The Repair of Casa Grande Ruin, Arizona, in 1891: Fifteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1893-94, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1897, pages 315-348 — John Shaqi
The Repair of Casa Grande Ruin, Arizona, in 1891: Fifteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1893-94, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1897, pages 315-348Mindeleff, Cosmos
History
The Repair of Casa Grande Ruin, Arizona, in 1891: Fifteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1893-94, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1897, pages 315-348
Mindeleff, Cosmos
Arizona -- Antiquities; Casa Grande National Monument (Ariz.); Hohokam architecture -- Conservation and restoration; Indians of North America -- Arizona
It would have been desirable to have had a supervisor of the work, but
as the contract consumed practically all of the amount appropriated no
provision could be made for one. It is fortunate, therefore, that the
Reverend I. T. Whittemore, who had in the meantime been appointed
honorary custodian of the ruin, generously undertook to look after the
work without compensation, and on its conclusion the small sum remaining
($15) was turned over to him, thus exhausting the appropriation. In the
sundry civil appropriation act for the year ending June 30, 1893,
provision was made for a salaried custodian of the ruin, and Mr
Whittemore was appointed to this position. Similar provision has been
continued from year to year to the present time.
It is to be regretted that the necessities of the case, imposed by the
limited amount appropriated, compelled the fixing of a maximum amount of
work so far below the amount necessary that the repair of the ruin is
incomplete. Had it been possible to carry out the plans, it is believed
that the ruin would have stood unchanged for many decades, if not for a
century. Should further provision be made for the continuation of the
work, it should include an item for the fencing of the area covered by
the ruins or of the reservation, and possibly an item for the
construction of a roof.
It is not clear that a roof is absolutely necessary, but it is certain
that it would be very undesirable. The region where this rain occurs has
probably less rainfall than any other part of the United States, but it
must not be forgotten that while rainstorms are infrequent they are
sometimes violent, and what damage they do may be done in a few hours.
All the items for the repair of the ruin, except that pertaining to a
roof, were so devised that the ruin was not materially disfigured or
changed, and were they fully carried out the ruin would present much the
same general appearance as before. It is important that this appearance
should be preserved as far as possible, but it can not be maintained if
a roof is erected over the walls. As four years have elapsed since the
completion of the work, it should be possible now to determine whether
atmospheric erosion has played a material part in the work of
destruction.[1]
[Footnote 1: See the letter of the Director of the Bureau of
American Ethnology to the Secretary of the Interior regarding the
examination of Casa Grande by Mr W J McGee in the supplement to
the present paper.]
In the original plans and in the specifications which formed part of the
contract (although this section was not operative) a plan for a roof was
included. Such a structure, if erected at all, should be made as
inconspicuous as possible and should be supported entirely from within
the building. The system of framing employed might safely be left to the
contractor if he were made responsible for the strength of the completed
structure.
RESERVATION OF THE LAND
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