Reports would indicate that the run of visitors in our district this year in not up to par either in numbers or in amount of money expended. The weather was bad for part of the month, but that alone will not account for all the facts. The people who come are, so far as our tests show, intelligent and interested; in other words, while the quantity of visitors is off, the quality is as good or better than usual.

I think the field reports will show that the boys have all been busy and that the work is progressing very well. This really shows up better in the day-to-day diaries, which we require our field men to keep sending us a copy, than in their formal official reports herewith inclosed.

In this matter of keeping track of what goes on among our units, we would like to describe a few of the lines of communication which bring the information across our desk.

During the month any man from our office who has occasion to make a field trip must file a written report as soon as he comes in covering the details of his trip. These reports are expected to run from one or two to five or six single spaced typewritten pages for each monument visited and are the basis upon which further action is started looking to the correction of the matters brought up. Enough copies of these reports are up to provide us with a working copy, two copies which go to your office at the end of the month, and one copy to the Regional Office.

At the end of the month the Custodian furnishes us a copy of his regular monthly narrative report which we include in this report to you. He also sends us a copy of his daily dairy showing how his work has gone from day to day. In this daily diary the man is supposed to be talking straight across the board, and can and, as a matter of fact most of them do, include details and personal reactions which have no business in the whole background of the monument affairs. Another report submitted is the report of visitors handled during the past month which shows how many parties each employee handled through the field trip or the museum trip, total number of each kind of trip per day, length of time of trips, etc. These figures give us detailed data on the visitors and afford a clear picture as to how much of the employee's time has been taken up with visitor contacts. We also require an automotive report which covers a complete inspection of each automobile, including an answer to about fifty direct questions as to the condition of its various parts, its mileage during the month, the amount of gas and oil used and the cost and description of any repairs made during the month.

We are also receiving a report which we used a year or two ago and thought we could do without. This is a report form which any visiting officer takes with him to the monument and cooperates with the Custodian in filling out. There are detailed questions as to the appearance of the personnel, the administration buildings and area, the residential buildings and area, condition of general equipment, and so on. Both men sign this report and a copy is left with the Custodian, the other being turned it at headquarters. The Custodian's copy becomes the check-up on the next round to see if all adverse conditions have been corrected.

With this series of reports in addition to the fire inspection and safety inspection reports and others required by your office, we try to bridge the very difficult gap which would be required if you took a first class park apart, scattered the 26 parts over three or four states and asked it to go on functioning.

Our financial affairs were in good shape at the end of December with the year half done. Our office work continues to be too heavy and the boys are putting in too much over-time. We can see no let-down in the work during the next year and we need another clerical position in order to give our men annual sick leave without too much over-time.

The administration personnel in charge of the field units is doing well and the morale seems good. Two positions are vacant and we are hampered by not having the men and other men are having to put in overtime in order to cover the vacant jobs.

The proposed big Cuarto Centennial celebration of New Mexico, to take place in 1940, has been brought up officially during the last month and will henceforth hold a place in our work and in our reports. This is to be a celebration of the Coronado Expedition and will touch us at several of our New Mexico monuments which are landmarks of Spanish history.

We are having trouble getting our Public Works program under way but are pushing hard under adverse conditions. We did let the contract for a water supply drill hole at Navajo National Monument, which was one of the jobs we were afraid of. We expect the contractor to move in within a few days after we get approval.

The well at El Morro, upon which we pinned great hopes, proved to be a duster at 405 feet. At this depth we had gone through the sandstone where water was found, and were out in a formation which gave no hope. We have shut the contractor down and are now waiting for the decision of the geologist and engineer for the next move.

The CCC camps at Bandelier, Chiricahua, and Flagstaff, as well as the spur camp at Casa Grande and the Indian Mobile Unit at Chaco Canyon, have continued their work in a satisfactory manner.

On the whole, the month has been good and the outlook for the immediate future is good.

Cordially,

Frank Pinkley,
Superintendent.