PIPE SPRING Cultures at a Crossroads: An Administrative History

The Establishment of DG-44 (continued)

1936

During January 1936 monument work continued on two projects: laying the walkway from the east cabin to the fort and construction of a diversion ditch. Heaton suspended completion of the walk on February 13 when his crew of boys uncovered what Heaton soon suspected to be the site of the Whitmore-McIntyre dugout. The boys continued to excavate under Heaton's supervision the following day until Heaton's suspicions were sufficiently confirmed by finds of broken crockery, animal bones, a mule shoe, burned rock, and other materials. Heaton then stopped work and reported his find to Al Kuehl and Superintendent Pinkley, asking them for directions. Assistant Superintendent Hugh Miller telegramed Heaton from Coolidge, "Park Service regulations prohibit excavations by Rangers and Custodians therefore you cannot continue work described in your letter February sixteenth. Fill trenches made to prevent damage by rains and snow." [928] The alignment of the walkway was subsequently rerouted to avoid the archeological site, which was not excavated until 1959.

For many CCC enrollees, their time at Pipe Spring would be their first contact with Native Americans. Imagine their surprise to meet Indian cowboys and watch them in action! There are several photographs of Kaibab Paiute men with CCC enrollees, but very little written about the circumstances under which they came together on the monument.

71. Morris Jake, Dan Bulletts, and CCC enrollee Bernie Effler, 1936
(Photograph by Jack L. Harden, Pipe Spring National Monument).

In February 1936 the Heatons moved out of the fort and into a place in Moccasin. Heaton wrote in his diary, "I feel like now I can really show the monument.... As I have only one room fixed up as an office and all the rest will be filled with relics and museum stuff." [929] As Heaton took note of the 10th anniversary of his working at Pipe Spring, he wistfully recounted some of the changes that had taken place over the years:

Once [this was] a place of activity for cattlemen and the watering of hundreds of cattle, now none are allowed to come near the water.

Once a stopping place on the main highway between Zion and Grand Canyon Parks with a yearly travel of 26,000, now only a few hundred.

Once, irrigation of 15 or 20 acres, now only the meadow and shade trees to beautify the monument.

Once buildings in a falling down state, now practically restored to the condition when built.

Once rooms barren of all furniture of pioneer life, now a few pieces of prehistoric Indian and pioneer relics are placed to break the barrenness of them.

Once a poor place for campers, now the beginning of an ideal campground.

Once a poor road which took hours to get over, now it takes only minutes.

Once the wind blew and the stoves and fireplaces smoked with every breeze, and IT IS THE SAME TODAY & IT WILL ALWAYS BE SO IN THE FORT.

All in all, I have enjoyed my life here at the Monument very much and hope that I will be able to continue my services for some time to come. [930]

72. CCC enrollees watching Kaibab Paiute cowboys dehorn cattle in monument corrals, undated
(Photograph by Leonard Heaton, Pipe Spring National Monument).

73. Dan Bulletts and John Boyce, January 23, 1936 (Photograph by Leonard Heaton, Pipe Spring National Monument).

In March 1936, approaching the end of the sixth period, Camp DG-44 was formally inspected by J. C. Reddoch. The primary work of the camp during the sixth period had been monument landscaping, his report stated. Outside the monument, the chief project had been road maintenance and construction. Commander Packer told Reddoch that he was of the opinion that the enrollees discharged in December "were Communistically inclined," even though no Communist propaganda could be found in their possession. Reddoch concluded the boys just wanted to go home. He reported that the morale and spirit of the 180 remaining boys was "good." [931]

For the first three weeks of March 1936, Heaton performed guide work at Casa Grande National Monument, leaving the monument under the care of Ranger Donald J. Erskine from Zion National Park. Landscape architects Harry Langley and Edward L. Keeling visited on March 11 to go over ECW projects. The diversion ditch, monument fencing, and leveling of the parking area had all been completed. Completion of the walkways had been held up by the discovery of the Whitmore-McIntyre dugout. Despite all the work that had been accomplished, Ranger Erskine's report to Superintendent Pinkley at month's end suggested serious trouble was brewing between the Army and the Park Service. Erskine was living at the monument "at the courtesy of the officers," he reported in March, sharing their quarters. Thus he had a first-hand look at what went on in the camp 24 hours a day. He expressed serious reservations to Pinkley about the camp officers, stating,

I feel that I should go on record as stating the situation here truthfully. The officers of this CCC camp could not be less cooperative with the policies of the National Park Service as it pertains to the camp and the surrounding area. Capt. Packer has shown no inclination to cooperate anyplace where he has the slightest wish on his own part for a result contrary to what we desire. [932]

Langley, for example, had asked that a road system be laid out in the camp area in order to preserve what little remained of vegetation. Packer shrugged off Erskine's frequent reminders of Langley's request by saying the Army and Park Service had a difference of opinion. Erskine was also told by some of the CCC boys that officers were shooting birds on the monument. Upon his return, Heaton wrote in his journal,

There seems to be some friction coming up between the Army officers and the policies of the Park Service, and the Captain, Mr. Packer, wants to have his way regardless of what the NPS has in its program for the development of the monument, so maybe we will have some excitement yet. [933]

A few days later Heaton wrote, "Had a long talk with Captain Packer and he is getting more determined to have his own way and insists on telling me how I must run this monument, and they are mostly Army methods..." [934] Three days later, Heaton wrote in his journal,

Did some cleanup on the east side of the meadow to please Captain Packer, who keeps suggesting things and how the monument should look like a DANCE FLOOR.... We also discussed the water and the making of a swimming pool in the meadow where the old pond is. I told him that I did not think there would be enough water to keep it fresh unless there was put in cement or rocks to hold the seepage... [935]

(Recall that two years prior to this, the idea of lining the meadow pond with stones or cement had already been discussed between Heaton and Pinkley as a way of conserving tunnel spring water; no funds were available at the time, however. No doubt, Heaton was delighted to have the Grazing Service do this at no expense to the monument, albeit for different objectives!)

74. CCC enrollees placing line fence: Hemsley, Wright, Boyce, Effler, and Bill Thompson, February 26, 1936
(Photograph by Leonard Heaton, Pipe Spring National Monument).

75. Diversion ditch under construction by CCC enrollees to prevent flooding of campground, probably 1936
(Photograph by Leonard Heaton, Pipe Spring National Monument, neg. 165).

As the end of the sixth period neared (March 31, 1936), Heaton found it increasingly difficult to get much work out of the enrollees who were about to go home. This was a time when boys were also most likely to search about for souvenirs of their stay at Pipe Spring, such as the illegal gathering of cactus or the pilfering of museum artifacts. Or they found a way to leave their "mark" at the monument - inscribing their names or initials into historic buildings was a common method. Some boys didn't wait to go home, mailing horny toads and lizards caught during their monument stay. [936] Others found and killed snakes for their skins, which they sent home or put on their belts. Rattlesnakes in particular were killed on sight.

Heaton's monthly accounts of such activities, included in the Southwestern Monuments Monthly Report, distressed Acting Chief Victor H. Cahalane, Wildlife Division, who wrote Superintendent Pinkley asking him to have Heaton call to the attention of enrollees the monument's responsibility to preserve and protect native wildlife. Heaton enlisted the camp commanding officer's aid in an attempt to dissuade the boys from their more destructive activities. "There are one or two who have been raised out in the open that can't see any good for any living shake or smaller animal, only to practice on with a rifle or rock," Heaton wrote Pinkley. "I might confess," he continued, "that I was that way till I began to study the life and use of wild animals to man, and this has mostly all happened since I have been working for the National Park Service. I surely have repented of my evil ways of taking the life of such harmless creatures, and get after everyone else that delights in killing the same." [937]

Heaton's heightened sensitivity toward monument wildlife, however, did not apply to domestic pets living on the monument. He frequently expressed his frustration in dealing with cats and dogs brought into camp by CCC boys or Army officers and their families. Heaton grew to intensely dislike these animals for the damage they did to the wildlife and regarded them as a nuisance. Moreover, boys and dogs chased down his domestic geese until none were left. Cats broke into his bird traps killing the birds. When a grader ran over a dog in late April, Heaton wrote in his journal, "Well, this saved me the job. I wish the same thing would happen to the rest of the dogs hanging around here." [938] It is also not uncommon to find a Heaton journal entry during this period that reads, "Got rid of another cat last night." Even Pinkley sympathized with his plight but cautioned, "You are quite right to kill the house cats, though if the Army should bring cats to the monument I would rather you would talk the policy over with them before doing anything which would result in antagonism." [939]

While Heaton thoroughly disapproved of the mailing home or killing of wildlife, he never objected when the boys caught reptiles and delivered them to his earlier brainchild, the monument's caged reptile exhibit. Not all captured reptiles were kept for exhibit, however. In an attempt to monitor wildlife at Pipe Spring, Heaton developed a unique, "digital" method of marking, releasing, and tracking lizards. On March 30 he wrote in his journal,

I got the bird traps set, three of them. About noon I caught three chipmunks, two English sparrows and one Stephegers Blue-bellied Lizard and marked it by cutting off one of its toes. By this system of marking I will be able to mark a lot. The system is cutting off a different toe each time and keeping a record of each individual lizard. [940]

While Heaton was busy thus "marking" lizards, temperatures were starting to climb and CCC enrollees became hell bent on converting the meadow pond into a swimming pool. Meanwhile, they cooled off by taking dips in the fort ponds. A cat and scraper were used to slope the sides of the meadow pond. In late April 1936, Heaton reported to Pinkley, "The Army is now working like beavers to get the meadow pond in shape for a swimming pool. It is being lined with flagstone rock and cement in the cracks, so it ought to be almost water tight." [941]

Assistant Director Conrad Wirth, chief of the Branch of Planning, visited the monument with his wife on April 20, 1936. Wirth met with ECW Superintendent Draper to discuss work projects and to get his assurance that enrollees would continue to be available for monument work. (The Grazing Service thought the boys were only to be used by the monument for the sixth period.) Draper later told Heaton he could have 10 boys whenever he wanted them but that the monument had to buy its own materials for projects. More often, no more than eight boys were available.

Much to Heaton's relief, Capt. Packer left the monument on April 23, 1936. His replacement, Capt. Shirey, wrote Heaton in his journal, "seems to be a man we will be able to get along with." [942] On March 1 Aland Forgeon, the camp educational adviser, was transferred to another camp and Reed Clegg was assigned to take his place. On the day Packer left, Clegg asked Heaton if he could use one of the west cabin rooms for a classroom. Heaton mentioned it to Landscape Architect Keeling who thought it could be worked out. Heaton gave his approval to Clegg in May.

During the month of April 1936, a local effort was made to have Pipe Spring National Monument enlarged. J. D. Walkup, member of the Coconino County Board of Supervisors, wrote Arizona Senator Carl Hayden and Assistant Superintendent Miller at Southwestern National Monuments asking that Sections 17 and 20 be included to include the Powell survey marker and the Indian ruins south of the monument. [943] Senator Hayden forwarded Walkup's letter to Director Cammerer, who then sent it to Superintendent Pinkley. Pinkley wrote to Walkup in reply:

I thank you for your interest in the Pipe Springs area. We know of the ruins near the Monument. They are, however, situated on the Indian Reservation, and there is at present a definite policy against withdrawing any land from the reservation and hence from Indian use. So I am inclined to believe that the Secretary of the Interior would not approve an application for transfer of any part of section 20 to the National Park Service. [944]

Pinkley assured Walkup the ruins were protected under federal law, regardless of which agency administered them. The Powell marker, while interesting, was not sufficiently important to warrant a boundary extension, wrote Pinkley. Acting Director Hillory Tolson also informed Senator Hayden of the Park Service's position on the issue and mentioned the Indian ruins were not thought to be of "sufficient importance" to justify their addition to the monument. [945] Pinkley followed up in late May with a letter to Director Cammerer explaining his position. He did not see the need for the proposed additions and he expected the Indian Service would "promptly protest" any move to remove the two sections from the reservation. In 1939 Assistant Chief H. E. Rothrock (Naturalist Division, Branch of Education and Research, Washington, D.C.) would again argue for expanding the monument's boundaries. (See "Monument Interpretation during the Great Depression.") On May 14, 1936, Harry Langley and Charles A. Richey visited the monument. Langley was leaving the area to work in northwest parks and Richey was to take his place as the district's landscape architect. Heaton wrote in his journal, "Will miss him a lot as I have had many fine discussions about the monument and learned a lot from him. I wish him a lot of success in his new field and especially the fishing part of it, as the southwest is dry fishing." [946] (If only Heaton could have kept those fort ponds stocked with trout!)

Superintendent Pinkley had not forgotten Heaton's desire to restock the ponds. During the summer of 1936, Pinkley contacted David H. Madson, Supervisor of Resources, who made arrangements with the state game commissioner for fish to be given to Heaton for the monument from the Panguitch hatchery, three miles south of Hatch, Utah. Madson wrote, "It seems to be that 5,000 trout will be a little too many to put in these two ponds. Mr. Heaton can have any size fish he wants up to four or five inches in length, and I would suggest that if he takes fish four inches long, 2,000 will be ample for the ponds. However, you can have the 5,000 if you wish them." [947] Heaton delayed restocking the ponds until later that year.

The CCC swimming pool was completed on May 20, 1936, but would not hold water. A May 22 dance had already been scheduled to celebrate its completion. The dance was held in the mess hall anyway, but there was no swimming. The seepage problem was solved and by late June the swimming pool was about three-fourths full of water. "To see them after work hours," Heaton reported, "you would be reminded of the old water hole near town on a hot summer day. There has been as high as 50 or more boys in the pool at once." [948] The pond was located just south of the camp headquarters building, which also held the post exchange and supply room. Other CCC activities in June included grading and graveling the parking area and monument road, and hauling flagstone for walks and sandstone for stone curbing.

76. Camp DG-44's Headquarters building with swimming pool in foreground, June 1938
(Photograph by Jack L. Harden, Pipe Spring National Monument).

77. First Sergeant Boyd Clevenger all dressed up to meet his girlfriend in Kanab, July 1939. He borrowed the 1937 Plymouth Coupe from Lt. Paul C. Scollard for the occasion. (Photograph by Jack L. Harden, Pipe Spring National Monument).

A couple of serious incidents occurred in June 1936 involving some of the boys from Camp DG-44. From the time the enrollees set foot in the camp, some set about trying to attract the attention of local girls. If they managed to borrow a car, then access to the area's females was much easier, but most cars were owned by officers. [949] Regulations prohibited enrollees from having their own automobiles in the camp. [950] Usually boys had to wait for a social event to be held at the monument or for trucks to take them in to town to have a chance at mingling with area girls. A number of CCC romances actually ended up in marriage, with the boys remaining in the area.

The intentions of some boys were more of an immediate nature, however. On June 5, after a night in Kanab, a group of boys smuggled two young girls back to the camp in Army trucks. The Kanab marshall came out to the monument looking for them the same night and Heaton accompanied him to retrieve the girls. The youngest was 13. "It looks like the CCCs have just about fixed themselves with the local people, for they are going to get the boys that brought out the smallest girl," Heaton wrote in his journal the next day. [951] Another night on the town resulted in tragedy. On July 24, a Friday night, a truckload of CCC boys was involved in an accident near Kanab. Four of the boys were hospitalized and one died about two days later. [952]

During the ECW seventh period (summer and fall of 1936), the irrigation ditches were laid to the campground, the parking area was constructed and stone curbing installed around it, the campground was cleaned up, and a minor road to the campground was built. Work also continued on a flood control project and on landscaping. A 10,000-gallon water-storage reservoir was proposed with pipeline and pump house to service the new campground. No engineering plans had yet been prepared for the monument's water system, however, and with ECW cutbacks, Pinkley wrote Al Kuehl in August, "there is little likelihood that the camp will allocate sufficient funds for the Monument projects to permit construction of the proposed reservoir. For this reason, I think we may as well defer preparation of an engineering plan." [953] In September the regional office in Santa Fe approached the Grazing Service to ask if they would finance the cost of constructing a 10,000 concrete reservoir on the monument, justified "on the basis of water conservation and usage for outstanding public good." [954] Unsuccessful in that attempt, Pinkley then sought special funding from Director Cammerer for the $1,500 needed to construct the reservoir and distribution system. Pinkley was advised that Park Service funds were not available and that funds would have to come from the Grazing Service. Plans for a monument water system were put on hold, awaiting funding.

Eighth period ECW jobs approved for construction were filling in a drainage channel; laying a flagstone walk from the campground to the parking area; constructing campground fireplaces, a water trough, and drinking fountain; and building tables and benches for the campground. Al Kuehl prepared construction drawings for the projects in November 1936.

By the fall of 1936, Park Service officials became increasingly concerned about the impact the CCC camp was having on the monument. In his monthly report to Chief Architect William G. Carnes, Kuehl reported that the Army was making no effort to revegetate in the disturbed area of the campground. He expressed the view that the monument was not benefiting significantly from the CCC camp:

Due to the lack of funds available for ECW jobs to be furnished by the Division of Grazing, job progress has been hindered...

I am likewise of the opinion that this camp is much more of a detriment to this little 40-acre Monument than a benefit thereto. Approximately one-fourth of the total Monument area is devoted to housing a camp which benefits stock men in the vicinity, and as far as I have been able to find out, these very people are not particularly interested in the small amount of work being accomplished.

For the privilege of using Monument water and the area occupied by the camp, the Park Service receives the work of eight enrollees, and little if any material funds for job execution.

It will take years to revegetate the area now occupied by the camp. [955]

On December 3, 1936, Pinkley wrote Director Cammerer recommending that the CCC camp be withdrawn from Pipe Spring. About one week later, in hopes of securing additional ECW funds for projects, Pinkley left for Washington, D.C., to meet with officials to discuss the monument's need for a custodian's residence, comfort station, equipment shed, and water and sewer system. Meanwhile, Custodian Heaton continued to "hold down the fort," in the face of problems posed by the monument's occupation by Camp DG-44.

Despite the fact that some improvements had been accomplished since the arrival of the CCC camp, most involved little or no expense, just physical labor. The most monument's pressing needs - the development of a water and sewer system and construction of a custodian's residence and comfort station - remained unmet due to lack of funding. The situation was well-described by Assistant Superintendent Miller who wrote Assistant Regional Officer George L. Collins the following, as Pinkley was en route to Washington:

The camp has been at Pipe Spring for approximately a year and a half and in that time every effort to secure funds from any source or cooperation from either the Army or the Grazing Division has been unsuccessful. Not a single project of any consequence has been accomplished for the Park Service during that time. Ever since the camp went in there has been a constant stream of complaints and in spite of protests and promises no effective action has apparently been taken. When things reached the state of permitting enrollees to shoot up our entrance signs from the back door of their barracks we are forced to the conclusion that we do not want a camp at Pipe Spring.

Naturally, however, if the Grazing Division and the Army should counter with a proposal to enforce effectively National Park Service rules and regulations within the area and on adjacent lands, and if definite arrangements could be made to give us the funds to accomplish even one worth while project, such as the water system and reservoir, I think Mr. Pinkley might be inclined to listen. The question is, why should we let this camp trample our little monument into the earth and get, in effect, nothing to compensate us for the damage done? [956]

This query would be made again in subsequent years that the camp remained at Pipe Spring.

The one thing that definitely was being accomplished with the help of the CCC boys however, was planting. In Heaton's December 1936 report to Superintendent Pinkley, the custodian reported more landscaping had been undertaken:

This month I have had the CCC boys do a lot of planting of trees and shrubbery. On the 10th and 11th, we got from Moccasin some 500 wild rose roots, and set out by the east entrance, at the head of the meadow, and some at the southeast corner of the meadow. On the 14th and 15th, we set out 200 or more of the shadscale in front of the west cabin and will get some other kind of brush when the weather gets colder. Dec. 21st & 23 we have set out about 130 trees, some to replace those that died from last years planting, and then some to fill up ground around the parking area and campground. [957]

In addition, work proceeded on the ditch elimination. This month Heaton also restocked the ponds with 18 cans of three to four-inch rainbow trout and eastern brook trout from the Utah State Fish Hatchery at Mammoth Creek. [958] On occasion, Heaton caught CCC boys pole fishing with hooks fashioned from safety pins. He confiscated their fishing equipment and gave them his usual ineffectual chastising.