Casa Grande Ruins Administrative History

C. The Development of Casa Grande Ruins National Monument (continued)

2. The Civilian Conservation Corps at Casa Grande

Although a great deal of construction had occurred at Casa Grande during the 1930s, by 1937 Pinkley still did not have a maintenance and storage facility. For this last large building project of the 1930s, Pinkley obtained the services of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). On November 16, 1937, a carpenter crew of twenty-four men and a foreman arrived at Casa Grande from the Chiricahua National Monument Civilian Conservation Corps Camp CNM-2-A to establish a fifty-man spike camp. Between that date and December 4, they built a barracks, mess-hall, washroom, storeroom, and a recreational hall in an area just southeast of the current maintenance facilities. The carpenter crew then departed for the main camp and was replaced by another group of CCC men who gave the finishing touches to their camp and then began preparation to construct the maintenance facility in an area south of the residential section (figure 25). [34]

Not all of the Civilian Conservation Corps enrollees worked in construction. During the time the camp was located at Casa Grande, two to four men were assigned each month to guide visitors through the ruins. Another one to two men were used as mimeograph operators and sometimes as clerk-typists in the Southwestern Monuments headquarters.

Since the architectural style for the new maintenance buildings copied the existing modified Pueblo style, these projects took thousands of adobe bricks. On December 14, 1937, the CCC crew began to prepare an adobe-making area and six days later produced their first adobe. Foundation excavation began at the same time for the first structure — a shop which became known as building 11. The CCC devoted its sole attention to this building until they began excavation work for a foundation for a warehouse on February 24, 1938 (Building 9). By the end of June 1938 these two structures had reached the point that only interior work remained to be done. At that time attention shifted to the erection of an oil house (Building 8). From the time excavation work began on the foundation, the CCC concentrated on the oil house so that by November 1938 it was nearly completed. In September a wash rack was built on the south side of the oil house and a gas tank and pump were installed in front. As a minor project in November 1938, the men erected protective walls around the electric transformer. In December the men devoted their attention to buildings 9 and 11. As a consequence the shop, warehouse, and oil house were finished in early January 1939. In June the shop and oil house doors and windows were painted "apple green." [35]

Sporadic work on an equipment shed (Building 10) began in October 1938. With the completion of the other three maintenance buildings the following January, the shed occupied nearly all of the men's time with the result that it was completed in March 1939. As soon as it was finished, an addition was begun to the east which would make the building into an L-shaped structure. When completed in November 1939, the addition, or section B as it was called, contained three bays of which one was oversized. [36]

In March 1939, at the same time the extension was being made to the equipment shed, a wing was built onto the warehouse on its south side. Thus this structure also acquired an L-shaped configuration. The original section contained a watchman's office and quarters as well as a storage area, but the addition had only storage space. It was completed in August 1939. [37]

During May 1939 the CCC men constructed an adobe, modified Pueblo style checking station at the entrance to the monument. Pinkley had been told to begin to charge a 25 cents admission fee starting May 1939 to each individual entering the monument. As a result, the checking station was erected to provide a building from which monument personnel could collect the charge. This practice had two effects. It angered 38.9 percent of the people who attempted to enter the monument with the result that they refused to pay and left. With CCC help to collect the entrance fee, there was no problem, but, when the CCC left in February 1940, the situation changed. At that time, there was an insufficient number of employees to handle the entrance station and museum, as well as conduct guided tours. As a result, on February 23, 1940, permission was granted to end the entrance fee. Only a 25 cents charge was collected at the museum from those taking a guided tour. Consequently, the checking station was dismantled. [38]

Beginning at the end of October 1939, work started on a one-room addition to the south side of the shop building. It was designed for use as a blacksmith shop. Work proceeded quickly, and it was completed in January 1940. [39]

From mid-1938 until December 1939, the CCC men periodically occupied their time constructing 417 lineal feet of adobe wall around the maintenance compound. A gateway with posts was completed in the northeast corner of the wall in August 1938 and gates were hung soon thereafter. In sections, such as that between the oil house and the shop, the compound wall was tied into the back wall of the buildings. [40]

The Casa Grande Civilian Conservation Corps spike camp was abandoned in February 1940 and the men returned to the main Chiricahua camp. On March 8, 1943, a group from the United States Army Corps of Engineers came to the monument and demolished the buildings. Salvageable material was hauled away in twenty-five trucks on March 10 and 11, 1943. [41]

3. After the Civilian Conservation Corps

The early 1940s at Casa Grande saw only minor changes mostly because the Second World War severely reduced funding and visitation. In 1940 the tool and implement storage shed (Building 15) was no longer needed for that purpose, so it was converted into a laundry and storage area for monument employees. In that same year, the superintendent's residence received a 140-square-foot addition and a screened porch was added to the west side of the custodian's house in place of a brush ramada. On December 16, 1940, construction began on a small room attached to the administration building. It was designed for a private office for Hugh M. Miller, who became superintendent of the Southwestern Monuments in February with the death of Frank "Boss" Pinkley. In April 1941, ninety percent of the east fence was set back ten feet to provide a wider right-of-way for drainage along the state highway. A decision was then made to replace the entrance gates and sign. In November 1941 demolition began on Pinkley's old house located in Compound A. By March of the following year it had been removed. [42]

Only a few changes occurred at Casa Grande through the remainder of the 1940s and the 1950s. In October 1942 the headquarters of the Southwestern Monuments was transferred to the regional office in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Consequently, several of the residential buildings were vacant. When a prisoner-of-war camp opened near Florence late in 1942, two of the quarters (Buildings 1 and 4) at Casa Grande were rented to army personnel from that camp. One of the quarters (Building 1) was occupied until May 1946 when the POW camp closed. On November 6, 1948, greater recognition was given to the individuals responsible for the national monuments when the title of custodian was replaced by superintendent. The skyline over the residential area changed at the end of April 1953 when Superintendent A. T. Bicknell was given permission to install a television antenna that extended twenty feet above the roofs. In 1956 the former campground was converted to form part of the picnic area. No one used the campground anymore as visitors preferred motels to camping. At the same time the Park Service encouraged surrounding communities and the state highway department to develop facilities to attract picnickers, while the number of tables at Casa Grande were reduced from fifty to ten. [43]

Water continued to be a problem in the 1940s and early 1950s. Farmers surrounding the monument had begun to drill irrigation wells in such numbers that the water table started to drop rapidly. By February 1942 water was being drawn from the monument well at a depth of eighty-eight feet. In 1945 the water dropped to the 102-foot level which was below the end of the suction pipe. At that time, the local Indian Service personnel loaned the monument equipment by which the pipe could be lowered another twenty-three feet into the well. In early 1948 the water level in the well had fallen to 140 feet as farmers had begun to pump from a number of new irrigation wells. In June it dropped another ten feet. By August 1949 irrigation pumping operations could temporarily drop the water table an additional thirty to thirty-five feet. For a time in December 1950 the water table slipped below the bottom of the well (186 feet). Over the next four months it returned to the 163-foot level. It was obvious that either the well had to be dug deeper or, as it was hoped, the monument could be connected with the Coolidge water. system. In December 1951 an announcement was made for bids to connect Casa Grande with the Arizona Water Company which also served the city of Coolidge. The job was completed none too soon on July 26, 1952. By June 1956 the area water table was reported to have dipped to 300 feet. [44]

At times the national monument could be a dangerous place to work or visit. In January 1951, while touring the ruins with his parents, a five-year-old boy was struck in the head by a stray bullet and killed. Several Coolidge youths caused the death when they randomly fired their rifles while walking along the canal outside of the monument boundary. In late December 1955, more shots were fired onto the monument by boys who were shooting the rifles they had gotten for Christmas. No injuries occurred on this occasion. Another tragedy happened on November 30, 1974, when Seasonal Ranger Gregory Colin Wayt was struck and killed by a bullet fired from outside the monument. A visitor was hit in the left leg by another bullet. Once more a Coolidge boy was found to be responsible. [45]