PIPE SPRING Cultures at a Crossroads: An Administrative History

Monument Administration

The Bozarth Period

There were no immediate or drastic changes effected by Management Assistant Bozarth's arrival at the monument in the fall of 1963. Bozarth did not keep a daily journal as Leonard Heaton had, so the primary sources for this period are monthly reports Bozarth and the park historian filed, as well as Zion staff meeting minutes, oral histories, and correspondence. [1889] (The superintendents' monthly narrative reports were discontinued as of June 30, 1967, by directive. Thereafter each site maintained a log of significant events and sent a monthly report to the regional director.) Park Historian Bob Olsen continued providing tours, maintaining museum collection records, and performing other curatorial duties. He also conducted historical research. In addition to his management responsibilities, Bozarth conducted tours on Olsen's days off and at other times, as visitation required. Bozarth estimated during the 1965 summer season that giving tours occupied half his time. There was an observable increase in activity over previous years in the area of public outreach. Bozarth made a concerted effort to become better acquainted with the local communities by presenting talks and slide programs to service groups in the surrounding region. Olsen did many off-site programs as well, usually at schools (see "Interpretation" section).

Gradual improvements to the Hurricane-Fredonia road (State Highway 389) both east and west of the monument quickly led to other advances in nearby communities. In April 1964 Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater notified Moccasin residents that a post office rural station would be established in Moccasin on May 16, 1964. In August 1964 GarKane Power Company added new lines to the system supplying Colorado City (formerly Short Creek), resulting in a temporary power outage at the monument from August 24 through August 28, 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. daily. While increased traffic brought a few more visitors to the monument, it also brought considerably more problems. (See "Area Roads" section.)

In order to convey more of the cattle ranching aspect of the fort, Bozarth and Olsen wanted to reconstruct some of the site's historic fencing. (As mentioned in Part IX, this was a project Leonard Heaton had pushed for but with no success.) In the spring of 1964, an old, 300-post stake-and-rider fence was located in the area that the owner was willing to sell for $98. But Zion officials still lacked enthusiasm for the project and had no interest in funding it. Bozarth and Olsen had one other pet project they wanted to see funded, aside from the reconstructed fence. They wanted to refurbish the telegraph office display. In September 1965 a member of a telegraph club in Altadena, California, Louise Ramsey Moreau, volunteered to help complete the Deseret Telegraph Office in the fort. Her club had already collected some antique equipment for the office. She offered to supply the layout and circuits needed as well as to suggest the types and designs of instruments appropriate for the display. Olsen requested permission from Zion officials to change the display, for $100 to purchase additional equipment, and for another $100 to purchase the old stake-and-rider fence. Regional office officials urged Carl Jepson in his role as executive secretary of the Zion Natural History Association (ZNHA) to fund both projects, pointing out these offers needed to be taken advantage of before they were withdrawn. In October 1965 the ZNHA promised to donate up to $200 to complete the Deseret Telegraph Office exhibit and to purchase the old fence; it was acquired in early 1965, treated with wood preservative, and installed below the east cabin by permanent laborer Joseph C. ("Joe") Bolander and seasonal laborer Ray Mose in June and July 1966. Olsen described the fence as "part stake-and-rider and part stockade." [1890]

110. Newly re-constructed corral, August 1966
(Pipe Spring National Monument, neg. 486).

It is uncertain what became of Moreau's offer to redo the telegraph office exhibit. In 1967 the monument was awaiting shipment of an old telegraphy key set from the Smithsonian Institute to be used in the display. In addition to improving the telegraph office exhibit, Olsen wanted to set up an authentic cheese-making display in the fort. The Church in Kanab donated a large Damrow Brothers cheese vat in October 1964, but what Olsen was really after was a Ralph's Oneida cheese vat. Olsen's efforts in 1965 included researching old methods of cheese making and interviewing Mrs. Edward Swapp of Kanab, an 80-year-old woman who had made cheese as a girl.

111. An authentic telegraph pole behind east cabin, September 1999 (Photograph by Bill Cantine, Pipe Spring National Monument).

In early 1964 Olsen researched the old Kaibab Wagon Road (which once passed by the fort) and the Deseret Telegraph Office's line along the eight-miles between Pipe Spring and Cedar Ridge. He plotted these and related sites on a USGS map. Local residents had used all the wire and some of the old telegraph posts in the 1920s for fencing, but some evidence still remained. On January 27 Olsen climbed the Vermillion Cliffs and, looking out over the plain, spotted a row of posts. On February 18 after obtaining permission from Tribal Chairman Vernon E. Jake, Bolander and Olsen retrieved three posts and two insulators from the reservation, all believed to be remnants of the original telegraph line. (There was one pole left standing on the reservation about 1/4 mile west of the monument. [1891] ) Bozarth reported in April that all telegraph poles at Pipe Spring were "now authentic." [1892] In November 1964 seven poles were treated with preservative, tarred, and set in place during 1965. [1893] Also that year, broken insulators on the standing poles were replaced with antique insulators.

On October 28, 1964, Bozarth and Olsen went to Gunlock, Utah, to attend the dedication of a monument to William Haynes Hamblin, brother of Jacob Hamblin. [1894] The Hamblin family was planning a huge family reunion at Pipe Spring for 1965 and Olsen wanted very much to solve the mystery of how Pipe Spring got its name before that time. He was unable to locate any reliable documentary sources to verify the story, however. As it turned out, plans to hold the Hamblin reunion at Pipe Spring were cancelled that year due to a death in the Hamblin family. Olsen and Bozarth breathed a sigh of relief at this news as the reunion was expected to bring 1,200 people and they couldn't see how the tiny monument (and its single comfort station) could handle them all!

Between 1964 and 1965, the monument's carbon dioxide fire extinguishers were exchanged for the dry-chemical type. The McCulloch fire pump was routinely checked to make sure it was in operating condition. The old fire hose was replaced in June 1965 with a new linen one. Monument staff attended first aid training as well as instruction on fire protection. In the mid-1960s, an attempt was made to locate a historic building fire retardant that was appropriate and could be easily applied. In June 1966 a shipment of Flamort WC fire retardant arrived at the monument and was subsequently applied to unpainted woodwork in historic buildings, including the attic of the fort.

The monument still lacked a modern water system. In March 5, 1964, recently retired Leonard Heaton, along with Zion Park Engineer Joe McCabe and Byron Hazeltine, walked the monument staking water lines in preparation for mapping. [1895] On July 15, 1965, Bill Rothschild from the Western Office, Division of Design and Construction (WODC), visited the monument for the purpose of planning the monument's water system. The following October Rothschild returned to the monument with two other WODC men and Superintendent Hamilton. Most certainly due to lack of funds, nothing was done to construct a new system during the 1960s. During his tenure at the monument, Bozarth sent biweekly culinary water samples to public health officials for testing. Sporadic reports of test results indicate samples nearly always tested pure. [1896]

No major landscape changes were made during the 1964-1968 period. Plum trees were transplanted during in January 1965 to help screen the residential and utility areas. In March 1965 an arbor was constructed for the historic grape vine which was reported "spreading through the cottonwood tree tops." [1897] In January 1967 three men from the Park Service's Western Tree Crew worked for a week cutting and pruning crowded trees and hazardous limbs on the monument. [1898] Also that month the old CCC-era drinking fountain pipe was replaced and the stonework rebuilt. The main plum orchard received a complete tree pruning in February 1969.

The lightning protection system installed on the fort in 1956 continued to be a lure to children. In August 1965 children were found climbing up the cables. Bozarth solved the problem by regrounding the cables inside the fort. (Bozarth learned a few years later that determined boys could still scale the fort walls after hours. See "Visitation" section.)

Rattlesnakes continued to wind their way to the monument during the hot and dry summer months and were occasionally found near the fort or other areas frequented by visitors. Bozarth's report for June 1965 states that two such large rattlers were "controlled to other hunting grounds." [1899] (What he means is the snakes were killed and sent to the proverbial "happy hunting grounds!") In the mid-1960s, a pair of Coopers hawks were noticed in several successive years nesting and raising a brood in the tops of the cottonwood trees south of the fort.

Extensive archeological reconnaissance work was carried out along the new right-of-way proposed for the rerouted section of State Highway 389 during 1965. (See "Area Roads" section.)

There was considerable publicity for the monument during 1965, consisting of newspaper, magazine, and even television coverage. One of the articles was by Jay Ellis Ransom entitled "Forgotten Refuge at Pipe Spring," in Trailer Travel Magazine, November 1965. The article mentioned "several unruffled ponds and swimming pools," probably to the consternation of Zion officials, for it appears that during this period public swimming was still not allowed in the meadow pond. Evidently there remained a diving board in place there, however. As in an earlier article, the campgrounds were reported to be "part of the original parade ground of the early day military post," a story that seems to have no basis in fact but appealed to the imagination of travel writers. Another romantic image wrongly put forward in this and earlier articles was that the fort was a scene of vicious, ongoing conflict with area Indians: "For five bloody years the fort was a true refuge in the wilderness for the Mormon pioneers," Ransom wrote, perpetuating the myth. He never mentions it was a Church tithing ranch. One of the drawing cards for tourists, the article pointed out, was that everything was free — the camping site, the firewood, even the fruit off the monument's trees! This part of the article at least was absolutely true. Other articles at the monument appeared in Utah, Arizona, and Nevada newspapers during the 1960s. The National Park Service celebrated its Golden (50th) Anniversary in 1966, a time monument staff took advantage of by publicizing and promoting Pipe Spring in press releases announcing the anniversary.

The monument received a new pickup truck in June 1966 and the old one was returned to Zion. Bob Olsen and family left the monument in late September 1966 (see "Personnel" section). The monument was left without a park historian for nearly six months. Bozarth and Bolander alternated their work days so someone would always be on duty at the site to provide tours and protection. During the fall of 1966, Bozarth also worked on preparing an operations manual for the monument. Relief came when, on March 12, 1967, Fredonia schoolteacher Paul Cram Heaton entered on duty as a seasonal historian. He initially worked weekends; beginning May 27 (once school ended) he worked a 40-hour week. Meanwhile, Bozarth and Bolander continued to served as fort guides until Heaton came on duty full-time, then helped guide as needed.

On January 26, 1967, Regional Director Daniel B. Beard, Assistant Regional Director George C. Miller, Superintendent Hamilton, and Park Engineer McCabe visited the monument to review on-site the location of a planned temporary visitor contact station. The structure was to be a surplus portable building from the Bureau of Reclamation in Page, Arizona. In February and again in July 1967, NPS landscape architects visited the monument to check out proposed locations for the building. It was not moved to the monument until April 1968, however.

Park Service officials planned to discontinue overnight camping at Pipe Spring as soon as the rerouted State Highway 389 was completed. Frequently, the demand for camping spaces exceeded the available number of spaces, and Zion and Pipe Spring managers expected the situation to get much worse with the opening of State Highway 389. There was simply nowhere to expand camping facilities given the monument's small size. (Large groups had often used the meadow as an overflow camping area.) Restroom facilities were inadequate to handle large crowds and there was also a concern about the damage to vegetation and impacts to the "historic scene," not to mention midnight break-ins to the fort by wall-scaling youths! Bozarth began encouraging the Kaibab Paiute to develop a camping area on the reservation as early as January 1964. Zion and Pipe Spring staff began alerting travel magazines and guidebooks in the summer of 1966 that camping was to be discontinued at the monument with the opening of the new highway in 1967. There was also some discussion between Zion officials and Bozarth during early 1967 about charging a visitor fee at the monument once the new highway was completed, but the decision was made to postpone the fee for at least another year. (No fee was charged until the early 1970s.)

On May 27, 1967, State Highway 389 was opened to the public, including the bypass road the Park Service had long pushed for. The west entrance to the monument was no longer needed. It was closed and monument access was now only from the east. A "no camping" sign was posted to advise visitors of a change in policy for the old camping area, which was now designated solely for day-use. During July the old highway through the monument was obliterated and an attempt was made to restore the road trace to natural conditions. [1900] That month the old CCC swimming pool (the meadow pond) was filled in with dirt. There were plans to plant grass over it and use the area as a group picnic area. The monument's telephone wires were also placed underground and poles removed, "no longer disturbing the historic scene," Bozarth reported. [1901] (In late 1967, however, Bozarth's temporary successor, Jim Harter, complained that the telephone lines were so noisy with static that phone calls were nearly impossible, especially at night. It was suspected the problem lay in the buried line.)

As soon as the bypass road was in good enough shape to drive on (even before the main highway was finished), Bozarth noticed a drop in visitation figures. There was some concern that the new ban on camping might result in lower visitation figures. While traffic increased along State Highway 389, no one knew how many motorists would leave it long enough to make the short detour to see the monument. (Years later, former Park Historian Jim McKown commented on the marked difference that resulted from the abandonment of the old monument road. "While I was there, it was still a way station for travelers. That aspect of it is pretty much gone," he told the author. [1902])

Park Historian Bob Olsen's departure in September 1966 and the fact that no one permanent was hired to fill in for a while delayed the preparation of a museum prospectus for the monument. Regional Curator Jean R. Swearingen visited the monument in May 1967 accompanied by Superintendent Hamilton and Chief Naturalist James W. ("Jim") Schaack. Swearingen rearranged an exhibit or two and recommended removal of some extraneous items. The fort's heating and lighting systems were discussed at that time.

She filed a report in July to Regional Director Beard that included immediate and long-term recommendations. Her cover letter stated that since the monument had no furnishing plan or interpretive prospectus her report was only a general list of suggestions. [1903] She wrote in her cover memorandum,

... I feel strongly that something should be done for this area. It should not be allowed to ride along as it has, in a state of neglected mediocrity.

This state is by no means the fault of the area personnel! In my report I refer to the 'shoddiness' of the rooms but it must be understood that this condition does not exist because of the lack of care. Management Assistant Bozarth and Caretaker Bolander have done a beautiful job with what they have at hand, which is very little. Under the conditions they are working, only so much can be done! Lack of personnel is the one and only reason for the problem that exists — that of a rather rundown, but interesting, group of buildings.

The other deciding factor in the general appearance of this area is, there has not been enough money available (and the qualified personnel to spend it) for the objects and maintenance to improve the rooms. An area like this cannot live on donations alone. [1904]

Swearingen's primary short-term recommendations were 1) to increase museum security by keeping objects out of arm's reach behind stanchions, not displaying the most valuable items, and having visitors always accompanied by a guide (this was contrary to the "informal" tour approach then taken at the monument); 2) to keep exhibit lighting subtle, subdued, and very indirect; 3) to improve labeling; and 4) to make the fort appear "lived in" by purposeful placement and arrangement of artifacts. Swearingen also made suggestions about displays in the west cabin (then called the bunkhouse), and the east cabin (referred to as the blacksmith shop and tack room).

Swearingen's long-range recommendations were to 1) increase security by adding personnel and giving regularly scheduled tours; 2) add heating and lighting in ways that did not impact the "purity of the period;" and 3) keep walls, floors, and woodwork in good condition, with minor disrepairs promptly tended to.

The fact that the fort was unheated and objects suffered extremes in temperatures was a serious concern. Swearingen encouraged the use of costumed staff that put "warm bodies" back into the historic scene. This would both add security, help maintain cleanliness, and boost the visitor's imagination. These recommendations, if carried out, would not only impact collections management issues but would change the practice of interpretation at Pipe Spring. While the "living history" idea already appealed to Pipe Spring staff (interpreters had experimented with a few demonstrations in the midst of their tours), Bozarth and Olsen's successors were given even more reason to head down that road after Swearingen's report. Yet the key issue was personnel. Where were they to come from and who would pay for them?

112. Arizona Governor Jack Williams, assisted by "Miss Fredonia,"
at ribbon cutting ceremony for dedication of State Highway 389, August 5, 1967
(Photograph by Hugh Bozarth, courtesy Zion National Park, neg. 4502-A).

113. Fredonia Mayor Warren Dart Judd with his wife Olive (left)
and Governor Jack Williams and wife (right) at the Pipe Spring fort, August 5, 1967
(Photograph by Hugh Bozarth, courtesy Zion National Park, neg. 4284).

The formal dedication of the State Highway 389 road took place in Fredonia on August 5, 1967. Superintendent Hamilton and his wife attended the event, along with Mrs. Charles J. Smith, widow of Zion's former Superintendent Smith. [1905] Governor Jack Williams was the main speaker at the dedication. He and his wife, along with Mayor Warren Dart Judd and his wife Olive, visited the Pipe Spring fort later that day.

While the main road contract included construction of the spur road to the monument off State Highway 389, no plans had yet been made to improve the road to Moccasin further north, past the spur road to the monument entrance. On August 14, 1967, a meeting was held between the Mohave County Supervisor Bob Gilpin, Tribal Chairman Vernon Jake, and Indian Service engineers to discuss the matter. It was decided the road would be realigned, with Mohave County helping the Indian Service with funding.

It was mentioned earlier in Part VIII that there appeared to have been some health repercussions in the area of Pipe Spring from the nuclear weapons tests conducted in the 1950s at the Nevada Test Site. In Bozarth's monthly report to the director for May 1967, he made the following report:

From the New York Times Service, dateline Washington: The U.S. Public Health Service 'Leukemia Discovered in Clusters'.... One such baffling cluster was reported in the small isolated settlement of Fredonia in Northern Arizona. Four Leukemia cases developed within four years in a population of 643. This represents 20 times as many cases as would be expected in a community that size... [1906]

Documentary photographer Carole Gallagher wrote in 1993:

Cancer was such a rarity that when a cluster of leukemia deaths struck the small towns of Utah and Nevada a few years after testing began in 1951, even the doctors had no idea what this illness could be. One nine-year-old boy who was brought to the hospital in St. George was diagnosed as diabetic by a physician who had never seen leukemia before. This child died after one shot of insulin. [1907]

Other than Bozarth's reference in 1967 just cited, no other references to such health concerns were mentioned in monument documents from the 1960s. The multitude of health effects from above-ground nuclear testing during the 1950s (and the government's liability to pay for alleged damages) have been vigorously debated in courts of law for many years. It is simply worth noting that any ill effects to Utah and Nevada citizens or wildlife would equally apply to northern Arizona for it, too, was heavily blanketed with radioactive fallout during the testing period.

Hugh and Lenore Bozarth left the monument at the end of the 1967 summer season. A going-away potluck was held for them at the monument on August 29. Bozarth was promoted and transferred to White Sands National Monument as chief ranger and reported for duty there in early September. [1908]