Pipe Spring National Monument

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Pipe Spring National Monument
Winsor Castle - ranch built as a fortress
Winsor Castle - ranch built as a fortress
Pipe Spring National Monument (USA)
Paris plan pointer b jms.svg
Coordinates: 36 ° 51 ′ 45.1 ″  N , 112 ° 44 ′ 22.7 ″  W.
Location: Arizona , United States
Specialty: historic farm of Mormon settlers
Next city: Fredonia
Surface: 16.2 ha
Founding: May 31, 1923
Visitors: 59,952 (2010)
3D map of the monument and its surroundings
3D map of the monument and its surroundings
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Pipe Spring National Monument is a memorial of the type of National Monuments in the north of the US -Bundesstaats Arizona on the border with Utah . It lies within the Kaibab Paiute Indian Reservation , consists of a 1872-built ranch and recalls the history of the Indian indigenous people and the colonization of the region north of the Colorado River by followers of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ( "Mormon").

The National Monument was designated by US President Warren G. Harding in 1923 and became federal property in 1924. It is administered by the National Park Service .

description

The only 400 by 400 m large national monument forms an enclave within the Kaibab Paiute Indian Reservation of the Paiute Indians. It is located in the Arizona Strip , the sparsely populated and poorly accessible northwestern part of Arizona, which is separated from the rest of the state by the impassable Grand Canyon of the Colorado River . Politically, the site belongs to Mohave County , about 25 km west of the small town of Fredonia .

The region is located on the Colorado Plateau in the transition area to the Basin and Range region with an arid climate around the eponymous spring. 201 bird species have been observed in the area, 51 of which breed in the memorial or in the immediate vicinity. Among the mammals, the bats stand out with 17 detected or suspected species. In addition, a number of small rodents, bobcat , gray fox and coyote live or hunt in the monument . There are also three types of amphibians, eight types of lizards and three types of snakes. None of the memorial types are critically endangered.

history

Originally the largely sterile region was sparsely populated by basketmakers and Pueblo Indians. Finds show that they regularly used the spring that was later called Pipe Spring . In 1776, the first whites came to the region on the Dominguez Escalante expedition of two Spanish Franciscan fathers. They passed only about 15 km south of today's monument and reported in their travelogue about the culture and agriculture of the Paiute Indians who settled the region.

Mormon pioneers and missionaries heading south from the Great Salt Lake described and named the spring for the first time in 1858. Five years later, a Mormon cattle farmer built a small makeshift ranch there . The grazing of the dry land destroyed the livelihoods of the Indian inhabitants. In 1866 he and his only associate were murdered by Navajo Indians who had come from their settlements southeast of Colorado to capture the herd. In 1868, the Church of Latter-day Saints established a militia base at the source. The increasing number of Mormon settlers in southern Utah and northern Arizona caused growing conflicts with the Paiute. In 1870, John Wesley Powell signed a treaty on the use of the scarce drinking water for peace for the Mormon settlers on behalf of the United States government, Jacob Hamblin as representative of the Church of Latter-day Saints for the settlers and the Indians.

Winsor Castle

The ranch

In the same year, the Brigham Young Church bought the land from the heirs of the murdered rancher and decided to build a ranch at the source for the church's own flock (from the tithe drawn up then and now ) for southern Utah. The building was laid out like a fortress, overbuilt the spring to be protected from sieges, and was named Winsor Castle after the first administrator, Anson Perry Winsor , an allusion to the Windsor Castle of the British Crown, which was almost of the same name . In 1879 the herd consisted of 2,269 cattle and 162 horses valued at over $ 54,000. Pipe Spring butter and cheese were sold throughout the region.

The telegraph room in its original state at the time of the first telegraph operator, Eliza Stewart

The ranch was the southern terminus of the Deseret Telegraph, the first telegraph line in the Rocky Mountains region, and became a refuge in the 1880s, where multiple married Mormons hid their second wives and their children when the polygamy ban was enforced the federal government increased the pressure. At that time, the ranch was an important stopover and overnight stop on the route between northern Arizona and St. George in southern Utah, where the region's St. George Utah Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was located. All newlyweds went there through the desert to also receive the special Mormon sealing ceremony after the wedding , so that the route became known as the Honeymoon Trail .

The church ran the business until 1888, when they sold the ranch to the non-Mormon rancher, DF Saunders. As a result, the site was resold several times. In 1906, Jonathan Heaton, a Mormon with two women and 25 children, acquired the land and water rights, but no longer used the buildings. He and other cattle breeders watered their animals at the two ponds below the main house, then known as the fort. In autumn several thousand head of cattle were rounded up here for the annual roundup .

In the 1910s, increasingly after the end of the First World War, tourism slowly began in the American West. National parks were specifically established to encourage travel to previously undeveloped areas. The US government, the western states and the railroad companies worked closely together. Roads have been built and built on the geological landmarks of western hotels ranging from rustic to luxurious. At the end of 1919, the previously small Mukuntuweap National Monument in southern Utah was expanded and upgraded to become Zion National Park . The only access and direct connection to the next attraction, the north rim of the Grand Canyon , was from the south, past the decaying ranch.

National memorial

Stephen T. Mather , the first director of the National Park Service , established in 1916, had attended the dedication of Zion National Park and was shown Winsor Castle on a second trip in 1921 by Church and Heaton family officials . He recognized the importance of the spring as a resting place for tourists and wanted to acquire the area for the national park system. In 1922 he negotiated with the Bureau of Indian Affairs on behalf of the interests of the Paiute and after the water rights of the Indians had been secured, he had President Warren G. Harding present the charter for a new national monument called Pipe Spring in May 1923 . Although only tourist reasons were mentioned in the files of the negotiations until then, Harding signed a document in which Pie Sping was due to its properties as a fortress against Indians, as the first telegraph station in Arizona and as the only source within 100 km of the memorial for the lives of the early settlers is explained. Also, the role of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the area, which was viewed with suspicion in the eastern United States in the 1920s, is not mentioned in the Charter.

Eastern outbuilding, workers' accommodation, forge and tack room

In 1924, some donors, with Church support, bought the property for $ 5,000 and gave it to the federal government. In the first few years there were several more conflicts over the use of water by the administrator of the site, Leonard Heaton, a relative of the previous owner, and his wife Edna, who did not provide enough water to the Indians below. Heaton initially received just $ 1 a month, free housing, and the right to run his own business on the site. By 1926 he built a gas station and a small shop with a restaurant. Not only tourists use the facilities, the Paiute Indians also shopped in the monument. In the second half of the 1920s he was able to restore the main house and the outbuildings, set up a small farm and plant some fruit trees. In 1929 the memorial reached the temporary peak of its visitor numbers.

The importance of Pipe Spring National Monument declined rapidly and significantly. In August 1923, Bryce Canyon east of Zion in southern Utah had been designated a National Monument and tourism managers, particularly the Union Pacific Railroad Company, were pushing for a direct link between the two areas. Between 1927 and 1930 a road was built from the east into Zion National Park, which opened up the steep terrain of the canyon with a 2.8 km long tunnel and several sharp serpentines and was considered a masterpiece of the engineers of their time. The shortest and best-developed route from Zion to Bryce Canyon and the north rim of the Grand Canyon was no longer via Pipe Spring.

The suitability of Pipe Spring as a National Monument was subsequently doubted several times. In 1932, a National Park Service task force proposed disbanding Pipe Spring in order to establish a new monument at Capitol Reef when the western states refused to accept additional areas under federal administration because of disputes over the roles of the federal and state governments. However, it was preserved and Capitol-Reef was designated as a new National Monument in 1937.

Civilian Conservation Corps

CCC barracks in the monument, 1935

Despite all the criticism, the monument was expanded in the 1930s. In 1932, Heaton was hired on a fixed salary but had to close his shop. After further conflicts with the Indians over water rights, a pipeline was laid by some workers of the Civilian Conservation Corps as part of President Theodore Roosevelt's New Deal at the end of 1933 , which led part of the spring water outside the small monument into the reservation. It was agreed that a third of the spring water should be available to the monument, private ranchers in the region and the Paiute. In late 1935, the CCC came back and set up camp for 1180 unemployed youth from across the United States in eight barracks and several outbuildings. For so many people who were to be employed and trained in manual labor under the direction of army officers, there were nowhere near enough tasks in the small monument. They mostly worked for the region's ranchers.

The young people also did various jobs in the monument: They built a campsite, expanded the driveway and a parking lot, drew fences, laid out walking paths and planted trees to provide shade all over the area. But just the construction of their camp with sports facilities and the intensive use of the desert soil by so many people caused great damage to the nature of the monument. Many stole memorabilia from the collection and exhibition when they parted, and names were carved into the walls of the historic buildings en masse. Wild animals and livestock on the small farm were killed and plants trampled. In the hot summer of 1936 the cattle trough was converted into a swimming pool. Leonard Heaton, the monument's administrator, and the National Park Service had no influence on the army and the CCC to effectively protect the historic facilities.

At the same time, there was a lack of funds for years to build living spaces outside the historic building and sanitary facilities for the administrator. In October 1938, the CCC camp was relocated to Ajo , and Heaton converted one of the barracks into a house for himself and his family who worked free of charge.

In 1940 the Historic American Buildings Survey recorded the historic buildings and grounds. Hundreds of data were recorded from the entire system to technical details, photos and drawings reflect the condition at that time.

Slow recovery

Pipe Spring National Monument was newly renovated, but had hardly any visitors. In all of 1937 only 667 tourists had come to the monument. After the United States entered World War II in December 1941, the National Park Service's funds were drastically cut. Tourism and visitor numbers in Pipe Spring also fell again after a temporary upturn. In 1942 only 372 visitors came, the monument was remote and gasoline was rationed. After the end of the war in the summer of 1945, petrol management ceased, and in 1946 1,193 tourists came again. In 1947, the entire southwest celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Mormon pioneers . Pipe Spring National Monument became a popular place for picnics, excursions, and celebrations for Mormon families who appreciated the special role the place played in their religion.

In the 1960s, some temporary arrangements from the early days were replaced by new facilities. In 1963, Jonathan Heaton retired and his successors were no longer linked to the history of the monument. In preparation for the National Park Service's 50th anniversary in 1966, Pipe Spring National Monument received additional funding under Mission 66 . The visitor facilities were expanded. There was a historian who worked full-time for the memorial since 1958. In 1967 the construction of the Glen Canyon Dam began further east and the old gravel road from Fredonia to Hurricane was paved and designated as State Highway 389 . Excursions by the dam wall workers and easier access brought 15,699 visitors.

In late 1969, the National Monument began showing Living Ranch demonstrations. Cattle were branded, the old oven was put back into operation in the summer of 1970, the children of the Heaton family and many volunteers from the neighborhood wore clothes in the style of the pioneers and the old telegraph was shown again. The National Park Service made an educational film about the life of the settlers. This year the memorial was visited by 36,000 tourists.

Opening ceremony of the visitor center in 1973

Collaboration with the Paiute

From the late 1960s, the relationship with the Paiute Indians was put on a new basis. The Indian peoples in the United States were able to achieve extensive self-government and funds were made available to strengthen the economy of the reservations. After several years of negotiations between the representatives of the Indian people and the National Park Service, a joint visitor center was opened in 1973 just outside the boundaries of the monument. It shows exhibitions on the history of the Indians and the settlers. The Paiute also built a modern campsite 400 m from the monument. Most important of all was a new well that was drilled in the bottom of the monument and, for the first time, provided enough water not only for personal use and cattle breeding, but also for modern tourist facilities.

With the new facilities at the park borders, the monument itself could be renatured. The original semi-desert vegetation was restored to the previously used areas and a garden in the style of early pioneer families was laid out on the ranch. The number of visitors was stable around and over 25,000, with the exception of 1974, in which the oil price shock made travel in the western United States more expensive.

Roundup of the herds in Pipe Spring

Pipe Spring National Monument today

Since the 1980s, interest in the history of settlements in the West has increased, and with it the number of visitors. Today around 50,000 tourists come to the memorial every year. In the summer months there are daily lectures and on the weekends there are demonstrations on the history of the Kaibab Paiute Indians and the early white settlers. The living history offers range from demonstrations of historic horse-drawn carriages and housekeeping from the pioneering days to the round-up , which still takes place in autumn today , when the herds of cattle from several local ranchers are brought together in the pens at the monument's large cattle troughs.

The visitor center, renovated and redesigned in 2003, with exhibitions on the history of the area and several short hiking trails are accessible all year round. The paths lead to ruins of the Pueblo culture and prehistoric petroglyphs , as well as through the typical vegetation of the desert.

Pipe Spring in the media

The National Monument has been the location and backdrop for several film productions that took place in the old west :

  • 1955: The western film Frontier Scout
  • 1968 and 1969: Three episodes of the short film series Death Valley Days
  • 1976: Brigham Young
  • 1977: The Last of the Mohicans - Pipe Spring was a fort in the eastern United States at the end of the 18th century.

In addition, several educational films were made by the National Park Service.

Other protected areas

In the vicinity of Pipe Sping National Monument are:

literature

  • Kathleen L. McKoy: Cultures at a Crossroads , National Park Service, Denver, Colorado, 2000 (also online in full: Cultures at a Crossroads )

Web links

Commons : Pipe Spring National Monument  - Collection of Images, Videos, and Audio Files
This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on March 17, 2007 .