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This page is maintained by the Center for Transportation and the Environment for the Committee on Historic and Archaeological Preservation in Transportation. The information on these pages is from the ADC50 committee and is not endorsed by TRB. Last updated September 16, 2004 (HEL). |
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Preservation Notes The
Newsletter of the Committee on Historic Preservation and Archaeology of
the Transportation Research Board A Note from the Chairman Old Roads: Are they Historically Significant? by Owen Lindauer, Ph.D. Environmental Planning Section Arizona Department of Transportation WYDOT To Close Old U.S. 87 Through Fetterman Battle National Historic Landmark by Julie Francis, WYDOT Archaeologist and Tim Hibbard, WYDOT District 4 Engineer
A Note from
the Chairman Members: Kathleen H. Quinn - Chair, George Ballo, Robert Beardsley, Charles Bentz, Allyson Brooks, Margaret Buss, Beverly Chiarulli, Gail D'Avino, Julie Francis, Myra Frank, Jenna Gaston, Ron Hall, John Hotopp, Joeseph Hudak, Johna Hutira, Aristides Karlaftis, Judith Lindsey-Foster, Mary McCahon, Lauralee Rappleye-Marsett, MaryAnn Naber, Robert Newbery, Antony Opperman, Charles Scott, Paula Spero, Pamela Stephenson, and Henry Ward The list of Friends has been increasing so that we now have 118 people listed. The list continues to be revised so if you want to be listed and are not sure you are please contact me at (202) 366-1288 or kate.h.quinn@fhwa.dot.gov . In May 1999 the Committee sponsored a Forum on Assessing Historic Site Significance with the FHWA, FRA, FAA, and the National Register of Historic Places. Attendance exceeded 185 people including speakers. The Forum was designed to bring together people knowledgeable in assessing historic (archaeological sites, landscapes, districts, structures etc.) site significance on transportation projects. Representation at the conference included private consultants, State Historic Preservation Offices, Tribal Historic Preservation Offices, FHWA, FRA, FAA, National Register staff, and State Highway staff. Facilitators volunteered to participate and were key to the success of the forum. The first day included Key Note Speakers and three panels on specific topics: Traditional Cultural Properties, Context, and Landscapes. The second day and half of the third day was organized around work sessions covering 6 topics: Landscapes, Traditional Cultural Properties, 20th Century properties, Historic Structures, NEPA/106/Section 4(f), and Archaeology. Individuals had the opportunity to participate in two different topic work shops. The purpose of the work shops was to identify key issues and recommendations surrounding the evaluation of significance on transportation projects. Each group identified key issues and recommendations for dealing with these issues. A preliminary report including the key issues and recommendations was issued within a month of the conference. The Final report is being completed now and will be distributed within three months. Currently the Committee is working at addressing the key issues and recommendations through follow up to the conference. There will be a meeting at TRB for follow up to the conference. The meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, January 11 at 9:00 am. All who wish to participate in the follow up efforts (initiate recommendations) should try to attend or contact me before January 7, 2000. The last 3 summer meetings have been very successful for the Committee. In Knoxville in 1997, 126 people were registered, in San Diego in 1998, 226 plus people attended/registered, and this past summer at the Joint meeting with A1F02 in Madison 230 people registered/attended with about half of those representing our committee. The success of the Madison meeting was dependant on a number of individuals who helped plan the meeting and organize sessions. Robert Newbery was the host for our committee for Wisconsin DOT. Bob was critical to the success of planning the meeting with assistance from, Charles Scott, Beverly Chiarulli, and Henry Ward. Thanks to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation and especially Carol Cutshall, Chair of A1F02, Bob Newbery, and Caroline Amagashi. The Annual
TRB meetings in Washington DC are scheduled for January 9, 10, 11, 12,
and 13. The schedule is as follows: I hope to see many of you in Washington D.C. in January to start the year 2000 off right! Please call me at (202)366-1138 or e-mail me at kate.h.quinn@fhwa.dot.gov with any questions or if you just want information or to talk about the committee and its future. Kate Quinn - Chair A1F05
Old Roads:
Are they Historically Significant? Old Roads
are Everywhere Technically, for a road to be historic, it must be at least 50 years old. It is daunting to realize that about 11% of Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) highways (ca. 6,000 miles) are routes that were built more than 50 years old. The current approach to evaluating the significance of roads is inconsistent at best. Some individuals view nearly all roads as having marginal or no significance while others say, “if it looks old, it’s significant.” Is it Significant?
While saying roads are important for their ability to represent facets in the history of American road building we also say that they have little or no significance as representations of other facets of history. For example, the assertion has been made that a road is significant because it “opened up” an area to settlement but wonder how a road adequately conveys this idea. Another example is that a road served as a connecting route between settlements that led to economic developments. Again, does a road illustrate and have the ability to convey historic economic developments? Tourism also could be argued to be a relevant area of significance for roads. But we would state that most roads themselves poorly convey “Tourism.” The reason is that the mere presence of a historic association with a road is insufficient to say it is significant, it must have an important association. Important
Associations for Road Significance The development of this list of themes could lead one to identify hundreds of miles of in-use roads as Register-significant properties. The theme: the State Highway System between 1912 and 1939 could be used to say that the entire State Highway System is significant. But such a broad application of significance is not our intent, nor is it in the public’s best interest. Our position is that significant routes of a highway system or key road construction projects can be distinguished through archival and historical research. The justification for distinguishing as significant a subset of the thousands of miles of historic roads is because those distinguished roads have “exceptional merit.” The basis for identifying properties with exceptional merit is that they have the most relevance and importance in illustrating the historic context, best illustrate road history, and possess distinctive features that convey the aspect of road history. Conclusion
WYDOT To
Close Old U.S. 87 Through Julie Francis,
WYDOT Archaeologist and Shortly after 11:00 a.m. on December 21, 1866, Captain William J. Fetterman, two other officers, 76 soldiers, and two civilians left the gates of Fort Phil Kearny at the foot of the Bighorn Mountains to relieve the post wood train, which was again under attack after months of siege by Native Americans. Fetterman defied a direct order: instead of proceeding west towards the wood train, he followed a group of Indian decoys north over Lodge Trail Ridge and into the Peno Creek valley. A little more than an hour later, he and all his troops lay dead at the hands of about 2,000 Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho waiting in ambush. Indian losses are estimated between 60 to 100, with anywhere from 60 to 300 wounded. The Fetterman Battle was the turning point in the first Plains Indian war. In direct violation of earlier treaties, the U.S. Army established Forts Reno, Phil Kearny and C. F. Smith in 1866 to protect traffic to and from the Montana gold fields along the Bozeman Trail through the Powder River country of present-day Wyoming. That the U.S. army deployed troops to build and man these forts while ?peace? negotiations were on-going was perceived by Indians as an aggressive, deceitful act, showing the United States? intent to occupy the Powder River country without consent by treaty. Under the leadership of Red Cloud, bands of militant Indians congregated in the Powder River country to wage incessant attacks on the forts, civilian and military wagon trains, traders, and other travelers on the Bloody Bozeman. Today, the Fetterman Battle remains one of only three military engagements fought on American soil in which there were no white American survivors. It demonstrated the strategic and tactical superiority of Native American warfare on the High Plains, dealing the United States Army a shocking defeat at the hands of what had been perceived as a poorly armed and untrained enemy and provoking Congressional inquiries and national debate for 10 years. Most important, it secured withdrawal of the United States from Indian homelands on the High Plains for the next ten years. By 1868, all traffic on the Bozeman Trail ceased; the forts were abandoned, and the United States negotiated the only treaty in its entire history which conceded everything demanded by the enemy and exacted nothing in return. Ultimately, the Powder River country was opened to white settlement in the late 1870s after the second Plains Indian war. Small towns and ranches grew, and local ranch and county roads were built on the network of trails utilized by the Army, civilian travelers, and Indians. By 1949, U.S. 87 had been built along much of the same route taken by Fetterman and his troops on December 21, 1866. Alternate state routes linking Story with Banner on the north and Fort Phil Kearny on the south were built, and approximately one mile east of Massacre Hill ridge, Interstate 90 between Sheridan and Buffalo was constructed during the 1960s. Well aware of the historic significance of the area, local citizens began efforts to preserve the Fetterman battle site and surrounding area in 1902. By 1908, survivors of the 1866 Fort Phil Kearny garrison attended the formal dedication of the large stone monument built by the War Department at the spot where the bodies of Fetterman and his men were recovered on what is now known as Massacre Hill Ridge. In 1962, 1200 acres surrounding the monument, along with acreage around Fort Phil Kearny and the Wagon Box Fight received designations as National Historic Landmarks. Today, Fort Phil Kearny has been partially reconstructed and is one of the major Wyoming State Historic Sites; interpretive signs and trails have been placed along Massacre Hill Ridge, and thousands of people visit the area on an annual basis to learn more of the area?s rich history and to appreciate an historic landscape with comparatively few modern intrusions. This same landscape also presents challenges for the construction and maintenance of a modern transportation system. Eocene age bedrock, much of it composed of shales and sandstones interlaced with coal seams, underlies the area. The soft bedrock has been deeply dissected by stream erosion, forming rugged, steep-sided hills with unstable slopes. Exacerbated by the wet snows and heavy rains of late spring, landslides and slumps are integral to this landscape, with costly and sometimes catastrophic consequences for modern highways. Landslide activity has caused problems along the Sheridan-Buffalo section of Interstate 90 since its construction during the 1960s and continues to force temporary closures and costly repairs. And in the spring of 1998, a massive 700 ft long slide at the base of Massacre Hill ridge once again became active, resulting in closure of old U.S. 87 as well. With observations that the old highway was sinking at a rate of about one foot a week during wet periods, maintenance patching was no longer a viable option, and major reconstruction and removal of slide debris had to be considered. The Massacre Hill slide is located slightly north of and down slope from the Fetterman Monument, where much of the 1866 combat took place. WYDOT geologists estimated that hundreds of thousands of cubic meters of material from Massacre Hill ridge and along Peno Creek below the monument would need to be removed in order to prevent future slides and maintenance problems. This would clearly constitute an adverse effect to the historic, aesthetic, scenic, and archaeological values of the National Historic Landmark. Due in part to these historical concerns, WYDOT personnel began to explore the option of a permanent closure of old U.S. 87 through the Fetterman National Historic Landmark. This began with an analysis of the effects of permanent closure for local and interstate traffic. Local access to homes and ranches would not be effected, and an alternate, and only slightly longer, route between Fort Phil Kearny and Banner was already in place. Between Buffalo and Sheridan, I-90 carries the vast majority of traffic, which could also be re-routed in the event of an interstate closure. Input from the public was received for several months beginning in November, 1998 and was elicited through press releases in local and regional newspapers, TV interviews, and presentations to local service and civic organizations by WYDOT district personnel, along with coordination with Wyoming State Parks and Historic Sites, professional organizations, the Wyoming SHPO, the Wyoming State Archaeologist, and the involved Native American tribes by WYDOT Environmental Services. This process generated considerable support for the closure proposal, with only a few negative comments. |
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