Thomas
J. AllenThomas
J. AllenThomas J. Allen (1897-1985) received the Pugsley Silver Medal in 1947. His pioneering career in the National Park Service spanned almost a half century, begining at Mount Ranier National Park in 1917 and concluding with his retirement in 1965. Allen was born in Pittsburgh, but was raised and educated in Seattle. His studies at the University of Washington were interrupted by service in the Army Medical Corps in World War I. Before the war he studied engineering for a year; after it he had three years of forestry. In 1922, after two summers as a park ranger at Mount Rainier National Park, he came chief ranger and assistant superintendent at Rocky Mountain National Park. He quickly established himself as a hard worker, willing to do whatever needed to be done and was soon promoted to chief ranger. Typical duties included trail maintenance, interaction with visitors, and supervision of projects.
Thereafter, he was superintendent of five national parks, director of three park service regions, and assistant director of the NPS in Washington, D. C. He served as superintendent at: Hawaii Volcanoes National Park (1928-31), Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks (1931-32), and Hot Springs National Park (1932-36), before returning to Rocky Mountain National Park in1936 when Edmund Rogers departed for Yellowstone to succeed the late Roger Toll. His primary duties at this time were supervision of Civilian Conservation Corps projects which improved facilities such as the Moraine Park Museum and the Glacier Basin Campground. Road improvements both inside and outside the park were also on his agenda, including restoration of the former High Drive access road to a natural state and continued work on the Trail Ridge Road. On Sunday, April 25, 1937, Superintendent Allen and others flew in a United Airlines plane in the first of a series of six weekly radio broadcasts about the National Parks which aired on the National Broadcasting Company.
There was considerable controversy in Rocky Mountain National Park at that time over the appropriateness of encouraging winter sports facilities to be developed in the park. Superintendent Allen encouraged these activities especially the creation of a skating rink on a beaver pond in Hidden Valley and keeping open Bear Lake Pond as far as Bear Lake to encourage skiers. Allen proudly proclaimed:
The National Park Service has put a great deal of study into the Winter Sports possibilities of Rocky Mountain National Park. In order to do something definite …we have spent considerable money, while rangers and park workmen have put in extra time and effort to show their interest. As a result, winter sports are now easily accessible to Estes Park, and roads are being well maintained to those areas.
From 1937 to 1944 he was Regional Director of Region Two, with headquarters in Omaha. Before his departure from that position he was interviewed by the editor of the Estes Park Trail newspaper:
"His admiration and high regard for the late Roger W. Toll, long one of the key men in the NPS, led Allen to cast his lot with the service. 'You will never get rich in it,' Mr. Toll had cautioned the young student who began his initiate in Mt. Rainier while Toll was its superintendent, adding meaningly, 'at least not in a material way.' Mr. Allen has never regretted his choice of vocation, having found in his work satisfactions impossible of computation in dollars and cents."
Subsequently he held the similar position in Region 1 from 1944 until 1951, with the exception of a 21 month period when he served service as a captain with the Army Air Corps in 1943 and 1944. Allen was the NPS Assistant Director of Operations from 1951-56, served as superintendent at Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park (1956-59), and finished his career as a special field assistant in Santa Fe, New Mexico.