Navajo Administrative History

Although it failed to genuinely help the Navajo, the New Deal provided vast benefits for most of the park system. Under the aggressive Ickes, the Department of the Interior took the lead in the implementation of New Deal programs. The importance of the Park Service grew tremendously as it became a primary venue for labor-intensive programs. The agency nearly doubled its holdings as a result of Roosevelt's reorganization of the federal government in August 1933. All of the new areas and many of the old needed the investment of capital and labor that the New Deal made possible.

For the archeological monuments of the Southwest, the New Deal was the answer to Frank Pinkley's long-held dream. Finally the resources that had been lacking throughout the 1920s were available, and Pinkley put them to use. Across the Southwest, roads and trails, museums, administrative offices, ranger quarters, and an entire array of other kinds of facilities were constructed. At Bandelier National Monument in New Mexico, a mini-city built of indigenous materials arose as a result of the New Deal camp there, and nearly every other archeological area benefited in some way. [42]

But again, Navajo National Monument was overlooked. No Civilian Conservation Corps camp was located there, nor were extensive roads and trails constructed. The monument was too far from the principal avenues of visitor travel to merit a significant outlay of money and labor. Instead, Navajo received a minuscule portion of the available resources. A Civil Works Administration crew under the direction of Irwin Hayden was its primary benefit from the New Deal. In 1933-34, the crew stabilized rooms at Keet Seel, the extent of the reach of the New Deal to this remote corner of the Navajo reservation. [43]

For the Park Service, the New Deal was the pinnacle of its existence until that point. Nearly every park area with some visitation potential was developed under the auspices of the New Deal, as the agency was able to fulfill even the most far-fetched wish-lists. The nearly total absence of Navajo from the development of the New Deal shows how far down on the list of priorities the monument was located. In Frank Pinkley's previously neglected domain, Navajo was passed over in the greatest moment of government largess thus far.

But even in the heady days of the New Deal, it was a long way from using CWA money to stabilize ruins to hiring a full-time paid custodian. Ever prepared, Frank Pinkley developed a plan for Navajo similar to those he designed for other southwestern national monuments. Vandalism, growing numbers of unsupervised visitors, erosion, and fencing all required action. Pinkley's solution to all the problems was a full-time, on-site professional custodian. "We must have someone in charge to show these visitors around and protect these valuable ruins from them," Pinkley informed Arno B. Cammerer, who had succeeded Albright in 1933. Because the monument was divided into non-contiguous sections, Pinkley warned that one person would not be sufficient and a second to share the duties and provide relief was essential. So was a building at the head of the canyon above Betatakin.

But Navajo was unique. Besides the distance between its sections, the Park Service had little control over the lands in between. About twelve Navajos lived in the canyon, one of whom appeared to control land usage. Pinkley proposed to treat him as the leader and negotiate a deal. In exchange for removing their cattle and sheep from Tsegi Canyon, Pinkley wanted to offer the Indians the right to place a hogan above Betatakin and charge travelers a toll for crossing their land. This arrangement would preserve the special qualities of the place and treat Navajo people in the area in an equitable fashion. But it required personnel. [44]

The plan and budget that Pinkley had his staff put together for Navajo was impressive. It included the two full-time positions as well as equipment, animals, residences, and a water and sewer system. The $19,300 recommended for expenditure far exceeded the total the NPS spent at Navajo between 1916 and 1934. [45] The program was more evidence that the New Deal changed the scope of agency expectations. By the pre-1933 standards of the agency, it was extravagant. In the reality of expenditures authorized by New Deal programs, it was distinctly possible. Yet despite the cost, the program established only a skeletal protection structure.

In 1934, John Wetherill received a part-time seasonal ranger for the first time. His nephew, Milton Wetherill, was the choice, and for the following four summers, he served as ranger, ranger-historian, and laborer at the monument. Milton Wetherill proved more than satisfactory. Possessed of a seemingly hereditary interest in the ruins, he worked on projects ranging from the flora and fauna of Betatakin to stabilization and the study of prehistory in the region. As John Wetherill neared retirement, his nephew seemed a logical selection to succeed him.

By 1938, the end of his career as custodian was near for John Wetherill. The road from Shonto had supplanted his outfitting business for the canyon, making the trading post an ineffective place from which to guard the ruins. Wetherill was extremely busy during the summers of the 1930s, for he traveled extensively with the annual Rainbow Bridge-Monument Valley archeological expedition in each of the summers following 1933. He turned seventy in 1934, and in the changed climate, he recognized that he could not easily offer all the monument needed. When asked to take a physical examination to continue as custodian in 1938, he wrote Frank Pinkley: "turn my position over to someone who can draw a salary. There are plenty of men who need the work. . . . hoping you can get a good man in here for your best monument." [46]

Despite the symmetry of Milton Wetherill replacing his uncle, government regulations prevented the succession. Frank Pinkley desperately sought full-time status for the position at Navajo, and Milton Wetherill expected to take the Civil Service examination, pass it, and receive a permanent position. But Wetherill did not score well enough on the exam, and the position went to William F. V. Leicht. Both John and Milton Wetherill assisted Leicht, who arrived in the midst of bad weather, and within a month, he had established himself in the tent that served as his quarters. Frank Pinkley encouraged Milton Wetherill to continue as a temporary employee while preparing to retake the qualification exam. [47] Later in 1938, the first custodian trained by Frank Pinkley arrived at Navajo National Monument. Leicht came to Navajo from another government division and left for a position with the Bureau of Reclamation at Boulder Dam. James W. Brewer Jr., a permanent Park Service employee trained by Pinkley and posted for a probationary period to Aztec Ruins, followed him. Brewer was a product of the process Pinkley established for southwestern national monument service. He knew how to do things "the Boss's way." Brewer and his wife, Sallie, arrived in November 1938 and stayed the winter in one of the big stone hogans at the Roricks' trading post at Shonto. Brewer made frequent trips to the canyon when the road was passable. The change in administration and direction of approach was complete.

Between 1912 and 1938, Navajo National Monument was left out of most of the development of the park system. During the Mather-Albright years, the monument remained marginal except when it was part of a national park proposal. From the perspective of a visitor-oriented agency, Navajo had little potential. Its historic problems remained; it was too remote, too inaccessible, and without allocation of extensive resources and the development of the Navajo reservation for travelers, its potential remained too limited for the investment of scarce resources.

Even in Frank Pinkley's southwestern national monument group, set up to administer similar places, Navajo remained peripheral. Too many places with greater potential for visitors existed. The transportation networks in the Southwest determined much of the pattern of NPS development. Navajo was out of the main flow of traffic--by rail or road. The monument was also hampered by its dependence on the lands around it. In island-like sections, the fate of Navajo was more closely linked to that of the western Navajo reservation than to similar park areas. [48]

The arrival of Brewer inaugurated a phase characterized by professional management. Navajo was one of the last of Pinkley's park areas to receive a permanent, full-time, in-residence staff person. This late development foreshadowed future problems. In other areas of management, Navajo also lagged behind much of the park system. But after 1938, the forces that acted on it increased in intensity.