PIPE SPRING Cultures at a Crossroads: An Administrative History

Area Roads

On February 1, 1956, Superintendent Franke presented a slide lecture to residents of Fredonia about the Mission 66 program. Franke encouraged his audience to keep working for the road from Fredonia to Hurricane. He told them that Utah's State Road Commission would complete its part of the road if the State of Arizona would commit to improve its portion. In early March, Heaton attended a Fredonia Booster Club meeting at which time the club was dissolved. A new town mayor and council were to try to "get the road from Fredonia to Hurricane on the secondary system so it can be oiled," Heaton later wrote. [1851] Representatives from Kanab, Fredonia, Hurricane, St. George, Cedar City, and Zion National Park attended a public meeting held on March 24 in Kanab. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the area road-building program in connection with the proposed Glen Canyon Dam. Heaton reported, "It seems to be the opinion of most all that the road [will be] from Hurricane on U.S. 91 by way of Pipe Spring to Fredonia or U.S. 89 on to Glen Canyon.... We were told that a meeting was being held in Phoenix [on] March 31 to discuss the Fredonia-Pipe Spring-Hurricane Road. It looks [like] and we hope the road will soon be built." [1852]

Regional Chief of Operations Canfield surveyed the road situation at Pipe Spring during April 1956, then paid a visit that month to Superintendent John O. Crow, Uintah and Ouray Agency, at Ft. Duchesne, Utah, to discuss a bypass road. Crow told Canfield the Office of Indian Affairs would have no objections to a bypass road if it did not call for any expenditure from them. Canfield later informed Regional Director Miller of his meeting with Crow and suggested that the road be built with Park Service funds since the relocation primarily benefited the monument. [1853] In his monthly report for April 1956, Zion's Acting Superintendent Art Thomas reported to Director Wirth, "There is considerable sentiment in the community for the proposed road from U.S. 89 at Fredonia to connect with U.S. 91 at Hurricane. Special Booster Clubs have been formed and officials hope to get [it] in the 1957 program." [1854]

While on a supply run to Fredonia in June 1956 Heaton was told "that both Mohave County officials and [Arizona] State Road Commission have turned down our request that the road from Fredonia to Hurricane be made a secondary road. Now help has been asked of our U.S. Senators to have the Bureau of Public Roads... build the highway. Hope we get some action." [1855] On July 2 the town of Fredonia had what Heaton called "a homecoming celebration" that was attended by 15 to 20 officials, including the governor, a state senator, and county road officials. Heaton reported, "Some of the men drove over the road from Fredonia to the Utah state line at Short Creek and were well-pleased with the alignment.... We surely have a lot of men backing our project." [1856]

On July 14, 1956, Heaton went to Flagstaff, Arizona, to a meeting to discuss area road developments and the impact of the Glen Canyon Dam's construction on area transportation systems. Representatives attended from Fredonia, businessmen from towns along U.S. 89, government officials, and Commissioner Frank Christensen (Arizona State Road Commission). During a two-hour session, they learned that the road from Fredonia west to the Utah state line must be included in the State's secondary road system to qualify for federal assistance. Then, federal funds could cover up to 90 percent of the cost of the road that passed through federal lands. Traffic on roads to the new Glen Canyon Dam site was anticipated to be very heavy; road officials thought more than one route to the dam site would be needed. The railroad yard in Santa Fe was to enlarge its operations by 300 cars to handle the incoming freight associated with the dam's construction. It was estimated then that more than 300,000 carloads of cement would be used in the dam. [1857]

On July 22, 1956, two State Highway Department officials and the State Planning Board chairman traveled with some local men over State Highway 40 from Fredonia to Short Creek, accompanied by Leonard Heaton. The officials talked about how easy it would be make a road along that route, Heaton reported later, and stated it would be included in their planning as an access road to the Glen Canyon Dam project. [1858] During that July, a letter was received from the superintendent of the Uintah and Ouray Indian Agency giving permission to the Park Service to build a road south of the monument for through travel. Permission still had to be secured from the Kaibab Paiute Tribal Council, however.

In August 1956 Heaton reported that Acting Director Scoyen responded to a letter from Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater about the Hurricane-Fredonia road situation. Scoyen informed Goldwater that the portion of the road that crossed the reservation was eligible for federal aid, but the Indian Service had to apply for it. On August 23 Heaton and Superintendent Franke attended the Utah and Arizona State Road Commission meeting in Kanab concerning the Hurricane-Fredonia road, to discuss the possibility of getting it built as an access road to the Glen Canyon Dam. At least two area roads were approved as access roads to the dam. Heaton reported, "Looks like the Kanab road to the dam will be put in first and [the] Fredonia-Hurricane road next in two years." [1859] But few wanted to wait another two years for the Hurricane-Fredonia road to be improved.

On August 27, 1956, Regional Director Miller wrote Director Wirth about the bypass road, making an argument for why the Park Service should finance its construction:

What apparently has always stopped consideration beyond this point is the question of how this Service could expend funds to construct the bypass outside the monument. The amount involved is approximately $5,000.

Since the bypass would be of primary benefit to us, it seems reasonable that we should expend the funds necessary to accomplish the change. Increasing activity in this vicinity focusing on the Glen Canyon Dam and increased travel generally create a nuisance as well as a hazard to visitors by having this road go directly by the primary feature of the area - the point of visitor concentration. The existing road practically bisects this 40-acre monument.

Inasmuch as the Indian Service and we are sister bureaus and the benefits mutual, though predominantly ours, could authority be granted to an interbureau agreement so that this Service would be authorized to expend the necessary funds? That solution is probably too simple. Is there any other suggestion you can make to achieve this goal except asking for special legislation, perhaps attached to the Appropriation Bill? [1860]

109. Pipe Spring National Monument Boundary Status Map, May 1957
(Courtesy National Archives, Record Group 79).
(click on image for an enlargement in a new window - ~84K)

Assistant Director Hillory A. Tolson referred the matter to the NPS Solicitor's office for an opinion. In early October Assistant Solicitor J. Edward Amschel wrote Tolson that he believed Congressional authorization would be required for the Park Service to expend funds on the bypass road. Such authority might be secured in the form of a special act of Congress, the inclusion of the item in the next "basic authorities" bill, or by including appropriate language in the next appropriation bill. [1861] None of these solutions appeared attractive to Miller.

In November 1956 Superintendent Franke offered Miller an alternative for solving the problem. Franke wrote Miller that, during a September 25—26 visit to Zion by Utah Senator Arthur V. Watkins, Zion officials broached the issue of the bypass road. Officials pointed out that the Hurricane-Fredonia route was important not only as an approach road to Pipe Spring, but also as link to Glen Canyon Dam and its recreational area approach highway. It was also a natural link between U.S. Highways 89 and 91. Watkins later conferred with civic leaders in southern Utah and studied the problem, including an overflight inspection of the area. Then Watkins informed Franke he would take the matter up with Senator Barry Goldwater and urge the U.S. Indian Service to program the improvement of that road section within the Kaibab Indian Reservation. (Both senators were members of the Interior and Insular Affairs Committee.) Franke suggested to Miller that a representative from the Washington office discuss the matter with Watkins. He said, "I will in the meantime get the communities of southern Utah and northern Arizona to forward their expression of support for this project to their respective representatives." [1862] Franke was confident that improvement of the 15-mile road section on the reservation would be "promptly followed by the Road Commissioners of Utah and Arizona in improving the balance of the Hurricane-Fredonia Road." [1863]

In February 1957 Heaton reported that the road from Fredonia to Short Creek to the Utah state line had finally been placed in the Arizona secondary road system. In May he attended a Fredonia meeting of businessmen, city councilmen, and the editor of the Arizona Republic, whose purpose was to "try and get the need of the Fredonia-Hurricane road before the public." [1864] On July 21 Heaton wrote, "Was told last night that Utah Governor Clyde is to be in Kanab this week and will drive over the road from Fredonia to Hurricane and Utah. Is now in a hurry to get the money to build their part of the road. I expect to see it started this winter or spring." [1865] In August Heaton learned that Utah had $100,000 to "put their part of the road in shape for truck route travel and the two state commissions are to meet in 10 days to decide on the route at Short Creek." [1866] Toward the end of the month he noted an increase in large truck travel through the monument. On August 29 an Arizona road engineer and two aides visited the area to look over the road situation, but gave Heaton little indication of what the State Road Commission would do. In mid-September representatives from the Bureau of Reclamation also came out to look over the road. In September 1957 Heaton reported, "There is still considerable talk of getting the oiled road from Fredonia to Hurricane started soon by several different groups of people." [1867] Apparently, area bridges were incapable of handling much weight, for Heaton reported in October, "There is an increase in big trucks using the Fredonia-Hurricane road traveling empty, because of the poor bridges." [1868]

In mid-February 1958, Heaton reported, "Was told in Fredonia that Utah has started the road survey from Hurricane to Short Creek and are trying to get Mohave County to spend the $100,000 on the Indian Reservation each year till it is completed, also that by the first Monday in March there should be a report on the REA coming into our area." [1869] Later that month Heaton wrote that there was a "lot of talk regarding the trucking of cement over the road from Hurricane, Utah to Fredonia, Arizona for Glen Canyon Dam, 12 to 24 [trucks] per day. This will add to my worries for safety through the monument this summer because of parking of visitors on the south side of the road." [1870] In March Heaton learned that Utah was surveying a road from Hurricane to the Arizona state line, "wanting to get that road built and accommodate the big trucks hauling supplies to Glen Canyon. It looks like Arizona will be forced to build all or part of it in a year or so," he wrote. [1871] In March Superintendent Franke requested that the master plan's topographic base map indicate access roads to Glen Canyon Dam and the town of Hurricane. "We believe both the Glen Canyon Project and the Hurricane-Fredonia Road are major factors influencing our development," he wrote WODC officials. [1872]

In May 1958 the local sheriff told Heaton that Utah road engineers had found a feasible route through Short Creek Canyon to Kanab, raising the possibility that if Arizona did not cooperate in building the Hurricane-Fredonia road by Pipe Spring, Utah would construct a new road elsewhere. Heaton believed that businessmen in Flagstaff and Kingman were "selfishly" obstructing the construction of the Hurricane-Fredonia route because they wanted to keep traffic on the Route 66 highway.

In June 1958 tribal concerns about access to Pipe Spring water threatened to derail the Park Service's plans to construct a bypass road and to fully carry out monument development plans. About this time, Park Service officials learned the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and the Kaibab Paiute opposed construction of the bypass road believing the removal of the old monument road denied them access to Pipe Spring water. In a memorandum to the Chief of the WODC about the monument's master plan, Chief of Design and Construction Thomas Vint stated that if the access issue became a stumbling point with the Kaibab Paiute, then

... it may be necessary to leave a secondary type of road through the monument for use of the Indians even if the bypass is built at a later date. This would affect the visitor center location.

We believe that the bypass could be built by the National Park Service under the same authority that was used to make an agreement with the Forest Service for us to build the Wupatki-Sunset Crater Road. This would require an agreement with the Bureau of Indian Affairs. [1873]

Regional Director Miller later sent a copy of the Park Service's agreement with the U.S. Forest Service at Wupatki and Sunset Crater to Superintendent Franke as an example of one that might be executed between Pipe Spring and the Indian Service.

Events taking place at Zion National Park in 1958 increased pressure on the Park Service to get the bypass road constructed. Increasing truck traffic spurred by the construction of Glen Canyon Dam led to Zion placing weight restrictions on trucks using the Zion-Mt. Carmel Highway. Beginning January 1, 1959, the Park Service planned to forbid any travel over the highway by trucks exceeding three tons. [1874] Consequently, the Glen Canyon Project would now cause more travel along the old route past Pipe Spring National Monument and force improvements to be made to the Hurricane-Fredonia road, which of course local residents had been begging for from county and state officials for years.

On June 27, 1958, Superintendent Franke wrote the superintendent of the Kaibab Indian Reservation informing him that the monument's master plan was ready to be sent to Director Wirth for review and consideration and that approved plans would be budgeted within the near future. The development plan called for building a bypass road outside the monument boundaries. Such a road could be built by the Park Service with BIA and tribal approval, wrote Franke. Franke proposed an interagency meeting to review and discuss the monument's development program, to be held either at Zion or in Ft. Duchesne, Utah. [1875] A nearly identical letter was sent to Superintendent O'Harra at the Hopi Indian Reservation, suggesting a meeting in Zion or at Keams Canyon. [1876]

Park Service and Indian Service representatives met on July 11, 1958, and discussed two alternative routes for a bypass road south of the monument. One alignment would have been 3/4-mile long, the other, 1.5 to 2 miles in length. The Kaibab Paiute representative preferred the road be kept closer to the monument's south boundary than the Park Service plan proposed, which located the route further south to avoid cutting through the archeological site just below the monument. It was agreed that the Park Service was to build the road, subject to Tribal Council approval of its survey and map.

Meanwhile, Regional Chief of Operations Canfield learned that $8,000 had been programmed for the 1960 Road and Trail Program for the Park Service to construct a road bypassing Pipe Spring National Monument. Canfield notified Regional Director Miller that Park Service solicitors still maintained it would take special legislation (i.e., Congressional approval) to authorize the spending of Park Service funds on such a project. "The authority by which we could spend money in this project is still clouded and uncertain," Canfield wrote. [1877] Similar questions of authority were pending at Coronado, Navajo, and Rainbow Bridge national monuments, and the question of expending funds outside monument boundaries had been recently placed before the director. Canfield suggested that the director's reply might indicate how to best handle the Pipe Spring situation.

In September 1958 Franke submitted a map showing the road's planned location to superintendents of the Hopi and Kaibab reservations and asked for comment and approval. [1878] O'Harra responded that he had no objections to the proposed route (or locating it even 200 feet further north than shown on the plan) but could not bring it before the Kaibab Paiute Tribal Council as it was then inactive. He anticipated it might be reactivated after a November 22 meeting in Moccasin. [1879] Franke wrote Hugh Miller at the regional office and inquired, given the apparent lack of concern by the Kaibab Paiute for the archeological ruins, whether the Park Service might construct the bypass road through the ruins? Erik Reed made a handwritten comment on the letter after it reached the office to the effect that the interbureau agreement the Park Service had with the Indian Service on roads would require the Indian Service to finance archeology investigations if the ruins were to be impacted; he voted for avoiding the site. Canfield agreed with Reed and advised Franke to avoid the prehistoric site. [1880]

On January 24, 1959, Heaton attended a meeting with the Kaibab Paiute to ask for their approval for the Park Service to construct the bypass road south of the monument on reservation land, explaining the Service's reasons. Heaton later wrote in his journal,

... they discussed it for some time, then turned the application down. Reasons: no money for them, cutting up their land with roads, then if new highway comes through soon [there will be] more changes, then no guarantee Indians could be given work on the road. The council members listened to the older people, then I think it was partly [because of] their attitude toward the white men and the treatment they have received. [1881]

On February 12, 1959, Heaton reported to Superintendent Franke on the meeting in more depth. Present at the meeting on January 24 were Chairman Theodore Drye, Secretary Lucille Jake, Bill Tom, Ray Mose, William Mayo, Morris Jake, and about 15 other tribal members. Heaton said that discussion among the Tribal Council took about 20 minutes. Then they raised the following objections to the bypass road (in Heaton's words):

1st They did not want their land all cut up with roads. If a new highway was to be built in two or four years through the reservation it would not likely go where the present road is now, and it would mean more cutting up of their grazing lands.

2nd There would not be any money in it for them, unless just a few days labor, as they thought most of the work would be done by machinery.

3rd It would take out some of the fruit trees and farm land (southeast of the monument). [1882]

The latter area referred to were the gardens just below the Indian pond (reservoir), constructed in 1933.

During February 1959, Heaton reported a decline in use of U.S. Highway 89 caused by the opening of the Glen Canyon Bridge. Less traffic along the route through Fredonia resulted in a drop in visitation to Pipe Spring, he observed. On April 14 the Kaibab Paiute Tribal Council voted to allow the State of Arizona right-of-way to build its portion of the Hurricane-Fredonia road through the reservation. Over the winter of 1958-1959, Mohave County maintained the road from Fredonia to the Utah line, but beginning July 1 maintenance was taken over by the Arizona State Road Commission. Heaton later reported that the road maintenance improved thereafter.

On June 21, 1959, some road engineers working on the Hurricane-Fredonia road stopped by to see the monument. They told Heaton work would soon start at Short Creek and head east from there. Short Creek Bridge and five miles of road were to be built in 1959 at a cost of $230,000. In July 1959 the Arizona State Road Commission began survey work on building Arizona's portion of the new Hurricane-Fredonia road. The road was to bypass the monument about 700 feet (about 1/4 mile) to the south. Work was suspended on July 10, Heaton reported, "because of political differences." He had been told it would be another two years before the new road was constructed. During July the Arizona Department of Highways hired Heaton's son Leonard P. as maintenance man on the Fredonia to Short Creek section of road.

In November 1960 Arizona Department of Highways awarded a construction contract for just under $.5 million to a Phoenix company to build 4.3 miles of road and one bridge south of the Arizona-Utah line at Short Creek. Work was scheduled for completion by June 30, 1961. By the end of 1961, all but 10 miles of the Short Creek to Hurricane part of the Fredonia-Hurricane road was asphalted; Short Creek to Pipe Spring was still dirt, while the road from the monument to Fredonia was only oiled. The monument experienced a notable rise in visitation that year. In April 1962 Utah contracted to pave the remainder of the Utah portion of the Hurricane-Fredonia road and work was completed in August.

Superintendent Oberhansley visited Arizona State Highway Engineer Van Horn in Phoenix in mid-January 1962 to discuss the State's completion of the Hurricane-Fredonia road. [1883] Oberhansley was not particularly encouraged by the response, but told Heaton the Arizona portion was to be completed that year. The only improvement activity that took place, however, was in August 1962 when the State contracted for the bridge crossing Kanab Creek in Fredonia to be rebuilt along with 1.5 miles of road. (Work did not begin until the following March, however.) The same month the Arizona State Road Commission purchased the right-of-way from the Kaibab Paiute Tribe for the Fredonia-Short Creek portion of the highway that passed through the reservation. [1884] Meanwhile, traffic along the road and through the monument had already increased significantly since the Utah portion of the road had been improved. Of particular concern was heavy truck traffic. During November Heaton and Olsen noticed plaster fill that had fallen in a number of areas around the fort. They suspected the problem stemmed from vibrations caused either by earthquakes, large trucks passing by the monument (then at a rate of three to eight per day), or jet fighters passing low over the area. In addition to concerns about vibration, some drivers drove through the monument at excessive speeds, ignoring posted signs, posing a serious safety hazard for visitors.

Between May and June 1963, the Arizona State Highway Department chipped and seal-coated the road from Fredonia to the monument. The dirt road west of the monument to Short Creek remained unpaved and in poor condition.