Founded 1966 Volume 38, Number 1 March 2004
See you at the Annual Meeting, 17-20 March, Riverside! 2 ○○○○○○○ Society for California Archaeology Newsletter
○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ Volume 38, Number 1, March 2004 Regular Features From the President Elena Nilsson...... 3
A quarterly newsletter of articles and information essential SCA Business and Activities to California archaeology. Contributions are welcome. Native American Programs...... 4 Lead articles should be 1,500-2,000 words. Longer articles may appear in installments. Send submissions as hard Legislative Liaison Report ...... 4 copy or on diskette to: SCA Newsletter, Department of Site Stewardship ...... 7 Anthropology, CSU Chico, Chico CA 95929-0400 or as email or attachments to: News and Announcements
Editorial Staff Out of the Pits Managing Editor ...... Greg White (530) 898-4360 Comment on Indian Pass, Editorial Assistance . Melinda Pacheco (530) 898-5733 Imperial County, California ...... 12
Contributing Editors Avocational News . . . . . Jerry Dudley/Myra Herrmann Articles Curation ...... Cindy Stankowski Education ...... Mary Gorden Federal Agency News ...... Russ Kaldenberg Angel Island Immigration Station Historical Archaeology ...... open Trish Fernandez ...... 18 Information Centers ...... Lynn Compas Membership ...... Stacy Schneyder Case New Publications ...... Denise Thomas Indians’ Hidden Paintings Open Window to OHP ...... Michael McGuirt San Francisco’s Sacred Past Legislation ...... Stephen Bryne Carl Nolte ...... 24 CASSP ...... Chris and Beth Padon State Agency News ...... open Preliminary Condition Assessment Newsletter Deadlines Building 50, Presidio of San Francisco, California For Issue ...... Deadline Anthony Crosby, Sannie Kenton Osborn, Vance Bente’, Leo Barker, March ...... February 20 Megan Wilkinson, Eric Blind ...... 25 June ...... May 20 September ...... August 20 December ...... November 20 Culture Contact at El Presidio De San Francisco: The Tennessee Hollow Watershed Archaeology Project Calendar Submissions Barbara Voss ...... 29 position open: ...... temporarily send submissions to [email protected] The San Francisco West Approach Project: Advertising Rates th 1/4 page ...... $70 Unearthing San Francisco’s Accidental 19 Century Time Capsules 1/2 page ...... $100 Jack McIlroy ...... 34 Full page ...... $175 A Brief History of Russell City, California Ads that run three or more consecutive issues receive a Megan Wilkinson ...... 34 15% discount.
SCA Newsletter 38(1) 3 From the President
events, and socializing with your friends. SCA Executive Board 2002-20032003-2004 The long-awaited Volume 14 of the President: ElenaDana Nilsson,McGowan, URS Jones&Stokes Corporation, Associates, 1550 Proceedings has been delivered to the 2600Humboldt V Street, Road, Sacramento, Suite #2, Chico, CA 95818; CA 95928; printer, and we anticipate its W: (916)(530) 739-3095;893-9675. email: [email protected][email protected] distribution at the Annual Meeting, along with Volume 17, the Immediate Past President:President: Sannie Dana McGowan,K. Osborn, Presidio compendium of last years Annual TrustJones&Stokes Building, Associates, 230 Gorgas 2600 Avenue, V Street, P.O. Sacramento, Box 29052, CA San Meeting Papers. Just two more reasons Francisco,95818; W: CA(916) 94129-0052; 739-3095; W: (415) 561-5090. why you should make sure you come email: [email protected]@jsanet.com to Riverside. President-Elect: ElenaAmy Gilreath, Nilsson, FarURS Western Corporation, 1550 HumboldtAnthropological Road, ResearchSuite #2, Chico,Group, CA Inc., 95928; 2727 Del Rio The Committee for Advanced W:Place, (530) Suite 893-9675. A, Davis, email: CA 95616; [email protected] Annual Meeting Planning (CAAMP), W: (530) 756-3941. email: [email protected] spearheaded by Tom Origer, has been Southern Vice-President: Thomas L. Wheeler, Caltrans hard at work securing hotels for future SLO,Southern 50 Higuera Vice-President: Street, San Terry Luis Jones, Obispo, Social CA 93401; Sciences m looking forward to seeing all of meetings. Through their efforts, the WDepartment, (805) 549-3777; CalPoly, H (805)San Luis 547-0763; Obispo, 1 Grand Avenue, you March 17-21st at the SCA 38th 2005 Annual Meeting will be held at Fax:San Luis(805) Obispo, 549-3233; CA 93407; email: [email protected] IAnnual Meeting in Riverside. The W (805) 756-2523; email: [email protected] the Hyatt Regency in Sacramento and Northern Vice-President: Richard Fitzgerald, Caltrans, Annual Meeting is the Societys the 2006 Annual Meeting at the principal event and a time for all NorthernDistrict 04, Vice-President: 111 Grand Ave., Richard Oakland Fitzgerald, , CA; 94623-0660 Caltrans, Marriott in Ventura. Potential sites are District(W) 510 04, 622-1747; 111 Grand (H) Ave., 925 Oakland335-2454; , CA; email: 94623-0660 members to reacquaint themselves being considered for the 2007 and (W)[email protected] 510 622-1747; (H) 925 335-2454; email: with friends, share their research, learn 2008 Annual Meetings, and given the [email protected] of new projects and studies, and honor high energy of the CAAMP members, Secretary: Vicki Beard, Tom Origer And Associates, those who have made a lasting Im sure it wont be long until you see P.O.Secretary: Box 1531, Vicki Rohnert Beard, Tom Park, Origer CA; 94927; And Associates, (W)P.O. Box(707)792-2797; 1531, Rohnert email: Park, [email protected] CA; 94927; contribution to our profession. Mike final venues being reported. Lerch, Program and Local (W) (707)792-2797; email: [email protected] Treasurer: Trish Fernandez, c/o SCA Business Office, Arrangement Chairperson, has By now, many of you have visited Treasurer:Department Stacy of Anthropology, Schneyder Case, California Jones&Stokes State University, diligently crafted an impressive the SCAs new website and have found Associates,Chico, Chico, 2600 CA V Street, 95929-0401 Sacramento, ; CA 95818; W: program of some 15 organized its content and layout much improved (916)[email protected], 739-3000; email: [email protected] ATTN: SCA Treasurer. symposia and more than 120 papers, over its predecessor. The first phase of informative workshops, and a host of the retooling effort focused on SCA Business Office: Greg White, Department of social events for all to enjoy. uploading and updating basic Anthropology, CSU Chico, Chico, CA 95929-001; (530) 898-4360; email: [email protected] Highlights of the Annual Meeting elements, such as information include Thursdays plenary session on regarding the SCA, membership, DNA Contributions to Archaeology meetings and events, and job and the all-day Saturday session resources. Subsequent phases will commemorating the 20th anniversary include pages on the Societys awards, of major contributions to California careers in archaeology, interviews with archaeology by Michael Moratto and past key note speakers, volunteer Visit our web site: Joseph and Kerry Chartkoff. The opportunities, field schools, links to www.scanet.org Saturday session will be open to the other historic preservation and public and will conclude with a archaeology home pages, government reception where SCA members and affairs/laws and regulations, and the public may visit with the original Native American issues. The new authors and current speakers. Thursday website is has been realized through evening, the Silent Auction will be the collective efforts of Greg White, held in nearby Redlands at the offices SCA Business Office Manager, Past SCA Business Office Department of Anthropology and courtyard of Statistical Research, President Dana McGowan, and California State University, Chico located in a restored 1890 brick Southern Vice-President Terry Jones, Chico, CA 95929-0401 warehouse in the Santa Fe Depot all of whom worked diligently to Ph (530) 898-5733 National Register District. The Friday ensure its on-line arrival in January. Fx (530) 898-4220 night Awards Banquet will feature The SCA Executive Board held its M/Th 8:00-5:00 keynote speaker Dr. John Rick, who W 12:00-5:00 will present a program on his research quarterly Board Meeting in January, at Chavín de Huántar, Peru. Dont where the 2004 Budget was a primary [email protected] miss out on all the great papers, topic of (continued page 15)
SCA Newsletter 38(1) 4 SCA Business and Activities
this event appeared to have the most Committee Reports Native American attendees and SCA Committees 2002-2003 presentersa good sign! Archaeology Month Representative We are busy planning CRM Mark Hylkema (415) 330-6328; [email protected] Native American workshops in partnership with the Annual Meeting Planning and Agenda, 2004 Programs Committee Amah Mutsun Tribal Band (to be held Mike Lerch (909) 335-1896; [email protected] March 6-7) and the 12 bands of the Pit Janet P. Eidsness River Tribe (to be held in mid-April). Avocational Society Representative These are exciting days! Myra Herrmann (619) 446-5372; [email protected] On October 11, 2003 at the 18th Jerry Dudley (831) 663-2036; [email protected] Annual California Indian Conference On Thursday, March 18, 2004 (CIC) hosted by Cabrillo College in (4:30-5:30 p.m.but check Program!), Bennyhoff Memorial Award Watsonville, SCA Native American please join us in Riverside for the Richard Hughes (415) 851-1410; [email protected] Programs Committee (NAPC) open meeting of the Native American Curation Representative presented a symposium entitled Programs Committee at the SCA Cindy Stankowski (619) 239-1868; [email protected] California Tribal Programs in Annual Meeting. We are always Heritage Resources Management. looking for new members to network Education Committee Following opening comments on with, and new ideas on how we may Mary Gorden (209) 597-2373; [email protected] Amah Mustun Tribal Band history by best partner with Indian communities Anne Duffield-Stoll (909) 621-7521; [email protected] Ed Ketchum, this session featured to meet our common goals! Look for Information Center Liaison talks by THPOs Thomas Gates (Yurok our table in the Book Room, where Lynn Compas (916) 739-8356; Tribe) and Marnie Atkins (Table Bluff well have copies of the Sourcebook [email protected] Reservation-Wiyot Tribe), Wiyot available. Tribal Chairperson Cheryl A. Seidner, Legislative Liaison attorney for the Quechan Tribe Stephen Bryne (415) 458-5803; [email protected] Courtney Ann Coyle, and Larry Myers, Legislative Liaison Report Executive Secretary of the Native Membership Stacy Schneyder Case (916) 737-3000; [email protected] American Heritage Commission. Stephen Bryne About 50 updated Sourcebooks (4th Native American Programs Edition) were distributed, and Janet Eidsness (530) 629-3153; [email protected] donation monies were put back into 108th U.S. Congress 2003-2004 the Committees coffers to make Californias hopes for a big jobs OHP Liaison additional copies. At a fine BBQ Michael McGuirt (916) 653-8920; [email protected] boost from a new federal highway and dinner hosted by the Amah Mutsun transit spending program were fading Tribal Band, President-Elect Amy Proceedings fast amid signs that Congress and the Gilreath announced that Larry Myers Donna Day (530) 478-6214; [email protected] White House were worried about its was named the 2003 recipient of the cost. The House voted 421-0 to Professional Standards and Guidelines SCA California Indian Heritage extend the current six-year, $217 Lynn Gamble (760) 371-1320; [email protected] Preservation Award. In addition, the billion bill for four more months. If NAPC provided support to Chumash Publicity the Senate goes along, it would be the undergraduate student Maria Cordero, Breck Parkman; [email protected] second extension for the old program, who delivered a paper on Juridical which was due to expire on Sept. 30. Subordination of California Indians SCA Webmaster The Senate is bogged down in debate Kristina Roper (559) 561-6011; [email protected] From Statehood (1850) to Civil Rights over the proposed $318 billion bill, Movement (1960). We are which President Bush says he wont Site Stewardship Committee encouraging her to publish her paper, Chris Padon; [email protected] support in an election year in which he which she will soon present to Beth Padon; [email protected] has vowed to hold the line on legislators as Maria was selected as domestic spending. His one of two students to represent UC- Tom King Award administration has proposed a $256 Russ Kaldenberg (916) 978-4635; [email protected] Santa Barbara at the March 8-9, 2004 billion. The House Transportation UC Day in Sacramento. As a sign that Committee wants a $375 billion bill. SCA Business Office what goes around comes around and Congress failure to make quick we must be doing something right, Melinda Pacheco progress on the legislation is a major after reconciling their books the CIC ph (530) 898-5733; fax (530) 898-4220 disappointment to members who organizing committee donated $250 to [email protected] hoped it would create a boost in new support NAPC activities! Congrats to jobs during an election year. The Rob Edwards and CIC 18 organizers, as
SCA Newsletter 38(1) 5 SCA Business and Activities
Senate bill faces a filibuster from comment period for the revised ensure that funds are available for members who fear the proposal would Advisory Council regulations has historic preservation, on an ongoing increase the budget deficit, which is ended. President Nixon, in the basis, through a revolving loan fund. already projected to top half a trillion interest of streamlining the Section Specifically, this bill would create a dollars. Senate Majority Leader Bill 106 process and to fulfill the intent of fund from which loans will be provided Frist, R-Tenn., has suggested trimming Congress, ordered that eligible sites to encourage the development of a the bill to $290 billion, but supporters should be given the same protection as systematic and coordinated of the bill dont like that idea. It is listed sites, thus eliminating the added assemblage of buildings, sites, disappointing that some around here work and time required to get them artifacts, museums, cultural landscapes, want to stop this bill, said Sen. listed. illustrations, written materials, and Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., according to a displays and interpretive centers to transcript of her remarks scheduled for Representatives Pombo (Chair of preserve and tell the stories of Feb. 12 on the Senate floor. I will be the House Resources Committee) and California as a unified society and of fighting for it because it is extremely Radanovich from California, also in the the many groups of people that important for our country and my state interest of streamlining, have together comprise historic and modern of California. Boxer, who is submitted comments that support the California. In September, 2002 campaigning for re-election, leaves no idea that eligible sites should no doubt that she views the program as a longer be given the same In September 2002, Governor Davis jobs generator, as well as a way to fix consideration as sites actually listed on signed The California Cultural and crumbling roads and bridges and the National Register. How this will Historical Endowment Act (act) relieve traffic congestion. The Senate streamline the process is unclear, which established the California proposal would create an estimated unless there is no attempt made to Cultural and Historical Endowment 87,000 construction jobs in California place eligible sites on the register at under the administration of the and 800,000 nationally. Californias all. Representative Pombo, in a letter California State Library (AB 716, share of the proposed spending would to John Nau, Chairman of the Advisory Firebaugh, Chapter 1126, Statutes of be $21.4 billion over the next six Council, states, In 1966, there were 2002). The act authorizes the years, up $6.1 billion from the current 12,000 properties on the National endowment to make grants and loans program. Meanwhile, in the House, a Register. Today, the Register lists over to public agencies and nonprofit $375 billion transportation bill is being 77,000 properties with another 9,458 organizations to protect and preserve debated. more on the list of properties Californias cultural and historic determined eligible by the Keeper of resources. Although the endowment With Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger the National Register . In contrast, was created in 2002 it was not funded proposing cuts in state transportation the number of properties that meet until August 2003 when $128 million spending to help deal with Californias the National Register criteria is in Proposition 40 bond funds were budget deficit, officials have been unknowable, but is probably in the allocated to the endowment in the hoping for an increased infusion of many tens of millions, and none have Budget Act of 2003. federal funds to keep projects on track. been vetted for significance or the But under the House extension, the eligibility criteria of listed properties. Status: Referred to Committee on funding will remain at current levels. Appropriations on January 16, 2004. California for Preservation Action, Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Walnut Creek, California Legislature: a member of the House Transportation California Preservation Foundation, 2003-2004 Session Committee, says the state has $2 National Trust for Historic billion in projects ready to go, just Preservation, Los Angeles Historical Preservation: California Conservancy, Pasadena Heritage, San waiting for federal funds that it cant Cultural and Historical Endowment get until the new bill passes. Francisco Architectural Heritage, Save (A.B. 393) Our Heritage Organization (San In the agencies, final regulations Diego), Napa County Landmarks, and Author: Cindy Montañez (D-39th) from the Advisory Council on Historic the California Mainstreet Alliance Preservation dealing with certain Summary: This bill establishes the have registered their support of this portions of Section 106 are due in California Urban Historical bill. January. The Advisory Council is Preservation Revolving Loan Fund California Racial Mascots Act: Athletic currently in the process of amending under the administration of the Team Names and Mascots (A.B. 858) its Section 106 rules. In addition, the California Cultural and Historical Federal Communications Commission Endowment, to the extent that funding Author: Jackie Goldberg (D-45th) (FCC) is considering a nationwide is available. Although the endowment programmatic agreement that would has broad authority to enact a similar Summary: This bill establishes the govern the Section 106 process for program, the goal of this measure is to California Racial Mascots Act that communication facilities. The recent
SCA Newsletter 38(1) 6 SCA Business and Activities would prohibit public schools from mascots; some individuals maintain Americans and the NAHC when using certain specified terms as a that a school mascot is a source of identifying sites significant to school or athletic team name, mascot, pride and symbolizes a strong tradition Native Americans. or nickname. Specifically, this bill not only for the school, but the prohibits all public schools are from community and families as well and 3. Requires all feasible measures to using any of the following school or thus have chosen not to change their be taken to avoid adverse impact, athletic team names, mascots, or mascot. The author contends that the and reasonable mitigation where nicknames: a) Redskins; b) Indians; c) decision to change a school mascot is that impact cannot be avoided. Braves; d) Chiefs; e) Apaches; f) often preceded by a lengthy, costly 4. Requires sites identified as sacred Comanches; g) Papooses; h) Warriors, if and divisive local debate, during sites by appropriate local Native accompanied by Native American which Native American children and Americans and the NAHC to be imagery, including, but not limited to, parents are frequently the targets of protected against significant a mascot; i) Sentinels, if accompanied blame and harassment. Direction from disruption. by Native American imagery, the state will enable schools to act in including, but not limited to, a mascot; the best interest of students without 5. Requires local coastal plans to and, j) any other Native American undue pressure from alumni. contain protection for sites of tribal name. significance to Native Americans. As of the last census, 330,000 Native Previous legislation, AB 2115 Americans were living in California, 6. Defines appropriate local Native (Goldberg) of 2002, required that all more than any other state. Americans as federally public schools, community colleges, recognized tribe, Rancheria, or the California State University (CSU), Status: On Jan. 21, 2004, this bill was Mission Band of Indians, or a tribe and the University of California (UC) removed from the inactive file and to a or band identified by the NAHC. [if agreed upon by UC] be prohibited third reading, the stage at which bills from using specified American Indian are eligible for floor debate and final According to the authors office, the names for school or athletic team, vote. purpose of this bill is to include Native names, mascots, or nicknames. The Americans in land-use decisions that bill failed passage on the Assembly Coastal Zone: Archaeological and affect their heritage, and to recognize Floor. Paleontological Resources (A.B. 974) that many sites that are of the greatest significance to Native Americans do th According to the author, public Author: Joe Nation (D-6 ) not include discrete artifacts that can schools in California are obligated to be subjected to scientific analysis. Summary: Existing law requires provide equal educational opportunity Some of the most important sites are reasonable mitigation of impacts to to all students, regardless of race, those where cultural and religious sites that contain archaeological or ethnicity, or national origin. They are activities occurred, but these sites are paleontological resources identified also required to promote diversity and not clearly included within the by the State Historic Preservation respect for different cultures. resources that are protected under Officer (SHPO). Existing law However, the use of team names that current law. The NAHC is currently establishes the Native American single out an ethnic group, such as charged with protection of culturally Heritage Commission (NAHC) to Redskins or Indians, as well as significant sites, which it defines as, preserve and protect areas of names referring specifically to These are areas which have been, significance to Native Americans, such American Indian tribes, such as and often continue to be, of economic as burial and other sacred sites. The Apaches or Comanches, is and/or religious significance to California Environmental Quality Act inconsistent with those requirements. peoples today. They include Native (CEQA) requires an environmental This measure is necessary to ensure American sacred areas where religious impact report (EIR) when state action that schools do not send a mixed ceremonies are practiced or which are impacts areas of cultural significance message about the acceptability of central to their origins as a people. to the states history. This bill: racial stereotypes. Status: Placed on inactive file on 1. Requires that sites containing Some contend that the decision to motion of Senator Chesbro. significant Native American change a school name, nickname, or cultural resources be protected mascot should be made at the local California Cultural and Historical from impacts in the same manner level. While Los Angeles Unified Endowment (A.B. 1149) as sites containing archaeological School District and many schools and or paleontological resources. th colleges across the country have Author: Marco Firebaugh (D-50 ) voluntarily changed their 2. Requires that the SHPO consult Summary: This bill would allocate discriminatory names, nicknames or with appropriate local Native funding from the California Clean
SCA Newsletter 38(1) 7 SCA Business and Activities
Water, Clean Air, Safe Neighborhood Summary: SB 987 would appropriate an Parks, and Coastal Protection Fund unspecified amount of Proposition 40 Site Stewardship (Proposition 40, enacted March 2002) bond funds to the Department of Parks Committee to the California State Library (CSL) and Recreation (DPR) for allocation as for purposes of funding the California a grant to the California Missions Beth and Chris Padon Cultural and Historical Endowment Foundation (CMF, a nonprofit Act. organization). We are very pleased to announce that the California Archaeological Site Status: In committee: Set, first Status: Set, first hearing. Held in Stewardship Program (CASSP) hearing. Held under submission. committee and under submission. received funding for 2004 through a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Traditional Tribal Cultural Sites (S.B. grant from the Division of Off- References Cited or Consulted 18) Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation (OHMVR), Department of Parks and Author: John Burton (D-03) Lindsay, David 2003 SAA Government Affairs Recreation. The CASSP funding is administered by the SCA, under Summary: Creates a procedure in the Program: Monthly Washington, agreement with the California State California Environmental Quality Act D.C. Update December 2003. Office of the BLM. We sincerely (CEQA) for the Native American Society for American appreciate the support and interest that Heritage Commission (NAHC), in Archaeology, Government these sponsors express for CASSP. We consultation with Native American Affairs Program. thank Steve Horne and Jim Keeler of tribes and other interested parties, to San Francisco Chronicle [San Francisco, the BLM for preparing and presenting determine whether a proposed project California] a successful grant application. We also may adversely change a traditional 2004 Congress returns to unsettled thank the volunteers and agency tribal cultural site and to recommend business: Both chambers remain participants who wrote letters of project changes and mitigation deeply divided on key bills. 19 support for the 2004 grant; these letters measures to avoid or reduce those January. contributed greatly to this grant changes. Revises the duties and 204 Highway bill bogged down application effort. composition of NAHC, creates states projects in jeopardy. 12 procedures for NAHC and Native February. At the SCA Annual Meeting in American tribes to participate in local Riverside, CASSP volunteers will be land use planning, and allows Native American tribes to take title to conservation easements. Contacting Your Representatives Status: Reconsideration granted on January 8, 2004. Placed on inactive California State Assembly www.assembly.ca.gov California State Senate www.senate.ca.gov file on request of Assembly Member U.S. House of Representatives www.house.gov Chan. U.S. Senate www.senate.gov Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger www.governor.ca.gov/state/govsite/gov_homepage Native American Sacred Sites (SB 447) President George W. Bush www.whitehouse.gov
Author: Dennis Hollingsworth (R-36) Contact Your SCA Legislative Liaison Websites [email protected] Summary: Under existing law, the Native American Heritage http://www.leginfo.ca.gov Commission has various powers and http://thomas.loc.gov duties with regard to Native American sites and sacred places. This bill would http://acra-crm.org state the intent of the Legislature to establish a grant program for the preservation of Native American sacred sites.
Status: To Senate Committee on Rules.
California Missions (SB 987) Author: Bruce McPherson (R-15)
SCA Newsletter 38(1) 8 News and Announcements giving papers on their work at various sessions. Just prior to the Announcements meetings, a CASSP advanced workshop on flintknapping will be held from 1:00 to 5:00, on Wednesday afternoon, March 17. It Table Bluff Reservation-Wiyot Tribe will feature archaeologists/ Establishes Tribal Historic Preservation Office flintknappers Tim Gross and Bob Yohe. Only CASSP volunteers are Marnie Atkins eligible to attend. There is no fee, but registration is required; contact The Table Bluff Reservation - Wiyot Tribe (Wiyot Tribe) has worked hard the past Beth Padon by phone (562-432- year and a half to establish and maintain a Cultural Department and Tribal Historic 1801) or e-mail Preservation Program. Its success is founded upon the support of tribal members, the ([email protected]) or tribal council, other tribes (locally and far away), and numerous people and agencies. regular mail (Discovery Works Inc., The reservation for the Wiyot Tribe is found in Humboldt County, California, twenty 235 East Broadway, Suite 980, Long minutes south of Eureka. Beach CA 90802) Please register by The mission of the Cultural Department and Tribal Historic Preservation Office is March 10, because space is limited. to Protect, Promote, and Perpetuate Wiyot culture and history. Participants in the advanced workshop and other CASSP Cultural Department volunteers are encouraged to attend the opening reception of the SCA Before the Cultural Department was established, the employees of the meetings on Wednesday evening. Environmental Department were handling cultural resource protection. Due to the After this reception, CASSP budget constraints of EPA funding, the Environmental Department staff could not volunteers and other SCA members dedicate sufficient time to this important goal. They also found that they were who are interested in site working the hours of a full time person, and the outlook that more and more stewardship are invited to an consultation and protection would be needed was on the horizon. informal and sponsored pizza dinner at the Riverside Brewing Company. Our Treasurer and Environmental Director attended an environmental meeting in Pizza will be provided by Discovery Reno in early 2002 where there was a presentation by an Oregon tribe about a Works, but you will have to buy your successful tribal cultural resource management program. At that time, they realized own beverages. The restaurant is that with the right management and support of the tribal council and membership, we located at 3397 Seventh Street too could have a designated person that would give voice to the Wiyot Tribes cultural (Mission Inn Avenue), which is two resource protection and management issues. After the meeting in Reno, the blocks from the Mission Inn and four Environmental Director spoke to our tribal council about what was learned at the blocks from the convention center. meeting and proposed the idea of hiring a staff person. Initially, the Environmental Director suggested that the person hired would fall under the Tribes Environmental Department in regards to work assignment, direction, and supervision. However, the tribal council thought that if a cultural program were to be successful, the person hired Avocational Committee would need to have the ability to speak on important issues of protection and repatriation, and provide consultation on behalf of the Tribe. Therefore, the tribal Jerry Dudley & Myra Herrmann council formed a separate department and created the Cultural Director position. In Well its that time of year May 2002, Marnie Atkins was hired as the Cultural Director. looking forward to the annual SCA With the designation of a new department within the Tribe comes the difficult task meeting. Mark your calendars for the of finding money to secure a position. The council asked the fiscal department to look dates in March, 17 through 20. Also in our budget to see if there was anyway a position could be funded. The Fiscal our annual Avocational Society Manager found money in our General Fund that could be reallocated to fund the meeting will be a luncheon on Cultural Director position. However, the funding would only last the rest of 2002, and Friday March 19 from 11:30 AM to the incumbent would need to find other sources of funding to secure the future of a 1:00 PM. This is a great time for the successful program. In October of last year, we received a Revenue Sharing Trust societies to get together and discuss Fund (RSTF) check. As a way to fund the Cultural Department, Atkins submitted a problems and share information draft budget to the tribal council that listed some of the needs of the department. The about our many activities. Please let tribal council approved $28,200.00 to fund the Cultural Department from the RSTF us know if you will be attending this check the Tribe had received. This was a tremendous help to the program then and session. now.
SCA Newsletter 38(1) 9 News and Announcements
The Cultural Department was established to educate, Service that assumes the SHPOs functions on tribal lands. In protect, promote, and perpetuate the Wiyot culture and other words, by having a plan approved, the tribe assumes history. The Department works in important areas such as: management of their cultural resources on their tribal lands. repatriation; reviewing, commenting and consulting with our THPOs are able to give more emphasis and importance to local, state, and federal agencies regarding projects in our protecting valuable cultural resources of the tribe by ancestral lands; supporting legislation to better protect and combining traditional beliefs and practices with current aid tribes; establishing classes, such as a language and basket methods when documenting and managing cultural weaving, for tribal members; negotiating memorandums of properties. understanding or agreement with agencies to insure adequate and continued access to lands for traditional cultural practices Our Tribal Historic Preservation Program Plan was or gathering of materials for basket making, medicines, or approved on October 5, 2002. We are the 3rd tribe in the state subsistence; overseeing the cultural monitoring program; and of California, the Yurok and Timbisha Shoshone Tribes being other duties as assigned. Currently, Atkins is the only full the other two, and the 33rd tribe to achieve THPO status. time employee in the department, in addition to six part time If your tribe is interested in gaining THPO status a good cultural monitors. place to start is with the National Association of Tribal The cultural monitoring program is a tool for the Tribe to Historic Preservation Officers. They can be found on the protect or relocate important culturally significant sites. It has web at www.nathpo.org. had a slow start, but increasingly agencies are calling us to In the future request monitors on work sites where excavation will occur. We are continually working on county, state, and federal - We will be working with one of our basket weavers to start projects, with more and more monitoring of private industry a basket class to teach interested adults and eventually projects. those adults will teach our children. In January 2002, the SCA and the Tribe partnered to - A language committee has been established and meets present a Cultural Resource Training session. This session regularly to discuss how to find and acquire funding to hire was instrumental in training tribal members from several or consult with a person to help us create a curriculum to different tribes, while establishing working relationships with teach children and adults our language. many of the federal and state agency representatives that presented and attended. Some of the subjects discussed - We are investigating the logistics of building a cultural were: the general history of cultural resource management center on the reservation. This facility would house the laws; burial protection; repatriation; records and archival cultural department, interpretative center, tribal archives, research; and monitoring. Field visits to culturally significant classes, and enlarge our tribal library. sites were incorporated into the session to encourage stewardship as part of cultural resource management. - In the future, we would like to hire at least one full time cultural monitor and an assistant. However, with our plans for growth we expect to hire more staff to work in the Tribal Historic Preservation Program tribal archives, cultural center, and cultural monitoring program. During the summer of 2002, we began the process to submit our Tribal Historic Preservation Program Plan to the - We would like to upgrade our technology to create a National Park Service. This was a convoluted process database of culturally significant sites and to create and because there wasnt, and still isnt, any clear application or document oral history, photos, and important family and plan submittal process. tribal papers.
While writing the Tribal Historic Preservation Program Now for some thoughts to leave you with . Plan to be submitted to the NPS, Atkins looked to the Yurok Tribes Tribal Heritage Preservation Officer, Dr. Thomas - In the past year and five months, the department has Gates, for guidance, help, and a good sounding board. He grown rapidly. It seems that the more people that know was, and still is, a very patient and gracious mentor. the Tribe has a Cultural Department and a Tribal Historic Especially, when she sought input or had questions about the Preservation Officer, the more they consult with us. THPO plan process. - As we all know, tribes often have little funding, and Section 101(d)(2) of the National Historic Preservation employees of the tribal government often wear many hats Act of 1966 creates a provision that tribes can assume the and juggle several projects at a time. Often, tribal staff functions of a State Historic Preservation Officer on tribal performs the same work and more, that private industry lands. A Tribal Historic Preservation Officer is a person who and federally funded counter parts do for higher pay and is officially designated by a federally recognized tribe to less responsibilities. Keep your head up and dont get direct a program that has been approved by the National Park discouraged.
SCA Newsletter 38(1) 10 News and Announcements
- Atkins urges members of tribal councils and partnership Indian Languages (Department of Linguistics, University of agencies to continue supporting cultural programs, not California at Berkeley) only financially, but always with the idea of preserving the future of unique indigenous peoples. The Stabilizing Indigenous Languages Steering committee invites interested individuals and groups to give - Atkins encourages all tribes to establish a cultural presentations at SILC this year, either in the form of a 15- protection program. Dont let this important task fall to an minute talk (or less), a 1 1/2 hour workshop, or else to join assistant that works in another program who doesnt have a one of our suggested panels, which will be 1 1/2 hours in lot of time to dedicate to the protection of the culture and length. Suggested panels include: history of your tribe. Master-apprentice programs - The information in this article may give the impression Immersion schools that the process to establish a successful Cultural Archives and intellectual property rights Department and Tribal Historic Preservation Program Developing and using new writing systems seems quick and easy, but as you can see, the success is Revitalizing languages without speakers owed to the many people that believed that it was important to the Wiyot people that the Tribe have a voice We will also make time and space for the showing of films in protecting their culture and history. on language loss and language revitalization, if you have anything youd like to show. See either of the following About the author: Marnie Atkins serves as the Cultural Director websites for the registration and presentation forms and Tribal Historic Preservation Officer for the Table Bluff www.aicls.org or http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~jar/ Reservation - Wiyot Tribe. She is a tribal member and previously SIL9brochure.html served on the tribal council. She presented this topic on October 11, 2003 in Watsonville at the 18th Annual California Indian Prof. Leanne Hinton Conference, for the symposium California Tribal Programs in Chair, Dept. of Linguistics CRM organized by SCA Native American Programs Committee 1203 Dwinelle Hall Chairperson Janet Eidsness. University of California Berkeley, CA 94720-2650 New ACHP Web Page About Organization of the Office of Federal Agency Programs SWAA 75th Annual Conference April 15, 16, 17, 2004 In response to a number of requests, the ACHP has developed an expanded discussion of the new organizational Jan English-Lueck, President structure of the Office of Federal Agency Programs (OFAP) Southwestern Anthropological Association for our website (attached). Using a Frequently Asked Questions format, the web page provides information on how I would like to invite you to the 75th Jubilee meeting of our Section 106 work is delegated among the staff, how best the Southwestern Anthropological Association. SWAA is the to reach our staff, new services we are hoping to provide oldest regional association in the West, and has gone from Section 106 users in the field, and information regarding the being a unit of the AAA to an independent organization role of our newly created Federal agency liaison positions. consisting of professionals, academics and students from We hope this information will make it easier for you to work California, Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico. Over the with our office. Any questions or suggestions about how this years the organization has reinvented itself to serve the website could be further improved would be welcome. various constituencies of academic anthropology. Please link to the following web page for further information. Anthropology itself has changed. This year, the President- http://www.achp.gov/ofap-faq.html Elect, Margaret Graham of Santa Clara University, and I would like to extend our invitation to all anthropologists, whether they are faculty, graduate students, senior undergraduates, emeriti and alumni. We are eager to include Language is Life: 11th Annual Stabilizing anthropologists who are not employed in academia. We Indigenous Languages Conference at encourage you to pass this invitation on to other University of California at Berkeley anthropologists who might be interested. San Jose State Universitys Department of Anthropology June 11-13, 2004 is co-hosting, along with Santa Clara University, the 75th Hosted by The Advocates for Indigenous California Annual Conference of the Southwestern Anthropological Language Survival and the Survey of California and Other Association on April 15, 16, 17, 2004. The conference theme is Making it Work: Global and Local Applied 11 News and Announcements
Anthropology. Forensic anthropologists, cultural resource managers, applied linguists and cultural anthropologists use ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ their knowledge to grapple with many different issues. The greater Southwest is a center for anthropological application and training. This annual meeting is an opportunity to enliven and enlighten our anthropological communities. Academics, practitioners and students will discuss: What are our different practices? How do we contend with the practical and ethical constraints of our craft? How do we teach the next generation of practitioners to create effective communities of practice? The keynote speaker will be Dr. Susan Squires, the former president of the National Association of
Practicing Anthropologists, and a noted applied anthropologist. Her lecture will be open to the public on Saturday, April 17. Web Sites of Interest ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ The submission deadline for the conference is March 1, 2004. Registration for paper sessions, panels, workshops, SCAs New Home on the Internet http://www.SCAHome.org/ roundtables or film screening, student paper guidelines and general meeting information can be found at NPS Southeastern Archeological Center
Please be patient in accessing our site, our host web NPS Special Report: Managing Archeological Collections server has been up and down with tedious regularity. We http://www.cr.nps.gov/aad/collections/index.htm request that you submit your abstract twice: both in hard copy to Jonathan Karpf, Program Chair, Department of Canadian Archaeological Association: Archaeology at the Crossroads Conference Anthropology, San Jose State University, San Jose CA 95192- http://www.umanitoba.ca/outreach/conferences/ 0113 with your registration form and check(s) for canadian_archaeology/index.html consideration and in electronic form to the program editor, Karl Lueck, for inclusion on the website. The electronic California Spatial Information Library, submission may be done by clicking the submit form Digital Raster Graphics, 7.5 Minute (O) Series button on the online form before you print it out. This should http://casil.ucdavis.edu/casil/gis.ca.gov/drg/ cause your mail program to open a window with all of the 7.5_minute_series_albers_nad27_trimmed/ abstract forms information already entered. If this fails to happen, simply place the text of your abstract into an email Department of Anthropology, University of Alabama to [email protected]
Editor’s e-mail: [email protected] 12 Out of the Pits
first Governor). At the confluence of the Gila and Colorado Rivers, Oñate found a non-Yuman people whom he called the Ozaras or Osera. Their identity is problematic. Kroeber suggests, The most convincing explanation is that they were the Pima or Papago, or at least some Piman division, who then lived farther down the Gila than subsequently (1920:483). At that time, the Matxalycadom or Halchidhoma lived below the Gila (Kroeber 1920:483). Out of the Pits: There are some plausible explanations of where the Quechan were in 1540 and 1605 when the Spanish first Guest Editorials on Problems and visited Colorado River. Prospects in Professional Archaeology Oñates failure to encounter the Yuman may be simply in California and Beyond explained by the assumption that they were at that time living exclusively on the west bank where they have always been most numerous. Oñate did not cross the Colorado and it is expressly stated that the east bank people did not cross the A Comment on Indian Pass, river because those on the other side were enemies although of the same nation (Forde 1931:99, citing Zarate- Imperial County, California Sameron in Bolton 1916:277)
Dr. Jackson Underwood Another explanation relates to Lake Cahuilla. At the time EDAW, Inc., San Diego of the Alarcón and Melchior Diaz expeditions (1540), and n the September, 2003 issue of the Newsletter, Courtney A. Oñates expeditions (1605) Lake Cahuilla may have been Coyle, offered an update about the ongoing struggle full. For example, Waters (1980), suggests that the last Ibetween environmentalists and the Quechan Indians on lakestand occurred from about 1430 to 1540; and recently the one hand, and the Bush Administration on the other, over Schaefer (1994) suggests a final partial filling of the lake from a proposed heap/leach gold mine west of Indian Pass, eastern about 1516 to 1659. The Alarcón and Diaz expeditions would Imperial County, California. Coyle is an attorney for the have taken place at the end of Waters proposed last filling Quechan Indian Nation, and predictably, she used the episode and in the middle of Schaefers; the Oñate Newsletter article to forward her position. Unfortunately, she expedition would have taken place after the last lakestand of included some factual errors. Coyle began (2003:14) by Waters, but within that of Schaefer. Since the timing and stating that: number of Lake Cahuilla lakestands is only poorly documented at this time, it could be that the Quechan were at The Quechan Indian Nation has lived since time Lake Cahuilla during the Spanish visits of 1540 and 1605. immemorial at the juncture (sic) of what is now known as the borders of California, Arizona and Baja A third explanation is offered by Forbes (1965:103-4), California (Coyle 2003:14). who argues that the Quechan were just south of the Mojave at the time of Oñate visit (1605). Oñate traveled from New This statement stands in stark contrast to the ethnohistoric Mexico by way of Jerome, Arizona, arriving at the Colorado at and ethnographic records and the oral tradition of the the Bill Williams Fork. He first visited the Mojave in that Quechan. area, then traveled south in their company past what is now known as the Chemehuevi Valley, where at the time, the The first Spanish entrada into the Lower Colorado area Mojave also had settlements. South of the Mojave were began when Alarcón sailed, poled, and rowed his boats up the people Oñate called the Bahacecha or Vacecha. Forbes river to perhaps as far as the Parker, Arizona area in 1540. In argues that the Bahacechas were actually the Quechan the same year, Melchior Diaz marched from Sonora, Mexico primarily because, in the Oñate account, the Bahacechas were to the confluence of the Colorado and Gila. They noted a on very friendly relations with the Mojave, their language number of very closely related Native American groups was very close to the Mojave, and their head chief was known living along the Lower Colorado River (Kroeber 1925:782; as the Cohota, which corresponds to the Quechan term McGuire 1982:68). However, the Quechan, often in the past Kwoxot or coxot (Forbes 1965:103). Forbes argues that called the Yuma Indians (e.g. Kroeber 1925, Rogers 1936, Oñates term for these people, the Bahacecha, may have 1945), were not noted at the confluence of the Colorado and been a lineage term, Pavaxas, transformed into Bahacechas the Gila Rivers in 1540 by either Alarcón or Diaz (Forde by the Spanish (1965:104). 1931:98; Kroeber 1920:483). Likewise, the Quechan were not mentioned by Juan de Oñate, who marched to the Colorado A fourth explanation is that the people the Spanish called River from New Mexico in 1605 (he would later become its the Halchidhoma were actually a part of the greater Quechan 13 Out of the Pits group and that the Spanish were actually giving groups of travel among the Quechan also stressed visits to Avikwaame, Quechan lineages different tribal names (Lorey Cachora, where one might witness various creation events in dream personal communication, 1997). time and ask Kukumat, his son, Kumastamxo and the pipatuats for advice and guidance. This is one reason why the trail In 1701-1702, Kino visited the Colorado from the Gila system in the Indian Pass area has such spiritual significance south. At that time, he found the Matxalycadom to traditional Quechan. (Halchidhoma) above, not below the confluence; he did not mention how far north their settlements were, but later they Coyle also misleads her readers somewhat by calling the were found in the Blythe area. The Quechan were in what area in question Quechan Indian Pass. This is unjustified became their traditional territory at the confluence, as well as archaeologically since research suggests that at least some of up the Gila for some distance. Below the Quechan were the the trails in the pass itself pre-date the arrival of the Quechan Halyikwamai. Nearby and probably associated with them by several thousand years (e.g., Rogers n.d.). While I would were the Kohuana (Kroeber 1920:484). encourage archaeologists both amateur and professional to visit the area at their earliest opportunity, do not look for We see from this very brief review of the Quechan Quehcan Indian Pass on maps. From Interstate 8 or Highway ethnographic and ethnohistoric literatures, that the first time 78, get on Ogilby Road and turn east on the plainly marked the Quechan were documented at the confluence of the Gila Indian Pass Road. I am not suggesting that Indian Pass is a and Colorado Rivers was 1701. Where the Quechan were particularly good name, it is just the real name. We might before that is a matter of some speculation. However, it is well remember that almost all passes in North American are fairly clear that they were not at the confluence of the Gila Indian passes and that all but the most heavily engineered and Colorado Rivers since time immemorial unless by that roads follow Indian trails. Coyle actually means since 1701 or so.
If we turn to the oral traditions of the Quechan,, we see References Cited that the origin myths do not say that they have been at the confluence of the Gila and Colorado Rivers since time Coyle, Courtney A. immemorial either. All the Colorado River tribes: the 2003 Sacred Places Are More Precious Than Gold: Update Mojave, Halchidhoma, Quechan, Kamia, Cocopa, Maricopa on the Struggle to Protect Quechan Indian Pass and and others, trace their origins in various stories and songs to a Recent Legislative Reforms. Society for California single event and a single place: they were created by the god Archaeology Newsletter 37(3):14. Kukumat on the sacred mountain Avikwaame. This 5,639 foot Forbes, Jack D. mountain is located approximately 10 miles northwest of 1965 Warriors of the Colorada: The Yumas of the Quechan Laughlin, Nevada (Forde 1931:214-244). (There are several Nation and Their Neighbors. University of Oklahoma different spellings of Avikwaame; the one we are using is Press, Norman. based on the suggestion of Lorey Cachora, Quechan cultural Forde, Daryll C. resources consultant). 1931 Ethnography of the Yuma Indians. University of After the death of the god Kukumat, his body was California (Berkeley) Publications in American Archaeology cremated and his house burned. His divine son, Kumastamxo and Ethnology 28(4):83-278. sat quietly and listened while the people talked of their sad Kroeber, A. L. loss. Some of these early people were spirits, pipatuats 1920 Yuman Tribes of the Lower Colorado. University of (people who have come to an end). They were the agents California (Berkeley) Publications in American Archaeology of Kukumat in animal forms. These first people gave their and Ethnology 16(8):475-485. names to the animals we know today so that all later people 1925 Handbook of the Indians of California. Dover should respect the animals and keep them in mind. These Publications, New York. pipatuats, or animal avatars, now live on the various mountains surrounding the Lower Colorado River area. McGuire, Randall H. Traditional Quechan and other Yuman peoples visit these 1982 Environmental Background. In Randall H. McGuire mountains by means of dream travel and seek the counsel of and Michael B. Schiffer (eds) Hohokam and Patayan: the pipatuats, or first people. One can readily understand Prehistory of Southwestern Arizona. Academic Press, why mountains hold such special spiritual significance to the New York, pp. 13-56. Quechan and other Yuman peoples. Rogers, Malcolm J. 1936 Yuman Pottery Making. San Diego Museum of Man The events associated with the beginning of the world are Papers No. 2 re-enacted and memorialized in the traditional Keruk 1945 Outline of Yuman Prehistory. Southwestern Journal of ceremony (Forde 1931:223). This mourning and memorial Anthropology 1:167-198. ceremony sometimes included Quechan pilgrimages on trails from Pilot Knob, near Yuma, Arizona, through the Indian Pass n.d. Fieldnotes, Colorado Desert Region. On file at the San area, to Avikwaame, northwest of Laughlin, Nevada. Dream Diego Museum of Man. (continued page 15) 14 Field Notes
Field Notes Michael Sampson
Karin Anderson is the new Cultural Resources Program Manager for Redwood National and State Parks, located in the NW corner of our state. Cari Kreshak assumed the Heritage Resource duties at beautiful Lassen Volcanic National Park in early 2002. Nelson Siefkin has taken a new position within the National Park Service as the Archaeologist-Fire Management Specialist for the Pacific Glenn West Region, Pacific Great Basin Support Office. Nelson Russell, Jeanne generally works from home, where he has an agricultural Arnold, John enterprise and a new baby on the way. Lynn Compas now Johnson, Glenn Farris, works for PG & E (Sacramento) as a cultural resource and many others in national and international journals specialist. James Barnes has taken a position as an provide additional evidence of the significance of California archaeologist with the Bureau of Land Management, Folsom in a global sense. Bill Hildebrandt and Kim Carpenter Field Office. Denise Thomas recently vacated her position submitted a draft of Native Hunting Adaptations in as Environmental Planner with Caltrans Fresno to accept an California: Changing Patterns of Resource Use from Deep in appointment with California State Parks as Associate State the Prehistoric Past to European Contact to the editors of Archaeologist in the Sierra District, an office located on Lake Volume 3 of the Smithsonian Handbook of North American Tahoe (tough duty!). The purview of Denises new job will Indians. Bob Bettinger and Eric Wohlgemuth submitted a include parks in the Lake Tahoe area, world-famous Bodie draft chapter entitled California Plant Use. The subjects of State Historic Park, and Plumas-Eureka State Park. Barbara Volume 3 of the Handbook series will be environment, Voss, who received her Ph. D. from UC Berkeley in 2002, is origins, and population. now serving as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Governor Schwarzeneggar appointed Michael Chrisman Cultural and Social Anthropology, Stanford University. Far Secretary of the Resources Agency and Karen Scarborough as Western has announced that Kimberly Carpenter and Jeff Undersecretary in recent months. This office is important to Rosenthal have become junior partners in the Davis cultural the affairs of Archaeology in California, as the Resources resources consulting firm. Far Western opened a new branch Agency has authority over several land-managing state in Virginia City, Nevada under the direction of Dr. D. Craig agencies, conservancies, commissions, and boards. They Young; this new office is staffed by Daron Duke, Steve include, California State Parks, CDF, Water Resources, Neidig, and Teresa Wriston. Brian Ramos has been promoted California Fish & Game, the California Coastal Commission, to District Branch Chief for Cultural Resources, Mitigation and many more. In other Sacramento agency news, Steade and Monitoring at Caltrans District 4 (Oakland). Dan Bell, Craigo left his position as Cultural Resources Division Chief long-time archaeologist with California State Parks, now at California State Parks, and now works in the Grants Unit of works for the US Army Corps of Engineers in Sacramento. OHP. Walter Gray, formerly head of the California State Jelmer Eerkens, with Ph. D. in hand from UCSB, has joined Archives, has assumed the position of Cultural Resources the faculty of the Anthropology Department at UC Davis as Division Chief at State Parks. an Assistant Professor. Jelmer has been involved in several important projects in recent years, including, a Michael Hilton has taken a job as the Assistant Forest comprehensive study (with Jeff Rosenthal) of obsidian use- Archaeologist for the Inyo National Forest. Ann Huston is the patterns through time at the Coso Volcanic Fields. new Cultural Resources Specialist at Channel Islands National Park in Ventura, an office with land managing duties Bill Hildebrandt and Kelly McGuire have been over the northern Channel Islands. It is our understanding continuing debates with Frank Bayham and Jack Broughton Channel Islands NP also has a new Archaeologist, but, we about the rise of big-game hunting in California prehistory in could not confirm a name at this time. Twenty-Nine Palms American Antiquity. Whether one agrees with either side or Marine Base has a new Base Archaeologist, Meg McDonald; neither one, we can all agree that articles and comments in Marie Cottrell, formerly in that position, has promoted up regional and national journals reflect well upon the health of within the Base command structure. Stan Berryman moved Archaeology in California. The important discussion by Rick back to his old position as Base Archaeologist at Camp Fitzgerald and Terry Jones about the Cross Creek Site and the Pendleton from a short-lived job at the Cleveland National recent works of Bob Bettinger, Brian Fagan, Lynn Gamble, Forest. The Cleveland NF position is now vacant. Darrell
SCA Newsletter 38(1) 15 Field Notes
Out of the Pits (continued from page 13) Gundrum left Fort Irwin to work at the US Navy Southwest Division office in San Diego. Jan Townsend, formerly at the Schaefer, Jerry National Register Office, has promoted to head of the 1994 Stuff of Creation: Recent Approaches to Ceramics Cultural and Natural Resources Program at Southwest Analysis in the Colorado Desert. In Joseph A. Ezzo Division. Rod McLean has vacated his position at US Army (ed.) Recent Research Along the Lower Colorado Corps, Los Angeles to join LSA Associates as a project River: Proceedings from a Symposium Presented at the manager. Sources tell us John Killeen will assume the Rods 59th Annual Meeting of the Society for American archaeology duties at the LA Corps. Andy Yatsko has taken on Archaeology, Anaheim, California, April 1994. new responsibilities for the US Navys cultural resources Statistical Research Technical Series No. 51, Tucson, pp. program in southern California, though, we could not confirm 81-100. their scope at this time. Waters, Michael R. 1980 Lake Cahuilla: Late Quaternary Lacustrine History of the Deborah McLean has received a nice promotion to Salton Trough, California. Masters thesis, Department Principal at LSA Associates, an employee-owned consultant of Geosciences, University of Arizona. firm in Irvine. The Irvine office of LSA does a lot of work in Orange County and the immediate region. Steve James joined the Anthropology faculty at Cal State University, From the President (continued from page 3) Fullerton in the Fall 2003. Steve previously had worked for California State Parks in Sacramento. CSU Fullerton now discussion. Im pleased to inform the membership that, have two active California Archaeologists on their teaching through stringent financial planning and cost cutting efforts, staff, with the earlier hiring of Colleen Delaney-Rivera. (We this years operating budget provides adequate funding to hope this trend can be followed by other California colleges.) finance the Societys activities and functions. To keep pace Philippe Lapin has transferred from Caltrans District 12 in with operating costs, however, annual membership rates will Orange County to District 4 in Oakland. Tim Gross, Principal be raised effective March 17, 2004. The new rates will be Archaeologist at Affinis Environmental Services of San implemented at the Annual Meeting Membership desk, and Diego, has become President of the Board of Trustees for the will be posted to membership page of the SCA website. San Diego Archaeological Center. The Center, located in the San Pasqual Valley, provides curation services and public This is my final From the President column and, at times, outreach for San Diego County and beyond. Carmen Zepeda- its difficult to believe how quickly the year has passed. It has Herman, formerly at California State Parks, has taken a full- been both my honor and my pleasure to have served as the time staff archaeologist position at Recon, a consultant firm in Societys president and, in this role, represent its scientific San Diego. Shannon Gilbert earlier joined the archaeology and educational goals of research, understanding, staff at BF Smith and Associates in San Diego. SWCA interpretation, and conservation of Californias rich cultural Environmental Consultants has opened an office in San heritage. During this past year, I learned first and foremost Diego; Alex Wesson is their Program Director for cultural that the SCA exists through the collective efforts of many resources. dedicated professionals and colleaguesit truly does take a village to keep our organization running smoothly. I extend th This year marks the 40 year of operation for the Malki my deepest thanks and gratitude to the Executive Board Museum in Banning, the oldest Indian-managed museum in Dana, Amy, Terry, Rick, Vicki, and Stacyfor their abiding California. They are planning a celebration of this milestone support and unfailing assistance in all matters. Also, many on Memorial Day Weekend. Katherine Siva Saubel, thanks to Greg White and the SCA Business Office staff for respected Cahuilla Elder and past SCA Honoree, was a their dedication and timely execution of all tasks they were founder of the Museum and serves as President of the asked they undertake. I would also like to acknowledge the Museum Board. The Malki Museum Press has joined forces friendship and support of past Executive Board members with Ballena Press to publish and market their books. Both Sannie Osborn, Tom Origer, Ken Wilson, and Greg Greenway, organizations publish works significant to California who were always there to help with recreating historical Ethnology and California Archaeology. memory and were great sounding boards. To my URS We will end this column with sad news. Scott Fulmer, a colleagues, particularly Mike Kelly, know that I sincerely long-time personality in San Diego County Archaeology and appreciated the daily encouragement you provided this past historic preservation planning, passed away in January. Scott year. Those of you who know me well know that I cannot helped form one of the earliest cultural resources consultant leave office without extending my thanks to Rachel who, in a companies operating in San Diego County, ASM Affiliates. way only a daughter can, provided my greatest source of An obituary for Scott is planned for an upcoming issue of the spiritual support. Thank you all for a truly memorable year. Amy, the chair is yours.
Elena Nilsson
SCA Newsletter 38(1) 16 2004 Annual Meeting
SCA 38th Annual Meeting Friday morning March 17–20, 2004, 7:00–9:00 CASSP Breakfast (Beth Padon). 9:00–12:00 Returning to the Source I: The Ethnographical Layer of Riverside, California Archaeological and Historical Research I (Shelly Davis-King). 9:00–12:00 Cultural Landscape, Lower Colorado Desert (Rebecca Apple, EDAW). WORKING SCHEDULE 9:00–12:00 Archaeology of Fortifications and Families, San Francisco Presidio (Sannie Osborn) (AS OF FEBRUARY 29, 2004) 9:00–12:00 Holocene Adaptations at Goleta Slough (Clay Lebow).
Golf tournament (Dan Foster and Donn Grenda) Friday lunch
11:30–1:00 Avocational Committee Workshop and Luncheon (Myra Herrmann). Wednesday afternoon Friday afternoon 12:00–6:00 SCA Board Meeting (Elena Nilsson). 1:00–5:00 Early Registration. 1:30–5:00 Returning to the Source II: The Ethnographical Layer 1:00–5:00 Exhibitor Set-up. of Archaeological and Historical Research (John Johnson). 1:00–4:00 CAAMP Meeting (Tom Origer). 1:30–5:00 China Lake, Papers in honor of Carolyn Shepherd (Russ Kaldenberg). 1:00–5:00 CASSP Training Session for Volunteers (Beth Padon). 1:30–4:30 Newport Bay Archaeology (Pam Maxwell). 1:30–4:30 Archaeology and Public Interpretation in California Wednesday evening (Lee Panich, Kent Lightfoot). 1:00–5:00 Workshop 2, Remote Sensing (Lew Somers). 6:00–8:00 Early Registration (continued). 4:30–6:00 SCA General Meeting. 6:00–9:00 Reception for early arrivals (no-host bar). 7:00–10:00 Pizza dinner and social hosted by CASSP (Beth Padon). Friday evening
Thursday morning 6:30–11:00 Awards Banquet Keynote Speaker Dr. John Rick, “Archaeology at Chavín de Huántar, Peru.” 8:00–9:00 Volunteer orientation and breakfast (Debbie McClean and Terri Fulton). 9:30–10:00 Welcome and Awards (Elena Nilsson, SCA President). Saturday all day 10:00–12:00 Plenary Session, DNA Analysis and Archaeology–From Times Ancient to CurrentCommunities (Amy Gilreath and Randall Milliken). 9:00–4:00 Demonstrations of Native American Technology and Arts: Basketry, Pottery, Flintknapping, Storytelling, Music.
Thursday afternoon Saturday morning
1:30–4:30 Theoretical/Methodological Contributions to California Archaeology (Joseph Chartkoff). 7:00–8:00 SCA Board Meeting (incoming President Amy Gilreath) continental breakfast 1:30–4:30 Archaeological Science (Robert Yohe). 9:00–10:00 SCA Proceedings–Authors’ Meeting (Amy Gilreath) 1:30–4:30 Material Culture in Historical Archaeology (Karen Swope). 8:00–12:15 California Archaeology and Prehistory 2004: I (Terry Jones). 1:00–5:00 Workshop 1, Consulting with SHPO 9:00–12:00 Papers in Honor of Jay von Werlhof I (Russ Kaldenberg). (John Sharp, Mike McGuirt, Jennifer Darcangelo, Andrea Galvin, OHP) 9:00–12:00 Current Investigations in the Santa Rosa/San Jacinto National Monument 4:30–5:30 SCA Native American Programs Committee (Janet Eidsness). (Wanda Raschkow) 9:00–12:00 General Session, Northern and Central California Archaeology. Thursday evening 9:00–12:00 Jobs Fair.
6:30–10:30 Silent Auction and Party, Gourmet Mexican Food and Music by De Nada. SRI, Saturday afternoon Redlands. 1:15–5:30 California Archaeology and Prehistory 2004: II (Terry Jones). Friday all day 1:30–4:30 Papers in Honor of Jay von Werlhof II (Russ Kaldenberg). 8:00–5:00 Poster Session (Mark Allen). 1:30–4:30 Special Baja California Session (Ken Wilson and Matt des Lauries) 8:00–5:00 Wine country tour to Temecula Wineries (Debbie Cogan). 1:30–4:30 General Session, Southern California Archaeology (Mike Kelly). Saturday evening
5:30–7:00 Closing Reception with Speakers, Authors of “California Archaeology in 2004”
SCA Newsletter 38(1) 17 2004 Annual Meeting
The 38th Annual Meeting of the Society for California Ongoing Activities Archaeology will be held at the Riverside Convention Center, located just a few blocks from the junction of the 60 Thursday–Saturday, 8:00 am–5 pm Registration. and 91 freeways, and 20 miles east of Ontario International Thursday–Saturday, 8:00 am–6 pm SCA Café, Bar, and Grill. Airport (ONT): Thursday–Saturday, 8:00 am–5 pm Exhibitors/Books. Riverside Marriott Thursday–Saturday, 8:00 am–5 pm Quiet Room for Parents and Infants. 3400 Market Street, Riverside, CA, 92501, USA Thursday–Saturday, 8:00 am–5 pm Slide Preview Room. Phone: 1 909-784-8000 Fax: 1 909-369-7127 Thursday–Saturday, 8:00 am–5 pm SCA Office and Membership Renewal. International Toll-Free: 1-800-228-9290
Sunday Mission Inn 3649 Mission Inn Avenue, Riverside, CA, 92501, USA Field trip to Little Petroglyph Canyon, China Lake NAWS (Amy Gilreath) Phones: 1 909-784-0300 Fax: 1 909-784-5525 International Toll-Free: 1-800-843-7755
Annual Meeting Registration Forms Visit Annual Meeting 2004 registration forms in doc and pdf format at www.SCAHome.org/events/index.html. Please fill out all three pages, then return the form by mail to: SCAHome.org!
SCA Business Office CSU Chico Chico CA 95929-401
Check www.SCAHome.org for up-to-the-minute Annual Meeting updates, including schedule details, and information on events, field trips, banquet items, accommodations, and meeting arrangements.
Direct your Annual Meeting questions to Michael K. Lerch, Local Arrangements and Program Chair:
Mike Lerch Statistical Research, Inc. Redlands, California
(909) 335-1896, [email protected].
SCA Newsletter 38(1) 18 Articles
AngelAngel IslandIsland ImmigrationImmigration StationStation Trish Fernandez Pacific Legacy, Inc.
acific Legacy, under contract with Environmental Historic Context Science Associates and the California Department of Immigration Policy PParks and Recreation (DPR), excavated the site of the Angel Island Immigration Station (AIIS), located in the San With the population increase from the California Gold Francisco Bay. The project is part of a plan to preserve and Rush, labor became more competitive in the western United interpret the history of the Immigration Station, which was in States and couched in terms of distinctions between use between 1910 and 1940 and was the main Pacific Coast nationalities. Eventually, the Chinese became scapegoats for entry for Asian immigrants, particularly Chinese. The current the growing pains of Americas industrialization and study was aimed at identifying the subsurface remains of the capitalization, including the depression of the 1870s (Figure Administration Building to determine if and how those 1). Anti-immigration sentiment swept through the country remains might contribute to the interpretive program. One of and the Chinese Exclusion Act was enacted in 1882. The act the aims of the interpretive program is to convey how Angel excluded Chinese from obtaining American citizenship, but Island exemplifies the history of immigration policy and exempted merchants, diplomats, ministers, travelers, compare this station with the major east coast immigration students, and children of American citizens. Chinese station, Ellis Island. Key parties in the development of the attempting to immigrate under these exemptions were program are the DPR, the AIIS Foundation, the Golden Gate heavily scrutinized by U.S. officials. Contributing further to National Recreation Area, and the National Park Service this scrutiny, many vital records were destroyed during the (NPS). San Francisco Earthquake, enabling Chinese residents in the
SCA Newsletter 38(1) 19 Articles
U.S. to claim they had more children than they actually did and thereby assisting Figure 1 illegal immigration. Between 1888 and 1943, congressional amendments, treaties, and acts effectively extended the Chinese Exclusion Act, which led to interrogations, hearings, appeals, and extended detentions for Asian immigrants. In 1943, when China became a wartime ally of the United States, the Chinese Exclusion Act was repealed.
The immigration process at Angel Island began in the San Francisco Bay, as immigration officers boarded ships to inspect passengers documents. Those with questionable documents were ferried to Angel Island for further examination. At the island, whites were separated from other races and the Asian population was separated into Chinese, Japanese, and other. Men and women were kept apart and not allowed to communicate with each other until cleared for admission. During the first years of the stations operation, the average waiting Site History period could stretch into months. After complaints by leaders of the Chinese community in the 1920s, however, the The AIIS was touted as the Ellis Island of the West; average waiting time reduced to approximately three weeks. however, it was also known as the Guardian of the Western Gate, as it was overtly designed to control the flow of Chinese into the country. The station, which officially opened in 1910, consisted of an administration building, power house, hospital, wharf, baggage shed, carpentry shop, recreation areas, water tanks, a reservoir, a mule barn, a separate detention barracks for Chinese, and three managers houses and nine smaller employee houses designed by Julia Morgan (Figure 2). The steep topography of the site required the construction of a total of 27 retaining walls. In 1910, a ten- person privy was constructed in the Chinese recreation area, but was removed in 1920 after flush toilets were added to the barracks. A guard house was constructed northwest of the Chinese detention barracks in 1930.
The Administration Building was located close to the wharf, forming the threshold to the AIIS (Figure 3). This building was the largest structure at the facility and occupied the majority of the flat portion of the site. It was an imposing, three-story building that housed a registration room, general office, medical examination room, Inspector and Doctors offices, kitchen, separate Chinese and European dining rooms, employee dormitories, and detention quarters for 100 European immigrants (Figure 4).
Figure 2 An accidental fire destroyed the Administration Building in 1940. Between 1941 and 1946, the U.S. Army constructed several new buildings at the site, including a 1600-person
SCA Newsletter 38(1) 20 Articles
mess hall and kitchen. In 1966, most of the island was Figure 3 under DPR management. Three years later, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers destroyed and buried the mess hall and kitchen and by 1973 the site had been leveled. The nine employee cottages designed by Julia Morgan were razed in the 1970s.
During this time of destruction, the Chinese detention barracks were spared because Alexander Weis, a park ranger, noted poems carved on the walls by the detainees (Figure 5). These carvings can be viewed by participating in the public tour on the island and are a poignant reminder of the despair Chinese immigrants experienced during forced detainment. In 1997, as a result of efforts by the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation, the site was declared a National Historic Landmark.
Methods
The most prominent remains of the Administration Building are along the west end of the former building and consist of concrete retaining walls, pathways, and exterior stem walls. The footprint of the former building is approximately 200 feet north/south by 100 feet east/west. The trace of the foundation is defined by materials on the south, east, and west sides of the lawn.
The primary purpose of the excavation was to determine the presence or absence of intact foundations and cultural deposits associated with the Administration Building and to determine if those remains might be integrated into the stations interpretive plan. It was expected that the episodic ground disturbance from construction, fire, destruction, and burial of structures between 1908 and 1973 left layers of thick rubble underground. As such, we began our effort by using historic plans of the foundation and the first floor to mark the corners of the building with wooden stakes. Dr. Lawrence Conyers of the University of Colorado, Denver, then conducted a Figure 4 Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) survey of the building
SCA Newsletter 38(1) 21 Articles
Figure 5 site. Data were gathered from 0-220 cm throughout the entire the field were processed, cataloged, and photographed at building outline in increments of 20 cm. The GPR data were Angel Island by Michelle St. Clair of Pacific Legacy. then electronically overlain on the historic foundation plan. A total of seven trenches were excavated in areas offering the Summary of Findings highest potential for the discovery of subsurface remains (Figure 4). The depth of each of the backhoe trenches was Intact structural remains were discovered from 1 ft. to 4 ft. determined by reconciling the materials being recovered 9 in. below the surface and included concrete walkways, with the GPR data and historic plans. These two sources of steam heating pipes, and concrete walls and stairways. The data were integral to the efficient excavation of the site. range in depth of structural materials is attributed to the terraced character of the building, the slope of the natural Cultural materials were recorded in the profiles and spoil topography, and the two major phases of construction at the piles of the backhoe trenches; cultural deposits were recorded site. Structural materials attributed to the AIIS era include but left in place. The nature of the soils inspected, depths of deposits, constituents, disturbances, and other pertinent context 17 (Trench D); and contexts 35, 30, and 29 (Trench observations were also recorded. Documentation included C). The structural materials in Trench C include the concrete entrance steps that correspond with the foundation plans, and field notes, trench records, feature records, context records, the iron pipe that corresponds with the directional location of digital photographs, and a photograph log. Plan and profile the steam pipe (Mathews n.d.). The structural remains in drawings were made for each trench and a soil sample from Trench D consist of the concrete stem wall. These structural each stratigraphic context was collected for controlled description in the lab. Cultural materials were documented on materials are overlain by a soil matrix that includes burned the feature and context records and a small sample (n=7) of materials or, as in Trench C, black organic material mixed with sand that has a distinct marbled appearance. This materials was collected. All trenches, the GPR grid, and the marbled sand and black or burned material appears to be the provenience of structural and cultural materials were recorded result of rapid water action, which may be from naturally with a transit and stadia rod. Cultural materials removed from
SCA Newsletter 38(1) 22 Articles occurring wave action, but is more likely from high pressure the employee cottages and the large void where the water hoses used to help put out the burning building. Administration Building once stood.
Structural materials attributed to the WWII-era mess hall These voids are not simply the absence of structures; they (Trenches A and B: context 22 and 23) were found have shape and substance both physically and historically. approximately 1 ft. 7 in. below the surface, and 5 in. above Artistically speaking, negative space plays an important role the nearest and shallowest identified Administration Building in defining the subject. The fact that the Administration remains (Trench C: context 35). The presence of gravel and Building is lost and that the employee cottages were asphaltum in Trenches A and B indicates the area was leveled destroyed can itself be integrated into the interpretive and used as a road after the WW II buildings were program. These negative spaces are a result of a lack of active demolished. preservation of this important site, illustrating the ignorance and ambivalence with which the site has been regarded. This The structural materials in Trenches E, F, and G cannot be disregard is in stark contrast to our historic treatment of Ellis positively attributed to either the WW II era or the AIIS era Islandwhich has been preserved, maintained, and is a because of the lack of burned material in the trenches that widely recognized and familiar site to the general public would indicate the level at which the Administration (Figure 6). These disparate conditions prompt us to ask Building was burned. However, the paved walkways ourselves what the different treatments of Ellis Island and (contexts 2 and 8) in Trenches F and G appear to be similar to Angel Island reflect. Is it a result of the focus on our countrys those that appear above ground near the retaining walls and history from east to west? Does it suggest that, while Irish that are associated with the Administration Building. and Italian immigrants on the east coast were persecuted, the racism toward the Asian population was, and may still be, Conclusions and Recommendations endemic throughout the country? The negative spaces at the AIIS can speak as loudly as standing structures, conveying the The excavation of the Administration Building reveals history of exclusionary policy, ignorance, and racism in the that the site contains intact, though minimal, subsurface United States and how this history shapes our contemporary structural remains. In terms of how these remains might world. contribute to the interpretive program, the overall low percentage of subsurface remains and the depth at which they The power of the negative spaces can be maintained in exist do not lend themselves to a feasible, meaningful, or safe the interpretive program while also creating an interpretive reconstruction or interpretation of the site. These conclusions exhibit through the site of the Administration Building. This have assisted the DPR in ruling out the inclusion of exhibit would include pathways to simulate the processing of subsurface remains in the interpretation of the site, and allow immigrants through the site, which would introduce visitors to them to focus on what remains of the site above ground. In the social, physical, and psychological impact that addition to the standing structures (the power house, hospital, enforcement of the exclusion laws had on immigrants. Each and detention barracks), the above-ground remains include an room of the building could be outlined with a low profile extensive retaining wall system, as well as the foundations of stone or concrete wall, and a pathway could be delineated
Figure 6
SCA Newsletter 38(1) 23 Articles when the privy had been demolished. This privy potentially that guides the visitor along numbered interpretive panels, contains 10 discrete deposits, with a known period of use and moving the visitor through the immigration process. Two a known population. The study of the cottages, in different pathways could diverge, indicating the different combination with the study of the privies and the dominant processes a Chinese immigrant and a European immigrant constructed landscape, would provide outstanding data by would have experienced (Moore 2002). which to more clearly understand the lives of the people detained, living, and working at the Angel Island Recommendations for Further Research Immigration Station, and the ways in which they related to one another in terms of culture and class conflict. The Angel Island Immigration Station is a lens through which broad contemporary issues of immigration, diversity, Portions of this report are adapted from Architectural Resources culture, and class conflict can be examined with historical Group (2002); Davison and Meier (2002); Soennichsen (2001); perspective; its legacy serves as a touchstone for and Moore (2002). Special thanks to Nick Franco, Superintendent personalizing and humanizing the complicated intersections of the Angel Island Immigration Station State Park; Alisa Moore of race, immigration, and our American identity (Moore of Environmental Science Associates; Jeff Brooke, California State 2002). As such, the structural and archaeological remains of Parks Archaeologist; Frank Ross of the Federated Indians of the station offer additional venues for interpretation of these Graton Rancheria; Dr. Lawrence Conyers of the University of ideas to the public. Colorado; Dr. Lori Hager and Roberta Jewitt of the Archaeological Research Facility (ARF) at UC Berkeley; and John Holson, Although a significant portion of the AIIS has been lost, Jennifer Burns, Michelle St. Clair, and Dr. Michael Bever at the remaining portion of the built environment holds Pacific Legacy. potential for future research and interpretation. Specifically, the functional and aesthetic aspects of the overall built References environment should be studied and presented in terms of the communication of power and control through the use of Architectural Resources Group imposing facades, panoptic architectural features, and ordered 2002 Hospital Building Historic Structure Report, Angel landscape vegetation and walkways (Leone 1995). As Moore Island Immigration Station. San Francisco, CA. (2002) states: The design and construction of the barracks, Davison, M. and L. Meier Administration Building, and hospital, with segregated areas 2002 Cultural Landscape Report for Angel Island for Asian and European immigrants, reflects the Immigration Station, Volume 1-3: Site History, institutionalized prejudice of the Bureau of Immigration Existing Conditions, and Treatment. Prepared by toward Asian immigrants in the early 20th century. Pacific National Park Service, Olmsted Center for Landscape Legacy will be presenting a paper at the 2004 SHA Meeting Preservation, in collaboration with the Pacific Great that discusses these themes. Basin Support Office for the California Department of Davison and Meier (2002) suggest that the remains of the Parks and Recreation and the Angel Island employee cottages be studied in terms of their archaeological Immigration Station Foundation, San Francisco, CA. remains. The two different sets of employee cottages appear Leone, M. to represent two different types of employees. The set of 1995 A Historical Archaeology of Capitalism. American nine cottages near the hospital are smaller and closer together Anthropologist 97(2):251-268. than the three larger cottages near the power house, Mathews, W. indicating that individuals of higher status probably lived in n.d. Foundation Plan. Main Administration Building, U.S. the larger and more spacious cottages. The study of Immigration Station, Angel Island, San Francisco, archaeological remains associated with these residences has California. On file at the Angel Island State Park the potential to shed light on the lives and hierarchy of the Superintendents Office. employees. Moore, D. In addition, the privy that existed in the recreation yard of 2002 Interpretive Strategy: Angel Island Immigration the Chinese detention barracks offers a plethora of data Station. California State Parks, Sacramento. regarding these segregated detainees. The privy was built to accommodate 10 people at one time and was in use when the Soennichsen, J. AIIS first opened in 1910. It may have been discontinued as 2001 Miwoks to Missiles: A History of Angel Island. Angel early as 1912, when the bathrooms were added to the Island Association, Tiburon, California.
detention barracks, but it was certainly not in use by 1920,
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SCA Newsletter 38(1) 24 Articles
IndiansIndians HiddenHidden PaintingsPaintings OpenOpen WindowWindow IntoInto S.F.sS.F.s SacredSacred PastPast
Carl Nolte, Chronicle Staff Writer ReprintedReprinted byby permissionpermission fromfrom thethe SanSan FranciscoFrancisco ChronicleChronicle
Kristina Crawford Kristina Crawford Kristina Crawford
wo young men, one an artist, the other an murals were left in the dark, effectively walled off. Only archaeologist, crawled over the ancient redwood workers and extraordinarily nimble clergy or historians could Tbeams of San Franciscos Mission Dolores earlier even find them. this month, opened a trap door, lowered an electric light into a space behind the main altar and stared into the 18th Now, Blind said, anyone can see them. They are a century. There, in a space thick with the dust of centuries and fascinating look into the nexus of history, he said. dark as a tomb, is a wall of nearly forgotten religious murals, Displaying the work is of extraordinary significance, said painted in red, black and yellow by Native Americans in Brother Guire Cleary, curator of Mission Dolores. It is the 1791 and hidden from public view for 208 years. best-preserved example of art from the period of first contact with Europeans that I am aware of, said Andrew Galvan, an The two freelance artist Ben Wood, 23, and Presidio of Ohlone Indian who will succeed Cleary as curator next San Francisco archaeologist Eric Blind, 29 have month. rediscovered the old murals, have taken digital photographs of them, and are projecting the images on the inside of the Mission San Francisco de Asis was founded in June 1776 dome of the modern Mission Dolores Basilica next door for near an Indian village on a lagoon the Spanish called Nuestra all to see. The display runs through Feb. 7. Senora de los Dolores Our Lady of Sorrows. Franciscan friars, using native labor, built a permanent mission building Only part of the murals has been photographed, and the in 1790 at the corner of what is now 16th and Dolores streets. pictures show two representations of the Sacred Heart of At that time, San Francisco was the northern frontier of the Jesus, penetrated by swords and daggers. There are also Spanish empire, the very edge of the European world in decorative swirls and patterns, and apparently more Roman North America. Mission Dolores, as it came to be called, was Catholic religious symbols are still hidden in the dark. Some built of adobe with roof beams of redwood tied together with niches there contained statues at one time. The murals, rawhide thongs. apparently painted with colors made from natural dyes on the site, are the work of the native people of San Francisco, It was built by Ohlone slave labor, said Galvan, who is Ohlone and other tribes that lived at the Spanish mission. descended from an Indian baptized in Mission Dolores in The murals have been seen only by a handful of people since 1801. The original redwood beams are still visible in the they were blocked from view when a new and elaborate mission attic, tied together with rawhide. My ancestors did altarpiece was installed with great ceremony in 1796. The old good work, he said.
SCA Newsletter 38(1) 25 Articles
The mural was painted behind the main altar about a year Englishman who is interested in art and history in equal after the mission opened, but in 1796, a brand-new structure doses. He heard the story of the murals from Cleary and called a reredos and carved in Mexico arrived by ship. It enlisted Blind in the enterprise of using modern digital came in pieces, and when it was assembled, it was pleasing to photography to document the murals. Cleary gave his the eye of the priests: grand and ornate, elaborately carved permission, Galvan gave his encouragement, and the job was with statues of the Archangel Michael and the Blessed Virgin, on. flanked by her parents, whom the Spanish called Santa Ana and San Joaquin. Wood and Blind had to figure out a way to get into the space without touching the murals, which have crumbled in The new reredos was so splendid it was placed in front of some places. Finally, they rigged up a series of ropes and the murals, where it stands to this day. The old murals were pulleys and found a way build a cradle to lower their camera eclipsed. They were hidden since 1796, Cleary said. You and lights into the 3-by-3-foot opening. They put the digital could only see them by climbing up there and looking images on the computer, and there it was: the world of 1791, through a trap door. If thats not hidden, I dont know the when a handful of Europeans in an adobe mission and a few definition of the word. soldiers in a windblown Presidio clung to a Spanish colony on the far side of the world. You can only imagine what these The murals were never really lost. They were always people were thinking to be put to work painting a wall with there, like a forgotten treasure. Information about them completely alien symbols, Blind said. surfaced from time to time, most notably in the 1980s, when historian Norman Neuerburg made his way up the wooden The mural images will be on display in the Basilica from spiral staircase to the choir loft, climbed a ladder into the 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day through Feb. 7. There is no attic, crossed over the interior roof of the mission to the trap admission charge. After that, Wood and Blind will pack up door, and lowered himself on a rope ladder to see the murals. their equipment. Theyd like to do more, but so far this has He had black-and-white sketches made. He may have been been unpaid work, a labor of love. Perhaps, Wood said, the first person to see the murals in perhaps a century, someone will give us a grant.
Cleary said. Then, late last year, along came artist Wood, an
○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ Preliminary Condition Assessment, Building 50, Presidio of The study of the adobe and related architectural features is being conducted by the senior author working as a San Francisco, California subcontractor to URS Corporation to provide information Anthony Crosby, Architectural Conservation LLC, Denver, Colorado regarding the condition of the adobe structures and their Sannie Kenton Osborn, Presidio Trust related building systems and the extent of the historic fabric. Vance Bente URS Corporation Fabric information related to the history of the structure and its evolution will be collected as appropriate, but is not the Leo Barker, National Park Service thrust of this project. Archaeological investigations in support Megan Wilkinson, Presidio Trust of the condition assessment are being carried out as a Eric Blind, Presidio Trust collaborative effort between the Presidio Trust, National Park his article documents a preliminary investigation to Service URS archaeologist Vance Bente. The initial assess the condition of the Officers Club (Building investigations took place in November 2003. T50), part of which encapsulates the last remaining adobe building on the Presidio of San Francisco, California. Purpose The Officers Club is a contributing property to the Presidio National Historic Landmark District and by virtue of its The purpose of Crosbys site visit was to begin the significance formed the basis of the original landmark condition recording phase of the project, to meet with other nomination in 1963. El Presidio de San Francisco was founded project team members (Sannie Osborn, Eric Blind, Megan in 1776, one of four 18th century Spanish military garrisons in Wilkinson of the Presidio Trust, Leo Barker of the National Alta California, along with San Diego, Monterey, and Santa Park Service, Bente, and structural engineer Roy Tolles, and Barbara. The Presidio was the longest continuously occupied to review the results of the archaeological investigation that military installation in the western United States (Spain 1776- began in advance of Crosbys assessment. Crosby worked 1821, Mexico 1821-1848, U.S. 1848-1994) until its transfer to together with the archaeologists discussing the overall civilian use in 1994 and is now jointly administered by the project, reviewing the foundations exposed on the interior Presidio Trust and National Park Service. Additional and of the building, and investigating the exposed adobe information on the Presidios history can be found in many of walls and roof from the attic level. the references below.
SCA Newsletter 38(1) 26 Articles
already begun with the archaeological investigation and the prior removal of some of the wall coverings in the east part of the Mesa Room.
Foundations
To understand the adobe structural system it is necessary to have the most information possible on the foundation system. The foundation at the southeast corner of the Mesa Room is in the process of being excavated on the interior and the exterior. Figure 1 shows the interior condition.
The coursing of the unshaped rocks is very uneven with large gaps and without a clear edge line. This character of this section of the foundation could have resulted from a casual construction approach. The other possibility, and a more likely one is that disturbance that may have occurred after the Figure 1: Detail of the foundation of the south wall at the southeast corner. construction of the feature that altered the original condition. A piece of flooring is at the top of the exposed stone foundation. The excavation has not exposed the actual base, so any additional analysis at this point is premature. An extension of the excavation to the west of this area between the adjoining fireplace and the closed doorway may yield additional information. A comparison of foundations that had been previously exposed to the east of this structure, part of which may be an extension, may also yield important comparable information. The exterior excavation at the southeast corner was in an area that had been extensively disturbed previously and provided no additional information about the corner condition or evidence of an extension of the south wall foundation to the east. There is evidence that the present exterior east wall is an original interior wall, as the south end of the east wall did not appear to have any foundation stones with the adobes placed directly on the ground. This east wall is also approximately two feet thick, another characteristic of an interior wall. From the standpoint of developing a more clear understanding of the condition of the building, it will be important to continue the investigation of the foundations.
Figure 2: A line of vertical holes drilled through the exterior hard stucco. Adobe Walls This location is on the north side of the north wall of the Mesa Room. Although the fabric investigation is in its early stages, it Discussion does appear that the four walls of the Mesa room are adobe construction. There appears to be one missing section of The original intent of Crosbys site visit was to undertake adobe in the south wall and there are other sections where the only the condition recording phase, which is a non-invasive adobe wall has been altered. The specific extent of these part of the documentation of the existing conditions. The missing sections and alterations will be identified further in subsequent stage of fabric investigation that will include a subsequent work associated with this project. The evidence more comprehensive investigation of the building fabric and of the adobe was available from observations in the attic of system analysis was to have taken place on a subsequent site both adobe rooms as well as from the attics of the adjacent visit. However, the condition of the structure with the rooms to the south of the Mesa Room. principal building fabric and systems covered by stucco renderings and interior wood siding, paneling and gypsum There are also some missing sections in the adobe walls board restricted the amount of information available from the of the De Anza Room as well, but the majority of the wall initial non-invasive approach. Consequently, we began the fabric of all four walls of this room is adobe construction. deconstruction phase and more comprehensive fabric investigation by drilling holes through the exterior stucco in The existence of the adobe was also confirmed by drilling several locations. In fact this deconstruction phase had holes through the hard exterior stucco in several locations of
SCA Newsletter 38(1) 27 Articles both buildings. The purpose of drilling the holes was primarily to determine the extent of the hard stucco, identify the wall material and collect information on the condition of the immediate substrate. Figure 2 shows one of the areas where holes were drilled through the stucco.
The holes were drilled with a power drill with a 1/2 masonry drill until the stucco was penetrated. At that point, the drilling continued at a reduced rate and the materials from the drill holes were examined. Later each hole was probed with a steel probe and a brass tube. The brass tube was used to extract small material samples in some cases. The brass probe was pushed into the substrate by hand, and this also provided an idea of the relative softness of the substrate materials. Additional holes will be drilled to provide more of the basic information available through this process.
The preliminary results from the drilling are (1) the stucco appears to be reasonably uniform in material and thickness, Figure 4: A detail of the top of the south wall near the fireplace and the (2) the walls are composed of adobe masonry, (3) there is closed doorway in the Mesa Room showing the location of a deep some variation in the dampness of the adobe walls, and (4) structural crack that is on axis with the wall plane. The view is looking the north walls of the two adobes are damper than is the east directly down on the top of the wall end wall. The relative dampness was not unexpected, as the north side appears to be the wettest side of the structure. The other indications of wall conditions. The interior wall surfaces location and extent of the dampness also appears to indicate were not mapped as all the interior walls are covered with that there is not a systemic ground moisture problem that combinations of wood siding and gypsum board. Several affects the integrity of the adobe walls, but rather is localized cracks were located and mapped on the elevation drawings. and probably the results of watering and the accumulation of Most were very typical and do not appear to reflect a response surface runoff along the front of the structures. There are two to a severe structural condition. One crack does appear to be important pieces of additional information that will help to active and a crack monitor will be installed on that crack in understand the threat of moisture to the adobe walls more the future. comprehensively. First is the effect that the wet season or a wetter year will have; second is the actual subsurface The adobe wall was investigated from several different condition of the site. Additional testing and research will areas of the attic, but the access was extremely limited provide this information. because of the configuration of the roof system. Eric Blind examined the gable of the east wall and we both were able to The results of the drilling indicates that to better check the top of the south wall of the Mesa Room. In order to understand the wall conditions in some areas, some of the gain a greater understanding of the walls more areas need to hard stucco will have to be removed. The result of the be accessed and examined. There is some evidence that the drilling was discussed with project team members and several adobe wall has suffered structural trauma in the past. The areas were identified where the stucco would need to be short section of wall between the fireplace and the closed removed to expose more of the actual wall fabric. The two door in the east part of the Mesa Room had what appeared to initial areas are to be on the east of the Mesa Room. be a significant crack and a deep fissure. The top of the wall was partially cleaned, but more cleaning and the exposure of The purpose of the stucco removal at this location is more of this wall is needed. This will be done during the next primarily to determine the condition of the adobe wall and site visit. Figure 3 is a detail of this part of the wall. the connection of the east and south walls. Stucco on this same east wall near the northeast corner will be removed in a Roy Tolles, project structural engineer visited the site on similar way and for the same purposes. In this latter case, the Thursday and after an initial examination we decided that, stucco should be removed to the existing ground line and an rather than returning immediately to complete his excavation unit should be placed at the same location. The investigation, it was more practical to wait until more of the drilling showed evidence of stone at the base of the wall, adobe wall was exposed. This will be coordinated with the which is somewhat inconsistent with the present next site visit, which will probably take place in March. understanding of this wall derived from the interior excavation. The excavation should also provide additional Roof System information on the foundations systems in general. The existing roof system is a combination of what appears The exterior wall surfaces were also mapped on sketch to be a mid-19th century roof and modifications to the ca. drawings, locating wall bulges, stucco patches, cracks and
SCA Newsletter 38(1) 28 Articles
1934 roof when the building was restored and the tile roof exists. In addition, the collection of all available historical was added. Some of the earlier rafters were left in place and photographs should be completed and made available. others were partially removed and new roof trusses installed. The existing system appears to be in good condition, References Cited although the details of the wall connections, a critical factor, may not be adequate additional investigation and analysis Alley, Paul, et al is necessary to determine the adequacy of this part of the roof 1993 Presidio of San Francisco National Historic Landmark system. District. National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. National Park Service, San A 19th century ceiling exists above the west part of the Francisco cafeteria located adjacent to the south adobe wall. Several 19th century buildings are known to have existed in this area Architectural Resources Group prior to the construction of the current structures attached on 2002 Building 50, Presidio Officers Club Historic Structures the south side and this ceiling is probably the remains of one Report. Prepared for the Presidio Trust. of those structures. Association for Preservation Technology 2001 Conservation of Historic Adobe Workshop Handbook. Summary APT Conference, Asilomar, California Barker, Leo The condition recording, including fabric investigation 1997 The Presidio within the Presidio: Historical based on a de-construction approach, will continue during the Archaeology in a NHL. CRM 20:9 next site visit, tentatively planned during the spring of 2004. This will include the drilling of additional holes through the Foster, Lee, Jerry Fuentes, and Sannie Kenton Osborn hard exterior stucco and the removal of selected small 1997 The Presidio of San Francisco: A Study in Interagency portions of the stucco on the exterior as well as very limited Cooperation. CRM 20:13 exposure of the ceiling system in the Mesa Room. Tony National Park Service Crosby will also expose more of the top of the adobe wall 1976 The Presidio of San Francisco 1776-1976: A where possible. Prior to that, the additional archaeological Collection of Historical Source Materials. Western investigations will be undertaken. Regional Office The continued investigation in the east part of the Mesa Osborn, Sannie Kenton and Robert Wallace Room will proceed over the next two months. This may 2001 New Frontiers, New Soliders of Preservation The include the excavation of the foundation near the closed Presidio of San Francisco under Civilian Control. doorway in the south wall, the continuing excavation of the CRM 24:3 or http://www.cr.nps.gov/crm> south wall foundation near the southeast corner, and Langellier, John and Daniel Rosen completing the excavation and cleaning of the south end of 1996 El Presidio de San Francisco: A History under Spain the east wall. Excavation of the foundation on the exterior and Mexico 1776-1846. The Arthur H. Clark near the northeast corner of the Mesa Room may also occur in Company, Spokane. order to collect more information about the foundation system of both the north wall and the east wall. Tolles, E. Leroy, Frederick A. Webster, Anthony Crosby, and Edna E. Kimbro The interior deconstruction may proceed with the 1996 Survey of Damage to Historic Adobe Buildings after removal of a portion of the wall covering and siding on the the January 1994 Northridge Earthquake. Getty interior wall near the southeast corner where the process has Conservation Institute begun with the removal of the gypsum board in this area. Voss, Barbara Prior to the actual deconstruction, the project team will 2002 The Archaeology of El Presidio de San Francisco: consult and determine the most effective approach. Culture Contact, Gender, and Ethnicity in a Spanish- Colonial Military Community. PhD dissertation, Because of the difficulty of accessing the attic spaces Department of Anthropology, U.C. Berkeley above both the adobe rooms, an additional access way will need to be cut in the ceiling of both rooms, near the west Voss, Barbara and Vance Bente ends. The new access ways should be constructed similarly to 1996 Archaeological Discovery and Investigation of the the existing ones. Historic Presidio de San Francisco. Woodward Clyde Consultants, prepared for Sacramento District Corps of Additional historical research should concentrate on the Engineers.
period between 1885 and ca. 1935, where a gap presently
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SCA Newsletter 38(1) 29 Articles
Culture Contact at El Presidio De San Francisco: The Tennessee Hollow Watershed Archaeology Project
Dr. Barbara Voss, Assistant Professor Department of Cultural and Social Anthropology, Stanford University
his past summer, Stanford University began a new phase of archaeological research at El Presidio de TSan Francisco: The Tennessee Hollow Watershed Archaeology Project. Founded by the Anza expedition in 1776, El Presidio de San Francisco was the Spains northernmost military outpost in California (Figure 1). Its archaeological remains were first discovered in 1993, and since then the Presidio Trust, National Park Service, and the Army Corps of Engineers have led an active research program to better understand the history and culture of this important Figure 1: Map of San Francisco Bay regions settlement. Stanford participates in this overall research showing locations of major Spanish, Mexican, and program as an educational partner, along with several other Russian colonial settlements. universities and colleges in Northern California.
Our investigations this summer marked the beginning of a systematic investigation of extramural residences at any new chapter in this research. To date, most of the work that presidio site in North America promises to generate new archaeologists have done at El Presidio de San Francisco has information about the historic presidial community and focused on the settlements main quadrangle the nucleus of provide a broader perspective for the interpretation of the presidio (e.g., Barker, et al. 1997, Voss 2002, Voss and presidial settlements. Its ultimate goal is to better understand Bente 1996). But the daily life of the settlement extended far the complex interactions between colonial and native beyond the walls of the quadrangle, and both colonists and populations that occurred at El Presidio de San Francisco, and Native Californians established residences and work camps in to trace the emergence of the City of San Francisco from its the surrounding landscape. This project perhaps the first origins at the Presidio.
SCA Newsletter 38(1) 30 Articles
Early Investigations: Predictive Models on average, each survey crew member was able to cover and Archaeological Survey only about 0.15 acre per day. Despite this slow pace, the shovel probe survey method was highly effective in The site of El Presidio de San Francisco is unusual in that identifying the locations of near-surface deposits that would both the quadrangle site itself and the surrounding landscape not have been detected with the naked eye. In all, three have been managed since 1847 by Federal agencies. It thus Spanish-colonial/Mexican period deposits were discovered provides an unparalleled opportunity to investigate the (Figure 3). The general location of one residential area El presidial settlement from a holistic perspective, one in which Polín Springs was known through historic documents, but the presidios main quadrangle is viewed as the military, the other two deposits named the MacArthur Avenue economic, and administrative nucleus of a much broader deposit and the Lovers Lane Bridge deposit are not network of ancillary fortifications, residential areas, recorded in any historic sources and would not have been infrastructure facilities, and agricultural and resource discovered without systematic subsurface survey. extraction operations. Artifacts collected from the shovel probe survey indicated My preparations for the Tennessee Hollow Watershed the research promise of the deposits. They included many Archaeology Project began in 1996. Then a graduate student artifacts typical of Spanish-colonial deposits: construction tile at UC Berkeley, I approached National Park Service tejas and ladrillos, household ceramics such as majolicas, archaeologist Leo Barker with a proposal to conduct an galeras, and British creamwares and pearlwares, wrought archaeological survey of lands within the Presidio of San ferrous artifacts like nails, spikes, and hinges; and bottle glass. Francisco to try to identify the remains of these extramural In addition the survey recovered artifacts typically associated activities and households. Working from Barkers models of with colonial-era Native Californian lifeways: flaked stone predicted locations of archaeological resources at the Presidio and flaked glass artifacts and debitage, fragments of of San Francisco (Barker 1989, Barker 1992), we identified groundstone tools, glass beads, and cut and shaped shell the valley floor of the Tennessee Hollow Watershed as a artifacts. promising area for further research.
The Tennessee Hollow Watershed is a sheltered valley Current Excavations: located immediately east of El Presidio de San Franciscos Reconstructing Life in the Valley main quadrangle. Tennessee Hollow is rich in both historical and ecological significance. The year-round presence of fresh The Tennessee Hollow Watershed Archaeology Project is water supports diverse plant and animal communities. During currently scheduled for five years. Our efforts are centered on the Spanish and Mexican periods, the valley floors were used two of the three deposits discovered during the 1997-1998 for farming and grazing, and the serpentine bedrock outcrops survey: El Polín Springs and Lovers Lane Bridge on some of the watersheds slopes were quarried for stones (unfortunately it appears that much of the MacArthur Avenue used to make the foundations of adobe buildings at El deposit has been disturbed by modern construction, limiting Presidio de San Francisco. its research potential). We plan to excavate for two summers at each site first, a series of test excavations, followed by Typical of other areas in the present-day park, the valley areal exposures and data recovery excavations of the deposits floor today is a patchwork of intensely developed residential encountered by the test excavations. areas interspersed by heavily vegetated open space covered with brush, forest, and grasslands. Earlier archaeological El Polín Springs survey at the Presidio of San Francisco found that surface visibility in the park is near zero (Ivey 1991). Ultimately, I We began this research at El Polín Springs (Figure 4). El chose to use shovel probe survey as a method to detect Polín is a bowl-shaped valley located at the southern end of colonial-era sites. the watershed, with at least three springs that emerge from the valley slope and gather into a small stream. This The shovel probe survey of the valley floor was historically-important water source is located only a short completed in the summers of 1997 and 1998, with students five-minute walk from the main quadrangle along the trail from the University of California, Berkeley serving as field that used to lead from the Presidio to Mission San Francisco crew (Voss 1999). (Figure 2) Our methods were de Asís (Mission Dolores). straightforward: having divided the valley floor into several survey zones using both natural and cultural features, we As noted above, El Polín Springs is the only deposit in the excavated shovel probes at the nodes of a thirty-foot grid. valley for which historical documentation exists. From Each probe was excavated to a diameter of twelve inches and archival studies, we know that by the 1810s, El Polín had to a depth of twenty-four inches; excavated soils were become the home of a large extended colonial family headed screened through 1/8 mesh to recover any artifacts that by Marcos Briones and at least three of his adult daughters, might be present. Because of the indurated, clay-rich soil María de Guadalupe Briones (married to Calendario found in the valley floor, this process was very labor-intensive Miramontes), Juana Briones (married to Apolinario Miranda),
SCA Newsletter 38(1) 31 Articles
As noted above, the shovel probe survey recovered numerous artifacts related to traditional Native Californian material culture: debris from crafting flaked chert tools, a cut and shaped trapezoidal abalone shell, and fragments of groundstone tools. From military documents, Milliken (1995) has shown that there were many Native Californians who labored at colonial El Presidio de San Francisco. It appears that some of these may have worked and perhaps lived at El Polín Springs alongside the Briones family.
Our Summer 2003 research at El Polín Springs used a dispersed pattern of test excavations to develop baseline stratigraphic information about the deposits located there. Using density plots of different classes of artifacts recovered through the shovel probe survey, test units were placed in
Figure 3: Map showing the locations of archaeological deposits discovered during the 1997-1998 shovel probe survey.
Figure 2: UC Berkeley graduate student Erica Radewagen excavating a shovel probe in 1998. and the widow María de la Luz. Marcos Briones and his daughters all had large families, and at least thirty children were raised at El Polín Springs. We dont know why the Briones family chose to live at El Polín rather than in the main quadrangle with the rest of the colonial settlers. Marcos Brioness wife, Maria Ygnacia Ysadora Tapía, had just died, and some people that I have talked to have suggested that perhaps the family wanted to be together. Others have pointed attention to the fact that the women in the Briones family were noted healers, midwives, and herbalists, and that they may have wanted to live at El Polín Springs because of the diversity of plants there. I also think it is possible that the Briones family was stationed at El Polín Springs by the Spanish-colonial military, perhaps to oversee or coordinate farming, ranching, and quarrying activities in the valley.
While historic research provides much information about the Briones family, it is largely silent about the other people who contributed to the El Polín Springs deposit: Native Californians.
SCA Newsletter 38(1) 32 Articles
history of El Polín Springs. We learned that the present-day picnic area was once a patchwork of different micro-environments, including low-lying wetlands and ponds, sand dunes, and gentle slopes of clay loam. In many cases these different geological formations occur in spaces of as little as 10 meters from another, and in no case were soil profiles continuous from one test block to the next. We are expanding the scope of our planned investigations in Summer 2004 to include geomorphology and palyntology studies that can further refine these initial findings.
Together the test excavations recovered over 100,000 archaeological specimens. Project researchers are currently working on cataloging
Figure 5: The Summer 2003 research team posted in front of our most important discovery – the stone foundation of this adobe house.
Figure 4: El Polín Springs as it looks today, a popular picnic area and trailhead for park visitors. both high- and low-density areas to explore the full range of deposits that might be present.
The most significant finding of the test excavations was the discovery of the stone foundation of a Spanish-colonial/Mexican period adobe house (Figure 5). We quickly amended our research plan to trace the orientation and size of this structure. This foundation feature termed Building 1 for the purposes of our investigation is surprisingly well-preserved. Although the collapsed adobe walls above the stone foundation have been largely removed by American-period grading, the foundations retain the upper leveling course of stone, mud mortar, and adobe brick fragments. Both this and the presence of what appear to be roof collapse deposits indicate that floor surfaces might still be preserved within this structure. We also discovered what may be the opening of a pit or well feature immediate east of Building 1, and verified the presence of intact yard deposits to the west of the structure. Both the interior of Building 1 and the yard and pit deposits on the structures exterior will be further excavated in Summer 2004.
The test excavations also provided substantial information about the environmental
Figure 6: Project crew chief Ingrid Newquist explains the archaeological process to one of our many visitors.
SCA Newsletter 38(1) 33 Articles and analyzing this collection at the Stanford Archaeology the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education, and the Iris F. Litt, Center laboratories. We are joined in our efforts by M.D., Fund. zooarchaeologist Cheryl Smith at UC Berkeley, archaeobotanist Virginia Popper at UCLA, and lithic analyst References Cited Kathleen Hull at San Jose State University. The findings of both field and laboratory studies will be compiled in an Barker, L. annual progress report to be produced in May 2004. 1989 Archaeological Resources: Presidio of SF NHL District Nomination., NPS, Western Regional Office, A Holistic Approach to Research on Culture Contact National Register Programs, San Francisco, CA. 1992 Presidio of San Francisco National Historic Landmark The Tennessee Hollow Watershed Archaeology Project District Predicted Archaeological Features and integrates oral history, ethnography, and archival research Historic Forest Plantation. Western Regional Office, with archaeology in the study of culture contact. This past San Francisco, California. spring, I began an oral history study to locate and interview Barker, L. R., C. Whatford and V. Bente people whose heritage is related to the Spanish-colonial/ 1997 Unraveling the Archeological Structure of the Presidio Mexican era at the Presidio of San Francisco generally, and to of San Francisco. Paper presented at the Society for El Polín Spring specifically. Twenty-nine interviews have California Archaeology 31st Annual Meeting, Rohnert been conducted to date, with more scheduled for the months Park, California. ahead. We are also fortunate to benefit from archival research being conducted by US/ICAMOS Visiting Scholar Veronica Dado, V. Dado, who has been transcribing and translating Spanish- 2003 El Presidio de San Francisco: Spanish Colonial colonial/Mexican era documents related to the history of El Documentation Translation Project. Report submitted to Presidio de San Francisco (Dado 2003). the Presidio Trust and the National Park Service, Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Our project also includes a vigorous public interpretation Ivey, J. component with interpretive stations and tours for on-site 1991 Inventory of Potential Archaeological Resources of Presido visitors (Figure 6). About 1,000 people visited the [sic] San Francisco. Report submitted to the National excavations in Summer 2003 and a project website provides Park Service. regular project updates and opportunities for public comment on our research (www.stanford.edu/group/presidio). Milliken, R. 1995 A Time of Little Choice. Ballena Press Anthropological Because both archaeological and ethnohistoric research Papers. Ballena Press, Menlo Park. are still in very early stages, it is premature to speculate on what the conclusions of this investigation might be. Already, Voss, B. L. however, we have found that the extramural residential areas 1999 Report on Archaeological Shovel Probe Survey at the at El Presidio de San Francisco survive in the form of well- Presidio of San Francisco, 1997-1998. Report submitted preserved archaeological deposits, and we anticipate that the to the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, findings of this investigation will result in a more holistic National Park Service. understanding of the dynamics and outcomes of culture 2002 The Archaeology of El Presidio de San Francisco: Culture contact at colonial military settlements. Contact, Gender, and Ethnicity in a Spanish-colonial Military Community. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of The Tennessee Hollow Watershed Archaeology Project is directed by California, Department of Anthropology. Dr. Barbara L. Voss through a research partnership between Voss, B. L. and V. G. Bente Stanford University and the Presidio Trust in cooperation with the 1996 Archaeological Discovery and Investigation of the Historic National Park Service. Funding for this research has been Presidio de San Francisco. Woodward-Clyde Consultants. provided by several Stanford University programs, including Report submitted to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Urban Studies, Feminist Studies, the Office of Technology Licensing,
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See you at the Annual Meeting Banquet, Friday, 19 March 2004 in Riverside...
SCA Newsletter 38(1) 34 Articles
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Jack Mc Ilroy Anthropological Studies Center Sonoma State University
Figure 1: Crew working on a well inside the slide-rail shoring box on Block 10.
rom May 2001 until January 2003 ASC archaeologists parking lots under the elevated section of Interstate Freeway from the Anthropological Studies Center (ASC) at 80 where it cut through the heart of downtown. This did not FSonoma State University carried out open area endear the archaeologists, Caltrans, or Balfour Beatty, the excavation on six city blocks in downtown San Francisco. international construction company we worked with, to the The project was the result of a long planned research effort hapless drivers. Large areas, and sometimes all, of a city that initially targeted fourteen blocks. It was part of the block were fenced off. Security guards were employed to seismic retrofit of the West Approach to the San Francisco- keep the bad guys from looting features as we dug. Oakland Bay Bridge undertaken by the California Archaeologically Sensitive Areas (ASAs) were marked out Department of Transportation (Caltrans) Toll Bridge Program. and the homeless drunks lying paralytic on the asphalt Detailed historical research and analysis of the development politely escorted off the block. Sticking their heads over the history of each block indicated there was nothing left in the fence the homeless were to be our most frequent spectators, impact areas in the eight blocks that didnt make the cut, due advising the odd passerby (they can be very odd in San principally to disturbance from modern construction. Strolling Francisco) on the progress of the excavation. We were later to through the city you could have walked past the sites a few be thankful to them when the field director drove off the site blocks from Market Street and the financial district and not with his laptop sitting on the lowered tailgate of his truck. A known what was going on behind the black plastic covered group of homeless people recovered it after a following car chain-link fence that keep the dust in. To the world outside, it had run over it. They were camped on the sidewalk must have looked like any other downtown construction job. discussing the potential impact on the hard drive that had miraculously survived (it was a Dell Inspiron) when the Specific excavation sites were chosen based on the hapless field director stumbled upon them. He had been historical research. Commuters were evicted from their roaming the streets, looking for his lost computer. Data
SCA Newsletter 38(1) 35 Articles rescued and the finders rewarded, he bade farewell to his eventually got to like both us and their front row view of the benefactors thinking unemployed Silicon Valley dot- project as the ASC crew delved into the depths of Block 9 commers had to wind up somewhere and wasnt it lucky for through the fire and earthquake horizon and unearthed the him they wound up where they did. remains of the Silver Street Kindergarten. Its old wood-lined privies were filled with the slate pencils and tablets used by A hardy and dedicated crew then set out to uncover the the children. Other privies and wells were excavated inadvertent time capsules left behind by the earliest and associated with the working class homes crowded in along often forgotten inhabitants of this city. These were the pits, Silver and Perry streets from the 1850s. Excavation of deep privies, and wells in residential, commercial, and institutional wells was achieved with the use of slide-rail shoring. Once back yards on lots occupied in some cases from the 1850s. inserted around a well, this created a safe work zone about 14 After water and sewer lines were hooked up, generally no ft. square. The bucket from a backhoe or a tracked excavator later than the 1880s, they were no longer needed, and they was then lowered into the shored area. The hand-excavated became convenient receptacles for all sorts of unwanted well deposits, which had been stored in five gallon buckets household materials, as well as accidentally dropped objects. were loaded into the machine bucket, the archaeologists got Even back then, no-one wanted open pits in their backyards safely out of the way and the archaeological materials were for children or older family members to fall into, so these brought to the surface for processing. Once we had excavated features would usually be rapidly filled and sealed with a four feet of well deposit, the crew came out of the shored area clean layer of sand, turning them into the time capsules they and the heavy equipment was used to lower the surface were never intended to be. When combined with census and around the well by another four feet. An RKI Eagle electronic city directory data, which often enabled the residents on air monitor was then used to assess contamination levels specific lots to be identified across a time spectrum, the before the crew entered the deep shoring box trench. This excavation opened a window into San Franciscos past with a process was repeated until bottom was reached at around 25 view from an angle different to that provided by written ft. depth. At about $2000 a week to rent, the shoring system documents alone. was expensive but well worth it from the safety angle.
With each city block from the original fourteen assigned The excavation then moved to Block 5 (Howard, an identifying number, the excavation started on Block 9 Folsom, First and Second) on the northern slope of Rincon (Harrison, Bryant, Second and Third). The site was down near Hill targeting the Folsom Street frontage near the Third Street between the small side streets of Perry and intersection with modern Essex Street. This residential block Stillman (formerly Silver Street). Situated on the western was developed in the late 1850s and then devastated by the slope of Rincon Hill, the highest landform in the downtown 1906 earthquake and fire which destroyed everything on it. area, this ASA was where the undisturbed surface was found More of the logistical problems associated with working closest to modern street elevation, at only about 2 ft. depth. within the freeway right-of-way in an urban environment On much of the rest of the project, particularly to the west became evident. A well was uncovered in a lot that was built sloping down toward the 1850s bay marsh, the undisturbed on in the 1850s. It had the potential to contain some of the ground surface was up to 8 ft. deep. This was due to sand fill earliest historic period artifacts found in San Francisco. But it pushed in from nearby dunes and in some cases hauled in was within three feet of a concrete footing supporting a from way up Market Street where the modern hill rises en column holding up the Fremont Street exit-ramp from the route to the Castro district. Bay Bridge. After consultation with Caltrans engineers, it was decided that even with shoring there was the potential for Sandwiched between the broader thoroughfares of excavation to destabilize the overhead ramp and the well had Harrison and Bryant, the Block 9 ASA was where Kate to be abandoned after being excavated to only 4 ft. depth. On Wiggins, author of Rebecca of Sunningdale Farm, opened the house lots where we were able to excavate, it was clear, the Silver Street Kindergarten in 1878. Like almost all of the based on the high quality of the ceramics and glassware project area and a large part of old San Francisco, it burned found, that the former inhabitants were fairly up-market. down in the fire that followed the 1906 earthquake. The 1906 disaster was marked by debris and burn layers of brick and Block 7 (Harrison, Bryant, First and Second0 was next in concrete building rubble, melted, twisted bottles, and black line. This was the site of the Saint Marys Hospital complex charred wood with the underlying sand burnt red. This 1906 built in 1869 on the east slope of Rincon Hill. Run by the horizon varied from about 3 ft. to 6 ft. depth across the project Sisters of Mercy, the four-story buildings of this charitable area. institution survived the 1906 earthquake but not the fire that followed. The ASAs targeted included the Dead House, the Residents in the apartment block overlooking the site Greenhouse, the Sisters Sleeping Rooms, the oven, and part were annoyed by the noise and din of the heavy equipment of the Museum. Initial exploration uncovered substantial used to break up the asphalt surface of the Block 9 parking lot brick wall foundations beneath demolition debris and fire at seven in the morning. Negotiations prevailed and Caltrans deposits at depths from 9ft. to 11 ft. Had the foundations been presented the tenants association with a copy of the detailed shallower we would have continued. But other foundations historical research on the block. The irritated locals and associated privies or wells could have been much deeper.
SCA Newsletter 38(1) 36 Articles
Enormous quantities of soil would have needed to be removed and stockpiled and there would have been excessive heavy equipment and crew costs involved. It was decided that the budget could be spent more efficiently on the remaining city blocks. We had to be content with demonstrating that the wall foundations of St. Marys were solid, intact, and deep.
Block 10 (Harrison, Bryant, Third and Fourth) presented a different challenge. Located on the edge of the 1850s bay marsh this block saw the largest excavation area cut a swathe through the historical remains of what had been the most densely crowded 19th century housing in the project area. Below as much as eight feet of landfill, 1906 fire-scarred building foundations survived along with many privies and two deep wells that produced the bulk of artifacts recovered during the project. Innovation was the rule Figure 2: Excavation of the shell midden which is cut by a brick lined well. The tracked on this block. Ground penetration radar was excavator in the background is placing slide-rail shoring around another well. used to attempt to peer through six feet or more of landfill in advance of excavation. Two ASAs were by the Golden State Miners Iron Works that overshadowed selected and a Caltrans crew from Sacramento brought in state Baldwin Court. With the pollution associated with that of the art GPR equipment to probe beneath the post-1906 industry, it cant have been the healthiest place to live. sand and rubble fill near the Third Street edge of Block 10. Privies began to emerge in unexpectedly high numbers at Initial results indicated that the fill deposits may have about 3 ft. depth along Baldwin Court. attenuated and bounced the signal around substantially but these results are being refined and reanalyzed. Final data will Based on results from this alleyway alone, Life on a San become available as soon as a Caltrans GPR backlog related Francisco Side Street could be one of the chapters in the to other construction projects has been cleared. final report. Privies were also located at the Miners Hotel and on Fremont Street, one of the latter over 6 ft. deep, an Based on its location close to the edge of the bay marsh unusual depth for a privy when you remember that before we and on the proximity of a known prehistoric site, Block 10 find them, they have all been truncated by later was considered the most likely to harbor Native American development. sites. A layer of shell midden was located at a depth of about 8 ft., about 200 ft. from the 1850s marsh edge close to the A puzzling feature in the project was connected with Third Street end of the block. Only about 9 inches thick, it Privy 1326, found on Block 4. Seemingly a typical privy, spread over an area of 25 ft. x 7 ft. and was cut through by a when fully excavated it was found to be resting on a rather 19th century brick lined well. It contained dense elaborate granite base for which there was no obvious accumulations of marine mollusk shells, mammal, bird, and explanation. It remains unexplained. fish bones, and small quantities of fire-cracked rock, groundstone, and obsidian and chert debitage. Approximately US Coast survey maps from the 1850s and other three cubes of midden soil were excavated. Given its position documentation indicated that much of Block 4 was filled in adjacent to the historic period marsh, it is anticipated that the with sand after the Gold Rush. This raised the possibility that site will be no more than a few hundred years old. Carbon Gold Rush shacks and associated features might have dating will help resolve the true age. survived buried deeply on this block. Three trenches were opened with a backhoe in an attempt to determine where the In the fall of 2002, the crew moved on to Block 4 old Gold Rush period surface was located. It was possible to (Howard, Folsom, First and Fremont), targeting the Miners dig in this way to about 15 ft. depth before the sandy soil Hotel, homes on Fremont Street, and the small, cramped and collapsed back into the trench and made further excavation overcrowded houses set on 25ft. by 25 ft. lots on narrow pointless. There was some indication of a possible earlier Baldwin Court, which used to run downhill off Folsom. surface at about 14 ft. depth in the trench nearest First Street Located on the shore of Yerba Buena Cove in the 1850s but for safety reasons it was not possible to enter the trench. before landfilling began, this block developed as a mix of Looking for early Gold Rush camps on this block would industrial and residential lots. By the 1880s it was dominated require excavating the sand to near mean sea level. This
SCA Newsletter 38(1) 37 Articles
firing two security firms, we finally got it right with the third and the looting stopped. The potential for mainstream media coverage to attract looters to the excavation was one reason such coverage was not encouraged. However Caltrans journalists visited the site, interviewed the crew, and wrote an article in the July/August 2002 California Department of Transportation Journal (Digging up San Franciscos History by Gene Berthelsen and Janet Pape).
The crew worked through the cool of spring and on into the dog days of summer when the ground hardened and the wind blew dust everywhere. And it can get hot in summer in downtown San Francisco despite what Mark Twain said. For those of you who live far from the Golden State the famed scribe and professional cynic proclaimed that the coldest winter he ever endured was Figure 3: Privies crowded together at the rear of Baldwin Court on Block 4. a summers day in San Francisco. Tourists would have involved moving a large amount of material and shoring the entire area of the excavation. If the City of San Francisco opens Block 4 to development at a later date, that would be the time to take a closer look for what could then be the earliest historic period material to emerge from under the city.
The once diverse and crowded Block 11 (Harrison, Bryant, Fourth and Fifth) was all that was left. Project impacts and logistical problems with getting heavy equipment under the elevated freeway as it came down to ground level limited the ASA to a small area. Two privies were located where a gold miner lived on the inner block Perry Street in 1880. He may have been a flamboyant character, parts of a gold watch and a gold tipped cane were among the items recovered. These privies were excavated during some of the worst weather encountered on the project and like most features found on adjacent Block 10, they were uncovered below about 7ft. to 8ft. of fill.
That was the fieldwork. And then there were the looters. Few things are as disturbing as arriving on site in the early morning hours to find features dug through and artifacts scattered across the surface, obviously the work of looters, and a security guard with a deadpan It wasnt on my shift, buddy look upon his face. Looters hit the project on three occasions. They were usually looking for valuable old bottles and even with security guards on site after hours, they would still climb the fence after dark Figure 4: Privy 1326 on Block and take their chances. Not 4. To all purposes a typical that I would suggest the privy. Ceramic artifacts guards ever dozed off. After towards the bottom with ash and lime deposits higher up.
SCA Newsletter 38(1) 38 Articles will understand. Summer faded into the misty fall the geoarchaeologist Jack Meyer who fearlessly descended into archaeologists least favored season as leaves are forever the depths of Pleistocene sands below the city in narrow 15 ft. blowing across the site, usually just as everything has been deep trenches, recording stratigraphic deposits never before cleaned up for a photo. Fall turned to winter, and rain seen by human eyes. Thanks go also to Erica Gibsons back hammered down like oversized buckshot as a deluge of mini- room boys - actually mostly the opposite gender in the lab waterfalls cascaded from the elevated freeway above our at the ASC who dealt with the thousands of artifacts that were heads. While the freeway provided some shelter, the climatic shipped back in an almost endless stream. And thanks finally assault intensified when tractor-trailers speeding through to Dani Renan, our safety and hazardous site training puddles overhead sent huge jets of spray over the entire crew. consultant who made sure everything on the project was CALOSHA kosher and Still, covered head to foot the crew emerged at the with yellow oilskins and red end of the day with the Gore-tex, they got on with same number of digits the job. So thanks to the they had at the hard-line core crew of Mike beginning. Meyer, Mike Stoyka, Maria Ribeiro, and Brian Mischke. Was it fun? In parts. And also to Don Bignell, We recorded the Melinda Button, Chris excavation of the old Caputo, Gina George, days of subterranean San Suzanne Howard Carter, Francisco on video. Christian Gabriel, Ginger When the twenty hours Hellmann, Damon Haydu, of tape is edited to Maria LaCalle, Sandra something manageable Massey, Mike Newland, and hopefully broadcast Sunshine Posta, Annita on public television, Waghorn, Mark Walker, and those of you who werent Grace Ziesing (editor of our there will be able to almost 700 page project judge for yourselves. Research Design and And the future will have Treatment Plan). They got a record of the social their hopes high, their hands history of the project. dirty, and their designer (or thrift store) work gear But intriguing though covered in mud. And my the occupation of belated apologies to the crew archaeologist may sound on Block 7 who were nearly and dedicated though deafened by the roar of traffic your crew may be, there noise as the commute were times, yes, there assailed the Bay Bridge just a were times. They were few feet away and the winds usually around 7am on a wafted exhaust fumes all winters morning, when over the site. Thanks to the the frigid bay winds historic researchers, Nancy howled through the Olmsted, the late Roger tunnel of the columns Olmsted, and Elaine-Maryse holding up the freeway, Solari, whose detailed work like Mark Twains ghost Figure 5: The granite base below Privy 1326 on Block 4. paved the way for the riding on the back of project. And then the some demented prehistoric whiz kids - banshee. And then we Thomas Martin who dealt with the remains of the Native hunkered down and froze and cursed both our fortune and the
American site discovered near Third Street and ancient residents of this city and their scattered time capsules.
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SCA Newsletter 38(1) 39 Articles
A Brief History of Russell City, California Megan Wilkinson Presidio Trust, San Francisco
ussell City, California emerged as a small Danish Post Spanish contact, the Yrgin territory fell under Mission farming community in the mid-1800s. The San Joses domain. While some Yrgin members participated Rdemographics of Russell City changed over time, and in the mission system willingly, others were coerced by the late 1930s it became predominately African American (Milliken 1995: 1-2). Mission San Jose was and Latino American. It was never an incorporated entity, had considered successful in its no sewer system and residents relied on well water up until founding intent so much the 1960s, yet Russell City provided some of its own civic so that, in the services. In its latter years, Russell City was considered a number of its blight to surrounding towns and in 1963 Alameda County began the forced relocation of its tenants, bulldozed the entire community, and turned it into an industrial park.
No comprehensive history of Russell City existed prior to this research. To chronicle the events leading up to the towns demise, I conducted interviews of ex-residents and built an archive of newspaper accounts relating to the city. I also created two maps, one of landownership circa 1963-1968 and another representing renter and business information. This project is essential to reconstruct Russell Citys past and is meant to provide the background data for additional projects that will help secure Russell Citys place in history.
The Early Years of Russell City: Pre-Contact Until 1900
The land that was to become Russell City was originally home Yrgin Native Americans (Milliken 1995: 261). They were members of the Penutian linguistic group (Miller et al 1978: 6) and some historians have considered them to be the same group later known as the Jalquin (Milliken 1995: 261). Sustaining themselves on the Figure 1: Joel Russell, 1866 ample natural biodiversity of the Bay Area, the Yrgin Prohibitionist Party and the neighboring Tuibun coastal group also took candidate for Governor. advantage of the naturally occurring salt ponds around southern San Francisco Bay to help preserve their food and cure hides (Sandoval 1945). Later, European settlers milled the same ponds to initiate the towns economy.
SCA Newsletter 38(1) 40 Articles
Figure 2: Russell City Railroad Station. Indian converts; in the number of horses, sheep, and cattle; in Joel Russell came to the Bay area after several failed the extent of its agricultural and mechanical productions, the attempts at gold mining in Northern Californias Shasta Mission San Jose far excelled the neighboring missions of region. He held a teaching degree from Bethel Academy in Santa Clara and San Francisco (Thompson and West 1878: Massachusetts and was elected as a Justice of the Peace in 14). 1854. Russell farmed his property while studying law and earned admittance to the California State Bar. An activist that After their revolution in 1822 and the subsequent opposed slavery, Joel Russell joined the Prohibitionist Party claiming of Alta California, the Mexican government decreed after the Civil War (Figure 1). It was with this party that he that missions secularize. Mission holdings were then divided was nominated for Governor in 1866 (Baker 1914: 506-507). up into land grants, or rancheros, and most Native Americans His bid for the state house was unsuccessful but Russell was went to work for the new landowners (Basin 1993:3, again nominated on the Prohibitionist Ticket, this time for Thompson and West 1878: 14-15). The land that was to Presidency (Sandoval 1991: 289). Russell received very few become Russell City was part of such a land grant given to votes nationwide and subsequently remained in California. Francisco and Barbara Soto on October 10, 1842 by Joel Russell died Feb. 19, 1888 (Baker 1914: 508). Governors Alvarado and Micheltorena (Wood 1883: 433, Basin 1993: 3). Their Rancho San Lorenzo covered 6,658 acres Captain Andrew Johnson, the first mayor of Russell City, (Basin 1993: 3). moved to the town in 1885. Soon after settling, Johnson retired as a barge operator and became the station agent at the California became American territory in 1846 (Chavez crossing of the South Coast Pacific Railroad and Russell Road 1979: 11) and squatters began moving onto the Soto land in (Figure 2). He also founded the first market in Russell City. the early 1850s. Some offered to purchase sections of the Johnson served in these various community roles until his ranchero when, in 1856, the Land Commission decreed the death in 1921. (Sandoval 1945) land legally belonged to the Soto family. Squatter Joel Russell, for whom Russell City was named, bought a one- During this time another enterprise was taking foot: salt seventh share from the Sotos and sold about 700 of those milling. Exploiting the same salt flats as the Yrgin, the new acres to several Danish families. The city had so many tenants evaporated and then shipped salt to San Francisco and Danish settlers it became known as Little Copenhagen. abroad. Most Danish families had their own salt ponds in the Other prominent founding families included the Johnsons, marshes outside their home plots about 50 to 100 acres per Pestdorfs, Jensens, Hansons, and the Christensens.
SCA Newsletter 38(1) 41 Articles family . (Brightside 1980: 2). The Pestdorf and Jessen By 1941, Russell City had a population of 1200, palm families had the largest salt production sites in the area lined streets, and its own volunteer fire department. While (Sandoval 1974, Moore 1978). the residents of Russell City relied on the Alameda County Sheriffs Office for official policing, interviewee Dave In 1895, Russell City formed its own school district, Bassard recalls that theirs was a community that policed itself. separating from neighboring Mt. Edens school district. The The town also had a school, a motel, churches, restaurants, first school in this new district was built on land donated by stores, gas stations, and bars. The area was semi-agricultural the Russell family (Sandoval 1988: 134). With a school and some residents grew gardens and raised farm animals. system intact, its own commercial opportunities and a train Russell City had no formal mayor, but many interviewees depot, Russell City was a bustling community. considered Mr. Buster Brooks the unofficial mayor. Still others remembered that fellow resident Nick Milekovich 1900-1930: Plans to Make Russell City the Biggest City proclaimed himself mayor. on San Francisco Bay African American migrants to Russell City brought with After the 1906 earthquake there was great excitement them cultural customs rooted in the south, including a rich over the potential of Russell City. Real estate agents blues musical tradition. In the years that followed, Russell promoted the idea that Russell City could be the largest city City became a center for the West Coast style of blues. on San Francisco Bay (Figure 3). Realtors convinced the heirs Legends such as Big Momma Thorton, Jimmy McCracklin, of the Russell and Pestdorf families to combine their Jimmy Witherspoon, and Billy Dunn performed in Russell properties for sale. One thousand acres were secured and by City (Arts 1994). Blues artist Johnny Waters Sanifer the year 1908, 700 lots had been sold. (Sandoval 1945) recollects that, Russell City was a blues capital (Figone However, only some lots were actually were built upon. 1988: 86) and Ronnie Stewart of the Bay Area Blues Society Williams finds that ultimately, homes were only built on half purports that people worldwide recognize Russell City for its of Joel Russells original holdings (1958). Figure 3: Russell City Real Estate Advertisement. The Great Depression of the 1930s severely impacted Russell City. At this time professional development halted and some residents were forced to build their own homes. The community grew in a haphazard fashion. Helen Russell McCallum, Joel Russells granddaughter, remembered that during this time, lots were being sold for as little as $10.00 but even at that price few lots were sold and no one made any money (Brightside 1980: 2,3).
The War Years: The 1940s in Russell City
The 1940s marked a transition for Russell City. Jobs made available by the War Effort meant that thousands of people migrated to the area. Because Russell City did not have restrictive housing covenants, a large percentage of its new residents were African Americans from the South, poor White farmers displaced by effects of the Dust Bowl, and Mexicans and Mexican-Americans from Southern California. In fact, Russell City was one of the few places where these groups were encouraged to buy. Interviewee Mary Tolefree Johnigan states that the reason many non-White residents bought in Russell City was because of old-boy networking. They were always subtle, she says, but the suggestion was there to buy in Russell City rather than Hayward. In Robert de Roos article on Russell City a resident asserts, lots are cheap and a man can own a place of his own in Russell City- a man who might happen to be a Negro or a Puerto Rican or a Mexican. People like that are not always welcome in other communities (1951: 18). During this time, ex-resident Sam Nava estimates that the demographics of Russell City amounted to 45% Black, 45% Hispanic, and less than 10% Caucasian.
SCA Newsletter 38(1) 42 Articles contributions to the Blues. consistent legal representation and an inability to generate and file proper petitions with the county. Yet the streets remained unpaved, housing was haphazard, and there was no water or sewage system. A Housing and Sanitation Survey on Russell City published in 1940 The Last Days of Russell City, 1960-1968 describes the streets as unleveled and full of ditches. During Alameda County granted Hayward responsibility for rainy seasons many sections of Russell City are not accessible Russell Citys redevelopment in March 1961 (Ward 1961). In to auto traffic because of the deep, soft mud and water filled July 1961 a 17 member Russell City Redevelopment holes (Dierup and Firestone 1940: 3). The same survey Committee was formed. The Redevelopment Committee expresses the shelter situation as, Some of these people were able to obtain lumber and materials, but most of them went on to oversee the purchase or condemnation of Russell built temporary shelters that have long since become City homes and the relocation of its 1,107 residents, 13 businesses and seven churches (Oakland Tribune 1963). Most permanent (Dierup and Firestone 1940: 5). Indeed, ex- residents were moved to homes in Hayward, North, East and resident Les Johnigans remembers living in a converted Central Oakland, Freemont, Newark, Union City, Castro chicken shack. Reverend Green recalls that families without Valley, San Leandro, and Livermore (Oakland Tribune 1964). electricity relied on kerosene lamps while Sam Nava recollects that he had never seen a clear ice cube until he left Formal demolition of the remains of Russell City began in Russell City. Additionally, Mary Tolefree Johnigan shares that October 1965, when the Redevelopment Agency began bulldozing structures (Daily Review 1965). when their cesspool would overflow and contaminate their well water they would have to tote potable water in from out Throughout the last days of Russell City, a series of arson of town. Health hazards posed by such living situations were attacks plagued the town. By December 1966 over 100 serious. At least one death in 1949 was attributed to dysentery structures had been burned, including some of the due to contaminated well water (de Roos 1951: 18). neighborhoods well-known landmarks such as the Russell City Hotel and the Country Club blues bar (Oakland Tribune The 1950s and Russell Citys New Status as a Blight 1966). No one was injured during these attacks and no arsonists were ever caught. Almost all of the buildings Between the years 1951 and 1957, Russell City attempted destroyed by the fires were already empty. several times to bring sewer lines into the town. They approached Hayward, the neighboring Oro Loma Sanitary In 1968, Alameda County accepted a $2.45 million dollar District, Alameda County, and even the state about the bid for the land from Cabot, Cabot and Forbes (Oakland possibility. In each case, Russell City was denied. City Tribune 1968). Other businesses soon followed and the area Manager of Hayward John Ficklin explained, Hayward became added to Haywards city limits. Today, the 200-acre neither wishes to annex Russell City from an aesthetic point area that was Russell City is still an industrial park. The last of view nor is it able to extend all municipal services to the vestige of Russell City, the Russell City School, was turned area because the assessed valuation is not sufficient to return into an adult continuation school after the residents relocated. any portion of such an expense (de Roos 1951: 18). Instead, It, too, was destroyed in 1983, replaced by industrial the Oro Loma Sanitary District and Alameda County construction. suggested that Russell City apply for federal funds earmarked for urban renewal (Monto 1957). To that end, Alameda Recommendations and Conclusions County officially designated Russell City a blighted area. The purpose of compiling this history is twofold: to In March 1958, Alameda began considering rebuilding establish Russell City in the annals of history and to Russell City as an industrial park. At that time a study was encourage future investigations into its past. Russell City conducted concerning the type of industrial activity that physically does not exist but its stories, traditions, and would be suitable for the area (Joachim 1958). Citizens material culture do and should be documented accordingly. petitioned the county to zone the area for residential use to The maps created in association with this research should no avail. In August 1958, the prospect of relocating the guide any archaeological testing in the area and the oral residents was publicly discussed. Also at this time, Hayward history accounts provided should be used as background for accepted bids to build two industrial parks just east of Russell additional interviews. City, near the Hayward Airport and Clawiter Road (Daily Review 1958). References Cited In response to Haywards advancement, several citizens formed a committee to discuss incorporation in August 1959. Arts; A Hayward Arts Council Publication. Winter/Spring 1994. This group tried three times to incorporate that year: twice The Birth of West Coast Blues: Remembering Russell with neighboring Mt. Eden and once on their own. All three City. Vol. 8, Number 1. efforts failed. The committees efforts suffered from lack of
SCA Newsletter 38(1) 43 Articles
Baker, Joseph, ed. Green, Rev. Albert 1914 Past and Present of Alameda County, California. Vol. II. 2001 Phone interview with author. Transcripts including Chicago IL: S.J. Clarke Publishing Company. interviewees telephone number and present address Basin Research Associates are in the possession of the author. 1993 Zone 4, Line A Tidegate Improvement Project. Report S- Hernandez, Frank 14888 on file at the Northwest Information Center of 2001 Interview with the author at his home. Hayward, CA. the California Historical Resources Information Transcripts including interviewees telephone number System, Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, CA. and present address are in the possession of the author. Bassard, Claudia Joachim, Leland. March 6, 1958. Wide Effect Due in 2001 Phone interview with the author. Transcripts including Russell City Planning Study. The Daily Review. interviewees telephone number and present address Unpaginated newspaper clipping archived at the are in the possession of the author. Hayward Area Historical Society. Bassard, Dave Johnigan, Leslie Les Leroy 2001 Interview with the author at the First Baptist Church of 2001 Phone interview with the author. Transcripts including Castro Valley. Transcripts including interviewees interviewees telephone number and present address telephone number and present address are in the are in the possession of the author. possession of the author. Johnigan, Mary Tolefree Brightside. May 25, 1980. Once There was Russell City 2001 Phone interview with the author. Transcripts including Now There are Only Memories. The Daily Review. interviewees telephone number and present address Newspaper clipping archived at the Hayward Area are in the possession of the author. Historical Society. Lozoya, Salome and Mary Miranda Chavez, David 2001 Interview with author at their home. Hayward, CA. 1979 Cultural Resources Evaluation for the East Bay Transcripts including interviewees telephone numbers Dischargers Authority Reclamation Reuse EIR, Alameda and present addresses are in the possession of the County, CA. Report S-1479 on file at the Northwest author. Information Center of the California Historical Map of Russell City. November 8, 1907. Book 23 of Maps, Resources Information System, Sonoma State Page 51 in the Office of the County Recorder of University, Rohnert Park, CA. Alameda County. The Daily Review. October 24, 1965. Demolition Begins. Miller, George, Michael Sawyer, Diane Watts, E.B. Parkman, Unpaginated newspaper clipping archived at the Patricia Ogrey, and Robert Harmon Hayward Area Historical Society. 1978 An Archaeological Reconnaissance of the Hayward-San ______. October 3, 1958. Huge Park for Industry Leandro Transportation Corridor, Alameda County, CA. in Hayward: $80,000,000 Project to Start Early Next Report S-1743 on file at the Northwest Information Year. Unpaginated newspaper clipping archived at the Center of the California Historical Resources Hayward Area Historical Society. Information System, Sonoma State University, Rohnert de Roos, Robert. June 3, 1951. Hope for Alameda Fever Park, CA. SpotRussell City: Tin and Tar Paper Town Trying to Milliken, Randall Vote Itself Sewers, Water. San Francisco Chronicle. 1995 A Time of Little Choice: The Disintegration of Tribal Unpaginated newspaper clipping archived at the Culture in the San Francisco Bay Area 1769-1810. Menlo Hayward Area Historical Society. Park CA: Ballena Press Dierup, Anne and Bernie Firestone Mills, Zenobia Kimble and Dorothy Kimble 1940 Russell City Survey: Housing and Sanitation. Los 2001 Phone interview with the author. Transcripts including Angeles CA: State Division of Immigration and interviewees telephone numbers and present Housing. addresses are in the possession of the author. Figone, John Monto, Frank. Feb. 7, 1957. Russell City Citizens Hold 1988 The Growth of the San Francisco Bay Areas Black Music Key to Help. The Daily Review. Unpaginated Community During World War II. Master of Arts, Social newspaper clipping archived at the Hayward Area Science: Interdisciplinary Studies. San Francisco State Historical Society. University. Moreno, Gloria Anguiano Garron, Henry 2001 Interview with the author in her home. Hayward, CA. 2001 Phone interview with author. Transcripts including Transcripts including interviewees telephone number interviewees telephone number and present address and present address are in the possession of the author. are in the possession of the author.
SCA Newsletter 38(1) 44 Articles ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ Nava, Sam 2001 Phone interview with the author. Transcripts including interviewees telephone number and present address are in the possession of the author. The Oakland Tribune. January 9, 1968. Russell City Sold by County. Unpaginated newspaper clipping archived at the Oakland Public Library. ______. December 22, 1966. Russell City Requiem Few Morn Its Death. Unpaginated newspaper clipping archived at the Hayward Area Historical Society. ______. May 18, 1964. Renewal Project: Land Acquisition Ahead of Schedule. Unpaginated newspaper clipping archived at the Hayward Area Historical Society. ______. January 16, 1963. Residents of Russell City Denounce Blighted Label. Unpaginated newspaper clipping archived at the Oakland Public Library.
Sandoval, John ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ 1991 The Rancho of Don Guillermo: The Early Years: 1843- 1890. Hayward CA: Mt. Eden Historical Publishers. ______. 1988. Mt. Eden: Cradle of the Salt Industry in California. Hayward CA: Mt. Eden Historical Publishers. ______. November 24, 1974. Salt-making has Rich History in South County. The Daily Review. Unpaginated newspaper clipping archived at the Hayward Area Historical Society. ______. April 5, 1945. Brief History of Hayward. The Hayward Journal. Unpaginated newspaper clipping archived at the Hayward Area Historical Society. Thompson and West 1878 New Historical Atlas of Alameda County, California, Illustrated. Fresno CA: Valley Publishers (Reprinted in 1976). Tingley, Frances Maita 2001 Phone interview with the author. Transcripts including interviewees telephone number and present address are in the possession of the author. Ward, Leona. October 3, 1961. Industrial Park: County Acts on Changing Russell City. The Daily Review. Unpaginated newspaper clipping archived at the Hayward Area Historical Society. Williams, Wayne. August 3, 1958. Once Utopian Russell City May Become Industry Area. The Oakland Tribune. Unpaginated newspaper clipping archived at the Oakland Historical Society. Wood, M.W. 1883 History of Alameda County, California, Illustrated. Oakland CA: M. W. Wood, Publisher.
SCA Newsletter 38(1) 45
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