Preservation: The Man Who Saved the West
A Custer film inspired National Park Service historian Robert Utley.
By: Jana Bommersbach 06/01/2007
We have the late actor Errol Flynn to thank for preserving important pieces of Western history.
We have George Armstrong Custer to thank, too—yes, that Custer.
Because both men—the legendary Army general massacred at the Battle of the Little Bighorn and the actor who portrayed him in They Died With Their Boots On—greatly influenced the one person who could easily be credited as the “Man Who Saved the West.” That honor goes to acclaimed author and former National Park Service historian Robert Utley.
He wouldn’t claim the honor for himself, he’s much too modest for that, but plenty of others recognize his amazing contribution to preserve some of the most historic monuments to the Western experience.
Utley’s vision and efforts were in the vanguard of a national awakening that preserving our past is like preserving our soul. So True West turned to him when we inquired into the status of Western preservation—are we doing a good job or a lousy job of saving our history; what more must we do and what pitfalls are ahead; and are we moving forward or backward in cherishing the American spirit?
We caught up with Utley as he was leaving on a month-long book tour for Lone Star Lawmen: The Second Century of the Texas Rangers—his 16th book on the West. He kindly answered a long list of questions on where we are and where we need to go.
“I am encouraged by preservation of the Western heritage and Western historic places, both on the national and the state and local levels,” he tells True West.
But he warns, none of this is easy, and none of it comes without lots of effort, vigilance and pain.
A Boyhood Fascination
It all started so simply. In 1942, Robert Utley was a 12-year-old boy growing up in Indiana. He thought he’d become a lawyer, but he changed his mind when he saw the movie They Died With Their Boots On. He was so moved by Errol Flynn’s portrayal of Custer, his interest shifted to history and he read everything he could find on Custer. Now boys like him read his books on Custer to learn about the man he calls “my flawless hero.”
In 1946, he saved up the 25 cents an hour he earned as a drugstore soda jerk and bought a bus ticket to Montana where he visited the site of Custer’s “Last Stand.” The next year, the 17 year old donned a National Park Service uniform and became a ranger, telling the Custer story to tourists.
That began a 43-year career with the park service where he left his mark every step of the way. Within a decade of donning his uniform, he became the regional historian for the park service, working out of the Santa Fe office. From 1957-64, he executed an astonishing amount of research and historical background work on what he now calls “my parks”: Fort Bowie and the Hubbell Trading Post, in Arizona; Fort Davis and Chamizal, in Texas; and Golden Spike in Utah. Oh yes, he also worked extensively on the existing park sites of Fort Union and Pecos in New Mexico.
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