THE REPAIR OF CASA GRANDE RUIN, ARIZONA, IN 1891

BY

COSMOS MINDELEFF

CONTENTS

ILLUSTRATIONS

THE REPAIR OF CASA GRANDE RUIN

By Cosmos Mindeleff

INTRODUCTION

In March, 1889, an appropriation of $2,000 was made by Congress for the repair of Casa Grande ruin in southern Arizona. This amount was insufficient for complete restoration, but under the authority of the act of Congress making the appropriation some work was done. Partly as an aid to further possible work, and partly that there may be an available record of what has been done for the benefit of future students of American archeology, this report is presented.

A full description of Casa Grande has been given by the writer in a published memoir1 on that ruin, hence only a brief account will now be necessary to aid in making the present report intelligible. Following this description is a statement of the condition of the ruin in 1891 and of the plans formed for its repair, the latter being necessarily controlled by the amount appropriated. After this there is an account of the work done, from the passage of the bill until the delivery of the work to the agent of the United States who received it, and of the reservation, of an area of land about the ruin by order of the President. This is followed by a catalogue of the articles found during the excavations in and about the ruin, which were subsequently deposited in the National Museum; a transcript of the contract under which the work was done, including specifications, plans, and sections, and the report of Mr H. C. Rizer, who inspected and received the work. Finally, there are appended the correspondence and report relating to the condition of Casa Grande in 1895, with recommendations concerning its further protection.

Casa Grande has occupied a very important place in the literature of American archeology, a place which it doubtless will continue to occupy; and as dates are frequently of importance an effort has been made to make the present report as full as possible in that respect.

DESCRIPTION OF THE RUINS

Casa Grande appears to be the sole surviving remnant of an extensive and important class of remains in the southwest. These remains occur usually in large groups or clusters, and Casa Grande is no exception. The name has been ordinarily applied to a single house structure standing near the southwestern corner of a large area covered by mounds and other debris; but some writers have applied the term to the southwestern portion of the area, others to the whole area.

Probably no two investigators would assign exactly the same limits to this area, as its margins merge imperceptibly into the surrounding country. The accompanying map (plate CXII) shows the limits of the ruins as interpreted by the writer. The surface covered by well-defined remains, as there shown, extends about 1,800 feet north and south and 1,500 feet east and west, or a total area of about 65 acres.

Casa Grande ruin occupies a position near the southwestern corner of the group, and its size is insignificant as compared with the entire cluster of ruins, or even with the remains of the large structure which occupied the north-central part of the area. The contour interval on the map is 1 foot, sufficiently small to show much surface detail. The depressions are indicated by dotted contours.

Within the area shown on the map there are a large number of mounds, more or less leveled by long-continued exposure to the elements. Some appear to be quite old, others represent buildings which were standing within the historic period, and many interesting features are presented which can not even be alluded to here.

Casa Grande proper was one of the smallest of the house clusters, but it is unique in that the walls are still standing to a height of more than 25 feet. While fragments of standing wall are not uncommon, either in the area mentioned or in the valleys of Gala and Salt rivers generally, no other example exists, so far as known, so well preserved as the one under consideration.

For miles around Casa Grande the ground surface is so flat that from the summit of the walls an immense stretch of country is brought under view in every direction. In the whole southwest, where there are thousands of ruins, many of which represent villages located with especial reference to outlook, there are few, if any, so well situated as this.

A ground plan of the ruin is shown in plate CXII and a general view in plate CXIV. The area covered and inclosed by standing walls is about 43 by 59 feet, but the building is not exactly rectangular, nor do its sides exactly face the cardinal points, notwithstanding many published statements to that effect. The building comprised three central rooms, each approximately 10 by 24 feet, arranged side by side with the longer axes north and south, and two other rooms, each about 9 by 35 feet, occupying, respectively, the northern and southern ends of the building, and arranged transversely across the ends of the central rooms, the longer axes running east and west. Excepting the central tier of rooms, which was three stories high, all the walls rose to a height of two stories above the ground. The northeastern and southeastern corners of the structure have fallen, and large blocks of the material of which they were composed are strewn upon the ground in the vicinity.

The exterior walls rise to a height of from 20 to 25 feet above the ground. This height accommodated two stories, but the top of the wall is from 1 to 2 feet higher than the roof level of the second story. The middle room or space was built up three stories high, and the walls are still standing to a height of 28 to 30 feet above the ground level. The tops of the walls, while rough and greatly eroded, are approximately level. The exterior surface of the walls is rough, as shown in the illustrations, but the interior walls of the rooms are finished with a remarkable degree of smoothness, so much so that it has attracted the attention of everyone who has visited the ruin. Plate CXV shows this feature. At the ground level the exterior wall is from 3½ to 4½ feet thick, and in one place over 5 feet thick. The interior walls are from 3 to 4 feet thick. At the tops the walls are about 2 feet thick. The building was constructed by crude methods, thoroughly aboriginal in character, and there is no uniformity in its measurements. The walls, even in the same room, are not of even thickness; the floor joists were seldom in a straight line, and measurements made at similar places (for example, at the two ends of a room) seldom agree.

Casa Grande is often referred to as an adobe structure, but this use of the term is misleading. Adobe construction consists of the use of molded brick, dried in the sun, but not baked. The walls here are composed of huge blocks of rammed earth, 3 to 5 feet long, 2 feet high and 3 to 4 feet thick. These blocks were not molded and then laid in the wall, but were manufactured in place.

Plate CXVI shows the character of these blocks. The material employed was admirably suited for the purpose, being when dry almost as hard as sandstone and nearly as durable. A building with walls of this material would last indefinitely, provided a few slight repairs were made at the conclusion of each rainy season. When abandoned, however, sapping at the ground level would commence and would in time bring down all the walls; yet in the two centuries which have elapsed since Padre Kino's visit to this place—and Casa Grande was then a ruin—there has been but little destruction from the elements, the damage done by relic hunters during the last twenty years being, in fact, much greater than that due to all causes in the preceding two centuries.

The building was well provided with doorways and other openings, arranged in pairs, one above the other. There were doorways from each room into every adjoining room, except that the rooms of the middle tier were entered only from the east. Some of the openings were not used, and were closed with blocks of solid masonry, built into them long prior to the final abandonment of the structure.

CONDITION OF CASA GRANDE IN 1891

The south and east fronts of Casa Grande seem to have suffered, particularly from the weather, and here rainstorms have probably caused some of the damage. The outer faces of the walls are of the same material as the wall mass, all the masonry being composed of earth from the immediate site. In the construction of the walls this soil was laid up in successive courses of varying thickness, whose limits form clearly defined and approximately horizontal joints. The northeast and southeast corners of the building have entirely fallen away, and low mounds of their debris still show many knobs and lumps, parts of the original wall mass.

The destruction of the walls was due mainly to undermining at the ground level. The character of this undermining is shown in many of the illustrations to this report, especially in plate CXVI, and its extent is indicated on the accompanying ground plan (plate CXVII) by dotted lines within the wall mass. Although the material of which the walls are composed is very hard when dry, and capable of resisting the destructive influences to which it has been subjected for a long time, yet under certain conditions it becomes more yielding. The excessively dry climate of this region, which in one respect has made the preservation of the ruin possible, has also furnished, in its periodic sandstorms, a most efficient agent of destruction. The amount of moisture in the soil is so small as scarcely to be detected, but what there is in the soil next to the walls is absorbed by the latter, rising doubtless by capillary attraction to a height of a foot or more from the ground. This portion of the wall being then more moist than the remainder, although possibly only in an infinitesimal degree, is more subject to erosion by flying sand in the windstorms so frequent in this region, and gradually the base of the wall is eaten away until the support becomes insufficient and the wall falls en masse. The plan shows that in some places the walls have been eaten away at the ground level to a depth of more than a foot. Portions of the south wall were in a dangerous condition and likely to fall at any time.

Visiting tourists have done much damage by their vandalism. They have torn out and carried away every lintel and every particle of visible wood in the building. After the removal of the lintels a comparatively short time elapses before the falling in of the wall above. Apparently but a small amount of this damage can be attributed to rainstorms, which, although rare in this region, are sometimes violent. There is evidence that the present height of the walls is nearly the original height, in other words, that the loss from surface erosion in several centuries has been trifling, although numerous opinions to the contrary have been expressed by causal observers. The eastern wall has suffered more from this cause than the others; a belt on the northern half, apparently softer than the remainder of the wall, has been eaten away to a depth of nearly a foot. The interior wall faces are in good condition generally, except about openings and in places near the top.

Evidences of the original flooring are preserved in several of the rooms, especially in the north room. The flooring conformed to the pueblo type in the use of a series of principal beams, about 3 inches in diameter, above which was a secondary series smaller in size and placed quite close together, and above this again a layer of rushes with a coating of clay. All the walls show evidences of the principal series of beams in the line of holes formed by their ends where they were embedded in the walls. In the south wall, in parts of the east wall high up on the level of the upper roof, and in parts of other walls a few stumps of floor beams remained. These specimens of aboriginal woodwork have survived only because they are not in sight from the ground, and their existence therefore was not suspected by the tourists. Evidence of the other features of the floor construction can be seen on the walls in places where they have left an imprint, as described in the memoir previously cited.

No single opening remains intact, as the lintels have been removed from every one of them. This is particularly unfortunate, for openings at their best are an element of weakness in a wall, and here each opening, after the lintel was removed, became, as it were, a center of weakness from which the destruction of the wall mass gradually proceeded further and further.

PLANS FOR THE REPAIRS

The plans for the repair of the ruin and its preservation included the reservation of the area covered by remains and, if possible, its inclosure, for within that area are exhibited all the various degrees of decay and disintegration which clearly link the comparatively well preserved Casa Grande with the numerous almost obliterated ruins along the Gila and the Salt, whose vestiges will become even less distinct as time passes and cultivation increases.

It was deemed necessary to remove all the rubbish and debris within the building and from an area measuring 10 feet from the outer walls in every direction. Plate CXVII shows the extent of this area, and six sections are shown in plates CXVIII and CXIX, three on east-and-west lines and three on north-and-south lines. The lines along which these sections were made are indicated on the plan, plate CXVII. The ground level was determined by excavation, and is of course only approximate. The sections show the estimated amount of debris which was to be removed. Aside from other considerations, it was necessary to uncover the walls to the ground level in order to do the necessary underpinning.

It was planned to underpin the walls, where erosion at the ground level had weakened them, with hard-burned brick laid in cement mortar. Plate CXVII shows in a measure the extent of this erosion. The brick surface was to be set back an inch or two and faced with that thickness of cement mortar. Plate CXX shows the south front and plate CXXI the south and east fronts when the brickwork was completed, but before it was plastered, and will illustrate what was planned better than can a description.

This treatment, it was believed, would give a surface capable of effectually resisting atmospheric influences and the destructive action of flying sand, and at the same time would not disfigure the ruin by making the repairs obtrusive.

The broken-out lintels of openings were to be replaced, and the cavities above them filled in with brick faced with mortar similar to the underpinning.

The south wall, which was in a dangerous condition, was to be supported by three internal braces, as shown in the plan, plate CXVII. The longest brace or beam was necessarily of wood, as the wide range of temperature in this region, even between day and night, would produce so much expansion and contraction in an iron rod 60 feet long that without some compensating device the wall would be rocked on its base and its rapid destruction necessarily follow.

EXECUTION OF THE WORK

Appended to that portion of the sundry civil appropriation act approved March. 2, 1889,2 in which certain expenses of the United States Geological Survey are provided for, is the following item:

Repair of the ruin of Casa Grande, Arizona: To enable the Secretary of the Interior to repair and protect the ruin of Casa Grande, situate in Pinal County, near Florence, Arizona, two thousand dollars; and the President is authorized to reserve from settlement and sale the land on which said ruin is situated and so much of the public land adjacent thereto as in his judgment may be necessary for the protection of said ruin and of the ancient city of which it is a part.

On the 12th of April, 1889, there was a conference between the Secretary of the Interior and the Commissioner of the General Land Office looking to the execution of the law, and on the 16th of that month the Commissioner submitted a statement on the subject, calling attention to the fact that the appropriation would not be available until July 1 following, and suggesting that a special agent should be sent out to examine the ruin. This suggestion was approved, and on April 27, 1889, Special Agent Alexander L. Morrison, of the General Land Office, was instructed to proceed to the ruins for the purpose of investigating and reporting as to what method should be adopted for their repair and protection. Mr Morrison was further instructed to report "all the facts obtainable as regards said ruins of 'Casa Grande,' in order that appropriate action may be taken by the Department for its preservation."

On May 15,1889, Mr Morrison submitted a report to the Commissioner, describing his journey, the location of the ruin, the ruin itself, and other ruins in the vicinity. He stated that danger to the ruin was of three kinds—(1) by vandalism, (2) by elements, (3) by undermining. He recommended the construction of a roof and an underpinning of stone for the walls. Finally, he gave some historical notes, and closed with a peroration.

Mr Morrison's plans were found impracticable, as their execution would require an expenditure of many times the sum appropriated, and on September 23, 1889, all the papers in the case were transmitted by the Secretary to the Director of the Geological Survey, "for appropriate action under the clause of the act referred to, as being within the province of your Bureau." It was ordered that the work be commenced without the least delay, and November 27, 1889, Mr Victor Mindeleff, of the Bureau of Ethnology, was detailed by the Director and ordered to proceed to the ruin and report on the best means of repairing it and protecting it from further destruction. He was also directed to make other investigations in the vicinity, which have no relation to the present case.

On July 1, 1890, Mr Mindeleff submitted a report. He described the ruins of which Casa Grande is the type, and also Casa Grande itself. He also made a statement of the condition of the ruin and suggested that the main destruction "was due to the undermining of the walls, and stated that much damage had been done by tourists. He recommended (1) that an area about the ruin be fenced in; (2) that a man be located permanently on the ground to watch the ruins; (3) that the ruins be cleaned out; (4) that the walls be underpinned with brick instead of stone, as previously suggested; (5) that the tops of the walls, after removing several inches to afford a good bearing surface, be treated with a coping of cement. It was regarded that this plan, if carried into effect, would afford sufficient protection against the weather, but a plan for a roof was submitted should such a structure be deemed desirable and practicable. Mr Mindeleff also recommended a number of tie-rods and beams, the replacement of the broken-out lintels, and the filling of the cavities above.

This plan was approved in its general features, but the means provided for its execution were found insufficient. A further complication arose from the fact that a few months later Mr Mindeleff severed his connection with the Bureau of Ethnology and his knowledge became no longer available.

November 20, 1890, the writer was ordered to proceed to the ruin and inaugurate the work of repair, following, so far as practicable, the plans already approved. He left Washington soon afterward and reached the ruin late in December. It was found necessary to make a detailed survey of the ruin and of the group of which it forms a part, and to make plans and sections showing the probable amount of excavation for the use of those who were invited to bid on the work. Furthermore, the amount appropriated was so well known to be inadequate that great difficulty was experienced in obtaining bids, and it was only through the efficient cooperation of the Reverend I. T. Whittemore at Florence and of Mr C. A. Garlick at Phoenix that success was finally achieved. Two bids were received from the former place and one from the latter; but this was not accomplished until March 17, 1891, the date when the last bid was received. In the meantime the writer, having completed his work at Casa Grande, so far as he could, had entered, in January, on an archeologic investigation of the valley of the Rio Verde, in compliance with his orders to that effect.

It was found impossible to execute all the work deemed requisite for the preservation of the ruin within the limits of the appropriation. A selection of items became necessary, therefore, and those which were of most importance were chosen. Even in this, however, it was found that a maximum limit on the amount of work to be done on each item must be set, and this limit was considerably below the amount of work estimated to be necessary.

The first thing to be done was, of course, the clearing out of the rubbish and debris. The item next in importance was the underpinning of the walls with brick wherever it was needed. The third item was the restoration of the lintels and the filling of the cavities above them. The fourth item was the tying in of the south wall, or of the several parts of it, with braces. This was the only feature of the plan which would appreciably disfigure the ruin, but some such device was deemed essential for the preservation of the south wall.

These four items consumed practically all of the amount appropriated, and the other items of the original plan were therefore omitted. The bid of T. L. Stouffer and F. E. White, of Florence, Arizona, covering the four items, was accepted, and a contract was made with them, under date of May 9, 1891, for the execution of the work for the sum of $1,985. This contract, together with the specifications, plans, and other drawings which formed part of it, accompany this report. It was transmitted to the Director of the Geological Survey, and by him approved and forwarded to the Secretary of the Interior June 6, 1891. It was approved by the Acting Secretary June 20, 1891. Finally, on July 20, 1891, it was placed on file, together "with the bids, proposals, and all the original papers."

A time limit of two months was made in the contract, expiring August 20, 1891, but it was changed to four months from July 1, 1891, expiring October 31, 1891. Before the time expired, however, Mr H. G. Rizer, then chief clerk of the Bureau of Ethnology, was ordered to proceed to Casa Grande ruin to examine the work done and, if in accord with the terms of the contract and the specifications, to certify the amount due the contractors. He submitted a report, under date of November 24, 1891, which is appended hereto. He also obtained six photographic negatives of the work as it stood a short time before its completion, and two of these (reproduced in plates CXX and CXXI) have been utilized in the preparation of this report.

Mr Rizer found that a considerable amount of work had been done by the contractors in excess of that authorized, and also that not sufficient work had been done to render the repairs permanently effective. Under the terms of the contract, no amount in excess of that stated ($1,985) could be paid, and payment of this amount was made late in 1891. On January 7, 1892, the contractors filed a claim for extra work on the ruin amounting to $600.40. The work was actually performed, but the terms of the contract were clear, and the claim was therefore disapproved January 28, 1892.

It would have been desirable to have had a supervisor of the work, but as the contract consumed practically all of the amount appropriated no provision could be made for one. It is fortunate, therefore, that the Reverend I. T. Whittemore, who had in the meantime been appointed honorary custodian of the ruin, generously undertook to look after the work without compensation, and on its conclusion the small sum remaining ($15) was turned over to him, thus exhausting the appropriation. In the sundry civil appropriation act for the year ending June 30, 1893, provision was made for a salaried custodian of the ruin, and Mr Whittemore was appointed to this position. Similar provision has been continued from year to year to the present time.

It is to be regretted that the necessities of the case, imposed by the limited amount appropriated, compelled the fixing of a maximum amount of work so far below the amount necessary that the repair of the ruin is incomplete. Had it been possible to carry out the plans, it is believed that the ruin would have stood unchanged for many decades, if not for a century. Should further provision be made for the continuation of the work, it should include an item for the fencing of the area covered by the ruins or of the reservation, and possibly an item for the construction of a roof.

It is not clear that a roof is absolutely necessary, but it is certain that it would be very undesirable. The region where this rain occurs has probably less rainfall than any other part of the United States, but it must not be forgotten that while rainstorms are infrequent they are sometimes violent, and what damage they do may be done in a few hours. All the items for the repair of the ruin, except that pertaining to a roof, were so devised that the ruin was not materially disfigured or changed, and were they fully carried out the ruin would present much the same general appearance as before. It is important that this appearance should be preserved as far as possible, but it can not be maintained if a roof is erected over the walls. As four years have elapsed since the completion of the work, it should be possible now to determine whether atmospheric erosion has played a material part in the work of destruction.3

In the original plans and in the specifications which formed part of the contract (although this section was not operative) a plan for a roof was included. Such a structure, if erected at all, should be made as inconspicuous as possible and should be supported entirely from within the building. The system of framing employed might safely be left to the contractor if he were made responsible for the strength of the completed structure.

RESERVATION OF THE LAND

The final step in the execution of the law quoted was taken June 22, 1892. On that date the recommendation of the writer to the Director of the Geological Survey, referred by him to the Secretary of the Interior and by the latter to the President, was finally approved, and it was ordered that an area of land sufficient for the preservation of the ruin, and comprising in all 480 acres, be reserved under authority of act of Congress approved March 2, 1889. This area is shown on the map reproduced in plate CXXV, the base of which is a map accompanying the report of Mr H. C. Rizer.

The letter of the Secretary of the Interior recommending the reservation of the Casa Grande tract, with its indorsement by the President, is as follows: