PIPE SPRING Cultures at a Crossroads: An Administrative History

Flood Diversion, Irrigation, and Pipelines

As in previous years, on numerous occasions between 1956 and 1963 either the cattlemen's or the Tribe's pipeline from the monument became clogged with roots or debris and had to be cleaned. This happened almost annually. The fire pump was found to be the best method of clearing the lines on such occasions.

Floods

Constructing the new parking area in the middle of a flood wash in 1960 was only asking for trouble, and it sure enough came. The parking area had been inspected and accepted on September 21. On November 6, 1960, a morning of constant rain brought flooding by noon. Heaton described the scene:

Flood going over the roads at the culvert, washing a lot of trash onto the parking area, taking out some road shoulders at the new parking road. Several other places washed some. Take one man a week or more to clean up after the flood. The culvert across road was just not big enough to carry the water. Flood wash about 1/2 full of sand now. A week's work or more on it to care for future floods. Drain and gutters worked OK at residence. [1812]

The flood overflowed the 56-inch culvert onto the road leaving trash and debris in the fills. Flood water from the road to Moccasin ran into monument and washed out the east side of the parking area loop road and filled the gutter at the cattle guard. New ditches were eroded along the new road. Ray Mose and Grant Heaton spent four days cleaning up the flood debris and fixing damaged roads.

During August 1963, hard rains resulted in floods again overflowing the banks of the drainage channel in the monument's picnic area on several occasions, depositing trash and sand. Another flood on September 13 damaged the picnic area, roads, and grounds around the new residences. Funds from the regional office were used to have the flood debris removed, under Park Engineer McCabe's supervision. This flood convinced McCabe that another culvert was needed to prevent future flooding of the campground, which was later proposed.