The Repair Of Casa Grande Ruin, Arizona, in 1891 Part 4

I also find the amount of underpinning done by the contractors to be 919 cubic feet, and the amount of filling in openings to be 1,161 cubic feet. The underpinning is done with hard-burned brick laid in good cement mortar extending to a depth of 12 inches below the original ground level. The face of the brickwork is set back from 1 to 2 inches from the face of the wall and plastered with a coat of good cement mortar, making it flush with the outer wall.

In filling in cavities more than 500 lineal feet of 2 by 4 inch squared lumber was used to replace broken-out lintels and laid side by side across nearly the whole thickness of the walls, with not more than 1 inch s.p.a.ce between the boards. They occupy the same horizontal planes as the original lintels, and the walls are trimmed to afford solid resting places for them. The openings above the lintels have been filled in the same manner as the underpinning, with hard-burned brick set back 1 inch from the wall surfaces and plastered with a coating of cement mortar, bringing it out flush with the original wall.

I further find that the contractors have placed one wooden brace and two iron braces as designated in the specifications. The wooden brace is constructed of two pieces of good, clear, squared lumber 6 by 8 inches in cross section, well bolted together, secured by plates of boiler iron three-eighths of an inch thick and 14 by 18 inches square. The specifications provide for this brace to run from the south side of the south wall through the center room with a plate on each side of the south wall and one on each side of the wall on the north side of the center room. The contractors have deviated from these requirements in having extended the said brace through the entire length of the building and placed the plates that were specified for the north wall of the center room on the respective sides of the extreme north wall of the building. While this deviation adds nothing to the security of the south wall, it is doubtless as effective as it would have been had it been placed as contemplated in the plan. It may in some degree strengthen the north wall, and I recommend that it be accepted as in compliance with the terms of the contract. The two iron rods called for in the specifications are of wrought iron 1 inches in diameter, secured by boiler-iron plates three-eighths of an inch thick and 12 inches in diameter, securely fastened as required in the specifications. There was a necessary deviation from the plan as to the place the rod nearest the east side of the building should be placed. Early in the prosecution of the work a portion of the debris in contact with the eastern wall was removed. During the night following this a section of the south end of the east wall fell, carrying with it that portion of the wall between the south and east rooms to which the plan required said rod to be attached. In consequence the contractors placed the rod so as to connect it with the portion of the wall still intact. As a brace to the south wall it is placed advantageously. In excavation, underpinning, and filling in the contractors have exceeded the limitations prescribed in the contract, and have therefore performed an amount of work for the remuneration of which there is no provision. The following table shows the amount of work authorized in each of the four items with reference to which the contract was drawn and the amount actually performed by contractors:

Item 1. Excavating and clearing out debris.

2. Underpinning walls.

3. Filling in cavities.

4. Braces.

----------------------+-----------+-----------+------------+-----------+ Maximum authorized 350 cubic 750 cubic 825 1 wood yards feet cubic feet and 1 iron Performed by 570 cubic 919 cubic 1,161 1 wood and contractors yards feet cubic feet 2 iron Excess 220 cubic 169 cubic 336 yards feet cubic feet Contract Price 60 cents $1 per $1 per $200 per cubic cubic foot cubic foot yard Maximum allowances $210 $750 825 200 under contract Amount contractors 342 919 1,161 200 claim to have earned Excess of contractors' 132 169 336 claim over amount authorized ----------------------+-----------+-----------+------------+-----------+

From this it will be observed that, taking the rate of compensation provided for in the contract as a basis, the contractors have performed work in excess of that authorized to the amount of $638 [$637]. They are fully advised that there is no provision for the payment of this excess. The requirements of the contract are, in my opinion, fully met in the quality of material used and the work performed.

The preservation of the ruin is incomplete. There are six places where lintels have disappeared and not been replaced and a corresponding number of cavities that should be filled. Deep seams have been cut in the walls by the action of the elements, and unless far greater provision is made for its protection the work already done will be of small avail.

At many places where the debris came in contact with the wall disintegration seems to have resulted. At a slight touch it frequently crumbles. Owing to this fact two sections of the wall fell during the progress of the work when the debris was removed--one from the east wall, described above, and one from the south wall near the west extremity. These breaches maybe observed as shown in two of the six accompanying photographs [plates CXX, CXXI].

These photographs were taken ten days before the work was completed.

There being no professional photographer in that vicinity I was compelled to take advantage of the kind offer of Mr H. H. Burrell, an amateur photographer, who happened to be there at that time. Thus the views I secured failed to show all the brickwork done. The coating of mortar was not applied until after the date on which the views were taken, in consequence of which the bare bricks are shown in the views.

During the progress of work in removing the debris a number of articles of interest to the ethnologist were found at various depths and localities. They have been packed by the contractors and will be sent to the National Museum.

The floors in the center, north, and east rooms were found to be about 8 feet above the ground surface. The material was similar to that of which the walls are composed. The west and south rooms appeared to have had floors at one time on the same level, but the surfaces had disintegrated, and there was a ma.s.s of loose earth, which was removed to a depth of 6.9 feet below the floors of the other three rooms, where another floor was found slightly less firm than those.

Reverend Isaac T. Whittemore, who has been designated by the honorable the Secretary of the Interior as the custodian of the ruin, rendered me valuable a.s.sistance in the performance of my mission. He has manifested a zealous concern for the preservation of the ruin and has given time and labor to that end. There is no provision for his just compensation. I therefore recommend that if any funds be found available after the payment of the amount due the contractors the same be ordered paid to Mr Whittemore for his services.

Very respectfully, H. C. Rizer, _Chief Clerk_.

SUPPLEMENT

CORRESPONDENCE AND REPORT RELATING TO THE CONDITION OF CASA GRANDE IN 1895, WITH RECOMMENDATIONS CONCERNING ITS FURTHER PROTECTION

I. _Letter of Reverend Isaac T. Whittemore, custodian of Casa Grande, to the Secretary of the Interior, recommending an appropriation for further protecting the ruin_

Florence, Arizona, _July 25, 1895_.

Honorable Hoke Smith, _Secretary of the Interior_.

Dear Sir: It is with great hesitancy that I write to add to the burdens of one so busy and burdened as I presume you to be. But it is not for myself but for others that I write, and will try to be laconic.

Can you embody in your next report to Congress an appeal for an appropriation of $7,000 or $8,00[0] to roof the Casa Grande ruin, to fence 40 acres, and make excavations of all the mounds in the vicinity for the purpose of learning the history of the wonderful people who once lived here and erected the buildings and built ca.n.a.ls?

Very sincerely, yours, Isaac T. Whittemore, _Custodian Casa Grande_.

II. _Indors.e.m.e.nt of the Mr Whittemore's by the Acting Secretary of the Interior_

Department of the Interior, _August 7, 1895_.

Respectfully referred to the Director of Bureau of Ethnology for consideration of so much of within letter as relates to the Casa Grande ruin, and such recommendation as the facts may warrant, and report.

Wm. H. Sims, _Acting Secretary_.

III. _Letter of the Acting Director of the Bureau of American Ethnology to the Secretary of the Interior suggesting an examination of Casa Grande with a view of its further protection_

Smithsonian Inst.i.tution, Bureau of American Ethnology, _Was.h.i.+ngton, August 28, 1895_.

Sir: Your request of August 7 for a report concerning a recommendation by Reverend Isaac T. Whittemore, under date of July 25, that provision be made for further protecting Casa Grande ruin, near Florence, Arizona, by the erection of a suitable roof, has been under consideration.

In many respects Casa Grande ruin is one of the most noteworthy relics of a prehistoric age and people remaining within the limits of the United States. It was discovered, already in a ruinous condition, by Padre Kino in 1694, and since that time it has been a subject of record by explorers and historians. Thus its history is exceptionally extended and complete. By reason of its early discovery and its condition when first seen by white men, it is known that Casa Grande is a strictly aboriginal structure; and archeologic researches in this country and Mexico afford grounds for considering it a typical structure for its times and for the natives of the southwestern region. Many other structures were mentioned or described by the Spanish explorers, but the impressions of these explorers were tinctured by previous experience in an inhospitable region, and their descriptions were tinged by the romantic ideas of the age; very few of these structures were within the limits of the United States, and nearly all of these situated in the neighboring republic of Mexico disappeared long ago; there is hardly a structure left, except Casa Grande ruin, by which the early accounts of Spanish explorers in North America can be checked and interpreted--none other of its cla.s.s exists in the United States.

Casa Grande ruin is, therefore, a relic of exceptional importance and of essentially unique character.

Unfortunately this structure, like others erected by the most advanced among the native races in the southwest, is of perishable material; it is built of adobe, or rather of cajon, i.e., of a puddled clay, molded into walls, dried in the sun. Such walls would stand a short time only in humid regions; but in the arid region the material is desiccated and baked under cloudless sky and sun for many months at a time, and becomes so hard as to resist, fairly, the rare storms of the region. It is by reason of climatal conditions that cajon and adobe have come into general use for building in southwestern United States, as in contiguous parts of Mexico; and it is by reason of the same conditions that a few of the ancient structures remain, and the best preserved of all is found in the Gila valley, one of the most desert regions on the western hemisphere. Yet the best of the cajon structures is perishable; so long as the roof remains and the summits of the walls are protected, disintegration proceeds slowly; but when the projecting roof is removed, the rare but violent storms attack the walls, and they are gradually channeled and gullied by the storm waters, while the exterior surface gradually disintegrates and falls away under the alternate wetting and drying. Even in the most arid regions, the earth-built structures typical of the southwest are surely, albeit slowly, ravaged and destroyed.

Several years ago Casa Grande ruin was brought into general notice throughout the United States in consequence of southwestern explorations; and in 1889, in response to a pet.i.tion from several ill.u.s.trious Americans, the Congress of the United States, at the instance of Senator h.o.a.r, of Ma.s.sachusetts, made an appropriation of $2,000 for the purpose of undertaking the preservation of this ruin.

This appropriation was expended in works urgently required to prevent the falling of the walls and final destruction of the ruin; they included metal stays for the walls, with brickwork for the support and protection of the walls at their bases. Subsequently an area of about 480 acres, including the ruin, was reserved from settlement by Executive order. A custodian was also appointed, and, as this office has been informed, has been continued down to the present. This action on the part of the legislative and executive branches of the Government can only be regarded as indicating a desire and continued intention to preserve the ruin for the benefit of the people of the United States.

The expenditures thus far authorized for the preservation of Casa Grande ruin have been made in such manner as to meet the most urgent needs only, and without them the structure would probably have been, before this time, beyond the reach of preservation. The preservative works were undertaken as emergency measures, rather than as steps in carrying out a well-considered plan. From the outset it has been understood by architects and archeologists and others familiar with the structure that preservation can be insured only by throwing a roof over the entire ruin in such manner as to protect the walls from the fierce rainstorms which occasionally occur in the Gila valley. No lesser work will preserve the ruin more than a generation or two; and unless this work of roofing is contemplated and is undertaken within a few years, the emergency work will be of little avail and the money expended therein will be lost. Accordingly, a.s.suming a desire and continued intention on the part of the Government to preserve this noteworthy relic, no hesitation is felt in recommending that a suitable roof be placed over Casa Grande ruin, at such time as may be expedient; and, in view of the rapidity with which destruction is now in progress, there is no hesitation in saying that the work should be undertaken at the earliest practicable date.

It should be added that neither the Director nor any of the collaborators in the Bureau of American Ethnology have visited Casa Grande ruin for some three years, and accordingly that there are no data in this office to indicate whether there is especially urgent necessity for undertaking preservative work at this time; but much confidence is placed in the judgment of the custodian, Reverend Isaac T. Whittemore, who is known to several collaborators in the Bureau.

The subject of the preservation of Casa Grande, in many respects the most noteworthy ruin in the United States, is deemed important; and if the Secretary of the Interior desires more specific information concerning the present condition of the ruin, as a basis for further action or judgment, it will be a pleasure to have an officer of this Bureau make a special examination of, and report on, the ruin during the autumn.

I have the honor to be, yours, with great respect,

W J McGee, _Acting Director_.

The Secretary of the Interior.

IV. _Letter of the Acting Secretary of the Interior to the Director of the Bureau of American Ethnology, approving the suggestion that Casa Grande be visited with a view of determining the desirability of its further protection_

Department of the Interior, _Was.h.i.+ngton, September 12, 1895_.

The Director of the Bureau of American Ethnology, _Smithsonian Inst.i.tution_.

Dear Sir: I am in receipt of your letter of the 28th ultimo submitting a report upon the recommendation made by the Reverend Isaac T. Whittemore, custodian, that provision be made for further protection of the Casa Grande ruin near Florence, Arizona, by the erection of a suitable roof.

In response thereto I have to state that more specific information concerning the present condition of the ruin and the probable cost of providing proper protection for it is desirable in the preparation of an estimate to be submitted to Congress with a view of securing appropriation for the work. To this end the Department gladly avails itself of your offer to send an officer of your Bureau, at its expense, to make a special examination and report on the ruin during the autumn of this year.

Very respectfully, John M. Reynolds, _Acting Secretary_.

V. _Letter of the Director of the Bureau of American Ethnology to the Secretary of the Interior regarding the examination of Casa Grande by Mr W J McGee_

Smithsonian Inst.i.tution, Bureau of American Ethnology, _Was.h.i.+ngton, October 18, 1895_.