PIPE SPRING Cultures at a Crossroads: An Administrative History

Archeological and Historical Research

During the summer of 1973, an archeological survey was conducted in areas to be affected by the proposed construction of the new water system. The survey and report was prepared by LaMar W. Lindsay and Rex E. Madsen as part of an Environmental Impact Study for projects in Pipe Spring, Zion, Arches, and Canyonlands. [2244] At Pipe Spring, the survey was a ground inspection and surface examination only of areas to be impacted by the new well site, pump house, 500,000-gallon reservoir, water lines, reservoir access road, borrow pit, and GarKane power line (the latter was the northernmost area surveyed, located 10,000 feet north of the monument). Most of the land surveyed was on the Kaibab Indian Reservation. All tangible evidence of aboriginal occupation was found within an area from roughly 3,500 feet north to 700 feet south of the monument. Of the three sites identified, archeological excavation was recommended for only one site (2-MH-3), located about 500 feet south of the proposed pipeline into the monument. Lindsay and Madsen estimated 95 percent of site 2-MH-3 was on the reservation. While no construction activities at the time threatened to impact the site, archeologists have long been interested in the prehistoric mound below the monument. It has never been excavated.

During 1973 and 1974, Rick Wilt taped a number of oral history interviews. Glenn Clark conducted additional oral history interviews from 1974 through 1976, some of which have recently been transcribed. [2245] There is no record of research being conducted in archives or libraries other than those at the monument during the 1970s.

Seasonal Residence

After monument staff moved their offices and receiving area into the new visitor center in 1973, there were plans to remove the old double-wide metal trailer used as the visitor contact station. In June 1973, Heyder requested that the monument be allowed to retain the trailer for use as a temporary seasonal residence; his request was approved. The building was moved to the monument's housing area and converted into seasonal quarters. Its use was short-lived, however. In April 1974, the trailer was demolished by a windstorm, surveyed later as a complete loss. Another seasonal residence was not obtained until 1979. On April 27 that year, a new 14 x 60-foot mobile home was delivered and set up.

Solid Waste Disposal

During the 1970s, the monument continued to haul its solid waste from residences to the disposal site owned by the Tribe. (The Tribe took care of the visitor center's garbage disposal.) About 1974 a Park Service report stated that the disposal site was located three miles from the monument in a shallow gully. It was seldom covered and burning was common. Papers are wind-scattered and rodents had access to the refuse. Park Service officials advised that the Indian Health Service evaluate the site and that it be upgraded. [2246]

The Navajo-McCullough Transmission Line

In April 1972, Jim Schaack learned from an article in The Southern Utah News that the Department of the Interior had granted rights-of-way to Los Angeles' Department of Water and Power and the Arizona Public Service Company for three electrical power transmission lines to cross public land in Arizona, Utah, and Nevada. Park Service officials had previously expressed opposition to the route chosen by the Department of Water and Power across the Arizona Strip in a meeting with representatives of the company meetings during the summer of 1970. (For background, see Part X.) The route chosen from the Navajo Generating Station near Page, Arizona, to the McCullough Switching Station near Boulder City, Nevada, was the same one opposed by the Park Service. [2247] On May 11, 1972, Acting Regional Director Phillip R. Iversen sent a memorandum to Park Service Director George B. Hartzog, Jr., pointing out that the location of the transmission line constituted an adverse effect under Section 106 upon Pipe Spring National Monument. This communication was a mere formality, however, as the action had already been approved.