NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 (Expires 5/31/2012) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Registration Form This form is for use in nominating or requesting determinations for individual properties and districts. See instructions in National Register Bulletin, How to Complete the National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. If any item does not apply to the property being documented, enter "N/A" for "not applicable." For functions, architectural classification, materials, and areas of significance, enter only categories and subcategories from the instructions. Place additional certification comments, entries, and narrative items on continuation sheets if needed (NPS Form 10-900a). 1. Name of Property historic name Pagoda Creek other names/site number 48PA853 2. Location street & number X not for publication X city or town Wapiti vicinity state Wyoming code WY county Park code 029 zip code 82414 3. State/Federal Agency Certification As the designated authority under the National Historic Preservation Act, as amended, I hereby certify that this X nomination _ request for determination of eligibility meets the documentation standards for registering properties in the National Register of Historic Places and meets the procedural and professional requirements set forth in 36 CFR Part 60. In my opinion, the property X_ meets _ does not meet the National Register Criteria. I recommend that this property be considered significant at the following level(s) of significance: national X statewide local Signature of certifying official/Title Date State or Federal agency/bureau or Tribal Government In my opinion, the property meets does not meet the National Register criteria. Signature of commenting official Date Title State or Federal agency/bureau or Tribal Government 4. National Park Service Certification I hereby certify that this property is: entered in the National Register determined eligible for the National Register determined not eligible for the National Register removed from the National Register other (explain:) _________________ Signature of the Keeper Date of Action 1 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 (Expires 5/31/2012) Pagoda Creek site Park County, Wyoming Name of Property County and State 5. Classification Ownership of Property Category of Property Number of Resources within Property (Check as many boxes as apply.) (Check only one box.) (Do not include previously listed resources in the count.) Contributing Noncontributing private building(s) buildings public - Local district 1 sites public - State X site structures X public - Federal structure objects object 1 Total Name of related multiple property listing Number of contributing resources previously (Enter "N/A" if property is not part of a multiple property listing) listed in the National Register N/A N/A 6. Function or Use Historic Functions Current Functions (Enter categories from instructions.) (Enter categories from instructions.) Domestic (camp) Recreation and Culture (outdoor recreation) Landscape (park) Landscape (natural feature) 7. Description Architectural Classification Materials (Enter categories from instructions.) (Enter categories from instructions.) N/A foundation: N/A walls: N/A roof: N/A other: N/A 2 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 (Expires 5/31/2012) Pagoda Creek site Park County, Wyoming Name of Property County and State Narrative Description (Describe the historic and current physical appearance of the property. Explain contributing and noncontributing resources if necessary. Begin with a summary paragraph that briefly describes the general characteristics of the property, such as its location, setting, size, and significant features.) Summary Paragraph The Pagoda Creek site (48PA853) is located on a terrace of the North Fork of the Shoshone River in Park County, Wyoming. The site is a winter season game processing camp, comprised of two separate occupations which include an intact bonebed containing bighorn sheep and mule deer, a dense lithic floor, and multiple thermal features, including three hearths and a rock alignment. Associated diagnostic artifacts indicate the presence of a Late Plains Archaic Pelican Lake cultural component. AMS dates from bone samples reveal that the site was occupied between approximately 2750-2799 and 2730-2773 calibrated years B.P. (OxCal 3.4). Because the Pagoda Creek site is an unusually well-preserved example of a Pelican Lake winter occupation with the potential to yield further scientific data, it is eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion D at the statewide level of significance. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Narrative Description Environmental Setting The Pagoda Creek site (48PA853) is located in the eastern Absaroka Mountains, in the North Fork valley in Park County, Wyoming. The site is approximately 5980 ft. above sea level, and situated 12.2 km (7.6 mi.) west of Wapiti, Wyoming and 38.9 km (24.2 mi.) east of Yellowstone National Park’s east entrance. Specifically, the Pagoda Creek site is on the eastern end of a terrace, approximately 400 m (1,312 ft.) south of the North Fork of the Shoshone River, the principal drainage of the north-central Absaroka Mountains (Eakin 1989) (Figures 1-6). The Absaroka Mountains encompass a 50 x 170 km (31 x 105.6 mi.) area in northwestern Wyoming, surrounded by the Bighorn Basin to the east, the Yellowstone Plateau to the west, the Beartooth Plateau to the north, and the Washakie-Owl Creek Mountains to the south (Eakin 1989). The Absarokas are the only volcanically derived mountain range in Wyoming (Love and Christiansen 1985). As a result of the volcanic nature of the mountains, the North Fork valley landscape exhibits complex structure and erodibility, characterized by steep escarpments, easily eroding slopes, and isolated rock pinnacles called hoodoos (Eakin 1989; Eakin 1993) (Figure 7). Alluvial fans and terraces are common in the North Fork valley with numerous steep mountain drainages bringing sediment into the Shoshone River. Many of the fans that formed during the Pleistocene and Holocene epochs are currently down-cut stepped terraces, including the location of the Pagoda Creek site. The Pleistocene terraces typically consist of a coarse gravel matrix deposited when the riverbed was dammed during glacial stages (Baker 1985). The Holocene terraces typically consist of deposits of fine-grained sediment (Baker 1985); the Pagoda Creek site is covered by such a Holocene terrace, providing for excellent preservation (Eakin 1989). Vegetation on the Holocene terrace in which the Pagoda Creek site is situated is characterized as a Sagebrush Steppe, dominated by Wyoming big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) and rabbitbrushes (Chrysothamnus viscidiflorus and Chrysothamnus nauseosis). Grasses covering the site include needle and thread (Stipa comata), bluebunch wheatgrass (Agropyron spicatum), and thickspike wheatgrass (Agropyron dasystachyum). Low-lying forbes on the terrace include pussytoes (Artennaria microphylla), hood’s phlox (Phlox hoodii), and plains pricklypear (Opuntia polycantha) (Dueholm 1989). The riparian vegetation along the Shoshone River, just north of the site, is characterized by a mix of plains cottonwood (Populus deltoids), narrow-leaf cottonwood (Populus angustifolia), and various willows (Salix spp.) (Knight 1994). A multitude of animal and bird species are native to the sagebrush steppe and its surrounding riparian and coniferous ecosystems. Medium and large ungulate populations represented a potentially important resource to the prehistoric people of the area, and continue to inhabit the modern landscape. These include Rocky Mountain elk (Cervus canadensis), mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus), white-tail deer (Odocoileus virginianus), bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis), and bison (Bison bison) (Buskirk 2016: 340-370; Frison 1991:251-275). Other mammals present in the vicinity of the site include cottontail rabbits (Sylvilagus sp.), jackrabbits (Lepus sp.), bobcat (Lynx rufus), black bears (Ursus americanus), grizzly bears (Ursus arctos ssp.), coyote (Canis latrans), wolves (Canis lupus), 3 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 (Expires 5/31/2012) Pagoda Creek site Park County, Wyoming Name of Property County and State various foxes (Vulpes vulpes and Urocyon cinereoargenteus), and beavers (Castor canadensis) (specific to the immediate riparian ecosystem) (Buskirk 2016; Frison 1991; Kornfeld et al. 2010). Various rodents, birds of prey, grouse, and songbirds are also common (Pitkin and Quattrini 2010). The North Fork valley, like much of Wyoming, is classified as a cold semiarid climate (Strahler and Strahler 1978). The Pagoda Creek site, situated in a mountain valley, is subject to westerly winds from the Yellowstone Plateau. The elevation typically results in increased precipitation and lower temperatures (Martner 1986). The nearest weather station is in Wapiti, Wyoming, and their similar elevations indicate that weather trends are similar. The average maximum temperature in July is 27.9° C (82.3°