PIPE SPRING Cultures at a Crossroads: An Administrative History

Repairs to the Fort Exterior and West Cabin

During Frank Pinkley's July 1925 visit to Pipe Spring, he directed Heaton to begin certain work on the fort's exterior. Mather had wanted the great gates entering the courtyard to be replaced, but before that could be done the stonework that had once surrounded the gates needed to be rebuilt. Heaton and his father Charles began restoring the stonework for the courtyard gates in February 1928, completing the east gate reconstruction in March. [561] Work on the west gate began in late April and was presumably finished in May. [562] Grant Heaton was about 11 years old and living at the fort at the time. He remembered watching the older men work on the stonework, using two 12 x 12-inch beams to hold the rock in place. The father and son had found and used the original stones stacked neatly near the fort. [563] In June 1928 Heaton reported, "The old fort here at the monument is beginning to look inviting now as we are getting it pretty well cleaned up and fixed up." [564] In August 1928 Leonard Heaton completed and installed three of the four gates. [565] The fourth gate was presumably hung shortly thereafter.

Pinkley had also directed Heaton to repair or replace the verandas on the upper and lower building. The one on the lower building was in especially poor condition. Heaton began work on the south veranda as soon as lumber arrived in September 1926 and completed work by April 1927, replacing everything except the center support post. He also replaced missing balusters and the flooring of the north veranda, but retained the original floor joists. [566]

47. West cabin ruins, ca. 1924
(Pipe Spring National Monument, neg. 3585)

48. Landscape and view of meadow and west cabin, ca. 1924
(Pipe Spring National Monument, neg. 4055).

The two-room west cabin, built in 1870 to house the workers who constructed the fort, is believed to have been used later by cowhands working at the Pipe Spring ranch until the mid-1890s after which it probably stood vacant. By the time the Park Service acquired Pipe Spring, the cabin had no roof and only partial walls. [567] It was not until 1929 that Heaton was given the job of reconstructing the west cabin. For the most part, Heaton reconstructed the cabin based on Pinkley's ideas. The walls were rebuilt to their original height, repointed, and window frames were installed. Pine stringers were used to support thecedarpoleroof covered with cedar bark and dirt. On July 20, 1931, the west cabin roof beam broke and part of the roof caved in, requiring repairs.

Correspondence from March 1930 indicates that some consideration was given at that time to erecting two Park Service-designed buildings at Pipe Spring, neither of which was constructed. Zion's Landscape Architect Harry Langley drew up plans for a tool and implement shed and a comfort station. Langley conferred with both Zion's Acting Superintendent Walter Ruesch and the Park Service's Branch of Planning and Design in San Francisco about the matter, advising that native stone be used "with as little dressing as possible and set up with plenty of mortar in a very irregular manner." [568] The rustic style described by Langley, which was highly characteristic of the period, was a far cry from the comfort station ultimately built at Pipe Spring during Mission 66, discussed in a later chapter. Why these two buildings were not constructed after the initiation of public works programs at Pipe Spring is not known. There simply may have been insufficient funds to address more than the monument's most pressing needs. Visitors continued to use pit toilets for years, while Heaton eventually constructed his own storage shed for tools.