PIPE SPRING Cultures at a Crossroads: An Administrative History

Fish and Ponds

The meadow pond was the focus of much activity in the post-war years. Heaton began draining it in May, an event he later reported several local children took advantage of: "Some little Indian boys raided the meadow pond I was draining to clean out and took all the camp fish, including the old carp I had here since the spring of 1926, weighing about 17 lbs. and 30 inches long." [1443] Once the pond was drained, Heaton's sons and some of their Moccasin friends cleaned out the trash so that it could be refilled and used for swimming. By early August, Heaton reported, "A lot of swimmers are coming out to cool off." [1444]

The fort ponds were drained and cleaned again in July 1947. Heaton reported, "Ponds drained this morning. It looks like most of the trout died because of circulation of water in the ponds.... My boys got into the ponds and caught 9 big carp and 50 or more trout which I had them put into the meadow pond, while we clean out these by the fort." [1445] Heaton's sons, Clawson and Leonard P., cleaned muck and trash out the fort ponds. Heaton replaced an old wooden culvert with an eight-inch metal culvert, then refilled the fort ponds. He reported it took three days to refill them. There are no reports of restocking the ponds with fish during this period.

In July 1948 Heaton noticed some unusual coloring in the fort ponds, which he later reported at the August staff meeting. His monthly report stated,

One of the most unusual sights at the monument is the red coloring that appears from time to time on the bottom of the west pond by the fort. At times it gets to be a bright red and covers large areas between the weeds that grow in the ponds, some times hanging low on the bottom and at other times rising in small clouds several inches above the bottom. [1446]

In September Botanist Lyman Benson of Pomona College, Claremont, California, inspected the ponds. Heaton gave him a sample from the ponds to analyze, but he was unable to identify what was producing the odd color. The following May 1949, Heaton reported, "The purple coloring in the west pond is spreading and seems to be killing out all the plant growth where it is." [1447] Perhaps to try to solve the problem, the fort ponds were cleaned out in August 1949 and again in April 1950.