PIPE SPRING Cultures at a Crossroads: An Administrative History

Visitation

Due to international events mentioned in the introduction, high gas prices in 1979- 1981 resulted in a reduction in travel to Pipe Spring in 1979 and 1980, which totaled 26,139 and 26,901, respectively. In spite of high gas prices, visitation increased 17 percent in 1981 to 31,379. Gas prices began to drop in 1982 and, after 1983, visitation steadily rose each year to reach a high of 44,521 in 1989. It is worth noting that in 1989 Herr's successor, Gary Hasty, discovered an error in Herr's methods of calculating visitation figures for the proceeding several years. The figures reported were in fact 10 percent higher than they should have been, but no changes were made in the official records. [2340] (See Appendix VI, "Visitation," for annual figures.)

The Dons Club once again brought three busloads of senior citizens on September 7, 1979. The group made several other visits to Pipe Spring in the 1980s. Herr reported in 1980 that 40-50 percent of visitors that year were foreigners. [2341] The Sons of Utah Pioneers brought a group of 415 in 1983. (The group held its annual convention in Kanab that year.) In January 1984, the Utah State Historical Society brought 76 of its members to Pipe Spring. The Albright Training Center continued to bring its trainees to the monument from time to time to study the monument's operations.

During 1980, official visitors to Pipe Spring included Regional Director Lorraine Mintzmyer in June and Zion Superintendent John Lancaster in September. In late October that year, Governor Bruce Babbitt and former Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall visited the Kaibab Paiute Tribe, after which the two made an unscheduled stop at Pipe Spring. Lancaster paid another visit to the monument in 1981, as did Regional Historian Mike Schene. Archeologist Ann Johnson was at Pipe Spring to provide Section 106 clearance for several projects in 1982. During the 1980s, Historical Architects Rodd L. Wheaton and Richard J. ("Rick") Cronenberger (both regional office) visited Pipe Spring to review planned projects for the fort and to oversee or inspect work. Mintzmyer reportedly revisited on July 30, 1984. That year Marc Sagan, director of Harpers Ferry Center, visited in September and Von del Chamberlain, director of the Hansen Planetarium in Salt Lake City, in November. [2342] In July 1986, Regional Interpreter Bill Sontag paid a visit to Pipe Spring to observe and critique the monument's educational program.

Other staff from the regional office, Zion, and other park units made visits to the monument during the 1980s. [2343] Former Superintendent Bernard Tracy, then residing in Moccasin, also dropped in from time to time to chat with Herr.