Casa Grande Ruins Administrative History

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

7. Special Use Permits

Starting in 1927 the National Park Service leadership began to approve special use permits for Casa Grande. These permits were granted to various organizations basically to install or maintain such things as roads, electric lines, and a canal on the edge of monument land.

In the latter part of the 1920s, the Arizona State Highway Department constructed an improved road between Tucson and Phoenix. This Highway 87 passed along the east boundary of the monument. The state asked to be granted a special use permit for an eighty-foot-wide right-of-way through the monument's northeast corner to allow a curve to be built in the road (see figure 21). Arno Cammerer, the acting National Park Service director, granted the state this special use permit. It was issued on a year-to-year basis beginning on January 1, 1927, with a provision for an automatic twenty-year renewal. At the time, however, the state did not construct a curve in the highway. It developed a T intersection with Highway 287 instead and allowed the permit to expire in 1947. In the 1930s the Arizona Highway Department asked to be allowed to build a roadside park on monument land at the outer side of the proposed curve, but the Park Service opposed such a park for safety reasons. The National Park Service leadership did not wish to lose control of that narrow strip of land because it offered a means to restrict commercial development. Failing to achieve its roadside park, the state asked that the boundary fence be set back ten feet in that area supposedly to make it easier to landscape the intersection. Superintendent Bicknell granted the request. The state highway department, however, stripped the vegetation from the ten—foot—wide area and opened a barrow pit. [55]

Since the Arizona Highway Department had received a special use permit from the National Park Service, the San Carlos Irrigation Project could not be denied when its project engineer made a request for a permit in 1929. As a counterpart to the Indian Service irrigation project, the San Carlos project brought water to white farmers. In January 1929, the San Carlos project engineer contacted Pinkley and told him that in order to bring water to the section of land just north of the monument, a lateral canal would have to be constructed through the northeast corner of the monument parallel to the state highway right-of-way. Pinkley had no objection since a surface examination of the area indicated to him that a canal in that location would not damage any ruins, but he felt that the Park Service had no authority to grant such a special use permit for the proposed ditch. A. E. Demaray, acting National Park Service associate director, confirmed Pinkley's view. He indicated that the Washington office would take Pinkley's suggestion and seek legislation for a special use right-of-way permit. Senate Bill 4085 was introduced on April 2, 1930 to grant a right-of-way not to exceed fifty feet on each side of the canal for the San Carlos project. It passed and became Public Law No. 350 on June 13, 1930. [56]

Probably the most unnecessary special use permit was granted to Mountain States Telephone and Telegraph Company on March 5, 1942. This five-year permit was given on December 31, 1941 for the installation of a pay telephone in the Casa Grande headquarters office. Mountain States removed the telephone in 1947 and the permit was cancelled. [57]

As mentioned earlier in this report, a special use permit was issued to the United States Army between November 1942 and May 1946 for the rental of quarters 1 and 4 to house army personnel attached to the Florence Internment Camp. [58]

A potential request for a special use permit for a farm road right-of-way along the monument's west boundary developed in March 1943. The men who farmed to the west of the monument thought that such a road would save them from having to go around the monument to reach their land. The Pinal County engineer decided to wait until the end of the war before building a road. The need for a road was periodically mentioned until late 1951, but nothing came of it. [59]

The subject of the construction of a highway curve across the northeast corner of the monument came up once more in 1960 when a state highway survey party conducted a survey at that location. Casa Grande Superintendent Aubrey Houston wrote to the state highway department to ask for plans and proposals. The state engineer did not reply until August 25, 1961, and then he sent the plans to Emil Haury who headed the Arizona State Museum. Houston made another request to the highway department with the result that he received the plans. In the meantime Howard Shelp, the Arizona Highway Department right-of-way engineer, wrote to the Region Three director to request that the state receive a special use permit for the triangular piece of land in the monument's northeast corner along with a thirty-five-foot right-of-way on both the north and east boundaries. Regional Director Thomas Allen denied the state the thirty-five-foot right-of-way, but wrote that he would grant a renewable special use permit for the triangular piece of land. Dissatisfied with Allen's reply, William Willey, the Arizona state highway engineer, contacted Conrad Wirth, the National Park Service director, and insisted that the state needed the thirty-five-foot right-of-way for safety purposes. He assured Wirth that the state would only move the fence back thirty-five feet and not even disturb the natural growth. Wirth recalled the barrow pit incident in 1936 when the Park Service moved the northeast corner boundary fence back ten feet at the state's request. In the end a twenty-year special use permit (CAGR-1-62) was granted for the period January 1, 1962 to December 31, 1981 for the triangular piece of ground in the monument's northeast corner. In the summer of 1962 the state highway department constructed its curve through the corner, widened Highway 87, and included an island at the approach to the monument entrance. Workmen also set the east boundary fence back to accommodate the widened road. In October of that year the state constructed a new entrance into the monument. [60]

The state never used the entire triangular piece of ground in the monument's northeast corner. About one and a half years before the state highway special use permit expired, Casa Grande Superintendent Sam Henderson wrote to Howard Chapman, the Western Regional Director, to express his opinion that the Park Service should renew the state highway permit only as a right of-way for the road itself and not for the entire piece of land. Chapman agreed. Consequently, a three-year permit was negotiated in 1980 with only the roadway included in the right-of-way (CAGR-1-80). It was renewed for three years beginning January 1, 1984, but plans were already underway to eliminate the curve and return to the T intersection for safety purposes. The Arizona Department of Transportation completed the curve removal in December 1984. The area was fertilized and seeded. As a result, a new special use permit (ADOT F-005-1-702) was negotiated with the state for a short piece of land on the north side of the northeast corner for a right-turn lane. The permit expired in 1988 and is in the process of renewal. [61]

Two electrical lines run along the monument's eastern boundary. One is an overhead line owned by the Arizona Public Service and one is an underground line owned by the Electric District No. 2. The latter company is a publicly owned Rural Electric concern. On November 1, 1970, the Arizona Public Service received a twenty-year special use permit for an overhead transmission line within the Arizona Highway Department special use permit area. That company paid $10 per year for the permit. When it expired on October 31, 1989, the permit was renewed for one year and then switched to a ten-year right-of-way grant in 1990 (WR-CAGR-90-1). The assessment of a yearly fee under this new policy took into account land appraisal and administrative costs. As a result, the Arizona Public Service annual payment rose to $120. The Electric District No. 2 received a special use permit for an underground transmission line on November 1, 1970. Its permit expired on December 31, 1986, and was not immediately renewed. With the District's consent, Superintendent Spencer renewed the permit in 1989 for a five-year period starting on January 1, 1987. When it expired on December 31, 1991, the permit was not renewed because, under Title 36 CFR, the District does not need a special use permit since it was developed as a Rural Electrification Administration project. [62]

The final special use permit (WRO CAGR 5100 001) was granted to the city of Coolidge in 1983 for a nineteen-foot four-inch-by-eleven-foot two-inch area along the eastern boundary to erect and maintain a sign which read "Coolidge." A second renewal period ended December 31, 1991. A new permit is currently under review.