decision to buy them back and set a fair price for the hopelessly wrecked 

structures. [3]

Causes for the erosion included the rising lake level and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 

harbor facility near Michigan City which altered the littoral drift. In a joint effort, the Service 

and Corps were engaged in studies to identify interim solutions. From fiscal 1973 funds, the 

Northeast Region allotted $91,000 to the Corps for engineering and design work for shoreline 

improvements. As an interim protection plan, the Corps called for a five—year replenishment 

and monitoring program estimated at $3.1 million. Preliminary estimates reached $13.5 

million for the completion of shoreline protection and sand fill to restore the beaches between 

Michigan City and Beverly Shores. [4]

The land acquisition program, forecast to be phased—out by 1973, still operated with a 

skeleton staff of Land Acquisition Officer Frank Ucman, Realty Specialist Chandler 

Simpson, and Clerk Stenographer Irene Clayton. A Department of the Interior audit team 

conducted a three—month investigation in 1973 as part of a Departmentwide review of 

compliance with P.L. 91—646. The bill, passed in 1971, provided for relocation services to 

homeowners affected by Federal projects. Unfortunately, P.L. 91—646 did not authorize 

additional funds for compliance. This, plus the move to expand the lakeshore and raise the 

ceiling on land acquisition, stalled in Congress awaiting scheduling of hearings. On March

21, 1973, the Department ordered a curtailment of all payment of claims under P.L. 91—646 

until funds became available for appraisals, surveys, and title work for all pending 

condemnation cases. The Indiana Dunes land acquisition program continued at a snail's pace. 

[5]

Another piece of legislation enacted in October 1972 impacted the Advisory Commission's 

operations. P.L. 92—436 provided for governmental meetings to be opened to the public. The 

Commission, which previously held private sessions because it viewed its function as solely 

advisory to the Secretary, began to hold open meetings in accordance with the so—called 

"Sunshine" law. Following each meeting the public attendees were given the opportunity to 

ask questions.

The close relationship between Whitehouse and the Commission continued to develop. 

Whitehouse made it a practice to call together as many Commission members as possible for 

lunch every two weeks and to discuss on an informal basis—so as not to violate the Sunshine 

law—happenings in their lives, communities, businesses, and park areas. This friendly 

cooperation helped Whitehouse develop additional contacts to help resolve lakeshore—

related problems. Commission members Bill Lieber and John Hillenbrand used their 

connections "down—state" to help Whitehouse. Whitehouse soon entered on a first—name 

basis with the Director of the Department of Natural Resources (DNR). In cultivating close 

relations with Indiana officials, Whitehouse soon began attending meetings in Indianapolis 

every four to six weeks at DNR or the Governor's Office. [6]

Nineteen—seventy—three was the "first extensive interpretive year for the Lakeshore." [7] 

Although Seasonal Interpreter Darryl Blink began giving programs in connection with the 

Dunes State Park, Goodfellow Camp, and other organized groups in 1971, for the first time

an interpretive schedule for the daily visitor was in place. Visitation from the Blink tours was
612 in 1971 and 531 in 1972. With five seasonal interpreters presenting evening programs 

three days a week over a two—month period, interpretive visitation rose to 2,571 in 1973. 

The Bailly Homestead also became accessible to visitors, but because of security reasons, 

only through ranger—guided tours.

The Ranger Division, led by Chief Ranger Rodney Royce, split into two subdivisions: 

Resource Management and Visitor Protection and Visitor Services. Seasonal workers 

included nine for the former and seven for the latter. Royce also renegotiated area fire 

contracts with Porter, Ogden Dunes, and Beverly Shores. Services provided to the lakeshore 

came to $150 for the first hour and $100 each hour thereafter.

In Maintenance, Howard Culp oversaw a staff of two permanent, one career conditional, and 

twenty—three seasonal employees. It was likewise subdivided into Roads and Trails and 

Buildings and Utilities and an interim maintenance area at Furnessville Road composed of 

three buildings served as a central headquarters. The Roads and Trails subdivision, composed 

of two five—man crews, thoroughly cleaned five miles of beach each day and provided 

roadside cleanup and trimming in accord with lakeshore communities. The crews also 

constructed an interim use picnic area on Highway 12 near Tremont Road and three interim 

parking areas: two at Beverly Shores (Central Avenue and East State Park Road) and one at 

Mount Baldy. The Buildings and Utilities crew maintained five government quarters, the 

Tremont visitor center, and the interim maintenance area. Howard Culp, who served as 

project supervisor on the on—going building demolition contract, also began planning the 

course of a horse trail in Tremont.

Maintenance crews also made progress on the lakeshore's trail system in 1973. Trails in the 

Bailly—Chellberg area were flagged in late spring and cleared by girl scout groups in early 

summer. The Ranger and Maintenance divisions completed the work by installing steps on 

hillsides and "log wheels" over stream crossings. At the visitor center, workers flagged the 

Black Oak Trail (now called the Calumet Dune Trail) with only slight clearing necessary. 

Some trail—blazing took place in the Cowles Bog and Mount Baldy areas.

Implementation of the sign plan began in 1973 with Maintenance Division—produced signs 

which related only to interim park installations. Restricted access signs went up at the Bailly 

Homestead and beach access parking signs were placed at Mount Baldy and Central and 

State Park Roads in the Beverly Shores area. Boundary, traffic control, and park 

informational signs received from the Northeast Regional and Washington offices were also 

installed.

Ralph Iorio entered on duty as the Administrative Officer bringing the total staff to fifty—

three (excluding the three in land acquisition): seven permanents, three career—conditionals, 

and forty—three seasonals.

Two studies, a Baseline Water Resource Study by the U.S. Geological Survey, and a Natural

Resource Study by the University of Indiana Foundation, also began in 1973.

Two significant visits occurred in 1973. On September 25, former Senator Paul Douglas

made his first visit to the national lakeshore since its authorization. On May 16, new National

Park Service Director Ronald Walker* and his staff arrived for a brief visit. [8]

*Ron Walker formerly worked at the White House where he scheduled President 

Nixon's travels to such places as the Soviet Union and People's Republic of 

China. Whitehouse recalled that Walker was nonplused by Indiana Dunes: "Ron 

Walker just sort of walked into the park and took a cold look around with his

two boys that carried his bags. He got out of his car and looked over the Lake
and said, 'Uh huh,' and got back in and left." See Whitehouse interview, 11

March 1987.

1974

Effective in March 1974, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore came under the direction of the 

Midwest Regional Office, headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, and led by Regional Director 

J. Leonard Volz. The new Regional alignment of the National Park Service resulted in the 

Midwest Region shifting its focus away from the Rocky Mountains to envelop the nation's 

heartland, including the Great Lakes States of Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, and

Ohio. The old Northeast Region subsequently became the Mid—Atlantic Region. Its northern 

tier shifted into the newly-established North Atlantic Region with headquarters in Boston. [9]

The administrative juggling met with no opposition. The Save the Dunes Council expressed 

optimism at the move. President Sylvia Troy informed the House Appropriations Committee, 

"Our initial contacts with the Regional staff have already revealed an increased interest in the 

dunes at the Regional level. We trust that with increased interest will also come increased 

sensitivity to the problems and potential of this valuable park." [10] Except for the de facto 

loss of George Palmer, the change pleased J. R. Whitehouse who commented:

I've always felt that Omaha has been much better for us than Philadelphia

because we were closer and, toward the last few years, we ended up being one of 

the big parks within the Region and that helped. We had more support in Omaha. 

I look back on Omaha, and there were times when I'm sure some of the

Associate Directors wished that Indiana Dunes would go away, but all in all, I

have nothing but good memories about Omaha and the Regional Office. [11]

Area politicians* were also pleased, commenting that now a more amenable and 

geographically compatible regional center oversaw the dunes. [12]

*Headquarters for the Midwest Region would have been moved to Chicago had 

Representative Sidney Yates of Illinois had his way. The Nebraska 

Congressional Delegation, however, launched a successful campaign to keep the 

office in Omaha. See Whitehouse interview, 11 March 1987.

Before the Northeast Regional Advisory Committee (NRAC) underwent its own 

reorganization, the group met in Philadelphia on February 27 to tie—up loose ends. 

Representing the Midwest Region, Deputy Regional Director Merrill D. "Dave" Beal agreed 

to the transfer of four Northeast Regional Advisory Committee members to a similar 

Midwest Region committee. One of the transferees was William Lieber, the Chairman of the 

Indiana Dunes Advisory Commission (an NRAC member since June 1972). Dave Beal and 

Bill Dean, Associate Regional Director for Cooperative Activities, told Lieber that Indiana 

Dunes ranked at the top of the Midwest Region's agenda. The meeting resulted in the 

appointment of George Palmer. Palmer, who had retired on June 30, 1973, but continued to

serve in Philadelphia as a rehired annuitant, was appointed to serve as an advisor on dunes—

related issues in order to ease disruptions during the transition. In a final resolution, the 

Northeast Regional Advisory Committee recommended that Indiana Dunes National 

Lakeshore and the two new Gateway parks in San Francisco and New York be developed 

before progressing with other urban recreational parks. [13]

Administration of the Chicago Field Office, headed by Assistant to the Regional Director
Robert S. Chandler, also shifted to Omaha's supervision.* To reassure the Indiana Dunes 

Advisory Commission on the smooth transition and to introduce themselves, Beal, Dean, 

Chandler, and John Kawamoto, Associate Regional Director for Professional Services, 

attended the August 21 meeting. Introduced at the same session was the national lakeshore's 

new Assistant Superintendent, Don H. Castleberry (former Superintendent of Timpanogos 

Cave National Monument). Castleberry's appointment became effective on August 21 after 

the transfer of Stan Lock to the Washington Office; Lock's vacant position permitted 

Castleberry's coming on board. [14] Bringing Don Castleberry to Indiana Dunes as Assistant 

Superintendent indicated Midwest Region's commitment to the new area as well as a 

recognition that the national lakeshore had progressed beyond the "project" stage. [15]

*The four—member Chicago Field Office in Des Plaines, Illinois, operated from 

May 30, 1971, to December 31, 1977. During the early years of Whitehouse's 

superintendency Bob Chandler (who did not possess line authority) attended all 

of the meetings of the Indiana Dunes Advisory Commission and provided 

valuable assistance in networking with Chicago—area conservation groups and 

government agencies on Dunes—related matters. Following Chandler's departure 

in March 1975, however, the office became irrelevant to Indiana Dunes affairs. 

See Whitehouse interview, 11 March 1987; and Historical Listing of National

Park Service Officials, May 1, 1986 (National Park Service, 1986), p. 42.

The curtailment of the land acquisition program because of payment of relocation claims 

under P.L. 91—646 continued in 1974. A move to complete the Indiana Dunes land 

acquisition program came under a Servicewide omnibus acquisition bill which cleared 

Congress in the fall. President Gerald R. Ford signed the measure raising the lakeshore's 

acquisition ceiling an additional $7,625,500 on October 26. Unfortunately, the bill did not 

include authorization for appropriations, a separate process to undertake.

While the program remained on hold, the incumbent land acquisition officer changed. Frank 

Ucman transferred to the Washington Office at mid—year and Fred Meyer, from the Land 

Acquisition Office at Cape Cod National Seashore, took Ucman's place. Other position 

changes included the administrative officer (T. B. Taylor filled Ralph Iorio's position) and 

Rae Gilbert became the new administrative assistant. The shifting prompted the Advisory 

Commission to caution against frequent staff turnover, fearing that the loss of too many 

professionals experienced in urban park development would prove detrimental.

The interpretive program continued to expand during its second extensive year of activities. 

A new emphasis during the off—season saw interpreters focusing on school and other 

organized groups, stressing environmental education and helping to make the national 

lakeshore and the National Park Service better known in the community. The number of 

evening programs increased and the weekly five—hour hike through Cowles Bog was 

rescheduled to Saturday mornings in order to permit more participation. Instead of limiting 

visitor programs and activities to the summer months, the interpretive schedule spanned all 

twelve months.

The American Youth Hostel Center relocated to the Coronado Lodge in May 1974.

In maintenance, two additional government quarters were authorized bringing the total to 

seven. Increasing growth resulted in each maintenance subdivision establishing its own 

maintenance area. The laborers completed a four-mile interim horse trail in the Tremont area 

before the May 25 opening. The trail also featured a thirty—car capacity parking lot adjacent 

to U.S. 20. Another trail at the Bailly Homestead connected the landmark to the cemetery
with a one—mile loop.

At mid—year, the U.S. Army announced plans to deactivate its NIKE missile base in the 

Bailly Unit. The Midwest Regional Office immediately began negotiations with the General 

Services Administration to arrange the transfer of the buildings and land to the National Park 

Service. The park staff began preparing plans justifying the use of the complex. [16]

Assistant Superintendent Castleberry proposed that the facility be adapted to serve as the new 

administrative headquarters for the National Lakeshore. As the staff continued to grow, the 

Tremont visitor center became increasingly cramped and the large Army facility on Mineral 

Springs Road would be an ideal, centrally located, focal point from which to conduct 

Lakeshore operations. [17]

From November 4 to 8, an operations evaluation team visited the Lakeshore. The Midwest 

Region team was composed of Maintenance Generalist Thomas L. Weeks and Personnel

Management Specialist Kenneth G. Schaefer from the Midwest Regional Office; 

Administrative Officer Charles D. Goode from Ozark National Scenic Riverways, Missouri; 

and Superintendent Hugh P. Beattie of Isle Royale National Park, Michigan. The team's 

report identified a number of problem areas, most of which concerned a staff preoccupied 

with land acquisition and site restoration problems, public relations pressures, and a paucity

of facilities. Of primary concern was the lack of implementation of the Service's Management

System, especially in regard to staff organization and supervision. The team recommended 

that Assistant Superintendent Castleberry assume full control of park operations as soon as 

possible in order to allow Superintendent Whitehouse to dedicate attention to external affairs 

as well as over-all direction of lakeshore development and operations. The operations 

evaluation report criticized the short—circuiting of the communications process by the many 

direct contacts with citizens, advisory groups, and the Washington and Secretary's offices 

without input from the park or Region. The report stated, "It is incumbent on all to establish 

effective lines of communications which preclude the possibility of making erroneous 

assumptions or of making commitments or decisions without adequate communications with 

local park management, which may leave park management in a difficult position." In brief, 

the team recommended the following ten points be implemented:

1. Improve inter—park communications.

2. Prepare a new staff organization chart for Regional approval.

3. Prepare performance standards for all positions.

4. Redescribe and update the Supervisory Park Ranger (Chief Park Ranger)

position to GS—025—11.

5. Rewrite and update position description for the Clerk—Stenographer GS—312

—04.

6. Require aircraft pilot certification for employees using aircraft for official 

duty; maintain tighter controls on purchasing.

7. Regularly inventory government property.

8. Each division should develop comprehensive programs with chiefs involved in 

setting priorities and objectives.

9. The Maintenance Supervisor should program more time for field supervision.

10. A Lakeshore sign program should be prepared and approved. [18]
J. R. Whitehouse concurred with the operations evaluation report and initiated steps to correct 

the deficiencies. He responded:

We agree, in principle, regarding the need to review workload priorities. It 

should be recognized, however, that this area, perhaps much more than most 

others, is subject to intense overview by local interests, including conservation 

groups, Congressional delegations, etc. Frequently our activities are influenced

by interests beyond our control. With the exception of some "reservations in use" 

matters, we have not been able to identify functions which can be relegated to 

lower priority. [19]

Whitehouse concluded by stating it was his decision to indoctrinate Assistant Superintendent 

Don Castleberry with operations from the superintendent's vantage point for three to four 

months and then gradually ease him into the "Chief of Operations" position. With this 

accomplished, Whitehouse believed his assistant superintendent would exercise a tighter 

management grip on lakeshore operations and thereby alleviate many of the problem areas. 

[20]
Indiana Dunes

Administrative History

PART II

CHAPTER EIGHT:

GROWING PAINS, 1973-1976

Operations, 1973—1976 (continued)

1975

On January 1, 1975, the National Park Service received a Special Use Permit from the 

General Services Administration for the deactivated NIKE missile base. The permit became 

void the following month when the entire facility passed into Park Service ownership. The 

lakeshore asked for Midwest Region funds to rehabilitate the base structures into 

headquarters for administrative and land acquisition offices, the environmental education 

program, seasonal dormitory space, and a future Youth Conservation Corps center.

Notice to proceed for rehabilitation and construction at the Tremont visitor center came on 

August 4. The $430,000, six—month project resulted in the rehabilitation of the auditorium, 

basement, and front building facade; installation of a "bio—disc" sewage treatment plant; 

relocation, black topping, and landscaping of the parking area; construction of restroom 

facilities; and construction of an interpretive trail with handicapped accessibility.

Two weeks later, construction activities began at West Beach following completion of the 

environmental impact statement (EIS).* Tonn and Blank, Inc., of Michigan City began a $1.9

—million development scheduled to be completed by August 16, 1976. West Beach facilities 

included a bathhouse with a capacity of 3,500 people, an entrance and service road, 600—car 

parking lot, and utilities.

*The Service and Department were accused of unduly delaying the EIS to stall 

West Beach development. Whitehouse noted that an EIS typically was so 

complex and reviewed at so many levels that it would inevitably be sent back 

several times to be redone—a practice not unique to Indiana Dunes. See 

Whitehouse interview, 11 March 1987.

The land acquisition program finally moved ahead after two years in the doldrums. With three 

million dollars in fiscal 1976 funds available on July 1, the program faced the disheartening

specter of a Federal hiring freeze. Receiving a special exemption, the lakeshore was able to

hire between fifteen to twenty temporary employees to administer the program funds.

Because of the remodeling of the visitor center and the general lack of space there, the Land

Acquisition Office moved to an office building in Michigan City's Marquette Mall complex.

In maintenance, 1975 saw three more government quarters added bringing the total to ten. 

Workers renovated a building in the Roads and Trails maintenance area for curatorial
storage. The Neighborhood Youth Program began and, although no new activities or facilities 

were initiated in 1975, the youths assisted lakeshore maintenance crews with various projects. 

Area Eagle Scouts assisted the division in building foot bridges across streams and spreading 

wood chips along trails. For one month during the summer, a non—residential Youth 

Conservation Corps (YCC) program also rendered maintenance assistance.

Early in the year, Superintendent Whitehouse began negotiations with the District Engineer 

of the Indiana State Highway Department to transfer a 5.2—mile segment of Highway 12 to 

Park Service ownership. The scenic roadway, which stretched from west of the Bethlehem 

Steel entrance east to Kemil Road, was to serve as a parkway under the Lakeshore's Master 

Plan. By mid—year, the highway commission announced the relocation of Highway 12 from 

the intersection of U.S. 212 and 20 east of Michigan City west to where Highway 12 and 20 

converge in Gary. In this area, U.S. 12 would follow U.S. 20.

Two additions to the interpretive staff had positive implications for the park as well as the 

Region. Interpretive Planner and Specialist Robert Foster and Communications Specialist 

Helen Steeves entered on duty in 1975 assigned to help not only Indiana Dunes's 

interpretive/naturalist program, but those of Lincoln Home National Historic Site (Illinois), 

Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial (Indiana), George Rogers Clark National Historical 

Park (Indiana), Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore (Michigan), and Pictured Rocks 

National Lakeshore (Michigan) as well. [21]

Securing ownership of the beach at Ogden Dunes was always a Lakeshore goal—one which 

became clouded in January 1975. At that time, the Ogden Dunes Home Association, owner of 

the beach, deeded it to the town of Ogden Dunes. Taking advantage of the 1966 lakeshore 

organic act that public lands within the lakeshore boundaries could only be acquired through 

donation, the deed suggested that the Ogden Dunes beach could not be purchased without the 

town's consent—an unlikely event. [22] However, the park's legislative history includes a

stipulation in Senate Report 94—991 that the Service can acquire private property "when 

private property is transferred to public ownership subsequent to the authorization of federal 

acquisition." While the move seemed to be designed to frustrate acquisition by the national 

lakeshore, the effort did not succeed. [23]

Another public relations concern involved Northern Indiana Public Service Company's 

(NIPSCO) Michigan City generating station. The company installed strobe lights at regular 

intervals up and down the stack. The strobe lights, intended to serve as a beacon of safety for 

low—flying aircraft, attracted even more attention to the plant from scenic vantage points in 

the national lakeshore. Concerned about the visual blight, the Indiana Dunes Advisory 

Commission requested that J. R. Whitehouse investigate the matter. In discussions with 

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) officials, Whitehouse discovered that the elaborate 

strobe lighting was unnecessary. Contacting NIPSCO, Whitehouse secured an agreement 

whereby the company removed all but the top tier of lights. [24]

1976

An amendment to the Operation of the National Park System (ONPS) appropriation provided

$296,000 for Indiana Dunes to cover operating costs of the new Bailly Administrative Area 

(the former NIKE missile base); monitor air, water, and noise pollution; removal of structural 

debris; and beautifications along the new U.S. 12 scenic parkway. During the year, four new 

permanent full—time positions were filled from an authorized five add—on positions. Four 

less—than—full—time positions were converted to permanent full—time bringing that total 

to thirteen. [25]

Rehabilitation of the NIKE base came to $186,000 and was administered by the Midwest
Region's Office of Planning and Resource Preservation which provided specifications and 

contract supervision. Interior modifications were performed by day—labor contracts.

Maintenance activities became more refined in 1976 as more structures and areas became 

operational. The maintenance staff grew only slightly. Permanent employees totaled two, less 

than full—time stood at six, and seasonal laborers numbered twenty—seven. The division 

added another unit to maintain landscaped areas. With the contractual activation of three 

buildings at the NIKE base, the Maintenance Division incorporated the following areas into 

its jurisdiction: 1) ranger activities* and YCC storage and office space; 2) a YCC dormitory; 

and 3) a mess hall. Workers continued cleaning five miles of beach each day, seven days a 

week; maintained three and a half miles of the Tremont horse trail and three miles of other 

foot trails; and maintained all park buildings including ten government quarters, five 

maintenance area buildings, and the visitor center and headquarters buildings. Laborers also 

installed water and sewer lines and enlarged the parking lots at East State Park Road and at 

Central Avenue.

*Energy conservation measures mandated that this division relocate to the 

basement of the Tremont visitor center, only to return to the former NIKE base 

in mid—1977. See former Special Assistant to the Chief Ranger John Townsend 

to author, review comments, February 1988, Cultural Resources Management 

files, Midwest Regional Office.

Interpretation and Resource Management programs focused on observing the United States 

Bicentennial of the Revolution while striving to garner increased participation and awareness 

in the national lakeshore. The division launched an intensive five—day orientation training 

course for the fifteen—member seasonal interpretive staff. While the visitor center renovation 

progressed throughout the year, an open house on June 5 and 6 featured a discussion by 

Pulitzer Prize—winning author Edwin Way Teale and sneak previews of the Harpers Ferry 

Center—produced audiovisual program," A Patch of Green."

Restoration activities at the Bailly Homestead began in January 1976 following public 

hearings and final reviews. Professionals at the Denver Service Center completed a historic 

structure report which determined the historic period for Homestead restoration at 1916 and

1820s for the other structures. A primary interpretive theme was to show the progress of the 

Bailly family through several generations. Work performed included demolition and removal 

of a concrete block addition; reconstruction of the front and rear porches; installation of a 

new heating system; installation of a new roof; painting; replacing deteriorated logs and 

adding wood shingle roofs to the historic out—buildings; construction of a trail system 

uniting the Bailly complex; and installation of three audio—visual stations and wayside 

exhibits. [26]

Completion of the exterior restoration of the Bailly Homestead occurred in time for a

Bicentennial—flavored dedication on July 11. Two—hundred—fifty people attended the

brief ceremony led by Superintendent Whitehouse with dedicatory remarks by Representative 

Floyd Fithian. Following the ceremony, the National Park Service—sponsored traveling play 

"We've Come Back for a Little Look Around" performed on the Bailly Homestead grounds. 

[27]

Behind the scenes, however, a controversy raged within the Park Service over the historical 

significance of the Bailly Homestead. Based on the history and significance section of 

Denver Service Center Historian A. Berle Clemensen's Historic Structure Report, Midwest 

Regional Historian David A. Clary believed the Bailly Homestead's popular significance did
not reflect historical accuracy. In response to Clemensen's conclusion that the property be 

deleted as a National Historic Landmark from the National Register of Historic Places, Clary 

recommended a review of the Bailly Homestead's original statement of significance. The 

controversy was nothing new. For several years, historians in the Midwest Regional Office, 

Washington Office (including Chief Historian Harry Pfanz), and the Denver Service Center 

were dubious about the national significance of Bailly Homestead. Clary stated, "The 

significance of Bailly Homestead at the time of its landmark designation [1965] seems to 

have lain in issues more recent than historic." [28]

The issue struck a nerve at the lakeshore. For many citizens, the Bailly/Chellberg complex 

represented the "heart" of the Federal park because the enormously popular festivals were 

held there. Bailly/Chellberg was a place where Democrats and Republicans, conservatives 

and industrialists came together and achieved a oneness seldom realized in the area. 

According to Whitehouse:

There was a meeting of the minds and all at once Indiana Dunes became a viable 

thing in a lot of minds that wouldn't even consider it before. Had nothing to do 

with historical significance. The only thing that a lot of people would have said, 

"Well, look, they're backing out; they're backing out of Indiana Dunes and they're 

saying nothing's of consequence any longer." [29]

While not objecting to any reevaluation, Superintendent Whitehouse informed Midwest

Region:

Our only question is whether this is a propitious time. We suggest it is not, 

primarily because of the restoration work now being done, the large amount of 

publicity associated with it and the developments that are to be started this fall.

Whether the site is on the Registery of National Historic Landmarks or the 

National Register of Historic Places probably would not mean a great deal to the 

general public. It is only that the process of formally changing the designation 

might be construed by some as unnecessarily lowering the status of a locally 

cherished symbol.

Regardless of whether the request for restudy goes forward promptly, our 

suggestion is that the formal redesignation be delayed for perhaps a year or so. 

[30]

No reevaluation took place; the Bailly Homestead remains listed as a National Historic

Landmark.

A team of Park Service historical architects visiting the lakeshore evaluated buildings within 

the boundaries against National Register criteria of eligibility. In the team's opinion, six 

houses in Beverly Shores transplanted from the 1933—34 Chicago World's Fair were eligible 

for nomination to the National Register. This set in motion a process which culminated in

1986.

In another preservation vein, Advisory Commission Chairman William Lieber successfully 

lobbied Assistant Secretary of the Interior Nathaniel P. Reed to utilize the Secretary's 

Contingency Fund to purchase Hoosier Prairie. Arguing that the ecologically unique Hoosier 

Prairie was in danger of commercial or residential development, Lieber believed acquiring 

the area expeditiously would lower the cost of any future park expansion bill. Whitehouse 

agreed. Even though Hoosier Prairie was ultimately included in the 1976 expansion bill, he 

believed the detached unit, some thirty miles away, should be managed by Indiana. The 

lakeshore simply could not spare the manpower. At the Commission's May 22 meeting,
Lieber proudly announced Secretary Morton had approved the use of the Contingency Fund. 

With matching State funds, the Hoosier Prairie could become a State Nature Preserve under 

Indiana's administration.

Coordination of programs between the national lakeshore and the Dunes State Park began in 

earnest following an initial strategy meeting in Indianapolis in January 1976. Meeting with 

Department of Natural Resources staff and the Dunes State Park Manager, a new spirit of 

cooperation between the two parks emerged. [31] The group approved signing for Interstate

94 indicating "Indiana Dunes Recreation Areas"; once visitors arrived in the area, more 

specific signage would direct them to their choice: the national lakeshore or the state park. 

[32] The festering question of the Dunes State Park donation—a thorn of contention locally

—had faded over the ten years since the national lakeshore's authorization. Advisory 

Commission Chairman William Lieber believed the issue was moot. The Dunes State Park 

was among the top money—makers in the Indiana State Park System, supporting those units 

with low visitation. Because two—thirds of the state park operated as a nature preserve, 

donation of the nature preserve segment would be more complicated than the remaining one

—third. Federal acquisition would not only require approval of the Indiana Legislature, but 

decommissioning by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources Commission and final 

approval by the Governor as well. Lieber did not believe the donation would ever transpire. 

Reassuring a fellow Hoosier, Lieber wrote,

It is the "crown jewel" of the National Lakeshore but it will remain in state 

hands. Naturally, the National Park Service would like to have the best part of 

our Lakeshore but the State of Indiana has too much heritage and pride plus the 

need for economic support derived from this marvelous facility. [33]
Indiana Dunes

Administrative History

PART II

CHAPTER EIGHT:

GROWING PAINS, 1973-1976 (continued)

Nathaniel P. Reed Visits the Dunes

In August 1970, NIPSCO filed an application with the licensing board of the Atomic Energy 

Commission (AEC) for a permit to construct a nuclear power plant adjacent to its fossil—fuel 

Bailly generating facility at Burns Harbor. The proposed 685—megawatt nuclear reactor, 

called Bailly Nuclear I, bordered the national lakeshore on the west and the Bethlehem Steel 

Company plant on the east. The environmentalists' uproar over Bailly I reinvigorated the 

passions of the port versus park controversy. Industrialists pointed to the growing demand for 

energy to fuel the factories and homes in northern Indiana. While conservationists did not 

initially dispute the area's electrical needs, they vociferously objected to putting Bailly I in

the back yard of Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.

The conservation group most active in opposing Bailly I was the Porter County Chapter of 

the Izaak Walton League led by Herbert and Charlotte Read. While the Save the Dunes 

Council focused its attention on promoting the lakeshore expansion effort through Congress, 

the Izaak Walton League conducted a series of legal challenges to NIPSCO's plans. Some of 

the principal members of both organizations' however, were involved in both efforts, namely 

the Reads, Sylvia Troy, and Edward Osann. Because the majority of public opinion favored 

Bailly I and its positive economic benefits, the initial fight took place exclusively in the 

courts. [34]

Anti—Bailly I forces participated in the AEC/NIPSCO licensing permit process by filing 

petitions establishing a legitimate interest in the affair by showing how they as groups and 

individuals could be potentially harmed by the plant's construction. The group, called the 

"Joint Intervenors," had the support of the Chicago—based public interest group called the 

"Businessman for the Public Interest" (BPI), later renamed "Business and Professional People 

for the Public Interest." BPI, which used its tax—exempt status to accept donations on behalf 

of the Joint Intervenors, advised that at least $100,000 would be needed over several years to 

litigate all of the contentions. Edward Osann initially accepted the task of presenting the Joint 

Intervenors' case at a significantly reduced fee. The enormous amount of time the case 

required almost jeopardized Osann's position with his law firm. In later years, BPI assumed 

most of the legal responsibility.

Herbert Read's extensive activity on behalf of the Joint Intervenor's did cost him his job as an 

architect with a Chicago firm. Both Herbert and Charlotte Read assisted Edward Osann 

greatly. Herbert Read masterfully showed how NIPSCO's site map minimized the area's 

population. He exposed NIPSCO's misrepresentation of the proposed nuclear site in what the 

company described as in the middle of an industrial complex with no nearby residential 

centers. Entire communities were omitted with Dune Acres, Ogden Dunes, and Miller 

appearing only as "forest cover." Distances to cities like Gary—10 miles as opposed to the
actual 5.2 miles—were blatantly in error.

The citizens of Dune Acres were unanimously against the siting of Bailly Nuclear I adjacent 

to their community. NIPSCO's existing fossil fuel plant and problems associated with air and 

water pollution had already antagonized the residents who formed the "Concerned Citizens 

against the Bailly Nuclear Site." The Concerned Citizens conducted fund—raising drives to 

assist the Joint Intervenors' legal effort. James E. Newman, professor of history at Indiana 

University Northwest, and Edward Osann co—chaired the Dune Acres organization. The 

Concerned Citizens was not an anti—nuclear group, but were simply opposed to the siting of 

the plant. They objected to the proposed two cooling towers, each two stories tall,

overlooking their town and the national lakeshore. Some were afraid of it. What about 

radioactive leaks? How could an orderly evacuation take place on traffic—congested 

Highway 12 during a shift change at Bethlehem Steel? How hazardous would the roads 

become in winter when the steam from the cooling towers froze on them? [35]

The concerns of the Joint Intervenors and the Concerned Citizens were shared by the

National Park Service, but with it outside the boundaries, there was little the Service could do 

except monitor the activity and express its position. Before any official Department of the 

Interior policy could be formulated, however, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation 

began investigating the matter in mid—1971. The Advisory Council had three concerns 

pertaining to Bailly Homestead National Historic Landmark. First was the visual impact of

two 450—foot—high and 400—foot—wide cooling towers looming 1.8 miles away. The 

difference in elevation further exacerbated the problem, especially in winter when the trees 

were bare. Second, with the prevailing northerly winter winds, the fogging and drift from the 

plant would enshroud the Bailly Homestead. Third, the historic setting would be adversely 

impacted from humidity and temperature changes caused by Bailly I. Because the

Department of the Interior was still gathering information from its various bureaus, the Park 

Service recommended the "Council to take no action which might weaken the Department's 

position with reference to the impact of the plant on the National Lakeshore." Speaking for 

the Northeast Region, George Palmer added, "There is no doubt in our own mind that the 

environmental effects of the plant will be detrimental to the Landmark itself."* [36]

*Soon after his retirement in mid—1973, Palmer prepared a position paper 

against Bailly I and submitted it to the Washington Office. The paper formed the 

basis of the agency's stand against the nuclear power plant which was soon to be 

adopted by the Department. Palmer subsequently reflected that had his 

recommendation not been formulated and presented to the Atomic Energy 

Commission, the momentum of Bailly I would have proven overwhelming before 

opposition forces could mobilize against it. Palmer considers his memorandum

the most important during his eighteen—year tenure in the Northeast Regional

Office. See George A. Palmer interview, 12 October 1987.

One key official responsible for formulating Departmental policy was Nathaniel P. "Nat" 

Reed, Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks. Reed's first visit to Indiana Dunes 

came at the invitation of Save the Dunes Council lawyer Edward Osann. The visit came early 

in Assistant Secretary Reed's tenure, probably April 1972. Reed later recalled:

I was dumbfounded, totally ill—prepared for the beauty and the multi—ecotones 

of Indiana Dunes. We walked from the Lakeshore up and over the bluff and

went through the wind—swept Blackjack forest and up and down through the 

sand dunes into a ponded area. Positively walked miles and miles and 

immediately fell in love with Indiana Dunes. [37]
Reed, a young, outspoken Republican conservationist from Florida, accepted his position in 

May 1971 following a White House meeting with President Richard M. Nixon. Reed's 

position that no unit of the National Park System should serve as a buffer zone for a nuclear 

power plant met opposition within the Nixon Administration. [38] Powerful circles within the 

Republican Party which promoted industrial development campaigned for the Department's 

endorsement of Bailly I and the firing of the stubbornly outspoken Assistant Secretary. Nat 

Reed formulated his decision to fight Bailly I in the aftermath of President Nixon's reelection 

landslide in November 1972:

I decided that I had to oppose the Bailly nuclear power plant.... My staff was not 

too keen to have me oppose Bailly. Bailly still had some political muscle. Quite 

a bit of political muscle! The Nixon Administration was pretty strongly 

supporting nuclear power. I made the case at the White House with [Assistant to 

the President John] Ehrlichman one afternoon that I was not opposed to nuclear

energy, that I had licensed three nuclear power plants in Florida when I was head 

of DER [Department of Environmental Resources] so that I could not be accused 

of having any nuclear bias. But I was absolutely determined that that nuclear 

power plant, plus its cooling tower could not invade either the aesthetic qualities 

of the park or, equally important, could not affect the park adversely through the 

tremendous amount of water coming out of those cooling towers.... But I 

considered it, nevertheless, a fundamentally important struggle in the sense that 

the Park Service and their Assistant Secretary said, "It is not a case of being pro 

or con nuclear energy. We are going defend the borders of the National Park 

System." [39]

It was not until Reed threatened to resign that Secretary of the Interior Rogers C. B. Morton 

allowed him to go to Indiana in 1973 to testify before an AEC hearing.

For two days, September 19—20, 1973, Nat Reed visited Indiana Dunes and testified before 

the AEC hearing in Valparaiso. He had done his homework. Prior to testifying, Reed ignored 

NIPSCO's threat to prosecute trespassers and explored the entire area in order to etch the 

landscape firmly in his mind.* What he saw convinced him of the accuracy of his position, 

concluding, "There was no way you could say, 'We'll plant some trees around the cooling 

tower.'" [40] Appearing before the AEC panel, Reed first established the national significance 

of the area, then declared:

Since November 5, 1966, the Federal Government has invested $27,900,000 of 

Land and Water Conservation Funds for land purchases in the Indiana Dunes 

National Lakeshore and $1,710,600 for operation and development planning 

purposes. It is anticipated $5,981,500 will be obligated or expended in the fiscal 

year 1974 for operation, development and resource protection. Beyond fiscal year

1974, we contemplate costs of $49,000,000, a sum which does not include such 

additional monies as may be needed for continued costs and land acquisition.

The Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore is situated near a densely populated urban 

region which is heavily industrialized. It offers greatly needed recreational 

opportunities and a refuge of open space to this growing population, many of 

whom cannot afford to go to national parks more distant from the region.

Siting the proposed Bailly nuclear plant on the border of the Indiana Dunes 

National Lakeshore would appropriate one and one—half miles of the most 

outstanding natural area of the Lakeshore for the plant's low population buffer 

zone. In the event of accidental discharge of radioactive waste from the nuclear 

plant into the atmosphere or into the waters of Lake Michigan, visitors to the
National Lakeshore would be subject to emergency evacuation. In view of the 

capacity of the Lakeshore to accommodate 87,000 visitors per day, evacuation 

would represent a major operation as well as a massive interference with their 

use and enjoyment of the park. I do not believe that the Congress intended the

National Park System to be used as a buffer zone for industrial accidents, and, as 

a matter of policy, the Department is opposed to such use. [41]

*Whitehouse recalled the unusual visit: "We went up into Dune Acres where you 

can get up on a high ridge and look down below and see all of Cowles Bog and 

see all of NIPSCO, and the hole they were digging, and the whole bit. Now, to 

really see it properly, you've got to get out of your car and you've got to walk 

down a long dunes and circle around, and walk through the dunes grass and the 

swampy, bog—like landscape and I mean with vegetation over your head!

You've got to work your way through four or five miles which is really tough. 

You know what the man did? That gentleman from Washington walked, and 

hands—on, through that disputed area. Walked it and saw it! And he came out of 

it with a smile on his face! A remarkable person and a remarkable day that one 

was, and the next day, too, at the hearing. Yes, he's a man that, if you didn't have 

enthusiasm, he would soon inspire you with it!" See Whitehouse interview, 11

March 1987.

Reed was particularly concerned about the nearby Cowles Bog National Natural Landmark 

and its surrounding dunes and wetlands. He cited adverse effects which the AEC's own 

Environmental Impact Statement did not identify. Aside from the highly objectionable 

aesthetic intrusion from the massive cooling tower, ecological damage would result from the 

mixing of emissions from the two NIPSCO plants (fossil—fuel and nuclear) forming acid 

rain. The salt emissions would also result In defoliation, Reed argued, and seepage from 

waste ponds as well as alterations in the water table would also harm the national lakeshore. 

Reed concluded:

When one weighs costs and benefits, given alternatives to the Bailly site, it is 

clear that moving the site is the only way to consistently uphold both 

Congressional policies involved, namely protection of the National Lakeshore, 

and promotion of nuclear power.

For these reasons, it is the position of the Department of the Interior that 

construction of the proposed Bailly Generating Station Nuclear—I on the border 

of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore does not serve the highest public 

interest. We accordingly request that the Atomic Energy Commission withhold 

issuance of a construction permit for Bailly Nuclear—I at the proposed site and 

recommend a more suitable site for the project. [42]

Following the AEC hearing, Nat Reed told reporters he agreed NIPSCO needed more 

electrical power in the area, but "after spending a hell of a lot of the taxpayers' money on a 

national park, I'm concerned about putting a nuclear facility only 400 feet away from it." [43

Reed was amazed by the depth of polarization between industrialists and preservationists he 

witnessed during his visit. The polarization similarly split the Advisory Commission. 

Chairman William Lieber, who believed the Commission's responsibility was principally to 

advise the Secretary, had kept the Bailly I controversy off the agenda. Other members, who 

believed their first allegiance was to the special groups they represented, wanted to debate the 

Department's position. [44] Of all of the Commission members, John Schnurlein strongly
supported NIPSCO's plans to build Bailly I because he believed at the time that it was 

environmentally and economically sound. Schnurlein thought that Reed was voicing 

unfounded "scare tactics" and needlessly "meddling" in local affairs. [45] Lieber pinned his 

hopes on Nathaniel Reed's vow to help the national lakeshore, as he told a fellow 

commissioner: "By the way, Reed is very interested now in doing something for the Dunes. 

He had never been out before and was impressed with its beauty and also with its lack of 

development. We'll see just what he can accomplish back in Washington." [46] (See 

following section on West Beach development.)

After convincing his boss of the justness of his Bailly I stand, Nat Reed enjoyed the full 

support of Secretary Rogers C. B. Morton whose self—admitted favorite bureau within the 

Department of the Interior was the National Park Service. Morton's management philosophy 

was to state his ideas on a controversial subject, then turn it over to his Assistant Secretary to 

handle. Morton stayed in the background, but provided valuable insights garnered from 

Capitol Hill as well as his broad—based political support. The Secretary rarely reversed any 

of Reed's decisions. According to Reed, "He would stand with you and fight with you at the 

White House, at OMB [Office of Management and Budget], and on the Hill." While 

Secretary Morton endured the political "heat" within the Nixon Administration over the

Bailly I dispute, Nat Reed was in the public limelight engaged in "hand—to—hand 

combat"—principally against NIPSCO and its chairman of the board who swore not only to 

build Bailly I in the dunes, but to strip Reed of his job. Nonetheless, the Morton/Reed 

position proved to be vitally important to the future course and resolution of the Bailly I 

conflict. [47] Much to the environmentalists' dismay, however, the Department would not 

enter the legal dispute by joining the Joint Intervenors against NIPSCO's Bailly I. [48]

The three—member AEC licensing board heard sixty days of testimony over an eleven—

month period, the longest in AEC history. The Joint Intervenors objected to a wide range of 

environmental and safety issues. In the end, it became obvious that the panel was biased in 

favor of nuclear power. The Joint Intervenors were prepared to litigate all the way to the 

Supreme Court. [49] On April 5, 1974, the AEC licensing board rejected all of the 

Intervenors' contentions and approved NIPSCO's construction permit for Bailly I. In effect, 

AEC concurred with NIPSCO's claim to 640 acres of Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore as a 

"buffer zone" in the event of a nuclear accident. The move angered Congressmen Henry 

Reuss (Democrat—Wisconsin) and Guy Vander Jagt (Republican—Michigan) who wrote to 

AEC:

We are unaware of any provision in either the Atomic Energy Act or the Indiana 

Dunes National Lakeshore Act which authorizes your agency... to grant, by 

executive fiat, an easement over these federal lands without the express approval 

of Congress. We believe the Board's action is illegal and should be promptly 

reversed. [50]

The Intervenors appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals Seventh Circuit Court in Chicago 

which rescinded the decision on April 1, 1975. The landmark decision represented the first 

judicial reversal for the construction of a nuclear power plant. NIPSCO appealed the decision 

to the United States Supreme Court, and in November 1975, although it did not hear the case, 

the Supreme Court did overturn the ruling by affirming the AEC's right to establish and 

execute its own policies. [51]

With its AEC construction permit restored, NIPSCO alerted its contractor and construction 

began in late 1976. Meanwhile the Joint Intervenors regrouped and filed new lawsuits.

Bailly I appeared to be unstoppable.
Fiasco in Indianapolis: West Beach Development

At the conclusion of the January 19, 1973, Advisory Commission meeting held in

Indianapolis, the National Park Service unveiled a Development Concept Plan (DCP) for

West Beach. Up to this time, as with other Service plans, there was no established mechanism 

for public review and comment. It enjoyed the highest level of review both in the Service and 

the Department. Assistant Secretary Nat Reed remembers clashing violently with Director 

George B. Hartzog, Jr., over the first development plans at both Indiana Dunes and 

Cumberland Island National Seashore, Georgia:

In both cases, I had the privilege of sitting with the planners well in advance of 

the plan. We went over philosophy, discussed sizing, discussed the State's 

interest in both places where the State had equal opportunity to do something 

much more intense, the Park Service would do something much less intense,

much more creative, much more simple and with stronger emphasis on protection 

of natural values than on recreation. In both cases, the planners came back with 

Disney Worlds, total Disney Worlds! I remember at Cumberland Island I 

threatened to throw the Chief Planner out the window! I terrorized the poor man.

I screamed, "My God, what have you brought? This is the most terrible thing I 

have ever seen in my life!" [At] Indiana Dunes. . . I said to George [Hartzog], 

"That's the most awful thing I have ever laid eyes on; and to prove to you that it 

is absolutely awful, I'm going to authorize you to take that to public hearing."

He said, "The people in northern Indiana are going to love it. What are you going 

to do when they all are supportive?"

I said, "I'll worry about that later." [52]

Robert Steenhagen, member of the Denver Service Center's Northeast Team, introduced the 

A/E representative from the Milwaukee firm of Howard, Needles, Tammen and Bergendoff 

who explained a series of photographs, maps, and architectural plans.

For the Save the Dunes Council and most Advisory Commission members present, it proved 

to be a great shock. The A/E proposed twenty—six facilities including two swimming pools 

and steel bathhouses, a three—story parking garage for 2,000 automobiles, a pavilion,

assorted sports fields, an amphitheater, maintenance and administration buildings, and sixteen 

homes for Service employees. Steenhagen commented the Service had already approved the 

design concepts and an environmental impact statement was underway. The Council and

some members of the Advisory Commission were angered by the fait accompli approach. 

They resented being shutout of the planning process and were surprised that a public agency 

operating with public funds acted so secretively. According to Herbert Read:

It might have been some kind of ingrained, bureaucratic feeling that the Park 

Service planners considered themselves the experts and they weren't going to let 

any ordinary person come in and tell them what to do. But, in reality, of course, 

we were the experts. We knew what could go here. There weren't any Park

Service planners or any other planners that knew better or what could go here 

than we. We knew what to do! We were the experts here. [53]

Following the meeting, the design plans were whisked away and Save the Dunes Council 

members were denied a chance to review them closer. The Council, decrying the intensity of 

developments and use, demanded an opportunity for the public to review and comment on the 

plans. Area planning boards, namely the Gary and Michigan City Planning Commissions and 

the Northwest Indiana Regional Planning Commission (NIRPC), expressed outrage at being 

shut out of the planning process. Strategizing to change the plans, a coalition of groups in
Indiana and Illinois launched a massive press and letter—writing campaign; enlisted the 

support of other conservation groups; and lined up Congressional support. The strategy 

worked. Less than two months later, the Service made the West Beach development plans 

available for public review.* [54] Reed's prediction proved correct. He later recalled:

The Park Service officials barely got out of the room alive! I mean, you talk 

about the return of the massacre of a Red Indian! My God, they took one look at 

this. Here they had spent all these years fighting for the preservation of the

sacred Indiana Dunes. And now, it was going to be defiled by masses of 

swimmers and cars and campers. It was going to be the rec[reation] area of all 

rec[reation] areas. It wouldn't fly. So the Park Service put its tail between its legs 

and very wisely went back to the drawing boards. [55]

*According to Whitehouse, "I think the first, full—blown hearing occurred at 

Portage, Indiana, and boy, it was a wild, swinging outfit! Everybody, almost to a 

person, was opposed to this thing. So Save the Dunes Council didn't shoot this 

thing down; it was shot down by northern Indiana and Illinois." See Whitehouse 

interview, 11 March 1987.

New Assistant Superintendent Don Castleberry also recalled the heated meeting and his 

shock at the villification of the Park Service by the public which charged the bureau with 

high—handedness and misreading the intent of Congress. [56]

J. R. Whitehouse subsequently accepted full responsibility for the fiasco. In his first 

superintendency, Whitehouse did not fully understand his role in the planning process. 

Assigning primary responsibility to the planners, who were not sensitive to local concerns 

and unfamiliar with the fragile resources, the concept naturally became so grandiose that 

Whitehouse knew it would never fly. Even the Advisory Commission openly condemned it. 

The bitter lesson compelled Whitehouse to take charge of the lakeshore's development 

planning and, henceforth, no more West Beach-type public relations disasters occurred. [57]

At a December 6, 1973, meeting of the Advisory Commission, Dr. Richard Curry, Nathaniel 

Reed's Special Assistant, informed the Commission that the planning process had been 

changed Servicewide to accommodate public review during, rather than after formulation of 

plans. Dr. Curry, elaborating on Reed's pledge to get West Beach operational by the summer 

of 1975, outlined the stages of developments beginning with one bathhouse with a capacity 

of 3,400 and an 850—car parking lot. The conservationists' desire to preserve natural values 

at all costs prevailed. In an effort to limit concrete, the elaborate plans of 1973 were scaled

down. [58] Subsequently, the Save the Dunes Council objected vigorously to NIPSCO's plan 

to run West Beach utility lines into Ogden Dunes by carving a straight swath across the 

dunes. After lengthy negotiations, the Council, Park Service, and NIPSCO agreed to bury the 

utility lines parallel with the winding road. In addition, planners limited pavement in the 

bathhouse area in order to exclude a pond and the maintenance area was placed elsewhere. 

[59]
Indiana Dunes

Administrative History

PART II

CHAPTER EIGHT:

GROWING PAINS, 1973-1976 (continued)

Campaign for Lakeshore Boundary Expansion

Having presented its own blueprint for lakeshore expansion in 1971, the Save the Dunes 

Council entered a new stage in its history. From its inception in 1952, the Council was 

exclusively a voluntary organization. In 1973, however, the Council hired its first full—time 

employee, Edward Osann, Jr., to lobby for a favorable expansion bill in Washington, D.C. 

The Council used proceeds from its sale of Cowles Bog as well as income from a sales item 

shop it opened in the Beverly Shores post office to pay Osann's salary. In the fall of 1974, a 

second employee, Executive Secretary Charlotte Read, came on board. The wife of the 

Council's Engineering Committee Chairman Herbert Read, Charlotte Read exhibited an equal 

zeal in fighting for dunes preservation. Along with Executive Director Sylvia Troy, Charlotte 

Read soon established herself as a dominant figure in the Council and its effort to expand the 

national lakeshore. [60]

In 1973, a National Park Service study team evaluated the more than 5,000 acres for 

proposed Lakeshore expansion included in Congressman J. Edward Roush's and a host of 

other bills. While the team recommended a little more than 1,900 acres be considered, 

Assistant Secretary Nathaniel Reed, based on his own inspection of the area, only approved

944 additional acres. Seizing this opportunity, Congressman Earl Landgrebe introduced a bill 

and, using the Department of the Interior's low acreage recommendation, called it the 

"Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Completion Act." [61]

Assistant Secretary Reed advocated using the Land and Water Conservation Fund and 

agreements with lakeshore neighbors to ensure proper land use. Reed wanted State and local 

planning commissions to assume a greater degree of responsibility for Indiana Dunes area 

land use. He argued the burden for establishing buffers around National Park Service units 

rested with local communities, not the Federal Government. [62] Concurrent with his 

decision to oppose Bailly I, Nat Reed resolved to back a responsible expansion of Indiana 

Dunes National Lakeshore. He later recalled:

The problem was the administration forecasted, and accurately forecasted, if you 

were for half—a—loaf, you were going to get a whole loaf. So, the battles with 

OMB as to what could be added, should be added, and could be managed once 

added bordered on internecine warfare. We had lengthy meetings. The Sierra 

Club was very important. There were some marvelous citizens groups who came 

to lobby me in my office.... I agonized.

I think the toughest ones... were those God—awful maps of the places that the 

citizens groups wanted. And of course, their cross figures never quite were 

accurate; you could add this, this, and this for only a million—and—a—half 

dollars, and you'd say, "Only a million—and—a—half dollars?" It would turn
out to be five million dollars! And you would turn to the Superintendent and 

you'd say, "How are you going to manage that thing? It's way out in the 

boondocks!"

I remember there was agitation among the citizens that they wanted me to

support more. You couldn't help but like these people! These were marvelous

people. I went back you know. I kept going back. I kept getting lured back by 

them. I'd bet you no Assistant Secretary has ever been to Indiana Dunes four 

times before. [63]

The Roush bill was the first of eighteen lakeshore expansion bills which were introduced over

a three—year period. As late as March 1974, no official Departmental report had been 

submitted to Congress. This impeded the progress of hearings. When the report did become 

available after May 1, [64] the House Subcommittee on National Parks and Recreation held 

its first hearing on June 17, 1974, to consider H.R. 3571 (5,328 acres). The Department's 

report recommended against enactment of the bill because it proposed acreage of less than 

national significance and superfluous to the lakeshore's primary purpose. The report decried 

the consideration of environmentally-impacted areas around Ogden Dunes, Beverly Shores, 

and the Gary airport. Areas like the Little Calumet River and Salt Creek were units which 

should more properly be managed by State or local governments. Richard Curry, who left the 

Department to become Associate Director for Legislation with the National Park Service, 

reported that H.R. 3571 was too costly and difficult to administer. The revised acreage total 

the Department and Service recommended stood at 1,152 acres. Superintendent Whitehouse 

later commented on the peculiar political machinations:

Park Service and Interior's position on Indiana Dunes had no effect on what 

Congress did. Really it didn't. Never did. It would pass Congress if the votes 

were there. Political, entirely. The fact that the bill didn't pass in the early 1970s 

didn't mean anything other than the fact that they didn't have enough political

support to pass it. They really were asking for too much. In the early 1970s, Save 

the Dunes Council had sold Senator Bayh and Congressman Roush on this big, 

elaborate thing where they were going to take in all of the Salt River area, south 

of Indiana Dunes, south of the existing park, [and] all of the Bethlehem Steel 

lands for expansion. They were going to take in Mud Lake, all these fringe areas 

and include Beverly Shores Island. There was no way that bill would have ever 

passed. Too expensive and too much land. With opposition of the park still right 

there in front of us, it couldn't have happened at all. [65]

One of sixty witnesses in the jammed hearing room, Representative Roush blasted the 

Department for promising developments at West Beach and failing to obligate the 

appropriated funds: of $3,405,000 made available by Congress over three years, only

$527,000 in planning money had been used. Reed's promise to get people on the beaches had 

apparently gotten sidetracked by other national priorities. Representative John F. Seiberling 

(Democrat—Ohio) compared the critical need for open space near large urban centers to his 

own bill for the proposed Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area between Cleveland and 

Akron, as well as the Chattahoochee River near Atlanta and the Santa Monica Mountains 

outside of Los Angeles. Seiberling added:

I am disappointed that the Department of the Interior has not given this bill its 

wholehearted support, particularly as it would increase and enhance an existing 

federal park. Unfortunately, the Department has long treated the dunes as a 

stepchild, giving it low priority in the heirarchy of the National Park System. The 

Department has consistently rejected urban park proposals [because of the 

expense of acquisitions]. I think this represents a defeatist attitude, which clings
to the park policies of the past and ignores the urgent needs of a rapidly 

changing, increasingly urban society. [66]

On the contrary, Representative Earl Landgrebe described the lakeshore as a "$27 million 

jungle in the heart of one of the fastest growing areas in America"—without significant 

development and ill—defined boundaries. Stating that the Roush bill will "do even more 

violence to our community," Landgrebe urged the subcommittee to consider his bill, H.R.

11699, which advocated a smaller area to even out the lakeshore's boundaries. [67]

Advisory Commission member John Hillenbrand and Indiana Department of Natural 

Resources Director Joseph D. Cloud unveiled a compromise plan to the subcommittee. 

Endorsed by Indiana Governor Otis R. Bowen, the plan proposed adding 2,447 acres, 

including halting the NIPSCO fly ash seepage by incorporating the property into the 

lakeshore. The move represented the first endorsement by the State of Indiana to enlarge the 

national lakeshore. [68]

While the subcommittee favorably reported H.R. 3571, the full committee did not act on it in 

time before the last session of the 93rd Congress expired in late 1974. [69] In early 1975, 

Roush reintroduced his bill which became known as H.R. 4926. One significant change came 

with the defeat of Earl Landgrebe and his replacement by Floyd Fithian, the first Democrat 

elected by Indiana's Second Congressional District since 1932. Pledging to find a

compromise for lakeshore expansion, Fithian held well—attended public hearings even 

before he took office.* Recommending an addition of 4,686 acres, Fithian tried to gain 

approval of his bill, H.R. 5241, from the State of Indiana, Save the Dunes Council, and 

Bethlehem Steel Company. [70]

*One account erroneously states that Fithian ignored the National Park Service in 

the public hearings he conducted as well as the composition of his expansion 

legislation. J. R. Whitehouse asserted that he attended every public meeting and 

was intimately involved in the process. According to Whitehouse: "Floyd Fithian 

involved me totally. We would sit down and discuss item by item various 

segments that he wanted to include and then I would give him my input as to 

what I thought should or shouldn't be included on an informal basis. We would 

meet constantly on that." See Whitehouse interview, 11 March 1987.

On May 9, 1975, the House subcommittee considered the two bills, [71] and later in the 

month, journeyed to Indiana Dunes for three days to see the proposed expansion areas by 

helicopter and bus. Accompanied by Superintendent Whitehouse, Advisory Commission 

Chairman Lieber, and a representative from the Governor's office, the committee members 

for the first time fully understood the ramifications of each proposed parcel. In August, the 

Secretary's Advisory Board also came for a three—day visit. While the increased activity 

resulted in the House subcommittee's recommendation of the Fithian bill, there was no action 

by either the full House or Senate in 1975. [72]

In January 1976, the House committee voted to switch the identical text of H.R. 11455—

sponsored by Fithian, Roush, and twenty—three others—for H.R. 5241. The new 

compromise bill's 4,340 acres had a price tag of $53,488,400. It included an initial limitation 

of $8,500,000 for development with an understanding that a new Master Plan spelling out 

additional costs would be submitted to Congress later. Dissenting views, which included 

many House Republicans, pointed out the cost was fifty times more than the Ford 

Administration requested and $32 million more than authorized in the 1966 act. [73]
When the House passed H.R. 11455 on February 18, 1976, attention focused on the Senate 

and S. 3329, submitted by Senator Birch Bayh on behalf of Senator Vance Hartke. S. 3329 

provided for 4,686 acres at a cost of $57,855,900. Like its House counterpart, the bill would 

expand the Advisory Commission from seven to eleven members; permit rights of way for 

roads, utilities, pipelines and water mains; allow both use and occupancy for twenty—five 

years or a life estate for an owner and spouse; and non—payment of property taxes by use 

and occupancy residents provided grounds for automatic termination of rights by the 

Secretary. While the House bill allowed unrestricted condemnation, the Senate version 

prohibited it for improved property as long as there was approved zoning and if the owner 

granted the government first rights of purchase.

Testifying before the May 26, 1976, hearing of the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, 

Assistant Secretary Nathaniel P. Reed recommended against both bills and for the immediate 

addition of 203 acres, including two tracts west and east of West Beach and Pinhook Bog, 

determined eligible as a National Natural Landmark. Reed requested the subsequent addition 

of 784 acres, including the Furnessville Marsh, glacial lake dunes and marshes, and the West 

Beach High Dune owned by Midwest Steel. Reed told the committee that the House and 

Senate bills contained unnecessary acreage:

In many areas highly concentrated industrial and/or residential development has 

despoiled any natural, scientific, or recreational potential that the land might 

have once offered. For example, those areas east and southeast of the town of 

Ogden Dunes, Beverly Shores, and the areas near the Gary Airport. Other areas 

that would be added to the Lakeshore by these bills would either be 

unmanageable or contrary to the purposes of the Lakeshore.

This is one of the most difficult bills I've ever seen. It is one of the most difficult 

areas I've ever seen bar none. There are no simple solutions here. We are 50 

years, 70 years late. We are in a numbers game with tremendous supporters, 

dedicated men and women and children, who have worked to preserve this area 

and who have seen their chances erode over the years. They are in a numbers 

game with us. They want us to buy acres, regardless as to the quality of the acres 

because in some way, it makes up for the lost opportunities.

But I cannot bring back the lost opportunities for the Committee.... As somebody 

who has to be responsible for the fiscal side of the acquisition program, I am 

deeply concerned about putting $57 million in here when I see areas that are in 

pristine condition, that are of National Park System significance, that are

available to the American people.

...I cannot believe that a slag dump is a worthwhile addition to a National Park 

area. [74]

Herbert Read of the Save the Dunes Council and the Izaak Walton League discarded 

Assistant Secretary Reed's testimony and those who concurred with Reed as afflicted by the 

"if—you've—seen—one—dune—you've—seen— them—all syndrome." Read commented:

The statement made by the Department of the Interior represents the political 

views of the present administration and is not an impartial analysis of the 

potential park value of the various areas. The National Park Service and 

Department of the Interior recommendations have changed back and forth 

according to the political winds. Statements made at this last hearing are, in 

many cases, directly opposite from previous statements sometimes made by the 

same persons. This flip—flop has occurred even when there has been no change
in the field conditions. [75]

Representative Floyd Fithian explained to the Senate committee that he wished to secure a 

final solution, fair and equitable for industrialists as well as conservationists which 

accommodated both jobs and recreation. Fithian pointed out that it was imperative the 

expansion question be settled by the 94th Congress; with retirements and political position 

changes in the House, the whole process would have to begin again from scratch. 

Congressman J. Edward Roush, the instigator of lakeshore expansion, also testified to lend 

his full support to S. 3329. [76]

The following month, two members of the Senate committee visited the national lakeshore 

accompanied by National Park Service Director Gary Everhardt. In July 1976, Environmental 

Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Russell Train and Bureau of Outdoor Recreation 

(BOR) Director John Crutcher visited and toured the lakeshore by helicopter. [77] The 

additional information garnered from these visits, however, did not prevent S. 3329 from 

stalling in the Senate. Democrats encountered stiff opposition from Republicans united

behind the White House's complaint that the bill was far too costly. Many feared that 

President Gerald R. Ford would veto an Indiana Dunes expansion bill just as Congressman 

Ford had voted against the 1966 bill.

In a last—ditch effort to break the stalemate, Senators Bayh, Hartke, Percy, and Stevenson 

introduced an amended bill calling for 3,663 acres which rapidly found its way to the Senate 

floor for consideration on September 24, 1976. Senator Charles Percy took the floor to 

announce the sad news of Paul Douglas' death. Like a whirlwind, expansion of Douglas' 

beloved Indiana Dunes transformed into a memorial to the deceased senator. With his death, 

Douglas gave life to an expanded national lakeshore. Receiving a unanimous Senate vote, the 

measure sailed through the conference committee and on to Gerald Ford's desk where it faced 

a certain pocket veto. During the final weekend in which the bill could be approved, 

Superintendent Whitehouse* maintained a tense, hourly telephone contact with Donna 

McGrath, the administrative assistant of Senator Charles Percy. Percy flew back to the capital 

after the session to solicit President Ford's approval. Confronted with the bill's association 

with Paul Douglas and its strong bipartisan support, the President signed it into law on 

October 18, 1976. [78]

*J. R. Whitehouse credits Republican Charles Percy (who defeated Paul Douglas 

in 1966) to the list of supporters who unfortunately never received due credit. 

Whitehouse believes Percy subsequently became embittered and turned a deaf

ear to the Lakeshore because conservationists were too accustomed to the 

traditional political animosity to acknowledge support from a Republican. See 

Whitehouse interview, 11 March 1987.
Indiana Dunes

Administrative History

PART II

CHAPTER EIGHT:

ENDNOTES

1. "Report together with Dissenting Views to Accompany H.R. 11455, 94th Congress, 2d 

Session, Report No. 94—818, February 10, 1976," found in Indiana Dunes National

Lakeshore Congressional Hearings, 94th Congress, Management Library.

2. "Governor, Guard Join Beach Fight," Gary Post—Tribune (circa 17 March 1973), 

newsclipping file (March 1973), Visitor Center Library; Meeting of 6 April 1973, Indiana

Dunes National Lakeshore Advisory Commission Minutes 1967—1973, Management 

Library, Office of the Superintendent; and James R. Whitehouse, former Superintendent, 

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, interview, 11 March 1987, Orlando, Florida, transcript, 

Midwest Regional Office.

3. Whitehouse interview, 11 March 1987.

4. Superintendent Whitehouse to Regional Director Chester L. Brooks, 6 April 1973, A5639

Indiana Dunes Briefing Statements 1973—1980.

5. Meeting of 6 April 1973, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Advisory Commission

Minutes 1967—1973, Management Library, Office of the Superintendent.

6. Whitehouse interview, 11 March 1987.

7. Superintendent's Report for Calendar Year 1973, Management Library.

8. Ibid., and Meetings of 6 April and 20 July 1973, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore

Advisory Commission Minutes 1967—1973, Management Library, Office of the 

Superintendent.

9. Superintendent's Report for Calendar Year 1974, Management Library.

10. Edward R. Osann, Statement on behalf of Sylvia Troy, President, Save the Dunes 

Council, Inc., 8 April 1974, folder—Save—The—Dunes, Records of the Advisory 

Commission, Office of the Superintendent.

11. Whitehouse interview, 11 March 1987.

12. Congressman Earl F. Landgrebe to Midwest Regional Director J. Leonard Volz, 8

January 1974, letter, L58 Roush Bill (S. 820), Misc. & F. Y. 1973, Stored files.

13. William Lieber to all Indiana Dunes Advisory Commission members, letter, 27 February

1974, and Lieber to Mrs. Sylvia Troy, 14 June 1972, folder—Miscellaneous, Records of the

Advisory Commission, Office of the Superintendent; and George A. Palmer, former
Associate Regional Director, Northeast Regional Office, interview, 12 October 1987, 

transcript of correspondence, Cultural Resources Management, Midwest Regional Office 

Files.

14. Meeting of 21 August 1974, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Advisory Commission

Minutes 1974—1976, Management Library, Office of the Superintendent.

15. Don H. Castleberry, former Assistant Superintendent, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore,

1974—1978, interview, 3 September 1987, at Midwest Regional Office, Omaha, Nebraska, 

transcript.

16. Meetings of 1 February, 21 August, and 22 November 1974, Indiana Dunes National

Lakeshore Advisory Commission Minutes 1974—1976, Management Library, Office of the 

Superintendent; and Superintendent's Report for Calendar Year 1974, Management Library.

17. Castleberry interview, 3 September 1987.

18. Operations Evaluation Report, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, November 1974, 

A5427 Operations Evaluation Team 11/4/74—11/8/74.

19. Ibid., Superintendent Whitehouse to Acting Regional Director Merrill D. Beal, 6 January

1975.

20. Ibid.

21. Meetings of 14 March, 20 June, and 19 September 1975, Indiana Dunes National

Lakeshore Advisory Commission Minutes 1974—1976; and Superintendent's Report for 

Calendar Year 1975, Management Library.

22. Superintendent Whitehouse to Acting Regional Director Beal, 10 January 1975, folder—

Ogden Dunes, Records of the Advisory Commission.

23. Superintendent Engquist to Regional Director Don Castleberry, 3 March 1988, review 

comments on administrative history, H1417, Cultural Resources Management files, Midwest 

Regional Office.

24. Meeting of 14 March 1975, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Advisory Commission

Minutes 1974—1976, Management Library, Office of the Superintendent.

25. Superintendent's Report for Calendar Year 1976, Management Library; and Operation of 

the National Park System (ONPS) Appropriations, Department of the Interior, National Park 

Service, 14 April 1976, A54 Inspections or Appraisals; Investigations and Studies.

26. Meeting of 16 January and 22 May 1976, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Advisory

Commission Minutes 1974—1976, Management Library, Office of the Superintendent; and 

Superintendent's Report for Calendar Year 1976.

27. "Program of Events, Dedication of the Bailly Homestead, Indiana Dunes National

Lakeshore, July 11, 1976, 2:30 p.m.," A8215 Bailly Homestead Dedication, July 11, 1976.

28. Regional Historian Clary to Associate Regional Director for Planning and Resource

Preservation John Kawamoto, 28 June 1976, H30 Bailly Homestead.

29. Whitehouse interview, 11 March 1987.

30. Ibid.; and Superintendent Whitehouse to Regional Director Merrill D. Beal, 16 July 1976.
31. Meeting of 16 January and 22 May 1976, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Advisory

Commission Minutes 1974—1976, Management Library, Office of the Superintendent; and 

William Lieber to Nathaniel Reed, letter, 5 April 1976, folder—Hoosier Prairie, Records of 

the Advisory Commission.

32. Whitehouse interview, 11 March 1987.

33. Meeting of 16 January 1976, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Advisory Commission

Minutes 1974—1976, Management Library, Office of the Superintendent.

34. Herbert Read, Engineering Chairman, Save the Dunes Council, interview, 22 September

1987, at Bailly Ranger Station, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, Porter, Indiana, transcript.

35. James E. Newman and James B. Lane, editors, Steel Shavings: Concerned Citizens

against the Bailly Nuclear Site, Vol. 16 (Gary, Indiana: Indiana University Northwest, 1988), 

pp. 1—4, 11, 16, and 29.

36. William Lieber to John H. Ross, letter, 27 December 1976, folder—State Park, Records 

of the Advisory Commission.

37. Nathaniel P. Reed, former Assistant Secretary of the Interior, interview, 9 March 1987, 

Hobe Sound, Florida, transcript, Midwest Regional Office.

38. Acting Regional Director George Palmer to Director Hartzog, 16 July 1971, folder—

NIPSCO/Bailly, Records of the Advisory Commission.

39. Reed interview, 9 March 1987.

40. Ibid.

41. Transcript of testimony by Nathaniel P. Reed before the Atomic Energy Commission, 20

September 1973, folder—NIPSCO/Bailly, Records of the Advisory Commission.

42. Ibid.

43. "U.S. Interior Official Permitted To Testify," newsclipping, n.p., (circa 20 September

1973), folder—NIPSCO/Bailly, Records of the Advisory Commission.

44. Ibid., John R. Schnurlein to Bill Lieber, letter, 22 September 1973; and Nathaniel Reed to

John Schnurlein, letter, 24 October 1973, folder—N.P.S.

45. John Schnurlein, former member and chairman of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore 

Advisory Commission, interview, 23 September 1987, at Superintendent's Office, Bailly 

Administrative Area, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, Porter, Indiana, transcript.

46. William Lieber to John R. Schnurlein, letter, 23 September 1973, folder—

NIPSCO/Bailly.

47. Reed interview, 9 March 1987.

48. Charlotte Read, Executive Director, Save the Dunes Council, interview, 22 September

1987, at Superintendent's Office, Bailly Administrative Area, Indiana Dunes National

Lakeshore, Porter, Indiana, transcript.

49. James E. Newman and James B. Lane, editors, Steel Shavings: Concerned Citizens
against the Bailly Nuclear Site, Vol. 16 (Gary, Indiana: Indiana University Northwest, 1988), 

pp. 17 and 34.

50. Ibid., p. 33.

51. J. Ronald Engel, Sacred Sands: The Struggle for Community in the Indiana Dunes

(Middletown, Connecticut: Wesleyan University Press, 1983), p. 287.

52. Kay Franklin and Norma Schaeffer, Duel For The Dunes: Land Use Conflict on the

Shores of Lake Michigan (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1983), pp. 223—7; Sylvia 

Troy, "Citizen Action For Preservation," The Indiana Dunes Story: How Nature and People

Made a Park (Beverly Shores, Indiana: Shirley Heinze Environmental Fund, 1984), p. 35; 

and Whitehouse interview, 11 March 1987.

53. Herbert Read interview, 22 September 1987.

54. Lee Botts, "Preservation Versus Use," The Indiana Dunes Story, p. 29; and

Superintendent's Report for Calendar Year 1973, Management Library.

55. Reed interview, 9 March 1987.

56. Castleberry interview, 3 September 1987.

57. Whitehouse interview, 11 March 1987.

58. Ibid; and Lee Botts, "Preservation Versus Use," The Indiana Dunes Story, p. 29; and

Superintendent's Report for Calendar Year 1973, Management Library.

59. Charlotte Read interview, 22 September 1987.

60. Herbert and Charlotte Read interviews, 22 September 1987.

61. Superintendent Whitehouse to Regional Director Chester L. Brooks, 7 January 1974, 

A5639 Indiana Dunes Briefing Statements 1973—1980.

62. Meeting of 6 December 1973, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Advisory Commission

Minutes 1967—1973, Management Library, Office of the Superintendent.

63. Reed interview, 9 March 1987.

64. Congressman J. Edward Roush to Secretary Rogers C. B. Morton, 21 March 1974; Team 

Manager, Mid—Atlantic and North Atlantic Team, Robert L. Steenhagen (Denver Service 

Center) to Regional Director, Mid—Atlantic Region, 28 March 1974; and Acting Assistant 

Secretary Douglas P. Wheeler to Congressman J. Edward Roush, 12 April 1974, L58 Roush 

Bill Misc. & F.Y. 1973, Expansion Files.

65. Whitehouse interview, 11 March 1987.

66. "Hearing before the Subcommittee on National Parks and Recreation of the Committee 

on Interior and Insular Affairs, House of Representatives, 93d Congress, 2d Session on H.R.

3571 and Related Bills To Amend the Act Establishing the Indiana Dunes National

Lakeshore and To Provide for the Expansion of the Lakeshore, and For Other Purposes, June

17, 1974," in the book Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Congressional Hearings, 93rd

Congress, Management Library.

67. Ibid.
68. "Further Protection Urged For Indiana Dunes," Conservation Report (21 June 1974), p.

294, enclosed with Meeting of 21 August 1974, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Advisory

Commission Minutes 1974—1976, Management Library, of the Superintendent.

69. Superintendent's Report for Calendar Year 1974, Management Library.

70. J. Ronald Engel, Sacred Sands, p. 283.

71. "Hearing before the Subcommittee on National Parks and Recreation of the Committee

on Interior and Insular Affairs, House of Representatives, 94th Congress, 1st Session on H.R.

789, H.R. 4926, and H.R. 5241 To Amend the Act Establishing the Indiana Dunes National

Lakeshore and To Provide for the Expansion of the Lakeshore, and For Other Purposes, May

9, 1975," in the book Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Congressional Hearings, 94th

Congress, Management Library.

72. Meeting of 20 June 1975, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Advisory Commission

Minutes 1974—1976; and Superintendent's Report for Calendar Year 1975, Management 

Library, Office of the Superintendent.

73. "Report together with Dissenting Views to Accompany H.R. 11455, 94th Congress, 2nd 

Session, Report No. 94—818, February 10, 1976," found in the book Indiana Dunes National

Lakeshore Congressional Hearings, 94th Congress, Management Library.

74. Ibid., Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Parks and Recreation of the Committee on 

Interior and Insular Affairs, United State Senate, 94th Congress, 2nd Session on S. 3329 and 

H.R. 11455, May 26, 1976.

75. Ibid.

76. Ibid.

77. Superintendent's Report for Calendar Year 1976, Management Library.

78. Ibid.; Engel, Sacred Sands, p. 284; and Whitehouse interview, 11 March 1987.
Indiana Dunes

Administrative History

PART II

CHAPTER NINE:

COMING OF AGE, 1977—1979

Increases in visitation can probably be attributed to two basic reasons. First, we 

have greatly increased our "image" through activities such as the urban initiative 

efforts, increased participation in the Folk Festival, the new transportation 

program, etc. Secondly, the increasing costs and lowered supply of fuel have 

made a visit to Indiana Dunes more attractive to regional visitors.

Superintendent J. R. Whitehouse explaining the "extraordinary increases" in

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore visitation during 1979. [1]

Operations, 1977—1979

1977

Under provisions of the 1976 expansion bill, eight new permanent, full—time positions were 

filled to bring the park employee total to twenty—seven full—time, five part—time, and 

thirteen subject—to—furlough. The eight new positions were two supervisory park rangers 

(one for law enforcement, the other for interpretation); supply clerk; maintenance mechanic 

foreman; administrative clerk; two park technicians (one for law enforcement, the other for 

interpretation); and a tractor operator. To coordinate research and help perform two studies 

required in the 1976 bill, Senior Scientist William H. Hendrickson transferred from the 

Midwest Regional Office to Indiana Dunes. There were eighty—four seasonal employees to 

round out the staff.

In March 1977, the Division of Interpretation and Resource Management split into two 

separate entities: Resource Management/Visitor Protection and Interpretation. Each new 

division increased by three employees. New facilities for interpreters and rangers to operate 

included the West Beach bath house and Bailly Homestead/Chellberg Farm structures and 

trails. Environmental education, an on—going popular program, could only accommodate 

sixty percent of the requests from schools. With priority given to schools with environmental 

education programs, 201 groups composed of 9,336 students were served in 1977.

The year saw the completed interior renovation of the visitor center. With the popular 

Harpers Ferry Center—designed museum exhibits, the visitor center also featured an 

information desk and sales area. Unfortunately, because of the need for office space, the 

Eastern National Parks & Monument Association (ENP&MA) sales space had to be 

appropriated and ENP&MA used a double—faced rack in the lobby for an interim reported. 

Fee collection began for the first time in the national lakeshore at West Beach on July 18,

1977. A user fee of one dollar per automobile was implemented with only slight difficulties.
In the Maintenance Division, the Buildings and Utilities subunit oversaw a total of forty—

two structures: fourteen quarters, fourteen historic structures (including those at the newlyacquired Chellberg Farm), and fourteen other buildings including those at West Beach and 

the visitor center. The Grounds subdivision maintained four interim picnic areas and cleaned 

five miles of beach of an increasing number of alewives. With a four—person mowing crew, 

it also cut eighteen acres of grass and eight miles of roadside. The Roads and Trails unit 

maintained twelve miles of trails with the three—person crew while four people tended to 

eight parking areas. The unit also maintained the lakeshore's growing arsenal of mechanical 

equipment.

Guidelines for energy conservation, developed in the mid—1970s, were surpassed each year 

as the lakeshore continued to expand and evolve. In only a few years, the number of 

employees, equipment, and vehicles had more than doubled while buildings and facilities had 

tripled. With annual growth unabated, it was impossible to impose energy consumption 

constraints on the national lakeshore.

The park's second residential Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) camp operated under contract 

with George Williams College of Downers Grove, Illinois. Forty enrollees and a staff of 

twelve engaged in maintenance, conservation, building demolition, and historic restoration 

projects.

In a similar vein, Congress authorized the national lakeshore to operate a Young Adult 

Conservation Corps (YACC) camp of up to one hundred enrollees. The program, 

implemented by various agencies in the Departments of Interior and Agriculture, was 

designed to employ young adults and help reduce the backlog of needed work projects on 

public lands. Eligible candidates between sixteen and twenty—three years of age had to be 

referred through the state employment services offices. YACC tackled many of the same

tasks which YCC enrollees performed. Indiana Dunes hosted one of the Park Service's twenty

—seven authorized YACC camps with Assistant Superintendent Don Castleberry serving as 

park project manager. Castleberry oversaw YACC camp director Jon Evans and an annual 

project budget of one million dollars. While the Indiana Dunes YACC camp was one of the 

first to become operational in October 1977, by the end of the year, fifty—three people were 

enrolled and a staff of six, out of an authorized total of fourteen, administered the non—

residential camp. [2]

The Indiana Dunes Land Acquisition Office devoted considerable attention to acquiring the 

large tracts of open land owned by industry which were included in the 1976 expansion bill. 

Because industry cared very little that indiscriminate off—road vehicle (ORV) usage and 

dumping was occurring, the Park Service acquired most of the properties by declaration of 

taking in 1977. With immediate jurisdiction over the abused areas, rangers increased patrols 

in order to discourage adverse activities. To curb ORV usage, the lakeshore erected barriers

at all access points. With no funds to purchase barriers, the park staff improvised and devised 

ingenious barricades. Old railroad ties were used from abandoned rail lines within the 

lakeshore's boundaries, and thick steel cable came from the periodically replaced elevator 

cables inside the Gateway Arch at Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, Missouri. With a 

determined program in place and the seizure of one vehicle, the word locally spread that 

ORV use and dumping were not to be tolerated. Local residents aided the lakeshore's 

enforcement program considerably by immediately reporting incidents. [3]

Completion of restoration work on the Bailly Homestead chapel, caretaker's cabin, and fur 

storage building resulted in an official complaint from the Midwest Regional Office to the 

Denver Service Center (DSC). A DSC professional oversaw a local contractor's execution of 

the restoration effort which proved to be less than satisfactory. In some places, telephone 

poles were used as replacement logs. The tell—tale stenciled identification numbers were
plainly visible to visitors as was the creosote preservative which had begun to bleed from the 

logs. The color and texture of the poles failed to blend with the existing historic fabric. On

the cut ends, power chainsaw marks were covered by a light gray paint or wood stain in an 

effort to "age" the new materials. Regional Director Merrill D. Beal admonished, "We 

request that more consideration and thought be given to the type of materials and techniques 

used in the restoration of our historic structures." [4]

In an effort to mitigate the impact on the historic scene, the Denver Service Center arranged 

with the contractor to scrape off the creosote and cleanse eight telephone poles which were 

used in the chapel reconstruction. Steps to shroud the southeast corner with vegetation and 

move the audio/visual stations back from the structures were also taken. Chainsaw markings 

and "aged" areas on the ends of logs were removed by using a handsaw to resaw the 

offensive surfaces. The time and attention DSC devoted to the Bailly structures resulted in 

the first Historic Structures Preservation Guide (HSPG) prepared in the Midwest Region. [5]

On January 17, 1977, Superintendent J. R. Whitehouse joined local residents in testifying 

before a hearing of the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC). The Chicago, South Shore 

and South Bend Railroad petitioned the ICC for clearance to terminate passenger service 

between Chicago, Illinois, and South Bend, Indiana. Whitehouse addressed the need for 

railway passenger service in the long—range transportation plans of the national lakeshore.* 

Striving to save the last electric interurban railroad line in the United States, a group of 

residents formed to boost passenger use by publicizing recreational events along the route. 

The group especially targeted recreational opportunities in the Indiana Dunes National 

Lakeshore and Indiana Dunes State Park. A tremendous impetus to the campaign came in

October when National Park Service Director William Whalen rode the train from Chicago to 

the National Lakeshore to address the Save the Dunes Council's twenty—fifth anniversary 

dinner. Upon receiving increased government subsidies, the South Shore Railroad 

subsequently withdrew its petition. [6]

*Superintendent Whitehouse believed reliance on mass transit to the Lakeshore 

was not practical because of the public's strong tie to the automobile. During the

1970s and early 1980s, visitors destined for the lakeshore on the South Shore

Railroad did not exceed one hundred per day. Whitehouse interview, 12 March

1987.

An operations evaluation report conducted from July 21 to 27, 1977, saw many improvements 

since the last evaluation in 1974. The six—person team included Dave Lane, Superintendent 

of Pipestone National Monument; Betty Webster, Personnel Specialist and Hal Garland, 

Chief, Division of Contracting and Property Management, Midwest Regional Office; and 

Hugh Beattie, Tom Weeks, and Betty Readnour from the Midwest Region's Office of 

Operations Evaluation. Of principal difficulty was the lack of mid—level supervision and the 

ineffective utilization of manpower. The report stated, the "evaluation and control of 

operations is extremely lax especially in the area of effective manpower utilization. [We] 

observed repeated instances of over-staffing, questionable personnel assignments or

priorities, lackadaisical work ethics, and misguided or misdirected priorities."

The report held that the sixty—three—acre Goodfellow Camp, acquired from the Illinois

Steel Company Welfare Association, was too dilapidated to be used by the national lakeshore 

and should be evaluated through a recreational feasibility study. It also drew up a new 

organization chart for the Maintenance Division, thereby equitably distributing supervision 

duties. The team praised the "professional and creative manner" in which the management 

staff handled delicate, external affairs. The team saw little need for the lakeshore to generate
an aggressive publicity campaign because of the intensive media scrutiny already 

experienced on a daily basis. It accurately stated, "Indiana Dunes gets more than its share of 

attention in both the public and political arenas." [7]

1978

In 1978, the Interior Appropriations Bill featured an add—on clause authorizing five 

additional permanent positions for Indiana Dunes. Three persons joined the newly—formed 

Science program led by Dr. Bill Hendrickson,* Chief Scientist, and two rangers improved the 

Lakeshore's law enforcement capability. The establishment of a Science Office,

headquartered at the Rostone House in Beverly Shores, reflected the concern of Congress 

(specifically Representative Sid Yates) that the Park Service should have its own expertise to 

research and monitor environmental conditions in the ecologically delicate dunelands. It now 

had the capability to monitor air and water quality as well as conduct its own resource—

related research projects and oversee contracts for other scientific studies. Indiana Dunes thus 

became the only unit in the National Park System to have both an air and water resource 

specialist. Efforts concentrated on Cowles Bog, the centerpiece of the Service's opposition to 

Bailly I. The continued growth of the Park Service force brought the total of permanent 

positions to twenty—nine, permanent less than full—time to twenty—seven, and seasonal 

employees to ninety—one.

*Dr. Hendrickson's research indicated Cowles Bog was not a bog at all, but rather

a fen. A fen is different from a bog in that a fen has water flow into it, while a

bog does not. Hendrickson's position infuriated environmentalists whose own

case rested on the premise that Cowles Bog would be neutralized by acidity. By

disputing the "bog" designation, many believed the Chief Scientist was trying to

cheapen or nullify their argument. Denouncing Hendrickson as a tool of industry,

environmentalists worked to have him transferred, a move blocked by 

Superintendent Whitehouse. Nonetheless, it was Hendrickson's efforts in proving 

NIPSCO's dewatering was also pumping water out of Cowles Bog that produced 

the greatest blow against Bailly I. See Whitehouse interview, 11 March 1987.

In early 1978, after serving at Indiana Dunes for four years, Assistant Superintendent Don 

Castleberry transferred to the superintendency of George Washington Memorial Parkway. 

Entering on duty July 16 was Castleberry's successor, Dale B. Engquist, a native of Chicago, 

schooled at the University of Illinois. Engquist, a career employee for fourteen years, 

previously served as a Park Naturalist for the National Capital Region, Chief Naturalist at 

Hot Springs National Park, Assistant Chief Naturalist/Management Assistant at Everglades 

National Park, Superintendent of Biscayne National Monument, and New Jersey Unit 

Manager of Gateway National Recreation Area. Before arriving at Indiana Dunes, Engquist 

was a trainee in the Department of the Interior's Management Development Program.

In Interpretation, the number and variety of programs totaled 486 with 15,088 visitors, a fifty

—six percent increase. The "Families to the Park" program in conjunction with the city of 

Chicago brought an average of fifty people each weekend to the lakeshore via the South 

Shore Railroad. Visitors rode a bus to the Bailly Homestead for an interpretive program and 

then proceeded to West Beach for an afternoon of swimming. On July 15, the Lakeshore for 

the first time helped sponsor the Duneland Folk Festival in cooperation with community 

groups at the Bailly Homestead. The festival featured crafts, traditional music, and dancing. 

The environmental education program also registered an increase in visitation, four percent, 

with 250 programs. Only a disappointing six percent of that total, however, originated from 

nearby Gary, Indiana. [8]
The lakeshore's first newspaper appeared in March 1978. The Singing Sands Almanac was 

the brainchild of Acting Chief Interpreter Neil King, who the previous year devised a poster 

called the Singing Sands Almanac that included an article on the lakeshore and an 

interpretive schedule of events. Upon Chief Interpreter Larry Waldron's arrival in June 1977, 

the two journeyed to the Government Printing Office in Chicago to explore options in 

publishing a regular periodical. Adapting the format of a U.S. Air Force newspaper, the first 

issue, edited by Park Ranger Jean Doyle, featured Mount Baldy. No one at the time dreamed

the Almanac's gratis mailing list would soon soar to ten thousand people across the nation. [9] 

Almost overnight the Singing Sands Almanac began to have a dramatic impact on lakeshore 

operations. Not only did the publication give the park a higher profile in the community, it 

kept the local population informed as to lakeshore planning, programs, and special events.

The newspaper soon became a household word. [10]

In Resource Management and Visitor Protection (RM&VP), the positions were arranged as 

follows: Chief Ranger, Secretary, Protection Specialist, Resource Management Technician, 

West District Ranger (who supervised the Marquette and West Beach Subdistrict Rangers), 

and East District Ranger (who oversaw the Headquarters, Island, and Pinhook/Rookery 

Subdistrict Rangers). Thanks to the Maintenance and YACC staff, the Bailly Ranger Station 

became operational and an open house was held on May 18. For the first time a central 

dispatch provided twenty—four—hour service throughout the summer and sixteen hours 

during the remainder of the year. Resource management specialists began studying the 

historic occurrence of fire in the dunes ecosystem before initiating any management program 

of prescribed and controlled burns. After several negotiating sessions, Governor Otis Bowen

granted the National Park Service concurrent criminal jurisdiction on May 20, 1978. Advisory 

Commission members John Hillenbrand and Bill Lieber were instrumental in obtaining 

Indianapolis' approval. Applicable only to Federally—owned lands within the national 

lakeshore, Park Service rangers were authorized to enforce State and local laws.

Receiving input from district rangers, a sign committee formed to evaluate park signing

needs. Completing an inventory of 1,500 signs, the committee authorized an additional 460—

four hundred boundary and sixty off—road vehicle signs. Directional signs to the Bailly 

Administrative Area were also installed on U.S. 12 and 20 and Mineral Springs Road.

The similarities between the YACC and YCC programs resulted in a management decision to 

cancel YCC for 1978 and the near future. The YACC program saw an enrollment of eighty—

five at Indiana Dunes. Six staff members served at the lakeshore and six others served at 

satellite YACC camps in four Midwest Region parks: Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation 

Area, Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, St. Croix National Scenic Riverway, and 

Voyageurs National Park. YACC workers completed thirty—three projects ranging from 

Mount Baldy road resurfacing, park road maintenance, cleaning Kintzele Ditch, and initiating 

the West Beach Trail. In the late fall, however, a Federal hiring freeze resulted in staff and 

enrollee cutbacks with a corresponding curtailment of operations. During the winter, YACC 

workers performed projects for surrounding communities, including the rehabilitation of the 

Beverly Shores Town Hall.

The Maintenance Division maintained a total of fifty—two structures. Workers renovated the 

Furnessville maintenance area to accommodate the Buildings and Utilities shop which 

relocated from State Road 49 and U.S. 12. The Roads and Trails subdivision redesigned and 

enlarged the Mount Baldy parking lot from twenty to forty—nine spaces and installed a 

security fence. With the increase in facilities and winter activities, snow plowing and removal 

became a primary undertaking. The demolition and site restoration program saw 552 

structures removed from the lakeshore during the year. [11]

An inspection of the Coronado Lodge by the State Fire Marshal on July 14, 1978, resulted in
the identification of numerous fire code violations. Operating as an American Youth Hostel 

(AYH) under a special use permit issued on March 1, 1974, Coronado Lodge repair estimates 

surpassed $100,000. On August 1, Superintendent Whitehouse notified the AYH operator of 

the decision to close the Coronado Lodge. Moreover, Whitehouse and Midwest Region 

officials were unwilling to authorize health and safety renovations until the need for hostels 

could be outlined through the planning process. (Although the 1980 General Management 

Plan identified the need for hostels, Congress failed to appropriate rehabilitation funding for 

Coronado Lodge and the lakeshore officially canceled the special use permit in 1981.) [12] 

Accessibility was one of the factors. Hostel patrons were almost totally dependent on 

automobiles to get to the Coronado Lodge as the area had no immediate rail or bus service 

and bicycle trails were not yet developed. [13]

On June 28, 1978, Congress authorized a declaration of taking for 632 acres of duneland in 

the west end of the lakeshore that was owned by the Inland Steel Company. Trespass 

activities of off—road vehicles (ORVs) adversely impacted the tract. Park Service rangers 

took immediate steps to halt the adverse ORV use by constant patrols and the issuance of 

dozens of citations. YACC workers installed barricades at popular access points. The Science 

Office initiated remedial actions to augment the natural healing process. The incident

provided additional evidence that ORV usage was incompatible with the purpose and 

programs of the national lakeshore. [14] On July 22, the city of Porter passed an ordinance 

annexing 2,000 acres to the east and north of the town, including 900 acres within the 

national lakeshore south of the Dunes State Park and north of Chesterton. A Department of 

the Interior solicitor opined that the ordinance involved jurisdiction rather than ownership. 

While the town had the right to annex property within the lakeshore, its action could not 

interfere with the National Park Service's right to manage the area. Superintendent 

Whitehouse determined the move would have no effect on the Service's mandate or 

management practices. [15]
Indiana Dunes

Administrative History

PART II

CHAPTER NINE:

COMING OF AGE, 1977—1979 (continued)

Operations, 1977—1979 (continued)

1979

Six new permanent full—time positions were filled during the year with three coming in the 

Division of Interpretation. This came in large part as a result of efforts by Congressmen 

Adam Benjamin and Sid Yates. Subsequently, at a meeting with Park Service Director 

William Whalen and Midwest Regional Director Jimmie Dunning, Save the Dunes Council 

President Charlotte J. Read noted that visitation surpassed the one million mark in 1978, and 

the Lakeshore still had only two permanent full—time interpreters out of an authorized 

ceiling of five. The Council believed ten more positions were needed to "meet the demands 

of expanded urban programs and the growing needs of school groups in the surrounding 

metropolitan areas."* Read spoke from experience, having once worked as a seasonal 

interpreter. Bringing the interpretive staff up to its authorized five positions during the

governmentwide hiring freeze required a special dispensation from the Carter Administration. 

Another new position was that of Park Planner (filled by Steve Whitesell) to work closely

with the Superintendent on planning and public involvement. [16]

*Save the Dunes Council unsuccessfully lobbied for a Communities Council 

similar to the one at Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area near Cleveland, 

Ohio. The move came out of the Council's long—standing belief that it lacked 

sufficient input on the Advisory Commission. Nothing came of the proposal. See 

Whitehouse interview, 12 March 1987.

Visitation nearly doubled in 1979: 2,016,791 compared to 1,031,307 in 1978. The explanation

for the "extraordinary increases" included new environmental education programs, the

success of special populations programs, the popularity of park folk festivals, and the short 

supply and rising cost of gasoline.

On June 18, the national lakeshore's administrative headquarters relocated to the newly 

renovated Bailly Administrative Area (the former NIKE base) at 1100 North Mineral Springs 

Road in Porter. [17] The move significantly improved park operations by alleviating the 

egregious over—crowding at the Tremont visitor center. The facility not only physically 

pulled together park staff, but put a more polished, professional face on the national 

lakeshore.

During the summer, three Congressionally—mandated transportation programs began at 

Indiana Dunes under a new transportation authority granted to the National Park Service. The 

Visitor Access Transportation Systems (VATS) began with an April 5 notice in the Federal
Register. Three lightly-attended public meetings were held to explain VATS which was a 

scheduled weekend system of twelve—passenger vans providing connections between the 

South Shore Railroad stops in the lakeshore to lakeshore facilities. A lack of publicity, 

however, prevented the full success of two other services under the VATS program: a 

connection of the Gary bus system to West Beach and the Michigan City bus system to

Mount Baldy. The only successful part of the program was the shuttle system carrying people 

from the South Shore Railroad stops to the park. The service helped to boost weekend use of 

the railway.

With a coordinated program of planning and community liason, the lakeshore achieved the 

control of illegal ORV use in the West Unit.

The Science Office, completely staffed and armed with a credible laboratory in the Rostone 

House, began its environmental monitoring activities. In April, an ambient air monitoring 

program started with the installation of a continuous sulfur dioxide monitor in the Bailly 

area. In October, scientists placed a similar device near Dune Acres. Particulates, ozone, and

acid rain were evaluated by the monitors and found to be within acceptable limits determined 

by the Environmental Protection Agency. The national lakeshore program became a 

component of the National Atmospheric Deposition Network which tracks acidity and trace 

elements in both precipitation and dry deposition. [18]

Air quality was also involved in the obnoxious odors emanating from the Continental Can 

Company plant near Dune Acres and Bethlehem Steel. A burnt solvent smell was particularly 

strong during the winter months wafting over Cowles Bog. A visit from lakeshore personnel 

brought a claim by company officials that their incinerator was operating normally, yet the 

odors persisted. Service officials charged the unpleasant odors detracted from the outdoor

park experience. The lakeshore's Air Quality Specialist determined the pollution was indeed 

the result of faulty equipment and was at levels far beyond State regulations. An appeal to the 

Chicago office of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) brought EPA concurrence

with the finding. Superintendent Whitehouse succeeded in convincing Indianapolis officials 

to act swiftly, sending warning letters to the company. With the threat of litigation, the 

company corrected the problem. [19]

Aside from the increased staff in the Division of Interpretation, a Public Activities 

Subdivision formed separate from the Environmental Education program to handle school 

groups. Program attendance climbed dramatically as participation in the third annual 

Duneland Folk Festival more than tripled in 1979 with 21,953 people. Cosponsored with the 

Westchester Public Library, the event extended from seven to nine days and on the final 

weekend, more than 12,000 people gathered at the Bailly Homestead. A new program known

as "Maple Sugar Time" held at the Chellberg Farm also brought increased participation as did 

the "Autumn Harvest" where more than one thousand visitors enjoyed square dancing, 

sorghum pressing, applehead doll making, pumpkin carving, and other activities. A biweekly 

guest lecture series on a wide range of topics enjoyed similar crowds. Senior citizens were 

encouraged under a special July program to visit on Fridays when a total of fifty elderly 

people were treated to a day in the dunes. A special publicity campaign of distributing

Indiana Dunes buttons and plastic beach bags also helped to bring visitors to the national 

lakeshore.

Interpretation's Environmental Education Subdivision became an annual program in 1979. 

Contacting 10,000 visitors in 1978 on a part—time basis, the Environmental Education 

Specialist, Lead Technician, and experienced environmental education seasonals contacted

33,000 visitors in 1979. The Lutz House became the Environmental Education Center with 

school groups, teachers, and other organized groups being served there. The subdivision 

organized new community outreach programs, various winter activities, and bilingual
programs.

Supplemental staffing for these programs came from the lakeshore's mushrooming Volunteers 

In Parks (VIP) program. VIPs could not be paid a salary, but travel expenses and lodging 

could be provided, and the VIPs could use the park's three dormitories. VIPs allowed the 

Service to expand its program as well as to begin new ones. The effort reaped tremendous 

public relations benefits. It allowed local citizens to feel a part of the lakeshore's operations 

while interacting with the professional staff, thus giving the often controversial park a more 

positive public profile.

The Maintenance Division carried on with no major changes in 1979. [20] Its operations were 

augmented by the assistance of the YACC camp. When the Midwest Region eliminated the 

three—mile West Beach Trail from the Regional construction program, it became a YACC 

project. [21]

Denver Service Center Historian A. Berle Clemensen completed the national lakeshore's 

Historic Resource Study in February. The document provided a general history of the dunes, 

including site specific information and data for the development of interpretive exhibits and 

programs. [22]

As early as March 1978, the Michigan City Board of Works approved the sale of Mount 

Baldy to the national lakeshore. The Land Acquisition Office prepared the proper forms for 

fee acquisition and the transaction was approved by Director Whalen, Secretary of the

Interior Cecil B. Andrus, and the Office of Management and Budget. [23] The Subcommittee 

on Interior and Related Agencies of the U.S. House of Representatives, however, advised the 

Department of the Interior on July 21, 1978, that it would not approve acquisition except by 

donation. Whitehouse's efforts since 1972 to acquire Mount Baldy were hampered by the 

city's request to be compensated for the acquisition. After the denial by the Congressional 

Committee, Whitehouse continued to negotiate with the city. Partly in exchange for 

Whitehouse's commitment to arrange to perform certain services such as cleaning Kintzele 

Ditch, the city eventually agreed to donate the land at no cost to the National Park Service. 

[24] The dedication ceremony took place on February 17, 1979, when the mayor of Michigan 

City presented the Mount Baldy deed to the Park Service, represented by Superintendent 

Whitehouse and Director Whalen. [25]

The dedication of the Hoosier Prairie National Natural Landmark and State Nature Preserve 

took place on June 3, 1979. The largest tract of native prairie remaining in Indiana, the 

Department of the Interior designated Hoosier Prairie a National Natural Landmark in 1974 

and it became officially registered in 1978. Indiana purchased 304 acres of the prairie in 1976 

with the help of the Hoosier Prairie Committee, Nature Conservancy, Save the Dunes

Council, Izaak Walton League, and other conservation groups. The Indiana Natural Resources

Commission designated it a State Nature Preserve the following year.

The Hoosier Prairie ceremony took place on thirty—one acres owned by the national 

lakeshore. Dedication speakers included Natural Resources Director Joseph D. Cloud, 

Superintendent J. R. Whitehouse, Lt. Governor Robert D. Orr, Save the Dunes Council 

Executive Director Ruth Osann, and Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service Associate 

Regional Director Dave Shonk. State plans included fencing the area and building an 

interpretive trail with limited parking and an interpretive facility. In cooperation with the

Park Service, the Indiana divisions of Nature Preserves and Forestry planned a controlled 

burning program to regulate the invasion of woody plants and to help the growth of native 

prairie vegetation.[26]

Yet another significant ceremony came on October 10, 1979, in the Department of the
Interior auditorium in Washington, D.C. Sylvia Troy of the Save the Dunes Council received 

the Department's Conservation Service Award, the highest honor the Department bestows on 

private citizens. The award recognized Mrs. Troy's years of dedicated service in the 

preservation of natural resources in northern Indiana. [27]
Indiana Dunes

Administrative History

PART II

CHAPTER NINE:

COMING OF AGE, 1977—1979 (continued)

West Beach Dedication

Because West Beach construction had not been completed within schedule,* the Department 

and Service postponed the original dedication ceremony, September 11, 1976, in favor of a 

time when all construction activity ceased. That day came on May 21, 1977, with 

Congressman Floyd J. Fithian serving as the principal speaker at the one—hour ribboncutting ceremony. During his dedicatory speech, Fithian appropriately paused for a moment 

of silence in memory of Dorothy R. Buell, founder and first president of the Save the Dunes 

Council. Mrs. Buell, who died four days previously at her home in San Jose, had moved to 

California for retirement in 1968. The facility first accommodated the public at the end of the

1976 visitor season when fees were collected.

*An intense, Save the Dunes Council—led battle several years earlier prevented 

the Service's attempt to reprogram funds—including those for West Beach—to 

develop the "National Visitor Center" in Washington, D.C., in time for the 1976

U.S. Bicentennial. The Council blocked the effort with the assistance of 

Congressman Sidney Yates and Senator Birch Bayh. See Charlotte Read 

interview, 22 September 1987.

The significance of the opening of the long—awaited bathhouse was profound. The two 

million dollar project represented the first national lakeshore development for public use. 

Complete with parking for 600 cars and forty buses, the modern building featured showers, 

lockers, and a food service concessioner. [28] Not since the bathhouse at the Dunes State 

Park opened in the 1930s had such a grand public facility appeared on Indiana's lakeshore.

Of the forty—four rangers in the Visitor Protection Division, twenty—four employees were 

assigned to the West Beach area. This number included thirteen lifeguards. An attempt by 

Congressman Fithian to beef up the law enforcement capacity with a $140,000 add—on 

appropriation failed. [29]

The Bailly I Nuclear Debate

In the mid—1970s, an anti—nuclear movement formed in the Indiana Dunes with the Porter 

County Chapter of the Izaak Walton League, the Save the Dunes Council, and other area 

conservation and liberal groups at its core. With the addition of the American Friends Service 

Committee and the United Steelworkers Local 1010 representing 18,000 workers at Inland 

Steel Company the coalition formed into what became known as "the Bailly Alliance." [30] 

The Bailly Alliance was a vocal citizens lobbying group diametrically opposed to the 

Northern Indiana Public Service Company's (NIPSCO) construction of Bailly I adjacent to
Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. The Bailly Alliance remained an separate entity from the 

Joint Intervenors and the Concerned Citizens against the Bailly Nuclear Site, although in 

some cases membership overlapped. While the latter groups concentrated almost exclusively 

on legal avenues, the Bailly Alliance focused on mobilizing public opinion against the 

proposed nuclear plant.

On August 27, 1976, the Joint Intervenors filed a writ of certiorari (review) before the U.S. 

Supreme Court. Joined by the Attorney General of the State of Illinois and the City Attorney 

of Gary, the Intervenors charged NIPSCO's proposed construction would damage Indiana 

Dunes National Lakeshore and that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (renamed from the 

Atomic Energy Commission) had no authority to license a plant which would intrude on 

national park lands. At issue was the Department of the Interior's legal authority over the 

area. On November 8, the Supreme Court denied the petition and construction began in 

earnest in January 1977.[31]

In 1977, the U.S. Geological Survey began two studies to determine the effects of the 

NIPSCO construction activity to water quality and dewatering of the National Lakeshore. 

Joining the Park Service as partners in the study were the Environmental Protection Agency, 

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the U.S. Forest Service. Issues to be investigated 

included ash pond seepage, groundwater alteration through plant construction, fly ash 

disposal, heavy metal accumulations, and effects on flora and fauna. [32] Numerous 

monitoring stations were placed along the dike which separated the ponds from Cowles Bog.

Based on data from these scientific studies and a request from Congressman Sidney Yates 

(Democrat—Illinois), Secretary of the Interior Cecil D. Andrus conducted a review of the 

Bailly I controversy. While questioning NIPSCO's site selection, Secretary Andrus decided 

against asking the NRC to revoke Bailly I's construction permit. He pledged to remain 

vigilant in monitoring any harmful effects from the construction activity and to seek 

mitigation through the courts or Congress. In a June 13, 1977, letter to NIPSCO Chairman 

Dean H. Mitchell, Andrus declared:

We are prepared to seek a halt to construction or oppose the issuance of the 

requisite operating license if the facility will cause injury or damage to Indiana 

Dunes National Lakeshore. Though we appreciate the need generally for future 

energy supplies, we are not bound by the previous decisions of the Nuclear 

Regulatory Commission or the prior Administration. We have a responsibility, 

which we are and shall continue pursuing, to preserve the integrity of the 

national lakeshore. [33]

Andrus also informed Mitchell of the recurring seepage onto National Lakeshore lands of 

approximately one million gallons of water a day from the ash settling basins of the coal—

fired Bailly plant. The ash basin seepage flooded a marsh area creating ponds which 

maintained a constant water level. Andrus stated that the interdunal pond water in the flooded 

area was "very like that of your ash settling basins." Secretary Andrus continued:

These are unnatural conditions created as a result of seepage from activities 

outside the park which cannot be tolerated. We believe that NIPSCO has 

knowingly permitted this untenable condition to persist for a number of years.

The National Park Service has registered three written requests with NIPSCO 

seeking to have this seepage terminated. It is now time for affirmative action to 

be taken in halting this condition. I am insisting, therefore, that within the next

60 days your company agree to a firm plan and timetable by which the ash 

settling basin seepage into the lakeshore will be permanently terminated. [34]
Andrus asked that NIPSCO submit a draft plan and timetable to the Park Service within thirty 

days. If there was no satisfactory response from NIPSCO, Andrus promised to seek legal 

action from the Department of Justice.* In conclusion, Andrus disavowed any special

working relationship NIPSCO developed during the Ford Administration:

I understand that following a July 30, 1976, meeting between you and former 

officials of this Department, certain working relationships were established 

between the National Park Service and NIPSCO and that NIPSCO was assured a 

"formal" right of appeal to this office from any staff recommendation for the 

initiation of legal action against the company. These arrangements have not 

made measurable progress in resolving the seepage problems and have been 

misconstrued. It is necessary and desirable, therefore, to dissolve any previous 

understandings reached by the Department, and the National Park Service with 

NIPSCO as to these arrangements. In the future, representatives of the National 

Park Service, the Solicitor's Office, and the Assistant Secretary for Fish and 

Wildlife and Parks will have the full responsibility and support of this

Department in protecting and preserving Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. [35]

*Nat Reed downplayed the significance of the arrangement: "It was a handshake agreement. It didn't really have to be an agreement because any decision 

the Assistant Secretary makes is appealable to the Secretary anyway. They made 

much to do that I was making decisions with [Director George] Hartzog in 

relation to Bailly that created new policy without review by the Secretariat. I was 

the one who said, 'Listen, any decision that I make that you want to appeal, go 

appeal it to Morton.' Knowing full well that Morton was not going to overturn

me on something like that." See Reed interview, 9 March 1987.

Negotiations between NIPSCO and Service representatives on the fly ash seepage controversy 

continued until September 14, 1976, when the Department of the Interior asked the Justice 

Department to file an injunction against NIPSCO. Expressing the position of the Department, 

Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks Robert L. Herbst declared:

The operation of the power generating facilities and the present construction at 

the Bailly site are causing an undue and unnecessary adverse impact on the 

National Park. Engineering solutions which can remedy this situation are 

available at costs reasonable to the power industry. We think that [NIPSCO], like 

responsible citizens, should share the responsibility for protecting and preserving 

those areas set aside as national parks for the use and enjoyment of all the

citizens of the United States. We are, in short, simply asking NIPSCO to be a 

good neighbor and go about t its business in a way that is not harmful to the 

park. [36]

The Department stated it would oppose Bailly I if pending studies revealed additional 

negative effects. In addition, Interior requested that it be supplied with a copy of the 

evacuation plan which detailed how visitors to the national lakeshore would be informed and 

evacuated in the event of an emergency. Interior wanted the report, which NIPSCO would

not be required to submit until the plant was ready to come on—line, as soon as possible in 

the interest of visitor safety and security. [37]

In his first visit to Indiana Dunes, Director William J. Whalen was impressed with its beauty 

and uniqueness. In a speech to the Save the Dunes Council, Whalen said the impending 

lawsuit could be a test case in resolving future threats to other units of the National Park
System:

Due to its proximity to one of the world's largest industrial complexes, Indiana 

Dunes faces serious threats to its integrity and well being. Such threats are not 

unique to Indiana Dunes, but few other parks in the System have such 

significant, fragile, natural features so imminently threatened. Recent...legal

action to protect the park is indicative of our commitment. A massive and almost 

unprecedented research effort is being put together at Indiana Dunes to assure

that we are able to identify and deal with adverse impacts from activity outside 

the boundaries. Indiana Dunes may well prove to be a model for such efforts as 

other parks are threatened in the future. [38]

Buckling under the threat of litigation, NIPSCO signed an agreement with the Service in late 

February 1978 to seal its fly ash basins within thirty-two months. Drafted by the Department, 

the agreement, estimated at ten million dollars to implement, provided for a three—stage 

process to correct the problem. The company agreed to convert to a dry system to handle its 

fly ash, to install a waste water treatment plant, and to lay down vinyl liners beneath all four 

of its industrial ponds. [39]

NIPSCO's difficulties with Bailly I were far from over, however. In 1977, construction 

stopped after NIPSCO discovered it could not reach bedrock upon which the massive

concrete plant could rest. Nevertheless, NIPSCO applied for and received Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission (NRC) approval to install shorter pilings. The outraged Joint Intervenors filed 

another lawsuit citing the measure constituted a risky safety violation. Steelworkers were 

angry that neither NIPSCO nor NRC considered them population centers (more than 25,000 

people) even though they numbered over 100,000 and worked at the steel mills in continuous 

shifts. Because of this, no adequate evacuation plan had been devised for them in the event of 

an emergency. Bethlehem Steel Company union members were angered by what they 

derisively termed the "suicide squad," a provision in Bethlehem's evacuation plan for

specified workers to stay behind for more than a week in order to cool down the massive 

coke ovens. Union rank and file wanted no part of it and affirmed its support for the Bailly 

Alliance. Coupled with the March 28, 1979, nuclear accident at the Three Mile Island reactor 

in Middle town, Pennsylvania,* duneland tensions rose to peak levels as citizens considered 

the possibility of similar equipment failures and human error at Bailly I. [40] Litigation and 

engineering problems with the pilings kept construction at a standstill throughout the 

remainder of the 1970s.

*The 1979 Three Mile Island (TMI) incident represented the worst commercial 

nuclear accident in United States history. A series of equipment failures and 

human error led to a loss of coolant and a partial core meltdown. NRC later 

reported that TMI came within one hour of a catastrophic meltdown. While some 

radiation escaped into the atmosphere, health experts determined risks to the 

population were minimal.

A December 1979, "State of the Parks Survey" summarizing threats included a lengthy 

narrative on Indiana Dunes which cited noise, air, and water pollution problems. The report 

stated:

Unless some form of enlightened land use development control can be brought 

about in the several municipal jurisdictions which border the lakeshore, the trend 

of residential, commercial, and industrial growth will continue at every point 

along its tortuous and extensive boundary. More and more of the character of
this park will be swallowed from without. Concerns like those associated with 

the Bailly Nuclear generating facility will increase. These include: 1) aesthetic 

intrusion; 2) the possible disruption of park hydrology during construction and 

thereafter; 3) thermal loading into Lake Michigan or the park air shed; 4) some 

interaction between factors associated with new and existing industrial plants; 

and 5) possible infringement on park visitor use patterns. Additionally, after the

accident at Three Mile Island, it is now more tenable to propose the possibility of 

harm to park biota and park visitors from minor or catastrophic radiation leaks. 

[41]

The summary of threats also included ozone levels detected at various times above national 

air quality standards. Acid rain and sulphur dioxide levels also worked insidiously on park 

biota. Run—off from an Indiana Toll Road salt storage pile, used in de—icing roads in 

winter, contaminated lakeshore creeks and ditches and caused scientists to worry about 

impacts to the delicate ecology of Pinhook Bog. [42]

At the park level, the infant Science Office was feverishly conducting environmental 

monitoring projects as well as contracting out for various research needs. Superintendent 

Whitehouse and Chief Scientist Hendrickson worked closely together, constantly feeding new 

information to the Washington Office. Whitehouse maintained an open door policy, meeting 

with both Bailly I proponents and opponents—making his own personal anti—Bailly I views 

known—but leaving policy statements to the Regional Director, Director, and Secretary. [43]
Indiana Dunes

Administrative History

PART II

CHAPTER NINE:

COMING OF AGE, 1977—1979 (continued)

Dunes Expansion Hearings Continue

P. L. 94—549, signed by President Ford on October 18, 1976, amended the 1966 organic act 

in several substantial ways. The 1976 bill added more than 3,700 acres to the national 

lakeshore, raised the land acquisition ceiling to $60,812,100, and extended the lakeshore 

boundaries 300 feet into Lake Michigan. It repealed the suspension of the Secretary's 

authority on condemnation and established a maximum of twenty years for rights of retained 

use and occupancy, excluding the Markowitz Ditch area. The Advisory Commission found

its membership expanded from seven to eleven members. Congress asked for the submission 

of a new General Management Plan by October 1, 1979, and in the interim fixed the park's 

development ceiling at $8.5 million. It authorized the acquisition of the Crescent Dune area 

within a two—year period, favored a cooperative agreement for the protection of "Crossing 

A," and prevented acquisition of portions of Unit 1—E (solid waste disposal areas) unless 

their reclamation came at no cost to the government. The 1976 act called for the Park Service 

to conduct feasibility studies on three proposed additions (III—A/Beverly Shores Island; II—

A/NIPSCO "greenbelt"; and III—C Beverly Shores Parkway) to be submitted to Congress by 

July 1, 1977. [44]

Since 1971, bills to rename the park the "Paul H. Douglas Indiana Dunes National 

Lakeshore" confused and slowed down the process of lakeshore expansion legislation. With 

the initiation of the Carter Administration in 1977, the renaming issue resurfaced with the 

Advisory Commission yet again recommending against it in favor of a visitor center or 

auditorium named after Douglas. [45] Representative Sid Yates led the movement in the 

House to rename the national lakeshore, introducing an amendment to the National Park 

Service Omnibus Bill in July 1978 which was later removed during the House and Senate 

conference committee hearings. Separate bills calling for the redesignation were introduced. 

As early as 1977, the House Interior Committee called for naming a unit of the park and an 

environmental education center for Paul Douglas. Congressman Floyd Fithian favored 

following the formula used at Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park where 

the unit was dedicated to the memory of former Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas 

in recognition of his outstanding contributions there. The Save the Dunes Council worried 

that until the controversy was resolved, expansion legislation to absorb areas omitted from 

Douglas' earlier bills would most likely not be passed. [46]

In January 1978, Superintendent Whitehouse met with Service and Department officials in 

Washington, D.C., to formulate a position on expansion and brief the legislative staff of the 

Indiana Congressional Delegation. The official stance was strictly "hands off"; the 

Department would only offer recommendations because it was up to Congress ultimately to

decide. The following month, Indiana Senators Birch Bayh and Richard Lugar, sponsors of S.

2560, proposed the addition of 800 acres, including the Beverly Shores Island, NIPSCO
greenbelt, and Beverly Shores Parkway (a fifty—six-acre parcel surrounding U.S. 12). The 

bill reinstated the homeowners provisions of the 1966 act, including exemption from 

condemnation and the twenty—five—year use and occupancy rights. It also provided life 

estates, granted the government the right of first refusal on any land purchases within the 

lakeshore, authorized $250,000 for a transportation access study, and raised the development 

ceiling to $10.5 million. [47]

Expansion plans were further clouded on May 23, 1978, when Indiana Congressman Adam 

Benjamin introduced a bill to build a $25 million marina adjacent to Gary's Marquette Park. 

Backed by Gary's mayor and business community, the Park Service—owned and operated 

marina would provide complete harbor facilities for the national lakeshore. Benjamin's bill 

stipulated that the state highway would be extended to service the marina and that the 

Advisory Commission would be expanded by two to include additional representatives from 

Gary and Michigan City. The marina was the brainchild of Gary's mayor, Richard Hatcher. 

Alarmed by his city's economic decline, Hatcher believed the marina would rejuvenate Gary's 

dying downtown. From the start, however, Interior Appropriations Committee Chairman Sid 

Yates opposed it. On the marina question, the Department advised Congress to defer the 

matter until the completion of the General Management Plan. [48]

In August 1978 hearings before the Senate and House subcommittees, Park Service Deputy 

Director Ira Hutchison testified on S. 2560 and its counterpart, H.R. 11110, sponsored by 

Floyd Fithian. Hutchison recommended deferral of action on Indiana Dunes during 1978 

while the Alaska parks bill took shape "to avoid assuming commitments and making 

promises that we may not be able to meet financially." Hutchison advised against the 

NIPSCO greenbelt addition because its principal value as a buffer against industrial 

development was already being served, as witness to the NIPSCO agreement to clean up the

fly ash ponds. Preservation and/or restoration of the heavily impacted area would also be very 

difficult. Liberalizing homeowners' rights was also discouraged by Hutchison who asked that 

the condemnation authority not be abridged. He declared: "in view of the relatively small size 

of this park unit and number of potential visitors it must accommodate, it would be unwise 

and unfair for all concerned were Congress to reestablish the practice of permanent 

inholdings." [49]

None of the aforementioned bills were reported out of committee before Congress adjourned 

on October 15, 1978. [50] The new bills, S. 599 and H.R. 1742 dropped immediate 

acquisition of the ninety-acre NIPSCO greenbelt because of Senator Richard Lugar's 

opposition. Lugar heeded NIPSCO's concerns that acquisition would jeopardize the 

construction of Bailly I, a point refuted by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 

Nevertheless, the greenbelt could be acquired after 1985 when the plant would be on—line. 

Additionally, before acquisition, the Park Service would have to prepare plans for restoration 

of the area. [51]

In May 1979, Deputy Director Ira Hutchison testified yet again on the bills. Hutchison 

deferred to Congress on the issue of dedicating the lakeshore to the memory of Senator Paul 

Douglas. Hutchison repeated the Service's support for the U.S. 12 parkway to protect the 

principal access route from commercialization. Significantly, for the first time the Service 

favored the inclusion of the Beverly Shores Island. [52]

In a 1979 meeting with Save the Dunes Council Executive Director Charlotte Read and 

Illinois Democratic Representative Sid Yates, Congressman Phillip Burton (Democrat—

California), chairman of the House Subcommittee on National Parks and Insular Affairs, 

scrutinized a map of proposed expansion areas parcel by parcel. Burton was especially 

interested in an open area adjacent to Beverly Shores which Read explained was a golf 

course being considered for a new housing development. Burton expressed his intention to
include the tract in the expansion bill. Read discovered that in the subsequent drafting ofthe 

new provision, the former golf course was earmarked to become a campground, supposedly 

to alleviate the heavy pressures on the Dunes State Park campground. [53]

Another round of hearings came in September. The following month the House passed the 

expansion bill, but the Senate failed to act on it by the conclusion of 1979. [54]
Indiana Dunes

Administrative History

PART II

CHAPTER NINE:

ENDNOTES

1. Superintendent's Report for Calendar Year 1979, Management Library.

2. Superintendent's Report for Calendar Year 1977; and Meetings of 21 January and 21

October 1977, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Advisory Commission Minutes 1977—

1978, Management Library, Office of the Superintendent.

3. Dale B. Engquist, Superintendent, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, interview, 16

September 1987, at Midwest Regional Office, Omaha, Nebraska, transcript.

4. Regional Director Merrill D. Beal to Manager, Denver Service Center, 30 March 1977, 

H30 Bailly Homestead.

5. Ibid., Historical Architect Douglas S. Walter to Assistant Manager, Midwest/Rocky 

Mountain Team, Denver Service Center, 4—8 April 1977; and Regional Director Beal to 

Superintendent Whitehouse, 28 November 1979.

6. Superintendent's Report for Calendar Year 1977; and Meetings of 21 January and 21

October 1977, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Advisory Commission Minutes 1977—

1978, Management Library, Office of the Superintendent.

7. Operations Evaluation Report, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, July 1977, A5427

Operations Evaluation July 21—27, 1977.

8. Superintendent's Report for Calendar Year 1978; Meetings of 20 January, 14 April, 14

July, and 20 October 1978, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Advisory Commission

Minutes 1977—1978, Management Library, Office of the Superintendent; James R. 

Whitehouse, former Superintendent, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, interview, 11 and 12

March 1987, Orlando, Florida, transcript, Midwest Regional Office; and Engquist interview,

16 September 1987.

9. Larry Waldron, "SSA's 10th Year: Celebrating a Birthday," Singing Sands Almanac, Vol.

7, No. 6 (Summer 1987), published by the Friends of Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, p. 1.

10. Whitehouse interview, 12 March 1987.

11. Superintendent's Report for Calendar Year 1978; Meetings of 20 January, 14 April, 14

July, and 20 October 1978, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Advisory Commission

Minutes 1977—1978, Management Library, Office of the Superintendent; and Whitehouse 

interview, 11 and 12 March 1987.

12. Superintendent J. R. Whitehouse to Mrs. Anne R. Taber, letter, 30 January 1974;
Superintendent Whitehouse to Regional Director Beal, 1 August 1978; Superintendent

Whitehouse to Robert Johnson, National Field Representative, American Youth Hostels, Inc.,

18 October 1978 and 20 February 1981, D34 AYH—Coronado Lodge; and Whitehouse 

interview, 12 March 1987.

13. Whitehouse interview, 12 March 1987.

14. Meeting of 14 July 1978, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Advisory Commission

Minutes 1977—1978, Management Library, Office of the Superintendent; and Superintendent 

Whitehouse to Mrs. Ruth H. Osann, President, Save the Dunes Council, letter, 28 July 1978, 

A22 Save the Dunes Council (F.Y. 78—83).

15. Meeting of 20 October 1978, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Advisory Commission

Minutes 1977—1978, Management Library, Office of the Superintendent.

16. Charlotte J. Read to Director William Whalen, letter, 18 December 1978; and Whitehouse 

interview, 12 March 1987. See also Regional Director Jimmy Dunning to Charlotte J. Read, 

letter, 19 March 1979, A22 Save the Dunes Council (F.Y. 78—83).

17. "Lakeshore Schedules Move of Administrative Headquarters to Porter, Indiana," park 

press release, 11 June 1979, D34 NIKE Base Facility.

18. Superintendent's Report for Calendar Year 1979, Management Library.

19. Superintendent Whitehouse to Director Whalen, 7 February 1979, A5639 Indiana Dunes 

Briefing Statements 1973—1980; Norma Schaeffer and Kay Franklin, "Industry Versus 

Preservation," in The Indiana Dunes Story: How Nature and People Made a Park (Beverly 

Shore, Indiana: Shirley Heinze Environmental Fund, 1984), p. 26; and Whitehouse interview,

12 March 1987.

20. Superintendent's Report for Calendar Year 1979, Management Library; and Whitehouse 

interview, 12 March 1987.

21. Superintendent Whitehouse to Director Whalen, 7 February 1979, A5639 Indiana Dunes

Briefing Statements 1973—1980.

22. A. Berle Clemensen, Historic Resource Study, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore,

Indiana (Denver: National Park Service, Denver Service Center, February 1979).

23. Meetings of 14 April and 14 July 1978, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Advisory

Commission Minutes 1977—1978, Management Library, Office of the Superintendent.

24. Whitehouse interview, 11 March 1987; and Superintendent Engquist to Regional Director 

Castleberry, 3 March 1988, review comments on administrative history, H1417, Cultural 

Resources Management files, Midwest Regional Office.

25. Superintendent's Report for Calendar Year 1979, Management Library; and "Donation of 

Mt. Baldy, February 17, 1979, City of Michigan City to the Indiana Dunes National 

Lakeshore," folder—Mt. Baldy, Records of the Advisory Commission.

26. Ibid., dedication program for Hoosier Prairie National Natural Landmark and State Nature

Preserve, 3 June 1979, folder—Hoosier Prairie.

27. Director Whalen to Sylvia Troy, letter, 26 September 1979, folder—Save the Dunes

Council (F.Y. 78—83).
28. Superintendent Whitehouse to Assistant to the Regional Director for Public Affairs, 1

March 1976 and Acting Superintendent Don H. Castleberry to Regional Director Beal, 1

April 1977, A8215 West Beach Dedication; Save the Dunes Council Newsletter (June 1977), 

Scrapbook of Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore compiled by Dr. Virginia Reuterskiold, 

Office of the Superintendent; and Historian Martin Marciniak to Historian Ron Cockrell, 

letter, 9 February 1988, Cultural Resources Management files, Midwest Regional Office.

29. Meeting of 15 July 1977, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Advisory Commission

Minutes 1977—1978, Management Library, Office of the Superintendent.

30. J. Ronald Engel, Sacred Sands: The Struggle for Community in the Indiana Dunes

(Middletown, Connecticut: Wesleyan University Press, 1983), p. 288.

31. James E. Newman and James B. Lane, editors, Steel Shavings: Concerned Citizens

against the Bailly Nuclear Site, Vol. 16 (Gary, Indiana: Indiana University Northwest, 1988), 

pp. 2-3, and 37.

32. Superintendent's Report for Calendar Year 1977, Management Library.

33. Secretary of the Interior Cecil D. Andrus to Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, 

Northern Indiana Public Service Company, Dean H. Mitchell, letter, 13 June 1977, folder—

Bailly I, Records of the Advisory Commission.

34. Ibid.

35. Ibid.

36. Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks Robert L. Herbst to John R. 

Schnurlein, letter, 12 October 1977, folder—NIPSCO, Records of the Advisory Commission.

37. James E. Newman and James B. Lane, editors, Steel Shavings: Concerned Citizens

against the Bailly Nuclear Site, Vol. 16 (Gary, Indiana: Indiana University Northwest, 1988), 

p. 38.

38. "NPS Suit May Turn into Test Case," Chicago Tribune (17 October 1977), folder—

Miscellaneous, Records of the Advisory Commission.

39. Superintendent's Report for Calendar Year 1979, Management Library.

40. Lisa Levitt, "Bailly I: Pennsylvania Nuclear Crisis Clouds Future of NIPSCO's Problem 

Child," Michigan City News—Dispatch (9 April 1979), folder April 1979, visitor center 

library.

41. "Summary of Threats, State of Parks Survey," Midwest Region Parks, 27 December 1979, 

A54 Inspections, Appraisals, Investigations, Studies, Surveys.

42. Ibid.

43. Whitehouse interview, 11 March 1987.

44. Meeting of 21 January 1977, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Advisory Commission

Minutes, 1977—1978, Management Library, Office of the Superintendent.

45. Ibid., Meeting of 25 March 1977.
46. Ibid., Meetings of 15 July 1977, 14 July 1978, and 20 October 1978; and "Fact Sheet, S.

599/H.R. 2742 A Bill to Enlarge the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore," Save the Dunes 

Council, May 1979, included in "Hearing before the Subcommittee on Parks, Recreation, and 

Renewable Resources of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, United States 

Senate, 96th Congress, First Session on S. 559 A Bill Relating to the Indiana Dunes National 

Lakeshore, And For Other Purposes," September 20, 1979, No. 96—73, found in the book 

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, 96th Congress, 1st Session, Management Library.

47. Meetings of 20 January and 14 April 1978, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Advisory

Commission Minutes, 1977—1978, Management Library, Office of the Superintendent.

48. Adam Benjamin, Jr., to All Interested Parties, 23 May 1978, W3815 Proposed Legislation 

to Expand Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore; Briefing Material for Secretary Andrus' visit to 

Chicago, July 21, 1978, prepared by Public Affairs Office, Midwest Regional Office, July 18,

1978; Superintendent's Report for Calendar Year 1979; and Whitehouse interview, 12 March

1987.

49. "Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Parks and Recreation of the Committee on Energy 

and Natural Resources, United States Senate, 95th Congress, 2d Session, on S. 2560 A Bill 

Relating to the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, and For Other Purposes, August 10,

1978," (No. 95—161), found in the book Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Congressional

Hearings, 95th Congress, Management Library.

50. Meeting of 20 October 1978, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Advisory Commission

Minutes, 1977—1978, Management Library, Office of the Superintendent.

51. "Fact Sheet, S. 599/H.R. 2742 A Bill to Enlarge the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore," 

Save the Dunes Council, May 1979, included in "Hearing before the Subcommittee on Parks, 

Recreation, and Renewable Resources of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, 

United States Senate, 96th Congress, First Session on S. 559 A Bill Relating to the Indiana 

Dunes National Lakeshore, And For Other Purposes," September 20, 1979, No. 96—73, 

found in the book Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, 96th Congress, 1st Session, 

Management Library.

52. Ibid., Hutchison statement with Superintendent J. R. Whitehouse and Art Eck, Legislative

Staff, Washington Office.

53. Charlotte Read, Executive Director, Save the Dunes Council, interview, 22 September

1987, at Superintendent's Office, Bailly Administrative Area, Indiana Dunes National

Lakeshore, Porter, Indiana, transcript.

54. Superintendent's Report for Calendar Year 1979, Management Library.
Indiana Dunes

Administrative History

PART II

CHAPTER TEN:

THE GREAT TURNING POINT, 1980

The Dunes National Park, I think, is going to be one of the finest parks in the 

System for one very basic reason, and that is that this wasn't a park that a 

President of the United States decided to start because he had gone camping 

there when he was a little boy or that somebody started because of pressure from 

a certain area or political group or ecological group. The Dunes National Park 

actually was created by citizen pressure, and it has actually been planned by 

citizen pressure. So while it may not be the biggest park and it may not be the 

first urban park, as we sometimes refer to them, it is the first citizens' park....

Statement by Greg Reising of the Miller Citizens' Corporation, speaking before a 

public meeting on the General Management Plan, Gary, Indiana, January 16,

1980. [1]

Operations, 1980

The year saw a complete administrative reorganization of the national lakeshore staff. New 

organization charts were composed to reflect staffing levels and programs. Visitation 

continued to increase, up 5.7 percent at 1,222,874 visitors. Attendance rose dramatically at 

public and interpretive programs with environmental education experiencing a fifty—seven 

percent increase and ranger—conducted public activity programs up sixty-nine percent. The 

visitor information center at the Bailly—Chellberg area opened during the year and became a 

popular attraction. Attendance also rose significantly at the Fourth Annual Duneland Folk 

Festival (seventy—five percent), Maple Sugar Time (187 people in 1979 to 1,050 people in

1980), and Autumn Harvest (expanded to two days with 3,000 visitors).

Assisting during these events and other park operations was the growing Volunteer in Parks 

(VIP) program which logged more than 3,000 hours coordinating school groups, participating 

in living history programs, and operating information desks. VIPs not only made significant 

contribution to park operations, they generated vigorous community involvement at the 

national lakeshore.

In the Maintenance Division, Buildings and Utilities workers maintained eleven quarters, 

fourteen historic structures, and forty—four other park buildings. Roads and Trails crews 

maintained twenty miles of trails and paved and graveled lots and roads. Under the first road 

rehabilitation contract using a new Congressional authority and appropriation for

maintenance of non—Federally owned roads,* Oak Hill Road, Mineral Springs Road, Central 

Avenue, Beverly Drive, East State Park Road, and the service road at West Beach were 

rehabilitated. In addition to its mowing duties, the Grounds crew maintained seven picnic 

areas, including the new picnic grounds at West Beach.
*Superintendent Whitehouse and Midwest Region Deputy Director Randall R. 

Pope worked diligently for several years to secure funding for the lakeshore's 

miles of deteriorating, potholed roads. Each proposal brought a firm rejection 

from the Solicitor's Office. Finally, Whitehouse met with Senator Bayh's staff 

and thereafter a stipulation for a half—million dollars was inserted annually in 

the Service's budget. A "first" in the National Park System, Federal money can 

now be spent on State and county roads used by park visitors. See Whitehouse 

interview, 11 March 1987.

Budgetary constraints from 1979 on the Young Adult Conservation Corps (YACC) continued 

into 1980 with dramatic cutbacks to avoid overspending. The already low enrollment was 

curtailed altogether at mid—year, vacant staff positions remained unfilled, and more 

expensive projects were canceled. The YACC program remained a success story as YACC 

staff augmented lakeshore maintenance operations through building demolition and site 

restoration, fence construction and maintenance, and installing ORV barricades. The

appraised value of YACC projects at the end of Fiscal Year 1980 stood at an impressive

$800,000.

The Science Office in partnership with the lakeshore's management staff continued its 

intensive monitoring activities related to the Bailly I construction. By 1980, the lakeshore had 

contracted with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Water Resources Division in

Indianapolis for three reports to determine the effects of dewatering and fly ash pond seepage 

on the Cowles Unit. When the 1980 USGS report determined that dewatering as a result of 

construction was likely, from October 10 to 12, 1980, a panel of four ecologists convened at 

Indiana Dunes to study the effects of dewatering on the Cowles Bog National Natural 

Landmark. The ecologists concentrated on wetland ecology, limnology, and water quality.

The panel's report stated that while dewatering and rewatering would have an impact on the 

ecology, it was impossible to list specific impacts. The ecologists recommended further 

studies and a continuation of the moratorium on Bailly I construction until the impacts could 

be identified and a plan to mitigate the impacts was in place. In the meantime, the Park 

Service let a new contract with USGS to evaluate the water quality and surface water 

hydrology in the Cowles Bog area. With the new position of plant ecologist, the lakeshore 

itself could conduct its own plant ecology studies simultaneously.

Park management and science staffs worked closely together for several years to eliminate 

the salt intrusion problem at Pinhook Bog. A salt storage area owned by the Indiana Toll 

Road Commission was leaching salt into the adjacent bog. The best solution appeared to be 

the purchase of the storage area, but some disagreement emerged. Some believed the Park

Service did not have the authority to acquire the property because it was believed to be public 

land and, therefore, had to be donated. Park management finally ruled, however, that since

the Indiana Toll Road Commission was an independent state agency not supported by tax 

funds, the lands it administered did not constitute public property. The lakeshore purchased 

the tract in 1930 in order to eliminate the salt intrusion hazard expeditiously. Lakeshore 

workers removed all vestiges of salt from the property.* The Toll Road Commission agreed 

to modify the drainage patterns for the Indiana Toll Road in the area to reduce the hazard 

even further. [2]

*Monitoring and research continued in the area. In 1987, the lakeshore began a 

program of removing exotics and restoration of natural species.
Based on the new ecological information, Secretary of the Interior Cecil Andrus requested the 

Nuclear Regulatory Commission to delay renewal of the Bailly I construction permit pending 

NIPSCO's preparation and Departmental review of a new environmental impact statement. 

Andrus charged NIPSCO's original dewatering plan did not include the deeper level of 

pumping which subsequent construction required. [3]

On September 28, 1980, Secretary Andrus promised to provide monthly status reports 

regarding all issues related to Bailly I to Congressman Sidney Yates. Assistant 

Superintendent Dale Engquist and the Science Office devoted a considerable effort over the 

following year gathering the necessary data and transmitting it to Associate Director for 

Science and Technology Richard Briceland in the Washington Office. Briceland maintained 

close contact with the lakeshore and prepared the final reports for Director Russell 

Dickenson's signature. [4]

Indiana Dunes continued to meet Federal air quality standards for total suspended particulates 

(TSP) and sulfur dioxide (SO2), but not ozone. To monitor acid rain, the lakeshore's wet and 

dry monitor became a part of the National Atmospheric Deposition Program. Scientists also 

continued to monitor the NIPSCO fly ash agreement. The dry system of handling fly ash

went on—line April 30 and the waste water treatment plant began operations at the end of the 

year. During the summer, two of the four fly ash ponds were sealed with the remaining two 

scheduled for completion the following year.

During the summer of 1980, a park shuttle program operated on weekends from the South 

Shore Railroad stops and recorded a creditable ridership. The program was a part of the 

Congressionally—authorized Visitor Access Transportation System (VATS). The Gary and 

Michigan City bus systems extension to the lakeshore were not funded during the year.

National Park Service Director Russell Dickenson appeared as guest of honor and keynote 

speaker at the annual dinner of the Save the Dunes Council on September 14. Accompanied 

by Midwest Regional Director Jimmie Dunning, Dickenson extended his support to the effort 

to enlarge the national lakeshore, but not the homeowner's terms in the proposed legislation. 

During the visit the two Park Service officials met with Gary Mayor Richard Hatcher to 

discuss the proposed marina. At that time, the Service endorsed in principle the concept of a 

marina. Dunning extended his stay to attend the fiftieth meeting of the Indiana Dunes 

Advisory Commission. [5]

Tom Coleman, Office of Special Populations and the Handicapped, from the Washington 

Office toured the national lakeshore with Superintendent Whitehouse and Assistant 

Superintendent Engquist on April 16. The group worked on identifying problem areas for 

handicapped access to visitor use facilities. Giving policy guidance to Superintendent 

Whitehouse on an application for a nude sunbathing area, the Midwest Regional Office 

responded that Federal regulations did not permit the designation of any segment of a park 

for the continuing exclusive use of any person or group. Park officials had to ensure that no 

harm to natural resources occurred from spectator activity whether it related to hang gliding 

or nude sunbathing. [6]
Indiana Dunes

Administrative History

PART II

CHAPTER TEN:

THE GREAT TURNING POINT, 1980 (continued)

A Future Course: The General Management Plan, 1977—1980

Recognizing that the succession of Master Plans prepared in the late 1960s were inadequate, 

the expansion bill of October 1976 called for the National Park Service to complete a General 

Management Plan (GMP) for the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore within two years. The 

first public meeting took place at the Tremont visitor center on August 30, 1977, when the 

Denver Service Center (DSC)—led GMP team introduced themselves to the public,

explained the planning process, and solicited initial input. [7]

In early 1978, GMP Team Captain Terry Savage transferred to the North Atlantic Regional 

Office and was replaced by David Laux. [8] In addition to Savage and Laux, the remainder 

of the GMP team is listed as follows:

Principals

James R. Whitehouse, Superintendent, Indiana Dunes

Fred Kaas, Midwest Regional Office

Dale Engquist, Assistant Superintendent, Indiana Dunes

Don Castleberry, former Assistant Superintendent, Indiana Dunes 

William Hendrickson, Senior Research Scientist, Indiana Dunes 

Michael Strunk, Landscape Architect, Denver Service Center 

David Solder, Outdoor Recreation Planner, Denver Service Center

Barbara Lavert, Urban Planner, Public Involvement Specialist, Denver Service Center

Nancy Dunkle, Environmental Specialist, Denver Service Center 

Roberta Seibel, Interpretive Planner, Denver Service Center 

Andrew Beck, Historical Architect, Denver Service Center

James Hooyboer, Program Analyst, Midwest Regional Office

Larry Waldron, Chief of Interpretation, Indiana Dunes

John Townsend, Chief Park Ranger, Indiana Dunes

Contributors

Mary Kimmitt, Supervisory Park Ranger, Interpretive Division, Indiana Dunes

John Paynter, Park Technician, Indiana Dunes

Louis Brunansky, Air Resource Specialist, Indiana Dunes 

Douglas Wilcox, Water Resource Specialist, Indiana Dunes 

Norman Henderson, Biologist, Indiana Dunes

Jim Straughan, Transportation Planner, Denver Service Center 

David Given, Environmental Engineer, Denver Service Center 

John Hoesterey, Geographer, Denver Service Center. [9]
Recalling the fiasco over the initial West Beach Development Concept Plan which 

engendered deep distrust of the Denver Service Center, the Save the Dunes Council insisted 

that a coordinator to handle public involvement be added to the lakeshore's staff. [10] 

Beginning January 1, 1978, team member Barbara Lavert, Urban Planner and Public 

Involvement Specialist, was reassigned to Indiana Dunes for the next two years. In his annual 

report, Superintendent Whitehouse explained the need for the change in Lavert's duty station:

Due to the complexity of the Indiana Dunes project, the overwhelming suspicion 

and lack of credibility, in general, towards the Denver Service Center by the 

Lakeshore community, a comprehensive public involvement program was 

adopted as an integral part of the GMP planning effort. A team member was 

stationed at the National Lakeshore and contact with individuals, organizations 

and agencies, either interested in or affected by, Lakeshore management, was 

initiated. [11]

The level of public involvement during the GMP processes was intensive. Public meetings 

with the same agenda were held in Chicago, Gary, Chesterton, Michigan City, and South 

Bend. It represented the first time that the National Park Service attempted to formulate a 

blueprint for the national lakeshore from public aspirations. [12]

Phase one of the GMP planning process involved twenty—eight public workshops with more 

than 1,000 participants between January 16 and May 13, 1978. A wide range of issues were 

identified including the overriding concern of development and use. One side called for slight 

use in order not to harm the natural ecosystem. A sizeable group, however, called for at least 

moderate park use with resource preservation implemented as much as possible. Facilities 

would be placed at the edge of the lakeshore boundaries and only in disturbed areas and with 

adaptively—reused structures if feasible. Utilizing public input, the team analyzed the data

against environmental and visitor use concerns, management needs, political considerations, 

and legal constraints. From this planning process, four preliminary alternative plans were 

formulated.

During phase two, five public workshops and numerous meetings resulted in the participation 

of more than 700 citizens between October 23 and November 6, 1978. The sessions analyzed 

the four preliminary alternative plans which were featured in a special October edition of the 

Singing Sands Almanac. Five hundred written responses were tabulated via computer with an 

aim toward identifying which parts of the four alternatives would be incorporated into the 

fifth, or preferred alternative. [13]

A sizeable delegation of ORV owners attempted to "pack" the public meetings in order to get 

ORV usage sanctioned in the park, primarily at the Inland Marsh area. Their arguments were 

successfully rebuffed by environmentalists like Herbert Read who reminded the planning

team of the clause in the 1966 authorization act asserting that dunes preservation—not 

devastation—was their preeminent responsibility. [14]

The Park Service's preferred alternative plan emerged during phase three between July 27 and 

August 23, 1979. Five public meetings saw more than 600 people participating and reviewing 

the two documents, "Assessment of Alternatives" and "Review of Alternatives." In the 

"Assessment," the team considered the environmental, economic, and social consequences of 

implementing the initial four alternatives and formulated a preferred alternative for the 

approval of the Midwest Regional Director. The "Review" outlined the decision—making 

process involved for the selection of the preferred alternative over the original four 

alternatives. Public response favored the level and type of development in the East Unit of

the lakeshore. Substantial criticism focused on transportation, access, circulation, and the 

proposed developments in the West Unit. Features proposed in the east were favored for the
west: a visitor facility, transit terminal, shuttle system, and South Shore Railroad stop.* No 

one wanted the continued use of the West Beach access road via County Line Road while 

most wanted to connect both ends of the park via a shuttle system and bicycle and foot trails. 

Other concerns involved a marina and the need to emphasize interpretation and

environmental education in the West Unit. Because the GMP team considered the concerns 

valid, it requested and received an extension of the planning and public review process 

beyond the Congressional deadline of October 1, 1979.

*Perhaps the most controversial part of the draft GMP involved West Unit 

development. The only facilities proposed were several small parking areas and 

some trails. Unanimous public opinion held that the west was being ignored. 

Some believed that the motivation was racial, to segregate the park's black and 

white populations, although there was no proof to substantiate the charge. The 

result was that a special task force reworked the proposals and endorsed a 

marina, an environmental education center, and a new access road. See Dale 

Engquist interview, 16 September 1987; and Charlotte Read interview, 22

September 1987.

To ensure an opportunity for maximum public input, phase four involved thirty meetings with 

more than 500 people participating. West Unit planning alternatives were the focus of debate 

in the final GMP formulation. To address the concerns raised during phase three, a task force 

formed and met frequently during September and October. Members of the task force were 

the Gary Planning Department, Northern Indiana Regional Planning Commission (NIRPC), 

Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Miller Citizens' Corporation, and Save the Dunes 

Council. With the combination of the task force and numerous public meetings, a consensus 

emerged and the GMP team incorporated the proposal into a new draft which received final 

public review ending February 8, 1980.

It would be impossible to overestimate the time and energy the national lakeshore and DSC 

staff devoted to the GMP process, particularly in the waning months. By the end of February, 

the exhausting two—and—a—half—year process concluded with Midwest Regional Director 

Jimmie Dunning's signature on the document, well before the new March 15 submittal date to 

Congress. To help carry out the GMP provisions and to provide continuing liaison with the 

area's active planning commissions, the national lakeshore received authorization for a new 

park planner/landscape architect. [15]

The preferred alternative, Alternative A, provided for a prime regional recreation area with 

day—use activities including swimming, interpretation, and environmental education. The 

remaining four alternatives are summarized as follows:

Alternative B proposed a high intensity use area involving many structures including a 

marina, ORV area, a cultural village setting, and campgrounds. The environmental impacts, 

however, were incompatible with the Resources Management Plan as well as established 

Service policies.

Alternative C proposed a low intensity use area which preserved and/or restored large areas 

for light recreation and nature study. The alternative was rejected because of the severe 

limitations imposed on visitor access to the park's resources.

Alternative D closely resembled the preferred alternative in that it proposed a medium 

intensity usage with daytime programs and facilities located throughout the lakeshore. The 

alternative proved unacceptable because several specific elements were based on insufficient
information, pronounced environmental impacts, and proposals contrary to Service policies. 

Alternative E, the no-action proposal, provided for the status quo. It was unacceptable 

because of its denial of many lakeshore areas to a limited number of visitors. [16]

Two principal themes characterize the 1980 General Management Plan. The first is for the 

Park Service to safeguard the resources which Congress mandated it to protect and to 

promote the duneland's natural evolution. The second is to provide facilities which 

compliment the environment to the greatest degree possible to provide a variety of quality 

park experiences to a large regional urban population. [17]

The GMP set forth the National Park Service's interest in engaging in cooperative 

arrangements with other public agencies to provide mass transit service to the national 

lakeshore. The transportation service, primarily railroad and bus, would link—up to the in—

park shuttle service. Utilizing the major U.S. highways of the area and the South Shore 

Railroad, the GMP proposed lessening traffic congestion and encouraging energy savings by 

providing an alternative to the privately—operated automobile. Establishing parking areas on 

the lakeshore's periphery, a visitor shuttle service would run from the satellite parking areas 

and railroad stops throughout the park. The Kemil Road rail stop would be redesigned to a 

full—service stop and the municipal bus systems of Gary and Michigan City would operate

to the lakeshore's shuttle terminals. Visitors could only drive their automobiles along the 

shuttle routes in low—use periods and commercial traffic would not be permitted. Two new 

park entrances would be featured. In the East Unit, the entrance would be at County Line 

Road with access facilitated by a new interchange on Interstate 94. In the West Unit, the 

entrance would be at Tolleston Dunes with Highway 51 extended into the area. [18]

Addressing the issue of development adjacent to the park, the report stated:

The General Management Plan recognizes the need for additional residential 

development adjacent to the park. However, the National Park Service is 

concerned about additional pressure for commercial strip development. This 

development will occur as Lakeshore development and recreational use increase 

and will result in greater demands for goods and services. It is imperative that 

adjacent municipalities recognize the possibility of these demands and initiate 

proper land use controls to minimize unwanted development. The National Park 

Service encourages proper development outside the National Lakeshore to 

provide necessary support facilities for Lakeshore visitors and residents alike. 

Lakeshore managers will cooperate with adjacent municipalities to ensure 

compatibility of planning and development efforts. [19]

Problems with land management within the lakeshore hinged largely on the circuitous 

boundaries:

The authorization pattern for Indiana Dunes has resulted in an extensive roving, 

twisting boundary that causes the National Lakeshore to weave in, out, and 

around a variety of lands with different uses. These are primarily rural and 

suburban residential development and industry. Adjacent land uses include three 

residential communities that are completely surrounded by the National 

Lakeshore boundary and major industrial complexes that physically divide the 

National Lakeshore and flank it on both the east and the west. [20]

The GMP divided the lakeshore into four separate land management zones: Natural, Historic, 

Park Development, and Special Use.

The Natural Zone involves three subzones: Natural Environment, Outstanding Natural

Feature, and Protected Natural Area. The Natural Environment Subzone encompasses most of
the lakeshore with 7,636 acres, or 57.3 percent. It includes beaches, dunes, wetlands. Its 

management strategy is to "provide quality nonconsumptive, resource—related recreation 

consistent with the protection of the natural ecosystem and with respect to private property 

rights; promote understanding and appreciation of park values; and to enhance recovery of 

lands to natural conditions." [21] The Outstanding Natural Feature Subzone includes the 

natural landmarks with heavy visitation like bogs, forests, Lake Michigan's shoreline, dunal 

ponds, and the large moving dunes. It is composed of 1,892 acres, or 14.2 percent of the 

lakeshore. The Protected Natural Area Subzone is the Heron Rookery Unit where minimal 

human intrusion is necessary for resource preservation. It involves 320 acres, or 2.4 percent 

of the park.

The Historic Zone, involving most of the lakeshore's historic properties and subjects, includes 

two subzones. The Preservation Subzone includes the House of Tomorrow and provides for 

restoration and interpretation of its architectural significance. The Preservation/Adaptive Use 

Subzone includes the Bailly Homestead and Cemetery, Florida Tropical House, and Rostone 

House. The total acreage is forty, or 0.3 percent of the park.

The Park Development Zone includes visitor use, administration, and maintenance facilities 

as well as roads and parking lots. Its three subzones, Recreational Development, 

Access/Circulation Development, and Educational/Interpretive Development, total 266 acres, 

or two percent of the lakeshore.

The Special Use Zone includes all areas of non—Federal lands where National Park Service 

interests are secondary only to another party such as state and local governments or 

commercial organizations. The Service, however, will continue to monitor land management 

practices within the zone to prevent damage to park values as well as the implementation of 

park policies in other zones. This includes 3,172 acres, or 23.8 percent of the park. The three 

subzones are Non—Federal Public Land, Industrial Lands, and Transportation. [22]

In the realm of natural resources management, the GMP committed the Service to learning 

more about the lakeshore's hydrological system through contracts with U.S. Geological 

Survey and its own staff in order to react to potential threats in an informed, timely manner.

One goal is to close some of the drainage ditches to reestablish wetland conditions on Federal 

land. If studies reveal lowering of the groundwater table by NIPSCO's construction of Bailly

I, the "Service will instruct the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to use whatever measures are 

necessary to obtain relief from the effects of the drawdown." [23] Shoreline management 

involved continued cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to mitigate shoreline 

erosion caused by the Michigan City harbor installations. Erosion prevention measures center 

at Mount Baldy while the Beverly Shores problem remains relatively unchecked.

Natural resource management of the dunes ecosystem will entail a prescribed burning plan 

which will be fine—tuned once the role of fire at Indiana Dunes is understood. Management 

of plant and animal communities entail compliance with the Endangered Species Act of 1973 

and a program to reestablish native species like the beaver. Monitoring wildlife populations 

like deer and raccoons will determine whether population increases will threaten vegetation or 

health. Exotic species (like wild cats and dogs) will be eliminated from natural zones.

Restoration of the natural landscapes once buildings, roads, and utilities are removed, 

involves regrading with soil appropriate to the surrounding area. Revegetation takes place 

with local varieties of plants situated in natural patterns. [24]

In the area of cultural resources management, the GMP provided for preservation of cultural 

properties through restoration and adaptive reuse, but no reconstructions. Plans for the Bailly 

Homestead are to restore the interior for interpretation and environmental education. The
1933 World's Fair houses and three Lustron homes would be nominated to the National 

Register of Historic Places (accomplished five years later) as will the South Shore Railroad 

route and equipment. The Chellberg Farm, although failing to meet National Register criteria, 

will be one of the focuses of the park's interpretive program. Although an inventory of 

archeological resources remains to be conducted, archeological sites will be protected and all 

known sites will be evaluated against National Register criteria. [25]

Visitor use will continue to increase and development of facilities will have to keep up. 

Shoreline availability will double with easy access to seven miles of lakefront. Recreational 

and interpretive opportunities will also increase in the inland areas with hostels, trail systems, 

and environmental education centers. Intensity of visitor usage predicted in the GMP is based 

on a 1977 contract study for the Bureau of Outdoor Recreation. Parking availability is based 

on less than carrying capacity in order to safeguard the lakeshore's environmental quality. 

Because of the concern for conflict between the increasing number of visitors and 

reservations—of—use holders, the GMP proposed introducing new visitor facilities in

phases. Developments which directly affect reservations—of—use will not be initiated until 

the reservations expire. The Service will use available structures, developed sites, and roads 

to provide additional facilities. Facilitating access will be performed with as little impact on 

the natural environment as possible. The intrusion of automobiles will be minimized by 

public transit and confining parking areas to the park's perimeter. [26] The GMP specifically 

states, however:

This proposal is predicated on Congressional authorization for the Service to 

acquire the Beverly Shores Island. The Park Service endorses this action because 

it would allow optimum access to be developed for the largest area of federal 

beach in the National Lakeshore and would help the Park Service to pursue a 

policy of allowing natural shoreline processes to proceed. [27]

Coordination of transportation planning in the West Unit will be coordinated with the 

emerging Little Calumet River recreation project and area railroad companies. A cooperative 

staging area for both the national lakeshore and the Little Calumet park will be at the Dunes 

Drive—in Theater on Highway 51 south of Highway 20. Designed to increase park access 

from Interstates 65, 80, 90, and 94, there will be as many as 1,000 additional parking spaces. 

When completed, parking at the West Beach bathhouse will be reduced to a number 

compatible with low use periods.

Planning for the proposed marina will proceed once feasibility/suitability studies are 

completed. A favored location is between the U.S. Steel breakwater east to Montgomery 

Street.

In the West Unit, a transportation terminal and information center will provide up to 800 

parking spaces and will develop under four phases. An environmental education/interpretation 

center will be east of Grand Boulevard with a laboratory, classrooms, display area,

auditorium, fifty—slot parking lot, and bicycle and cross—country ski rental space. The

Miller Woods area will be designated a national environmental study area.

In the East Unit, the transit terminal and information center will be at Woodlawn Avenue and

U.S. 12. Parking, shuttle service terminal, South Shore Railroad stop, and bicycle and cross

—country ski rental will be tied into the complex. Cresent Dune will accommodate boat 

anchorings, but the remainder of the shoreline will be reserved for swimming. (Note: This 

tract was not added under the 1980 bill.) Hiking trails in the unit will follow former trails. 

The Bailly Unit is a national environmental study area.

The Bailly interpretive station will serve as the central information and orientation facility in
the unit. Goodfellow Camp will be redesigned to be a residential environmental education 

camp. While the lodge will be renovated, other outbuildings will be removed in favor of tent 

platforms. The Coronado Lodge will become a hostel and canoe livery. Foot trails will 

connect all of the facilities, including links to the Little Calumet River developments.

The Cowles Unit, composed principally of the national natural landmark, will feature 

regulated access for safety considerations as well as to minimize adverse impacts. A small 

boat launch, restrooms, and parking will be at the end of Waverly Road near Porter Beach.

The Heron Rookery Unit will be accessible by permit only. Development in the fragile area 

will be limited to a small gravel parking area. Interpretation of the rookery will take place at 

the Tremont interpretive center.

The Pinhook Bog Unit will have an interpretive center at the existing ranger residence 

adjacent to the national natural landmark. Guided walks will take place on boardwalks and 

existing foot trails.

The Indiana Dunes State Park Unit will continue under state stewardship until Indiana decides 

to donate the park. The Park Service will consult with the state to extend the national 

lakeshore's shuttle service and trail system into the Dunes State Park.

The Hoosier Prairie Unit likewise will continue under Indiana's management. The GMP 

committed the Park Service to working with the State so that thirty—three acres of Service—

owned disturbed land could be used by the State for the national natural landmark's 

development.

Visitor information and orientation will occur at the west and east entrances to the national 

lakeshore. Displays and personnel will inform visitors of available transportation options. On

—site interpretive programs will occur throughout the park with environmental education and 

human interaction with the natural processes an integral theme. Also parkwide will be 

backpack camping conducted under close supervision with the goal of teaching 

environmentally sound camping skills. [28]

Management objectives for Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, clearly established in the

GMP, are as follows:

Identify, inventory, and monitor the scenic, scientific, geologic, archeologic, and 

historic features and the unique flora, fauna, and physiography of the lakeshore, 

and provide for their protection and use.

Secure, through acquisition or other means, a land base adequate to ensure long

—term protection and environmentally compatible public use of lands within the 

park's legislatively authorized boundary.

Assure that all lands and waters within the lakeshore boundaries, whether owned 

by the National Park Service, the State of Indiana, or local governments, are 

managed in a compatible and consistent manner to achieve park purposes.

Restore natural processes and conditions of the shoreline using the techniques 

available now and in the future and allow natural erosion and dynamic beach 

building processes to proceed unimpeded. Where it is not possible or feasible to 

restore the natural processes, as in the case of erosion caused by the Michigan 

City harbor structures, mitigate the effects of the unnatural or disruptive 

influences to the extent possible, by means most closely approximating natural 

forces.
Maintain native plant and animal interrelationships and protect, re—establish 

where appropriate, and manage native prairies.

Remove developments which are not necessary for area management and public 

use in order to reduce intrusion on the natural and historic scenes and to facilitate 

restoration to the natural or desired conditions.

Identify, provide for, and regulate appropriate recreational uses of the lakeshore 

in a manner consistent with the protection of the scenic, natural, and historic 

resources and existing private rights, and provide access and facilities within the 

lakeshore to permit and manage such uses.

Coordinate planning and development of the lakeshore with other affected 

governmental, political, and private entities and the surrounding communities in 

such a fashion that the provision of necessary visitor services not required within 

park boundaries may be identified and provided for in the surrounding region.

Interpret the natural, cultural, and historical significance of the lakeshore as an 

interrelated, dynamic, evolving environment.

Portray the drama of the forces, social as well as natural, that have produced the 

distinctive features of the lakeshore and help visitors understand and appreciate 

those processes and features.

Provide interpretation for various depths of interests, including general concepts, 

in—depth interpretation, and environmental education, particularly in regard to 

the diverse visitation—a large number of repeat local and regional visitors and

an increasing number of national visitors.

Explore and interpret the park's function as a natural area within a heavily 

industrialized and urbanized region, with increasing urban visitation.

Assist park visitors to the lakeshore and surrounding region by providing 

adequate information and orientation on visitor uses and services; provide basic 

visitor services required to encourage year—round use; insure the safety of 

visitors and residents; provide fire protection; and protect the rights of 

homeowners.

Plan, develop, and interpret the lakeshore to promote maximum energy 

efficiency, including mass transit and alternative transportation for park 

visitation.

Serve the recreational and informational needs of special populations found in 

the lakeshore's visitation area, including programs for the economically, 

disadvantaged, physically and developmentally handicapped, non—English 

speaking, and youth and senior citizen groups. [29]

Implementation of the General Management Plan will take place in four phases and will be 

subject to Congressional appropriations. Management actions and objectives will be 

accomplished in ways which minimize conflicts between visitors and reservations—of—use 

holders. The following is a list of phased development actions arranged in priority order.

Phase one began immediately following GMP approval and includes development of 

information services and alternative means of transportation for access to and circulation
within the national lakeshore. The list of phase one provisions is as follows:

1. Conduct marina feasibility study.

2. Acquire land for West Unit entrance.

3. Construct access road to West Beach and shuttle access road from 

environmental education/inter pretation center to Miller Woods trailhead.

4. Acquire and develop lands for east end transit terminal/information center;

initially provide 300 parking spaces.

5. Construct west end environmental education center; provide 50 parking 

spaces.

6. Construct west end transit terminal/information center; initially provide 300 

parking spaces.

7. Initiate development of west and east South Shore Railroad transit stops.

8. Initiate shuttle service from west and east transit terminal/information centers.

9. Implement Bailly environmental education camp program.

10. Complete Bailly administrative area development (includes maintenance 

facilities, YACC facilities, and utilities for administrative area and Bailly Unit). 

[30]

Phase two will take place on Service—controlled lands that either are presently accessible or 

will have been made accessible through phase one actions. Phase two will primarily provide 

development to support expanding programs and activities. The list of phase two provisions is 

as follows:

1. Develop Miller Woods kiosk, trail system and trailhead.

2. Stabilize historic resources to prevent further deterioration.

3. Improve roads in the Bailly Unit.

4. Develop State Park Road beach access.

5. Develop Central Avenue beach access.

6. Improve East Unit roads.

7. Develop Inland Marsh trailhead and trails.

8. Develop Chellberg farm interpretive facilities.

9. Develop Pinhook Bog trails and interpretive station.

10. Develop Calumet canoe livery and hostel.

11. Develop Mount Baldy dune access and kiosk.

12. Develop Furnessville Road trailhead and warming hut.
13. Develop Cowles Bog interpretive station and trails.

14. Develop North Miller Woods kiosk.

15. Develop one Edgewater hostel.

16. Develop Miller Woods lagoon warming hut. [31]

Phase three will augment interpretive programs, provide additional hostel facilities, make 

more inland areas accessible, and continue cultural resource development in the Bailly Unit. 

The list of phase three provisions is as follows:

1. Develop Waverly Road beach and boat launch.

2. Refurbish Tremont visitor center.

3. Provide Tremont family hostels.

4. Adapt Bailly homestead for interpretive use.

5. Expand and improve Bailly Unit trails.

6. Provide Bailly Unit family hostel.

7. Improve Tremont Unit roads.

8. Develop second Edgewater hostel.

9. Expand east and west transit terminal/information center parking (300 spaces 

each).

10. Expand parkwide shuttle system.

11. Develop trail links with Little Calumet River Regional Park.

12. Relocate Florida Tropical House and adapt for hostel. [32]

Phase four will necessitate the completion of land acquisition and the phasing—out of 

reservations—of—use prior to implementation. It will complete the shuttle system, hostel 

system, entrance developments, and provide for the West Unit marina. The list of phase four 

provisions is as follows:

1. Improve shuttle route and extend to serve new developments and Indiana

Dunes State Park.

2. Provide new signs at Dune Acres South Shore Railroad stop.

3. Complete parking (200 spaces) at east and west end transit 

terminal/information centers.

4. Complete House of Tomorrow restoration.

5. Develop Broadway Avenue beach access.

6. Develop Lakeshore County Road beach access.
Division Permane t Temporary

Administration 11 3.7

Management 5 4.8

Natural Science 9 5.0

Interpretation 20 39.0

Resource Management and Visitor Protection 18 56.5

Maintenance 44 54.8

Shuttle_Bus Operation 10 30.0

TOTALS 117 193.8 [34]

7. Develop Mount Baldy beach access.

8. Complete road improvements.

9. Complete Heron Rookery improvements.

10. Complete East Unit hostel system.

11. Complete East Unit trail development.

12. Remove up to 500 West Beach parking spaces.

13. Complete implementation of parkwide shuttle system. [33]

The GMP, citing additional costs for archeological survey work, estimated the total national 

lakeshore development costs in net 1979 dollars at $30,179,000. Personnel requirements for 

the GMP implementation are as follows:

n

Congress received the approved General Management Plan before the extended March 15 

deadline with a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) made by the Midwest Regional 

Office. Almost immediately, the lakeshore began to prepare its requisite forms (10—238s) to 

initiate funding from Congress. Indiana Dunes' priorities were entered into Regionwide and 

Servicewide priority lists. However, as had already become commonplace, the national 

lakeshore clearly did not fit into any ordered project funding program. Local Congressmen 

were adept at inserting line—item funding for park developments into annual appropriations 

bills. [35]
Indiana Dunes

Administrative History

PART II

CHAPTER TEN:

THE GREAT TURNING POINT, 1980 (continued)

The Dunes Expansion Act of 1980

A deal in which U.S. Steel Corporation would donate most, but not all, of its lands included 

within the authorized lakeshore boundaries came to fruition in 1980. The proposed donation 

of 212 acres became controversial, however, when many feared the donation might result in 

de facto modification of the 1976 authorized boundary, i.e., that the remainder would not be 

acquired. Before he would sanction the donation, Congressman Phillip Burton, Chairman of 

the Subcommittee on National Parks and Insular Affairs, demanded and received personal 

assurances from Director William Whalen. Burton asked that the Park Service continue to 

seek the remaining acres of U.S. Steel land. As for fencing to separate the two areas, Burton 

requested the fence construction and location not impair the area's environmental integrity. 

[36]

The donation of U.S. Steel land, adjacent to its Gary works in the Miller Woods area, did not

include four tracts totaling ninety—three acres, forty—four of which were on the priority 

acquisition list. Three areas used for solid waste disposal were restricted under the 1976 act 

which stipulated the Secretary could not acquire them until he received assurances the land 

would be reclaimed at no expense to the government. For this remaining acreage, the 

company promised to protect the land and cease disposing of solid waste there. In a

ceremony at Gary on May 28, 1980, U.S. Steel donated 212 acres to the Indiana Dunes 

National Lakeshore. Midwest Regional Director Jimmie Dunning accepted the deed on behalf 

of the National Park Service. [37]

Another land exchange occurred at Hoosier Prairie where the Park Service owned thirty—one 

acres and the State of Indiana held 305 acres. Because Indiana operated the National Natural 

Landmark as a State Nature Preserve, the state wanted to acquire the Service—owned area to 

continue its operations. In early 1980, Superintendent Whitehouse met with officials of the 

Indiana Department of Natural Resources and Department of Corrections to negotiate a land 

exchange. William Lieber, Chairman of the Indiana Dunes Advisory Commission, was 

instrumental in arranging the meeting. The proposal on the table involved the Department of 

Corrections transferring sixty-nine acres at Blue Heron Rookery to the Department of Natural 

Resources which in turn would then exchange the tract for the Service—owned land at 

Hoosier Prairie. The transaction would grant the Park Service complete control and protection 

of the Blue Heron Rookery while the state could utilize the Service—owned land to develop 

minimal visitor facilities at Hoosier Prairie. In no way did the agreement preclude the Service 

from seeking Indiana's donation of Hoosier Prairie and other state—owned tracts within the 

national lakeshore. [38

A new land acquisition policy in 1980 necessitated that each unit of the National Park System 

compile a Land Acquisition Plan. At Indiana Dunes, the Advisory Commission provided
input and held public meetings to arrive at a draft plan. The plan provided five categories for 

acquisition. The highest priority encompassed land near Lake Michigan which could be used 

for recreational purposes while the lowest priority involved vacant lots not targeted for 

development. By June, the park's Land Acquisition Plan received official approval. [39]

By the fall of 1980 the Indiana Dunes Land Acquisition Office also assumed responsibility 

for completing the land acquisition program at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore 

because of the closure of the lands office in Frankfort, Michigan. [40]

While the Park Service had the right to acquire 20.18 acres of beach from Ogden Dunes 

because the land transferred to public ownership after passage of the 1966 act, Congress 

directed the Service to acquire the Ogden Dunes beach only after all other beachfront 

property had been purchased. On August 27, 1979, the lakeshore made provisions for public 

access to the Ogden Dunes beach by negotiating a Memorandum of Agreement with the 

town. The agreement did not preclude the future need for fee acquisition of the beach. The 

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Advisory Commission concurred with this arrangement 

the following year. [41]

As previously discussed, the movement to expand the lakeshore boundaries intensified 

following the 1976 expansion act. It reached a peak in 1980, an election year. Senate and 

House versions differed considerably and much controversy surrounded the Beverly Shores 

Island, U.S. 12 parkway, and the NIPSCO greenbelt issues, none of which made it into the 

final bill. In early September 1980, Indiana Senators Birch Bayh, a Democrat, and Richard 

Lugar, a Republican, worked together to eliminate the controversial tracts. The Senate 

version provided for 1,014 acres—420 less than the House bill. Save the Dunes Council

Executive Director Charlotte Read attributed the "gutting" of the House expansion bill to the 

influence of National Inholder Association founder Charles Cushman with conservative 

members of the Senate Interior Committee. Even the 182—acre golf course tract, proposed 

for use as a campground, was reduced to 150 acres.

According to one Senate aide, "The feeling is that we should get the best bill we can through. 

Everybody's sick of dealing with it." [42] The statement proved to be right on target as 

House—Senate conferees eliminated other controversial features, including the greenbelt and 

Beverly Shores Island, along with the portion encompassing U.S. 12—further delaying 

planning for the proposed parkway. In the waning days of his term in office, President Jimmy 

Carter signed Public Law 96-612 on December 28, 1980. Only 488 acres were added to the 

lakeshore. The 1980 act effectively ended the debate over renaming* the lakeshore by 

dedicating it as well as a proposed environmental education center to the late Senator

Douglas, a compromise first proposed by the national lakeshore staff and concurred in by the 

Advisory Commission. The bill also modified homeowner provisions and authorized a new 

transportation study. [43]

*While it felt the move was appropriate, the Save the Dunes Council ultimately 

lined up with the Indiana Congressional Delegation in opposing the name 

change. Although its position disappointed Congressman Sidney Yates and the

Douglas family, the Council recognized the political impossibility of the measure 

to rename an Indiana park for an Illinois senator. See Charlotte Read interview,

22 September 1987.

Additions to Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore under the 1980 act included significant tracts 

in Beverly Shores, Gary, and parcels for proposed developments in the East and West Units. 

In Beverly Shores, the golf course tract was identified for a future campground. In Gary, the
lakeshore stretched westward towards downtown and incorporated significant wetlands and 

other undeveloped natural areas. Congress endorsed the Park Service's recommendations in

the 1980 GMP by authorizing for inclusion land for the East Unit Transit Center and the West

Unit access road. [44]

With the General Management Plan in place and the process of "rounding out" the boundaries 

a recognized concern, the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore reached a milestone in its 

history. The lakeshore was on a solid footing with its future plan of development clearly 

defined.
Indiana Dunes

Administrative History

PART II

CHAPTER TEN:

ENDNOTES

1. Greg Reising, General Management Plan public meeting, Gary, Indiana, 16 January 1980, 

transcript of testimony, visitor center library.

2. Superintendent's Report for Calendar Year 1980, Management Library; and Superintendent 

Dale Engquist to Regional Director Don Castleberry, 3 March 1988, review comments on 

administrative history, H1417, Cultural Resources Management files, Midwest Regional 

Office.

3. Superintendent's Report for Calendar Year 1980; and Jim Eng, "NIPSCO Wants Interior

Dept. to Withdraw Environmental Request," The Chesterton Tribune (12 December 1980), p.

10, folder—December 1980, visitor center library.

4. Superintendent Engquist to Regional Director Castleberry, 3 March 1988, review 

comments on administrative history, H1417, Cultural Resources Management files, Midwest 

Regional Office.

5. Superintendent's Report for Calendar Year 1980; Meeting of 20 June 1980, Indiana Dunes

National Lakeshore Advisory Commission Minutes, 1979—1982, Management Library; and 

Bob Jackson, "Energy Crunch Boon to Close—to—Home U.S. Parks," Gary Post—Tribune

(15 September 1980), folder—September 1980, visitor center library.

6. Acting Regional Director R. Niel Thorne to Superintendent J. R. Whitehouse, 24 July

1980, L3425 Water Sports.

7. Superintendent's Report for Calendar Year 1977; and Meeting of 21 October 1977, Indiana

Dunes National Lakeshore Advisory Commission Minutes, 1977—1978, Management 

Library.

8. Meeting of 14 July 1978, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Advisory Commission

Minutes, 1977—1978, Management Library.

9. General Management Plan, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, Indiana (Denver: Denver

Service Center, National Park Service, 1980), p. 63. (Hereinafter cited as GMP, 1980).

10. Charlotte Read, Executive Director, Save the Dunes Council, interview, 22 September

1987, at Superintendent's Office, Bailly Administrative Area, Indiana Dunes National

Lakeshore, Porter, Indiana, transcript.

11. Superintendent's Report for Calendar Year 1978, Management Library.

12. Dale B. Engquist, Superintendent, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, interview, 16
September 1987, at Midwest Regional Office, Omaha, Nebraska, transcript.

13. Superintendent's Report for Calendar Year 1978 and 1979, Management Library.

14. Herbert Read, Engineering Chairman, Save the Dunes Council, interview, 22 September

1987, at Bailly Ranger Station, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, Porter, Indiana, transcript;

and Engquist interview, 16 September 1987.

15. Superintendent's Report for Calendar Year 1980, Management Library; Meeting of 14

August and 19 October 1979, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Advisory Commission

Minutes, 1979—1982; and "March 15 Set as New Date for Submission of Indiana Dunes 

Master Plan to Congress," Office of the Superintendent news release, 5 October 1979.

16. Meeting of 27 July 1979, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Advisory Commission

Minutes, 1979—1982.

17. GMP, 1980, pp. 1—2.

18. Ibid., pp. 4, 26, 28.

19. Ibid., p. 45.

20. Ibid., pp. 9—10.

21. Ibid., p. 11.

22. Ibid., pp. 12—14.

23. Ibid., p. 17.

24. Ibid., pp. 17—20.

25. Ibid., pp. 21—3.

26. Ibid., pp. 24—6.

27. Ibid., p. 25.

28. Ibid., pp. 28—35.

29. Ibid., Appendix A, pp. 47—8.

30. Ibid., pp. 38-9.

31. Ibid., pp. 39-40.

32. Ibid., pp. 40—1.

33. Ibid., p. 41.

34. Ibid., pp. 41—2.

35. Meeting of 21 March 1980, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Advisory Commission

Minutes, 1979—1982.

36. Representative Phillip Burton to Director Bill Whalen, letter, 21 February 1980, and
Whalen to Burton, letter, 5 March 1980, file—A3815 Congressional Inquiries and

Correspondence F.Y. 80—81.

37. Meeting of 21 March 1980, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Advisory Commission

Minutes, 1979—1982; Superintendent Whitehouse to Director Russell Dickenson, 8

September 1980, file—A5639 Indiana Dunes Briefing Statements 1973—1980; and

Superintendent's Report for Calendar Year 1980.

38. Ibid., and Meeting of 20 June 1980, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Advisory

Commission Minutes, 1979—1982.

39. Meeting of 21 March 1980, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Advisory Commission

Minutes, 1979—1982; and Superintendent's Report for Calendar Year 1980.

40. Ibid., Meeting of 13 September 1980.

41. Ibid., Meeting of 21 March 1980; and Superintendent Engquist to Regional Director 

Castleberry, 3 March 1988, review comments on administrative history, H1417, Cultural 

Resources Management files, Midwest Regional Office.

42. Charlie Green, "Bayh, Lugar Near Accord on Lakeshore Bill," Gary Post—Tribune (3

September 1980), file—A5639 Indiana Dunes Briefing Statements, 1973-1980; and Charlotte 

Read, Executive Director, Save the Dunes Council, interview, 22 September 1987, at 

Superintendent's Office, Bailly Administrative Area, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, 

Porter, Indiana, transcript.

43. Superintendent's Report for Calendar Year 1980; James R. Whitehouse, former 

Superintendent, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, interview, 12 March 1987, Orlando, 

Florida, transcript; and John Schnurlein, former member and chairman of the Indiana Dunes 

National Lakeshore Advisory Commission, interview, 23 September 1987, at Superintendent's 

Office, Bailly Administrative Area, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, Porter, Indiana, 

transcript.

44. Superintendent Engquist to Regional Director Castleberry, 3 March 1988, review 

comments on administrative history, H1417, Cultural Resources Management files, Midwest 

Regional Office.
Indiana Dunes

Administrative History

PART II

CHAPTER ELEVEN:

REAGANOMICS OR RETRENCHMENT?

Pleased be assured that, reports to the contrary notwithstanding, the Department 

of the Interior has no plans to deauthorize Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, or 

otherwise eliminate it from the National Park System.

June 8, 1981, letter from Secretary of the Interior James Watt to Senator Charles

H. Percy (Republican—Illinois). [1]

Operations, 1981—1983

1981

Recreational visits registered a slight decrease in 1981, the first such drop in Indiana Dunes 

National Lakeshore's ten—year operational history. Although interpretive and environmental 

education visitation continued to rise, recreational visitation fell 16.3 percent to stand at an 

overall annual total of 1,023,436. Justification for the depressed figures rested heavily on the 

record—setting rainfall which fell during the summer months thereby discouraging beach 

use. The summer deluges caused water quality problems as the overabundance of rainwater 

runoff and inadequate municipal sewage treatment facilities combined to force the periodic 

closing of beaches.

New exhibits were designed by the Harpers Ferry Center and installed at the Bailly and 

Chellberg visitor center. Rehabilitation activities continued on several of the Chellberg Farm 

structures. Complying with the 1980 act to commemorate former Senator Paul H. Douglas, a 

wayside exhibit at West Beach and a new brochure were designed in 1981.

The lakeshore's resource management component underwent reorganization as a Resource 

Management Specialist was added to the Resource Management and Visitor Protection 

Division thereby assuming some of the responsibilities formerly performed by the Science

Office. During the year, the park completed the first draft of its Resources Management Plan.

The lakeshore limited boat access in West Beach in an effort to further protect visitors by 

buoying the shoreline westward to the boundary at County Line Road. Under the Code of 

Federal Regulations 36 Part 3, no craft can operate within 500 feet of any designated 

swimming areas. New West Beach facilities opened during the year including the visitor 

contact station, the entrance/fee collection kiosk, and the maintenance facility.

In Interpretation, more than 60,000 visitors attended nearly 2,000 environmental education 

programs. Because of a lack of staff, however, nearly 12,000 persons could not be 

accommodated. Twenty—one thousand people attended the Fifth Annual Duneland Folk
Festival and six thousand others participated in division—sponsored hikes, walks, and talks. 

The Volunteers In Parks (VIPs) program continued to flourish with four thousand hours 

donated.

The Maintenance Division remained responsive to the park's daily needs with seven 

permanent staff members and an overall Full—Time Equivalency (FTE) ceiling of 35.8. 

Under special authority from Congress, the second major road rehabilitation contract resulted 

in completion of work on East State Park Road (or Kemil Road), Howe Road, and Waverly 

Road. Fiscal Year 1981 signalled the "beginning of the end" for the YACC program. Because 

of budget reductions, the phase—out of YACC at Indiana Dunes saw the elimination of the 

camp administrative officer and one crew leader, the halting of recruitment activities at mid

—year, and the return of all GSA vehicles.

Beach nourishment activities by the Corps of Engineers ended a five—year, $1.5 million 

erosion control program. In December 1981 alone, workers deposited 80,000 cubic yards of 

sand at Mount Baldy.

In October, separate fires destroyed five homes. The suspicious evening blazes were 

investigated by lakeshore rangers as well as officers of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and 

Firearms. When the inquiry yielded a determination of arson, the Federal Bureau of 

Investigation (FBI) was alerted. The National Park Service posted a reward of $1,000 for 

information leading to the arrest and conviction of the culprit(s). [2] No one was arrested, but 

the increased law enforcement activity curtailed the problem.

1982

One of the most significant events of the year involved a change of leadership in the office of 

the Superintendent. After thirty years in the National Park Service and twelve years at Indiana 

Dunes, Superintendent James R. Whitehouse retired. His retirement became effective in 

December, although his last day was October 31. Whitehouse's apparent successor was 

Assistant Superintendent Dale Engquist. Engquist's familiarity with park operations thereby 

assured a smooth transition in park management. (See following section, "1983.")

Visitation rebounded in 1982 after the previous year's slight drop to register a 4.22 percent 

increase. Interpretation and environmental education programs suffered a twenty percent cut 

because of hiring ceiling restrictions and the resulting decrease in seasonal staff. Program 

attendance registered a mere decline of 500 people.

As in other Midwest Region areas, computer technology first came to Indiana Dunes during 

the year. Introduction of computers, especially in the area of word processing, greatly 

facilitated park operations. Many mistakes were made in the early stages as no specialists 

were on staff to coordinate the new technology. Within a very short time, however, computer 

usage permeated nearly every division.

Initiated in 1981, the Resource Management and Visitor Protection (RM and VP) Division 

underwent reorganization in 1982. The two subunits of Visitor Protection and Resource 

Management were formed. New resource management positions were added and positions 

and functions of science more directly related to monitoring and implementation were 

transferred from Science to Resource Management (e.g., fire management and air and water 

quality monitoring). The Science Office remained as a separate division. The administrative 

shift improved the park's ability to identify and react to natural and cultural resource threats. 

Superintendent Whitehouse envisioned that the reorganization would facilitate 

implementation of recommended actions in the Resources Management Plan as well as help 

face the multiple environmental problems identified in the park's numerous scientific studies.
A Resource Management monitoring project came to a successful conclusion in 1982 with 

NIPSCO fulfilling all requirements of the February 1978 agreement with the Department of 

the Interior. The NIPSCO fly ash ponds were effectively sealed and the danger of seepage 

onto lakeshore lands abated.

In May, Denver Service Center-led planning activities for developments under phase one of 

the General Management Plan began, including the East and West Unit Transit Centers, West 

Unit Access Road, Paul H. Douglas Environmental Education Center, Gary/Marquette Park 

Marina, and the Transportation Plan. Planning also began for exhibits for the West Beach 

visitor contact facility. The Gary marina feasibility/suitability study served as the basis for a 

November 22 meeting between Midwest Regional Director Jimmie Dunning and Mayor 

Richard Hatcher of Gary. The study recommended any of three proposed locations for the 

facility. The men agreed to proceed with the environmental impact statement (EIS).

Both a feasibility study and an EIS were prepared by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 

regard to Indiana's shoreline erosion problems. The Corps recommended continued beach 

nourishment to offset the erosion in the national lakeshore's East Unit caused by Michigan 

City's harbor facilities.

Major road rehabilitation projects again were Congressionally authorized at Indiana Dunes. 

The lakeshore received permission to use road rehabilitation funds from its Operation of the 

National Park System (ONPS) base for road maintenance activities regardless of road 

ownership.

Phase—out of the YACC program occurred during the year to mark the end of YACC at 

Indiana Dunes. All enrollees were terminated on March 31 and the last YACC camp staff 

member departed on April 30. The benefits of utilizing a non—Park Service, low—cost labor 

force did not cease as a three—month Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) program began on 

June 14. Former YACC Camp Director Jon Evans was reappointed to serve as YCC director. 

The non—residential YCC program employed forty—four people, more than half of whom 

lived in Gary or Michigan City.

The young workers, augmented with Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) 

workers, were distributed throughout the lakeshore's divisions to assist in daily operations. In 

Maintenance, the workers joined division employees at Mount Baldy for dune restoration 

activities and construction of a trail and small picnic area. Other maintenance activities 

included installation of Blue Heron Rookery boundary markers and a trail along the Little 

Calumet River complete with interpretive signs and fishing access points.

In April 1982, the Land Acquisition Office moved from Marquette Mall in Michigan City to 

the Bailly Administrative Area. The office occupied the north end of a building which 

formerly served as YACC camp headquarters.

Parking lot fee collection at West Beach increased from one to two dollars during the peak

Memorial Day to Labor Day season.

Superintendent Whitehouse became the Midwest Region's coordinator for the State of Indiana 

in early 1982. The responsibilities of State Coordinator included consulting with other Park 

Service superintendents in Indiana (George Rogers Clark National Historical Park and

Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial) and keeping the Midwest Regional Office informed of 

pertinent developments which might affect Service programs and operations in Indiana.

In legislative developments, the proposed land exchange between the National Park Service 

and the State of Indiana succeeded with President Ronald Reagan signing the measure into 

law on October 20. Congressional action was necessary because the lands to be exchanged
were not of equal value. The legislation permitted the Service to execute an agreement with 

the Indiana Department of Natural Resources for each agency to control lands within the Blue 

Heron Rookery and Hoosier Prairie respectively.

Some disappointing actions regarding the park's popular bimonthly publication, Singing

Sands Almanac, took place in 1982. As late as the fall of 1981, the Superintendent of 

Documents at the U.S. Government Printing Office began purchasing 1,468 copies of each 

issue to distribute to Federal Publications Depositories throughout the country. On May 20,

1982, however, government—financed publication of the Singing Sands Almanac terminated 

under a circular from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The order resulted in 

the halting of distribution plans for the May—June 1982 edition. Superintendent Whitehouse

explained to the press that termination of government publication of the Almanac came about 

from a moratorium on the printing of government periodicals. Whitehouse revealed the 

lakeshore was exploring alternatives to permit publishing through private funding sources, in 

which case the former mailing list entries (11,000) would be offered an opportunity to 

resubscribe. In the meantime, Whitehouse announced the Almanac would be replaced by a 

free schedule of activities available for distribution to park visitors upon request. Concerned 

about the Almanac's demise, the Indiana Dunes Advisory Commission recommended that 

Secretary James Watt request an exemption from OMB. Watt declined, but added his support 

for obtaining private funding to publish Singing Sands Almanac.

A revised Statement for Management reflecting the 1980 GMP was approved on October 6. 

Interpretive prospectuses for the Bailly and Chellberg Farm areas were approved two months 

later.

The local political environment shifted during the year upon the Congressional redistricting

of Indiana. The national lakeshore, once included in three different districts, now found itself 

within the new First Congressional District. Because of the redistricting, Rep. Floyd Fithian 

lost his seat. To compound the turmoil, on September 4, First District Congressman Adam 

Benjamin, Jr. died. Benjamin's replacement, Mrs. Katie Hall, was elected to fill the First 

District seat in the November election. In appreciation of Benjamin's great friendship toward 

the lakeshore, the Indiana Dunes Advisory Commission joined other local groups in urging 

that the proposed Gary marina be named after the late Congressman. [3]

1983

Visitation continued to climb, hitting a record annual high of 1,510,630—a 41.6 percent 

increase over 1982 levels. With extreme heat experienced during the summer, people went to 

the beaches in droves causing the closing of the national lakeshore's four beach parking lots

148 times for a total of 538 hours.

Backed by the enthusiastic support of a united Indiana Congressional Delegation, the

National Park Service approved the elevation of Assistant Superintendent Dale B. Engquist to 

fill the Superintendent's position. [4] Even though it conflicted with policy, J. R. Whitehouse 

enthusiastically advocated Dale Engquist's selection. The Advisory Commission initiated an 

intensive letter—writing campaign to get Engquist into the position. Not until a letter 

endorsing Engquist was signed by all twelve Indiana Representatives, two Senators, and 

Governor did the Service relent and change its mind—but not before a fast phone call from 

the Department to HOPE (Homeowners Opposed to Park Expansion)/Indiana Dunes Nature 

Conservancy was made to gain that organization's approval. As a result, Engquist had to meet 

with HOPE representatives before they reported they did not oppose his becoming 

superintendent. Engquist's unorthodox succession to the superintendency was yet another 

reminder of the lakeshore's close link to the political pulse. [5]
Six rangers in the West Beach Unit received the Department of the Interior Unit Award for 

Excellence from Secretary James Watt. Recognized for their efforts to reverse adverse usage 

at West Beach in favor of a family—oriented environment were Dave Montalbano, John 

Cannon, Sue Kylander, Phillip Lawson, Paul Crawford, and Fred Grish.

The Interpretation Division became more efficient in November 1983 with an internal 

reorganization. The separate Visitor Services (Public Activities) and Environmental 

Education subdivisions were merged to form the Visitor Services Subdivision which handled 

all programs and attended station operations. Festivals and interpretive planning were 

managed by the Interpretive Planning and Support Subdivision. The changes reduced lead 

positions from four to two, elevated productivity, and improved the lakeshore's planning 

capabilities.

Denver Service Center planners completed preliminary planning documents for the Douglas 

Environmental Education Center and construction funds were appropriated for the Service's 

Fiscal Year 1984 budget.

When President Reagan signed the Emergency Jobs Act of 1983 (P.L. 98—8) on March 24, 

the Park Service received $25 million, $211,000 of which went to Indiana Dunes National 

Lakeshore. The emergency employment funding permitted the lakeshore to hire thirty—one 

people to engage in a number of maintenance and construction projects listed as follows:

1. Completed installation of the fire and security alarm systems at Bailly 

Homestead, Chellberg Farm, Rostone House, and 3,300—unit park museum 

collection at the temporary environmental education center. ($28,000 value.)

2. Conducted parkwide site restoration and cleanup activities, including dump 

sites in the Miller Woods area. Installed and repaired cables and other barricades 

to prevent use by off—road vehicles and illegal dumping. A total of 1,380 yards 

of debris were removed. ($76,100 value.)

3. Rehabilitated and improved safety on horse and ski trails, including trail 

stabilization, repair of bridge and drainage systems, and installation of 

boardwalks and signs. ($50,100 value.)

4. Rehabilitated and improved safety on the Little Calumet Trail, including a half

—mile route revision, resurfacing, and boardwalk repairs. ($10,000 value.)

5. Rehabilitated and improved safety on the West Beach Trail, including adding 

woodchips and construction and repair of steps and boardwalks. ($27,400 value.)

6. Completed improvements at the West Beach Picnic Area, including 

installation of a fire hydrant, eight wooden picnic shelters, and a wood—frame 

railroad stop station. ($5,000 value.)

7. Replaced six water system shut—off valves in the Bailly Administrative Area. 

($12,000 value.)

8. Installed safety handrailing at visitor center. ($3,000 value.)

YCC enrollees also continued to be intermixed in park operations with thirty—five in 

Maintenance, twelve in Resource Management and Visitor Protection, three in Science, one 

in Interpretation, and one in Administration. In addition to providing assistance in park 

maintenance programs and scientific monitoring projects, the YCC workers assisted with the 

self—guided Dune Succession Trail at West Beach, completed work on the Mount Baldy
Trail, and helped with boundary survey and posting activities.

Once again the lakeshore received ONPS base funding for rehabilitating non—Federal roads 

within its boundaries. Additional parking areas were added at Inland Marsh, Pinhook Bog, 

and the Blue Heron Rookery. Service maintenance workers also realigned the West Beach 

visitor contact station and entrance road.

Volunteers In Parks (VIPs) donated more than 8,400 work hours to save the park an 

estimated $57,200. The 135 VIPs, combined with various local community groups, helped to 

augment the Park Service workforce.

Manpower worries became more common as work year personnel ceilings continued to drop. 

In Fiscal Year 1981, the lakeshore's ceiling stood at 110, but dropped to 101 in 1982, and 

then to 100.4 in 1983. In 1983, lifeguard services were provided for the first time by contract 

at the Kemil Road and Central Avenue beaches. Faced with contracting out all lifeguard 

services, park management studied the possibility late in the year of contracting out custodial 

services as well. The move came as a result of the Office of Management and Budget's 

Circular A—76 which evaluated Federal performance of activities which might be better 

handled by private commercial interests. The Maintenance Division began an evaluation of

all of its in—house operations with an eye toward identifying all potential commercial 

activities including motor vehicle maintenance, snow removal, and roads, trails, and buildings 

maintenance. Superintendent Engquist noted, "It is anticipated that OMB Circular A—76 

policy potentially will have a tremendous affect on Maintenance Division operations and 

personnel in F.Y. 1984 and subsequent years." [6]

Several studies were either underway or completed during the year. First, the Transportation 

Study, authorized by the 1980 bill, was completed in September and forwarded to Congress. 

The study recommended acquisition and restoration of ten historic South Shore Railroad cars. 

The Service's Fiscal Year 1984 budget included a $200,000 appropriation for acquisition, 

storage, and restoration of the vintage railcars, and $75,000 in planning funds for new South 

Shore Railroad stops in the lakeshore. The study also called for the redesignation of U.S. 

Highway 12 from Pines east to within 500 feet of the U.S. Steel Plant's east gate as a scenic 

road. The report advised that the speed limit be reduced from fifty—five to forty—five miles 

per hour and trucks be prohibited. Second, Denver Service Center began advanced planning 

for a campground study with a $200,000 Fiscal Year 1984 appropriation. The proposed

facility was targeted for the former Beverly Shores golf course area. Third, administrative

staff spent considerable time compiling a Land Protection Plan according to new 

Departmental guidelines. The report enumerated the lakeshore's land acquisition priorities 

and served as a guideline for the Land Acquisition Office.

A sizeable sewer connection project commenced later in the year with a $419,000 

appropriation. The project involved connecting the lakeshore's Bailly Unit facilities to the 

city of Porter's sewer system. In addition, a separate $130,000 appropriation provided for a 

sewer extension to serve the GMP—mandated Goodfellow Environmental Education Camp.

The Science Office worked closely with the U.S. Geological Survey to gather data on the

effects of dredging. When a local community proposed large scale dredging of Brown Ditch 

to alleviate homeowners' complaints of basement flooding, scientists proved that dredging 

within the national lakeshore would not produce the desired result of lowering the water 

table. Their efforts succeeded in halting the Brown Ditch dredging proposal within the 

lakeshore and thereby the potential adverse effects on the lakeshore ecosystem.

Preparation of the park's "Gifts Catalog" by Chief Interpreter Larry Waldron and his staff 

provided an ideal opportunity for the national lakeshore's supporters to donate money, items,
and services. The catalog, entitled "Your Gift of Forever," focused on needs of the 

environmental education, science, resource preservation, and interpretive programs, and was 

published by Inland Steel the following year. Unlike other park gifts catalogs, the national 

lakeshore chose not to list mundane items (hammers, tires, shovels, etc.) because it

recognized that in a depressed economy with many steelworkers unemployed, there would be 

few people willing to donate their own limited resources to the Federal Government. Instead, 

the catalog enumerated the lakeshore's programmatic needs and could be used in making 

contact with business corporations. Concurrent with this event was the formulation of the 

"Friends of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore" which provided financial and personnel 

support. Granted non—profit corporation status, the "Friends" were primarily charged with 

putting the various festivals on a self—sustaining basis. The Friends grew out of the large 

cadre of loyal volunteers who were involved in the interpretive programs at the Bailly 

Homestead and Chellberg Farm. The volunteers recognized that the lakeshore required 

assistance to maintain programs during an era of budget restrictions. [7]
Indiana Dunes

Administrative History

PART II

CHAPTER ELEVEN:

REAGANOMICS OR RETRENCHMENT? (continued)

Preservation of South Shore Railroad History

The Chicago, South Bend, and South Shore Railroad, commonly referred to as the "South 

Shore Railroad," has enjoyed a close relationship to Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. Both 

entities have engaged in cooperative efforts to promote the other. The South Shore Railroad 

has an integral role in the park's 1980 General Management Plan. Indeed, the railroad has 

played a significant part in the history of the Indiana Dunes. During the early 20th century 

before good roads like U.S. 12 and 20 were built, the primary means of reaching the dunes 

was via the South Shore Railroad. In late 1987, lakeshore Historian Dori Partsch initiated the 

process of nominating the South Shore Railroad Station at Beverly Shores to the National 

Register of Historic Places. The structure is planned to be a key to future developments 

regarding the nearby lakeshore campground.

As horse—powered vehicles gave way to machines at the turn of the century, streetcar lines 

powered by electricity were constructed to transport citizens within municipal boundaries. 

Entrepeneurs and local governments, recognizing the economic rewards of linking cities 

together, were responsible for the birth of the "interurban railroad." In its path from South 

Bend to Chicago, the South Shore Railroad makes several stops in the dunes region. Local 

residents commute safely and quickly to jobs in the city while urban dwellers enjoy equal 

access to the beauty and solitude of the Indiana Dunes.

In the 1920s, Samuel Insull, owner of the South Shore; North Shore; and Chicago, Aurora & 

Elgin interurban railroads purchased luxurious steel cars and installed catenary overhead wire 

and pantagraphs for higher speed—in lieu of single wire and trolley poles—for the South 

Shore Railroad. Thus, Indiana was at the core of the U.S. interurban system in terms of 

trackage, frequent operation, and importance to the regional transportation infrastructure. 

Better roads and cars plus the Depression spelled the doom of most interurban systems, but 

several passenger lines did survive. When the North Shore Railroad folded in 1963, the

South Shore Railroad remained as the last interurban line. Its well designed and constructed 

steel cars remained in continuous service for an amazing fifty—seven years.

Although the cars come in all sizes and exhibit various interior configurations, the most 

historically significant are the "short cars" which were never modernized or lengthened. Car 

No. 33 is the best example of a short car and its 1929 pristine appearance included mahogany 

woodwork, plush bucket seats, and polished bronze dome light fixtures. The two remaining 

restored cars represent different stages of the railroad's development and modernization.

Park support groups have lobbied for the necessary funding to accomplish the restoration 

activity. They propose additional appropriations to rebuild the external operating systems in 

order to use restored Car No. 33 for demonstrations. When the intra—park shuttle system is 

developed, these park boosters envision the need for additional restored South Shore Railroad
cars.

Because the national lakeshore's 1966 enabling legislation calls for the preservation of the 

area's historic resources, the lakeshore's fleet of donated South Shore Railroad cars qualify 

just as the significant cultural resources of Bailly Homestead do. In an era so closely tied to 

the personal automobile and jet airline travel, the preservation of an important early mass 

transit system which remains in operation is considered a primary task for Federal park 

managers. [8]

Secretary Watt's "Hit List"

With the installation of the new Republican leaders of President Ronald Wilson Reagan's 

administration in January 1981, the national agenda shifted to a more conservative outlook. 

More stringent fiscal policies were adopted—called "Reaganomics"—which discouraged the 

growth of government and promoted the free enterprise system. The appointment of James G. 

Watt to the post of Secretary of the Interior caused much concern among conservation circles 

as to how the new administration's policies would be implemented. In the area of parks, it

was apparent that some urban recreation areas were not viewed as "legitimate objects of 

Federal ownership and responsibility." [9] Among James Watt's initial acts was to freeze land 

acquisition funding, halt the purchase of private inholdings in parks, and stress the 

development of natural resources over conservation.

Watt also appointed National Inholder Association (NIA) founder Charles Cushman to the 

National Park System Advisory Board. NIA lobbyist Ric Davidge became Assistant to the 

Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks. Soon after the November 1980 Reagan 

victory, Davidge came to Indiana Dunes at the invitation of Beverly Shores—based HOPE 

(Homeowners Opposed to Park Expansion). Explaining he was a member of the Department 

of the Interior transition team, Davidge told Save the Dunes Council Executive Director 

Charlotte Read that Interior would be seriously examining the newer units in the National 

Park System to see if they merited being Federal areas. Read left the meeting with a nagging 

concern for what the new administration had planned for Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. 

[10]

Apparently, park opponents had convinced the Reagan appointees to the Department of the 

Interior that the only person who wanted the park was Senator Paul Douglas. With Douglas' 

death, there would be little or no resistance to a deauthorization effort. [11] Consequently, 

during the first months of the Reagan term, a memorandum from Assistant Secretary for Fish 

and Wildlife and Parks Ray Arnett to the directors of the National Park Service and the soon

—to—be abolished Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service asked the bureaus to 

research the "history of your agencies opposition to Congressional designation and creation 

of new areas within the National Park Service." The directive stated:

Please review the files with respect to national recreation areas, lakeshores, and

seashores. Of principal interest are those areas created over the last 10 years by 

Congress over the objection of the agency. Please compile this by area. [For 

example, compile] specific statements in testimony by the agencies raising 

objections to the creation of the area; documents (studies) internally that address 

the problem.

In addition to the specific documents on specific areas, please research the files

to identify general materials expressing concern with the expansion of the system 

in previous Administrations. [Also research] documents expressing concern with 

the designation of NRA's absent any organic act respective of that classification.

I would appreciate a prioritization of research. First focus on Santa Monica
Mountains NRA, secondly on Cuyahoga Valley NRA, then Fire Island NS, 

Indiana Dunes NL, Sleeping Bear Dunes NL, etc.

Please provide this material as soon as possible as it will provide a basis for 

assessing historic objections to the creation of areas now within the federal 

estate. [12]

Leaked to the National Parks and Conservation Association, Arnett's directive soon found its 

way to the news media which charged the administration with targeting units of the National 

Park System for deauthorization. [13] Charlotte Read, girding the Save the Dunes Council for 

the fight, later remarked, "We made sure that the idea got bashed in every major newspaper 

that we could reach. The trial balloon got blown right out of the sky." [14] The predictable 

public outcry over the Watt "hit list" was angry and tumultuous. It included the Indiana 

political hierarchy, once adamant foes of the national lakeshore, now acting as its primary 

protector. In hurried testimony before the Senate Interior Appropriations Committee, National 

Park Service Director Russell E. Dickenson attempted to quell public concern. He explained:

I am familiar with this memorandum and the reasons behind its preparation. It 

was written on the instruction of the Secretary who, as you know, is not seeking 

to deauthorize any units of the Park Service.

The memorandum is an attempt to get information pertaining to the creation of 

national parks over the past decade when there were reasonable objections raised 

by park professionals to the suitability of certain lands for national designation.

The Secretary is concerned that boundaries for some Federal areas may have 

been drawn in most peculiar ways which may favor special interest purposes 

rather than specific national purposes of park acquisition. He is curious to know 

why and has directed that an inquiry be made into factors leading to certain 

boundary, easement, and acquisition decisions. The Secretary has said 

repeatedly, and has authorized me to reiterate in this hearing:

That there is no national park hit list.

That there is no present plan to deauthorize or ask the Congress to revise the 

boundaries of any unit of the National Park System.

That while the Secretary, from a philosophical point of view would not approve 

additional urban parks at this time, neither is he taking steps to deauthorize 

existing facilities. [15]

News of the so—called "hit list" and the fact that Indiana Dunes was one of the five targets 

did not shock the staff at Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. As early as February 27,

Assistant to the Assistant Secretary Ric Davidge met with Superintendent Whitehouse at 

Indiana Dunes upon the invitation of HOPE.* A former lobbyist for the National Inholder's 

Association, Davidge was intimately familiar with the local chapter's concerns and had 

lobbied for removing Indiana Dunes from the National Park System. As an Interior official, 

Davidge was particularly interested in the golf course tract authorized by the 1980 expansion 

bill. Davidge and HOPE members were concerned about limiting the lakeshore's acquisition 

of developed land and boundary determinations. [16]

*An integral component of HOPE is the Lithuanian ethnic community of Beverly 

Shores. Forced to migrate from their strife—torn homeland during the upheavals 

of twentieth century Europe, displaced Lithuanians established a community in
Chicago. When their Chicago neighborhood began being pressured by an 

expanding black community, some Lithuanians resettled a second time in 

Beverly Shores, Indiana. Having lost their homes to political reasons before, it is

understandable that many of the Lithuanians opposed the National Park Service's 

efforts to acquire their homes for Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. See 

Whitehouse interview, 11 March 1987.

To assess the authenticity of the hit list, Superintendent Whitehouse consulted the 

Congressional delegation, including Senator Richard Lugar (Republican—Indiana). At a 

breakfast three days later in which both Lugar and Watt were present, Lugar sent a message 

to Watt inquiring about the controversy over Indiana Dunes. Watt's response was, "You're

safe. Indiana Dunes will be untouched." Lugar subsequently sent a photocopy of the Watt 

note to Whitehouse who remained confident that a deauthorization measure—like a decade 

earlier—would never be endorsed by Congress. [17]

Local conservation groups such as the Save the Dunes Council mobilized their forces to 

heighten public awareness. The Council joined ranks with other groups to form the National 

Park Action Project to develop a national support network for the National Park System. [18] 

Council President Charlotte Read commented, "The scare provided the Save the Dunes 

Council with a valuable reminder that no park is ever really secure and that every park needs 

the continuing support of an informed and active citizenry to survive." [19]

With the deauthorization trial balloon thus successfully deflated, another blow came on May

20, 1981, when the Interior Department's Inspector General ordered all National Park Service 

land acquisition files sealed pending a full—scale audit. J. R. Whitehouse ensured early 

compliance with the directive on May 19 by ordering the removal of records from the Land 

Acquisition Office at the Marquette Mall to the property office at the Bailly Administrative 

Area. [20] Departmental inspectors poured laboriously over the records searching for any 

improprieties between certain landowners and Park Service land acquisition officers. Their 

report failed to identify any irregularities, although it stopped the land acquisition program

for most of 1981 and put a definite "chill" on future prospects.

On April 4, 1982, Secretary James Watt* (along with two U.S. Park Police and four 

Lakeshore rangers for security reasons), [21] accompanied by Congressman John Hiler of 

Indiana's Third District, came to Indiana Dunes as a side trip while on a speaking engagement 

in Michigan City. It marked the first visit by a Secretary of the Interior since Rogers Morton 

dedicated the National Lakeshore in 1972. Secretary Watt held a press conference in the 

visitor center where he stated:

It is phenomenal to stand in the beauty by the waters edge and see the dune 

grasses and trees and yet look both ways and see tremendous industrial 

development. We are ninety—five percent complete in our acquisition program. 

We are less than twenty percent complete with development. To make this 

pristine, beautiful area more accessible... the next monies need to go into building 

the facilities to make it more enjoyable for people and that should be our priority. 

[22]

*James Watt held the Indiana Dunes Advisory Commission in limbo through 

most of 1981 by failing to reappoint the former members and certify new 

appointees in a timely manner. Whitehouse inquired to the Secretary's Office 

nearly every month only to receive the same reply: "It's up on Ric Davidge's 

desk." The first Commission meeting finally came in December 1981. See
Whitehouse interview, 12 March 1987.

Superintendent Whitehouse and Assistant Superintendent Engquist had served as the 

Secretary's tour guides. Engquist later recalled that on their way to the prearranged "photo 

opportunity" and informal press conference at West Beach, Watt paid almost no attention to 

the lakeshore's problems as related by its managers. Whitehouse and Engquist finally 

resigned themselves to polite, general conversation. However, immediately before emerging 

from the van, Watt interrupted the conversation to ask specific questions about his 

surroundings. Utilizing his naturalist's background, Engquist delivered a short natural history

lesson. Watt proved to be a good student for in his remarks to reporters, he recited Engquist's 

speech as well as other tidbits of information he had gleaned from his two—day visit, thus 

seeming to be well—versed on Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. [23]

Firmly stating his support for park development, Watt held separate meetings with the Save 

the Dunes Council and Homeowners Opposed to Park Expansion (HOPE). In the meeting 

with environmentalists, Watt adopted his standard practice of excluding salaried members. 

Whitehouse, Engquist, and other lakeshore officials were not invited to attend the HOPE 

meeting. The surprisingly tranquil meeting with the Council covered a wide range of topics, 

including the "hit list" from which Watt disassociated himself. [24]

One result of the Watt—HOPE meeting brought about yet another Departmental investigation 

at Indiana Dunes. HOPE, which changed its name to the Indiana Dunes Conservancy 

Foundation, complained that the National Lakeshore was using inflated visitation figures to 

elicit a more favorable stand in the park expansion issue and to receive increased 

appropriations. Secretary Watt instructed the Inspector General to investigate the allegations. 

While the meticulous probe resulted in the Servicewide reevaluation of the visitation 

accounting system, no substantive changes were made and no improprieties were uncovered

in the visitation counts at Indiana Dunes. [25]

Conservationists also viewed Interior's new "land protection plans" as an attempt to curtail 

the expansion of parks by requiring justifications for each proposed parcel as well as the 

acquisition of inholdings. The plans presented alternatives to acquisition even in cases where 

Congress decreed the purchase of specific parcels. New policies restricted land acquisition to 

willing sellers only and exempted commercial and industrial property. While the 

administration proposed no land acquisition funds in either the Fiscal Year 1982 or 1983 

budgets, Congress overruled it and appropriated funds nonetheless.

Congressional hearings held in 1983 revealed the extent of the Reagan—Watt policies on the 

National Park System. Among the superintendents to testify was Indiana Dunes' Dale 

Engquist in whose park 600 acres remained in private ownership. Testimony revealed that all 

land acquisition cases had to be cleared through the Department—and more specifically, Ric 

Davidge's office—with the result being that the program slowed down considerably. 

Condemnation could only take place if the land were threatened. [26] Representative John F. 

Seiberling (Democrat—Ohio), member of the Interior and Insular Affairs Committee, 

declared:

The Interior Department has continued to delay spending funds to buy land 

within existing parks, despite the repeatedly expressed will of the Congress that 

the lands be acquired. This hurts private property owners who want and need to 

sell their lands; it also threatens the resources of the parks themselves which face 

damaging activities such as mining, timber—cutting, and housing construction if 

the lands are not purchased. [27]
Superintendent Engquist revealed the state of affairs at the national lakeshore. Engquist told 

Congress that $69,000 of the $1.5 million had been spent in the first half of Fiscal Year 1983. 

The park received clearances on seven of the nine cases it submitted to Washington. Engquist 

announced the lakeshore had dropped its seven—year effort to acquire NIPSCO's Crescent 

Dune, a thirty—seven acre tract bordering Mount Baldy and the NIPSCO power plant. 

Authorized for inclusion in 1976 with the stipulation that it be acquired in two years, 

condemnation proceedings were initiated within the deadline. However, the Justice 

Department adopted a literal interpretation and ruled that it was abandoning the suit because 

Crescent Dune had not been acquired by 1978. [28] Conservationists, however, refused to 

give up Crescent Dune. In mid—July 1983, the U.S. Army Special Forces Group (Airborne) 

and U.S. Coast Guard held a joint training exercise adjacent to the NIPSCO generating plant 

in Michigan City, including the Crescent Dune area. Commenting on the damage caused by 

the manuevers, Save the Dunes Council President Charlotte J. Read informed Dale Engquist 

that the Council would not back away from its commitment to add Crescent Dune to the 

national lakeshore. [29] The Council retains the tract on its Congressional wish list for future 

lakeshore expansion legislation.

The Watt era came to an end on November 8, 1983, with the resignation of the controversial 

Secretary of the Interior. The atmosphere of crisis dissipated over Indiana Dunes National 

Lakeshore as park proponents breathed a collective sigh of relief. Former Superintendent 

Whitehouse credited Director Russell Dickenson with the strong leadership required to help 

the National Park Service weather the storm. Whitehouse labeled the tumultuous period as a 

bureaucratic exercise in paperwork which ultimately changed very little. [30]

Triumph of the Bailly Alliance

Scientific monitoring of the environmental consequences attributed to the Bailly nuclear plant 

construction achieved significant results in the early 1980s. In a joint effort with the U.S. 

Geological Survey, national lakeshore scientists concentrated on evaluating dewatering 

impacts as well as seepage from fly—ash ponds into Cowles Bog. The studies determined the 

lowering of the ground water and NIPSCO's plan to compensate by adding waters would not 

be sufficient to maintain the water table. Secretary Cecil D. Andrus subsequently asked the 

Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to prepare a supplemental environmental impact 

statement (EIS) for Bailly I. [31]

In April 1981, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved NIPSCO's request to resume 

construction even though no new EIS was completed. In response, the Bailly Alliance 

mobilized and staged an impressive demonstration at the construction site. When NIPSCO 

asked that their construction permit be extended through the end of the decade, a public 

hearing was scheduled for October 1.

It was never held. In a surprise public announcement on August 26, 1981, NIPSCO declared 

it was abandoning its plan to build Bailly I.* The original estimate of $187 million had 

mushroomed over the past decade to an astronomical $1.81 billion. After expending $200 

million and with only one percent of the facility in place, the utility company decided to 

absorb its losses and terminate the project.

*It came as no surprise to J. R. Whitehouse. In a meeting with Congressman 

Adam Benjamin (Democrat—Indiana) three months before the announcement, 

Benjamin revealed that NIPSCO had already decided to abandon Bailly I. See 

Whitehouse interview, 12 March 1987.
The Bailly Alliance, a far—flung, unlikely union of diverse organizations, succeeded in 

targeting public opinion against the nuclear facility. While the Joint Intervenors and the 

Concerned Citizens pursued litigation and public hearings to secure continuous delays, 

NIPSCO costs inevitably sky rocketed, compelling the company to re—evaluate the pros and 

cons of Bailly I. Taking advantage of the growing national anti—nuclear movement, the 

Bailly Alliance succeeded in turning the tide against NIPSCO's proposed nuclear plant. The 

result was the first cancellation of a nuclear power plant under construction in the history of 

the United States.

The national lakeshore's science division and management staff remained vigilant following 

the NIPSCO announcement in order to ensure that no damage occurred to Cowles Bog during 

the rehabilitation activities. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission charged NIPSCO with the 

responsibility to restore the former Bailly I site; in essence, to fill—in the massive hole. 

Beginning August 1, 1982, the company had a deadline of September 1, 1983, to complete

the work. [32]

Management Efficiency

In early 1981, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) translated President Ronald 

Reagan's philosophy of government into Executive policy. OMB called on all agencies to 

formulate budgets designed to operate each unit at a "minimum acceptable level" of 

performance. Both Secretary Watt and Director Dickenson concurred with the President's 

back to basics approach and encouraged fiscal restraint. Each unit of the National Park 

System devised its own statement of purpose outlining basic operations. In addition, a new 

initiative called "Management Efficiency" interjected itself into park operations: trying to get 

the most with limited and oftentimes shrinking fiscal resources.

At Indiana Dunes, Management Efficiency translated into a reorganization of the lakeshore's 

staff in order for the park to operate more effectively and efficiently. In Resource 

Management and Visitor Protection, law enforcement district responsibilities were abolished 

to form a parkwide patrol. To eliminate duplication, cultural resources management and 

environmental monitoring duties were consolidated from three separate divisions. In 

Administration, two clerical positions were condensed into a secretarial position and the 

workload from three divisions was adjusted among the staff. In Maintenance, the Buildings 

and Utilities subdivision relocated to the centralized maintenance facility at the Bailly 

Administrative Area, thereby allowing more space for the Roads and Trails subunit at 

Furnessville.

Management Efficiency also meant making the best use of VIPs and CETA workers. In 1983, 

these programs were expanded dramatically and new cooperating volunteer groups such as 

Prisoners and Community Together (PACT), scouting troops, and school groups were 

recruited. Out of the VIP program emerged the "Friends of the Indiana Dunes National 

Lakeshore," a cooperating association working with park staff to assist in interpretation and 

environmental education as well as fund—raising activities for festivals. [33] Private 

initiatives, such as the Shirley Heinze Environmental Fund, also augmented park programs. 

Established in 1981 as a charitable trust, the Heinze Fund supports educational projects

which highlight dunes resources. It also acquires duneland for preservation purposes outside 

the lakeshore boundaries either by donation or purchase. [34]
Indiana Dunes

Administrative History

PART II

CHAPTER ELEVEN:

ENDNOTES

1. Secretary James Watt to Senator Charles H. Percy, letter, 8 June 1981, file—A3815

Congressional Inquiries and Correspondence F.Y. 80—81.

2. Superintendent's Report for Calendar Year 1981; and Meeting of 4 December 1981, 

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Advisory Commission Minutes, 1979, 1982.

3. Superintendent's Report for Calendar Year 1982; Meetings of 26 February, 28 May, 27

August, and 29 October 1982, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Advisory Commission

Minutes, 1979—1982; Superintendent J. R. Whitehouse to Regional Director Jimmie 

Dunning, 2 November 1981, and Superintendent Whitehouse to staff, 21 May 1981, file 

K3815 In—House (Newsletters, etc.) 1981; Superintendent Whitehouse to Regional Director 

Dunning, 28 December 1981, file A64 Organization Charts (1979); and Dale B. Engquist, 

Superintendent, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, interview, 16 September 1987, at 

Midwest Regional Office, Omaha, Nebraska, transcript.

4. Superintendent's Report for Calendar Year 1983.

5. James R. Whitehouse, former Superintendent, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, 

interview, 12 March 1987, Orlando, Florida, transcript; John Schnurlein, former member and 

chairman of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Advisory Commission, interview, 23

September 1987, at Superintendent's Office, Bailly Administrative Area, Indiana Dunes 

National Lakeshore, Porter, Indiana, transcript; and Superintendent Dale B. Engquist to 

Regional Director Don Castleberry, 3 March 1988, review comments on administrative 

history, H1417, Cultural Resources Management files, Midwest Regional Office.

6. Superintendent's Report for Calendar Year 1983.

7. Ibid.; and Engquist interview, 16 September 1987.

8. Herbert Read to Ron Cockrell, letter, 16 April 1988, Cultural Resources Management files, 

Midwest Regional Office.

9. Lynton Caldwell, "The National Parks and American Land Use Policy," in The Indiana

Dunes Story: How Nature and People Made a Park (Beverly Shores, Indiana: Shirley Heinze 

Environmental Fund, 1984), p. 39.

10. Charlotte Read, Executive Director, Save the Dunes Council, interview, 22 September

1987, at Superintendent's Office, Bailly Administrative Area, Indiana Dunes National

Lakeshore, Porter, Indiana, transcript.

11. Herbert Read to Ron Cockrell, letter, 7 April 1988, Cultural Resources Management files,
Midwest Regional Office.

12. Assistant Secretary Designate for Fish and Wildlife and Parks to Director, National Park 

Service, and Acting Director, Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service, undated [circa 

early 1981], folder A56 "Deauthorization."

13. "Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore In Jeopardy!" Save the Dunes Council Newsletter

(May 1981), folder A22 Save the Dunes Council (F.Y. 78—83). The article cites the April

29, 1981, Chicago Sun—Times, "2 Area National Parks Periled in U.S. Order."

14. Charlotte Read interview, 22 September 1987.

15. Statement by National Park Service Director Russell E. Dickenson before the Senate

Interior Appropriations Subcommittee, 30 April 1981, folder A56 "Deauthorization."

16. Superintendent Whitehouse to Regional Director Dunning, 1 May 1981, folder A40

Meeting and Speeches.

17. Whitehouse interview, 12 March 1987.

18. Kay Franklin and Norma Schaeffer, Duel For the Dunes: Land Use Conflict on the

Shores of Lake Michigan (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1983), p. 263.

19. Charlotte J. Read, "Shifting Scenarios—What Does the Future Hold?' in The Indiana

Dunes Story, p. 46.

20. Superintendent Whitehouse to Division Chiefs, 20 May 1981, folder A54 Inspections, 

Appraisals, Investigations, Studies, Surveys.

21. Whitehouse interview, 12 March 1987.

22. J. R. Whitehouse to Naomi L. Hunt, Editor, NPS Courier, letter, 20 April 1982, folder

A6019 Visit of Secretary James Watt, April 4, 1982.

23. Engquist interview, 16 September 1987.

24. Ibid.; and Superintendent's Report for Calendar Year 1982; and "Council Meets With 

Secretary Watt," Save the Dunes Council Newsletter (June 1982), folder A22 Save the Dunes 

Council (FY 78—83), Inactive Files.

25. Whitehouse interview, 12 March 1987; and Engquist interview, 16 September 1987.

26. Charles Green, "Lakeshore Expansion Slowed," Gary Post—Tribune (21 April 1983), p.

1, folder W38 Legislation; Superintendent's Report for Calendar Year 1983; and Franklin and

Schaeffer, Dual for the Dunes, p. 265.

27. "Park Land Acquisition Hearings Set for April 21—22, 1983," News Release, House

Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs (11 April 1983), Folder W38 Legislation.

28. Charles Green, "Dunes Park Foe Reviewing Buys," Gary Post—Tribune (23 April 1983), 

p. 1, folder W38 Legislation.

29. Charlotte J. Read to Dale Engquist, letter, 20 July 1983, folder A22 Save the Dunes

Council (F.Y. 78—83); and Engquist interview, 16 September 1987.

30. Whitehouse interview, 12 March 1987.
31. James E. Newman and James B. Lane, editors, Steel Shavings: Concerned Citizens

against the Bailly Nuclear Site, Vol. 16 (Gary, Indiana: Indiana University Northwest, 1988), 

p. 52.

32. Superintendent's Report for Calendar Year 1981; Chief, Science Division, to 

Superintendent Whitehouse and Assistant Superintendent Engquist, 27 July 1981, folder 

A2623 Reports—Situation, Inactive Files; "Bailly Nuclear Plant," Save the Dunes Council 

Newsletter (June 1982), folder A22 Save the Dunes Council (FY 78—83), Inactive Files; J. 

Ronald Engel, Sacred Sands: The Struggle for Community in the Indiana Dunes

(Middletown, Connecticut: Wesleyan University Press, 1983), pp. 288—9; and Herbert Read 

interview, 22 September 1987.

33. Superintendent's Report for Calendar Year 1983.

34. Charlotte J. Read, "Shifting Scenarios—What Does the Future Hold?" in The Indiana

Dunes Story, p. 46.
Indiana Dunes

Administrative History

PART II

CHAPTER TWELVE:

THE SINGING SANDS OF INDIANA DUNES

The Save the Dunes Council continues today to monitor park development and to 

work with the National Park Service staff. Its position vis—a—vis the Park 

Service is supportive, watchful, and wary. The Council recognizes that as a 

government agency, the Service operates under certain restraints and is

vulnerable to political pressure. The Council sees its role as being helpful, 

independent...and tough when the situation warrants. Its prime purpose is to 

defend the resource—to protect the park and its natural values which so many 

have worked so hard, so long, so determinedly to preserve.

Sylvia Troy, President, Save the Dunes Council 1967—1976, and

Trustee/Secretary, Shirley Heinze Environmental Education Fund [1]

Operations, 1984—1987

1984

The completion of the reorganization for the lakeshore's four staff divisions came during

1984. In Maintenance, four custodial positions were eliminated in accordance with the draft 

"Maintenance Operation Plan" which outlined established maintenance chores, standards, and 

operating procedures. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) mandated the analysis 

of operations through its previously issued OMB Circular A—76. Among tasks to be 

contracted outside the Service were snow removal (effective in November 1984) and

custodial services (effective in March 1985). In the evaluation of motor vehicle maintenance, 

cost comparisons revealed preventive maintenance should remain in—house while significant 

repairs should be contracted outside the Service. Bids were also invited to provide lifeguard 

services at the West Beach, Wells Street, Kemil Road, and Central Avenue beaches.

Through purchase and donation, the national lakeshore acquired nineteen historic South

Shore Railroad cars. The park awarded a contract for the restoration of one railway car to the 

Indiana Transportation Museum to ready it for its eventual exhibit at the proposed East Unit 

Transit Center. Advanced planning funds for new South Shore Railroad stops were also 

received during the year. Maintenance crews remodeled government quarters No. 507 to use 

as a dormitory for male employees. The former dormitory was closed for health and safety 

reasons. Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) members assisted in this work as well as the 

relocation of the Science Division to Building 102 at the Bailly Administrative Area. The 

division vacated the Rostone House also because of safety concerns related to the advancing 

Lake Michigan beach erosion at Beverly Shores.

In an evaluation of properties eligible for the Historic Leasing Program, Superintendent
Engquist determined that the park had no candidates. The Chellberg Farm was ineligible for 

leasing, having failed to meet National Register criteria. Nevertheless, the farm will maintain 

its historic turn—of—the—century appearance along with thirty acres of fields, cultivated 

under a special use permit. Possibilities for the leasing program are the 1933—34 World's 

Fair houses included on the National Register by the Midwest Regional Office as the 

"Century of Progress/Beverly Shores Architectural District" (listed in 1986). Because of the 

severe shoreline erosion in the area, candidates for leasing such as the Rostone House were 

unacceptable for health and safety reasons until the historic structures would be relocated 

elsewhere in the lakeshore. [2]

A new world's fair captured the lakeshore's attention in 1984 as park management looked into 

the future to the proposed 1992 World's Fair in nearby Chicago. With encouragement from

the Advisory Commission, planning began for the proposed East Unit campground to become 

reality in time to accommodate the anticipated influx of visitors. [3]

Despite the ill—will over former Secretary James Watt's policies,* Congress appropriated

$1,375,000 to complete Indiana Dunes' land acquisition program as stated in the Land 

Protection Plan. All large tracts were acquired in 1984 and park management was satisfied it 

had sufficient funds to complete acquisitions in the near future.

*Secretary James Watt resigned his position on November 8, 1983. William C. 

Clark served as Secretary of the Interior from November 21, 1983, to February 6,

1985. Donald Paul Hodel has held the position since February 7, 1985.

Park budgets Systemwide received a two percent Congressional assessment in order to

reduce the Federal deficit. Indiana Dunes' Fiscal Year 1985 budget was reduced by $223,300, 

to stand at $3,674,100, still $198,600 less than the previous year. The lakeshore's Full—Time 

Equivalency (FTE) standards fell below the century mark to 99. [4]

Midwest Regional Director Charles H. Odegaard attended the April 16 meeting of the Indiana

Dunes Advisory Commission as it began its final two—year term before the September 30,

1985, Congressionally—mandated expiration. During the meeting the lakeshore's newly—

published gifts catalog was unveiled. Titled "Your Gift of Forever," the catalog presented the 

public with the park's wide—ranging financial, material, and human needs and called for 

donations to assist park operations. The publication was written by Chief Park Interpreter 

Larry Waldron. Four private organizations shared funding for publishing the gifts catalog. [5]

1985

The lakeshore received its fourth Assistant Superintendent during the year when Larry May 

transferred to the position of Deputy Superintendent at Gateway National Recreation Area 

outside of New York City. Glen Alexander, Superintendent of Curecanti National Recreation 

Area, Colorado, entered on duty as Assistant Superintendent at Indiana Dunes on August 18.

Special Assistant to the Chief Ranger John Townsend drafted a special regulation to curtail 

the use of alcohol on beaches by stating it served as the basis for "anti—social, unsafe, and 

hazardous acts" at Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. Prepared for Midwest Region's and the 

solicitor's review, the amendment to the Code of Federal Regulations (36 CFR 7.88) would 

empower the superintendent to prohibit the possession or consumption of alcoholic 

beverages.* The superintendent could restrict portions of beaches or the entire lakeshore and 

its campgrounds to the practice. The solicitor opined that the special regulation was 

unnecessary because the superintendent already had the authority to close or restrict areas. 

With a sufficient period for publicity, the interdiction of alcohol consumption at West Beach
was scheduled for 1987.

*The banning was desirable principally for safety reasons with the potential 

adverse affects of intoxication under a hot summer sun. In addition, lakeshore 

rangers faced continued enforcement problems with underaged drinkers, 

especially from those entering the Lakeshore from the City of Gary's Wells 

Street beach where alcohol consumption was already illegal. Outlawing alcohol 

usage at West Beach would also eliminate the jurisdictional inconsistency. See 

Engquist interview, 16 September 1987.

West Beach operated for its first full year with contracted lifeguard service. While the 

contract was a success, beaches had to close thirty times because of adverse weather 

conditions and rip—currents.

Normally scheduled during July, the Duneland Folk Festival was not held in 1985. It merged 

with another festival, the Autumn Harvest Festival, and was held at the Chellberg Farm in 

late September. The combined festival became known as the Duneland Harvest Festival. G. 

R. Davis of the Friends of Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore helped to revive the Singing

Sands Almanac, the park's interpretive newsletter which was terminated in 1982. The Friends 

organized the financial aspects of the newsletter by selling subscriptions to the Almanac. A 

ten—dollar annual charge included both a subscription and a Friends membership. The 

Friends also funded scientific research projects and staffed interpretive programs. The new 

Almanac's editor was Glenda Daniel, noted naturalist and author of Dune Country.

In response to numerous fires in the western United States, nine Indiana Dunes rangers 

fought fires in California while five others provided support in staging areas. The national 

effort was coordinated by the National Interagency Fire Coordination Center at the Boise 

[Idaho] Interagency Fire Center.

During an aerial patrol, law enforcement officers spotted a field of marijuana. Cultivated in 

an isolated area away from roads and trails, the field of more than 200 plants—with an 

estimated street value of one to two million dollars—featured its own irrigation system. 

Providing continuous surveillance, park rangers arrested two individuals suspected of 

cultivating the illegal plants. The plants were burned. No prosecution, however, transpired.

In another Management Efficiency move, reorganization of the Maintenance Division came at

mid—year with the identification of four distinct work groups, each supervised by its own 

foreman. Workers remodeled quarters No. 504 into a new women's dormitory and Bailly 

Administrative Area building 102 into offices for Resource Management and Visitor 

Protection staff. The West Beach Dune Succession Trail, 1,100 feet of boardwalks, stairs, and 

overlooks, was completed providing visitors an enjoyable dunes walking tour route from the 

Long Lake Trail to the West Beach Bathhouse. In addition, maintenance workers also 

renovated several bridges and stairs on the Bailly—Chellberg Trail. A new source of labor 

was realized late in the year when the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Indiana, 

established a public service program with the national lakeshore. Under the program, the

court may order offenders to perform their public service requirements with the lakeshore's

Maintenance Division. [6]

Park Planner Bob Elmore prepared plans to complete the Bailly Administrative Area in terms 

of centralizing maintenance operations. Advocating the abandonment of deteriorating 

maintenance outposts throughout the park, Elmore and Denver Service Center planners 

envisioned consolidating maintenance and storage facilities at one site. To accommodate the
park's sizeable maintenance operations, five new structures will be required. [7]

The Indiana Dunes Land Acquisition Office successfully acquired all properties identified in 

the Land Protection Plan except for the Dunes State Park, Hoosier Prairie, and seven 

residential properties representing a mere twenty acres. The office recommended 

condemnation on most of the residential tracts.

Erosion problems continued to escalate with all—time high Lake Michigan water levels 

recorded during April and May. At Mount Baldy, two interim beach nourishment programs 

by the Corps of Engineers over the past decade had stemmed difficulties there. The National 

Park Service supported pending legislation to authorize a $7.9 million long—term program. 

At Beverly Shores, no nourishment program occurred because of the revetment protection 

installed in the early 1970s. Rising lake levels, however, imperiled lakefront roads as well as 

five homes, all park—owned and occupied by the former owners holding reservations of use. 

On July 26, Beverly Shores closed its Lake Front Drive to automobile traffic. The Park 

Service supported the move, allowing nature to take its course, and intensified planning 

efforts to relocate the National Register-eligible World's Fair structures. In late summer, the

Service entered into an agreement with Beverly Shores to provide shoreline road stabilization 

by placing 6,000 tons of sand, half the needed amount, with the town providing the

remainder. [8]

One particularly thorny issue facing park management involved the proposed access to West 

Beach. The heavy influx of visitors to the area—numbering more than a quarter—million 

people every year—used local access roads not designed for the traffic load. The 1980

General Management Plan (GMP) provided for a new access road, plans for which were 

devised in 1982 and 1983. The proposed route, running north from Interstate 94 and 

following an abandoned railroad right—of—way, will pass over U.S. Highway 12 and two 

railroads via a 1,700—foot bridge. The route will pass through a floodwater retention basin 

between two shopping centers. While nearby residents worried about the impacts of the road 

on groundwater levels, the shopping center owners objected to the lack of access to the new 

road and to each other in the original plans.

Considerable local attention focused on the proposed road with the local Congressmen, 

Indiana Dunes Advisory Commission, Miller Citizens' Corporation, and the city of Gary 

supporting the design concepts and environmental groups as well as affected landowners 

opposing it based on impacts on wetlands. Park management committed itself to resolving the 

issue and proposed new alignments and design solutions. The Advisory Commission hosted a 

public meeting on March 20 to record public concerns and then called upon the Park Service 

to study further the State Road 51, U.S. 20, and shopping center interchange. [9]

Another road problem involved the proposed scenic parkway along U.S. Highway 12. With 

the right of way on the eastern segment through Beverly Shores remaining in public 

ownership, the State could relinquish it to the National Park Service. Not to be stymied, 

Superintendent Engquist began investigating legislative avenues to permit the transfer.

Planning for a campground adjacent to Beverly Shores, 169 acres between U.S. Highway 12 

and 20 added under the 1980 bill, began in earnest. Included in the park expressly for a 

campground, a Development Concept Plan began by conducting a visitor camping demand 

study. Because the issue was significant to the operations of the Dunes State Park's own 

campground, the lakeshore pledged to keep the Indiana Department of Natural Resources 

informed.

Other planning and development issues occupied park planners and managers. A structural 

analysis of the Goodfellow Lodge revealed rehabilitation was economically impractical,
leaving the Service to decide whether a new building should be erected in its place to 

accommodate the future youth camp. Like the West Unit access road, a similar project for the 

East Unit began with a corridor location study and an environmental assessment for the 

proposed I—94 interchange and other modifications to the LaPorte/Porter County Line Road. 

Planning for the proposed East Unit Transit Center likewise began with an assessment of 

alternatives, approval of preliminary plans, and the initiation of designs. [10] Twelve tracts 

totaling less than four acres remained outstanding in the area. With construction apparently 

just around the corner, fee simple title had to be obtained before the lakeshore could expend 

funds to build the complex. Noting that the three—year normal time period for negotiations 

had passed, Superintendent Engquist called upon the Indiana Dunes Land Acquisition Office 

to place the tracts in complaint in condemnation. [11]

By far the highest profile planning and development project involved the Paul H. Douglas

Center for Environmental Education, to be discussed later in this chapter.
Indiana Dunes

Administrative History

PART II

CHAPTER TWELVE:

THE SINGING SANDS OF INDIANA DUNES (continued)

Operations, 1984—1987 (continued)

1986

The Gramm—Rudman—Hollings Act, a measure designed to gradually reduce and eliminate 

the Federal budget deficit, necessitated a $160,000 reduction in the park's fiscal 1986 base 

funding of $3,729,400. An additional $7,400 assessment imposed by the Washington Office 

mandated that park management utilize creative thinking to maintain operations. Fewer 

seasonal employees were hired, permanent positions were either abolished or their filling 

deferred, and some construction projects were rescheduled.

Despite these setbacks, the lakeshore continued to progress. In planning and development, 

final design for the East Unit Transit Center underwent review by the Denver Service Center 

and Midwest Regional Office. The design called for a large interpretive area, sales desk, 

restrooms, and an initial parking capacity of 500 cars. A preliminary draft environmental 

impact statement for altering the Porter/LaPorte County Line Road was also completed which 

was tied to the transit center's design. Preliminary study and design of the East Unit 

Campground resulted in plans for 300 camping spaces featuring both tenting and recreational 

vehicle (RV) choices, store, amphitheater for interpretive programs, and a shuttle service to 

the beach and lakeshore visitor center. Two public meetings were held in July to obtain 

comments on alternatives for specific developments at the former Beverly Shores golf course 

site.

Planning to reorganize the Bailly Administrative Area was undertaken in 1986 and 

renovations continued on Building 102. For Building 101, the Bailly Ranger Station, a new 

dispatch room, training facility, and restrooms were completed. Planning for changes on the 

West Unit Access Road did not significantly progress, although park and Regional Office 

staff worked on modifying the design to permit improved access to the area shopping center.

Efforts to reactivate the Coronado Lodge bore fruit in 1986 when the Kankakee Valley Job 

Training Center indicated its willingness to rehabilitate the structure and convert it to a 

hostel/canoe livery geared to overnight camping for environmental education. Planning for 

relocating the five World's Fair Houses in Beverly Shores, listed as a district in the National 

Register of Historic Places during the year, was initiated on the recommendation of an 

operations evaluation team suggestion. The same team recommended the lakeshore study 

necessary modifications at comfort stations throughout the park.

In Interpretation, lack of fiscal and human resources resulted in more than 8,000 students 

being denied requests for environmental education programs, although 31,114 students were 

served in 1,325 classes. For the public at large, 1,313 programs were delivered to 24,294 

people.
At the Chellberg Farm, sixteen acres continued to be farmed under a special use permit. For 

the first time, the Chellberg garden was plowed by horse rather than by tractor. A new event, 

Walpurgis Night, was held at the farm to celebrate the Swedish festival which greets the 

onset of spring with a bonfire of straw and corn stalks.

Interpretation's staunch supporters, Friends of Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, grew from

560 to 693 individuals and 22 corporate members. The Friends' Singing Sands Almanac

surpassed 50,000 subscribers. Additional publications included a brochure on Indiana Dunes 

wildflowers, a festival poster, and a lakeshore 20th anniversary poster and flyer resulting in a 

savings to the Service of more than $10,000. Duneland Harvest Festival attendance reached

5,200 with the Friends assuming complete cost for the performers and craftspeople. Friends 

volunteers kept the Bailly Homestead open to the public on weekends from June through 

October and sponsored the Maple Sugar Time event.

In August 1986, the Friends of Indiana Dunes officially incorporated under the laws of the 

State of Indiana. The move was intended to promote the organization's future growth and 

benefit to the lakeshore. The Friends continued to fund dunes—related scientific research 

projects as well as administering the Paul H. Douglas Fund for Environmental Education. The 

group helped the national lakeshore, Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Indiana 

University Northwest, and Save the Dunes Council cosponsor the First Indiana Dunes

National Lakeshore Science Conference, May 1 through 3, held at Indiana University 

Northwest, in Gary. With a theme of "A Century of Scientific Inquiry at the Indiana Dunes," 

forty papers were read to an audience of 170.

The Maintenance Division completed its reorganization. First proposed in 1985 to include 

five operational groups, the approved reorganization resulted in only four units: General 

Maintenance, Roads and Trails, Motor Vehicle Shop, and Douglas Unit (West Beach). The 

division maintained sixty—five park structures, forty—four miles of trails, seven miles of 

beach, as well as picnic areas, roads, and parking lots. Projects included the above—

mentioned changes to the Bailly Ranger Station; completion of the Long Lake Trail stairways 

and boardwalks; resurfacing of the Bailly Cemetery Trail; new stairways, bridges, and 

boardwalks in the Bailly/Chellberg ravine area; parking lot surfacing, tree removal, and 

stairway and fence construction at Pinhook Bog; and design and installation of new entrance 

signs which incorporate the lakeshore's new blue and orange logo of sun, dune, and waves. 

The division also helped the Town of Beverly Shores mitigate damage from erosion to 

beaches and roads. Although Congress mandated the implementation of a Maintenance 

Management System (MMS) in 1984, Indiana Dunes had its own ongoing computerized 

maintenance operations program which included financial and personnel information,

tracking task activities, and a sign inventory. With the park's admirable lead in this area, full 

implementation for MMS at Indiana Dunes was scheduled for 1987.

New maintenance contracts included the renewal of custodial services begun in 1985 with 

Michiana Industries for a savings of $32,000. This same firm was awarded a concession for 

parking and custodial services at West Beach. Under another contract, workmen replaced the 

water supply system at the Bailly Administrative Area with fire hydrants installed for fire 

protection.

Assistance from the Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) continued in 1986 for ten weeks. Out 

of twenty—one enrollees, sixteen were assigned to the Maintenance Division. While base 

funding for YCC totalled $27,700, the workers completed projects worth an estimated

$89,162.

In historic preservation, a three—year interior restoration of the Chellberg Farm house began 

with gas and heating system installation which was completed by year's end. Restoration of
South Shore Railroad Car No. 33 continued while Cars No. 6 and No. 107 were sent to the 

Indiana Transportation Museum for preservation and stabilization treatment. The remaining 

cars were housed free—of—charge at the USX (formerly U.S. Steel) plant in Gary.

Resource Management and Visitor Protection completed its Fire Management Plan, Little 

Calumet River Management Plan, and Resources Management Plan during 1986. It was the 

second year utilizing the formalized Fire Team concept (technically in use since 1976) 

composed of twenty—five members of the lakeshore's general staff. Twenty—four wildland 

fires claiming 1,322.4 acres burned at Indiana Dunes, the largest at Inland Marsh on March 25 

when 654 acres burned. Three prescribed burns, the first in the national lakeshore's history, 

were also undertaken on forty—five acres. Conducted primarily for research purposes, the

first prescribed burn took place at Howes Prairie on April 18. Resource Management 

specialists were assisted in their on—going research program through the initiation of an 

internship program with Indiana University Northwest.

Erosion remained a primary resource management concern. The Great Lakes continued to 

experience high water levels which established a record for the century. The Park Service 

continued to assist the towns of Beverly Shores and Ogden Dunes where damage to homes 

and to Lake Front Drive threatened. Both the Rostone House and Florida Tropical House 

remained in danger of falling into Lake Michigan. The high lake levels necessitated the 

closure of Central Avenue Beach when the waves swept away the sand and left only a 

slippery clay surface. This, combined with rubble washed out from Lake Front Drive, created 

an unacceptable safety hazard to swimmers. With the loss of Central Avenue Beach and the 

largest beach access parking lot in the eastern half of the lakeshore, annual visitation dropped 

seven percent to stand at 1,680,160 for the year. Adverse spring and summer weather 

conditions also contributed to the visitation decline. In response to the erosion dilemma, 

Congress authorized a long—term beach nourishment program at Mount Baldy and eastern 

Beverly Shores and appropriated $108,000 for initial planning and design going to the Corps 

of Engineers.

Rangers instituted a voluntary ban on radio—playing at West Beach during the summer 

season. They discouraged radio use inside the bathhouse and on the beach east of stand 

number three. Most of the visitors reacted favorably to the establishment of the "radio—free 

zones."

On October 14, 1986, the National Park Service signed a Memorandum of Understanding 

with the city of Gary to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) for the proposed 

Gary marina. While the Service acted as the lead agency on the EIS, funding came through 

the city's grant from the State of Indiana's Lake Michigan Marina Development Commission. 

The national lakeshore and the Midwest Regional Office held public meetings on October 22 

and 23 to solicit recommendations for the scope of the marina EIS.

For many years the city tried to obtain funding for the EIS from Congress, but to no avail. 

Blocking the effort was Congressman Sid Yates, Chairman of the House Interior 

Subcommittee on Appropriations, who refused to appropriate the funds on the basis that the 

development was too large and incompatible with the National Park Service's mission. Yates 

said that if Indiana Dunes got a marina, every unit in the System bordering on water would 

request a similar facility. Indiana's Marina Development Commission, however, 

demonstrated the State's resolve to promote improved marina access to its lakeshore. In 

addition to Gary, marina developments in Hammond, East Chicago, Portage, and Michigan 

City are also to be evaluated.

On May 6, 1986, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear, and thereby denied, the Save the

Dunes Council's request to intervene in a suit concerning the condemnation of Crescent Dune
within the boundaries of the National Lakeshore. The Council challenged the Justice 

Department's ruling that while Crescent Dune was condemned within the specified two—year 

period, the action did not qualify as acquisition. The Justice Department joined NIPSCO in 

recommending that the condemnation suit be dismissed. With the Council's legal options 

nearly exhausted, the events prompted the Park Service to consider negotiating an agreement 

with the utility company not to develop its property. [12]

1987

The year saw a $350,000 increase in the park's operating base ($3,818,300) for improved 

maintenance and facility rehabilitation. The base figure also provided $1 million for land 

acquisition and $260,000 for planning and design to rehabilitate Coronado Lodge. Special 

add—on appropriations were targeted for a reforestation study, fire research burns, aquatic 

vegetation study, dune forest research, and a clean up of storm damage along beaches in the 

lakeshore's eastern area. The special funds helped the park complete these projects which had 

been postponed because of fiscal constraints.

While the funding situation improved, visitation dropped six percent because of a change in 

the method of collecting visitor use data. The new base figure under the new system will be 

used to judge future visitation trends. Visitation for interpretive and environmental education 

programs, however, registered healthy increases. With increased staff and programming as 

well as the first full year of operation for the Paul H. Douglas Center, environmental 

education programs realized an eleven percent increase, up from 31,000 to 34,500 visitors. 

General interpretive contacts went from 25,000 to 30,500, an impressive twenty—two

percent increase.

Good news came in March 1987 when the level of Lake Michigan, which had attained 

century high marks throughout 1986, began a steady decline. The levels measured in 

December 1987 were nearly two feet below the mark established twelve months previously. 

The lowering level of Lake Michigan resulted in an overall wider expanse of beachfront, the 

reopening of the Central Avenue Beach, and a marked decrease in the rate of shoreline

erosion.

On May 3, 1987, Superintendent Engquist attended a dedication ceremony to recognize U.S. 

Highway 12 as a link in the "Lake Michigan Circle Tour." New signs for the 1,100—mile 

route were also unveiled.

The lakeshore observed the 200th anniversary of the U.S. Constitution by hosting the 

traveling play, "Four Little Pages." Simultaneous with this event was Indiana's hosting of the 

Pan American Games with some events held in Michigan City. The "Four Little Pages" 

troupe participated in the opening ceremonies and gave six performances to lakeshore 

audiences. The lakeshore and the Michigan City public library hosted the traveling 

Constitution exhibit during the two—week period of the Pan American Games. Lakeshore 

protection staff provided back—up support for local law enforcement agencies during the 

games.

Two new staff positions were filled during 1987. The park planner position was redescribed 

and Raymond Gunn became the first Management Assistant in July. The following month, 

Dori Partsch entered on duty as the first Park Historian, a move which reflected the 

lakeshore's growing cultural resources management program which revolved around the 

Bailly/Chellberg complex, the South Shore Railroad Cars, and the World's Fair Houses. One 

of the longest tours of duty ended during the year when Chief of Interpretation Larry 

Waldron, a ten—year Indiana Dunes veteran, transferred.

In the realm of park planning and development, the park made considerable progress.
Preliminary design analysis and plans were prepared and approved for the East Unit Transit 

Center and the requisite Environmental Assessment (EA) was reviewed in—house in 

December. The draft East Unit Campground EA went on public review with the Service's 

preferred alternative calling for 100 conventional campsites, twenty—five walk—in sites, and 

forty to fifty recreational vehicle sites as well as a single entrance from U.S. Highway 12. A 

draft EIS for the 1—94/East Unit Access Road went on public review in August and that

input was incorporated into a final draft EIS for release in 1988. Yet another draft EIS for the 

Gary Marina, approved by the city, national lakeshore, and Midwest Regional Office, awaited 

final approval from the Washington Office.

Other park planning initiatives included the Coronado Lodge, Goodfellow Camp, South 

Shore Railroad Stops, Land Protection Plan, and World's Fair Houses Relocation Plan. For 

the Coronado Lodge, two meetings with Denver Service Center (DSC), consultants, and park 

staff involved an assessment of structural integrity and potential future uses. A consultant for 

the Goodfellow Camp was selected with similar preliminary planning underway. Initial 

design analysis and plans for the South Shore Railroad Stops were reviewed by the park and 

region and awaited DSC review. Park staff revised the Land Protection Plan to address lands 

added in 1986 and public review preceded the plan's approval in November 1987. A draft 

plan to relocate the World's Fair Houses to a central site near the proposed campground went 

on in—house review at mid—year.

Actual achievements in park development were significant as the lakeshore began a program 

of upgrading temporary facilities. Workers expanded the East State Park (or Kemil) Road 

parking lot to one hundred spaces as recommended in the General Management Plan and 

installed permanent restroom and lifeguard facilities. Plans for 1988 and 1989 call for the 

same measures to be implemented at Mount Baldy and Central Avenue. Portable toilets 

began to be replaced with new facilities parkwide at all visitor access areas. Picnic areas

began to be rehabilitated and shelters installed. Where the former Red Lantern Inn in Beverly

Shores once stood (a victim of erosion) planning for a new visitor facility began.

In Administration, the park's Datapoint computer system grew into a sizeable network 

encompassing each division. The system expanded from a 1986 level of two processors, 

seven terminals, and three printers centered in Administration to five processors, seventeen 

terminals, and six printers. Staff participants grew from fifteen to thirty—five users.

Superintendent Engquist hosted a parkwide staff meeting on June 18, 1987, to introduce 

newly-appointed Midwest Regional Director Don Castleberry to park employees. 

Castleberry, who served as Indiana Dunes' first Assistant Superintendent from 1974 to 1978, 

re-established an easy rapport with the staff as he discussed the role of Indiana Dunes in the 

future of the National Park System.

In Interpretation, the division completed its reorganization at mid-year with the establishment 

of two districts led by two GS—11 interpreters. The division initiated a new "Junior Ranger" 

program at the Douglas Center which attracted more than 100 youngsters between the ages of 

five and eighteen. The Junior Rangers helped clean up the Miller Woods environmental study 

area and, together with their parents, established a closer park—community bond.

The Friends of Indiana Dunes thrived with more than 700 individual and twenty—two 

corporate members. The Friends continued to provide invaluable interpretive support by 

staffing the Bailly Homestead where they greeted more than 3,500 weekend visitors from 

June through October, supported the Maple Sugar Time event, and funded scientific research 

projects.

The Maintenance Division progressed on the phased restoration of the Chellberg Farm house
and completed the final segment of the West Beach Dune Succession Trail as well as an 

overlook at Long Lake. In addition, construction and paving of a 34,000 square foot 

"boneyard" for vehicle, heavy equipment, and lumber storage was also realized. Park and 

Regional staff implemented the Maintenance Management System (MMS) on October 1,

1987, by computerized inputting of data and utilizing specified work schedules. The Youth 

Conservation Corps (YCC) program assisted the division with twenty—five participants 

during a ten—week period.

In Resource Management and Visitor Protection, resource managers concentrated on fire 

management activities in light of an increased incidence of wildfires. Provisions of the Little 

Calumet River Management Plan were executed as log jams were removed to allow 

unrestricted canoeing on the river. More than 30,000 sprigs of marram grass were planted at a 

one-acre dune restoration area at Ogden Dunes under a Federal Lands Day Project. In the 

spring, more than 200 Portage Girl Scouts participated in a day—long "Take Pride in 

America" project at Inland Marsh by picking up litter. Resource managers worked closely

with NIPSCO to ensure minimal impacts when workers mowed the utility corridor paralleling 

the South Shore Railroad tracks, a practice undertaken once every ten years. Monitoring 

activities included the initiation of a farm fields inventory to study succession and a

threatened and endangered species program.

Visitor protection specialists implemented a team patrol concept whereby two groups led by 

Supervisory Park Rangers worked four ten—hour days. The arrangement provided better 

lakeshore patrol coverage and manpower utilization. The rangers monitored a new 

concession, a mobile canteen service operating at Mount Baldy and other public use areas. 

Perhaps the most favorable media coverage for the year came when the staff rescued a white 

pelican which became entangled in a fishing lure and line at Long Lake. Rangers rescued the 

injured bird, which was a rarity in the area, and had it treated by a local veterinarian. [13]

The Indiana Dunes Field Land Acquisition Office closed at the end of the year. The office, 

which functioned as a separate entity at the national lakeshore for almost twenty years—even 

before park administrative staff arrived—was commemorated by the park at a September 25 

farewell party. The land acquisition office played a significant role in making Indiana Dunes 

National Lakeshore as well as other Midwest Region parks like Sleeping Bear Dunes a

reality. Closure of the office reflected an emphasis at the national level which discouraged 

land acquisition. In the Midwest Region, all such offices were closed and the land acquisition 

function was centralized in Omaha. [14]
Indiana Dunes

Administrative History

PART II

CHAPTER TWELVE:

THE SINGING SANDS OF INDIANA DUNES (continued)

Expiration of the Advisory Commission

The final meeting of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Advisory Commission took place 

on September 27, 1985, three days before its Congressionally—mandated expiration date. The 

Advisory Commission enjoyed a nineteen—year existence. Born with the authorization of the 

national lakeshore in 1966, Commission membership expanded under the 1976 bill and its 

lifespan was extended thanks to the 1980 act. The Advisory Commission had unquestionably 

been a vital tool for park management during the lakeshore's early years. With the planning 

and development underway as a result of the 1980 General Management Plan, however, the 

Advisory Commission became less active.

Public comment kept the basic concept behind the Advisory Commission alive. In response, 

Superintendent Dale Engquist agreed to maintain a less formal means of communication 

between the National Park Service and Northwest Indiana by establishing a "Superintendent's 

Advisory Group" to convene in January 1986. The Advisory Group is designed to meet 

quarterly or as needed with an open meeting format and an agenda devised by Superintendent 

Engquist. The meetings take place in various locations, alternating within the three—county 

area each quarter. Unlike the Commission, meetings of the Advisory Group do not require 

advance notice published in the Federal Register.

Membership in the Superintendent's Advisory Group is limited to two—year terms and can 

come from nominations from the following groups: all former Advisory Commission 

members; one member each from Porter, LaPorte, and Lake County Boards of 

Commissioners; one member each nominated by the Mayor or Town Boards of Beverly 

Shores, Burns Harbor, Chesterton, Dune Acres, Gary, Lake Station, Michigan City, Ogden 

Dunes, Pines, Portage, and Porter; and one member each from the tourism organization of the 

three counties; Save the Dunes Council; Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning 

Commission; Indiana Department of Natural Resources; Friends of the Indiana Dunes

National Lakeshore; Indiana University Northwest; Miller Citizens' Corporation; National 

Audubon Society, Central Midwest Regional Office; Sierra Club, Hoosier Chapter; and Izaak 

Walton League. [15] The Advisory Group held three meetings during 1986, with the initial 

session occurring on April 25 at the Bailly Ranger Station. [16]

Progress of the Superintendent's Advisory Group in its first year was slight as the informal 

group was still learning its role. Advice to the superintendent had been more free—flowing 

from the Advisory Commission. Although Superintendent Engquist intends to maintain the 

Advisory Group as long as interest in it continues, it could eventually be abolished just as its 

counterpart was at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, Michigan. [17]

Paul H. Douglas Center for Environmental Education
In late November 1984, solicitation for bids was held to construct the long—awaited Paul H. 

Douglas Center for Environmental Education. To be built in the Miller Woods area close to 

Gary, the facility's planners envisioned a 7,000—square—foot structure including audio—

visual and office space, assembly rooms, and a partial basement. External support structures 

included board—walks, a forty vehicle parking lot, 500 feet of roadway, and a vehicle 

storage building.

On February 28, 1985, the contract was awarded to the H. Winters Construction Company of 

Gary for $1,621,175.40. Construction began in April with an initial target completion date in 

late spring 1986. Bids for the second phase of construction—trails and site development—

opened in late December 1985.

A groundbreaking ceremony for the Douglas Center came on May 29 off Lake Street in Gary. 

Following speeches by Midwest Regional Director Charles Odegaard, Mayor Richard Hatcher 

of Gary, and conservationists who worked alongside the late Senator Douglas, a luncheon

took place at the Marquette Park Pavilion. [18]

The dedication of the Douglas Center came on September 14, 1986, with Park Service 

Director William Penn Mott, Jr., Congressman Peter Visclosky, Senator Danforth Quayle, 

and Gary Mayor Richard Hatoher attending. Many of Senator Douglas' friends, former 

associates, aides, and daughter, Dr. Jean Taft Douglas, also were present. Emily Douglas, 

widow of Senator Douglas, was unable to attend because of illness. Limited operation of the 

Douglas Center began immediately following the dedication, but the Interpretation Division 

devoted the remainder of the year to prepare for full operation in January 1987. Fortunately, 

the Service's 1987 Fiscal Year budget included a $150,000 add—on appropriation for 

operating the Douglas Center. [19]

These significant events mark a conclusion to the "renaming" controversy which was 

centered on Paul Douglas's role in the affairs of northwest Indiana. Thanks to the 1980 

expansion bill, the lakeshore was dedicated to Douglas's memory and the West Unit was 

renamed the "Paul H. Douglas Ecological and Recreational Unit" with an official plaque 

placed there commemorating Douglas's contributions. In a more substantial manner the 1980 

act also provided for the Douglas Center to educate thousands of school children in Indiana 

and Illinois about the environment. The students themselves joined park planners in 

designing the Center and a two—year public involvement program resulted in donations to 

fund exhibits. With Douglas's beloved dunelands thus preserved by the Indiana Dunes 

National Lakeshore, the Douglas Center will help schoolchildren—the future leaders of the 

nation—to understand and appreciate their unique surroundings for generations to come.

The 1986 Expansion Bill

On January 23, 1986, Congressman Peter J. Visclosky of Indiana introduced H.R. 4037 in the 

House of Representatives to expand the boundaries and raise the land acquisition ceiling of 

the national lakeshore. Utilizing its ten—year plan, the Save the Dunes Council worked 

diligently with Visclosky to put together a viable expansion bill. Visclosky's original 753 

acres grew to 863 acres by August 11 when the House approved the measure. On August 26, 

Superintendent Dale Engquist and Assistant Superintendent Glen Alexander hosted a tour of 

the lakeshore by staff members of U.S. Senator Danforth Quayle of Indiana who were

compiling a similar expansion bill which Senators Quayle and Lugar introduced in the Senate 

on September 11. With uncharacteristic speed, Senate hearings began eight days later and

both houses concurred on the amended measure by mid—October. On October 29, President

Reagan signed the bill which became known as Public Law 99—583.

More than 900 acres were added to Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. The land acquisition
ceiling increased by $3.5 million and the development ceiling went from $11 million to $20 

million. P.L. 99—583 mandated that the National Park Service prepare a feasibility study 

within two years on a Service—owned and operated parkway on U.S. Highway 12 and 

options of using the Little Calumet River to link western and eastern portions of the 

lakeshore. [20] The new land additions were scattered "bits and pieces" designed to round—

out the lakeshore boundary and correct land use and management problems. One addition 

involved a ten—acre parcel directly across from the proposed entrance to the East Unit 

Transit Center where a potential visual intrusion could come in the form of a private 

campground. The bill included the entire NIPSCO/South Shore Railroad corridor, but 

prevented Park Service acquisition during the time of continued industrial use. Because the 

corridor also contained the Calumet Trail, the Service could now assist the State in 

maintaining the recreational pathway. In addition, segments of the Little Calumet and Salt 

Creek were incorporated in order to lessen management difficulties. [21] An addition to 

Hoosier Prairie was officially included and a buffer zone was attached to the Heron Rookery. 

[22]

High Lake Levels and Shoreline Erosion

When Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore was authorized in 1966, Lake Michigan had already 

begun rising to new record levels. In the early 1960s, however, Lake Michigan had achieved 

record low levels with the beneficial result of wide, spacious beaches ideal for recreational 

purposes. From 1964 to 1974, however, the lake level rose an additional five and a half feet

to score a new high level mark. The severe storm in 1974 forced National Park Service 

managers to approve the first solid coastal shore protection structure in the form of the

13,000—foot—long rock revetment along Beverly Shores' Lake Front Drive. The first soft 

shoreline protection structure came the same year with beach nourishment fill deposited in 

front of Mount Baldy. In both cases, Congress allocated funds to the National Park Service 

which, in turn, channeled the money to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to monitor the 

impact and effectiveness of the erosion—control measures.

In 1975, the Corps appointed the Great Lakes Coastal Research Laboratory (GLCRL) School 

of Civil Engineering, Purdue University as the monitoring agency. The university group 

began a series of studies on the lakeshore erosion problem. Throughout the next decade, 

however, the level of Lake Michigan continued to achieve record highs. In 1983, the Park 

Service recognized the need to develop a comprehensive plan for decision making on present 

and proposed coastal developments. The Service again provided funding to GLCRL to 

conduct a three—year study. The result was the June 1986 "Executive Summary: Indiana 

Dunes National Lakeshore Shoreline Situation Report." The Shoreline Situation Report is a 

significant document in that for the first time park managers have a database for long—term 

monitoring and development of a shoreline plan upon which to base future policy decisions.

Erosion became so severe by the mid—1980s that homes and Lake Front Drive itself was 

imperiled. Central Avenue Beach was closed to the public because the relentless waves had 

carried away most of the sand cover leaving behind a dangerously slick clay ledge. 

Thankfully, Lake Michigan began a steady decline in March 1987. By the end of the year, 

the lake level dropped two feet. While the whims of Mother Nature decreased the immediate 

pressure of the erosion problem, park management realized it was unlikely the problem 

would simply fade away. With good baseline data now available, however, the proposed 

coastal developments and/or the reoccurrence of high water levels will not be so baffling to 

confront and, hopefully, to solve. [23]
Indiana Dunes

Administrative History

PART II

CHAPTER TWELVE:

ENDNOTES

1. Sylvia Troy, "Citizen Action for Preservation," The Indiana Dunes Story: How Nature and

People Made a Park (Beverly Shores, Indiana: Shirley Heinze Environmental Fund, 1984), p.

35.

2. Superintendent's Report for Calendar Year 1984; and "Park Service Invites Bids for 

Lifeguard Services at National Lakeshore," press release, 21 February 1984, K3415 Press 

Releases—NPS (Indiana Dunes).

3. Meeting of 21 September 1984, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Advisory Commission

Minutes, 1983—1985.

4. Ibid., Meeting of 7 December 1984; Superintendent's Report for Calendar Year 1984; and 

Senator Dan Quayle of Indiana to James A. McClure, Chairman of the Appropriations 

Subcommittee on Interior and Related Agencies, no date [circa May 1984].

5. Meeting of 16 April 1984, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Advisory Commission

Minutes, 1983—1985; and Your Gift of Forever: The Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, 

printed by Inland Steel Company, 1984.

6. Ibid., Meetings of 12 April, 26 July, and 27 September 1985; Superintendent's Report for 

Calendar Year 1985; and Larry Waldron, "SSA"s 10th Year: Celebrating a Birthday," 

Singing Sands Almanac, Vol. 7, No. 6 (Summer 1987), published by the Friends of Indiana 

Dunes National Lakeshore, p. 1.

7. Superintendent Engquist to Assistant Manager, Midwest/Rocky Mountain Team, Denver

Service Center, 29 March 1985, folder D34 NIKE Base Facility.

8. Meeting of 26 July and 27 September 1985, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Advisory

Commission Minutes, 1983—1985; Superintendent's Report for Calendar Year 1985; and 

Regional Director Charles H. Odegaard to Director William Penn Mott, "Beach Erosion," 

Briefing Statement for Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, 10 July 1985, folder A64.

9. Regional Director Odegaard to Director Mott, "West Access Road," Briefing Statement for 

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, 10 July 1985, folder A64; and Superintendent's Report for 

Calendar Year 1985.

10. Meetings of 26 July and 27 September 1985, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Advisory

Commission Minutes, 1983—1985.

11. Superintendent Engquist to Indiana Dunes Land Acquisition Officer, 17 July 1985, folder

L14 Acquisition of Lands.
12. Superintendent's Report for Calendar Year 1986; Dale B. Engquist, Superintendent, 

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, interview, 16 September 1987, at Midwest Regional 

Office, Omaha, Nebraska, transcript; and former Special Assistant to the Chief Ranger John 

Townsend to author, review comments, February 1988, Cultural Resources Management files, 

Midwest Regional Office.

13. Superintendent's Report for Calendar Year 1987.

14. Superintendent Engquist to All Area Offices, 21 July 1987, folder L14 Acquisition of

Lands.

15. Superintendent's Report for Calendar Year 1985; and Meetings of 26 July and 27

September 1985, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Advisory Commission Minutes, 1983—

1985.

16. Superintendent's Report for Calendar Year 1986.

17. Engquist interview, 16 September 1987.

18. Superintendent's Report for Calendar Year 1985; Superintendent Engquist to all Indiana 

Dunes employees, 14 May 1985, folder A82 Special Events F.Y. 85; and "Park Service 

Invites Bids For New E.E. Center," News Release, Office of the Superintendent, no date [late 

November 1984], folder K3415 Press Releases—NPS (Indiana Dunes).

19. Superintendent's Report for Calendar Year 1986; and Superintendent Engquist to 

Regional Director Castleberry, 3 March 1988, review comments on administrative history, 

H1417, Cultural Resources Management files, Midwest Regional Office.

20. Superintendent's Report for Calendar Year 1986.

21. Engquist interview, 16 September 1987.

22. Charlotte Read, Executive Director, Save the Dunes Council, interview, 22 September

1987, at Superintendent's Office, Bailly Administrative Area, Indiana Dunes National

Lakeshore, Porter, Indiana, transcript.

23. School of Engineering, Great Lakes Coastal Research Laboratory, Executive Summary:

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Shoreline Situation Report (Purdue University under 

contract to the National Park Service, June 1986), pp. 1-2.
Indiana Dunes

Administrative History

CONCLUSION:

TWO DECADES IN PERSPECTIVE

Without [the Beverly Shores Island], or at least without some modification of the 

boundaries of the park, I don't think the National Lakeshore will ever be able to 

realize the full recreational potential for the east end of the park.

Superintendent Dale B. Engquist [1]

This study has chronicled twenty years of National Park Service administration of the Indiana 

Dunes National Lakeshore. Twelve of those span the superintendency of James R. 

Whitehouse. Some have stated that Whitehouse, who had never before superintended any

park and did not possess the qualifications of the so—called "National Park Service 

professional," was given the job at Indiana Dunes because the agency believed the position 

was merely temporary, that the national lakeshore would never survive. No documentation of 

this position was found in agency files. To the contrary, Whitehouse proved to be the ideal 

choice. Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore did survive, and thanks in no small way to 

Whitehouse's management style, the park is one of the best funded units in the National Park 

System.

Administratively, there was a big difference from the days when the lakeshore was in the 

Northeast Region—poorly funded with a one—man over sight—and when it came into the 

Midwest Region. By 1974, Indiana Dunes was no longer a "project." It began to attract 

friends in Congress. Certainly for the Omaha Office which had been stripped of its "jewels" 

(Yellowstone, Grand Teton, and Rocky Mountain national parks, to name a few), Indiana 

Dunes National Lakeshore represented a great challenge.

Powerful, conservation—minded friends like the Save the Dunes Council and the Porter 

County Chapter of the Izaak Walton League proved to be invaluable partners. These friends 

were more than willing to take on the bureaucracy—including the National Park Service 

itself—in defense of dunes preservation. For park managers, this vigilance came to be taken 

for granted and utilized as an adjunct management tool. This was especially important 

concerning Bailly I when the Service did not get into the trenches itself in the legal battle. 

Although Bailly I drained a lot of time and attention, the long ordeal united the community to 

the ultimate benefit of Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.

West Beach developments remain the recreational focal point of the national lakeshore. The 

Bailly Homestead and Chellberg Farm represent the historical, cultural center. The Paul H. 

Douglas Center for Environmental Education is a monument to furthering understanding of 

the exciting outdoor laboratory Henry Cowles explored almost a century ago. The Tremont 

visitor center and Bailly Administrative Area both represent excellent examples of adaptive 

reuse of existing facilities, placing developments in already disturbed areas thereby 

preserving untouched duneland.
At this writing, Ronald Reagan is in the final year of his presidency. It is perhaps too soon to 

provide a credible analysis of the impact of the Reagan era on Indiana Dunes National 

Lakeshore. Clearly, some gains have been made, but the momentum of growth experienced

in the 1970s has slowed considerably in the 1980s. The once dreaded A—76 directive has not 

seriously impacted park operations. Following the deauthorization scheme orchestrated during 

the stormy tenure of former Secretary James Watt, the national lakeshore weathered the 

remainder of the Watt term without ill effect, but found itself mired in an avalanche of 

paperwork to justify what once was considered routine land acquisition matters. The National 

Park Service itself has experienced an unprecedented degree of regulation and oversight by

the Office of the Secretary.

Acquisition of key lakeshore expansion areas such as the Beverly Shores Island has been in 

limbo through the Reagan years. Because of this, what looked promising for inclusion—but 

fell short—in 1976 and 1980, was not even considered in 1986 and now may never again be. 

Times have changed. The Federal budget deficit threatens to overwhelm the United States' as 

well as the world's economy. In the "Island," parcels which were once vacant now feature 

houses. Land values have escalated. A price tag of $50 million will be required if the 

National Lakeshore is ever going to acquire the "Island" and fully open the five miles of

beachfront which is currently inaccessible to most of the public. Without it, as Superintendent 

Dale Engquist forecasts, the east end of the park will never realize its full potential. The 

erosion problem has abated, but is not likely to disappear forever. More multi—million—

dollar, stop—gap erosion control programs will be lobbied for, but nothing is likely to insure 

saving Lake Front Drive and the first row of homes from Lake Michigan's relentless surf.

While the 1980 General Management Plan (GMP) provides a good overall blueprint for the 

future, at its inception it was a flawed document. Planners predicated proposals on the 

assumption that the Beverly Shores Island would be acquired in 1980. The hastily devised 

consensus on the West Unit, including the highly controversial access road and marina, has 

since fallen apart. Upon Superintendent Engquist's recommendation, the arduous GMP 

process is currently scheduled to be undertaken again by the early 1990s.

According to Save the Dunes Council Executive Director Charlotte Read, future battles at 

Indiana Dunes will involve dissuading "people with the better idea" for developing despoiled 

industrial lands which are being reclaimed for recreational purposes. Hotel conference 

centers, condominium complexes, and gambling casinos are but some of the suggested uses.

There is much unfinished business. Many challenges remain. The Coronado Lodge may one 

day be transformed into a bed and breakfast or a hostel. Goodfellow Camp awaits funding to 

arrest its deterioration. The long—discussed "Dunes Parkway" along U.S. Highway 12 may 

soon become a reality in the East Unit as a scenic road closed to through truck traffic. But 

what will be done with the many scattered feeder roads and the myriad of utility lines? 

Planning for the East Unit Transit Center continues as does restoration of at least three 

historic South Shore Railroad cars with the remainder possibly to be loaned to other 

transportation museums.

Another future consideration with roots in the past involves the proposed Gary marina. While 

the facility will not be built, owned, or operated by the Service, the bureau has taken the lead 

on the environmental impact statement. The Park Service has endorsed the concept of a Gary 

marina in its General Management Plan, but remains concerned that the development of a 

marina and access roads to it not adversely effect the resources of the national lakeshore in 

the Miller Woods environmental study area. The site currently preferred by both the National 

Park Service and the city for the 600— to 1,200—slip marina is on USX property within

their existing landfill breakwater.
Superintendent Dale B. Engquist notes several challenges to be confronted in the future. How 

will the Service react to various proposed lakeshore expansion measures? An early 1988 

report issued by the National Parks and Conservation Association endorsed all of the

additions proposed by the Save the Dunes Council. How will the continuous struggle to

obtain development funding progress and will the Service continue to seek the middle ground 

between extreme developmental interests and extreme preservationist interests? Will funding 

be available to continue the pressing need of upgrading existing facilities from a temporary

to permanent status?

Midwest Regional Director Don Castleberry—former Assistant Superintendent at Indiana 

Dunes National Lakeshore—contends that the Great Lakes parks represent "sleeping giants." 

As fiscal difficulties ease, the visiting public to these large new national lakeshores will 

demand proper developments such as improved visitor centers, campgrounds, trails, and 

roads consistent with preservation of the natural and cultural resources. It is an optimistic 

viewpoint and one which this historian and other friends of Indiana Dunes National 

Lakeshore confidently embrace.

As the National Park Service prepares to enter the 1990s and looks ahead to the 21st century, 

Indiana's sleeping giant along the south shore of Lake Michigan awaits its opportunity to 

emerge as the Midwest's premier national park, a remarkable unit which has successfully 

achieved the stormy balance of preservation versus development and constitutes "a signature 

of time and eternity." [2]
Indiana Dunes

Administrative History

CONCLUSION:

ENDNOTES

1. Superintendent Dale B. Engquist, interview, 16 September 1987, at Midwest Regional

Office, Omaha, Nebraska, transcript.

2. This section was summarized from the opinions of the following individuals: Don H. 

Castleberry, former Assistant Superintendent, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, 1974—

1978, 3 September 1987, at Midwest Regional Office, Omaha, Nebraska, interview transcript; 

Dale B. Engquist, Superintendent, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, 16 September 1987, at 

Midwest Regional Office, Omaha, Nebraska, interview transcript; Charlotte Read, Executive 

Director, Save the Dunes Council, Inc., 22 September 1987, at Superintendent's Office, Bailly 

Administrative Area, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, Porter, Indiana, interview transcript; 

Herbert Read, Engineering Chairman, Save the Dunes Council, Inc., 22 September 1987, at 

Bailly Ranger Station, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, Porter, Indiana, interview 

transcript; J. R. Whitehouse, former Superintendent, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, 11 

and 12 March 1987, at Orlando, Florida, interview transcript; George A. Palmer, former 

Associate Regional Director, Northeast Regional Office, 11 October 1987, transcript of 

correspondence; and Superintendent Dale Engquist to Regional Director Don Castleberry, 3

March 1988, review comments on administrative history, H1417, Cultural Resources

Management files, Midwest Regional Office.
Indiana Dunes

Administrative History

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The Dunes are a symbol of the crisis that faces all Americans. It is as though we 

were standing on the last acre and were faced with a decision of how it should 

be used. In actuality, it is the last acre of its kind. In essence, it foreshadows the 

time not too far removed when we shall in all truth be standing on that last 

unused, unprotected acre and shall be wondering which way to go.

Senator Paul H. Douglas, May 7, 1958

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE RECORDS

INDIANA DUNES NATIONAL LAKESHORE

PORTER, INDIANA

Bailly Administrative Area/Headquarters Building

Active Files

A3615—Complaints About Service and Personnel

A3815—Public Relations with Federal, State, and Local Agencies

A64—Organization

A6427—Organization Charts/Role and Function Statements

A82—Special Events FY 85

K3415—Press Releases—NPS 

L14—Acquisition of Lands

L1425—Acquisition of Lands (Holdings) Jan. 1984, FY 85

L3425—Water Sports

N3615—Air

N4615—Visitor Use Surveys and Statistics (Special Studies) FY 84

N4617—Demography (Vital and Social Statistics) 

W38—Legislation

W3815—Proposed Legislation

W3815—Proposed Legislation to Expand Indiana Dunes NL

Inactive Files

A22—Save the Dunes Council (FY 78—83) 

A2623—Reports—Situation

A3815—Public Relations with Federal, State, and Local Agencies

A3815—Congressional Inquiries and Correspondence FY 80—81

A40—Meetings and Speeches FY 80— A54—Inspections or Appraisals, Investigations, and

Studies

A5639—Indiana Dunes Briefing Statements, 1973—1980

A5427—Operations Evaluation 9—20—71 to 9—23—71
A5427—Operations Evaluation 5—21—73 to 5—25—73

A5427—Operations Evaluation Team 11—4—74 to 11—8—74

A5427—Operations Evaluation July 21—27, 1977

A56—"Deauthorization"

A6019—Visit of Secretary James Watt, April 4, 1982

A64—Organization Charts (1979)

A82—J. R.'s Retirement Party Arrangements A8215—

Dedication of Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore A8215—

Bailly Homestead Dedication, July 11, 1976

A8215—West Beach Dedication 

D34—NIKE Base Facility 

D34—AYH—Coronado Lodge 

D34—Goodfellow Center H30—

Bailly Homestead H30—

Chellberg Farm

K3815—In—House (Newsletters, etc.) 1981

Office of the Superintendent/Management Library

Edmunds, A1. Personal correspondence and files.

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Advisory Commission Minutes, 1967—1973.

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Advisory Commission Minutes, 1974—1976.

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Advisory Commission Minutes, 1977—1978.

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Advisory Commission Minutes, 1979—1982.

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Advisory Commission Minutes, 1983—1985.

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. Congressional Hearings. 88th Congress: Hearings Before 

the Subcommittee on Public Lends of the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs. U.S. 

Senate. Eighty—Eighth Congress. 2nd Session on S. 2249. A Bill to Provide for the 

Establishment of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, and For Other Purposes. March 5, 6, 

and 7, 1964.

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. Congressional Hearings. 89th Congress: House of 

Representatives. 89th Congress. 1st Session. Document No. 78. "Natural Beauty of Our 

Country." Message from the President of the United States. February 8, 1965. Referred to the 

Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union.

House of Representatives Report No. 1782. 89th Congress, 2nd Session. July 29, 1966. 

Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs Report to Accompany H.R. 51.

Hearings Before the Subcommittee on National Parks and Recreation of the Committee on 

Interior and Insular Affairs. House of Representatives, 89th Congress, 1st Session on H.R. 51, 

H.R. 4412 and related bills. Hearing Held in Valparaiso University, Indiana. October 2, 1965.

Senate Report 334. 89th Congress, 1st Session. Calendar No. 322. Providing for the 

Establishment of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. June 16, 1965. Committee on 

Interior and Insular Affairs Report Together with Minority Views to Accompany S. 360.

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. Congressional Hearings. 91st, 92nd Congress: Message 

on Environment: "Policies, Programs, and Activities of the National Park Service and the
Bureau of Outdoor Recreation." Hearings Before the Subcommittee on National Parks and 

Recreation of the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, House of Representatives. 92nd 

Congress, 1st Session. April 1—2, 1971.

Message on Environment: Message from the President of the United States Outlining 

Legislative Proposals and Administrative Actions Taken To Improve Environmental Quality. 

February 10, 1970. 91st Congress, 2nd Session. House of Representatives Doc. No. 91—225.

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. Congressional Hearings. 93rd Congress: "To Expand the 

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore." Hearing before the Subcommittee on National Parks and 

Recreation of the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs. House of Representatives. 93rd 

Congress, 2nd Session on H.R. 3571 and Related Bills To Amend the Act Establishing the 

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore and To Provide for the Expansion of the Lakeshore, and 

for Other Purposes. June 17, 1974.

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. Congressional Hearings. 94th Congress: "To Enlarge the 

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore." Hearing before the Subcommittee on National Parks and 

Recreation of the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs. House of Representatives. 94th 

Congress, 1st Session on H.R. 789, H.R. 4926, and H.R. 5241 To Amend the Act

Establishing the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, and for other Purposes. May 9, 1975.

Report together with Dissenting Views to Accompany H.R. 11455. 94th Congress, 2nd

Session. Report No. 94—818. February 10, 1976.

Hearing before the Subcommittee on Parks and Recreation of the Committee on Interior and 

Insular Affairs, United States Senate. 94th Congress, 2nd Session on S. 3529 and H.R. 11455. 

May 26, 1976.

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. Congressional Hearings. 95th Congress: Hearing before 

the Subcommittee on Parks and Recreation of the Committee on Energy and Natural 

Resources. United States Senate. 95th Congress, 2nd Session on S. 2560 A Bill Relating to 

the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, and for other Purposes. August 10, 1978.

To Enlarge the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. Hearing before the Subcommittee on 

National Parks and Insular Affairs of the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs. House of 

Representatives. 95th Congress, 2nd Session on H.R. 11110 and H.R. 12821. August 10,

1978.

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. 96th Congress. 1st Session: Hearing before the 

Subcommittee on Parks, Recreation, and Renewable Resources of the Committee on Energy 

and Natural Resources. United States Senate. 96th Congress, 1st Session on S. 559 A Bill 

Relating to the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, and for other Purposes. September 20,

1979.

Land Protection Plan, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, Indiana (draft). National Park

Service: July 1987.

School of Engineering. Great Lakes Coastal Research Laboratory. Executive Summary:

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, Shoreline Situation Report. Purdue University under 

contract to the National Park Service, June 1986.

Scrapbook of Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. Compiled by Dr. Virginia Reuterskiold. 

Superintendent's Report for Calendar Year 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979,

1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, and 1987, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.
Your Gift of Forever: The Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. Booklet printed by Inland Steel

Company, 1984.

Bailly Administrative Area/Building 103

Stored Files

Unnumbered boxes of Indiana Dunes files

L58—Misc. and FY 1973; Expansion Files

L58—Roush Bill (S. 820) Misc. and FY 1973; Expansion Files L58—

Expansion of Park (H.R. 10209); Misc. & FY 1973; Expansion Files L58—

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Proposal 1962—66

Tremont Visitor Center Library

A Report on the Proposed Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. United States Department of

the Interior, National Park Service, August 1963. (File drawer 1).

Bailly Nuclear Plant (folder). Chronological collection of newspaper articles.

Chronological (monthly) Collection of Media Accounts Pertaining to Indiana Dunes National

Lakeshore.

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Public Meeting, General Management Plan, Chicago,

Illinois, August 14, 1979. South Bend, Indiana: Holle and Hillman Reporting Service, 1979.

Our Fourth Shore: Great Lakes Shoreline Recreation Area Survey. National Park Service,

1959. (File drawer 3).

Proposed Additions to the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. Beverly Shores, Indiana: Save 

the Dunes Council, Inc., April 1971. (File drawer 3).

Curator/Historian's Files

Barnes, William B. "Dunes Nature Preserve: New Protection for a Famous Park." Reprinted 

from Outdoor Indiana. September 1971. (folder—Indiana Dunes State Park).

Bowers, John O. Dream Cities of the Calumet. Gary, Indiana: Calumet Press, 1929. (folder—

2587).

Cottman, George S. Indiana Dunes State Park: A History and Description. Publication 

Number 97. Indianapolis, Indiana: State of Indiana, Department of Conservation, Division of 

Lands and Waters, 1930. (folder—Indiana Dunes State Park).

"Dunes of Indiana." Pamphlet of the Save the Dunes Council. Published by The Chesterton

(Indiana) Tribune. July 1957. (folder—Dunes of Indiana 1957).

Manuscript excerpt [author unknown]. "Richard Lieber Biographical Study." [no date]. Draft 

of Master's Thesis. (folder—Indiana Dunes State Park).

Mather, Stephen T. Report on the Proposed Sand Dunes National Park, Indiana. United States

Department of the Interior, National Park Service. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government 

Printing Office, 1917. (folder—2639).

Schantz, Orpheus Moyer."Indiana's Unrivaled Sand—Dunes: A National Park Opportunity."
Reprinted by Special Permission from the National Geographic Magazine. May 1919. Gary, 

Indiana: National Dunes Park Association, 1919.

"Senator Douglas Sees Threat to Indiana Dunes as Symbol of National Problem." 

Conservation Special Bulletin. New York: Council of Conservationists, Inc., May 26, 1958. 

(folder—2595).

Stevens, Thomas Wood. Book of the Historical Pageant of The Dunes, Port Chester, Indiana,

on Lake Michigan: May 30 and June 3, 1917. Chicago: The Dunes Pageant Association,

1917. (folder—2588).

Bailly Administrative Area/no permanent repository

Indiana Dunes Advisory Commission Records. Private Files of Former Commission 

Chairman William L. Lieber. The following folders were utilized: Acquisition of Property; 

Development—Land and Programs; Hoosier Prairie; Jetport; Michigan City/LaPorte County; 

Legislation; Miscellaneous; Mt. Baldy; N.P.S.; NIPSCO; NIPSCO—Bailly; Ogden Dunes; 

Save—The—Dunes; Secretary of Interior; State Park; A2623 Trip Reports ( Indiana Dunes). 

[Note: The remainder of the Advisory Commission records are at Indiana University 

Northwest, Gary, Indiana.]

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MIDWEST REGIONAL OFFICE

OMAHA, NEBRASKA

Oral History Interviews by Historian Ron Cockrell

Castleberry, Don H. National Park Service Regional Director, Midwest Region; Former

Assistant Superintendent, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, 1974—1978. 3 September

1987. Midwest Regional Office, Omaha, Nebraska.

Engquist, Dale B. National Park Service Superintendent, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore; 

Former Assistant Superintendent, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, 1978—1983. 16

September 1987. Midwest Regional Office, Omaha, Nebraska.

Palmer, George A. Former National Park Service Associate Regional Director, Northeast

Region. Transcript of Correspondence. 11 and 12 October 1987.

Read, Charlotte. Executive Director, Save the Dunes Council, Inc. 22 September 1987. 

Superintendent's Office, Bailly Administrative Area, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, 

Porter, Indiana.

Read, Herbert. Engineering Chairman, Save the Dunes Council, Inc. 22 September 1987. 

Bailly Ranger Station, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, Porter, Indiana.

Reed, Nathaniel P. ("Nat"). Former Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Fish and Wildlife 

and Parks. 9 March 1987. Hobe Sound, Florida.

Schnurlein, John. Former Member and Chairman of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore 

Advisory Commission, 1967—1985. 23 September 1987. Superintendent's Office, Bailly 

Administrative Area, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, Porter, Indiana.

Whitehouse, James R. Former National Park Service Superintendent, Indiana Dunes National

Lakeshore. 11 and 12 March 1987. Orlando, Florida.
Correspondence

Engquist, Dale B. Superintendent, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. Memorandum to

Regional Director Don Castleberry. 3 March 1988.

Hartzog, George B. Jr. Former National Park Service Director, 1964—1972. Letters. 24

November 1987 and 15 February 1988. Midwest Regional Office Files.

Marciniak, Martin. Former Historian/Curator, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. Letter. 9

February 1988.

Reed, Herbert Engineering Committee Chairman, Save the Dunes Council. Letters. 19 and 26

March; 6, 7, and 16 April 1988; and archival records received 23 March 1988. Enclosure in

16 April 1988 letter: James E. Newman and James B. Lane, editors. Steel Shavings:

Concerned Citizens against the Bailly Nuclear Site. Vol. 16. Gary, Indiana: Indiana 

University Northwest Press, 1988.

Stewart, Philip O. Former Chief of Land Acquisition. Washington Office. National Park

Service. Letters. 17 and 24 February 1988.

Townsend, John. Former Special Assistant to the Chief Ranger, Indiana Dunes National

Lakeshore. Informal Review Comments. February 1988.

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

HARPERS FERRY CENTER

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE HISTORY COLLECTION

HARPERS FERRY, WEST VIRGINIA

A Master Plan Report, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. National Park Service, October

1968.

A Master Plan Report for Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, Indiana. National Park Service: 

October 1967.

Interpretive Prospectus, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, Indiana. Philadelphia: Office of

Environmental Planning and Design, Eastern Service Center, February 1971.

Master Plan: Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. National Park Service, November 1969. 

"Statement by the President on Approving S. 360, Establishing the Indiana Dunes National

Lakeshore." Press Release. Office of the White House Secretary, November 5, 1966. San

Antonio, Texas.

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

GENERAL ARCHIVAL SOURCES

Clemensen, A. Berle. Historic Resource Study, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, Indiana. 

Denver: National Park Service, Denver Service Center, February 1979.

Daniel, Glenda. Dune Country: A Hiker's Guide to the Indiana Dunes. Revised Edition. 

Athens, Ohio: Swallow Press, 1984.

Danz, Harold P. Historical Listing of National Park Service Officials. Washington, D.C.: 

National Park Service, Department of the Interior, May 1986.

Douglas, Paul H. In The Fullness of Time: The Memoirs of Paul H. Douglas. New York:
Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, Inc., 1971.

Engel, J. Ronald. Sacred Sands: The Struggle for Community in the Indiana Dunes. 

Middletown, Connecticut: Wesleyan University Press, 1983.

Franklin, Kay and Norma Schaeffer. Duel For The Dunes: Land Use Conflict on the Shores

of Lake Michigan. Urbana/Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1983.

General Management Plan, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, Indiana. Denver: National

Park Service, Denver Service Center, 1980.

Indiana Dunes, A Department of the Interior National Lakeshore Proposal, 1966. Washington, 

D.C.: National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, 1966.

Moore, Powell. "Tales of the Indiana Dunes." The Calumet Region: Indiana's Last Frontier. 

Indianapolis, Indiana: Indiana Historical Bureau, 1977.

The Indiana Dunes Story: How Nature and People Made a Park. Beverly Shores, Indiana: 

Shirley Heinze Environmental Fund, 1984.

Waldron, Larry. "SSA"s 10th Year: Celebrating a Birthday." Singing Sands Almanac. Vol. 7, 

No. 6 (Summer 1987), published by the Friends of Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.

Wirth, Conrad Lewis. Parks, Politics, and the People. Norman: University of Oklahoma

Press, 1980.

ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION

RECORDS CENTER—PHILADELPHIA BRANCH

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA

Records of the National Park Service, Northeast Regional Office, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 

The following archival sources were utilized:

Accession P 079—7510102; Location 4—29—019—3—4; Boxes 1, 4, 5, and 6. 

Accession P 079—74—0168; Location 4—25—021—7—1; Boxes 1 through 13. 

Accession P 079—71A0579; Location 4—28—35—3—3; all 17 Boxes. 

Accession P 079—71—0058; Location 4—16—033—4—2; all 14 Boxes. 

Accession P 079—79A0370; Location 4—28—049—7—1; Boxes 1 through 3.

THE STATE OF INDIANA

INDIANA STATE LIBRARY

INDIANA DIVISION

Papers Collection of Richard Lieber. L91: General Correspondence, 1937. Box XIV. Folder

1; and L90: 82B Director's Correspondence, 1919—1933. Folder—January to June 1923.

Papers of Carter H. Manny. 1890—1920. Folder S926.

Papers of Catharine A. Mitchell. Vice President, Chicago Committee, National Dunes Park 

Association. S2112, Subject—State Parks, Dunes, 1917—1919; and 1920—29. Papers of 

Governor of the State of Indiana Matthew E. Welsh. Box 22. Folder 3—Indiana Dunes. (Used 

with permission).

Nelson, George Andrew. "The Struggle to Establish the Port of Indiana." Transcript of Taped

Interview by F. Gerald Handfield, Jr. Indiana State Library, Indiana Division Oral History
Project, 1983.

PERSONAL PAPERS OF HERBERT READ

CHESTERTON, INDIANA

"The Prairie Club and the Indiana Dunes." A speech delivered before the Duneland Historical

Society. Transcript. 19 February 1987.
Indiana Dunes

Administrative History

The harbor bill came up in '65, the authorization passed, and as soon as it had 

passed, some of the compromise began to fall apart. Some of our opposition said, 

"Compromise? What compromise? I don't know anything about compromise." 

Really, when we talk about expansion bills now, we're merely trying to play 

catch—up with 1963.

Herbert Read, Engineering Committee Chairman, Save the Dunes Council, 

September 22, 1987

PART IV:

APPENDIXES

A: Historic and Contemporary Site Photographs

B: Legislation

C: Chronological List of National Park Service Employees

D: Annual Visitation Figures

E: Annual Budgetary Figures (ONPS) 

F: Administrative Positions Charts

G: Area and Boundary Maps
Indiana Dunes

Administrative History

APPENDIX A:

HISTORIC AND CONTEMPORARY SITE 

PHOTOGRAPHS

Our relations with the Save the Dunes Council are very good. We have regular 

communications. They are generally good. We're generally mutually supportive. 

We have an ultimate goal that's the same. We differ sometimes on methods and 

procedures and we don't always agree on everything. I view them, personally, 

kind of as my conscience. I'd like to think I'd always keep uppermost in my mind 

the preservation goals for Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. With the Save the 

Dunes Council out there, you can be assured that should you ever think of

straying from the pure path you will be quickly reminded!

Superintendent Dale Engquist, 

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, September 16, 1987.
Figure 1. Members of the Prairie Club of Chicago engage in a 

popular weekend activity in the nearly dunelands of Indiana. This 

particular "dunes walk" took place in 1913 in the vicinity of 

Mount Baldy. (Photographer A.E. Ormes, July 4, 1913, 

Photographic Archives, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore)
Figure 2. National Park Service Director Stephen T. Mather (far left 

foreground) is accompanied by Col. Richard Liebger on an October

31, 1916, inspection tour—the day following a Department of the 

Interior hearing in Chicago on a proposed Sand Dunes National Park. 

In the center of the group in the background are Associate Director 

Horace Albright and his wife, Grace. (Photographer Unknown, 

October 31, 1916, Photographic Archives, Indiana Dunes National 

Lakeshore)

Figure 3. The National Park Service inspection tour of the proposed 

Sand Dunes National Park included the following (beginning with 

the first full figure at the left): unknown, Dr. Henry Chandler 

Cowles; Mrs. Horace (Grace) Albright; unknown; National Park 

Service Director Stephen T. Mather (partially obscured); Col. 

Richard Lieber; unknown; and Horace M. Albright. (Photographer 

unknown, October 31, 1916, Photographic Archives, Indiana Dunes 

National Lakeshore)
Figure 4. Newly appointed Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore 

Advisory Commission at first official meeting. Photograph is taken 

in Secretary of the Interior Udall's office, Main Interior Building, 

Washington, D.C. Pictured from left to right are: National Park 

Service Director George B. Hartzog, Jr.; John Schnurlein, member, 

Porter County; Celia Nealon, member, Portage; Thomas Dustin, 

chairman, Secretary's designate; Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. 

Udall; William Lieber, member, State of Indiana; John Hillenbrand 

II, member, State of Indiana; Harry Frey, member, Michigan City; 

and William Tobin, member, Beverly Shores. (Photographer Office 

of the Secretary of the Interior, November 4, 1967, Photographic 

Archives, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore)
Indiana Dunes

Administrative History

APPENDIX A:

HISTORIC AND CONTEMPORARY SITE 

PHOTOGRAPHS (continued)

Figure 5. Secretary of the Interior Rogers C. B. Morton and Mrs. 

Julie Nixon Eisenhower (center) were the keynote speakers at the 

September 1971, dedication day ceremony for the Indiana Dunes 

National Lakeshore. The event took place at the Indiana Dunes State 

Park. (Photographer Darryl Blink, Seasonal Park Ranger, September

8, 1972, Photographic Archives, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore)
Figure 6. Left to right: Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall, 

Senator Paul H. Douglas, Dorothy Buell, and Secretary of

Agriculture Orville Freeman. Senator Douglas and Dorothy Buell are 

being awarded the National Wildlife Federation Award because of 

their dunes preservation efforts. (Photographer unknown, February

1967, Photographic Archives, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore)

Figure 7. Aerial view of the two-story limestone 

pavillion/beachhouse at the Indiana Dunes State Park. (Photographer 

District Ranger Stan Lock, April 1971, Photographic Archives, 

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore)
Figure 8. A "tree graveyard" is caused by the shifting of sand dunes 

through wooded areas. The natural devastation left behind is a 

strangely beautiful sight. (Photographer Dr. Jack Troy, June 1972, 

Photographic Archives, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore)
Indiana Dunes

Administrative History

APPENDIX A:

HISTORIC AND CONTEMPORARY SITE 

PHOTOGRAPHS (continued)

Figure 9. With steel mills on the horizon (left), the Lake Michigan 

surf relentlessly pounds the national lakeshore providing the stimulus 

for dunes formation. While the lake also serves as the national 

lakeshore's primary recreational activity, it also contributes to a 

fundamental management problem—shoreline erosion.

(Photographer unknown, November 1973, Photographic Archives, 

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore)
Figure 10. Pinhook Bog, one of the "detached" areas of the national 

lakeshore, has a delicate ecosystem which necessitates minimal 

human impact. (Photographer Interpreter/Park Technician Jo Ellen 

Seiser, August 1974, Photographic Archives, Indiana Dunes National 

Lakeshore)

Figure 11. The beachhouse at West Beach represents the national 

lakeshore's first and only substantial recreational facility. 

(Photographer unknown, October 1979, Photographic Archives, 

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore)
Figure 12. Scaffolding envelopes the Bailly Homestead, a National 

Historic Landmark, as the National Park Service begins a substantial 

restoration. (Photographer Park Planner Bob Foster, April 1976, 

Photographic Archives, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore)
Indiana Dunes

Administrative History

APPENDIX A:

HISTORIC AND CONTEMPORARY SITE 

PHOTOGRAPHS (continued)

Figure 13. Following completion of a Historic Structure Report, the 

National Park Service restored the Bailly Homestead to 1916, the 

earliest possible period for which a historic appearance could be 

verified. (Photographer National Lakeshore Staff, circa July 1976, 

Photographic Archives, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore)
Figure 14. Park Ranger Jim Brown escorts visitors back aboard 

the South Shore Railroad after a day in the dunes. The national 

lakeshore actively encourages urban minority groups to use the 

South Shore Railroad to visit the dunes and particpate in the 

park's environmental education programs. (Photographer 

National Lakeshore Staff, 1978, Photographic Archives, Indiana 

Dunes National Lakeshore)
Figure 15. Visitors peruse one of the many crafts displays at the 

Bailly Homestead, site of the Duneland Folk Festival. Park VIPs 

dress in fur trade era garb representative of the time of the area's first 

settler, Joseph Bailly. (Photographer Supervisory Park Ranger 

(Programs Specialist) Robert Daum, 1980, Photographic Archives, 

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore)

Figure 16. The national lakeshore's first Superintendent, James R. 

("J. R.") Whitehouse, sits behind his desk at the Bailly 

Administrative Area. Whitehouse served at Indiana Dunes from fall

1970 to early 1983, when he was succeeded by Dale Engquist. 

(Photographer Interpreter G. R. Davis, unknown [circa 1980], 

Photographic Archives, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore)
Indiana Dunes

Administrative History

APPENDIX A:

HISTORIC AND CONTEMPORARY SITE 

PHOTOGRAPHS (continued)

Figure 17. Park Ranger Mike Dale leds a guided walk through the 

dunes explaining the intricate stages of dunes succession. 

(Photographer Supervisory Park Ranger [Program Specialist] Robert 

Daum, December 1980, Photographic Archives, Indiana Dunes 

National Lakeshore)
Figure 18. West Beach remains the focus of recreational activities in 

the national lakeshore with summertime swimming pushing visitation 

levels to capacity. (Photographer Visitor Center Coordinator G. R. 

Davis, July 1981, Photographic Archives, Indiana Dunes National 

Lakeshore)

Figure 19. Superintendent J. R. Whitehouse and Assistant 

Superintendent Dale Engquist (at left) accompany Secretary of the 

Interior James G. Watt (at right with Stetson hat) on a roving press 

conference/"photo opportunity" at West Beach. The woman in the 

center is the Secretary's wife, Leilani Watt. (Photographer 

Supervistory Park Ranger [Programs Specialist] Robert Daum, April

4, 1982, Photographic Archives, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore)
Figure 20. The Goodfellow Lodge at Goodfellow Camp, once 

operated by the U.S. Steel Corporation for its employees, stands 

vacant and awaits preservation by the National Park Service 

(Photographer Interpreter G. R. Davis, April 10, 1983, Photographic 

Archives, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore)
Indiana Dunes

Administrative History

APPENDIX A:

HISTORIC AND CONTEMPORARY SITE 

PHOTOGRAPHS (continued)

Figure 21. The Chellberg Farm House was stabilized following its 

acquisition by the National Park Service. Chellberg became the focus 

for historic preservation activities because of its proximity to the 

Bailly Homestead. (Photographer National Lakeshore Staff, 

December 1977, Photographic Archives, Indiana Dunes National

Lakeshore)
Figure 22. Restored to its exterior historic appearance, the Chellberg 

Farm House serves as a focal point for the active interpretive 

program for the surrounding farm complex. The interior is being 

restored and will be opened to the public in 1989. (Photographer 

A.V. Coordinator Cynthia Garrison, September 1987, Photographic 

Archives, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore)

Figure 23. Two visitors stand before a wayside exhibit for the 

Chellberg Farm Barn, one of the principal structures for interpreting 

the agrarian life of the Chellberg family. (Photographer 

Environmental Education Coordinator Sam Vaughn, July 1983, 

Photographic Archives, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore)
Figure 24. National lakeshore maintenance workers progress on 

building the Dunes Succession Trail at West Beach. The elaborate 

stairways and boardwalks help to ensure the lowest possible human 

impact on the fragile dunes. (Photographer A.V. Coordinator Cynthia 

Garrison, October 1983, Photographic Archives, Indiana Dunes 

National Lakeshore)
Indiana Dunes

Administrative History

APPENDIX A:

HISTORIC AND CONTEMPORARY SITE 

PHOTOGRAPHS (continued)

Figure 25. One important component of the national lakeshore's 

Science Office is a program to restore disturbed dunelands to natural 

conditions. (Photographer Volunteer in Park Tom Griffiths, October

1984, Photographic Archives, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore)
Figure 26. Built to serve as a U.S. Army NIKE missle base, the 

national lakeshore operates the "Bailly Administrative Area" as its 

headquarters complex. Renovation of the structures is being 

conducted on a phased basis. (Photographer A.V. Coordinator 

Cynthia Garrison, January 16, 1988, Photographic Archives, Indiana 

Dunes National Lakeshore)

Figure 27. The West Beach Visitor Center provides a public contact 

station for the thousands of visitors at this popular recreation spot. 

(Photographer Volunteer in Park Tom Griffiths, October 1984, 

Photographic Archives, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore)
Figure 28. Originally built as a church, the national lakeshore's

visitor center at Furnessville now contains an auditorium, exhibit and 

visitor orientation center, sales counter, and administrative offices. 

(Photographer National Lakeshore Staff, date unknown,

Photographic Archives, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore)
Indiana Dunes

Administrative History

APPENDIX A:

HISTORIC AND CONTEMPORARY SITE 

PHOTOGRAPHS (continued)

Figure 29. The Bailly Contact Station serves as an interpretive center 

for the Bailly Homestead and Cemetery and the Chellerg Farm. 

During the winter, cross country skiers use the trail system for their 

energetic sport. (Photographer Interpreter G. R. Davis, circa 1980, 

Photographic Archives, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore)
Figure 30. Both current and former members of the Indiana Dunes 

National Lakeshore Advisory Commision assemble on the steps of 

the Tremont visitor center to pose for a group photograph on the day 

of its final meeting. Pictured are (back row, left to right): Kay 

Rhame, Portage; Harold Rudd, former member; Thomas Dustin, first 

Commission chairman and former member; James Holland, Gary; 

John Schnurlein, Porter County representative and outgoing 

chairman; Ron Bensz, Michigan City; and William Lieber, State of 

Indiana. Front row (left to right): Ron Gacki, Odgen Dunes; 

Superintendent Dale B. Engquist; Harry Frey, former member; and 

Bill Staehle, former members. (Photographer Supervisory Park 

Ranger [Program Specialist] Robert Daum, September 27, 1985, 

Photographic Archives, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore)

Figure 31. As a result of the 1980 expansion bill, Congress dedicated 

the national lakeshore to the memory of Senator Paul H. Douglas.
This sign is at West Beach which was renamed the Paul H. Douglas 

Ecological and Recreational Unit (Photographer Supervisory Park 

Ranger [Program Specialist] Robert Daum, 1985, Photographic 

Archives, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore)
Indiana Dunes

Administrative History

APPENDIX B:

LEGISLATION

We worked very closely with the law department at Harvard and with Kennedy's 

administrative aids... in drafting this bill. [The Cape Cod Formula] has never 

been tested in the Supreme Court as many of these people who opposed these 

bills said that they would test it sometime.

Allen T. ("Al") Edmunds in a 1975 conversation with J. R. Whitehouse 

discussing the landmark Cape Cod National Seashore bill and its application to 

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.

Prepared by the national lakeshore staff, this is a compilation of the act establishing Indiana

Dunes National Lakeshore and three subsequent acts amending that original legislation.

NOTE

P.L. 89—761, 89th Congress (11/05/66) (80 Stat. 1309) 

P.L. 94—549, 94th Congress (10/18/76) (90 Stat. 2529) 

P.L. 96—612, 96th Congress (12/28/80) (94 Stat. 3575) 

P.L. 99—583, 99th Congress (10/29/86)

The left—hand margin contains an abbreviated description of the contents of each section 

together with the date (year) of the act from which that section derives. Where portions 

within a section derive from an act other than that cited at the beginning of that section, the 

changes (additions or revisions) are identified by underlining and the date of the act from 

which those changes derive is shown underlined in the left margin adjacent to those changed 

sections.

A COMPILATION OF LEGISLATION

INDIANA DUNES NATIONAL LAKESHORE

AN ACT

1966—Indiana

Dunes

To provide for the establishment of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, 

and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States 

of America in Congress assembled, That in order to preserve for the

Dunes Nat'l LS educational, inspirational, and recreational use of the public certain portions

establishment

and 

boundary.

of the Indiana dunes and other areas of scenic, scientific, and historic interest 

and recreational value in the State of Indiana, the Secretary of the Interior is 

authorized to establish and administer the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore 

(hereinafter referred to as the "lakeshore") in accordance with the provisions
1986

of this Act. The lakeshore shall comprise the area within the boundaries 

delineated on a map identified as "'Boundary Map, Indiana Dunes National 

Lakeshore', dated October 1986, and numbered 626—60,003—B" which map 

is on file and available for public inspection in the Office of the Director of 

the National Park Service, Department of the Interior.

1966—

Acquisition of 

lands, 

authorization.

1980

Sec. 2. (a) Within the boundaries of the lakeshore the Secretary of the Interior 

(hereinafter referred to as the "Secretary") is authorized to acquire lands, 

waters, and other property, or any interest therein, by donation, purchase with 

donated or appropriated funds, exchange, or otherwise. The Indiana Dunes 

State Park may be acquired only by donation of the State of Indiana, and the 

Secretary is hereby directed to negotiate with the State for the acquisition of 

said park. In exercising his authority to acquire property by exchange for the 

purposes of this Act, the Secretary may accept title to non—Federal property 

located within the area described in section 1 of this Act and convey to the 

grantor of such property any federally owned property under the jurisdiction 

of the Secretary which he classifies as suitable for exchange or other disposal 

within the State of Indiana or Illinois. Properties so exchanged shall be 

approximately equal in fair market value, as determined by the Secretary who 

may, in his discretion, base his determination on an independent appraisal 

obtained by him: Provided, That the Secretary may accept cash from or pay 

cash to the grantor in such an exchange in order to equalize the values of the 

properties exchanged. The Secretary is expressly authorized to acquire by

donation, purchase with donated or appropriated funds, or exchange lands or

interests therein which are owned for school or educational purposes by a

State or a political subdivision thereof.

(b) In exercising his authority to acquire property under subsection (a) of this 

section, the Secretary may enter into contracts requiring the expenditure, when 

appropriated, of funds authorized to be appropriated by section 9 of this Act, 

but the liability of the United States under any such contract shall be 

contingent on the appropriation of funds sufficient to fulfill the obligations 

thereby incurred.

1966—

Boundaries 

and 

establishment. 

Publication in 

Federal 

Register.

1976

Sec. 3. As soon as practicable after the effective date of this Act and

following the acquisition by the Secretary of an acreage within the boundaries 

of the area described in section 1 of this Act which in his opinion is

efficiently administrable for the purposes of this Act, he shall establish the 

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore by publication of notice thereof in the 

Federal Register.

By no later than October 1, 1977, the Secretary shall publish in the Federal

Register a detailed description of the boundaries of the lakeshore and shall

from time to time so publish any additional boundary changes as may occur. 

Following such establishment and subject to the limitations and conditions 

prescribed in section 1 hereof, the Secretary may continue to acquire lands 

and interests in lands for the lakeshore.

1966—

Improved 

property. 

Definition 

and

Sec. 4. As used in this Act, the term 'improved property' means a detached,

one—family dwelling which meets each of the following criteria:

(1) The construction of the dwelling began before the date (shown in the table

contained in this section) corresponding to the appropriate map.
construction 

cut-off dates.

1986 (2) The property is located within the boundaries delineated on the map

described in such table which corresponds to such date.

(3) The property is not located within the boundaries of any other map

referred to in such table which bears an earlier date.

The term 'appropriate map', means a map identified as 'Boundary Map—

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore' (or 'A Proposed Indiana Dunes National

Lakeshore' in the case of a dwelling the construction of which was begun

before January 4, 1965) which is dated and numbered as provided in the

following table.

Property Within Boundaries of Map Construction Began Before

Dated October 1986. #626—80,033—B February 1, 1986

Dated December 1980. #626—91014 January 1, 1981

Dated September 1976. #626—91007 February 1, 1973

Dated September 1966. #LNPNE—1008—ID January 4, 1965

The term 'improved property' also includes the lands on which the dwelling is

situated which meets both of the following criteria:

(A) The land is in the same ownership as the dwelling.

1966

1976

(B) The Secretary has designated the lands as reasonably necessary for the

enjoyment of the dwelling for the sole purpose of noncommercial residential

use.

Such term also includes any structures accessory to the dwelling which are

situated on the lands so designated. The maps referred to in this section shall

be on file and available for public inspection in the Office of the Director of

the National Park Service, Department of the Interior. The Secretary shall

designate the land referred to in subparagraph (B). The amount of land so 

designated shall in every case be not more than three acres in area, and in 

making such designation the Secretary shall take into account the manner of 

noncommercial residential use in which the dwelling and land have 

customarily been enjoyed: Provided, That the Secretary may exclude from the 

land so designated any beach or waters, together with so much of the land 

adjoining such beach or waters, as he may deem necessary for public access 

thereto or public use thereof. All rights of use and occupancy shall be subject

to such terms and conditions as the Secretary deems appropriate to assure the

use of such property in accordance with the purposes of this Act.

1980—Owners Sec. 5. (a) (1) Except for owners described in paragraph (2) and owners of

of

improved 

property, 

retention 

rights.

1986

improved property within the area on the map referred to in section 4, dated

December 1980, and numbered 626—91014 of this act as area II—B, any 

owner or owners of record of improved property may retain a right of use and 

occupancy of said improved property for noncommercial residential purposes 

for a term (A) ending on his or her death or the death of his or her spouse, 

whichever occurs last, or (B) for a fixed term not to extend beyond September

30, 2010, or such lesser term as the owner or owners may elect at the time of 

acquisition by the Secretary.

1986 In the case of improved property within the boundaries of the map dated

December 1980 and numbered 626—91014 the retention of a retained right
1966

under clause numbered (A) shall only be available to homeowners of record 

as of October 1, 1980, who have attained the age of majority as of that date 

and make a bona fide written offer not later than October 1, 1985, to sell to 

the Secretary. Where any such owner retains a right of use and occupancy as

herein provided, such right during its existence may be conveyed or leased for

noncommercial residential purposes. The Secretary shall pay to the owner the

fair market value of the property on the date of such acquisition, less the fair

market value on such date of the right retained by the owner.

1986 (2) (A) In the case of property included within the boundaries of the

lakeshore after 1980, any owner or owners of record of improved property

may retain a right of use and occupancy for noncommercial residential

purposes for a term ending at either of the following:

(i) A fixed term not to extend beyond September 30, 2010, or such lesser

fixed term as the owner or owners may elect at the time of acquisition.

(ii) A term ending at the death of any owner or of a spouse of any owner,

whichever occurs last.

The owner shall elect the term to be reserved.

1976—

Termination 

right of 

Secretary.

(B) The retention of rights under subparagraph (A) shall be available only to

individuals who are homeowners of record as of July 1, 1986, who have

attained the age of majority as of that date and who make a bona fide written

of offer not later than July 1, 1991, to sell to the Secretary.

(b) Upon his determination that the property, or any portion thereof, has

ceased to be used in accordance with the applicable terms and conditions, the

Secretary may terminate a right of use and occupancy. Nonpayment of

property taxes, validly assessed, on any retained right of use and occupancy

shall also be grounds for termination of such right by the Secretary. In the

event the Secretary terminates a right of use and occupancy under this

subsection he shall pay to the owners of the retained right so terminated an

amount equal to the fair market value of the portion of said right which

remained unexpired on the date of termination. With respect to any right of

use and occupancy in existence on the effective date of this sentence,

standards for retention of such rights in effect at the time such rights were

reserved shall constitute the terms and conditions referred to in section 4.

(c) With respect to improved properties acquired prior to the enactment of this 

subsection and upon which a valid existing right of use and occupancy has 

been reserved for a term of not more than twenty years, the Secretary may, in 

his discretion, extend the term of such retained right for a period of not more 

than nine years upon receipt of payment prior to September 30, 1983, from

the holder of the retained right. The amount of such payment shall be 

equivalent to the amount discounted from the purchase price paid by the 

Secretary for the identical period of time under the terms of the original sale 

adjusted by a general index adopted by the Secretary reflecting overall value 

trends within Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore between the time of the 

original sale and the time of the retained right of extension offered by this 

subsection.

1966—

Administration

Sec. 6. (a) In the administration of the lakeshore the Secretary may utilize 

such statutory authorities relating to areas of the national park system and
and 

development.

such statutory authority otherwise available to him for the conservation and 

management of natural resources as he deems appropriate to carry out the 

purposes of this Act.

(b) In order that the lakeshore shall be permanently preserved in its present 

state, no development or plan for the convenience of visitors shall be 

undertaken therein which would be incompatible with the preservation of the 

unique flora and fauna or the physiographic conditions now prevailing or with 

the preservation of such historic sites and structures as the Secretary may 

designate: Provided, That the Secretary may provide for the public enjoyment 

and understanding of the unique natural, historic, and scientific features

within the lakeshore by establishing such trails, observation points, and 

exhibits and providing such services as he may deem desirable for such public 

enjoyment and understanding: Provided further, That the Secretary may 

develop for appropriate public uses such portions of the lakeshore as he

deems especially adaptable for such uses.

1966—Indiana

Dunes Nat'l

LS Advisory 

Commission

1980

1980

1976

Sec. 7. (a) There is hereby established an Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore

Advisory Commission. Said Commission shall terminate on September 30,

1985.

(b) The Commission shall be composed of thirteen members each appointed 

from recommendations made by the commissioners of such county; (2) one 

member who is a year-round resident of the town of Beverly Shores to be 

appointed from the recommendations made by the board of such town; (3)

one member who is a year-round resident of the towns of Porter, Dune Acres, 

Pines, Chesterton, Ogden Dunes, or the village of Tremont, such member to

be appointed from recommendations made by the boards of trustees or the 

trustee of the affected town or township; (4) two members who are year—

round residents of the city of Michigan City to be appointed from 

recommendations made by such city; (5) two members to be appointed from 

recommendations made by the Governor of the State of Indiana; (6) one 

member to be designated by the Secretary; (7) two members who are year—

round residents of the city of Gary to be appointed from recommendations

made by the mayor of such city; (8) one member to be appointed from

recommendations made by a regional planning agency established under the

authority of the laws of the State of Indiana and composed of representatives

of local and county governments in northwestern Indiana; (9) one member

who is a year—round resident of the city of Portage to be appointed from

recommendations made by the mayor of such city; and (10) one member who

holds a reservation of use and occupancy and is a year-round resident within

the lakeshore to be designated by the Secretary.

(c) The Secretary shall designate one member to be Chairman. Any vacancy 

in the Commission shall be filled in the same manner in which the original 

appointment was made.

(d) A member of the Commission shall serve without compensation as such. 

The Secretary is authorized to pay the expense reasonably incurred by the 

Commission in carrying out its responsibilities under this Act on vouchers 

signed by the Chairman.

(e) The Secretary or his designee shall, from time to time, consult with the

Commission with respect to matters relating to the development of the Indiana
Dunes National Lakeshore and with respect to the provisions of sections 4, 5, 

and 6 of this Act.

1976 (f) The Advisory Commission is authorized to assist with the identification of

economically and environmentally acceptable areas, outside of the boundaries

of the lakeshore, for the handling and disposal of industrial solid wastes

produced by the coal—fired powerplant in Porter County, Indiana, section 21,

township 37 north, range 6 west.

1966—

Jurisdiction, 

state and local.

Sec. 8. Nothing in this Act shall deprive the State of Indiana or any political 

subdivision thereof of its civil and criminal jurisdiction over persons found, 

acts performed, and offenses committed within the boundaries of the Indiana 

Dunes National Lakeshore or of its right to tax persons, corporations, 

franchises, or other non—Federal property on lands included therein.

1976— Sec. 9. Secretary may not expend more than $60,812,100 from the Land and

Appropriations. Water Conservation Fund for the acquisition of lands and interests in lands 

nor more than $20,000 000 for development: Provided, That not more than

1986

1980

1980

1986

Dunes

$500,000 of said amount may be appropriated for the development of the Paul

H. Douglas Environmental Education Center authorized pursuant to section

20 of this Act; and By October 1, 1979, the Secretary shall develop and 

transmit to the Committees on Interior and Insular Affairs of the United States 

Congress a general management plan detailing the development of the

national lakeshore consistent with the preservation objectives of this Act, 

indicating: (1) the facilities needed to accommodate the health, safety, and 

recreation needs of the visiting public; (2) the location and estimated costs of 

all facilities, together with a review of the consistency of the master plan with 

State, areawide, and local governmental development plans; (3) the projected 

need for any additional facilities within the national lakeshore; and (4)

specific opportunities for citizen participation in the planning and 

development of proposed facilities and in the implementation of the general 

management management plan generally.

In addition to any sums heretofore authorized for the acquisition of lands and

interests in lands pursuant to the provisions of this Act, there are further

authorized to be appropriated an additional $3,120,000. In addition to any

other sums authorized for the acquisition of lands and interests in lands

pursuant to the provisions of this Act there are authorized to be appropriated

Parkway Study an additional $3,500,000 to be used for such purposes. The Secretary shall

conduct a feasibility study of establishing United States Highway 12 as the

'Indiana Dune Parkway' under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service.

The Secretary shall submit the results of such study to the Committee on

Interior and Insular Affairs of the United States House of Representatives and

the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the United States Senate

within two years after the enactment of this sentence. Effective October 1,

1986, there is authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary

for the purposes of conducting the feasibility study.

1976—Rightsof-way

and easements.

1986

Sec. 10. Nothing in this Act shall diminish any existing (as of March 1, 1975) 

rights—of—way or easements which are necessary for high voltage electrical 

transmission, pipelines, water mains, or line—haul railroad operations and 

maintenance. Nothing in this Act shall be construed to diminish the existing

property rights of Northern Indiana Public Service Company (as of October 1,

1986) with respect to—
(1) a parcel of land owned in fee by the Northern Indiana Public Service

Company and used for high voltage electrical transmission lines, pipelines,

and utility purposes, beginning at said Company's Dune Acres substation and

extending east to said Company's Michigan City Generating Station, which

parcel by this Act is included within the boundaries of the Indiana Dunes

National Lakeshore and herein designated as area II—I on National Park

Service Boundary Map No. 626—80,033—B, dated October 1986, excluding

that certain parcel of approximately 6.0 acres adjacent to Mineral Springs

Road in area II—I, and

(2) land owned in fee by the Northern Indiana Public Service Company and

used for high voltage electrical transmission lines, pipelines, and utility

purposes as has by this Act been included within the boundaries of the

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore and herein designated as area II—I on said

National Park Service Boundary Map No. 626—80,033-B.

1976—Little 

Calumet 

River.

Air and water 

pollution 

standards.

Sec. 11. (a) Nothing in the Act shall be construed as prohibiting any

otherwise legal cooling, process, or surface drainage into the part of the Little 

Calumet River located within the lakeshore: Provided, That this subsection 

shall not affect nor in any way limit the Secretary's authority and 

responsibility to protect park resources.

(b) The authorization of lands to be added to the lakeshore by the Ninety—

fourth Congress and the administration of such lands as part of the lakeshore 

shall in and of itself in no way operate to render more restrictive the 

application of Federal, State, or local air and water pollution standards to the 

uses of property outside the boundaries of the lakeshore, nor shall it be 

construed to augment the control of water and air pollution sources in the 

State of Indiana beyond that required pursuant to applicable Federal, State, or 

local law.

1976—

Acquisition, 

Area III—B.

Sec. 12. The Secretary shall acquire the area on the map referred to in the first 

section of this Act as area III-B within two years from the effective date of

this section only if such area can be acquired for not more than $800,000, 

exclusive of administrative costs of acquisition, as adjusted by the Consumer 

Price Index: Provided, That the Secretary may not acquire such area by any 

means after two years from the effective date of this section.

1976—

Acquisition, 

Area I—C and 

Area IV—B.

1986

Sec. 13. (a) The Secretary may acquire that portion of area I—C which is 

shaded on the map referred to in section 4, dated December 1980 and

numbered 626—91014 of this Act only with the consent of the owner unless 

the present owner attempts to sell or otherwise dispose of such area.

(b) The Secretary may acquire that portion of area IV—B in private

ownership on the map referred to in section 1 of this Act only with the

consent of the owner: Provided, That the Secretary may acquire an

agricultural easement should the owner change the use existence as of

September 19, 1986, through eminent domain.

1976—Land 

Acquisition 

Plan.

Sec. 14. Within one year after the date of the enactment of this section, the 

Secretary shall suit, in writing, to the Committees on Interior and Insular 

Affairs and to the Committees on Appropriations of the United States
Congress a detailed plan which shall indicate: (1) the lands which he has 

previously acquired by purchase, donation, exchange, or transfer for 

administration for the purpose of the lakeshore; and (2) the annual acquisition 

program (including the level of funding) which he recommends for the 

ensuing five fiscal years.

1976

—'Crossings

A,

B & C' rightsof-way.

1986

Sec. 15. The Secretary may acquire only such interest sin the right-of-way 

designated 'Crossing A' on map numbered 626—91007 as he determines to be

necessary to assure public access to the banks of the Little Calumet River 

within fifty feet north and south of the Little Calumet River and the banks of 

Salt Creek within fifty feet on either side of the centerline of said river. The

Secretary may acquire only such interest in the right-of-way designated

'Crossing B' and 'Crossing C' on the map dated October 1986 and numbered

626—80,03—B as he determines to be necessary to assure public access to

the banks of the Little Calumet River and the banks of Salt Creek within fifty

feet on either side of the centerline of said river and creek.

1976—

Cooperative 

Agreement, II

—E and

'Crossing A'.

1986

Sec. 16. The Secretary shall enter into a cooperative agreement with the 

landowner of those lands north of the Little Calumet River between the Penn 

Central Railroad bridge within area II—E and 'Crossing A' within area IV-C 

on the map referred to in section 4, dated October 1976, and numbered 626—

91007. Such agreement shall provide that any roadway constructed by the 

landowner south of United States Route 12 within such vicinity shall include 

grading, landscaping, and plantings of vegetation designed to prevent soil 

erosion and to minimize the aural and visual impacts of said construction, and 

of traffic on such roadway, as perceived from the Little Calumet River.

1986

1976—

Acquisition, 

Area I-E.

Sec. 17. (a) The Secretary may not acquire such lands within the western 

section of area I—E, as designated on map numbered 626—91007, which 

have been used for solid waste disposal until he has received a commitment 

in accordance with a plan acceptable to him, to reclaim such lands at no 

expense to the Federal Government

(b) With respect to the property identified as area I—E on map numbered 626

—91007, the Secretary may enter into a cooperative agreement whereby the 

State of Indiana or any political subdivision thereof may undertake to 

develop, manage and interpret such area in a manner consistent with the 

purposes of this Act.

1976—Special

Study

Areas III—A, 

III—C

and II—A.

Sec. 18. By July 1, 1977, the Secretary shall prepare and transmit to the 

Committees on Interior and Insular Affairs of the United States Congress a 

study of areas III—A, III—C, and II—A, as designated on map numbered 626

—91007. The Secretary shall make reasonable provision for the timely 

participation of the State of Indiana, local public officials, affected property 

owners, and the general public in the formulation of said study, including, but 

not limited to, the opportunity to testify at a public hearing. The record of

such hearing shall accompany said study. With respect to areas III—A and III

—C, the study shall (a) address the desirability of acquisition of any or all of 

the area from the standpoint of resource management, protection, and public 

access; (b) develop alternatives for the control of beach erosion if desirable, 

including recommendations, if control is necessary, of assessing the costs of 

such control against those agencies responsible for such erosion; (c) consider
and propose options to guarantee public access to and use of the beach area, 

including the location of necessary facilities for transportation, health, and 

safety; (d) detail the recreational potential of the area and all available 

alternatives for achieving such potential; (e) review the environmental impact 

upon the lakeshore resulting from the potential development and improvement 

of said areas; and (f) assess the cost to the United States from both the 

acquisition of said areas together with the potential savings from the retention 

of rights of use and occupancy and from the retention of the boundaries of the 

lakeshore, as designated on map numbered 626—91007, including the costs of 

additional administrative responsibilities necessary for the management of the 

lakeshore, including the maintenance of public services in the town of Beverly 

Shores, Indiana. With respect to area II—A, the Secretary shall study and 

report concerning the following objectives: (a) preservation of the remaining 

dunes, wetlands, native vegetation, and animal life within the area; (b) 

preservation and restoration of the watersheds of Cowles Bog and its 

associated wetlands; (c) appropriate public access to and use of lands within 

the area; (d) protection of the area and the adjacent lakeshore from

degradation caused by all forms of construction, pollution, or other adverse 

impacts including, but not limited to, the discharge of wastes and any 

excessive subsurface migration of water; and (e) the economic consequences 

to the utility and its customers of acquisition of such area.

1976—

Donation of 

lands outside 

Lakeshore 

boundaries.

Sec. 19. After notifying the Committees on Interior and Insular Affairs of the 

United States Congress, in writing, of his intentions to do so and of the 

reasons therefore, the Secretary may, if he finds that such lands would make a 

significant contribution to the purposes for which the lakeshore was 

established, accept title to any lands, or interests in lands, located outside the 

present boundaries of the lakeshore but contiguous thereto or to lands 

acquired under this section, such lands the State of Indiana or its political 

subdivisions may acquire and offer to donate to the United States or which 

any private person, organization, or public or private corporation may offer to 

donate to the United States and he shall administer such lands as a part of the 

lakeshore after publishing notice to that effect in the Federal Register.

1980—

Dedication, 

Paul H. 

Douglas.

Sec. 20 (a) The Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore is hereby dedicated to the 

memory of Paul H. Douglas in grateful recognition of his leadership in the 

effort to protect, preserve, and enhance the natural, scientific, historic, and 

recreational value of the lakeshore for the use, enjoyment, and edification of 

present and future generations.

(b) To further accomplish the purposes of subsection (a) of this section, the 

Secretary of the Interior shall designate the west unit of the lakeshore as the 

"Paul H. Douglas Ecological and Recreational Unit" and shall, subject to 

appropriations being granted, design and construct a suitable structure or 

designate an existing structure within the lakeshore to be known as the "Paul 

H. Douglas Center for Environmental Education" which shall provide 

facilities designed primarily to familiarize students and other visitors with,

among other things: (1) the natural history of the lakeshore and its association 

with the natural history of the Great Lakes region; (2) the evolution of human 

activities in the area; and (3) the historical features which led to the 

establishment of the lakeshore by the Congress of the United States.

(c) To inform the public of the contributions of Paul H. Douglas to the
creation of the lakeshore, the Secretary of the Interior shall provide such 

signs, markers, maps, interpretive materials, literature, and programs as he 

deems appropriate.

1980—

Transportation 

Study.

Sec. 21. (a) The Secretary in consultation with the Secretary of Transportation,

shall conduct a study of various modes of public access into and within the

lakeshore which are consistent with the preservation of the lakeshore and

conservation of energy by encouraging the use of transportation modes other

than personal motor vehicles.

(b) In carrying out the study, the Secretary shall utilize to the greatest extent 

practicable the resources and facilities of the organizations designated as 

clearinghouses under title IV of the Intergovernmental Cooperation Act of

1968 as implemented by Office of Management and Budget Circular A-95,

and which have comprehensive planning responsibilities in the regions where 

the lakeshore is located, as well as any other agencies or organizations which 

the Secretary may designate. The Secretary shall make provision for timely 

and substantive consultations with the appropriate agencies of the States of 

Indiana and Illinois, local elected officials, and the general public in the 

formulation and implementation of the study.

(c) The study shall address the adequacy of access facilities for members of 

the public who desire to visit and enjoy the lakeshore. Consideration shall be 

given to alternatives for alleviating the dependence on automobile 

transportation. The study of public transportation facilities shall cover the 

distance from cities of thirty—five thousand population or more within fifty 

miles of the lakeshore.

(d) The study shall include proposals deemed necessary to assure equitable 

visitor access and public enjoyment by all segments of the population, 

including those who are physically or economically disadvantaged. It shall 

provide for retention of the natural, scenic, and historic values for which the 

lakeshore was established, and shall propose plans and alternatives for the 

protection and maintenance of these values as they relate to transportation 

improvements.

(e) The study shall examine proposals for the renovation and preservation of a 

portion of the existing South Shore Railroad passenger car fleet. The study 

shall consider the historic value of the existing rolling stock and its role in 

transporting visitors into and within the lakeshore.

(f) The study shall present alternative plans to improve, construct, and extend 

access roads, public transportation, and bicycle and pedestrian trails. It shall 

include cost estimates of all plans considered in this study, and shall discuss 

existing and proposed sources of funding for the implementation of the 

recommended plan alternatives.

(g) The study shall be completed and presented to the Congress within two 

complete fiscal years from the effective date of this provision.

(h) Effective October 1, 1981, there is hereby authorized to be appropriated 

not to exceed $200,000 for this study.

1980—Prompt Sec. 22. In exercising his authority to acquire property under this act, the
land 

acquisition in 

cases

of hardship.

Secretary shall give prompt and careful consideration to any offer made by an 

individual owning property within the lakeshore to sell such property, if such 

individual notifies the Secretary in writing that the continued ownership of 

such property is causing, or would result in, undue hardship.

1980—Land 

acquisition, 

Area VII—A.

Land 

acquisition, 

Area I—D.

Land 

acquisition, 

Area VII—C.

Sec. 23. (a) The Secretary may acquire only such interest in that portion of 

area VII—A which is described in subsection (b) as the Secretary determines 

is necessary to assure public access over said portion of area VII—A.

(b) The portion of area VI I—A, as designated on the map referred to in 

section 1, to which subsection (a) applies is a parcel of land bounded; (1) on 

the east by a line three hundred feet east of the electrical transmission line 

crossing area VII—A on January 1, 1979; (2) on the west by a line fifty feet 

west of such electrical transmission line; and (3) on the north and south by the 

northern and southern boundaries, respectively, of area VII—A.

(c) Area VII—A includes the bed of the railroad tracks forming the northern 

and northwestern boundaries of this area and extends to the northern edge of 

the bed of the railroad tracks forming the southern boundaries of this area.

(d) Area I—D includes the bed of the railroad tracks along the northern 

boundary of this area.

(e) The area designated as area VII-C on the map referred to in section 1 does 

not include approximately 1.3 acres of land on which the Linde Air Products 

plant is situated, nor does it include approximately 1 acre of land on which the 

Old Union Station building and the adjacent REA building are situated.

Except as provided in the foregoing sentence, area VII—C extends to, but 

does not include, the beds of the railroad tracks forming the northern and 

southern boundaries of such area.

1986—

Cooperative

Sec. 24. (a) The Secretary may enter into a cooperative agreement with the

Little Calumet River Basin Development Commission, the State of Indiana or

Agreement and any political subdivision thereof for the planning, management, and

Study,

Little Calumet

River,

and Burns

Waterway.

interpretation of recreational facilities on the tract within the boundaries of 

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore identified as tract numbered 09—117 or on 

lands under the jurisdiction of the State of Indiana or political subdivision 

thereof along the Little Calumet River and Burns Waterway. The cooperative 

agreement may include provision for the planning of public facilities for 

boating, canoeing, fishing, hiking, bicycling, and other compatible

recreational activities. Any recreational developments on lands under the 

jurisdiction of the National Park Service planned pursuant to this cooperative 

agreement shall be in a manner consistent with the purposes of this Act, 

including section 6(b).

(b) The Secretary shall conduct a study regarding the options available for 

linking the portions of the lakeshore which are divided by the Little Calumet 

River and Burns/Portage Waterway so as to coordinate the management and 

recreational use of the lakeshore. The Secretary shall submit the results of the 

study to the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs of the United States 

House of Representatives and the Committee on Energy and Natural 

Resources of the United States Senate within two years after the enactment of 

this section. Effective October 1, 1986, there is authorized to be appropriated 

such sums as may be necessary for the purposes of conducting this study.
Indiana Dunes

Administrative History

APPENDIX C:

CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF NATIONAL PARK 

SERVICE EMPLOYEES

[YACC] gave us an opportunity to do some things that we would never have had 

the manpower to do, work—intensive kinds of things like building trails,

cleaning up former home sites, doing things that gave us an opportunity to show 

some progress. We were always straining to show progress because there was a 

strong perception around there that the park had been established a long time 

ago, nothing was happening, and all we had was controversy. Anytime that we 

could get a new, positive thing done, it was a great accomplishment. YACC 

allowed us to do that.

Don H. Castleberry, former Assistant Superintendent, Indiana Dunes National

Lakeshore (1974—78), September 3, 1987.

NOTE: The following is an exhaustive, yet incomplete, listing of all National Park Service 

employees, permanent to seasonal, who have served at Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. 

The record is fairly complete from 1969 to 1979 with the information supplied by Advisory 

Commission minutes and Superintendent's Calendar Year Reports. In 1980, because the staff 

had grown so large, these traditional sources discontinued reporting on personnel. Incomplete 

listings exist from 1980 to 1983. From 1984 to 1987, computerized personnel listings were 

used. A July roster for each year was chosen because of the probability of maximum 

employee staffing levels. The July listings, however, would not reveal transfers, resignations, 

or terminations during previous or subsequent months.

1969

Management Assistant Darwin E. Williams

Seasonal Rangers (West Beach): Phillip G. Lawson, Joseph E. Matthews III, Charles S. 

Metzcus, Jr., John E. Nelson

Land Acquisition Officer

James Sewell

1970

Superintendent James R. Whitehouse 

Management Assistant Darwin E. Williams (T) 

Maintenance Supervisor Howard Culp

Chief Park Ranger Rodney D. Royoe

Park Ranger Stan Lock

Secretary Linda A. Crakes
Secretary Patricia A. Crook

Land Acquisition Officer

James Sewell

1971

Superintendent James R. Whitehouse 

Admin. Officer Ralph M. Iorio 

Maintenance Supervisor Howard Culp 

Chief Park Ranger Rodney D. Royce 

Park Ranger Stan Lock

Supt. Secretary Linda A. Crakes

Secretary Patricia A. Crook

Admin. Clerk Sherry M. Gillmeister 

Maintenanceman Edward J. Lutz 

Park Tech David W. Bubac

Laborer Robert H. Russell

Seasonal Rangers: Phil Lawson, John Phillips, Joe Matthews II, and Joe Matthews III. 

positions unknown: Patricia A. Yates and Anne L. Lutz

Land Acquisition Officer

Frank A. Ucman

1972

Superintendent James R. Whitehouse 

Admin. Officer Ralph M. Iorio 

Maintenance Supervisor Howard Culp 

Chief Park Ranger Rodney D. Royce 

Park Ranger Stan Lock

Supt. Secretary Linda A. Crakes

Secretary Patricia A. Crook

Admin. Clerk Sherry M. Gillmeister

Maintenanceman Edward J. Lutz

Land Acquisition Officer

Frank A. Ucman

1973

Superintendent James R. Whitehouse 

Admin. Officer Ralph M. Iorio 

Maintenance Supervisor Howard Culp 

Chief Park Ranger Rodney D. Royce 

Park Ranger Stan Lock 

Maintenanceman Edward J. Lutz

Park Tech Martin Marciniak

Park Tech Chris Bernthal (V.C. desk)

Positions unknown: Ken Essau, Sue Thomas, and Charlice Davis.

Intermittent appointment

Wayne Schimpff (Open Lands Project)
Seasonal Rangers

Bill Schaudt 

Ray Blum 

Henry Jones 

Charlotte Read 

Jo Ellen Seiser

Land Acquisition Officer 

Frank A. Ucman (T) 

Chandler Simpson (Acting)

1974

Permanent Full—Time Superintendent

James R. Whitehouse Asst.

Superintendent Don H. Castleberry Chief

Ranger Rodney Royce

Admin. Officer Ralph M. Iorio 

Maintenance Supervisor Howard Culp 

Secretary (Stenog.) Ruthanne Slamka 

Maintenance Leader Edward J. Lutz 

Chief of Interpretation Stan Lock (T) 

Park Ranger Neil King

Temporary Full—Time

Laborer Fallis Laborer

Mark Dever Laborer

Dana Stumpf Laborer

John P. Javor

Park Tech Joseph G. Joyce 

Park Tech Phillip G. Lawson 

Park Tech John Phillips

Park Tech Martin Marciniak

Park Tech Castillo

Park Tech Darryl Blink (Interp.) 

Park Tech Bill Schaudt (Interp.) 

Park Tech Henry Jones (Interp.) 

Park Tech Robert Davis

Park Tech Jo Ellen Seiser (Interp.) 

Park Tech Raymond R. Blum (Interp.) 

Clerk—Typist Badovinac

Laborer James M. Vanes 

Laborer Mark Corbin 

Laborer Walsh

Laborer Dogan

Laborer Steven Niepokoj 

Laborer David Dutko 

Laborer Kareska

Laborer Rector 

Laborer Duane Lula 

Laborer Brad Mullen

Laborer William Kokotovich 

Laborer Gary Kirpach 

Laborer Gent
Laborer Glisich Laborer

Kim Peterson Laborer

Steven Parkman Laborer

Steven Rain Laborer

Arnold Bass

Park Tech John J. Cannon

Park Tech Rudolph H. Schultz

Laborer Hodge

Laborer Nash

Part—time

Park Tech Charlotte Read (Interp.) 

Administrative Clerk Rae J. Gilbert 

Tractor Operator/Leader David W. Bubac 

Clerk—Typist Christine Bernthal

Laborer Robert Russell Clerk—

Stenographer Ruth A. Pudlo Laborer

Ray W. Beahan

Park Tech Ted A. Senior (I&RM)

Intermittent

Park Tech James Mesterharm

Park Tech Wayne Schimpff (Open Lands Project)

Land Acquisition Officer

Frank Ucman (T) 

Fred L. Meyer

1975

Permanent Full-Time

Superintendent James R. Whitehouse

Asst. Supt. Don H. Castleberry 

Chief I&RM Rodney Royce 

Admin. Officer T. B. Taylor 

Facility Manager Howard Culp

Secretary (Stenog.) Ruthanne Slamka 

Maintenance Leader Edward J. Lutz 

Interp. Plan. Spec. Robert C. Foster

Less Than Full—Time Permanent

Administrative Clerk Rae J. Gilbert 

Eng. Equip. Oper./Ldr. David Bubac 

Park Tech Ted A. Senior (Interp.) 

Park Tech Neil King (Actg. Chf.) 

Clerk—Typist Christine Bernthal 

Clerk—Typist Timothy Dowty 

Laborer Robert Russell

Clerk-Stenographer Ruth A. Pudlo

Laborer Ray W. Beahan

Tractor Operator John P. Javor

Park Tech Bill Schaudt (Interp.) 

Park Tech Jo Ellen Seiser (Interp.)
Park Tech Georgiann Cruz

Park Tech Barb Reynolds (Interp.) 

Park Tech Sharon M. Burns (Interp.) 

Park Tech Ken Esau (Interp.)

Park Aid Debbie Tonner (Interp.) 

Motor Vehicle Op. Fallis

Motor Vehicle Op. James Vanes

Laborer Michael Adams 

Laborer Steven Niepokoj 

Laborer Dogan

Laborer Daniel Dutko

Laborer Kareska Laborer Kim Peterson

Laborer Brad Mullen 

Laborer Steven Niepokoj 

Laborer Jeffrey Kirpach 

Laborer Jamie McKee

Laborer Dulaney

Laborer Nash Laborer Steven Parkman

Laborer Corral Laborer John

Daily Maintenance Worker

Pillman

Maintenance Worker Steven Rain

Laborer Erby

Maintenance Worker Arnold Bass

Laborer William Kokotovich

Temporary

Park Tech Joseph G. Joyce 

Park Tech Phillip G. Lawson 

Park Tech Henry R. Urback

Park Tech Henry Jones (Interp.) 

Park Tech Martin D. Marciniak 

Park Tech Jon Paynter (Interp.) 

Park Tech Darryl Blink (Interp.) 

Park Tech Rudolph H. Schultz 

Park Tech John J. Cannon

Park Tech Wayne Schimpff (Interp.) 

Park Aid Byrne

Park Aid Gilbert

Park Aid Joseph Slamka 

Laborer Mark Dever 

Laborer Dana Stumpf

Park Tech Helen Steeves (Interp.) 

Park Tech James Mesterharm

Park Tech Castillo

Park Tech John Phillips

Park Tech Roybal 

Park Tech Tittle 

Park Tech Diggs 

Park Tech Nelson

Park Tech James Billys
Land Acquisition Officer

Fred L. Meyer

1976

Permanent Full-Time

Superintendent James R. Whitehouse

Asst. Supt. Don H. Castleberry 

Chief I&RM Rodney Royce 

Admin. Officer T. B. Taylor 

Facility Manager Howard Culp

Secretary (Stenog.) Ruthanne Slamka 

Maint. Mech. Leader Edward J. Lutz 

Interp. Plan. Spec. Robert C. Foster 

Suprv. Park Ranger John Townsend 

Suprv. Park Ranger Neil King

Admin. Clerk Rae Gilbert 

Park Tech Ted A. Senior 

Park Tech Wayne French

Tractor Operator John P. Javor

Supply Clerk (vacant) 

Park Tech (vacant)

Maint. Mech. Foreman (vacant) 

Roads & Trails Leader (vacant) 

Park Tech (Interp.) (vacant)

Less Than Full-Time Permanent

Eng. Equip. Opr/Ldr. David Bubac 

Park Tech (vacant)

Clerk-Typist Dorothy Mumma 

Laborer Robert Russell 

Administrative Clerk Ruth Pudlo 

Tractor Operator John Javor 

Maint. Worker Ray Beehan

Park Tech Lawrence Morrin

Park Tech John Cannon 

Park Tech Helen Steeves 

Park Tech Sharon Burns 

Park Tech Martin Marciniak 

Park Tech William Holda 

Park Aid Joseph Slamka

Park Tech Chet Rideout (Interp.) 

Laborer Edward Billys

Laborer James Smith 

Park Aid Robert Henry 

Park Tech David Dutko 

Laborer John Daily

Maint. Worker David Williamson 

Maint. Worker James Tarnow 

Maint. Worker James Rolfe 

Maint. Worker Alvin Leedham 

Clerk—Typist Lon Adaska

Park Tech Georgiann Cruz

Park Tech Jo Ellen Seiser (Interp.)
Park Tech Jon Paynter (Interp.) 

Park Tech Jean Doyle (Interp.)

Career Seasonal

Park Tech Rudolph Schultz

Tractor Operator Mark Dever

Temporary

Park Aid Mary Valleau (Interp.) 

Park Tech Henry Jones (Interp.) 

Park Tech (supv.) Joseph Joyce 

Park Tech Phillip Lawson

Park Tech Bill Schaudt (Interp.) 

Park Tech Henry Urback

Park Tech Thomas Farlow

Park Tech John Phillips

Park Tech Duane Lula (Interp.) 

Park TechKaren Bilinski (Interp.) 

Park Tech (Lifegd.) Frank Steeves 

Park Tech Darryl Blink (Interp.) 

Park Tech James Mesterharm

Intermittent

Park Tech Wayne Schimpff

Land Acquisition Officer

Fred L. Meyer

1977

Permanent Full—Time

Superintenden James R. Whitehouse 

Asst. Supt. Don H. Castleberry

Chief Ranger John Townsend 

Admin. Officer T. B. Taylor 

Facility Manager Howard Culp

Secretary (Steno.) Ruthanne Slamka 

Maint. Wkr. Foreman Edward J. Lutz 

Suprv. Park Ranger (vacant)

Suprv. Park Ranger Neil King 

Supply Clerk Alfred Lohse 

Suprv. Park Ranger (vacant)

Maint. Mech. Foreman John Vargocko

Personnel Assistant Rae Gilbert

Park Tech Rudolph Schultz 

Park Tech Ted A. Senior 

Park Tech Wayne French

Eng. Equip. Op. Ldr. (vacant) 

Tractor Operator John P. Javor 

Chief of Interp. Larry Waldron 

Suprv. Park Ranger (vacant)

Sewage Disposal Plant Op. (vacant) 

Carpenter (vacant)

Electrician (vacant)
Park Ranger (vacant)

Less Than Full—Time Permanent

Eng. Equip. Opr. David Bubac 

Project Clerk Dorothy Mumma 

Laborer Robert Russell

Admin. Clerk Betty Fair 

Maint. Worker Ray Beahan 

Secretary (new)

Resource Mgmt. Specialist (new) 

Park Ranger (new)

Park Tech (new) 

Park Ranger (new)

Park Aid Mary Valleau

Park Tech (Suprv.) Joseph Joyce

Park Tech Henry Jones 

Park Tech Phil Lawson 

Park Tech Morrison

Park Tech Henry Urback 

Park Tech Jim Billys 

Park Tech John Phillips

Park Tech Lorance Yates 

Park Tech Alan Woodard 

Park Tech Darryl Blink 

Park Tech Bill Schaudt 

Park Tech William Holda 

Park Tech John Cannon

Park Tech Martin Marciniak 

Park Tech Thomas Farlow 

Park Tech Chet Rideout 

Maint. Man Arnold Bass 

Maint. Man James Huse 

Laborer Edward Billys 

Laborer Ronald Maier

Maint. Worker Edward Caggiano

Laborer Ronald Pedzinski 

Maint. Worker David Gierke 

Laborer Greg Schatt

Laborer Daniel Turner 

Laborer Gwynne Ellis 

Laborer Edward Zimmerman 

Park Tech Gail Schrader

Park Tech Dave Dutko

Maint. Worker Jeffrey Miller 

Park Tech Georgiann Cruz 

Clerk Typist Beverly Yacko 

Park Aid Bercham

Park Aid Kathleen Jones 

Maint. Man Eric Simon 

Maint. Man John Williams

Maint. Man William Kokotovich 

Maint. Man Steven Niepokoj 

Maint. Man James Line

Maint. Man Wallace Davidson
Laborer Gary Klug 

Laborer Daniel Turner 

Laborer Joseph Nietupski 

Park Aid Richard Meade

Park Aid Thomas Wisnauckas 

Maint. Worker James Connell 

Maint. Worker Gregory Kirpach

Maint. Man James Huse

Maint. Man Nathaniel Williams

Laborer Michael Jordan 

Clerk Typist Lon Adaska 

Park Aid Robert Applegate 

Park Aid Robert Steers

Park Tech Jean Doyle

Head Lifeguard Frank Steeves 

Lifeguard Michael Prier 

Lifeguard Paul McMinn 

Lifeguard Andrew Bagnell 

Lifeguard Gordon Phillips 

Lifeguard Christopher Moeller 

Lifeguard Richard Hackel 

Lifeguard Mark Fairbairn 

Lifeguard Gross

Lifeguard Mark Backer 

Lifeguard Thomas Lyles 

Lifeguard Gary Udell 

Lifeguard Robert Carstens 

Park Aid Sally Gibbs

Park Aid Karen Arness 

Park Aid Tory Shiras 

Park Tech (vacant)

Park Tech (vacant) 

Park Tech (vacant) 

Park Tech (vacant) 

Park Tech (vacant) 

Park Tech (new) 

Park Tech (new) 

Park Tech (new) 

Park Tech (new) 

Park Tech (new) 

Park Tech (new)

Maint. Worker (vacant) 

Maint. Worker (vacant) 

Maint. Worker (vacant) 

Maint. Worker (vacant) 

Maint. Man (vacant) 

Maint. Man (vacant) 

Laborer (vacant) 

Laborer (vacant) 

Laborer (vacant)

Maint. Man Brian Powers

Maint. Man Michael Arko
Career Seasonal

Park Tech Annette Donald 

Clerk Typist Jeanette Gorman 

Park Tech (vacant)

Tractor Opr. Mark Tarnow

Mtr. Veh. Opr. Thomas Corbin 

Park Ranger (E.E.) (new) 

Janitor Caretaker (new)

Janitor Caretaker (new) 

Janitor Caretaker (new) 

Mechanic (new)

Land Acquisition Officer

Fred L. Meyer

1978

Permanent Ful 1—Time

Superintendent James R. Whitehouse 

Asst. Supt. Dale Engquist

Chief Ranger John Townsend 

Admin. Officer T. B. Taylor 

Facility Manager Howard Culp

Secretary (Steno.) Ruthanne Slamka 

Suprv. Park Ranger Kurt Topham 

Suprv. Park Ranger (vacant ) 

Purchasing Agent Christine Bernthal 

Park Ranger (E.E.) Sam Vaughn 

Mech. Foreman John Vargocko 

Personnel Assistant Rae Gilbert

Park Tech (vacant)

Park Tech Annette Donald 

Park Tech Wayne French 

R&T Foreman David Bubac 

Tractor Operator (vacant)

Chief of Interp. Larry Waldron

Suprv. Park Ranger David Montalbano 

Sewage Disp. Plt. Op. Billy Shreve 

Carpenter Eugene Beschenski

Maint. Mech. Joseph Gentry

Park Ranger Janice Wobbenhorst

Admin. Asst. Jeri L. Andrews

Park Ranger (Intake) Mary Kimmett 

Gen. Bio. Sci. Norman Henderson 

Env. Protec. Spec. Louis Brunansky 

Hydrologist Douglas Wilcox 

Electrician (vacant)

Park Ranger (vacant) 

Park Ranger (vacant) 

Biological Tech. (vacant) 

Admin. Clerk (vacant) 

Plant Pathologist (vacant)

Less Than Full—Time Permanent
Clerk—Typist Jeanette Gorman 

Project Clerk Dorothy Mumma 

Laborer Robert Russell

Admin. Clerk Betty Fair 

Maint. Worker Ray Beahan 

Park Tech William Holda 

Park Tech Paul Berkowitz 

Park Tech Wesley Seckler 

Park Tech John Cannon 

Clerk—Stenog. (vacant)

Admin. Clerk/DMT Mary Pittman 

Clerk—Typist Ellida Earnhardt 

Clerk—Typist Phyllis Mooney 

Supply Clerk Kathleen Coles 

Clerk—Typist Debbie Jackura 

Maint. Worker (vacant)

Motor Veh. Opr. (vacant) 

Trails Worker (vacant) 

Clerk—Typist (vacant)

Career Seasonals

Eng. Equip. Opr./Ldr. John Javor

Park Tech (vacant) Park

Tech (vacant) Tractor

Opr. Mark Dever

Maint. Worker James Tarnow 

Motor Veh. Opr. Tom Corbin 

Maint. Worker James Line 

Maint. Worker Dana Stumpf 

Maint. Worker Henry Coles 

Auto Mech. Wallace Davidson

Biological Tech Jonathan Paynter

Park Tech (vacant) 

Park Tech (vacant) 

Park Tech (vacant) 

Park Tech (vacant)

Writer—Editor (vacant) 

Painter (vacant)

Not Categorized

Park Aid Mary Valleau

Park Ranger Kathleen Wallo 

Park Ranger Maurice Cates 

Park Aid Julia Jent

Park Ranger Laura Zalent 

Park Ranger Gordon Phillips 

Temporary

Park Tech Henry Jones

Park Tech Joseph Joyce

Park Tech James Mesterharm

Park Tech Phil Lawson 

Park Tech Susan Finnerty 

Park Tech Henry Urback 

Park Tech John Phillips
Park Tech (vacant)

Park Tech Richard Hackel

Park Tech Cynthia Mann

Park Tech Jean Doyle 

Park Tech Bill Schaudt 

Park Tech Guy Whitmer 

Park Tech Douglas Ridley 

Park Tech (vacant)

Park Tech (vacant)

Park Tech Carl Newman

Park Tech Terry Harris

Park Tech Martin Marciniak

Park Tech Karel Young 

Park Tech David Hurlbut 

Park Tech Marie Marek 

Park Tech Jay Liggett 

Park Tech (vacant)

Maint. Worker James Bates 

Maint. Worker Allan Millet 

Laborer (vacant)

Laborer (vacant) 

Laborer (vacant) 

Laborer (vacant)

Laborer Thomas Wisnauckas 

Laborer Andrew Berkson 

Laborer Laura Hammerman 

Laborer James Connell 

Laborer Joseph Postel 

Laborer (vacant)

Park Aid (vacant)

Park Aid Thomas Howe

Park Aid David Dutko

Park Tech Gerald Puchowski

Park Aid (vacant) 

Laborer Daniel Turner 

Laborer Carolyn Ross 

Park Tech Lorance Yates 

Clerk—Typist (vacant) 

Park Aid (vacant)

Motor Veh. Op. Jim Billys

Laborer (vacant) 

Laborer (vacant) 

Laborer Karen Fagen

Park Aid Stephen Reeder

Park Aid (vacant)

Motor Veh. Op. Daniel Turner

Motor Veh. Op. Thomas Zimmerman 

Motor Veh. Op. Joseph Nietupski 

Clerk—Typist (vacant)

Park Aid (vacant)

Maint. Worker Dennis Hardt 

Maint. Worker (vacant) 

Maint. Worker (vacant)
Maint. Worker (vacant)

Motor Veh. Op. Gary Kirpack 

Motor Veh. Op. Roger Sawicki 

Park Tech (fee collect) (vacant) 

Park Tech Michael Dale 

Laborer Patrick Miller

Laborer Loraine Walters

Laborer (vacant) 

Laborer (vacant) 

Laborer (vacant) 

Laborer (vacant) 

Laborer (vacant) 

Laborer (vacant)

Hydrology Tech Boris Trgovich

Park Tech Gail Schrader

Park Tech (vacant) 

Park Tech James Bull

Park Tech Jennifer Youngman

Park Tech Linda Heintz 

Park Tech Joyce Craig 

Park Tech Charles Brown 

Park Tech Jody Yearous

Park Tech Melissa McKenzie 

Park Tech Daniel Rewers 

Park Tech (new)

Park Tech (new) 

Park Tech (new) 

Laborer (new) 

Laborer (new)

Park Tech (vacant) 

Park Tech (new) 

Park Tech (new)

Park Tech—Lifeguard (new) 

Park Tech—Lifeguard (new) 

Park Tech—Lifeguard (new) 

Park Tech—Lifeguard (new) 

Park Tech—Lifeguard (new) 

Park Tech—Lifeguard (new) 

Park Tech—Lifeguard (new) 

Park Tech—Lifeguard (new) 

Park Tech—Lifeguard (new)

Land Acquisition Officer

Fred L. Meyer

1979

Permanent Full—Time

Superintendent James R. Whitehouse 

Asst. Supt. Dale Engquist

Chief Ranger John Townsend 

Admin. Officer T. B. Taylor 

Facility Manager Howard L. Culp

Secretary (Steno.) Ruthanne Slamka
Suprv. Park Ranger Kurt Topham 

Suprv. Park Ranger (vacant) 

Purchasing Agent Christine Bernthal 

Park Ranger (E.E.) Sam Vaughn 

Maint. Mech. Foreman John Vargocko 

Personnel Asst. Rae Gilbert

Park Tech (vacant)

Park Tech Annette Donald 

Park Tech Wayne French 

R&T Foreman David Bubac

Chief of Interp. Larry Waldron

Suprv. Park Ranger David Montalbano 

Sewage Disp. Plt. Opr. Billy Shreve 

Carpenter Eugene Beschinski

Maint. Mech. Joseph Gentry

Park Ranger Janice Wobbenhorst

Admin. Assist. Jeri L. Andrews

Park Ranger (Intake) Mary Kimmitt 

Gen. Bio. Scientist Norman Henderson 

Env. Prot. Spec. Louis Brunansky 

Hydrologist Douglas Wilcox

Electrician (vacant) Park

Ranger (vacant) Park

Ranger (vacant) 

Biological Tech (vacant) 

Admin. Clerk (vacant)

Plant Pathologist (vacant)

Less Than Full-Time Permanent

Clerk—Typist Jeanette Gorman 

Project Clerk Dorothy Mumma 

Laborer Robert Russell

Admin. Clerk Betty Fair 

Maint. Worker Ray Beahan 

Park Tech William Holda

Park Tech (Law) Paul Berkowitz 

Park Tech (Law) Wesley Seckler 

Park Tech (Law) John Cannon 

Clerk—Steno. (vacant)

Admin. Clerk/DMT Mary Pittman 

Clerk—Typist Ellida Earnhart 

Clerk—Typist Phyllis Mooney 

Supply Clerk Kathleen Coles 

Clerk—Typist Debbie Jackura 

Maint. Worker (vacant)

Motor Vehicle Opr. (vacant) 

Trails Worker (vacant) 

Clerk—Typist (vacant)

Career Seasonals

Eng. Equip. Op/Ldr. John Javor

Park Tech (vacant) Park

Tech (vacant) Tractor

Op. Mark Dever
Maint. Worker James Tarnow 

Motor Veh. Op. Tom Corbin 

Maint. Worker James Line 

Maint. Worker Dana Stumpf 

Maint. Worker Henry Coles

Auto Mechanic Wallace Davidson

Bio. Tech Jonathan Paynter

Park Tech (vacant) 

Park Tech (vacant) 

Park Tech (vacant) 

Park Tech (vacant)

Writer—Editor (vacant) 

Painter (vacant)

Undesignated

Park Aid Mary Valleau

Park Ranger Kathleen Wallo

Park Ranger (Intake) Maurice Cates

Park Aid Julia Jent

Park Ranger Laura Zalent

Park Ranger Gordon Phillips

Temporary

Park Tech 

Park Tech 

Park Tech 

Park Tech 

Park Tech 

Park Tech 

Park Tech 

Park Tech 

Park Tech 

Park Tech 

Park Tech 

Henry Jones 

Joseph Joyce

James Mesterharm

Phillip Lawson 

Leo Finnerty 

Henry Urback 

John Phillips 

(vacant) 

Richard Hackel 

Cynthia Mann 

Jean Doyle

Park Tech Bill Schaudt 

Park Tech Guy Whitmer 

Park Tech Douglas Ridley 

Park Tech (vacant)

Park Tech (vacant)

Park Tech Carl Newman

Park Tech Terry Harris

Park Tech Martin Marciniak

Park Tech Karel Young
Park Tech David Hurlbut 

Park Tech Marie Marek 

Park Tech Jay Liggett 

Park Tech (vacant)

Maint. Worker James Bates 

Maint. Worker Allan Millet 

Laborer (vacant)

Laborer (vacant) 

Laborer (vacant) 

Laborer (vacant)

Laborer Thomas Wisnauckas 

Laborer Andrew Berkson 

Laborer Laura Hammerman 

Laborer James Connell 

Laborer Joseph Postel 

Laborer (vacant)

Park Aid (vacant)

Park Aid Thomas Howe 

Park Tech David Dutko 

Laborer Gerald Puchowski 

Park Aid (vacant)

Park Aid Mary Kryscio 

Motor Veh. Op. John Billys 

Laborer (vacant)

Laborer (vacant) Laborer

Karen Fagen Park Aid 

Stephen Reeder Park Aid 

(vacant)

Motor Veh. Op. Daniel Turner

Motor Veh. Op. Thomas Zimmerman 

Motor Veh. Op. Joseph Nietupski 

Clerk—Typist (vacant)

Park Aid (vacant)

Paint Worker Dennis Hardt

Paint Worker (vacant) 

Paint Worker (vacant) 

Paint Worker (vacant)

Motor Veh. Op. Gary Kirpack 

Motor Veh. Op. Roger Sawicki 

Park Tech (fee collect.) (vacant) 

Park Tech Michael Dale

Laborer Patrick Miller 

Laborer Loraine Walters 

Laborer (vacant)

Laborer (vacant) 

Laborer (vacant) 

Laborer (vacant) 

Laborer (vacant) 

Laborer (vacant)

Hydrology Tech Boris Trgovich

Park Tech Gail Schrader

Park Tech (vacant) 

Park Tech James Bull

Park Tech Jennifer Youngman
Park Tech Linda Heintz 

Park Tech Joyce Craig 

Park Tech Charles Brown 

Park Tech Jody Yearous

Park Tech Melissa McKenzie 

Park Tech Daniel Rewers 

Park Tech/Lifeguard (new) 

Park Aid/Lifeguard (new) 

Park Aid/Lifeguard (new) 

Park Aid/Lifeguard (new) 

Park Aid/Lifeguard (new) 

Park Aid/Lifeguard (new) 

Park Aid/Lifeguard (new) 

Park Aid/Lifeguard (new) 

Park Aid/Lifeguard (new) 

Park Tech (new)

Park Tech (new) 

Vehicle Op. (new) 

Vehicle Op. (new)

Land Acquisition Officer

Fred L. Meyer

1980

Permanent Full—Time

Superintendent James R. Whitehouse 

Asst. Supt. Dale Engquist

Admin. Officer T. B. Taylor 

Facility Manager Howard L. Culp 

Supt. Secretary Ruthanne Slamka 

Water Res. Specialist

Air Res. Specialist

Gen. Bio. Scientist Norman Henderson

Bio. Tech Tom Taylor

Geologist

Admin. Clerk

Plant Ecologist (new)

Eng. Equip. Op/Ldr. Henry Coles 

Admin. Clerk Kathleen Coles 

Secretary Jeanette Gorman 

Secretary (Steno.) Diane Schaefer 

Personnel Asst. Tom Webb, Jr. 

Secretary Phyllis Mooney

Park Tech (Law) Paul Berkowitz

Secretary Mary Pittman

Eng. Equip. Op/Ldr. Donald Fleming 

Eng. Equip. Op/Fore. David Bubac 

Chief Ranger John Townsend 

Purchasing Agent Christine Bernthal 

Park Planner Steve Whitesell 

Secretary Ellida Earnhardt

Lead Park Tech (E.E.) Robert Fudge

Suprv. Park Tech John Cannon
Info. Receptionist Mary Valleau

Park Tech Joni Jones

Sewage Disp. Plt. Op. John Zenner

Lead Park Tech Sue Kylander 

Park Tech (Hq) Dave Dutko 

Paint. Work Ldr. Curry Neal 

Park Tech Wayne French

E.E. Specialist Sam Vaughn

Park Tech (Urban) Gordon Phillips

Park Tech (Cultural) (vacant) 

Park Tech (Spec. Pop.) (new) 

Park Tech (Bilingual) (new)

Protection Spec. Janice Wobbenhorst 

Visitor Serv. Spec. Mary Kimmitt 

Park Tech (YACC) Neil Beaver

Chief of Interp. Larry Waldron 

Project Clerk Dorothy Mumma 

Clerk—Typist Lon Erlandson 

Project Clerk Dorothy Mumma 

Clerk—Typist Lon Erlandson

Land Acquisition Officer

Fred L. Meyer

1981

Permanent Full—Time

Superintendent James R. Whitehouse 

Asst. Supt. Dale Engquist

Admin. Officer T B. Taylor Facility

Manager Howard Culp Resource

Mgt. Spec. John Townsend Water

Resource Spec. (vacant?)

Air Resource Spec. (vacant?) 

Plant Ecologist (vacant?)

General Biologist Norman Henderson

Biological Tech Tom Taylor 

Admin. Clerk Kathy Coles 

Geologist (Res.)

(Chf.) Science Mark Reshkin (Res.) 

Lead Park Tech Barbara Burchett 

Supply Clerk (Typing) Phil Cuevas 

Eng. Equip. Op. Mark Dever

Park Tech Fred Grish 

Park Aid Jeanne Henckel 

Park Tech Joni Jones

Park Tech Marta Kelly

Lead Park Tech Sue Kylander

Park Tech Brian Lambert

Park Aid Connie Luckey

Suprv. Park Ranger Marie Marek 

Suprv. Park Ranger Dave Montalbano 

Park Aid Joyce Pest

Project Clerk Dottie Mumma
Park Tech (Biling.) Elizabeth Rivera

Tractor Op. Ronald Robbins

Laborer Leon Samuels

Secretary (Stenog.) Diane Schaefer 

Secretary (Stenog.) Ruthanne Slamka 

Maint. Worker Dave Stumpf

Suprv. Park Ranger Kurt Topham

Suprv. Park Ranger Sam Vaughn

Park Tech Bernadette Williams/Pearson 

Suprv. Park Ranger Janice Wobbenhorst 

Facility Manager Howard L. Culp 

Suprv./Visitor Serv. Warren Snyder

Park Tech G. R. Davis

Park Tech Barbara Burchett

Park Tech Marie Marek

Park Planner Steve Whitesell 

Receptionist Mary Valleau 

Personnel Asst. Tom Webb 

Purchasing Agent Chris Bernthal 

Ranger Sec. Jeanette Gorman 

Chief Interpreter Larry Waldron

Secretary (Interp.) Phyllis Mooney 

Science Secretary Mary Pittman 

Chief Park Ranger Dick Littlefield 

Chf. Scientist Ron Heibert

Land Acquisition Officer

Fred L. Meyer (T.) 

Charles Johnson (Acting)

1982

Permanent Full—Time

Superintendent James R. Whitehouse 

Asst. Supt. Dale Engquist

Park Planner Steve Whitesell 

Supt. Secretary Ruthanne Slamka 

Admin. Officer T. B. Taylor 

Facility Manager Howard L. Culp 

B&U Foreman Doyle Townsend 

R&T Foreman David Bubac

Facil. Mgt. Spec. Jon Evans Chief

Ranger Richard Littlefield Personnel

Mgt. Spec. Marsha Glassner Res. Mgt.

Spec. John Townsend Prot./Safety 

Spec. Janice Wobbenhorst Chief

Interp. Larry Waldron

E.E. Spec. Sam Vaughn

Suprv. Visitor Serv. Warren Snyder

Plant Ecologist Ron Hiebert

W. Dist. Ranger David Montalbano 

Water Res. Spec. Douglas Wilcox 

Air Res. Spec. Lou Brunansky 

Biologist Norman Henderson
Admin. Clerk Mary Pittman 

Biolog. Clerk Tom Taylor 

Park Tech John Cannon

E. Dist. Ranger Kurt Topham 

Secretary Jeanette Gorman 

Secretary Dottie Mumma 

Tractor Op. Neil Beaver

Small Eng. Mech. Keith Bomhard

Supply Clerk Phil Cuevas 

Lead Park Tech Carol Davis 

Lead Park Tech G. R. Davis

Custodial Worker Barbara Harris 

Sewage Disp. Plt. Op. Jim Line 

Park Aid Connie Luckey 

Custodial Worker Daniel Nunn 

Fiscal Clerk Shirley Prince

Motor Vehicle Op. Leon Samuels 

Electrical Worker Jim Tarnow 

Tractor Op. Michael Thomas 

Contract Specialist Harry Tice 

Lead Park Tech Dave Zahller

Park Tech (Biling.) Marta Kelly 

Real Prop. Clerk Paul Szpet 

Purchasing Agent Diane Shaefer 

Mail and Files Clerk Cora Krajcir 

Personnel Clerk Linda Crakes

Land Acquisition Officer

Charles Johnson

1983

Superintendent Dale Engquist

Asst. Supt. Larry May

Park Planner Steve Whitesell (T) 

Facility Manager Howard Culp (Ret.) 

Chief Interp. Larry Waldron

Supt. Secretary Ruthanne Slamka

Secretary Dottie Mumma Fiscal

Clerk Shirley Prince Hydrologist

Douglas Wilcox Chief Ranger

Richard Littlefield

Supr. Park Ranger David Montalbano

Park Ranger John Cannon 

Park Ranger Dave Dutko 

Park Ranger Susan Dutko 

Park Ranger Phillip Lawson 

Park Ranger Paul Crawford 

Park Ranger Fred Grish

Supr. Park Ranger William Lutz

Eng. Equip. Opr. Ldr. Donald Fleming

Automotive Worker John Javor

Pres. Mntnc. Spec. Marsha Glassner

Park Ranger Wayne French
Park Ranger Robin White 

Park Ranger Marta Kelly 

Park Ranger Nancy Wizner 

Personnel Clerk Debbie Hall 

Park Tech Jude Rakowski

Custodial Worker Larry Trowbridge 

Park Tech Roland Hesselbart 

Clerk—Typst Betty Rinehart

Laborer Michael Coe 

Contracting Spec. Harry Tice 

Real Prop. Clerk Paul Szpet

Purchasing Agent Diane Schaefer 

Eng. Equip. Op. Mike Thomas 

Landscape Architect Eric Ehn 

Protect. Spec. Janice Wobbenhorst 

Res. Mgt. Spec. John Townsend

E. Dist. Ranger Kurt Topham 

Park Tech Wayne Barnard 

Park Tech Brian Lambert

Research Biologist Tom Taylor

Chf. Visitor Serv. Sam Vaughn

Chf. Plng & Support Warren Snyder 

Lead Park Tech Carol Davis (R) 

Lead Park Tech G. R. Davis (R)

Park Ranger Dave Zahller (T) 

Chief Scientist Ron Hiebert

Water Res. Spec. Douglas Wilcox 

Biologist Norman Henderson (T) 

Air Quality Spec. Lou Brunansky 

Admin. Clerk Mary Pittman 

Programs Specialist Bob Daum

Land Acquisition Officer

Charles Johnson

1984

Full—time permanent

Superintendent Dale B. Engquist 

Asst. Supt. Larry A. May

Chief RM & VP Richard Littlefield 

Admin. Officer T. B. Taylor (Ret.) 

Admin. Officer Chris Cannon

Chief Interp. Larry Waldron

Water Resource Spec. Douglas Wilcox 

Air Resource Spec. Louis Brunansky 

Landscape Architect Robert Elmore 

Supr. Park Ranger Warren Snyder 

Custodian Robert Russell (Ret.)

Park Tech Alfred Lohse (Ret.) 

Res. Mgt. Spec. John Townsend

Supr. Park Ranger Janice Wobbenhorst

Supr. Park Ranger (vacant) 

Interpreter Sam Vaughn
Facility Manager Arthur R. Williams

Ecologist Kenneth L. Cole 

Landscape Architect Eric Ehn 

Facility Mgt. Spec. Jon Evans

Personnel Mgt. Spec. Marsha Glassner 

Supr. Park Ranger William Lutz 

Resource Mgt. Thomas Taylor

Contract Spec. Harry Tice

Fire Mgt. Spec. (vacant)

Law Enforcement John Cannon 

Programs Spec. Robert Daum 

Programs. Coord. Robert Fudge 

Secretary (Steno) Ruthanne Slamka 

Interpretation Wayne Barnard

Law Enforcement Frederick Grish 

Supr. Park Tech Roland Hesselbart 

Interpreter (vacancy)

Secretary (Steno) Dorothy Gambrill 

Secretary (Typing) Jeanette Gorman 

Park Tech Edward Patrovsky

Admin. Asst. Shirley Prince 

Secretary (Typing) Diane Schaefer 

Secretary (Typing) (vacancy)

Fiscal Clerk (Typing) (vacancy) 

Purchasing Agent Patricia Knaver 

Typing Paul Szpet

Scheduling Clerk Nancy Jaeger 

Clerk—Typist Catherine Zaharias 

Carpenter Eugene Beschinski 

Electrician Eugene Moldenhauer 

Maint Mech Joe Gentry

Electrical Worker (vacancy) 

Maint Mech Ldr John Vargocko

Maint Mech Foreman Doyle Townsend 

Eng Equip Op Foreman David Bubac 

Automotive Worker (vacancy)

Part—time permanent 

Interpreter vacancy) 

Computer Asst Linda Crakes 

Personnel Clerk Debbie Hall

Project Clerk Dorothy Mumma 

Secretary (Typing) Mary Pittman 

Interpretation (vacancy) 

Interpretation Pearson Williams 

Lead Park Tech Nancy Wizner 

Info Receptionist Ellida Earnhart 

Dispatch Constance Luckey

Park Tech Andrea Ramirez 

Park Tech Ann Westerberg 

Mail & File Clerk Cora Krajcir 

Taper Betty Rinehart

Eng. Equip. Op. Michael Thomas

Carpentry Worker Ray Beahan
Small Engine Mech Keith Bomhard 

Utility Systems Op. James Line 

Electrical Worker James Tarnow 

Motor Vehicle Op. Neil Beaver 

Motor Vehicle Op. Leon Samuels 

Maint. Mech Helper Aaron Allen 

Laborer Lawrence Trowbridge 

Custodial Worker Daniel Nunn

Eng. Equip. Op. Ldr. Henry Coles

Career Seasonal (subj.—furlough)

Statistician (Bio.) Noel Pavlovic 

Law Enforcement Joni Jones 

Interpretation Cynthia Garrison 

Interpretation Gordon Phillips 

Interpretation Jude Rakowski

Law Enforcment (3 vacancies) 

Park Tech (vacancy) 

Automotive Worker John Javor 

Eng. Equip. Op. Mark Dever

Carpentry Worker Curtis Hardesty 

Maintenance Worker Dana Stumpf 

Laborer Gerald Puchowski 

Carpenter Leader Neal Curry

Eng. Equip. Op. Ldr. (vacancy)

Eng. Equip. Op. Frm. Donald Fleming

Seasonal/Temporary

Interpretation Darryl Blink 

Interpretation Michael Dale 

Interpretation Kathy Haburjak 

Law Enforcement Thomas Howe 

Interpretation Henry Jones 

Generalist Joseph Joyce

Law Enforcement Phillip Lawson 

Interpretation Martin Marciniak 

Law Enforcement William Schaudt 

Law Enforcement William Schulze 

Environmental Ed (4 vacancies) 

Park Tech (5 vacancies)

Law Enforcement (6 vacancies) 

Interpretation (8 vacancies)

Law Enforcement Gordon Zwick 

Law Enforcement Robert Applegate 

Law Enforcement Thomas Belko 

Law Enforcement Susan Delhougne 

Environmental Ed Nancy Flynn

Park Tech Albert Green Park Tech 

Joseph Harden Environmental Ed

Michael Howell Park Tech 

Theodore Jarosak

Law Enforcement George Navarre 

Law Enforcement John Phillips 

Environmental Ed Bruce Rowe
Environmental Ed William Smith 

Park Tech John Thornburg Gen—

Head Fee Coll. (6 vacancies) Gen—

Boat/Lifeguard (6 vacancies) Law

Enforcement Tammy Wert Dispatch

John Lane

Gen—BPL Rick Morrison 

Gen—BPL Travis Tucker 

Dispatch (3 vacancies) 

Gen—BPL (4 vacancies) 

Park Aid Robin White Gen—

BPL Alan Woo dward 

General (2 vacancies) 

Biological Tech Christy Fox

Biological Tech (2 vacancies) 

Plants (2 vacancies)

Park Tech (EE) Christie Kaylor

Clerk—Typist (vacancy) Motor 

Vehicle Op. Ira Bibb Painting

Worker Robert Lundgren Motor 

Vehicle Op. (5 vacancies) Painting

Worker (2 vacancies) Maint.

Worker (2 vacancies) Laborer (6

vacancies)

Motor Veh. Op. Dennis Bartalino

TOTAL POSITIONS (1984)

Full—time permanent 44; vacant 7

Full—time temporary 18; vacant 69

Part—time 26; vacant 7

Intermittent 16

Limited Srvc. Yr. 12; vacant 5

Other 6

Total: filled (122)/vacant (88)

1985

Full—time permanent

Superintendent Dale Engquist 

Asst. Supt. Glen Alexander 

Admin Officer Christine Cannon 

Supr. Ecologist Ronald Hiebert

Chief RM & VP Richard Littlefield 

Supr. Park Ranger Warren Snyder 

Chief of Interp. Larry Waldron 

Water Resource Spec. Doug Wilcox 

Facility Manager Arthur Williams

Air Resource Spec. Louis Brunansky

Ecologist Kenneth Cole

West Dist. Ranger Carl Douhan 

Landscape Architect Robert Elmore 

Spec. Asst./Chf. Ranger John Townsend 

Interpreter Sam Vaughn

Supr. Park Ranger Janice Wobbenhorst
Contract Specialist Harry Tice 

Fire Mgt. Spec. John Cannon 

Landscape Architect Eric Ehn 

Facility Mgt. Spec. Jon Evans

Personnel Mgt. Spec. Marsha Glassner 

Supr. Park Ranger William Lutz 

Resource Mgt. Thomas Taylor 

Programs Spec. Robert Daum

Supr. Park Tech Robert Fudge 

Safety Officer Joseph Green 

Supr. Park Ranger Marta Kelly

Administrative Asst. Shirley Prince 

Secretary (Steno) Ruthanne Slamka 

Law Enforcement (vacant)

Law Enforcement Wayne Barnard 

Secretary (Steno) Dorothy Gambrill 

Law Enforcement Frederick Grish 

Law Enforcement Joni Jones

Park Tech Robert Carnes

Computer Assistant Linda Crakes

Law Enforcement Colette Daigle—Berg 

Secretary (Typing) Jeanette Gorman 

Dispatcher Constance Luckey

Park Tech Edward Patrovsky 

Secretary (Typing) Diane Schaefer 

Purchasing Agent Patricia Taubert 

Park Tech (vacancy)

Park Tech Nancy Wizner 

Dispatcher Steven Barker 

Dispatcher Ann Westerberg 

Dispatcher (vacancy) Clerk—

Typist Catherine Zaharias 

Carpenter Eugene Beschinski 

Electrician Eugene Moldenhauer 

Maint. Mechanic Joe Gentry 

Automotive Worker John Javor 

Electrical Worker James Tarnow 

Maint. Mech. Ldr. John Vargocko

Maint. Mech. Frmn Doyle Townsend

Eng. Equip. Op. Frmn. David Bubac

Part—time permanent

Computer Assistant Linda Crakes 

Personnel Clerk Debbie Hall 

Interpretation Roland Hesselbart 

Project Clerk Dorothy Mumma 

Secretary (Typing) Mary Pittman 

Interpret. B. Williams—Pearson 

Info. Recept. Ellida Earnhart 

Scheduling Clerk Nancy Jaeger 

Mail/File Clerk Cora Krajcir 

Taper Betty Rinehart

RM&VP Secretary Anne Rose

Eng. Equip. Op. Michael Thomas
Carpentry Worker Ray Beahan

Small Engine Mech. Keith Bomhard 

Utility Systems Op. James Line 

Motor Vehicle Op. Neil Beaver 

Motor Vehicle Op. Kenneth Smith 

Motor Vehicle Op. Aaron Allen 

Laborer Lawrence Trowbridge

Career Seasonal (subj.—furlough)

Statistician (Bio.) Noel Pavlovic 

Interpretation Cynthia Garrison 

Interpretation Jude Rakowski 

Interpretation (vacancy)

Eng. Equip. Op. Mark Dever 

Carpentry Worker Curtis Hardesty 

Maint. Worker Dana Stumpf 

Carpenter Leader Curry Neal

Eng. Equip. Op. Ldr. (vacant)

Eng. Eqp. Op. Frm. Donald Fleming

Seasonal Temporary

Interpretation Darryl Blink 

Interpretation Michael Dale

Law Enforcement Susan Delhougne 

Law Enforcement Thomas Howe 

Interpretation Henry Jones 

Generalist Joseph Joyce

Law Enforcement Phillip Lawson 

Law Enforcement Mark Mangan 

Interpretation Martin Marciniak 

Law Enforcement William Schaudt 

Park Tech (EE) (6 vacancies) 

Interpretation (8 vacancies)

Law Enforcement (10 vacancies) 

Park Tech (5 vacancies)

Law Enforcement Gordon Zwick 

Dispatcher Robert Applegate 

Environmental Education Thomas Belko 

Law Enforcement William Evensen

Park Tech Albert Green Environmental

Education Mark Isley Law Enforcement

Rick Morrison Environmental Education

Bruce Rowe Forestry Aid Kregg Salvino 

Environmental Education William Smith 

Head Fee Collector Laura Trowbridge 

Interpretation Travis Tucker 

Boat/Lifeguard (5 vacancies)

Head Fee Collector (vacant) 

Dispatcher Kirk Bargerhuff 

Interpretation Sharon Biggs

Gen. —Fee Collector John Dearing 

Genera l BPL Andrew Gavagan 

General BPL Deborah Hatt
Gen.-Dispatch Wendy Hitchner

General BPL David Oates

Gen. —Fee Collector Robert Oates 

Gen.—Fee Collector Helen Powell 

General BPL (3 vacancies) 

Dispatch (vacant)

Park Aid (vacant)

General BPL Tyrone Woods Gen.—

Fee Collector Alan Woodward 

Biological Tech Christy Fox

Plants (vacancy)

Biological Tech (2 vacancies) 

Plants Mark White

Park Tech (EE) (vacant) 

Clerk—Typist (vacant) 

Painting Worker (3 vacancies)

Motor Vehicle Operator (5 vacancies) 

Motor Vehicle Op. Walter Benedict 

Motor Vehicle Op. Robert Lundgren 

Motor Veh. Op. Richard Schiller 

Maint. Worker (2 vacancies)

Laborer Willie Hooks

Laborer Eddie Shear

Laborer Lawrence Trowbridge

Laborer (4 vacancies)

Motor Vehicle Op. Leonard Howard

TOTAL POSITIONS (1985) 

Full—time permanent 52; vacant 6

Full—time temporary 39; vacant 66

Part—time 15; vacant l

Intermittent 5

Limited Srvc. Yr. 8; vacant 2

Other 0

Total: filled (128)/vacant (75)

1986

Full—time permanent

Superintendent Dale Engquist 

Asst. Supt. Glen Alexander

Suprv. Res. Ecologist Ronald Hiebert 

Admin. Officer Christine Bernthal 

Research Ecologist Kenneth Cole 

Chief RMVP Richard Littlefield

Chief Interpretation Larry Waldron 

Research Ecologist Douglas Wilcox 

Facility Manager Arthur Williams

Suprv. Park Ranger Carl Douhan 

Landscape Architect Eric Ehn 

Suprv. Park Ranger Warren Snyder

Spec. Asst. to Chf. Rngr. John Townsend

Landscape Architect (2 vacancies) 

Suprv. Park Ranger (vacant)
Park Ranger (Interp.) Sam Vaughn

Contract Specialist Harry Tice

Park Ranger (Contract Spec.) Robert Daum

Management Analyst Jon Evans 

Suprv. Park Ranger Marta Kelly 

Suprv. Park Ranger William Lutz 

Biologist (vacant)

Environmtl. Prot. Spec. Louis Brunansky 

Park Ranger (Safety Ofcr.) Joseph Green 

Park Ranger (Law Enfrc.) Frederick Grish 

Park Ranger (Fire Mgt. Spec.) Leon Konz 

Personnel Mgt. Spec. Sarah Nightingale 

Admin. Assist. Shirely Prince

Secretary (Stenog.) Ruthanne Slamka 

Park Ranger (Law Enfrc.) (2 vacancies) 

Park Ranger (Interp.) (4 vacancies)

Lead Park Ranger (Law E.) Wayne Barnard 

Lead Park Ranger (Law E.) Robert Carnes 

Editorial Assist. Dorothy Gambrill

Lead Park Ranger Joni Jones 

Secretary (Stenog.) (vacant) 

Computer Assist. Linda Crakes 

Secretary (Typing) Jeanette Gorman

Park Ranger (Dispatch) Constance Luckey

Secretary (Typing) Dorothy Mumma Park

Ranger (Interp.) Edward Patrovsky 

Secretary (Typing) Diane Schaefer—Tice 

Secretary (Typing) Paul Szpet

Purchasing Agent Patricia Taubert 

Scheduling Clerk Nancy Jaeger 

Park Ranger (Dispatch) John Lane 

Park Ranger (Dispatch) (vacant)

Park Rngr (Dispatch) Ann Westerberg

Clerk—Typist Catherine Zaharias 

Park Rngr (Dispatch) Gordon Zwick 

Wood Craf ter Eugene Beschinski 

Electrician Eugene Moldenhauer

Util. Syst. Rep. —Op. John Vargocko

Plumber Joe Gentry Carpenter

Curtis Hardesty Automotive

Worker John Javor Painter Neal

Curry

Small Engine Mech. Keith Bombard

Eng. Equip. Op. Mark Dever

Eng. Equip. Op. Michael Thomas 

Carpentry Worker Ray Beahan 

Maintenance Worker James Line 

Maintenance Worker James Tarnow 

Motor Vehicle Op. Dana Stumpf 

Maintenance Worker Aaron Allen 

Maintenance Worker Louise Derifield 

Laborer Michael Coe

Maint. Mech. Gen. Frmn. David Bubac

Maint. Mech. Frmn. Charles Ross
Maint. Mech. Frmn. (vacant)

Eng Equip. Op. Frmn. Donald Fleming

Maint. Mech. Frmn. Neil Beaver

Part—time permanent

Personnel Clerk Debbie Hall

Park Rgr (Interp) Roland Hesselbart 

Secretary (Typing) Mary Pittman 

Project Clerk (vacant)

Pk Rgr (Interp) B. Williams—Pearson 

Clerk—Typist Ellida Earnhart 

Clerk—Typist (Rm&VP) Anne Smith 

Info Receptionist (Typing) (vacant) 

Mail & File Clerk Cora Krajcir 

Clerk—Typist (vacant)

Motor Vehicle Op. (2 vacancies) 

Laborer (vacant)

Career Seasonal (subj.—furlough) 

Statistician (Bio.) Noel Pavlovic

Prk Rngr (Interp.) Cynthia Garrison

Prk Rngr (Interp.) Laura Gundrum 

Prk Rngr (Interp.) Jude Rakowski 

Carpentry Worker (vacant)

Seasonal/Temporary

Park Rngr Law Enfrc) John Beaver 

Park Rngr (Interp) Darryl Blink 

Park Rngr (Interp) Michael Dale

Park Rngr (Law Enfrc) Albert Green 

Park Rngr (Law Enfrc) Thomas Howe 

Park Rngr (Interp) Henry Jones

Park Ranger Joseph Joyce

Park Rngr (Law Enfrc) Phillip Lawson 

Park Rngr (Law Enfrc) Rick Morrison 

Park Rngr (Law Enfrc) William Schaudt 

Park Rngr (Interp) William Smith

Park Rngr (Law Enfrc) William Tadych

Park Rngr (Interp) John Thornburg 

Park Rngr (Law Enfrc) (7 vacancies) 

Park Rngr (Interp) (7 vacancies)

Park Rngr (Dispatch) Robert Applegate

Park Rngr (Gen—Dispatch) Kirk Bargerhuff

Park Rngr (Interp) Sharon Biggs 

Park Rngr (Fire) Joe O'Haver 

Park Rngr (Interp) Travis Tucker 

Park Rngr (EE) (8 vacancies) 

Park Rngr (Fire) (2 vacancies)

Park Rngr (Gen—Boat) (6 vacancies)

Park Rngr (Gen—Head Fee) (5 vacancies) 

Park Rngr (Gen—BPL) (6 vacancies)

Park Rngr (Law Enfrc) Robb French

Park Rngr David Oates

Park Rngr (Fire) Mylese Tucker
Park Ranger (Dispatch) Tammy Wert

Park Rngr (Gen) (2 vacancies) 

Bio Tech Mark Englebright 

Bio Tech Laurie Kurth 

Secretary (Typing) Jody Mills

Bio Tech (Plants) (2 vacancies) 

Bio Tech (vacant) Clerk—

Typist (2 vacancies)

Park Rngr (Law Enfrc) Michael Williams

Motor Veh. Op. Ira Bibb Painting

Worker (3 vacancies) Motor Veh.

Op. (8 vacancies) Motor Veh. Op.

Walter Benedict Motor Veh. Op.

Robert Lundgren Motor Veh. Op.

Richard Schaefer Maint. Worker

(2 vacancies) Laborer (6

vacancies)

Laborer James Wagoner

TOTAL POSITIONS (1986) Full—

time permanent 63; vacant 13

Full—time temporary 29; vacant 82

Part—time 7; vacant 8

Intermittent 10

Limited Srvc. Yr. 4; vacant 1

Other 3

Total: filled (116)/vacant (104)

1987

Full—time permanent

Superintendent Dale Engquist 

Asst. Supt. Glen Alexander

Suprv. Res. Ecologist Ronald Hiebert 

Admin. Officer Christine Bernthal 

Res. Ecologist Kenneth Cole

Chief RMVP Richard Littlefield 

Chief Interpretation Larry Waldron 

Res. Ecologist Douglas Wilcox 

Facility Manager Arthur Williams 

Suprv. Park Ranger Carl Douhan 

Landscape Architect Eric Ehn

Suprv. Park Ranger Ronald Erickson

Park Ranger Raymond Gunn

Park Ranger (Interp.) Lynn Loetterle 

Suprv. Park Ranger Warren Snyder 

Spec Asst to Chf Rngr (vacant) 

Landscape Architect (vacant)

Suprv. Park Ranger Janice Wobbenhorst

Contract Spec. Harry Tice

Park Rngr (Programs Spec) Robert Daum

Park Ranger Frederick Grish

Suprv. Park Ranger Marta Kelly
Park Ranger (Fire) Leon Konz Suprv.

Park Ranger William Lutz Personnel

Mgt. Spec. Sarah Nightingale Park

Ranger (Safety) (vacant) Management

Analyst (vacant)

Suprv. Park Ranger Joseph Wieszczyk 

Park Ranger (LE) Wayne Barnard 

Environ Prot Spec Louis Brenan 

Computer Assistant Linda Crakes

Park Ranger (Law Enfrc) Joni Jones 

Secretary (Stenog) Ruthanne Slamka 

Park Ranger (Law Enfrc) (2 vacancies) 

Park Rngr (Interp) (vacant)

Suprv. Pk Rngr (Disp.) Constance Luckey

Lead Park Ranger (vacant) 

Editorial Asst. (Typing) (vacant)

Park Rngr (Law Enfrc) Robert Carnes 

Park Rngr (Law Enfrc) Kimberly Coast 

Secretary (Typing) Jeanette Gorman 

Res. Mgmt. Spec. Richard Harris 

Secretary (Typing) Dorothy Mumma

Park Rngr (Law Enfrc) Edward Patrovsky 

Budget Analyst (Trainee) Linda Roberts 

Secretary (Typing) Diane Schaefer—Tice 

Secretary (Typing) Paul Szpet

Purchasing Agent Patricia Taubert

Park Rngr (Law Enfrc) (vacant)

Park Rngr (Law Enfrc) Gordon Zwick 

Clerk—Typist Jeannette Brandon 

Scheduling Clerk Nancy Jaeger

Park Rngr (Dispatch) John Lane

Park Rngr (Dispatch) (vacant)

Park Rngr (Dispatch) Ann Westerberg 

Mail & File Clerk Cora Krajcir 

Clerk—Typist (vacant)

Park Rngr (Dispatch) Cheryl Vincson 

Wood Crafter Eugene Beschinski 

Electrician Eugene Moldenhauer

Util Syst Rep—Op (vacant) 

Plumber Joe Gentry 

Carpenter Curtis Hardesty

Automotive Worker John Javor

Painter Curry Neal

Small Engine Mechanic Keith Bomhard

Eng Equip Op Mark Dever 

Eng Equip Op (vacant) 

Carpentry Worker Ray Beahan 

Maint. Worker James Tarnow

Maint. Worker Lawrence Trowbridge 

Motor Veh. Op. Robert Lundgren 

Motor Veh. Op. Dana Stumpf

Motor Veh. Op. (vacant) Motor 

Veh. Op. Michael Coe Maint.

Worker Louise Derifield
Motor Veh. Op. Richard Schaefer

Maint. Worker (vacant)

Maint Mech Gen Frmn David Bubac 

Maint Mech Frmn Charles Ross 

Maint Mech Frmn (vacant)

Eng Equip Op Frmn Donald Fleming

Maint Worker Frmn Michael Thomas

Part—time permanent

Statistician (Bio) Noel Pavlovic 

Personnel Clerk Debbie Hall

Park Rgr (Interp) Roland Hesselbart 

Secretary (Typing) Mary Pittman 

Secretary (Typing) Anne Smith 

Project Clerk (vacant)

Prk Rgr (Intrp) B. Williams—Pearson

Clerk—Typist Ellida Earnhart

Info Receptionist (Typing) (vacant) 

Clerk—Typist (vacant)

Motor Vehicle Op. (2 vacancies) 

Laborer (vacant)

Career Seasonal (subj.—furlough)

Statistician (Biology) (vacant)

Park Rngr (Interp) Cynthia Garrison 

Park Rngr (Interp) Laura Gun drum 

Park Rngr (Interp) Jude Rakowski 

Carpentry Worker (vacant)

Seasonal/Temporary

Park Rngr Law Enfrc) Brian Andrews

Park Rngr (Interp) Darryl Blink

Park Rngr (Interp) Michael Dale

Park Rngr (Law Enfrc) Lawrence Edwards 

Park Rngr (Law Enfrc) William Evensen 

Park Rngr (LE—Boat) Albert Green

Park Rngr (LE—Boat) Thomas Howe

Park Rngr (Interp) Henry Jones

Park Rngr (Law Enfrc) Joseph Joyce 

Park Rngr (Law Enfrc) Phillip Lawson 

Park Rngr (Interp) Dennis Mastroddi 

Park Rngr (Law Enfrc) Rick Morrison

Park Rngr (Interp) Sally Parker—Johnson 

Park Rngr (Law Enfrc) William Schaudt 

Park Rngr (Interp) William Smith

Park Rngr (Law Enfrc) William Tadych 

Park Rngr (Law Enfrc) (4 vacancies) 

Park Rngr (Interp) (9 vacancies)

Park Rngr (Dispatch) Robert Applegate

Park Rngr (Interp) Sharon Biggs 

Park Rngr (Interp) Sandi Bushor 

Park Rngr (Fire) Patricia Byrnes 

Park Rngr (Interp) Maureen Connell

Park Rngr (Interp) Janet Dombrowski
Park Rngr (Interp) Linda Garrett

Park Rngr (Dispatch) Wendy Hitchner

Park Rngr (Interp) Paul Jensen

Park Rngr (Fire) Katherine Karolczak

Park Rngr John Kupfer

Park Rngr (Interp) Eric Lutz Park

Rngr (Fire) Joe O'Haver Park

Rngr (Interp) Lourdes Ortiz Park

Rngr Maria Rodriguez

Park Rngr (Law Enfrc) Kenneth Sharkey 

Park Rngr (Law Enfrc) Richard Svoboda 

Park Rngr (Interp) Timothy Taglauer 

Park Rngr (Law Enfrc) (4 vacancies) 

Park Rngr (Dispatch) (vacant)

Park Rngr (Gen—Fee) (5 vacancies) 

Park Rngr (Gen—Boat) (6 vacancies) 

Park Rngr (Fire) (vacant)

Park Rngr (Gen—BPL) (6 vacancies) 

Park Rngr (Gen) (2 vacancies)

Park Rngr (EE) (vacant)

Park Rngr (Gn—BPL) Rickey Armstrong

Park Rngr (Disptch) Ania Kedzierski

Park Rngr David Oates 

Park Rngr Robert Pajor 

Bio Tech Eric Kjellmark 

Bio Tech Kenneth Klick

Secretary (Typing) (vacant) 

Bio Tech (vacant)

Bio Tech (Plants) (2 vacancies) 

Secretary (Typing) Johnnie Dinkins 

Park Rngr Martin Kovalan

Park Rngr Troy Nied 

Clerk—Typist (4 vacancies) 

Park Rngr Angela Whitt 

Wood Crafter Fred Fisher 

Plumber Keith Weiser

Eng Equip Op (vacant) 

Motor Veh Op Ira Bibb

Motor Veh Op Thaddeu Subartowicz

Painting Worker (3 vacancies) 

Motor Veh Op (12 vacancies) 

Motor Veh Op Walter Benedict 

Maintenance Worker Willie Brown

Maintenance Worker Linford Haines 

Maintenance Worker (3 vacancies) 

Maintenance Worker Michael Williams 

Laborer (5 vacancies)

TOTAL POSITIONS (1987) Full—

time permanent 67; vacant 16

Full—time temporary 47; vacant 83

Part—time 5; vacant 8

Intermittent 9

Limited Srvc. Yr. 3; vacant 2
Other 4

Total: filled (135)/vacant (109)
Indiana Dunes

Administrative History

APPENDIX D:

ANNUAL VISITATION FIGURES

1971 28,317

1972 22,440

1973 50,322

1974 62,995

1975 100,458

1976 153,774

1977 263,735

1978* 677,532

1978 1,156,166

1980 1,222,874

1981 1,023,436

1982 1,066,573

1983 1,510,630

1984 1,560,324

1985 1,800,326

1986 1,680,160

1987 1,576,238

*Non—recreational visitation began to be counted.

Recreational Visitation

In rounded figures:

1977 264,000

1978 677,000

1979 1,156,000

1980 1,223,000

In exact figures:

1981 1,023,436

1982 1,066,573

1983 1,510,630

1984 1,560,324

1985 1,800,326

1986 1,680,160

Specialized Visitation
Environmental Education: Interpretive Programs:

1978 16,500 1978 8,000

1979 31,000 1979 20,000

1980 48,500 1980 36,500

1981 52,500 1981 45,000

1982 32,500 1982 44,500

1983 31,000 1983 33,000

1984 27,563 1984 37,000

1985 31,445 1985 26,977

1986 31,114 1986 24,294

1987 34,252 1987 30,227
Indiana Dunes

Administrative History

APPENDIX E:

ANNUAL BUDGETARY FIGURES

Operation of the National Park System (ONPS) 

Fiscal Year

1973 $ 214,700

1974 $ 503,500

1975 $ 477,800

1976 $ 755,600

1977 $1,003,500

1978 $1,582,900

1979 $2,299,800

1980 $2,904,500

1981 $3,359,175

1982 $3,397,700

1983 $3,593,400

1984 $3,916,800

1985 $3,750,600

1986 $3,729,400

1987 $3,818,300
Indiana Dunes

Administrative History

APPENDIX F:

ADMINISTRATIVE POSITIONS CHARTS

I went to see Nixon in the spring of '71. I asked him, "What is the future of [the] 

Land and Water Conservation Fund?" And he said, "You're going to be the 

Assistant Secretary that's going to have the greatest amount of money in the 

nation's history to spend on the expansion of the parks and the refuges." And I 

said, "I'll take the job!"

Nathaniel P. ("Nat") Reed, former Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Fish and

Wildlife and Parks, interview, March 9, 1987.

Note: Since 1970, there have been numerous reorganizations—substantial as well as minor—

of the national lakeshore's administrative staff. The following is a representative sampling of 

administrative positions charts from the years 1971, 1974, 1977, and 1986. These charts and 

others may be found in the lakeshore's files in A6427 Organization Charts/Role and Function 

Statements.
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APPENDIX F:

ADMINISTRATIVE POSITIONS CHARTS (continued)

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APPENDIX F:

ADMINISTRATIVE POSITIONS CHARTS (continued)

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(click on images for an enlargement in a new

window)
Indiana Dunes

Administrative History

APPENDIX G:

AREA AND BOUNDARY MAPS

To the body and mind...cramped by noxious work or company, nature is 

medicinal and restores their tone. The tradesman, the attorney, come out of the 

din and draft of the street and sees the sky and the woods and is a man again. In 

their eternal calm, he finds himself. The health of the eye demands a horizon. 

We are never tired so long as we see far enough.

Words of Ralph Waldo Emerson spoken by Senator Paul H. Douglas as he 

waded into Lake Michigan after announcing his goal of seeking legislation to 

preserve the remainder of the Indiana Dunes.
(click on images for a enlargement in a new window)