Casa Grande Ruins National Monument Casa Grande Ruins National Monument, Arizona: a Centennial History of the First Prehistoric Reserve 1892 - 1992
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National Park Service Administrative History U.S. Department of the Interior Casa Grande Ruins National Monument Casa Grande Ruins National Monument, Arizona: A Centennial History of the First Prehistoric Reserve 1892 - 1992 A. Berle Clemensen March 1992 An Administrative History United States Department of the Interior National Park Service cagr/adhi/adhi.htm Last Updated: 22-Jan-2002 TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Illustrations Cover Acknowledgements Introduction Chapter I: Those Who Have Gone Chapter II: The Eye of the Beholder Chapter III: The Reservation of Casa Grande Land and Its Early Administration A. The Establishment and Stabilization of Casa Grande Ruins B. The Era of Isaac T. Whittemore and H.B. Mayo C. Frank Pinkley's First Tenure D. The James P. Bates Interlude Chapter IV: Casa Grande Ruins as a National Monument A. The Transfer to the National Park Service B. The First Years as a National Monument C. The Development of Casa Grande Ruins National Monument 1. Depression Era Programs 2. The Civilian Conservation Corps at Casa Grande 3. After the Civilian Conservation Corps 4. Mission 66 5. Casa Grande Ruins in the Nuclear Age 6. After Mission 66 7. Special Use Permits Chapter V: So Precious and Valuable a Resource: Ruins Preservation Chapter VI: Educating the Public: Publicizing and Interpreting the Monument A. The Evolution of the National Park Service Interpretive Story B. Publicity, Visitation, and the Interpretive Medium Chapter VII: The Only Bit of Typical Desert Land A. The Natural Setting B. The Effect of Neighboring Agriculture on the Monument C. Monument Management of Natural Resources Chapter VIII: Southwestern Monuments: Boss Pinkley's Outfit Bibliography Appendix A: List of Custodians/Superintendents Appendix B: Employees: Past and Present Appendix C: 1892 Executive Order Appendix D: 1918 National Monument Proclamation Appendix E: Casa Grande Ruins National Monument Visitation Figures Appendix F: Historical Data Sections: Casa Grande Ruins National Monument Buildings LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure 1. 1846 Sketch of the Great House Figure 2. 1848 Drawing of the Casa Grande Figure 3. 1852 Sketch of the Great House Figure 4. 1852 Drawing by John Bartlett Figure 5. 1864 Sketch by J. Ross Browne Figure 6. Casa Grande 1878 Figure 7. Casa Grande Ca. 1878 Figure 8. Casa Grande Ca. 1878 Figure 9. Casa Grande 1891 Figure 10. Casa Grande Ca. 1902 Figure 11. Casa Grande Ca. 1902 Figure 12. Casa Grande Ca. 1902 Figure 13. Casa Grande Ruins Boundaries Figure 14. 1903 Shelter Roof Figure 15. Fewkes Drawing of Compound A Figure 16. Fewkes Drawing of Compound B Figure 17. Compound B Ca. 1925 Figure 18. Pinkley's First House Figure 19. Late 1930 Aerial View of the Monument Figure 20. 1926 Roads and Structures Figure 21. 1927-1931 Roads and Structures Figure 22. 1932 Great House Shelter Figure 23. 1932 Master Plan Figure 24. 1935 Master Plan Figure 25. 1941 Master Plan Figure 26. Turquoise Mosaics Found in 1925 Figure 27. Frank "Boss" Pinkley Figure 28. Present-day Building Configuration Figure 29. Visitor Center Floor Plan Figure 30. Visitor Center Figure 31. Building 1 Floor Plan Figure 32. Building 1 Figure 33. Building 4 Floor Plan Figure 34. Building 4 Figure 35. Building 6 Floor Plan Figure 36. Building 6 Figure 37. Building 15 Floor Plan Figure 38. Building 15 Figure 39. Maintenance Area Figure 40. Building 8 Floor Plan Figure 41. Building 8 Figure 42. Building 9 Floor Plan Figure 43. Building 10 Floor Plan Figure 44. Building 10 Figure 45. Building 11 Floor Plan Figure 46. Building 11 Figure 47. Building 16 Floor Plan Figure 48. Building 16 Figure 49. Electrical Transformer Enclosure Walls Plan Figure 50. 1932 Great House Shelter Roof ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Numerous people gave of their time and aided me in researching and writing this report. My thanks go to Superintendent Donald Spencer and his staff — Nathan Allen, John Andresen, Bettie Gill, and Aleta Knight — at Casa Grande Ruins National Monument. I valued the efforts of the people in the following agencies and institutions: Western Archeological and Conservation Center, Tucson, Arizona Office of the Bureau of Land Management in Phoenix, Arizona Department of Library, Archives and Public Records in Phoenix, Arizona Historical Society in Tucson, University of Arizona Library Special Collections, Arizona Foundation in the Carl Hayden Library of Arizona State University in Tempe, Sharlot Hall Historical Society in Prescott, National Archives and Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., and the Regional Archives and Record Center in Denver, Colorado. The advice given by Gordon Chappell and Thomas Mulhern of the Western Regional Office in San Francisco was greatly appreciated. I also wish to thank Frank Williss, Wil Logan, and my wife Margaret for their comments. Sallie Van Valkenburgh deserves recognition for her pioneering work on Casa Grande Ruins National Monument history. INTRODUCTION Casa Grande Ruins National Monument lies within the basin and range area of southern Arizona which is a part of the Sonoran Desert. The mountain ranges around the monument are pre-Cambrian granites and schists. Some are cut by younger granitic rocks and flanked by tertiary lava flows. The nearly level plains between the mountain ranges contain Sonoran Desert scrub characterized by creosote bush — bursage vegetation. The monument elevation ranges from 1427 feet in the southeast corner to 1414 feet on the northwest side. Casa Grande is on the drainage of McClellan Wash, a tributary of the Gila River. Its soil is Coolidge sandy loam with caliche, a limy hardpan, two to four feet below the surface. The monument's biotic community is surrounded for the most part by irrigated agricultural land. There are sixty documented archeological sites in the monument. Some of these sites have been dated to AD 550- 700, while the compounds were built between AD 1200-1450. Casa Grande Ruin Reservation was created on June 22, 1892 by order of President Benjamin Harrison to protect a one-of-a-kind remaining Casa Grande or Great House. As a result, Casa Grande became the first prehistoric and cultural site to be established in the United States. The 480 acre reservation boundary changed in 1909, but retained the same acreage. An act in 1926 reduced that area to 472.5 acres. Some controversy has occurred over the years about the exact name of the monument. Originally, it was set aside as Casa Grande Ruin Reservation. In 1918 President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed it to be Casa Grande National Monument. Subsequent congressional acts in 1926 and 1930 called it Casa Grande Ruins National Monument. Some National Park Service personnel have held that the national monument proclamation of 1918 should determine the name, but, on the basis of the later legislation combined with a legal opinion and desire by monument management to be known as Casa Grande Ruins National Monument, the National Park Service Chief Historian recommended on December 17, 1991 that it be recognized as Casa Grande Ruins National Monument. CHAPTER I: THOSE WHO HAVE GONE The significance of Casa Grande ruins lies in its prehistoric past when the builders and inhabitants achieved a sophisticated culture. Casa Grande fell within the heartland of an extensive prehistoric agricultural society. The Hohokam (a Pima Indian term meaning "those who have gone"), with their lengthy canal irrigation system, were masters of the desert. The Hohokam culture did not suddenly appear. Its antecedents lay in a previous, local Archaic culture. These Archaic peoples, who appeared in the desert Southwest about 5500 BC, functioned as hunters and gatherers who depended upon wild plants and animals for their subsistence. Whether domesticated corn became available before 1000 BC or not, these people did not cultivate it because they had little need to invest their labor in such a crop when they could subsist by hunting and gathering. A growing population perhaps combined with some dry periods, however, began to outstrip the flora and fauna used for food. By 1000 BC, this situation forced the population to augment their ration by cultivating a small cob popcorn. By 500 BC regular corn appeared in the area and was crossed with the small cob popcorn. The prehistoric population in turn, crossed this hybrid with an eight-row flour corn several centuries later. About 350 BC, common beans (pinto, red, and navy) were introduced. The Archaic peoples' casual dry land cultivation, however, did not produce sufficient yields to supply the growing demand. To ensure crop yields in the Southwest required considerable attention. Such attention began to curb the mobility of these hunter/gatherer peoples. Decreased mobility only forced the people to place greater reliance on domesticated crops. This more sedentary life, in turn, depleted the wild resources in an area. Returning to a hunting and gathering way of life then became no longer viable. As a result, this Archaic culture began a slow transition into a hydraulic (water based) society which used irrigation to support its agriculture. By AD 300 this water-based culture appeared as the Hohokam. [1] Archeologists have divided the Hohokam culture into the following approximate four periods. The four periods include: Pioneer, AD 300-750; Colonial, AD 750-950; Sedentary, AD 950-1175; and the Classic, AD 1175-1450. The Pioneer period found the Hohokam living as simple farmers in a series of small villages along the middle Gila River. Several factors determined the location of an early Hohokam village — good arable land, a suitable location from which the Gila could be tapped for irrigation water, and a shallow aquifer so that wells for domestic water need not be dug more than ten feet deep. Early Hohokam houses consisted of branches bent in a semi-circular fashion and covered with twigs, reeds, and mud. House locations had no consistency.