Preservation at Fort Bowie

“The eroded adobe ruins of the first and second fort…all set against a natural backdrop nearly untouched by the hand of man, afford a unique opportunity to visualize the drama and meaning of an important segment of frontier history.” Bill Brown, 1964

Early Preservation Efforts

Congress authorized the establishment of Fort Bowie National Historic Site (NHS) on August 30, 1964. The enabling legislation called for the preservation of the site and the remaining historic structures of old Fort Bowie, defining the focus of cultural resource protection efforts. The ruins of the fort were to be preserved, not restored or reconstructed, and the National Park Service (NPS) was entrusted with the task of finding the best means to protect the fragile adobe and masonry ruins.

Stabilization and protection of the fort ruins has been an ongoing and evolving effort since the establishment of the national historic site. Early preservation efforts included soil cement caps and coverings, chemical preservatives, and water repellants. These early techniques proved to be ineffective, and in some instances, damaging to the historic structures. As summer monsoons moved through southern Arizona, the historic fabric of Fort Bowie was literally eroding away. Park staff documented continual loss of adobe from the ruins. In 1968, Superintendent Bill Lukens wrote,

“…our techniques of adobe stabilization were unsatisfactory at Fort Bowie if our goal was to achieve the reduction of adobe erosion to the point where the ruins would remain for some period of time perhaps 100 years. We recognized that until this problem was achieved whatever work we might do would end with the same result – no original adobe.”

Three men complete stabilization efforts on the old hospital, 1973.

NPS

New Preservation Technique Implemented

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, park managers and preservationists struggled to find a technique that would protect the adobe from further deterioration. In 1985, Tumacácori National Monument (now Tumacácori National Historical Park), another southern Arizona park with adobe resources, experimented with lime plaster encapsulation of their adobe structures. The technique seemed to work.

Three years later, Fort Bowie adopted that same technique with highly successful results. Fort Bowie had been deteriorating since its abandonment in 1894, but in 1988 that deterioration was mostly halted. The NPS finally had a strategy in place to achieve its legislative mission to preserve and protect the remaining ruins of the old fort.

NPS and Cornerstones staff members complete preservation work on a corral wall, 2018.

NPS

Modern Preservation Efforts

Current preservation methods at Fort Bowie NHS focus on the application of natural materials, including mud and lime plaster, to protect the ruins. This technique more closely resembles the traditional methods employed by the Army to maintain the buildings on post. Historically, coats of lime plaster were applied to the adobe structures to protect the fragile building material from the elements of weather, namely rain. This process is effective but expensive and labor intensive as it requires continual monitoring, maintenance, and repair.

Beginning in the late 1990s, the Vanishing Treasures program provided funding to assist with the ruins preservation efforts at Fort Bowie. In more recent years, the NPS has partnered with a non-profit organization in New Mexico, Cornerstones Community Partnerships, to complete stabilization and preservation efforts at the fort. The partnership between Cornerstones and the NPS has enabled the park to work with highly specialized experts in the field of adobe preservation and to learn from their expertise. Cornerstones provides materials, equipment, and knowledge on the job site as well as hands-on, practical training. One of their primary missions is to teach preservation skills and techniques to youth and adults in order to foster support for historic preservation and cultivate community involvement.

Youth summit participants complete preservation work on the Post Trader's store.

NPS

Community Involvement

In October 2018, Cornerstones offered to host a workshop for high school students who were participating in the Southern Arizona Youth Summit program. Seven 11th and 12th grade students from high schools in Cochise County came together on a cloudy, drizzly day to learn more about adobe construction and the techniques used to preserve the fort’s fragile walls. Guided by professionals from Cornerstones, the students actively participated in the process of applying new mud to the walls and mixing the hydraulic lime plaster that would provide the final protective layer. This was an opportunity for the students to take part in a preservation project that will help protect Fort Bowie for future generations.

Youth summit participants and volunteers pose for a photo in front of the Post Trader's store with NPS and Cornerstones staff.

NPS

The collaborative work of the NPS and Cornerstones is laying the foundation to preserve and protect Fort Bowie NHS for future generations. In the next several years, preservation work will continue and more field school workshops will be offered. Curricula of the field schools will include the fundamentals of cultural resource preservation; the historical context of the Apache Wars and the construction of the fort; the use of adobe and the selection of soils and materials for fabricating adobes; adobe making and processing; use of mechanical mixers; adobe wall repair; application of shelter coats; project management; evaluation of past preservation work; and adobe preservation issues.

View of the lime plastered ruins at Fort Bowie NHS.

NPS

A Silent Monument

The concept of “historic abandonment” was a guiding principle in the establishment of Fort Bowie NHS, and this concept continues to guide current management plans. The NPS actively preserves and stabilizes the walls but it does so in a manner that protects the integrity of the fort’s history. In 1964, Superintendent Bill Lukens wrote, “The stabilized ruins of the Fort shall stand as a silent monument to the American Soldier who occupied them and to the Chiricahua Apache who was defending his homeland.”

References

Henderson, Sam R. 1973. Emergency Stabilization 1972 Fort Bowie National Historic Site. Office of the State Director, National Park Service.

Pinto, Robin L. 2012. The Past and Future of Fort Bowie National Historic Site, An Administrative History. (Desert Southwest Cooperative Ecosystems Studies Unit), University of Arizona.