The placing of some of the combination structures herein presented, within the chapter classifications established, may stand in need of explanation and defense. Such combination buildings are so numerous, that to create a separate classification for them would result in one very bulky and but loosely related group, at the expense of, and out of reasonable balance with, most of the other classifications. For this reason the allocation of a so-called combination structure to that heading which seems best to define the apparently dominant use of the building is the chosen alternative.
On one major point in the selection of material the editing committee failed to agree. The question, long debated, centered around honesty in the use of materials in that wide-ranging style in park structures which we loosely identify, and as loosely term, “rustic” or “pioneer.” One opinion insisted that park buildings should not appropriate the semblance of primitive structures without appropriating as well all the primitive elements and methods of the prototypes. It was held that there is no allowable compromise with true log construction; it must be rigidly adhered to in every detail if employed at all. Contrary opinion argued that there are not at hand today the seemingly inexhaustible resources of pioneer days, that to insist on the use of logs in today’s park structures in the spendthrift fashion of our forefathers, might be logic in the aesthetic abstract, but in practice wastes those resources the conservation of which is at the very roots of the impetus toward park expansion. A straddling pacifist proposed that only the more important park structures should faithfully reproduce pioneer log construction, with the objective of preserving for observation and study the fast disappearing frontier construction methods. Minor and oft-repeated units such as cabins, he argued, might well utilize some more economical, even though less picturesque and durable, method.
Here was an age-old controversy in a new setting. Taking into account the demands of present day economy and conservation principles, how far might we properly recommend departure from the forthright but prodigal construction of the pioneers? Dared we urge recourse to substitutes as a recommended or even acceptable wall surface finish for park buildings? Is there justification in the fact that the amount of timber stock required for one true log structure will provide material for three or four more or less adequate and pleasing structures to bloom or blight (the partisan reader may choose his own verb) in its place?
Only threats to turn the key on the jury until a verdict would be reached moved the proponents of the several schools of thought. Beyond all doubt every member of the committee was coerced through sheer horror at the prospect of enduring longer the enforced company of six others of heretical belief. At any rate, the perfect settlement was suavely reached by unanimous agreement to leave the matter unsettled. The committee remains stubbornly off the record on this controversial point. In offering herein examples that provoke argument and supply rebuttal for every viewpoint, it tosses the debate to partisan readers in the remote hope of an eventual conclusive opinion.
The intent in publication of this collection will be misconstrued if it is interpreted as providing source material for park structures, denying need for competent professional assistance in the creation of park buildings that may follow. The intent is the very opposite. The most completely satisfying subjects included herein are so, not as a result of chance, but because training, imagination, effort and skill are conjoined to create and fashion a pleasing structure or facility appropriate to a particular setting. Who then, but those of professional training and experience are equipped to decide that a perfect structural interpretation for one setting will sanction adaptation for another, and in what detail or degree modification will make the most of the conditions presented by another environment. If an existing structure is so admired that it persuades duplication, careful analysis will inevitably demonstrate that admiration springs from a nice perfection of the subject within one circumstantial pattern. As that pattern changes so must the structure change. To venture in translation without benefit of technical idiom foredooms to mediocrity if not to failure.
In connection with the subjects illustrated be discovered a varied practice in the matter of credit lines. This proceeds, not from conscious intent to withhold credit where credit is due, but from a lack of enabling information. The editing committee regrets that the names of countless artisans, technicians and agencies whose talents and cooperation have brought distinction to the structures, and to the National Park Service the privilege of compiling this collection, go unrecorded. To all contributors, who with high purpose may have produced an entire park system, a skillful planting, well-fashioned log, a photograph of character, a salute is offered. To those who herein must remain anonymous, an extra salvo!
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