During the month, the following work was performed by the maintenance department:

Built a cabinet and installed switches for the new transformer station to handle all power used on the monument, both at thew new utility area and at the residential and headquarters area.

Installed entrance and power conduit, as well as interior wiring, in the new shop.

Painted gasoline pump, repaired office swivel chair, uncrated and inspected cooking ranges in storage, installed new range in King quarters, put up all heating stoves in offices and quarters (which necessitated cutting of new stove-pipe holes in fireplace chimneys in Pinkley and Soule quarters), and crated and shipped four A.S.C. oil heaters to Bandelier.

Checked-in roving ranger car (USDI #8113) and equipment and made a brief checkup and minor repairs on the car to put it in shape for assignment to Saguaro National Monument this winter.

Completed installation of cabinets and bracing in new naturalist truck.

Checked over new Ford pickup which was to be assigned to Chaco Canyon and adjusted carburetor and brakes. Also repaired oil-pressure gauge.

Installed new door glass in passenger car USDI #1803.

Ground the valves and put on new cylinder head and made a thorough checkup on engineers' car - #95,321 CCC. Tightened up all body and frame bolts and members.

Removed old, makeshift, wooden shelving in headquarters office storeroom, set up and installed the new steel shelving and installed new lighting circuit.

Built new wash rack at CCC camp shower room. Repaired and replaced urinal.

Removed door and door-frame between headquarters office and museum room, and bricked up, plastered, and kalsomined opening.

NEW EQUIPMENT

One Prestone tester.
One battery hydrometer.

******SWM******

Park Naturalist King spent most of the month in the headquarters office, except for a trip to Chaco Canyon National Monument to relieve Archeologist Foreman Gordon Vivian, who took several days of annual leave. King left headquarters the evening of Saturday, October 15, proceeded to Chaco Canyon and worked with the Mobile Unit until the evening of October 20. He returned to headquarters via Walnut Canyon and Wupatki National Monuments, reaching Coolidge at 10 P.M. on October 22.

Junior Archeologist Steen returned from annual leave October 12, and was on duty at the headquarters office during the month except for a one day trip on official business to Phoenix with Superintendent Pinkley.

Junior Naturalist Natt N. Dodge accompanied temporary Ranger Carleton S. Wilder to Saguaro National Monument to arrange for the patrol of the monument during the deer season. Dodge spent two and a half days on this project, and the rest of the month at headquarters.

Enrollee-Mimeograph Operator Scholz was on duty throughout the entire month.

In addition to carrying on the routine and office overhead, considerable progress was made in advancing the program of this division. The museum preparation truck was completed and equipped ready for the field thereby greatly facilitating work in the several museums being developed. Establishment of a master filing system in the naturalist office will be of great aid there and form a basis for the filing of records of this branch in the field. During the month a number of colored 35 mm photographs were taken and made up into slides advancing the visual education project. Motion picture films were loaned to the custodian at Montezuma Castle for the purpose of an educational lecture, and several requests were received for illustrated educational programs. Chief among these was a request from the Mesa, Arizona, Public Schools for illustrated talks to all of the elementary school children of that city about the aims and ideals of the National Park Service as depicted in the National Parks and Monuments of Arizona.

Following is a resume of the time devoted by members of the staff to various projects during the past month:

REPORT OF NATURALIST ACTIVITIES FOR MONTH OF OCTOBER

CONFERENCES

Branch of Research and Information staff members have been very pleased with Monday evening Southwestern Monument staff conferences which were instituted recently. They feel that these meetings have already brought about closer cooperation between the various departments at headquarters, and have aided mutual understanding of each others problems.

Considerable verbal instruction was given to temporary Ranger Carleton Wilder who will be stationed at Saguaro National Monument this winter. A generalized scheme for break-in of new personnel is gradually taking shape, so designed that new personnel in the future will progress through their training period more rapidly and, we believe, more effectively.

VISITORS

State Inspector Jack Haile; Project Superintendent William Stevenson, Ranger Ted Cronyn; M. E. Musgrave, of the Department of Agriculture, and Jimmy Wells, of the Indian Service; Temporary Ranger Carleton Wilder; John Cook of Grand Canyon; Assistant Landscape Architect Al Kuehl; and Kenneth B. Disher, of the Indian Arts and Crafts Board.

SOUTHWESTERN MONUMENTS LOAN LIBRARY

A standard filing scheme was worked out so that library books, pamphlets and reprints, and photographic prints will all be classified in the same system. When this system has been used for sufficient time to iron out preliminary errors, it will be made available for field men. It is planned that the same system shall be uniform throughout the Southwestern Monuments.

First major progress in the huge project of cataloging our great mass of photographs and negatives occurred during the month when CCC Enrollee Scholz was able to spend four days.

Card envelopes are being pasted in library books during spare moments.

Accessions to the Southwestern Monuments Loan Library consisted of 35 books, 25 periodicals, and 12 pamphlets.

REPORTS

The following reports were prepared:

(1) Organized groups using campgrounds;
(2) Annual travel;
(3) Mimeographing material prepared during the month;
(4) Monthly report of educational activities.

PUBLICITY

Polly Tovrea used information gathered from this office in preparing a very interesting newspaper article dealing with the life of the Custodian at Wupatki National Monument.

Earl Morris in the Natural History magazine for September had an article on Mummy Cave, Canyon de Chelly National Monument.

Former Engineer W. G. Attwell wrote, "Three Roofs in One Thousand Years" in the American Roofer for July, 1938. The article described the construction of the roof over the Casa Grande.

TALKS

October 5: Natt N. Dodge; Inter-city Rotary meeting, Mesa, Arizona. Attendance: 50.

October 5: Charlie R. Steen; Kenilworth School, Coolidge, Arizona. Attendance: 150.

October 11: Charlie R. Steen; Pima County Archeological Society, Globe, Arizona. Attendance: 50.

MUSEUM PLANNING

The preliminary architectural study on the Walnut Canyon Administration and Museum building was looked over, and suggestions prepared for transmittal to the Regional Office.

Criticisms, mostly favorable, have been received on the recently issued White Sands Museum plan. These criticisms will be incorporated in the final preparation of exhibits whenever possible.

A small amount of progress was made in the planning of Bandelier exhibits.

CATALOGING

The remaining part of the Casa Grande Museum collection was photographed and individual photographs of each specimen placed on catalog cards. Completion of this work placed the Casa Grande catalog in a completely current condition.

EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES

Considerable correspondence was carried on in an attempt to obtain a vertical component seismograph for Sunset Crater National Monument.

Arrangements were made to obtain a considerable amount of prehistoric pottery, now in possession of the Taylor Museum at Colorado Springs, Colorado. It is expected that the Museum will make an appointment of the materials some time in December.

Packing of the demountable cases in the Naturalist truck was completed, and this extremely helpful item of equipment is ready for use. Several pieces of equipment have not yet been received, but can be installed with little difficulty when they arrive.

ACCESSIONS FOR OCTOBER

CASA GRANDE SIDE CAMP EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM

The following classes have been initiated and are being held regularly: General Construction, Auto Mechanics, Elementary English, Penmanship, Indians, and Photography.

RUINS STABILIZATION

Criticisms were prepared on a plan for the stabilization of the plaza at Aztec Ruins. This involved a statement concerning the excavation of two original rooms.

Some work was done on the preparation of an outline for the proposed cooperation of the National Park Service with outside agencies excavating on Service land.

An instruction session for several of the Southwestern Monuments personnel who will have work with ruins stabilization was organized and will be held at Wupatki National Monument shortly after the first of November.

SOUTHWESTERN MONUMENTS ASSOCIATION

The sales procedure for publications of the Southwestern Monuments Association was laid out and necessary correspondence issued.

PROTECTION PATROLS

The Headquarters Branch of Research and Information cooperated with temporary Ranger Wilder in instituting a rather vigorous patrol which must be made each year to curb poaching on the deer herd in Saguaro National Monument.

******SWM******

You wouldn't think there was any dynamite or deep feeling about a bunch of visitor figures, would you? Well I can tell you there is and we are going to have to pull them out of this report because of the fact that we can't seem to find simple enough words in the dictionary to explain what we are driving at.

It developed in last Monday night's taurian session that our own men right here in headquarters thought the heading on this page meant that we were trying to build up a lot of competition between monuments and between men as to holding visitors the longest possible period of time whether the visitor wanted to stay or not.

It was reported that some of the men on the jobs were saying that the Boss was crazy to think that length of time was any factor to be proud of. That they could go out and hold a bunch of visitors, to the great disgust of the visitors, double the length of time, etc.

If there is any such idea as this abroad, it certainly needs correcting. What I have been driving at is that: OTHER THINGS BEING EQUAL, that man who has the higher average time on a thousand or ten thousand parties has delivered more service and is the better man. If you can't read that simple qualifying clause along with the rest of the statement and apply it in interpreting the statement, why blame me?

I have heard this talk, about going out and doubling the time of the visitor's stay, made by several men. Of course you can do it on the individual party, but did you ever do it on the average of a thousand parties? Do you want to take a little bet on being able to do it? Well, trim the statement a little hereafter, because you can't do it!

I know one man who set out to show me one month that he could put his blamed average over the roof if he wanted to, and he laughingly told me how crestfallen he was to find at the end of the test that his average had fallen!

I know another man who tried his best, month after month, to raise his average time for his museum talk and couldn't do it. I don't mean double it, he was trying to pry up a 15 minute average three or four minutes.

So when you talk about the ease with which you can voluntarily double your average trip time, will you pardon me if I smile? And anyway, if you can do it, why haven't you?

I have been told a thousand times that our figures, now being gathered, are quantitative figures only, as though that were some sort of bar sinister against them. I don't think the statement is quite precise, because, OTHER THINGS BEING EQUAL, the poor talk will not hold quite as high an average as the good talk and therefore we might suspect the low average man gives a poor talk and them check our suspicion with a personal visit.

I only wish we had some way of gathering figures which would show the quality of the service delivered as well as the quantity, but up to last night no one has yet been able to figure out such a method and we are therefore helpless for the present in that direction. These figures on quantity of service are so valuable, in so many ways, that we shall continue to gather them. We will have to discover poor quality of service by personal visit and examination: after all, a bad talk is a good deal like a bad egg, you don't have to go very far into either before you suspect there is something wrong.

******SWM******

Trip Date

Three hundred twenty five field trips and 220 museum trips prove to us that the winter business at Casa Grande ins not far away. We struck bottom in July and August and are now on our way up.

The 106 men days worked cut the intensity of the trips down to 5.1 half trips per man day, which is a little less than the previous month of 5.4.

Number of visitors jumped sharply. Whereas for four previous months we had been running in the 1400's in the field trip, this month we jumped to 1936. Whereas we had been running 1100 and 1200 in the museum we have jumped to 1731. We are definitely on our way to the winter peak.

In the trip table, it can be seen that Bicknell was the pinch hitter, being busy with other monument matters. Egermayer had desk work connected with the 24 man spur camp, and also other outside matters. Of the four CCC boys, Coyle worked only 16 days, being in the hospital the remainder of the time with an appendectomy, and Hall came in for 12 days to take Coyle's place.

Sheffield again leads with the greatest number of trips as a whole and the highest average number per working day. Rodgers turned in a good record but not quite good enough to beat Sheffield.

Individual Guide Data

In the guide time table, both Egermayer and Bicknell can be ruled out because they did not take run-of-the-mill parties but were pinch hitting, which means they were handling lunch-hour parties, late parties, etc. which, grouped together, upset the average time and do not make fair comparisons.

Hall, the new man, would be a surprise which his high field trip average of 34.2 minutes and his very good museum average of 21.6 minutes if we did not know what he had been guiding at Pueblo Grande Ruin near Phoenix in another CCC camp. His previous experience helped him to get away with a flying start here.

As Al points out in the Casa Grande report, the pendulum swing of up and down for the monthly average trip time at Casa Grande has been broken, and we have not yet been able to figure why it should have held as long as it did.

******SWM******

The 202 field trips and 230 museum trips, as compared with August and September, show that Aztec is heading for its winter season, the intensity being 5.2 half trips per man day as against 7.1 for August and September.

Miller was in the hospital most of the month with an appendectomy. Of the others, Bud handled the greatest volume of field trips and the NYA helpers handled the big end of the museum trips.

******SWM******

Careleton Wilder has taken charge at Saguaro National Monument for the next few months. Carl has been working with the Service the past summer at Grand Canyon and thus needs but little breaking in when it comes to handling visitors in the Park Service manner. He came with us just as the deer season opened and is pretty busy with all the details of guarding his 100 square miles of monument against poachers, and with settling down on his new job.

******SWM******

As nearly as we can gather the figures and work out the estimates, 21,970 persons came to see us last month. Nearly 10,000 of these came to the wrong monuments, White Sands and Capulin, where we had not the personnel to give them service, and several thousand others came to monuments where for any one of several reasons the service was temporarily out. In all, some 14,000 persons got no service. This is not as bad as it sounds. If we could fill a White Sands job which is now waiting to be filled and then get one permanent position at Capulin and get it filled, we could go a long way toward meeting and giving information to that, at present, unreached portion of our visitors.

As it was, we gave 2281 trips altogether; 1,326 field trips and 955 museum trips.

The 1,362 field trips averaged a length of 49.5 minutes with an average of 5.06 persons in the party. This was 212 more trips than we gave a year ago and they were given to 875 more persons.

The 955 museum trips averaged 18.8 minutes each. This was 297 more trips than last year and there were 1504 more persons. The average museum trip was .6 minute longer than last year.

We have a sharp drop from last month of course. It is to be expected at this point in the year. Our summer tourist has gone and the winter tourist in the deep Southwest has not yet come in to take his place.

******SWM******

VISITOR STATISTICS FOR OCTOBER, 1938
SOUTHWESTERN MONUMENTS
(click to see table in a new window)

Visitors this month, 55 (estimated)

(Note: The following two reports through unavoidable circumstances arrived too late to be included among the Field Reports. Rather than omit them entirely, they are being included here - Ed.)

For the first ten days of October, heavy rains fell in the vicinity of Arches National Monument. The temporary road across Courthouse Wash was completely washed away for the fifth time this season. The road has been re-routed at this point and an expenditure of approximately $200.000 by the State Highway Department has put this and other bad points along the road in very good condition.

VISITORS

Although I have had the opportunity to visit the monument only twice this month, I have received reports from various local people and basing my estimate upon these reports, would say that about 150 persons visited the Windows Section during October. The two visits I did manage to make were with very enthusiastic parties. Dr. Williams, our old pinch hitter, has been out with two or three parties, and he reports that they were very much pleased with what they saw. I feel sure that we are going to have a much busier season next year than we had this year. I have had many letters inquiring about the arches, all of which I have answered. Surely we will reap some benefit from so much publicity.

MISCELLANEOUS

We are very much in need of some kind of temporary entrance signs. During the season of the year when no one is stationed at the monument, it is necessary to direct visitors from Moab or Thompsons'. With the entrance road so poorly marked, it is difficult for visitors to find it. The temporary road is well marked at all points except where it intersects U.S. 160. If we had two signs with large plain letters capable of being read at motoring speed, they would be a very great help in directing the public to the monument.

******SWM******

During the month of October, 386 man days were expended in the following amounts among five jobs:

Prorated among the above jobs, excepting that at Aztec, are camp details of completing the pump house and installing the new pump, preparing the water system for winter, insulating the shower system and hauling wood. For the new pump, we have constructed a freeze-proof room below ground level at the side of the wall. The pump has been installed for about three weeks now and it has surely relieved the strain on our cranking and mechanical abilities. I checked it when first installed and it delivers its rated output through our 1800 feet of line to the camp.

SUPPORT, BONITO

These small jobs completed this month represented a lot of scattered work in the east section which we are trying to get cleaned up. It seems that we are always trying to do this and never quite succeeding. A lot of these 122 man days were spent moving the runways and scaffolding around from one second story hole to another.

Following is a summary by room of the work completed this month:

Total: 16 cu. yds., 12 sq. yds., five doorways rebuilt, steel beams placed as supports under walls of two rooms.

CAPPING

Of straight capping not connected with the completion of repair work, the following jobs have been completed:

Wall between C and H (unnumbered on plan) six yds., two course.

Total: 104 sq. yds., on wall and bench tops, nine sq. yds. of vertical protection on sharp wall breaks.

WATERPROOFING, AZTEC

After completion of five rooms draining into the central plaza, work was transferred to the west side where a series of four rooms are now being waterproofed and drained as a unit. In addition to the roofs leaking badly, what water was turned by them ran down the sides of the exterior wall and entered the rooms just below ground level. The drainage from these rooms is now being run together and tiled away to an irrigation ditch at the west side of the ruin.

WALL SUPPORT, MINOR RUINS

This work, job 1016-20, has been carried on at Pueblo del Arroyo and consists of repairs to walls and foundations in the unexcavated area of the site. We have a copy of Judd's plan of this ruin which Custodian McKinney got for us, but it carries room numbers in the excavated portion only. We are numbering the rooms separately as they are repaired.

DRAINAGE, BONITO

Awaiting a detailed plan for draining the east plaza and the rooms surrounding it, we are constructing the exterior part of this system which will carry the run-off from the plaza and also drain the series of 16 exterior rooms in the southeast section. At present we are lowering the level of the debris along the outside of this series of rooms below that of the fill inside.

******SWM******

******SWM******

Jim and Mac Luther report the arrival at their house of Sandra Jane Luther on October 19. The young lady weighed seven pounds 10-1/4 ounces and mother and child are doing well. Jim is in charge of Colorado National Monument which is under the jurisdiction of Mesa Verde National Park.

Bina Bicknell came in from her summer on the coast and then she and Al went back to Long Beach on a ten day trip. They are now settled down at Casa Grande for the winter.

We learn that Tommy Onstott has had to drop out of school because of teething and other health troubles. The grinders are some impacted wisdom teeth and we think Tommy can assure you that they are no joke.

A change-of-address card informs us that Bernice and Alfred Peterson are near Socorro on the Rio Grande River.

Irving McNeil has gone to Washington, D.C., and will be in school there this winter.

Jimmie and Sallie Brewer at this writing are on their way over to their new station at Navajo National Monument.

Carroll Miller took time out to go down to Albuquerque and have an appendix out. He recovered in good time and is now back on the job. The difficulty with the Miller family at this writing is that Amelia and the kids are down with the measles and Carroll is quarantined out of the house. It begins to look as if 1938 isn't a lucky year for the Miller family.

Don Egermayer brought back the biggest buck that has been taken in the Santa Ritas this year and shared generously with the rest of the personnel. He tells a good story about sleeping on the ground the first night and, when moving a dozen good sized rocks the next morning, he found a centipede or scorpion under about every other rock. The second night Ruth slept in the car, the ground being too crowded.

Charlie Carter has just spent a week at Chiricahua helping in landscaping around the administrative and residential areas. We are making a final cleanup in those areas and Charlies says it is going to have a fine general appearance.

Woodrow Spires was over the other day and says he may have to drop out of school this year, which will be too bad.

As this is written, Dale King and Charlie Steen are leaving for a field trip to the Flagstaff monuments to plan and start ruins stabilization work at Wupatki and Walnut Canyon. They are taking out the new panel body truck, which has been attached to their division, for its first field run.

Luis Gastellum took a day off to get some glasses fitted during the past month. The Boss also had to have his glasses brought up to date, and Parke is next on the list. Charlie Steen has been having considerable trouble and is in Phoenix today having his eyes examined. If this keeps up we had better get together and let a contract. Anyway it is pretty good inferential evidence that we are doing a lot of desk work when four of us get fitted for eye strain within a couple of months.

Frank and Corabeth Fish and the minnows are all back home safely after a vacation in Arkansas. We haven't seen them yet for first hand news, but the report reaches us that they had a good time.

Also Earl and Betty Jackson have returned from annual leave which was spent in New England with Betty's folks.

Report reaches us by the grapevine telegraph that Paul Beaubien returned from his annual leave by himself but married. More complete reports on this next month.

Gil Philp is in the office today preparing to go over to Tonto to take over that monument for a little while and get some road work and trail work done. June remains on the coast for a while longer and will then join him.

The current report is that an examination of the ice cave east of El Morro is to be made soon by Regional Office technicians, and that Cy Harkins and Bob Budlong are to help out. As ice caves go, we think that one stands pretty close to the head of the list, and we think we could administer it from El Morro at a minimum charge.

Ted Cronyn took some annual leave during the month and went over to his old grounds in Yosemite where he says he had a good time meeting the fellows he had worked with over there a few years ago.

Papers have finally come through for our new headquarters clerk-stenographer, Robert Petrie. Bob is a local boy coming from our sister town of Mesa and getting his training at the University of Arizona. He has had previous experience in government service coming to us from the Navajo Agency at Window Rock, Arizona. Parke Soule reports that Bob is breaking in mighty well. As a sideline this month, he cut the stencils for this monthly report.

Monday evening is conference night at Headquarters. The Boss, Hugh, Parke, Dale, Charlie, and Natt informally discuss the various phases of their jobs, any problems that have come up, or any new ideas that seem worth trying out.l As the organization gets bigger and more complex, there is a greater need for an informal clearing house so that our right hand may know what the left is doing, so to speak. Already several meritorious ideas have come out of these weekly meetings.

Bill and Sallie Lippincott stopped by for a few minutes on their way to Wide Ruins Trading Post which they have taken over up near Chambers, Arizona. They are both very much in love with the Southwest and with the Navajo Indians of northern New Mexico and Arizona. Among their plans is the construction of two Navajo-type hogans for guest rooms, and they expect all of their Park Service friends to make use of them. We all wish Bill and Sallie the very best of luck in their new venture.

Flash! We have just learned that the new H.C.W.P. at Walnut Canyon is the former Miss Lois Baldwin of Denver, Colorado.

******SWM******