PIPE SPRING Cultures at a Crossroads: An Administrative History

The Establishment of Pipe Spring National Monument

While Union Pacific officials were negotiating over the purchase and lease of lands at Bryce Canyon just prior to its establishment as a national monument, Director Mather was working in Washington, D.C., to have Pipe Spring established as another national monument. It would be seven long years before a feasible alternate route was available for travelers to go from Zion National Park to the Grand Canyon's North Rim. In May 1923 no one knew if it were even possible to construct such a road or just how and when the means could be found for the undertaking. Thus, the immediate concern for Union Pacific, state officials, and the National Park Service was to improve the existing route from Zion to the North Rim and to make it as pleasing to tourists as possible. Mather envisioned the majority of tourist traffic would traverse the Hurricane-Fredonia route, at least until the Rockville shortcut to Short Creek could be built. The fort and its natural spring water would offer a welcome respite to tour buses and individual travelers, weary from crossing miles of the desolate Arizona Strip. The establishment of a National Park Service site at this strategic location would, however, require more than the usual amount of political maneuvering. Issues of ownership of the Pipe Spring ranch had never been completely settled. The Office of Indian Affairs and General Land Office had refused to recognize Charles C. Heaton's claims to the tract and he had filed a motion for a rehearing on their decision. The creation of the new monument at Pipe Spring called for that problem to be addressed, along with others. To achieve his goals, Mather appears to have solved the problem in a rather convoluted yet successful fashion.

As mentioned earlier, Mather asked Church officials in January 1922 to serve as intermediary between the government and the Heaton family in determining a selling price for the Pipe Spring ranch. Nearly a year and one-half later on May 12, 1923, President Grant wrote to Mather to inform him that Charles C. Heaton had set the selling price at $5,000. The Church promised to subscribe some of the money and to approach the Oregon Short Line (a Union Pacific subsidiary) for additional funds. [399] Grant wrote,

Perhaps my associates may reconsider allowing the Church to subscribe for at least 10% toward purchasing this property, although it hardly seems in line for a 104.church, which is a charitable institution, to be spending money to purchase property to make a present to the United States government. [400]

Mather replied to Grant on May 21 informing him of the urgency of raising the funds within a month so that President Warren G. Harding could sign the proclamation establishing the monument before he left on a trip to the West. His letter ended with the plea, "so please do all in your power to put this pet project of mine through in the next thirty days." [401] Leaving little to chance, Mather also acted to enlist the aid of Lafayette Hanchett, president of National Copper Bank in Salt Lake City. Mather had scheduled a trip to take several congressmen to southern Utah and northern Arizona after President Harding departed the area. It was critical to establish the monument at Pipe Spring prior to President Harding's trip to southern Utah, Mather explained, "so that we can convince the Congressmen who are going to accompany me, and who happen to handle these specific appropriations, that we need funds for its [the fort's] proper restoration." [402] (In fact, the funds to purchase Pipe Spring were not raised in time, but this will be discussed later.) Hanchett offered to do his part while stating, "The preservation of Pipe Springs wakens little or no enthusiasm among non-Mormons, who seem to regard the place strictly as an old outpost of the Mormon Church, and who frankly say it is up to the Mormons to take care of the matter if they wish anything done." [403]

Meanwhile, Mather asked his assistant Arthur E. Demaray to draw up the proclamation, which was completed on May 23. [404] Mather then gave the draft proclamation to Commissioner Charles Burke, Office of Indian Affairs. Burke returned the draft to Mather two days later, disapproving it for lacking a provision by which the reservation's Kaibab Paiute could utilize the waters of Pipe Spring. Mather hastily inserted a clause prepared by Burke and returned it for the Commissioner's signature. Burke signed it on May 28 and returned it to Mather with the following memorandum addressed to Secretary Hubert Work:

The forty-acre tract described in the proposed Presidential Proclamation attached is within the Kaibab Indian Reservation in Arizona. The Indians have no special need for the land, and as a clause has been inserted giving the Indians the privilege of utilizing the waters from Pipe Spring for irrigation, stock watering, and other purposes, under regulations to be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior, I concur in the proposed action to set the land aside as a national monument. [405]

There were still legal issues to work out over the clouded title to the land. The same week that Director Mather was working to obtain Commissioner Burke's cooperation and support of the monument's establishment, General Land Office Commissioner William Spry sent a memorandum to Assistant Director Arno B. Cammerer about the ownership of the Pipe Spring tract. The memorandum summarized actions related to Pipe Spring and surrounding lands, including those leading up to the creation of the Kaibab Indian Reservation. It stated that Charles C. Heaton's March 3, 1920, application to locate the Valentine scrip on the Pipe Spring tract was rejected on April 15, 1920, "for conflict with the withdrawals and for other reasons. The evidence of assignment from Daniel Seegmiller to the applicants [sic] was not sufficient." On December 10, 1920, Heaton's case "was transmitted to the Secretary of the Interior on appeal and has not since been returned," stated Spry. [406] Oddly, the fact that Assistant Secretary Edward C. Finney denied Heaton's appeal on June 6, 1921, and that Heaton had filed a motion for a rehearing of the case was not brought out by Spry in his memorandum to Cammerer. [407] It is also worthy of note that the date of Finney's denial of Heaton's application - June 6, 1921 - is exactly the same date that Director Mather wrote to Commissioner Burke about his interest in making Pipe Spring a national monument.

On May 29, 1923, Mather transmitted a form of the proclamation establishing Pipe Spring National Monument to Secretary Work. The transmittal included the proclamation, a draft letter to the President recommending its establishment, and three other memoranda: a copy of Commissioner Spry's memorandum of May 23 to Cammerer (cited above), Commissioner Burke's May 28 memorandum (also cited above), and a memorandum from Mather himself. The memorandum from Mather is quoted in full below:

Attached letter to the President transmits form of proclamation for the establishment of the Pipe Spring National Monument, Arizona.

There is attached memorandum from the Commissioner of the General Land Office relative to the Pipe Spring property in Arizona. It will be noted that on March 3, 1920 Chas. C. Heaton and the Pipe Spring L. S. Company filed application to locate the Valentine Script [sic] on the SE 1/4 SE 1/4 Sec. 17, which is the area to be established as the National Monument. The application has been held for rejection for conflict with the prior withdrawals and on December 10, 1920 the record was transmitted to the Secretary on appeal and has not since been returned to the General Land Office.

I have personally visited Pipe Spring several times and realize the desirableness of having this area established as a National Monument for the benefit of motorists traveling between Zion and Grand Canyon Parks. I have interested a number of Utah's representative citizens in this matter and have secured promise from the claimants of the property to sell it to myself and associates for $5,000. It is my intention, when this purchase has been completed, to have the claimants withdraw their application now pending on the appeal in order that the National Monument proclamation may be made effective.

[signed, Stephen T. Mather]
Director

At the suggestion of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs a clause has been inserted in the proclamation, giving the Indians of the Kaibab Reservation the privilege of utilizing the waters of Pipe Spring for irrigation, stock watering and other purposes under regulations to be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior. [408]

Secretary Work transmitted the proclamation to President Harding on May 29, 1923, with the following memorandum, quoted in full:

There is enclosed form of proclamation to establish the Pipe Spring National Monument, Arizona, reserving 40 acres on which are located Pipe Spring and an early dwelling place, which was used as a place of refuge from hostile Indians by the early settlers. Pipe Spring, first settled in 1863, was the first station of the Deseret Telegraph in Arizona. The spring affords the only water on the road between Hurricane, Utah, and Fredonia, Arizona, a distance of 62 miles, which is the direct route from the Zion National Park, Utah, to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona. It is an oasis in the desert lands and with the increasing motor travel between the two National Parks, it is highly desirable that this area be established as a National Monument.

I have, therefore, to recommend that you sign the enclosed form of proclamation. [409]

President Harding signed the proclamation establishing Pipe Spring National Monument on May 31, 1923. A copy of Presidential Proclamation No. 1663 establishing the monument and accompanying map depicting the monument's boundary is attached to this report as Appendix II. It states that the monument "affords the only water" between Hurricane and Fredonia, "a distance of 62 miles;" that Winsor Castle was used as a place of refuge from hostile Indians by early settlers; that it was the first station of the Deseret Telegraph in Arizona; and that, "...it appears that the public good would be promoted by reserving the land on which Pipe Spring and the early dwelling place are located as a National Monument, with as much land as may be necessary for the proper protection thereof, to serve as a memorial of western pioneer life..." [410]

The details of the sale and transfer of the Pipe Spring property to the federal government were still to be worked out. [411] While Pipe Spring had been proclaimed a national monument, the Heaton family still owned it, or - in the eyes of the Office of Indian Affairs - they still maintained their claim to ownership of Pipe Spring. Mather worried that the Heatons might not continue caring for the property so he had B. L. Vipond contact the Office of Indian Affairs to investigate the possibility of having the Kaibab Reservation superintendent look after the place to prevent vandalism. [412]

In July 1923 Mather's assistant, Arthur E. Demaray, led a congressional delegation to Pipe Spring in hopes of obtaining funds for the fort's restoration. (Mather was ill at the time and was directed by his physician not to make the trip.) Representative Louis C. Cramton of Michigan, chairman of the subcommittee for Interior Department appropriations, accompanied the group. When they arrived at Pipe Spring on July 1, an angry Charles C. Heaton met them. Apparently, Dr. Farrow had been to the fort at some point prior to this time to check on it, as requested by his superiors. Heaton thought that Farrow had come to the monument to oust John White, his caretaker, and to take over the administration of the site. Neither Heaton nor other local ranchers liked or trusted Farrow, given his six-year history of vigorously defending the interests of the reservation's Kaibab Paiute. Heaton had also received word of the last-minute clause inserted into the proclamation at the insistence of Commissioner Burke giving the Kaibab Paiute the "privilege" of using Pipe Spring water. Heaton feared that if left in charge of the monument, Farrow would take all the water for the Indians. Heaton informed Demaray and the accompanying delegation that he would not sell Pipe Spring unless assured that White would be retained as caretaker. He also told them that he had sold some of the water rights to local ranchers, and that this sale had to be recognized prior to his selling the property to the government. When Demaray told Heaton he could make no such promises, the argument intensified. Representative Cramton then declared he could not accept Heaton's demands and added that, under the circumstances, he would not promise any money for improvements and restoration. Mather's hope that this trip would result in funding for his "pet project," was thus unexpectedly dashed. In late July Mather made a partial concession to Heaton's demands by agreeing to let White and his family continue to live at Pipe Spring until the end of 1923. [413]

The unpleasant confrontation that occurred on July 1, 1923, at Pipe Spring exemplifies the realities and conflict involved in the final process of the sale and transfer of Pipe Spring to the federal government. Government agencies, represented by the National Park Service and the Office of Indian Affairs, had conflicting goals to a great degree. The national monument was established to preserve and interpret the historic site for future generations. The Park Service also had to take into consideration the needs of the traveling public. The reservation was established on behalf of the Kaibab Paiute and its agents had the responsibility for protecting the interests of the Indians. Charles C. Heaton, on the other hand, represented both the interests of the Heaton family and those of other cattlemen with a continuing interest in Pipe Spring water.