In September of 1993, an archival study and archaeological survey was conducted at the Naco, Arizona Port of Entry property (Thiel 1993). The methods and results of investigation, including archival research and an archaeological survey are given in this chapter.
 

Archival research at several institutions in Arizona has aided in the creation of a history of Naco, and especially in the understanding of past activities that took place on the expansion property. The Arizona Historical Society in Tucson yielded a number of published articles on Naco, most dealing with the Mexican revolutions. Other resources included an account by a Cochise pioneer, Samuel Hayhurst, and a letter book by an early immigration inspector. Census records and the 1924 Bisbee City Directory were also consulted at the Society. Photographs and a Department of Transportation study were found in the Special Collections at the University of Arizona Library. The photographs were particularly useful since they depicted two of the historic structures found on the property.

The Bisbee Mining and Historical Museum provided several unpublished documents and two photographs of early Naco. Photographer Wade Nichols was very helpful in tracking down the pictures. Cochise County Recorder Christine McNab Rhodes provided assistance in tracing property records and voter registration registers for the area.

Mexican archival sources were not pursued. It is unlikely that records for Naco, Arizona, exist for the time period from 1890 to 1930. Naco, Sonora, was completely destroyed during the 1929 Mexican Revolution. Archival resources used for the study are summarized in Table 3.1.

On September 13, 1993, Archaeologist J. Homer Thiel of Desert Archaeology conducted an archaeological survey of the proposed expansion property. The entire area, slightly more than 4 acres, was examined in a series of parallel east-to-west transects spaced about 5 m (16 ft) apart. Ground visibility was poor in most areas because of dense vegetation or historical earth-moving activities, especially on the southeast corner of the property. Areas with exposed dirt were sought out in this corner in an effort to ascertain whether cultural resources were present.

Preliminary documentation was completed for each feature. Sketch maps were produced, recording the size and shape of each feature. Photographs were taken of the features and standing architecture. Sanborn maps and other documents were used to identify features when possible. The results of the survey project were previously reported by Thiel (1993), this chapter reproduces sections of the original report.
 
 

Research of the cultural resources present on the Naco, Arizona Port of Entry Expansion area included the identification of property owners for the parcels of land, the identification of all buildings and structures that have stood or are currently standing on the property, and an in-field survey to examine visible resources.

The proposed expansion property area consists of land located south and east of Naco block 10, land that is described legally through reference to the United States border marker 92. Currently, the proposed Port of Entry expansion property consists of five parcels of land (40, 346A, 346C, SPRR, Alley, 353, and 356) (see Figure A.9). Parcel 40 is the current Port of Entry land, whereas the remaining properties are located to the east and north of the Port of Entry. Property ownership was completely traced for three of the six pieces and partially traced for the other three.

Records housed at the Bureau of Land Management in Phoenix list the original landowners of Naco. Lot 1 was granted to Seth E. Hazzard, who was assigned the land by Margaret Vogt (widow of Peter Vogt). He received 24 and 96/100 acres. Lots 2, 3, and 4 were granted to George S. Shibley, who traded 80 acres of California forest land for 75 and 64/100 acres in what became Naco. Hazzard and Shibley sold their lots to the Naco Real Estate and Improvement Company (henceforth NREIC) on January 14, 1901, and January 13, 1902, respectively (Figure A.10). NREIC subsequently surveyed the townsite of Naco and began selling lots in 1902. The first purchasers included the American Baptist Home Missionary Society, George Shibley, John Hughes, M. W. Wambaugh, Ed M. Blarre, J.E. Wilcox, Mrs. A. L. Wilson, and John Turner.

Parcel 356 was purchased from the NREIC by the El Paso and Southwestern Railroad on April 6, 1903. They held the property until March of 1979 when the land was sold to the Southern
Pacific Transportation Company, which currently holds it.

Parcel 40, the land on which the current Port of Entry stands, was purchased for the sum of one dollar on February 7, 1935, by the United States Government. Currently, it is under the jurisdiction of the U.S. General Services Administration. The 1935 sale coincided with the construction of the new Port of Entry. The land was probably leased from NREIC prior to the sale.

Parcel 353 has been owned by a number of individuals. The early ownership was not successfully traced. The property was purchased by Fred Geisler in the 1950s and is currently owned by Armida Geisler.

Property 346A is currently owned by Thomas Marsh, who purchased the property from Richard
Whitaker and Ruthe Wiesener in 1990. They had bought the land from Charles Kimbrough in
1987, and prior property owners were not traced. Property 346C has been owned by the Geisler family for several decades.

A number of historic structures have stood or still stand on the proposed expansion property. One goal of research was to identify the location and function of these buildings and to learn when they were built or demolished. Several data sources were used to complete this goal. Sanborn maps were most helpful since they show where buildings stood and often indicate how they were used. Photographs and documents housed at the University of Arizona Library Special Collections and the Arizona Historical Society were also useful. Lastly, structures present in September 1993 were noted during an archaeological survey. Table 3.2 summarizes the structures, grouping them together by the general area in which they were located. Two structures, the first U.S. Customs House and the immigration Office, are actually outside the expansion area; however, they stood on land currently owned by the federal government and are included because future work might affect cultural resources associated with them. Fifteen buildings and structures are present in the expansion area, excluding railroad tracks and roads and the first border station and immigration office. Each of the areas is discussed in greater detail below.

The east side of the expansion property was the home of the Copper Queen Store (Figure A.11). This one-story brick building served the greater Naco community and was built in 1900. A surviving photograph, taken during the 1910 to 1916 period of the Mexican Revolution, shows sandbags set up to protect the building from stray gunfire or artillery shells. Curtains hang in the large west-facing windows. A tarpapered porch roof shaded the front of the store, above which an elaborate brick facade proudly displayed the store's name. Hitching posts for horses were present on the northwest side of the structure. By 1931, the store was run by the Phelps Dodge Company, and sometime afterward it was closed. A note on a photograph housed in the Special Collections at the University of Arizona Library suggests that Fred Geisler used the building for storage in the 1940s or 1950s. Employees of the border station noted that the store had burned. A member of the Naco, Arizona volunteer fire department indicated that the fire had occurred in the late 1980s.

Other Copper Queen structures included a wood and corrugated iron building where fine lumber and hardware were stored, a large adobe compound where firewood was cut, a small ice house where ice was either made or stored, a general warehouse located along the train tracks, an adobe-walled warehouse or storage area along the train tracks, a hay warehouse, and stables with a small corral. In the vicinity of the store was a water tank used by the El Paso and Southwestern Railroad for their locomotive boilers.

The south end of Naco Block 10 housed the town's first bank and its telegraph office (Figures A.12, A.13, and A.14). Spurred by the opening of the border crossing station, the Naco Real Estate and Improvement Company apparently put up these buildings or leased the land to someone else, who subsequently constructed them. The bank was built between 1900 and 1904 and was a two-story, stuccoed-brick structure (Figures A.15 and A.16). The east facade of the building has a modest brick design above a central window. Below the window is a band of elaborate stuccoed dentils that continues around the south side of the building. The original front of the building has been replaced by a pair of large display windows, but the doors and windows on the south side appear to represent the original design.

Sometime between 1909 and 1924, the bank was converted to a store and post office. In 1924, it was known as the Post Office Building. Fred Geisler, who purchased the property in 1937, ran a store at this location for a number of years, but by the 1950s, the store was vacant.
To the east of the bank was a one-story brick building that housed a telegraph office and an express office (Figure A.17). This building was less elaborate than the bank and does not appear to have been stuccoed; it has a well-preserved exterior. An adobe-brick fence, which encloses the backyard of these buildings, is made from brown, straw-tempered bricks. It is presently 6 ft tall, with two courses of fired bricks crowning the wall. The outside was once stuccoed; however, much of the stucco has eroded away. Portions of the fence have been replaced by sheet metal along the south side, where a gate allows access into the back-yard area.

A one-story, wood-frame saloon was present to the north of the bank, flanked at the rear by a rooming house. Both structures were built between 1900 and 1904 and were gone by 1909. A single-story brick building was built on that parcel of land around 1910 and is still standing. The north facade of this structure presents a mixture of four different bricks, tiles, and cement blocks. Extensive remodeling may have occurred, perhaps on several occasions. A barber shop was present in the northwest corner of this building in 1931, whereas the remainder may have been a store selling drugs or dry goods (the Sanborn map has the initials D.G). The building is currently a residence. Five outbuildings have stood in the back-yard area behind these structures; two appear to have been outhouses. A garage stood in the northeast corner of the lot in the 1960s, but an adobe pump house and a wooden lean-to are currently present.

These structures (the bank, express office, and home) were originally planned for inclusion in the border crossing station; however, subsequent modifications in the Port of Entry expansion plans resulted in this area not being purchased.

The Customs House area has been home to three different border stations. The first was a wood structure, built around 1900 or 1902 (Figure A.18). The square wood-frame building stood among the train tracks and had a fenced yard to the west. In 1907, a one-story brick U.S. Immigration Office was added along D Street. Customs official Morris Hunter Jones reported to his supervisors that a bid of $1,395 was made to build a brick building. The bid for an adobe building, at $1,120, was rejected by Jones as unworthy of consideration (Morris Jones file, AHS).

In 1936, a new main border building was constructed in the Pueblo Revival Style, which drew inspiration from Native American Pueblo architecture. The two-story building has massive wooden beams protruding from stuccoed walls with elaborate woodwork on the exterior and interior. It was nominated to the National Register of Historic Places in 1990. The wooden station was subsequently moved from its foundations and served as a home afterward, and the brick Immigration Office has been demolished. Currently, the west side of D Street is used as a parking lot.

Lastly, three sets of train tracks crossed the area. One was for the Cananea, Yaqui River, and Pacific Railroad; one was the east-to-west El Paso and Southwestern line; and the third was a side track for the latter railroad. Most of these tracks have been destroyed.

Historic buildings and structures have served a number of purposes in the expansion area.
Governmental employees working at the Port of Entry watched over the movement of people and goods across the border. The first identified customs officials were R. V. Daniels, G. S.
Miller, and John Morgan Miller, who were all employed at Naco in 1900. Morris Jones's work in 1906 and 1907 mainly entailed monitoring Chinese and Japanese individuals, who had been excluded from entering the United States since 1882 (Morris Jones file, AHS).

Financial and commercial activities occurred at or near the expansion property. In 1900, Fred Reilly was the Copper Queen agent. Later, William Haas operated a drugstore and Fred Geisler a general store in the bank building. Many residents of Naco, Arizona, its surrounding areas, and Naco, Sonora, probably did business in these establishments. Entertainment activities took place at the saloon in the early years of the century. In 1900, Naco already had several saloons, with John R. Hail, G. L. Finley, and Charles D. Ellis keeping patrons supplied with their favorite intoxicants. Later, a person could get his or her hair cut at the barber shop that replaced the saloon in the building.

Transportation-related activities were conducted by the various railroads that had tracks running through the area. The El Paso and Southwestern Depot was located to the west of the expansion property; however, locomotives filled their boilers from a tank next to the Copper Queen Store. Finally, the block to the north of the expansion property served as home to early residents in the boardinghouse and later to the persons residing at 62 D Street. At present, the identities of these persons are not known, but they probably included many of the pioneers of Naco.

The survey resulted in the recording of seven historic period features (Table 3.3, Figures A.19 and A.20).

These features are discussed in detail in Chapter 4.

On the basis of the observations made during the survey, a testing program was recommended because the expansion property was potentially eligible for inclusion into the National Register of Historic Places.

Specifically, six tasks were outlined. The first was to remove rubble from a portion of the Copper Queen Store interior to examine whether in situ artifacts were present. Backhoe scraping around the store was to seek for features associated with the store or with the army use of the area during the Mexican Revolution. The area around a concrete slab, Feature 2, was also to be scraped.

The second task was to clear a section of the adobe-walled compound (Feature 3), scraping areas in search of cultural features. As well, a trash-filled hole in the southeast corner was to be investigated. Placement of several test trenches in Feature 5, a large trash-covered area, was outlined in task three. It was expected that three or four units could be placed.

Task four required the use of a metal detector to search for spent ammunition from the Mexican revolutions. Documentary evidence indicates that stray bullets frequently fell on the American side of the border. The fifth task was to use limited backhoe scraping to locate other structures not located in the initial survey.

The sixth task was to include backhoe scraping and limited test excavations in the backyard of the bank building/express office/residence. This property was not purchased by GSA, and testing therefore did not have to take place.

A testing program based on these tasks was implemented by Desert Archaeology in March of 1994. The results are discussed in detail in Chapter 4.