ABOUT THIS BOOK

Uncovering forgotten stories of the national monuments of the American Southwest

This volume uncovers the little-known legacy of Frank Pinkley, the first superintendent of the Southwestern National Monuments (SWNM)—a unique National Park Service unit established in 1923. Pinkley’s leadership and innovative approach helped protect and develop thirty diverse monuments, ranging from Montezuma Castle to White Sands, linked by miles of rough roads and united by their historical, archaeological, and natural significance.

Drawing on archived SWNM Monthly Reports, Will Moore reconstructs the stories behind these monuments and their contributions to the nascent national park system. From the pioneering all-Navajo Mobile Unit of the Civilian Conservation Corps to visionary work in visitor education, Pinkley and his team helped to set a course for the protection of American landscapes. Southwestern National Monuments is essential reading for anyone passionate about America's natural heritage and national parks.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Will Moore, now retired from the Arizona Education Association, serves as a winter-season volunteer at Tonto National Monument in Arizona. His work has appeared in the Journal of Arizona History and on the National Parks Conservation Association website.

REVIEWS

“The eloquent Will Moore has provided us with a much-needed history of America’s outstanding southwestern national monuments. Moore takes us back to the wild and woolly early days of Canyon de Chelly, Bandelier, Walnut Canyon, and two dozen other sites when they were managed by a lone part-time employee with little pay or resources. It’s an excellent history, both of the Indigenous people who knew the sites as home, and the rangers charged with keeping vandals and pot hunters at bay.”—Steve Kemp, author of An Exaltation of Parks: John D. Rockefeller Jr.’s Crusade to Save America’s Wonderlands

“An engaging discussion of the little-known, often quirky, but highly dedicated individuals who watched over some of our most important national monuments through a period of benign neglect by the federal government. A fine addition to the literature of our national park system.”—Frederick H. Swanson, author of Wonders of Sand and Stone: A History of Utah’s National Parks and Monuments

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Cover Page

Title Page

Copyright Page

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Pipe Spring Road Trip

1. Great House on the Desert: Casa Grande

2. Preserving History: Tumacácori

3. The Castle in the Cliff: Montezuma and Tuzigoot

4. On the Road: Petrified Forest and El Morro

5. Pueblo Ancestors: Chaco Canyon and Aztec Ruins

6. Bridges to the Past: Rainbow Bridge, Navajo, and Natural Bridges

7. “Navajo National Park”: Canyon de Chelly

8. Distant Landscapes: Arches

9. A Mountain on the Plains: Capulin Mountain

10. Pueblos and Towers: Gran Quivira, Hovenweep, and Yucca House

11. Monumental Controversy: Bandelier

12. Reorganized: Tonto and Gila Cliff Dwellings

13. Flagstaff Three: Wupatki, Sunset Crater, and Walnut Canyon

14. Far Away: Chiricahua

15. Cactus Patches: Papago Saguaro, Saguaro, and Organ Pipe Cactus

16. Becoming National Parks: Carlsbad Cave and White Sands

17. End of the Trail: Casa Grande Ruins, February 1940

Appendix: Southwestern National Monuments During the Pinkley Era: October 1923–February 1940

Notes

Bibliography

Index

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