PIPE SPRING Cultures at a Crossroads: An Administrative History

Employment of the Kaibab Paiute at Pipe Spring

Once the Neighborhood Youth Corps (NYC) program ended in the mid-1970s, the Tribe had no government-sponsored youth training program until 1985. The Tribe's NYC program had provided the monument with many young Indian workers during the early 1970s. The Tribe was unable to get funds for a Comprehensive Employment Training Act (CETA) program until the fall of 1981, just a year before the program was terminated. This may explain why there were noticeably fewer Indians working at the monument during the early 1980s than in prior years. Official monument reports attest to the fact that Herr and his staff tried to interest tribal members in working at the monument in the early 1980s, but had little success. [2289] When a seasonal laborer position opened at the monument in spring 1982, Herr actively recruited among the Tribe and three of its members applied. Sam David Tom was hired for the position. Another Kaibab Paiute man, Ralph Castro, was hired as a seasonal laborer in 1983.

During the early 1980s, fort guides and CETA workers were mostly non-Indian. [2290] Seasonal Park Aid Lori Jake was one of the few Kaibab Paiute guides in the fort during that period. She had worked as a park aid/interpreter in the fort since at least 1975. On September 28, 1981, her husband, Merle Jake, was killed in a logging accident on the Kaibab Plateau. Most of the monument's staff attended the October 3 funeral held in Fredonia. She did not return to the monument in 1982. In March 1983, Herr sought to rehire Lori Jake as a park aid. She first agreed, then changed her mind. Beginning in 1985, the employment situation changed and Indian youth were once again involved in the monument's interpretive program. The Indian Development District of Arizona (IDDA) and another tribal program, whose initials are "TGB," enabled the Tribe to once again place a significant number of Kaibab Paiute as seasonal monument workers, primarily as guides. [2291] At least on one occasion in 1987, a Zion personnel specialist and Fred Banks met with prospective employees from the Tribe to explain the work and encourage their application.