Casa Grande Ruins Administrative History

D. The James P. Bates Interlude

Following Pinkley's departure, several candidates sought to become the new custodian at Casa Grande. Seventy-two-year-old James Polk Bates was selected. Bates had been born in Kentucky in 1843 and, during much of his life, he had worked first as a druggist and then as a lawyer. He came to Arizona in January 1907 and resided in Phoenix. Bates assumed the custodian position on December 1, 1915. According to his 1916 annual report, the situation at Casa Grande was even worse than Pinkley had indicated. He wrote that, when he arrived at the ruins, he found that both whites and Indians had been constantly removing mesquite for wood and fence posts. He stated that, for the most part, he had succeeded in ending this practice. Another irritation stemmed from the fact that ranchers permitted their cattle and horses to graze all over the reservation. At night the stock would rub against the ruins' walls and cause irreparable damage. These animals had also created paths over the mounds. Bates asked that a fence of five barbed wires be placed around the entire 480 acres. [54]

Soon after his arrival, Bates asked for funds to improve the well and to purchase an engine and pump. He received $300, but he considered this sum to be insufficient. He wrote that the pine used for the well casing had rotted making the water impure and posed a danger to anyone attempting to repair the well. Bates wanted to abandon the old, weak-flowing well and drill a deeper one closer to the custodian's house. As a resuit, he asked for an additional $200 for a well and an upright tank. With this greater water supply, Bates hoped to cultivate a small garden and raise some rapid-growth shade trees for the visitors' comfort. [55]

While Bates wished to provide for the visitors' comfort, he also wanted to keep them from driving randomly about the reservation. He noted that the main road, which entered the southwest corner of the Casa Grande land and exited to the northeast, had no lane to restrict individuals from leaving it. In addition Bates felt that gates should be put across other roads that entered the reservation. [56]

The condition of the Great House roof and the ruins in general did not escape Bates' attention. He recommended that a new, galvanized iron roof be constructed over the Great House because the old one had holes in it. Bates feared that water leaking through the holes would cause the wood frame to deteriorate. He wrote that the excavated ruin walls remained exposed to the elements and had begun to crumble and fall. In Bates' view, they needed a top coating of concrete to keep them from wearing away. [57]

As his final request in the 1916 report, Bates asked for a Ford or other car of that class. Such a vehicle would aid his travel to Florence for mail and supplies, he thought. [58]

The General Land Office commissioner saw the creation of the National Park Service (NPS) on August 25, 1916, as the means to sever ties with Casa Grande. Although the General Land Office chief clerk soon discovered that the Park Service organic act did not permit the transfer of Casa Grande to that bureau, the General Land Office commissioner was eager to distance his organization from that reservation. Until a transfer could be legally accomplished, the commissioner took steps to have the custodian report to the Interior Department. Starting in 1917, Bates sent his reports to the chief clerk of the Interior Department instead of to the General Land Office. [59]

Reporting directly to the Interior Department did not change the funding circumstances for Casa Grande. In fact fate seemed to deal harshly with James Bates. In late July 1917 a windstorm blew the roof from the custodian's house. He succeeded, in this instance, in getting the Interior Department to quickly approve a new roof. At the same time, however, he never got money for a new well, car, or a fence to prevent livestock from entering the reservation. In April 1917, Bates did remove some of the dirt and rotted casing that had fallen into the well, but the casing continued to collapse. By September he pronounced the well to be unsanitary from rotting wood, and decaying crickets and toads. As if that were not enough, the post office in Florence burned just after he had mailed his 1917 annual report. Consequently, he had to rewrite it. Finally, and worst of all, in early 1918 Bates was dismissed from the job after he was caught selling artifacts. This situation opened the door for the return of Frank Pinkley who had managed only one term as state senator. [60]