PIPE SPRING Cultures at a Crossroads: An Administrative History

Museum Collection

In July 1957 Theo McAllister of Kanab donated to the collection two powder horns (one dated 1857), an iron kettle, an iron pot, and a wooden ram-rod for a gun. In 1958 a new system of museum cataloguing was adopted. Much of the responsibility of converting to it was delegated to Park Historian McKown. During the year the monument continued to acquire new artifacts. On July 2, 1958, McKown transported an old wagon down from Kaibab Village to the monument on a truck and placed it in the fort's courtyard. That month the monument had a visit from Dave Smith, son-in-law of Bishop Joe Hopkins. (Hopkins was the blacksmith and carpenter at Pipe Spring when the fort was under construction.) Heaton quizzed Smith about what the old tools in the monument's collection were used for so the information could be used in their interpretive program.

On July 15, 1958, Walter Winsor and his wife visited and donated some small antiques to the monument. That month Heaton also picked up an old spinning wheel in Orderville that once belonged to Maria Bowers. He wrote Judge Levi S. Udall at month's end about the possibility of getting some of his mother's things to fix up the old telegraph room. His mother was Luella Stewart Udall, the first telegraph operator at Pipe Spring. (In February 1959 Heaton received a letter from Judge Udall saying the family had collected several items of their mother's to put in the telegraph office at Pipe Spring.) During September 1958, Heaton went to Orderville to pick up some antiques donated by the Esplin sisters, Bessie Brooks, Evelyn Richards, Saria Cox, and Maggie Esplin. [1813]

On January 15, 1959, Heaton picked up "an old show case" in Orderville, which he described as "circular glass with revolving partitions." [1814] (This is still used in the visitor center to display ethnographic materials.) During January 1959, about 20 pieces of antique furniture were taken to Wesley McAllister in Kanab for repair. A concerted effort was made beginning in early 1959 to acquire more furnishings for the fort both through purchase and donation (see "Monument Administration, 1959" section). In April 1959 the Covington painting of Toroweap Valley was sent to the Western Museum Laboratory for conservation work. During the summer a considerable number of new pieces were added to the collection, most obtained by purchase or donation by Carl Jepson and Lloyd Sandberg. A woman in Hurricane, Utah, made a rag rug for the fort that summer.

On May 30, 1959 (Establishment Day), Carl Jepson brought out an old quilt and frame to be used in the fort and gave Heaton a list of things that could be used to refurnish the rooms. Heaton's mother, Margaret C. Heaton, donated some more antiques that day. In early August Heaton got $50 from Zion to purchase pioneer relics for the museum. En route back to the monument, he purchased artifacts from Mrs. Nella H. Robertson in Alton for $40. In September Heaton traveled to Glendale to buy an old farm wagon for $10 (it wasn't picked up until January 1960). Heaton was quite active in 1961 purchasing artifacts for the museum, literally scouring the countryside for "old relics." [1815]

In the early 1960s, the Winsor family made additional donations to the monument. [1816] In January 1960 a descendant of James M. Whitmore, Mrs. Alvira Fairborn of Sandy, Utah, donated a footstool, stand, and several articles of men's clothing. In July 1961 Mrs. Vilo DeMills of Rockville, Utah, donated a weaving loom made in 1860 in Salt Lake City, and Clair Ford spent part of the spring of 1962 restoring the old loom, which was in such poor condition that he had to remake parts of it. The spinning wheel was also repaired so that it was useable. Heaton set up a weaving exhibit in the upstairs of the fort's lower building.

During the winter of 1961-1962, Bob Olsen and Ray Mose treated the iron implements in the blacksmith shop by scraping off loose rust and painting them with a mixture of turpentine and linseed oil to retard further rusting. (Other metal artifacts in the museum's collection may have been similarly treated.) Wood objects were generally treated with linseed oil.

In the summer of 1962, Heaton reported to Zion officials that Emma J. Spendlove brought an 1881 pencil sketch of Pipe Spring by the French artist Albert Tissandier to the Kanab Chamber of Commerce for exhibit. Heaton was directed to find out if it could be bought as it was the oldest known depiction of Pipe Spring. Although she was unwilling to sell the drawing, in January 1963 Mrs. Spendlove provided the monument with a photograph of the Tissandier sketch and gave permission for it to be used in the historical handbook at Pipe Spring. [1817] In March 1963 Heaton brought some more artifacts from Zion to use in the fort museum.