Bandelier Historic Structure Report: CCC Buildings

THE CCC CAMP

The CCC men moved into their new camp during a snowstorm on November 5 and 6, 1933, coming from their former camp in Santa Fe National Forest. [54] Captain Rubbell commanded them and Lieutenant Roberts served as executive officer. [55] The army built the camp to the southeast of the Tyuonyi ruins, in "an open sunny location on the north side of Frijoles Canyon, which had formerly been cultivated . . . to take advantage of the short periods in the winter during which the sun would shine into the canyon." The men brought the materials for constructing the camp buildings into the canyon on the cable tram and the foot trail. The army hauled in 180,000 board feet of lumber, cement, roofing, and other materials to construct the buildings.

The army constructed symmetrical, wood frame structures of typical army common-sense design. In standard CCC camp fashion, the army designed the simple buildings to be easily erected and easily removed. The gable roofs shed rain and snow. The barracks to house the enrollees consisted of two "large U-shaped buildings [figure 2], each long wing having a double row of beds accommodating fifty men and the short connection at one end served as shower and wash room." In addition to the barracks, the camp included a mess hall with a kitchen, an infirmary, quarters for officers, quartermaster's storage, a large recreational building, and a three-pit latrine. [56] The CCC foremen camped in tents "on top of the hill" until the truck trail and a few other projects were completed. [57]

The work varied tremendously, most of it involving construction and landscape work. The first projects included fencing, trail work, road construction, and forestry work. Enrollees quarried rock, built trails, mixed mortar, constructed buildings, poured concrete, laid roofs, adzed timbers, and did both rough and finish carpentry. They cut trees, moved rocks, and moved earth. They sprayed the trees in the canyon for tent caterpillars and pine beetles. These "unskilled" laborers received guidance, direction, and on-the-job training from "locally experienced men" (or LEMS, as they were called). [58] One CCC enrollee per enrollment period was assigned as clerk or assistant clerk to help with the administrative end of running the CCC in the monument. Other enrollees became guides who escorted visitors around the ruins. [59]

Life in the CCC camp revolved around hard work, but the army also set up educational and training courses to fill the enrollees' off-duty hours. Part of the thrust of the CCC, after all, was to improve character. The army approached that task through training. Because the camp was new, the first enrollment period's offerings were slim, but the situation improved quickly.

The first educational program, during the fall of 1933, consisted of teaching the men about the archeological importance of the area and instructing them on the regulations concerning the care of archeological features to deter potential pothunting. [60] One year later, the camp offered courses in Spanish, spelling, accounting, history, English, surveying, architectural drawing, commercial law, first aid, and current events. Jared Morse, the NPS resident landscape architect at the time, assisted with the architectural drawing class, and the camp surgeon taught first aid. That year, the young men also had a camp library. [61] By 1935, approximately 90 percent of the CCC enrollees took part in the educational activities offered. To accommodate the enriching activities, the army even designated separate rooms for study, reading, and classroom work. [62] By 1936, anthropology was a popular class, and the forestry foreman taught a course in general forestry and botany, specializing in local vegetation. [63] As the CCC neared completion of its work at Bandelier and as the company's move out of the canyon seemed imminent, the educational programs ended. [64]

Figure 2. The CCC camp, identified by the two large U-shaped barracks, sat at the end of the truck trail into Frijoles Canyon. By the late 1930s much of the camp had to be moved as the corps constructed the monument's stone buildings. (Drawing no. 315/3226, sheet 1).

Little record has been found of the recreational activities that took place during the first winter the camp existed. However, by the spring of 1934, landscape architect Lyle Bennett had approved the use of the formerly "cultivated area between the Great Kiva (council room) and the river just below the barns and sheds belonging to Mr. Frey for a ball diamond." With limited space available for recreation, he felt that the use of that area would do the least damage to archeological features, and he vowed that baseball games would cease should damage occur to the resources. [65] The CCC boys leveled the old field with a grader drawn by a tractor and hardened the surface with repeated waterings. Throughout the CCC's tenure at Bandelier, the enrollees challenged nearby camps in baseball. They also built two tennis courts "on the camp grounds" — one clay and one asphalt — and some horseshoe courts.

Another popular sport was boxing. As the custodian reported:

Some of the CCC boys, who have pugilistic leanings, have arranged for an evening of boxing bouts with men from other CCC camps in the area, to be held in Santa Fe. . . . There are five bouts scheduled, each of which will have a participant from the Bandelier camp. They are to be opposed by picked men from several of the other camps according to the divisions of weight available. This camp seems to run a rather high percentage of men skilled in the manly art. [66]

The men usually enrolled for a period of 18 months or two years. [67] Some already in training came from other camps, while others came with no skills. The Bandelier camp usually had 200 CCC men; 250 men was the highest enrollment and 180 the lowest. [68]

The winter of 1933 was rough on morale of all involved — the army personnel, the CCC enrollees, and the new monument staff. The first problem arose when the enrollees complained en masse to NPS engineer Walter Attwell that the camp's food left much to be desired and that the meager portions they received were not sufficient for men doing such hard labor. For breakfast, they complained, they received only two hotcakes and a cup of coffee, with no refills on either. Two days later, the army's commanding officer held a meeting, lecturing the men on caring for their quarters and ending by saying, "Forget the grub complaint and I will bring in 20 cases of beer and a hundred women." The commanding officer had already scheduled a dance before the incident, unknown to the enrollees, who felt they were receiving a good deal. Government trucks hauled in the beer and the women. One enrollee was discovered in the barracks in an extremely compromising position with a young woman. This was obviously inappropriate behavior, not to be condoned by the army. The commanding officer was replaced shortly thereafter, and the enrollee was dismissed from the CCC. [69]

The problems did not end there, however. Two enrollees who had signed a petition to the commanding officer complaining about the living conditions in the barracks were brought up for trial by the army. On the eve of the trial, the commander received a telegram, later found to be bogus, asking for the discharge of the two enrollees so that they could accept jobs at Tumacacori National Monument. Assured that the two men would be leaving, the commanding officer discharged them. Rather than leaving for Arizona, the two men, as well as a third who received a "highly recommended" rating on his discharge, were hired immediately as foremen by NPS custodian Evenstad and CCC camp foreman McGill. The army officers were infuriated. Walter Attwell took it upon himself to fire the three former enrollees, based on the fact that they were hired in violation of the law. Camp morale improved after these personnel actions were completed. [70]

Despite the problems, in late 1933 and early 1934, NPS engineer Walter Attwell summarized the enormous physical impact the CCC had on the monument:

The camp has been in operation about 7 weeks with the Thanksgiving and Christmas-New Year vacations. Snow has covered the ground three times. Yesterday the thermometer registered zero. Regardless of these adverse conditions, we have a) erected our construction buildings as shops, garages, quarters; b) constructed our camp; c) cleared two miles of the entrance road right of way; d) grubbed and burned all stumps and roots on above; e) drilled and blasted most of roadwork on the first two miles; f) graded two miles of road; g) purchased and placed all culverts and pipe for drainage; h) maintained the entrance road for 10 miles to the monument; i) worked on the trail to Rio Grande; j) worked 30 man crew on trail up canyon; k) excavated and laid 1-1/2 mile of 2" water line . . . Harmony is now restored between the Army and the Park Service Technical Men. The camp may now be inspected without disgrace or shame. [71]

Attwell's report to Boss Pinkley was somewhat premature in its optimism, for it was another six months before the operation ran smoothly. In March 1934, Attwell had more complaints flying: that the NPS custodian was obstructing work by not procuring materials properly, that he had a stubborn and uncooperative attitude, and that he was making no effort to greet visitors. This time Boss Pinkley sent Hugh Miller, his right-hand man from Coolidge, to investigate and make recommendations. Miller, a thoughtful and even-tempered man, concluded that most of the problems at the monument boiled down to the custodian's lack of tact. The strict monthly allotments for CCC projects severely limited the quality and amount of materials that could be procured, while the administrative demands of running the monument and the CCC projects made it impossible for Evenstad to spend any time with visitors. Miller recommended that Evenstad's responsibilities be divided into two positions: custodian and procurement officer. [72]

The final problem plaguing the staff occurred between engineer Attwell and landscape architects Chuck Richey and Lyle Bennett: the construction of the road. Like engineers and landscape architects today, they could not agree on where or how to build it. Attwell had wanted to carve the road further into the cliff as it descended into the canyon than the landscape architects did. He felt that the grade would be easier. The landscape architects insisted that Attwell's solution would be too visible from the canyon and the trails. Reports and picky accusations on both sides eventually ended up on the director's desk in Washington. Boss Pinkley stepped in and admonished them to get along, and Tom Vint clarified their responsibilities: the engineer was in charge of carrying out the work indicated on the plans and specifications drawn up by the architects and landscape architects in the Branch of Plans and Design. [73]

By June 1934, the rough start evened out. CCC camp foreman McGill left for a permanent job. [74] Hub Chase, who had worked on CCC projects at White Sands, replaced him and did an exemplary job in years to follow. Pinkley moved archeologist Earl Jackson in as the new custodian, leaving Martin Evenstad as procurement officer under him. [75] Lyle Bennett, whose duties as resident landscape architect had been divided between Mesa Verde and Bandelier, was transferred to Mesa Verde [76] and was replaced by Jared Morse, a designer for the Denver City Planning Commission and a "man with considerable National Park experience." [77] This group of relatively experienced men proved a more compatible cast of characters than the first. Keeping 200 or more men busy developing a park within the strict design parameters set down by Vint's office, the small budget allotments of NPS and the CCC, and the short deadline on projects required compatibility. Despite fairly constant changes in army personnel, the core of the organization was established. The hard physical labor was only beginning, but the work force from the top to the bottom was ready to take on the task.

CONSTRUCTION

In 1932, discussion of a road into Frijoles Canyon had turned into heated argument. That same year Charles Richey, a junior landscape architect from the Branch of Plans and Design (Vint's office) visited the monument. He returned to San Francisco and made a series of recommendations to his boss, Tom Vint. Richey saw an urgent need for an administrative office and a decent ranger residence. He wanted the first unit of the administration building patterned after the one at Casa Grande, and he listed other details for the custodian's residence. He concluded that "the character of these buildings [was] to be the Santa Fe style of architecture." [78] Santa Fe style, now called pueblo revival or Spanish pueblo style, was the term used by its practitioners before World War II. The terms will be used here interchangeably.

Pinkley, Vint, and Richey had spent considerable time on the site, discussing Bandelier's development. In June 1932 they had picked a tentative location for an administrative area. [79] Pinkley's idea was that the road into the canyon would end in a parking area, where visitors would be met by a ranger who could conveniently step out of his office and direct them to the campground, hotel, or ruins. This site, chosen earlier by Pinkley, Vint, and Richey, was to be the nucleus of subsequent development. Richey saw the parking lot as a traditional central plaza around which "this entire layout is designed to be carried out in typical Santa Fe style in every detail. . . . The site was chosen . . . so that the buildings would be practically out of sight from the ruins area." [80]

The adoption of that style fit the locale perfectly, both in choice of material and in cultural tradition. Stone was an abundant building material, as was adobe. Following the restoration of the Palace of the Governors in Santa Fe from territorial style to pueblo revival style, more than 90 percent of remodeled houses and more than 50 percent of new houses constructed in Santa Fe between 1912 and 1917 were done in pueblo revival style. During the 1920s and early 1930s a group called the Committee for the Preservation and Restoration of New Mexico Mission Churches set about reroofing and preserving the churches at Laguna, Acoma, Zia, Santa Ana, Trampas, and Chimayo, and built new churches in the Santa Fe style at McCarty's and Abiquiu. In the late 1920s, John Gaw Meem and M.E.J. Colter designed an addition to La Fonda, a large Fred Harvey Company hotel in Santa Fe. In 1930, Meem was busy with the construction of buildings for the Laboratory of Anthropology, [81] whose connection with NPS was discussed earlier. The Santa Fe style was the overwhelming choice for progressive new construction in New Mexico during the 1920s and 1930s.

This flurry of activity in the private sector provided a fertile ground of ideas from which NPS architects could easily draw. With some experience in designing structures for southwestern climates, based on Vint's principles of rustic building design, the architects and landscape architects set to work to create a unified development for Bandelier.

Begun in the fall of 1933, the road was the first major construction project completed with CCC and CWA labor and funding. By January 1934, the enrollees finished the roadbed. A rock retaining wall supported a portion of the roadbed by filling in the end of an arroyo. The retaining wall was 225 feet long, up to 30 feet high (figure 3) and constructed of hard andesite rock, hauled to the site from a quarry 8 miles away. [82] The guardrail along the road's edge was built in two sections — in late spring of 1934 and in 1935-36. The first section (220 feet long) was constructed of the same andesite as the retaining wall. The remaining portion (1935-36) (figure 4) was constructed later so that the retaining wall, also of andesite, could settle. [83] Figure 5 shows how the building complex evolved from 1934 to 1965. The footing of the extension was 4 feet wide and 18-30 inches deep below grade. The guardrail was designed to complement the strong architectural sense that would become evident throughout the monument's building program. In the guardrail, "large stones, some five feet in length and two feet high combined with small material and short horizontal joints . . . [added] . . . to the architectural appearance of the stone masonry." [84] The road was oiled in 1938 [85] and coated with RC-3 liquid asphalt in the summer of 1940.[86] Where blasting into the cliff face had been necessary, the rocks were stained with a solution of iron sulfate to tone down the whiteness and make the exposed rock look more weathered. [87]

The completion of the road had two major effects: Materials could be brought into the canyon with considerable ease, and more visitors could get into the canyon to see the ruins. The local protests over the construction of the road ceased. The Santa Fe New Mexican, which had run cartoons about the road showing a hot dog stand in Ceremonial Cave and gas pumps in Communal House ruins, even printed an editorial apologizing for its protests and lauding the Park Service on its sensitive work. [88]

The first permanent building constructed by the CCC was the comfort station (B-1) in the canyon campground (now the picnic area). This building, completed in 1934, was partially banked into the hillside and was a simple stone structure with battered walls, a flat roof surrounded by a parapet and drained by canales (horizontal roof drain spouts that project from the base of the parapet), with vigas projecting from the exterior walls, and latias (saplings or wood slats laid between the vigas) for ceilings. The building had other typical elements of the pueblo revival style: an interplay of masses and voids so that the structure, in plan, was a series of connecting rectangles rather than a simple rectangle; heavy timber lintels over window and door openings; a sheltering baffle at one of the entrances that enveloped the visitor in the building's space; and sawn grilles over the window openings. The building housed the comfort station and showers for the campers. Although it was relatively simple in design, its elements of style set the tone for subsequent buildings.

With battered stone walls supporting the structural vigas of the roof systems, the Bandelier buildings were simple in a structural sense. Although the comfort station had simple elements of design, other buildings where visitors spent more time were extremely decorative. Spanish colonial light fixtures and furnishings were designed for each structure. The great care exercised on the interior design carried through even to the choice of curtain rods. Exteriors exhibited the same concern for detail. Small gardens and walkways, landscaped with native plants and paved with flagstone, provided a suitable environment for the development. Portals and courtyards also contributed to this sense of place.

One valuable trick that the designers and managers learned early was to break the total development into individual components and fund each separately. The ECW program had a $1,500 limitation on the cost of building materials. [89] Only the NPS director in Washington could override that limitation. Also, most projects were programmed and scheduled for completion during one enrollment period — six months. Both the $1,500 regulation and the six-month enrollment period limited the size of buildings that could be built. But these stipulations served only as minor bureaucratic hurdles to Boss Pinkley, Tom Vint, and their crews. The designers circumvented these limitations by constructing in a modular way: they designed so that the crews built the important buildings first, followed by those of lower priority. By working in this manner they could complete the main buildings in the development first in case funding was cut off at any time.

The $1,500 limitation also necessitated the use of on-site or locally available materials. Stone, timber, gravel, sand, and clay were all readily available around Bandelier. Because separate accounts covered CCC labor costs, expenditures for acquiring these indigenous materials kept building costs low. Only the charge of transporting the materials to the building site — without the attendant labor costs — appeared on the books. The use of these native materials meshed perfectly with the Park Service ideals of rustic architecture.

In an effort to keep costs down in the administrative area, the landscape architects decided to start with three buildings — an office and checking station, a museum (both now B-2), and a comfort station (B-9). Portals connected the office to both the museum and the comfort station. The office and museum were close enough that the monument staff could work in the office and open the museum when visitation warranted. The buildings also had the benefit of separate heating systems. During the winter months, the museum could be closed entirely. The comfort station was only a few steps away — convenient for visitors coming to see the ruins.

With the increased CCC construction activity and the ever-increasing demands of visitation, the need for maintenance buildings was pressing. Boss Pinkley, Associate Director Hillory Tolson, and Chief Architect Tom Vint agreed on the exact location of the maintenance yard when they met at the park in April 1935. [90] The Branch of Plans and Design drew the plans by May and received the director's approval by July. The warehouse (B-3) and the gas and oil house (B-5) were constructed following the excavations required for their footings. The maintenance yard was constructed in the canyon, close to the entrance road, with a stone wall around it built "to such a height to screen the contents of the utility yard from the public's eye. Each section of the wall adjoining a building is tied into building masonry." [91] The buildings were constructed for use by the CCC, with the understanding that the permanent structures would be turned over to the Park Service when the CCC finished its work at the monument.

NPS Chief Engineer Frank Kittredge objected to the location of the maintenance yard and let Boss Pinkley know that he was "shocked." He wrote to Pinkley that the entire development was too formal and too oppressive, particularly when imposed on such a beautiful natural area. He said he found himself asking "Where is [sic] the moat and drawbridge?" Despite Kittredge's complaints, Pinkley remained pleased with the development. [92]

The residential area was next on the agenda. The small park staff had been living in the old ranger residence, left over from the Forest Service, and in rehabilitated structures of the Freys's old lodge. The site for the residential area sat to the southeast of the maintenance yard, parallel to the entrance road. Constructed above the entrance road, the new residences had the advantages of existing topography and additional vegetative screening to hide them from visitors' view.

Figure 3. By the mid-1930s the controversial entrance road was completed. The retaining wall supporting a portion of the roadbed was 225 feet long and up to 30 feet high. (Photo circa 1935: Bandelier)

Three small residences (B-7, B-8, and B-11) and a dormitory-garage (B-10) were built in 1936 and 1937. Because town (Santa Fe) was 40 miles away and employees needed places to store food, they had root cellars constructed in the hillside behind each residence. Each root cellar, of course, constituted a separate project. Because wood was one of the heat sources for the residences, wood storage became a problem in the winter. By 1940, each residence also had a woodshed, complete with stone walls and a roof, to alleviate that storage problem. The woodsheds were also separate construction projects.

With the main portions of the headquarters, maintenance, and utility areas well under way, the park staff and Mrs. Frey began discussing the possibility of moving the hotel closer to the main parking plaza. [93] Mrs. Frey believed that the lodge would do better business near the plaza and that cooperation between her lodge and the Park Service would improve. [94] In addition, Boss Pinkley felt that placing the lodge near the administrative core would allow the Park Service to have stricter management over access to the archeological sites. With the lodge and the monument offices in the same location, visitors could no longer bypass the checking station and head up the canyon. [95] The assistant director of NPS agreed that a new lodge could be built as an ECW project as long as it met certain stipulations. First, the lodge would be federal property, and at no time would the concessioner have any equity in it. NPS would lease the new lodge to Mrs. Frey. Finally, the CCC would demolish her old structures and landscape the site. [96] In this way, NPS could concentrate all of the monument's development in one area.

The CCC-constructed concessions operation was developed between 1937 and 1940. Sixteen buildings were built — cabins for guests (B-19, B-20, B-23, B-24, B-27, B-28, and B-29); a dining room and kitchen (B-15); a hotel lobby and curio shop (B-17); an employee dormitory (B-16); a garage (B-13) and small service station (B-14); a combined hot-water plant, linen storage room, and comfort station known as the "kiva" because of its round plan (B-21); a riding stable (B-25); a laundry room (B-10); and new quarters for Mrs. Frey (B-18). The hotel lobby and dining room, as well as the garage and service station, fronted the plaza, as did the NPS museum, office, and comfort station. Behind those buildings sat the cabin units of Frijoles Canyon Lodge in a very carefully landscaped courtyard complete with flagstone walkways and small stone retaining walls that articulated the changes in topography. In a memo requesting a carpenter foreman position, Acting Superintendent Hugh Miller justified his request by saying that the highest standards of construction had been achieved at Bandelier so far, and he expected "to make the hotel units conform in design and construction to highest commercial standards." [97] The concessions development met that standard.

The CCC constructed four additional buildings to complete the development. A powerhouse (B-22) was added to the maintenance area in 1939. To control visitors better, a checking (entrance) station (B-26) was constructed on USFS land (Ramon Vigil grant).

The CCC finished the last buildings in 1941. A fire lookout (B-30), which had been a high priority. early in the CCC program, finally took shape on Forest Service land on the edge of Frijoles Canyon in cooperation with the Forest Service. The custodian's residence (B-32) was built when staffing reached a point where existing housing was inadequate. The CCC finished its building construction work at Bandelier in 1941.

Figure 4. The guardrail along the road's edge complemented the strong architectural sense evident in the monument's building program. The guardrail, in an understated manner, was the stone thread that the visitor followed down the entrance road into the canyon development. The guardrail was constructed in two increments — in spring of 1934 and in 1935-36. (Photo circa 1935: Bandelier)

WINDING DOWN THE CCC

Bandelier had been under a constant threat of losing its CCC camp since 1935. [98] Justifications and proposals for park projects that would guarantee the camp's life went to Washington every six months, and updates or additional projects went in for consideration and approval practically monthly. The ground in Frijoles Canyon that had been designated as the development zone and leveled and graded was rapidly being filled with buildings. Where there was no building, a shallow hole in the ground awaited one. This problem of space was exacerbated by the army's feeling that NPS development was interfering with the development of the CCC camp. For some reason the army temporarily refused to acknowledge that the CCC's tenure at Bandelier was limited, and the Park Service development was permanent.

The trouble started in 1935 when a portion of a CCC barracks had to be moved so the museum could be constructed. The army complied but requested that definite boundaries be drawn for army and NPS development so that such problems could be avoided in the future. [99] One NPS landscape architect noted that the buildings had to be constructed so close to each other because there was no other suitable level ground in that immediate vicinity for the agencies to spread out. He also noted that if the Park Service stopped development to accommodate the army, the reason for the camp's location at Bandelier would also end. [100]

Figure 5. The evolution of the Bandelier building complex from B-1's construction in 1934 to post-CCC activity as recently as 1965.

The situation remained at a crowded standstill for four years while construction continued down-canyon (south) from the CCC camp — in the residential area and the maintenance yard. In 1939, Bandelier's development had reached a point where barracks 2 and the CCC infirmary were in the way of the expanding lodge. [101] Building in the canyon had reached the limit where all available space was occupied, and something had to give (figure 6). The regional director in Santa Fe requested that the camp be moved to Forest Service land so that the proposed development at the monument could be completed. [102] Despite its protests four years earlier, the army totally supported the move.

Washington also approved the change. The army, the Forest Service, and the Park Service chose the new location: in Water Canyon, 9-1/2 miles by road from Frijoles Canyon. Hub Chase, the project superintendent, retained his project office as well as a garage and truck storage area in Frijoles Canyon. The monument staff scheduled a final cleanup of Frijoles Canyon. The CCC tried to complete it by the October 1939 meeting of the national park superintendents and the American Planning and Civic Association, but was unable to finish. [103]

The cleanup of the old camp continued through February 1940. Although the CCC buildings were gone, the leveling required for the camp construction took considerable time to naturalize. The high standards of Park Service landscape architects required that the camp area look natural and untouched. In addition to the cleanup, construction of Park Service buildings remained at a fever pitch. The CCC men remained busy. A short report by the project superintendent gave a glimpse of what it was like in February 1940:

Our project situation at present time: Fulton landscaping and hell of lot to complete in and around old camp site, we estimate he can easily keep 30 to 35 man crew busy until June.

Lamborn building entrance road gutter with about 10 to 12 weeks ahead of him. Cano at checking station which should be finished about April 1 to plaster and cabinet work point. Eden starting the laundry house and keeping flagstone floor job going in Museum Lobby (next week to pinch hit in rock quarry during absence of Project Assistant). Cano to pick up the laundry building when finished with checking station (about March 15 in Museum Lobby and continue to checking station.) Grubb has completed all furniture required for furnishing the 14 hotel guest rooms, now has carved book-cases, counter, some doors and railings, together with uncarved doors and screens to construct and place in Museum Lobby; doors, cabin work and all openings to hang in checking station and laundry house; fire boxes to construct; Canyon de Chelly signs to construct and Capulin signs to complete. All of this looks like two good solid months work together with carpenter frame work around the buildings. I believe he will be occupied until May 15, a possible chance he can crowd in a very small amount of furniture for one of the lobbies. It is planned to construct the telephone line to checking station under a project assistant supervision starting in April. After Cano completes the laundry room he then to complete as much as possible of one unit Cabin E. [104]

The Park Service had planned to turn the CCC camp (at its new location) over to the Forest Service by June 1940. But then the monument custodian notified the Forest Service that he wanted to keep the camp a bit longer to build a fire lookout and to use the CCC men for fire protection during the fire season. [105] Not only did the enrollees build the fire lookout, but they also managed to build a custodian's residence.

The CCC's final year was hectic. Because the army had used too many enrollees for its own projects, the manpower available to NPS was depleted and NPS work schedules were slowed down, forcing the Park Service to carry projects over into additional enrollment periods. [106] Nature did not cooperate either. Mud and snow made the approach road to the monument nearly impassable in January 1941, threatening to cut off the CCC camp from those last projects in Frijoles Canyon. Bringing in materials was also difficult. The monument's only ranger was busy that month running a six-man crew "cleaning, painting, calsomining, and repairing the hotel and monument buildings" while the CCC project superintendent and a worker hauled firewood to the buildings to keep the rooms warm enough for the paint to dry. [107]

For a while during May 1941, a heavy melt and spring runoff from that harsh winter caused flooding that pulled the CCC men off the Bandelier projects completely. They were called in to do "emergency work on the levees to save the town of Espanola." [108] The custodian received word from Washington that the absolute termination date for the CCC camp was June 26, 1941, and a mad rush ensued to complete the south boundary fence, the custodian's residence, the additions to the other residences, the sewage disposal system, and other minor projects. [109] At the end of June, the custodian was able to conclude that, despite the confusion, "Bandelier now ranks as a well-developed monument." [110]

The CCC had finished its work at Bandelier, and the camp was turned over to the Forest Service. Most of the enrollees stayed with the camp, except for some of the stone masonry and carpentry crews, who transferred to Chaco Canyon. In the last inspection report, the camp inspector noted that "morale, organization, application, progress and accomplishments" were all excellent, and that the camp was "completed and terminated in the same manner in which it has been prosecuted efficiently and productively." [111] The CCC had been so closely linked with the Park Service that the general impression of people in Taos, Santa Fe, and Albuquerque was that Bandelier had been discontinued and turned back to the Forest Service." [112] The custodian quickly dispelled that rumor.

The CCC men left behind a monument to their hard labor — a permanent development executed to the highest standards of craftsmanship and design. The camp inspectors had continually, noted the high quality of work produced by the Bandelier CCC over the years. [113] The inspectors believed that high quality was in part due to the enthusiasm displayed by the project superintendent and his foremen, who would roll up their sleeves, "don overalls and perform both skilled and unskilled labor along with the enrollees." [114] Hugh Miller, Boss Pinkley's assistant, also brought back glowing reports to Coolidge — that the camp ran more like a smooth contract job than a CCC project, that construction standards were constantly improving, and that "the results are satisfactory beyond our most optimistic expectations." [115] The results were so successful that the possibility of undertaking a similar venture at Chiricahua National Monument in Arizona became concrete in the minds of former skeptics in the Department of the Interior in Washington. But Bandelier was destined not to be repeated on such a grand scale. [116] The world was changing, and in a matter of months the United States would be at war and the CCC would no longer exist.

Figure 6. View from the maintenance yard (circa 1939) showing the crowded conditions looking toward the lodge development (right) and the museum (center). The CCC barracks with their metal-covered gable roofs are visible in the center right. Architectural elements such as the protruding viga ends and the recessed windows created strong shadows that contributed to the architectural character of the group. (Photo: Bandelier)