PIPE SPRING Cultures at a Crossroads: An Administrative History

Area Roads

Indian Service work on a section of the road from Fredonia continued in early 1942. The Indian Service began construction of a new road from a point 100 yards east of the monument to a point about six miles east toward Fredonia. Its alignment did not follow the Bureau of Public Roads (BPR) survey made in 1937 and some of the grades appeared overly steep to Heaton. The work was to be completed in two months. Heaton alerted Southwestern Monuments, sending a sketch map of the road's location. That office in turn alerted Superintendent Franke at Zion. Landscape Architect Al Kuehl opined the proposed location was in the general location of the BPR survey and had no objection to it. (It is presumed the work was completed.)

The Indian Service had no interest either in building or maintaining any road west of the cutoff to Kaibab Village. The dirt road toward Kaibab Village was not improved to the level of the road from Fredonia (it was not graveled) but was sporadically maintained by the Indian Service. Very little if any work was done on the road from Pipe Spring westward during the war years, and this was by far the worst section of the Hurricane-Fredonia route, as it had been prior to 1941. Heaton reported that in July 1943 the road from Pipe Spring to the Utah state line was in very poor and dangerous condition. Beyond the state line in Utah the road conditions improved. [1262] Washington County officials maintained that section of road to Zion. Apparently little attention had been paid to the section, either the portion which lay within and was maintained by the reservation or the larger stretch of road to the Utah state line which was the responsibility of Mohave County road crews to maintain.

In May 1943 the regional office in Santa Fe submitted two road-related project proposals in the monument's project construction program. One was to relocate the monument road (State Highway 40) to a location outside the monument boundary; the other was to construct a road from the relocated road to the monument's east boundary. It was noted in the proposals that there was no authorization for the expenditure of funds on lands administered by the Office of Indian Affairs, unless the roads were officially designated as approach roads. The two proposed routes were subsequently not recommended for designation as approach roads, so the proposals were eliminated from the program. Then in July the regional office proposed to combine both proposals into one as the "West Approach Road," hoping that this move would facilitate getting it designated as an approach road. [1263]

The relocation of the monument road was too important an issue to let drop, particularly at a time when development plans for the monument were being finalized. How could Superintendent Smith's vision of a "living ranch" be realized with a highway cutting a swathe through the tiny monument? How could any of the fort's historic setting be recreated with the highway passing right in front of it? Assistant Director Tolson wrote to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs in 1943 that such traffic conditions were "very disturbing to visitors." [1264] Tolson informed the commissioner of the Park Service's plans to relocate the road outside the monument on reservation lands. If the plan met the approval of the Office of Indian Affairs, Tolson said the Park Service would request its designation as an approach road for construction after the war. In response, the Office of Indian Affairs asked for a detailed map showing the proposed location of the road tied in with legal subdivisions (Tolson had sent only a rough sketch map). Upon receipt of the map, they intended to take the matter up with the superintendent of the Kaibab Indian Reservation. Tolson sent back the same map he had sent earlier with only township and range data and section lines imposed on it. "We are not in a position at this time to have more detailed engineering data obtained in the field," he wrote, adding that this work could be done only after the route was designated as an approach road. [1265] It appears that no further action was taken on the relocation of the road during the war years.

In April 1945 Heaton reported improvements in approach road maintenance. That month the Indian Service worked on the road east of Pipe Spring, and Mohave County crews worked west to Short Creek. The whole of the approach road was finally in good condition, Heaton reported. [1266] But good roads could change to impassable roads in a matter of days in the region. Frequent maintenance was required, given the low standard of the area's roads to begin with. By October 1945 Heaton reported rainstorms had made the roads very rough. Neither the Indian Service nor Mohave or Washington counties had done anything to improve them, he advised Zion officials.

The maintenance of roads on the monument itself was an ongoing activity, with the primary road requiring frequent regrading and graveling. The gravel pit was located 6.5 miles east of the monument and gravel was purchased from the reservation. [1267] A typical application on the monument road took about 20 truckloads of gravel. It was hard work but - as was so often the case - Heaton drew on the familial labor pool. On October 20, 1943, he wrote, "...got two loads of gravel and graded the roads using my 13-year-old boy as truck driver while I ran the grader." [1268] In addition to gravel, Heaton sometimes used coal screenings to surface the monument road. Heaton screened out the larger pieces to burn in the residence and fort office then spread the residual coal dust on the road.