City of Rocks Historic Resources Study

HRA recommends that the reserve be nominated to the National Register of Historic Places as a rural historic landscape, representing two historical themes and associated periods of significance. The district would qualify for listing under National Register criterion A, under the area of significance entitled Exploration and Settlement. Figure 42 shows the principal cultural and natural resources that contribute to its significance, including significant historic viewsheds that should be considered for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places, but are outside the reserve boundary. The historic district boundary is the same as the reserve boundary.

Figure 42. City of Rocks Cultural Landscape. (click on image for an enlargement in a new window)

Extant historical cultural resources located within the reserve are associated with westward emigration and with the settlement era. With regard to the theme of emigration, a discussion of the character of migration trails is in order. The selection of a trail route is, in essence, a human response to the natural environment. The individuals who pioneered and promoted various routes did so on the basis of the needs of the emigrants who would follow. They took advantage of the natural land contours to seek the path of least resistance (for wagons and livestock) and, when necessary, diverted to access natural resources (water and livestock forage), and human services (supply centers, blacksmith shops, etc.). Emigrants attributed special importance, (cultural value), to various natural features observed along the trail — usually features that broke the monotony of slow travel through a landscape that changed little from day to day.

Within City of Rocks National Reserve, the California Trail does not appear as a continuous set of trail ruts. However, where trail ruts are absent, other resources within the larger trail corridor (significant historical views, inscription rocks, and natural landmarks) delineate its general route through the reserve. When considered as a whole, the resources discussed in Section 5.1, form a continuous linkage of natural and cultural resources that constitute the rural historic landscape of the California Trail corridor.

Nested within the California Trail landscape are smaller components representative of the settlement period. Of the properties associated with this theme, the Tracy's Circle Creek Ranch comprises a small historic district. This district consists of the ruins of the residential building cluster, the circulation system of dams and irrigation ditches, and the hay fields.

The Tracy property exhibits several of the characteristics found in rural historic landscapes. The selection of the original withdrawal, to incorporate the water source and natural meadow, and the placement of the hayfield adjacent to Circle Creek represent patterns of land use typical of the early homestead period. The southern property boundary, constructed with juniper poles and barbed wire, reflects the division of property according to government surveys, and thus the overall spatial organization of the homestead era. The response to the natural environment is evident in the selection of construction materials for the buildings in the residential cluster and the boundary fences, and in the placement of the complex near the edge of the basin in an area protected from prevailing winds. The cultural tradition of the former occupants is apparent in the presence of a Mormon hay derrick at the edge of the hay field, as well as in the use of stone in the dwelling. [306]

Individual sites and structures that contribute to our understanding of the cultural traditions that characterize the settlement period include the quarry on Mica Knoll, fences that mark the boundary of homestead withdrawals, and the pole corral on the Eugene Durfee homestead property. These cultural resources reflect human responses to the natural environment and patterns of land use of the second period of historical significance.

Although modern, non-contributing improvements occur within the proposed district (e.g., the modern county road), they do not detract significantly from the overall character of the area, which retains its historical appearance. Overall, the district retains sufficient integrity for listing in the National Register of Historic Places.