Aztec Ruins Administrative History

CIVIL WORKS ADMINISTRATION PROGRAM
(continued)

Six interrelated projects made up the package of goals to be accomplished under the Civil Works Administration program.

(1) Project 1, under direction of seasonal ranger Thomas Thompson, moved the Abrams hay barn from the edge of the East Ruin to a location on the family farm selected by Orrin Abrams, replaced its worn siding, treated the structure with old motor oil, and baled loose hay stored in it (see Figure 7.1).

Figure 7.1. Abrams hay barn being dismantled for removal from the monument, 1933.

(2) Project 2 removed interior cross fences surrounding individual parcels and, through contract with the Santa Fe Builders Supply, installed a new outer boundary fence of 47-inch woven wire with a single barbed strand at the top. [21] The north boundary fence was erected with flood gates and rock dikes. In times of sudden rushes of water downslope, the gates could be opened. The dikes hopefully would divert water into a nondestructive course. Post holes on the fence lines hit some evidence of former occupation. The fences were a measure taken to keep livestock off the monument. [22]

(3) A large piece of ground at the south end of Tract 4, a prehistoric trash mound, was removed as Project 3 so that visitors could park. Because of ground frozen in December, the building of a parking lot there was difficult. Workers turned the sod with hand plows and teams of horses in the late afternoons when the soil was warm; they graded the areas the following mornings. They spread a rock base for future pavement on top of the smoothed soil. Because of the cold, engineers decided, rather than using adobe bricks, to construct the walls surrounding the lot of rock rubble plastered to resemble adobe. Sand and mortar water were warmed in drums and boilers set over bonfires. A curbed island formed the center of the lot. Designers placed an ornamental gate at the entrance (see Figures 7.2 and 7.3). [23] At a cost of $8,742.21, the parking lot was a bigger investment than yet had been made to serve the monuments for which the facility was established.

Figure 7.2. View of 1933 from southwest corner of the West Ruin showing roofs of three aboriginal rooms
put to modern purposes, the comfort stations, the Morris house, the cistern pump at one side,
the cement-lined pond at the rear, and the walled parking area in front.

Figure 7.3. Parking lot in front of Aztec Ruins National Monument headquarters, ca. 1934.

(4) Project 4 was the cleaning of areas around the ruins of dead brush, sticks, old lengths of barbed and woven wire, and trash, and hauling off unwanted earth (see Figures 7.4 and 7.5). [24] The dense vegetational cover developing in the northeast sector of the preserve as a consequence of overflow irrigation waters was not permanently eradicated. As another aspect of this project, Tatman led an archeological reconnaissance and survey of the monument. He was in charge of partial or complete excavation of six rooms, six kivas, a two-roomed extramural structure, six burials, and the trenching of the southeastern refuse mound. Some of the results of these activities are discussed more fully below. [25]

Figure 7.4. Relays of horse-drawn wagons hauling debris from West Ruin to fill ruts in entrance road, 1933.

Figure 7.5. Removing debris from West Ruin courtyard during clean-up effort, 1933.

(5) Project 5 was the creation of a picnic ground on the southern Tract 3. In 1933, workmen prepared the spot but, since it was in oats, the planting of trees was postponed.

(6) Project 6 was the restoration of recovered fragmented pottery and the cataloging of archeological specimens. Upon the recommendation of Morris, Alma Adams, a young lady from Boulder, undertook the painstakingly slow pottery work. [26] Her expertise merited a salary of $1.00 per hour. [27] Because the $300 allotted for ceramic restoration was exhausted before she completed all the vessels, the Carnegie Institution provided funds for an additional month's effort. Adams's technique involved repainting the vessels after they were reassembled so as to duplicate their former appearance. Because the original fabric is obscured, such total restoration now is considered improper for archeological specimens. A number of photographs of vessels arranged on tiers of cloth-covered shelves may have been meant as documentation of her work. Adams's assistant was Janet Case, who was responsible for the cataloging. [28] One result of the efforts of these two women was that government relief funds were expended on artifacts belonging to a private institution. The American Museum of Natural History had neither loaned nor given the pottery to the government, but it was repaired and included in the monument catalogue.