Baggley Park 11/10/06

"1929 - Chief Ranger"

I was able to complete the "1929" image and add the photo border before calling it a day. It was windy and cold, so the paint was getting gummy. Today (11/11) it's raining, so I will have to wait until tomorrow (when it's supposed to be clear) to start on the second photo, "Lake Mead".

Here are the views of what the completed project will look like:

West Side

East Side

George F. Baggley was born in Mercer County, Missouri on November 6, 1898. He began his conservation career in 1917-18, at the age of 19, working in the Badlands area of South Dakota for then Governor Peter Norbeck. Governor Norbeck was a proponent of wildlife conservation and park development and was responsible for the creation of Custer State Park and Badlands National Monument. Governor Norbeck probably had some influence in directing George Baggley's interests.

In 1926, at the age of 28, George Baggley attended Colorado A&M (now Colorado State University) in Ft. Collins, as a special student in the School of Forestry. In March, 1928, George and 4 of his friends took the National Park Service Ranger Civil Service Exam. He passed and was offered a job at Yellowstone National Park, which he accepted, thinking it would be a good summer job before returning to school in the fall. The summer ended and George stayed in Yellowstone. In 1929, he became Yellowstone's first college-educated Chief Ranger. He never returned to Ft. Collins to graduate, but during his time at Yellowstone George was able to foster the use of the scientific method in wildlife management and helped acquire land in South Dakota that, in 1939, became Badlands National Monument.

I'll post more in the next installment.