It is interesting to note that Senator Norbeck introduced a new bill (S. 5779) to establish Badlands National Monument on February 11, 1929. It was identical with the House amendments proposed for S. 4385 which were later reported out by the Committee on the Public Lands on February 19. The new bill, after being referred to the Committee on Public Lands and Surveys, was returned on February 20 with Senate Report 1842.[111] Meanwhile, Williamson introduced H. 17102 in the House, which was identical to S. 5779; it was referred to the Committee on the Public Lands.[112] Both of these bills died without further consideration.
Figure 17 THE PINNACLES CONCESSION
Operating since about 1935, this development was run on a seasonal basis. It offered summer visitors a few accommodations, souvenirs, refreshments, and gasoline until abandoned in 1950. The buildings were removed shortly afterward.[118]
THE DEPRESSION YEARS
Among local persons who worked hard toward the establishment of Badlands National Monument after it was authorized in 1929 were Ben H. Millard, the original owner of Cedar Pass Lodge; A.G. Granger of Kadoka; Leonel Jensen, local rancher; Ted E. Hustead, owner and operator of the well-known Wall Drug Store; and Dr. G.W. Mills of Wall.[113]
Of these individuals, Mr. Millard made the greatest contribution to the establishment and development of the national monument. Born September 15, 1872, in Minnesota, he moved to South Dakota in 1893 with his parents. Millard entered the banking business in Sanborn County in 1899. In 1917 he sold his banking interests and entered the State of South Dakota Banking Department. On an assignment to Philip, South Dakota, Millard first saw the Badlands and became interested in them. He left the Banking Department and moved into the Badlands in 1927, homesteading below Cedar Pass on the present site of Cedar Pass Lodge, which he later built and operated.[114]
Millard worked closely with Senator Norbeck on development plans for the proposed Badlands National Monument. From September 1934 through July 1936, he was employed as a local Resettlement Administration project manager. In this capacity he was responsible for federal acquisition of private lands, most of which later became part of the national monument after it was established in 1939. The alignment of the first Badlands road, alternate U.S. 16, was largely a result of his ideas. In 1931 he selected what he believed to be the most scenic route, and staked it out with the aid of his employee, E.N. “Curley” Nelson (who returned to the Badlands in 1964 to become the first concessioner of Cedar Pass Lodge). Millard and his sister, Mrs. Clara Jennings, and later his son, Herbert, operated the Pinnacles concession from about 1935 to 1950.[115] Three important parcels of land were donated by Millard to the NPS in 1941, 1946, and 1955 for inclusion in Badlands National Monument.[116] Millard died at Cedar Pass Lodge in March 1956.
In special ceremonies on June 28, 1957, Millard Ridge, a prominent portion of the Badlands wall six-tenths of a mile long just east of Cedar Pass, was named and dedicated to his memory.[117]
In 1929 western South Dakota, in common with most of the farm belt, had been suffering almost a decade from the deflation which followed World War I. Both farmers and ranchers had been unable to fulfill obligations assumed during an earlier period of high prices. Many of the banks of the state were forced to close.[119]