PIPE SPRING Cultures at a Crossroads: An Administrative History

The Stockmen's Two-acre "Reserve"

In 1943 Zion officials requested details from Heaton about the acreage and cost of land acquired for the monument, and asked for tax information. [1260] Yeager asked Heaton to provide the information, and in doing so, Heaton revealed quite a surprise:

The acreage of Pipe Spring National Monument under the original transfer to the National Park Service was 38 acres and the cost of the land, water and buildings subscribed to by private persons and concerns was $5,000.... Two acres of land in the southwest corner of the monument, or the 40 acres, to be used as a place to handle cattle and the big corrals on the east side of the area. These corrals were moved on the east half of the two acres reserved by the stockmen in 1935, and have been in use since that date. I am not familiar with the status of the two acres at the present time tho' I have heard some of the stockmen say they still own them. [1261]

This was certainly news to the Park Service, for the monument comprised 40 acres, not 38! In February 1945 Heaton wrote in his journal that he tried to get information from his father on the lease of two acres of the southwest corner of the monument to cattlemen. He copied letters and sent them to Zion as per their request, but no copies of that correspondence have been located. The answer to the mystery of these two acres would be revealed 26 years later, in 1969. (See "General Historical Research and Publications" section, Part X.)