Efforts at the national monument during the war were devoted largely to preventive maintenance. Changing his headquarters from Pinnacles to Cedar Pass in June 1943, Stricklin was able to give closer attention to the headquarters area.[176] Such routine tasks as filling washouts, cleaning ditches, reclaiming gravel, cutting roadside weeds, repairing guard rails, cleaning up debris, and temporary patching of roads occupied most of the staff’s time. Other tasks, such as repairing water lines, painting signs, keeping the buildings in repair, and servicing and repairing the area equipment also required much attention.[177] The cottage that the custodian and his family rented from Millard at Cedar Pass was destroyed by fire on November 27, 1943.[178]
[Illustration: Figure 22 CEDAR PASS, June 1950
The buildings of Cedar Pass Lodge can be seen behind the white frame structure, which served as a visitor center and headquarters until 1959. Remnants of two spires on Vampire Peak remain on the left. It was observed on November 22, 1950, that one of the two spires of this famous landmark had fallen, apparently during a thunder storm.[189]]
During the ten years following the end of World War II, there was slow progress in the area’s development. Work on the custodian’s residence at Cedar Pass, begun in 1941, was completed in 1946.[179] Early in 1953 two additional houses, both prefabricated, were completed.[180] In January 1948 commercial power was brought to Cedar Pass and Interior with the completion of a single-phase power line by the Rural Electrification Administration.[181] The Northwestern Bell Telephone Company extended telephone service to the national monument headquarters in September 1952.[182] (This service was officially taken over by the Golden West Telephone Cooperative, Inc., in October 1960.)[183]
During the travel seasons of 1946 and 1947 there was much adverse criticism of the national monument roads. The maintenance equipment was in poor condition and usually undergoing repairs when most needed.[184] In the summer of 1948 about 4 miles of road was black-topped between the Cedar Pass junction and Norbeck Pass; this represented the first paving of U.S. Route 16A in the national monument.[185] The present northeast entrance road, about 3½ miles long, was completed in October 1951. It opened up a new area of the Badlands known as the Window Section.[186] This road was made possible by the donation in 1946 of a 160-acre, strategically located land parcel by Mr. Ben Millard who had purchased it from Jackson County in March 1941 for this purpose.[187]