And during , the bicentennial year of the United States of America, an all-time high of , people visited the park, where two hundred years did not even begin to reach back to the point at which the Anasazi era ended. That surge was followed by a slide, which would not be reversed until The alarmed public stayed nearer home. Rocky Mountain National Park suffered the same fate, although it still far outdistanced Mesa Verde in popularity, topping three million visitors in Despite the boom-and-bust aspects of the s, Colorado benefited mightily from the magnetic attraction that both of these parks held for the traveling American.
As Colorado benefited, so did other states. He recommended to his superintendents that they keep that salient fact in mind, warning them at the same time not to sacrifice basic park values for short-term tourist gains.
Such tactics would surely "kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. A survey in the s showed that the typical visitor's experience consisted of a self-guided tour of a cliff dwelling, "supplemented by a walk through the museum," and an hour and a half drive along the ruins loop. Self-guided tours had returned to favor because of the excessive amount of time and the number of rangers required to run continuous guided tours in all the ruins.
The typical tourists came, saw, and hurried on to another spot. The typical family spent about six rushed hours in the park from entry to exit. One innovation to keep crowds and traffic under control was tried: the distribution of tickets for specified times to tour Cliff Palace and Balcony House. Spruce Tree House stayed on a self-guided basis, with rangers always patrolling the ruin to supervise and to answer questions.
Ticketed times alleviated some of the standing in line and the tiresome waiting and allowed a maximum number of visitors to explore the sites. More relief came in , when most of Wetherill Mesa was finally opened for visitation. Money shortages and an unfavorable political climate, brought on by the Vietnam War, had kept the project in limbo for years. Proposals had been "hashed over and over" about what to do and how to do it with the least possible damage to the fragile ruins. Uncontrolled visits seemed to be out of the question, and the government did not have the funds to carry out the ambitious original plans.
