The Moore Cabin and House, Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park
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archeological investigations volume 2 MOORE CABIN AND HOUSE I SKAGWAY KLONDIKE GOLD RUSH NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK I ALASKA ARCHEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS IN SKAGWAY, ALASKA VOLUME 2: THE MOORE CABIN AND HOUSE KLONDIKE GOLD RUSH NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK by Catherine Holder Blee 1988 • U.S. Department of the Interior I National Park Service Bibliographic Reference Blee, Catherine Holder 1988 Archeological Investigations in Skagway, Alaska, Volume ~: The Moore Cabin and House, Klondike Gold Rush National HistoricaTPark. United ,States Government Printing Office, Denver. Keywords 1) Historical arctieology; 2) archeological excavations; 3) hi.storic artifacts; 4) Southeast Alaska. • ii ABSTRACT Archeological investigations at both the present and original locations of the William Moore Cabin (1888-1900) offered an unusual opportunity to study the construction and use of an early twentieth century Alaskan frontier cabin as it changed through both time and space. In addition to the traditional archeological excavations of stratified soil deposits, data were recovered from the attic of the Moore Cabin. These assisted in the interpretation of remains on the original cabin site. Approximately 4000 artifacts were found in stratified sheet trash deposits, including items associated with the original settlers of Skagway. Their analysis provided not only details about the lives and incidents of the Moores and their successors, the Kirmses, and the structures in which they lived, but also provided insight into human behavior on America's most recent frontier. In the Moore Cabin attic, remains of clothing used as chinking material provided a glimpse of the frugal life of Skagway's pioneers. The spatial distribution of nails and roofing fragments suggested that the east roof was covered with split shakes and the west half by sawn shingles. Special studies include: 1) the spatial distribution of the modal nail types, structural materials, bottle glass and window glass, and locational information of features in the absence of structural remains; 2) the change in the modal thickness of window glass through time; 3) a comparative study of jars and tin cans; 4) the way sheet trash was deposited around residential and subsidiary buildings; and 5) the variable deposition rate of sheet trash in times of fluctuating economic conditions. ' iii Activities Group 115 Hunting/Warfare Class 115 Leisure Activities Class 116 Children Class . 116 Structural Group 117 Window Glass Class 117 Nails Class 117 Hardware Class 119 Utilities Class . 119 Unclassifiable Group. 119 Conclusions 120 The Moore House Front Yard: Operation 16 120 Artifacts . 122 Conclusions 125 Assemblage Analysis. 127 The Classifiable Artifacts. 127 Structural Group 135 Structural Materials Class 137 Nails Class 143 Window Glass Class 158 Non-Structural Group 165 Beverage Containers Class 169 Food Storage Class . 173 Food Serving Class . 179 Food Preparation Class 180 Bottle Glass Color 183 Conclusions 188 CHAPTER 3: THE PRESENT SITE OF THE MOORE CABIN 191 Operation 26: The Cabin Attic 193 Recovery Methods 193 11 11 The Stratigraphy • 196 The Artifacts 196 Shingles and Shakes 202 Nails 206 Chinking Materials 206 Description of clothing fragments 208 Children's clothing 211 Women's clothing 211 Men's clothing . 218 Other cloth items 222 Conclusions regarding the clothing 222 Evidence of Child's Play . 224 Miscellaneous Artifacts 226 National Park Service Use of the Structure 229 Conclusions 230 Operation 15: The East Side of the Cabin 232 Stratigraphy 233 Historic Use of the East Side of the Cabin 233 Description of the Artifacts 233 Domestic Group 241 Personal Group 246 vii Structural Group 246 Nails Class 246 ·e Window Glass Class 249 Other Structural Artifacts 249 Activities Group 249 Conclusions From Operation 15 254 Operation 27: The West Side of the Cabin 255 Features 256 Stratum C 260 Stratum B 260 Stratigraphy 260 Artifacts 261 Stratum A 265 Artifacts 265 Conclusions 267 CHAPTER 4: ARTIFACT SYNTHESIS 273 Structural Group Artifacts 278 The Sheet Trash 278 Nail Synthesis . 281 The Location of the East and West Walls of the Cabin 286 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS 291 Particularistic Findings 293 Early Moore Period (1888-1900) 293 The Later Moore Period (1900-1914) 296 The Early Kirmse Period (1914-1940) 296 The Late Kirmse Period (after 1940) 297 Generalizing Conclusions 298 Horizontal Distribution of Artifacts . 298 The Functional Distribution of Artifacts 299 Window Glass Thickness . 300 Bottle Glass Color and Bottle Function 300 Recommendations 302 For the Interpreter . 302 For the Park Manager 304 For the Archeologist 305 Mitigation at the Moore House 305 Further Scientific Inquiry ·. 308 AFTERWORD 310 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 312 REFERENCES CITED 315 APPENDIX A: Inventory of Food Remains in Operation 17 323 APPENDIX B: Numbered Artifact Inventory, Operation 26, Moore Cabin Attic 329 viii The Artifacts 60 The 1888-1900 Deposits 60 Domestic Group 60 Personal Group 63 Activities Group 63 Structural Group 66 The 1900-1914 Deposits 70 Domestic Group 70 Personal Group 74 Activities Group 76 Structural Group 76 Window Glass Class 76 Nails Class 77 Hardware Class 77 Structural Materials Class 80 Utilities Class . 80 Unclassified Materials 81 The 1914-1940 Deposits 82 Domestic Group 82 Food Storage Class 82 Beverage Containers Class 85 Food Serving Class 85 Food Remains Class . 87 Pharmeceutical Class 89 Furnishing Class 89 Personal Group. 90 Activities Group 90 Structural Group 90 Window Glass Class 91 Nails Class 91 Hardware Class 91 Structural Materials Class 94 Utilities Class 95 Unclassifiable Materials 95 The 1940 Fill 95 Food Remains Class . 97 The Post-1940 Builder's Trench (Feature 36) 97 The Post-1940 Deposits 100 Domestic Group 105 Food Storage Class 105 Beverage Containers Class 105 Food Serving Class 109 Food Preparation Class 109 Food Remains Class 111 Pharmeceutical Class 112 Housekeeping Class 113 Furnishings Class 114 Personal Group . 114 Clothing Class . 114 Grooming and Hygiene Class 114 Writing Paraphernalia Class 115 vi • TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT . iii TABLE OF CONTENTS v LIST OF FIGURES ix LIST OF TABLES xii PREFACE xiii CHAPTER 1: BACKGROUND INFORMATION 1 Environmental Background 3 Soils 3 Historical Background 5 The Moores Come to Skagway 7 Gold is Discovered in the Klondike 8 The Construction of the Moore Cabin 10 Bernard Builds the House 12 The Kirmses Move into the House 20 Research Methodology 21 Research Objectives . 21 Research Questions . 22 Excavation Methodology 24 Treatment of Artifacts 28 Artifact Classification 28 Artifact Groups 30 Structural Artifacts . 31 Non-Structu ra I Artifacts 33 Domestic Group 33 Personal Group. 34 Activities Group 34 Unclassifiable Group 35 CHAPTER 2: THE ORIGINAL CABIN SITE AND THE MOORE HOUSE 37 The Excavations 39 Stratigraphy 39 Introduction 39 Stratigraphic Levels 41 Features and Intrusions 50 The Creek Bed. 50 The Moore Cabin Drainage Trench 53 Shaped Stones . 56 The Fence Posts 56 The Cess Pool . 57 Moore House Builder's Trench . 57 Conclusions 59 v LIST OF FIGURES 1. Location of Skagway, Alaska 4 2. An 1895 photograph of the Moore cabin at the edge of the tree line 6 3. Bernard Moore and Bernard Moore, Jr. with the Moore House and the cabin in rear, July, 1897 . 13 4. The 1896 survey map 14 5. Photograph of the Moore House and cabin from above, taken in about June, 1898 15 6. Moore residences building sequences taken from historic photographs, 1888-1898 16 7. Moore residences building sequences taken from historic photographs, 1900-1901 17 8. The Moore Cabin, ca. 1900 18 9. Rear of the Moore House and Moore Cabin, showing shed addition, ca. 1905 19 10. Photograph of Operation 17 before excavation in 1983 25 11. Plan map of the Moore House and Moore Cabin archeological excavation locations 26 12. Harris Matrix of stratigraphy north of the Moore House 40 13. West stratigraphic profile of the Moore House Operation 17 excavations at West 10 and West 5 . 42 14. West stratigraphic profile of the Moore House Operation 17 excavations at East 0, East 5 and East 10 44 15. North stratigraphic profile of the Moore House Operation 17 excavations at North 15.2, North 15, and North 10 46 16. Photograph of the cess pool 49 17. Plan map of the Operation 17 excavations 54 18. Photograph of the three bottles found in situ 58 19. Personal and Activities Group artifacts from the 1888-1900 deposits 64 20. Photograph of the north side of the cabin 69 21. Can openers from Operation 17 72 22. Cuprous disc found in the 1900-1914 deposits, Operation 17 75 23. Structural artifacts from the 1900-1914 deposits 79 24. Porcelain creamer in the shape of a cow 86 25. Souvenir tea cup 88 26. Artifacts from the post-1940s contexts 98 27. Elevation drawing of the foundations on the Moore House 101 28. Bottles from the 1940-present period, Operation 17 106 29. Large artifa'cts from the 1940-present period . 110 30. Small artifacts from the 1940-present period 113 31. The stratigraphic profile of Operation 16 121 32. Ca. 1920 1s photograph of the front yard of the Moore House. 124 33. Weapon projectiles from Operation 16 126 34. Temporal distribution of Structural and Non-structural artifacts at the Moore House 129 35. Frequencies of Structural artifacts and the kinds of structural activities taking place at the Moore House through time . 130 36. Graph of the absolute frequency of Non-structural artifacts to the length of occupation at the Moore House . 132 37. Rain of artifacts per year on each deposit at the Moore House 134 ix 38. The spatial distribution of all classifiable artifacts in the three major deposits at the Moore House 136 39. Temporal distribution of the Structural classes at the Moore House 138 40. Spatial distribution of Structural Materials in the three major deposits at the Moore House 140 41. Spatial distribution of all Structural Materials at the Moore House in the post-1914 deposits 141 42.