During the past 3 months or so, I've been busily working at refining my resume and writing cover letter after cover letter. While work is hard to find in Leadville, summer internships abound for Historic Preservation students.
I found some really interesting opportunities all over the country. With my humanitarian work and administrative background, I had a leg up on the college students without much 'real life' experience. But on the other hand, my lack of hands-on experience and only one year of classes put me at a disadvantage.
Honestly I was pretty worried about getting a internship that would really challenge my trade skills (or lack there of). It appears that most of the students that apply for these internships are graduate level students. When I started looking at all of the opportunities, they were overwhelming. The National Park Service and the National Council of Preservation Education had about 42 different opportunities, then their were about 10 or so private organizations that I seriously considered. Including this fascinating position that I really wanted...Faith & John Gaw Meem Preservation Trades Internship...http://historicsantafe.org. This internship works with earthen architecture in Santa Fe New Mexico. These are mostly Native American buildings built in the original earthen style. Talk about inexpensive and energy effecient, I would have Loved to work on these buildings.
All in all I applied to about 10 different positions. I got roughly 3 call backs. One dismissed me altogether because it didn't end until mid-September (classes start in August so I don't really understand the logic here.) Another was a fantastic opportunity was in the Timucuan Ecological and Historical Preserve in Florida. I would have worked on the Kingsley Plantation old slave quarters. As taken for the Park Service website: "Many of the buildings at Kingsley Plantation are made of tabby. Tabby is a mix of lime, sand and water. The lime was obtained by cooking whole oyster shells in a kiln, then "slaking" the shells by adding water to them - in this process the shells break down." The history of the plantation is fascinating, you can read more about it and see pictures here: http://www.nps.gov/timu/historyculture/kp_tabby.htm
I was really excited about this opportunity. This would have been the perfect job for me combining my studies in Anthropology and Historic Preservation. The only problem, this was an unpaid internship. Under normal circumstances that would not have influenced my decision, but given that I have been unable to find a full-time job in Leadville, and I still have another semester at least to go, I just could not afford this for the summer.
Then I got a call from another internship right here in Colorado that I was also very interested in. The program is called HistoriCorps and is run by Colorado Preservation Inc. Basically they will be focusing on about 5 different projects all in the Southern part of Colorado, in the Gunnison and Rio Grande National Forests. They're all a bit different, but for the most part they are very hands-on opportunities for restoring old wooden and log buildings. I applied for an assistant position, I would be responsible for helping out the crew leader in organizing volunteer crews and of course, working on the structures.
I was very excited about this opportunity given its remote location in the mountains (I love to camp), the hands on learning opportunity and the fact that these projects are open to volunteers all summer long. So needless to say, I was SUPER excited when I was offered the position! Read more about HistoriCorps here: http://www.historicorps.org/about.html And really, if you want a fantastic summer vacation, please check out the volunteer opportunities, I would LOVE to see you there for a few days or week!
We start around May 21st, first going to Wyoming for a week to meet our fellow crew members and get some hands-on training for the summer. Oh I love Wyoming too, so excited for the summer! In the meantime, I'm desperately figuring out how to rig my truck for the summer. I opted to outfit the back of my truck as a sleeping space rather than sleep in a tent all summer. Now I have to make sure my truck topper is water tight, (which it is not at all at the moment), then make some kind of sleeping platform, leave space for my gear, and figure out what to do about heat (it will snow at 10,000 feet during the summer). I know it might sound miserable to you, but I am so excited. I love the sense of adventure and can't wait for the road trips on my days off. The four corners area is choc-full of outdoor recreation that are among my favorites...mountain biking at Moab, hiking at Taos and the Arches, wondering at Mesa Verde...endless opportunities.
Only one month left of classes for this semester, and then I'll be spending the summer doing what I came here to do- hammer and nail some stuff and road trip in between. Woo-hoo!! Once again, please consider volunteering for HistoriCorps, you won't regret it and I might even let you sleep in my truck!
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Cemetery Workshop
What? That sounds strange to you? Well, cemeteries are actually the site of a lot of preservation. The elements can cause quite a bit of damage to that headstone, add in time, neglect, settling ground, expanding tree roots, abrasive cleaning, and the unfortunate occasional vandalism, and you've got some work to do.
This past August Leadville was the site of the annual Preservation Trades Network symposium. Lucky for me, I was able to get some real hands-on experience my first week of school. One of featured workshops was the 'Cemetery Preservation Workshop' led by Jonathan Appell, an expert in the field of both cleaning and restoring deteriorating monuments in aging cemeteries.
I gotta say this workshop was really fascinating. Restoring monuments in cemeteries is far from any image I have in my mind when I think Historic Preservation, but when you think about it, it certainly fits right in.
Here's a question for you...What would you say is the most common material used for headstones in U.S. cemeteries today? Marble you say? Well actually, very little marble is used in American cemeteries today, (though it used to be) it is in fact barred in some states altogether. The most common material used in U.S. monuments today is granite. Granite is extremely strong and will show very little weathering over the course of many many years. As we learned throughout the day, typically headstones were made of whatever material was available to the geographical region. With the connection of train lines however, larger and more varied materials were used for monuments as they were more accessible. As seen in the Leadville cemetery, marble, zinc and granite were the most common materials used for headstones. (We're talking about 100 years ago)
In addition to the above mentioned enemies of monuments, water is any mason’s biggest foe. Water can come from below, or through the ground into the structure. It can come from above, in the case of rain, and more specifically today, acid rain, and it can come from within as in condensation. Water can draw out the salts of the material, and cause rapid deterioration.
In addition to learning all about the materials and history of U.S. cemeteries, the participants got to work on 3 different monuments. I'll share the details of the largest one we worked on.
You can see the challenge we faced. This marble headstone had fallen off of it's base and substantially sunken into the earth. This was a pretty big monument, I couldn't see how we were going to get this sucker out of the earth and back onto its base without throwing out a few backs. Jonathan must have some magic that I was anxious to see.
The first thing we did was dig up around the monument to clear some of the earth so that we could get under it with a level and pull it up out of the ground.
We then cleaned off the marble using a soft brush and water, using care not to be abrasive as this could cause further damage.
Then Jonathan pulled out his magic. He demonstrated how to use a tripod to lift the headstone onto the base after the cleaning and leveling of the two fragments. This was a simple yet effective process for using a pulley system to lift the very heavy stone.
Before placing the monument back on its base, we applied a monument setting compound, epoxy and very small pieces of lead to the base of the monument to allow the headstone to secure to the base, and to allow for proper fitting of the two fragments. The base retained it’s metal pins, which the headstone was reaffixed to. After joining the two pieces, we cleaned off the compound, and that was it, done!
Pretty cool huh. It was actually much easier than I would have thought. Though this workshop was only one day, I learned a ton. My favorite part though, was meeting the wonderful man that takes care of the Mason's tract at the cemetery. He's been coming here for many years to clean and preserve all of the headstones associated with the Masons. He doesn't get paid, and no one asked him to do it, he just wants to. He's made makeshift wooden signs for those missing their names, he waters the lawn, cleans the monuments etc. He just happened to be there that day, and after talking to him for a bit, he decided to join our session and learn a few things himself. What an amazing man!
This past August Leadville was the site of the annual Preservation Trades Network symposium. Lucky for me, I was able to get some real hands-on experience my first week of school. One of featured workshops was the 'Cemetery Preservation Workshop' led by Jonathan Appell, an expert in the field of both cleaning and restoring deteriorating monuments in aging cemeteries.
I gotta say this workshop was really fascinating. Restoring monuments in cemeteries is far from any image I have in my mind when I think Historic Preservation, but when you think about it, it certainly fits right in.
Here's a question for you...What would you say is the most common material used for headstones in U.S. cemeteries today? Marble you say? Well actually, very little marble is used in American cemeteries today, (though it used to be) it is in fact barred in some states altogether. The most common material used in U.S. monuments today is granite. Granite is extremely strong and will show very little weathering over the course of many many years. As we learned throughout the day, typically headstones were made of whatever material was available to the geographical region. With the connection of train lines however, larger and more varied materials were used for monuments as they were more accessible. As seen in the Leadville cemetery, marble, zinc and granite were the most common materials used for headstones. (We're talking about 100 years ago)
In addition to the above mentioned enemies of monuments, water is any mason’s biggest foe. Water can come from below, or through the ground into the structure. It can come from above, in the case of rain, and more specifically today, acid rain, and it can come from within as in condensation. Water can draw out the salts of the material, and cause rapid deterioration.
In addition to learning all about the materials and history of U.S. cemeteries, the participants got to work on 3 different monuments. I'll share the details of the largest one we worked on.
You can see the challenge we faced. This marble headstone had fallen off of it's base and substantially sunken into the earth. This was a pretty big monument, I couldn't see how we were going to get this sucker out of the earth and back onto its base without throwing out a few backs. Jonathan must have some magic that I was anxious to see.
The first thing we did was dig up around the monument to clear some of the earth so that we could get under it with a level and pull it up out of the ground.
We then cleaned off the marble using a soft brush and water, using care not to be abrasive as this could cause further damage.
Then Jonathan pulled out his magic. He demonstrated how to use a tripod to lift the headstone onto the base after the cleaning and leveling of the two fragments. This was a simple yet effective process for using a pulley system to lift the very heavy stone.
Before placing the monument back on its base, we applied a monument setting compound, epoxy and very small pieces of lead to the base of the monument to allow the headstone to secure to the base, and to allow for proper fitting of the two fragments. The base retained it’s metal pins, which the headstone was reaffixed to. After joining the two pieces, we cleaned off the compound, and that was it, done!
Pretty cool huh. It was actually much easier than I would have thought. Though this workshop was only one day, I learned a ton. My favorite part though, was meeting the wonderful man that takes care of the Mason's tract at the cemetery. He's been coming here for many years to clean and preserve all of the headstones associated with the Masons. He doesn't get paid, and no one asked him to do it, he just wants to. He's made makeshift wooden signs for those missing their names, he waters the lawn, cleans the monuments etc. He just happened to be there that day, and after talking to him for a bit, he decided to join our session and learn a few things himself. What an amazing man!
Friday, March 26, 2010
Wood Class Update...
Where oh where does the time go? With only 5 weeks of this semester left, students are starting to think about finals and wrapping up their semester projects. Finally I finished my bench that I've been working on in Carpentry class.
I really had great hopes for this bench. You know, it would be the nice little piece holder when you walk in the door- throw your keys down, toss the mail on it, and kick off your shoes. Well, I don't know what the heck to do with this dwarf of a bench. It IS big enough to hold my phone.
But really, what do I need an entire bench to hold my phone for? Plus, I'd have to bend down awfully far to get it, not very convenient. I certainly can't sit on it, I mean, I might be good, but not that good, this 'bench' is just too small. I certainly can't stand on it, I'm not sure I trust the glue enough for that. If there's any ideas out there for this one, let me know! Otherwise I'll just continue to admire it from above.
I did finish another project in class the other night. I kind of pulled this one out of nowhere, found some cedar in the scrap pile and pulled this little guy together. I know it's not much, but oh does it add to the ambiance of my fabulous 125 year old apartment.
Don't look to closely though, I still need to stain it and sand down the edges a bit. But it still works, space for three little tea lights. Not really sure what to do with it, but I think it's pretty cute still.
So what's next you ask? I have big plans to make a bowl (well, a basket really) in the remaining four classes that we have. I'm not sure how that's going to work out, but do stay tuned so I might impress you!
I really had great hopes for this bench. You know, it would be the nice little piece holder when you walk in the door- throw your keys down, toss the mail on it, and kick off your shoes. Well, I don't know what the heck to do with this dwarf of a bench. It IS big enough to hold my phone.
But really, what do I need an entire bench to hold my phone for? Plus, I'd have to bend down awfully far to get it, not very convenient. I certainly can't sit on it, I mean, I might be good, but not that good, this 'bench' is just too small. I certainly can't stand on it, I'm not sure I trust the glue enough for that. If there's any ideas out there for this one, let me know! Otherwise I'll just continue to admire it from above.
I did finish another project in class the other night. I kind of pulled this one out of nowhere, found some cedar in the scrap pile and pulled this little guy together. I know it's not much, but oh does it add to the ambiance of my fabulous 125 year old apartment.
Don't look to closely though, I still need to stain it and sand down the edges a bit. But it still works, space for three little tea lights. Not really sure what to do with it, but I think it's pretty cute still.
So what's next you ask? I have big plans to make a bowl (well, a basket really) in the remaining four classes that we have. I'm not sure how that's going to work out, but do stay tuned so I might impress you!
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Old is the New Green
Concerned about saving energy, environmental conservation, your families health...? Want to go green and protect the planet? Well don't think new and improved products, think old, as in recycle, keep what we already have, expend less energy.
In addition to Historic Preservation providing us with live history, community cohesiveness, and beautified neighborhoods, its also one of the best tools we have in combating global warming and becoming eco-conscious.
The craftsmanship of 100 years ago was significantly more refined than it is today. With imported power tools, compressed wood board, new growth lumber, and shortcuts galore (time is money), a lot of today's construction just doesn't live up to building practices of yesteryear. When you build a new home, or do remodeling, or replace windows, etc., (even with eco-friendly products) you're still using significant amounts of energy in the production of these products, and possible lots of greenhouse emissions.
So logically, preserving the old and already existing, is much more environmentally friendly. At this point I know you're saying, "But my old house is so inefficient, my windows leak, there are cracks in the wall...." Have no fear, there are answers. Your home can be improved without drastic changes, and without replacing those windows!! (Seriously, vinyl windows are cheap, poorly made, and filling up the landfills at record speed. They may seem nice at first, but they will not last- unless you buy the super expensive ones, but who does that? Lets get back on course, windows deserve their own blog entirely.)
I hear from a lot of people that they would much rather live in a nice new home than invest in an older home. The older homes have soooo many problems, and they're hard to maintain. In a new home, you know everything is going to work. Well yes, to a degree that is true, it's the long term you need to consider. How sustainable is that new house, how long is it going to be before you have to replace or fix major components. And how much energy was expended in building it?? Think cutting down lumber, shipping the lumber, textile production (carpet is extremely toxic in production), shipping of textiles, paint toxins, manufacturing new appliances, etc. etc. Also consider that most new homes are built on available land, that land being farther and farther from the city, so naturally your daily commute has just gotten longer. If you're riding the bus or your bike, no problem! But come one, we're Americans, likely you're driving your car.
It's just obvious that the existing building is the most resourceful. And yes, you will have maintenance, but if you get a hold of a knowledgeable and honest contractor with Historic Preservation experience, this should not be a painful process. Even better, taking some classes and learning to do it yourself can be immensely rewarding. Just think of the good you're doing for the planet and future generations. Remember, old is good, and can be a key ingredient we need to cool us and the planet down a bit.
To see more ideas on this subject, check out these links: http://www.nhtinc.org/green_affordable_housing_preservation.php and http://www.preservationnation.org/magazine/2010/march-april/green-architecture.html
In addition to Historic Preservation providing us with live history, community cohesiveness, and beautified neighborhoods, its also one of the best tools we have in combating global warming and becoming eco-conscious.
The craftsmanship of 100 years ago was significantly more refined than it is today. With imported power tools, compressed wood board, new growth lumber, and shortcuts galore (time is money), a lot of today's construction just doesn't live up to building practices of yesteryear. When you build a new home, or do remodeling, or replace windows, etc., (even with eco-friendly products) you're still using significant amounts of energy in the production of these products, and possible lots of greenhouse emissions.
So logically, preserving the old and already existing, is much more environmentally friendly. At this point I know you're saying, "But my old house is so inefficient, my windows leak, there are cracks in the wall...." Have no fear, there are answers. Your home can be improved without drastic changes, and without replacing those windows!! (Seriously, vinyl windows are cheap, poorly made, and filling up the landfills at record speed. They may seem nice at first, but they will not last- unless you buy the super expensive ones, but who does that? Lets get back on course, windows deserve their own blog entirely.)
I hear from a lot of people that they would much rather live in a nice new home than invest in an older home. The older homes have soooo many problems, and they're hard to maintain. In a new home, you know everything is going to work. Well yes, to a degree that is true, it's the long term you need to consider. How sustainable is that new house, how long is it going to be before you have to replace or fix major components. And how much energy was expended in building it?? Think cutting down lumber, shipping the lumber, textile production (carpet is extremely toxic in production), shipping of textiles, paint toxins, manufacturing new appliances, etc. etc. Also consider that most new homes are built on available land, that land being farther and farther from the city, so naturally your daily commute has just gotten longer. If you're riding the bus or your bike, no problem! But come one, we're Americans, likely you're driving your car.
It's just obvious that the existing building is the most resourceful. And yes, you will have maintenance, but if you get a hold of a knowledgeable and honest contractor with Historic Preservation experience, this should not be a painful process. Even better, taking some classes and learning to do it yourself can be immensely rewarding. Just think of the good you're doing for the planet and future generations. Remember, old is good, and can be a key ingredient we need to cool us and the planet down a bit.
To see more ideas on this subject, check out these links: http://www.nhtinc.org/green_affordable_housing_preservation.php and http://www.preservationnation.org/magazine/2010/march-april/green-architecture.html
Friday, March 19, 2010
Field Trip!
During our Archaeology class last fall, we took a field trip one day to St. Elmo. This is a fabulous little ghost town in Chaffee County, just west of Buena Vista. It is often referred to as America's best preserved ghost town. How exciting, I love ghosts!
St. Elmo was officially founded in 1880. Like many small towns high in the Rockies, people came here for gold and silver mining. It is reported that there were over 150 mine claims in the area. St. Elmo was considered a Hub town for supplies arriving
by train. At it's peak in the 1890's, the town was fully functioning with saloons, several hotels, a very popular general store, a town hall, a school house and even a telegraph office.
Thanks to the rail line, St. Elmo nearly reached a population of 2000 people at it's peak. When mining began to decline around 1920, the town was sadly abandoned in 1922- a pretty short lived ride for the prospectors here, though lucrative. The Mary Murphy Mine detained over $60,000,000 worth of gold while it was in use.
Though St. Elmo is defined as a 'ghost town' there are actually a few year round residents, like maybe 5 or 10. There are quite a lot of tourists that visit the area in the summer, mostly for recreation (fishing and four wheeling) and for some good old fashioned ghost town site seeing.
Fortunately for the students in my class, we had a very knowledgeable tour guide. My classmate Nick works for a Preservation company that spent a good deal of the summer last year actually working on the preservation of these very buildings. He was able to fill us in on a lot of the areas history, and about the condition of the buildings. Lucky Nick, what a fabulous job!
They've done a tremendous amount of work on in the town already, and there's plenty more to be done. That's the thing about historic preservation, you're work in NEVER done. Time keeps on ticking and things continue to get old. There were some very interesting buildings in town. I especially curious about the building on the left, if you look closely at it, you gotta wonder why the three doors, what was going on here? And below was one of my favorites, the inside of the school house. It looks like the kids just left for the day, still in perfect condition, desks, blackboard and all.
What an amazing town. I would do anything to live just one day in this world back in 1890, just a day to see what it was like. Can you imagine, I'd probably be grateful for the modern conveniences we have today, like indoor plumbing and the lack of corsets, but it would still be cool! Today the town is just very quaint and very quiet, set among some of the most stunning scenery you can imagine. Such a shame the railroad stopped its line here...although, I guess in a lot of ways that's a good thing.
St. Elmo was officially founded in 1880. Like many small towns high in the Rockies, people came here for gold and silver mining. It is reported that there were over 150 mine claims in the area. St. Elmo was considered a Hub town for supplies arriving
by train. At it's peak in the 1890's, the town was fully functioning with saloons, several hotels, a very popular general store, a town hall, a school house and even a telegraph office.
Thanks to the rail line, St. Elmo nearly reached a population of 2000 people at it's peak. When mining began to decline around 1920, the town was sadly abandoned in 1922- a pretty short lived ride for the prospectors here, though lucrative. The Mary Murphy Mine detained over $60,000,000 worth of gold while it was in use.
Though St. Elmo is defined as a 'ghost town' there are actually a few year round residents, like maybe 5 or 10. There are quite a lot of tourists that visit the area in the summer, mostly for recreation (fishing and four wheeling) and for some good old fashioned ghost town site seeing.
Fortunately for the students in my class, we had a very knowledgeable tour guide. My classmate Nick works for a Preservation company that spent a good deal of the summer last year actually working on the preservation of these very buildings. He was able to fill us in on a lot of the areas history, and about the condition of the buildings. Lucky Nick, what a fabulous job!
They've done a tremendous amount of work on in the town already, and there's plenty more to be done. That's the thing about historic preservation, you're work in NEVER done. Time keeps on ticking and things continue to get old. There were some very interesting buildings in town. I especially curious about the building on the left, if you look closely at it, you gotta wonder why the three doors, what was going on here? And below was one of my favorites, the inside of the school house. It looks like the kids just left for the day, still in perfect condition, desks, blackboard and all.
What an amazing town. I would do anything to live just one day in this world back in 1890, just a day to see what it was like. Can you imagine, I'd probably be grateful for the modern conveniences we have today, like indoor plumbing and the lack of corsets, but it would still be cool! Today the town is just very quaint and very quiet, set among some of the most stunning scenery you can imagine. Such a shame the railroad stopped its line here...although, I guess in a lot of ways that's a good thing.
Monday, March 15, 2010
HP and Archaeology
A lot of people are surprised when I mentioned that one of our required classes is Archaeology. At first glance it doesn't seem to have anything to do with Historic Preservation. When you think about it though, it makes a lot of sense.
Perhaps I should first talk about the types of archaeology that are out there. Most people immediately envision a person dressed in khaki digging for dinosaur bones in the middle of the Sahara. While this is a type of archaeology, there is so much more to the field. Ever heard of ethnoarchaeology, what about underwater archaeology. I'm not kidding, there really is a whole field of under water archaeologists out there- just think about all those lost pirate ships filled with booty! There are also forensic archaeologists- trained in examining human remains, and zooarchaeolgists trained in examining faunal remains. The list goes on, but what we Historic Preservationists' are concerned with is....Historical Archaeology of course!
Historical Archaeology is the study of the material remains of past societies that have other forms of recorded history. Compare that with PRE-historic archaeology, and hopefully it starts to make sense. In prehistoric times, we have no written or recorded documentation of life. In historic times of course, we do. But then why would we need to employ archaeology to find out what was happening say 100 years ago if we have written records?? Well, we don't know EVERYTHING people may or may not have done in their daily lives. What was life really like in 1910? What kind of beer did they drink? What kind of toothpaste did they use? Did they even brush their teeth? What kind of T.V. dinner was the most popular? Wait, did they even have food in a box? We may know when Louisiana was purchased, and when Abe Lincoln was shot, but on a day to day basis, there are many things that archaeology can tell us.
This is especially important when we're trying to discover the history of an old homestead we're trying to preserve. We may have the house, and documents about who lived there when, but what really went on inside those walls? Or perhaps, maybe we don't know who lived there. Do you think prospectors climbing the Chilkoot trail in Alaska were concerned about documenting their stay? Doubtful, but it would sure be cool to find out! Enter Historic Archaeology.
Fortunately for us students at Colorado Mountain College, we have our very own 'laboratory' just south of town. The Hayden Ranch was purchased by the school a few years ago so that HP students would have a constant to lab to work on, not only for archaeology, but for the actual work of preserving buildings. And believe me, there's plenty of work to be done.
The ranch is really pretty big, with about 16 structures on the property. It was founded in 1859 and the buildings were constructed between 1880-1930
The Hayden Ranch operated mainly as a hay ranch through the 1890s, providing feed for the horses and mules serving Leadville's mining industry. Though many people have studied the history of the ranch, there is still plenty left unknown. In our attempt to learn as much as possible about this amazing place, we hold our archaeology class right on site during the fall. (Spring is way too cold and wet to excavate.)
The picture above shows the plot that I worked on this past fall. There are a couple of buildings that are no longer standing, and we're not exactly sure what those buildings were, or exactly where they were. We're going off of old hard to reach photos, sketches and documentations that aren't very clear. So we're using the archaeology to try and figure this out- what other buildings were there, and what exactly they were used for.
As you can imagine, archaeology is hard work. You must be very meticulous, and very patient. (It's hardly as glamorous as the movies make it out to be- in all of the digs I've been on, I've yet to see Indiana Jones and pits of snakes to keep me entertained). Regardless, it's still very interesting. In the plot that I worked on (along with my co-student Nick), we found lots and lots of small broken pieces of glass, some square nails, charcoal (indicating fires or hearths), what we think were animals teeth, maybe cow, and lots of ceramic pieces, among miscellaneous other items. I was most intrigued with the ceramic. There was enough of it, and large enough pieces that I began envisioning a kitchen or dining room of some sort. There were large pieces that suggested items like a plate, or mug, or serving platter. Coupled with the glass we found, it makes sense that this could have been a kitchen area of some kind.
We didn't get nearly as far in our excavation as I had hoped. With only a few hours a week to actually work on the plot, we only dug down a few inches on about 4 squares. Documenting the items you find takes more time than you'd imagine. So, we really aren't much closer to really finding out what the uncovered items mean, and their relation to the ranch. A considerable amount of work still needs to be done, a lot more digging of artifacts, and a lot of lab analysis needs to be done on all of the items. Once all of the artifacts are gathered, documented and analyzed, then we can begin to formulate ideas about what it all means. This takes a long time however, and needs to be coupled with whatever written documentation exists. You also need to consider the weather. At 10,200 feet, snow is often, and the times when you can actually dig are few. Sadly this all means that I may not know what once stood on my plot, at least not before I graduate from CMC. Hopefully the findings will be published however, as is the custom, and I'll be able to see if my visions of that kitchen are accurate.
Perhaps I should first talk about the types of archaeology that are out there. Most people immediately envision a person dressed in khaki digging for dinosaur bones in the middle of the Sahara. While this is a type of archaeology, there is so much more to the field. Ever heard of ethnoarchaeology, what about underwater archaeology. I'm not kidding, there really is a whole field of under water archaeologists out there- just think about all those lost pirate ships filled with booty! There are also forensic archaeologists- trained in examining human remains, and zooarchaeolgists trained in examining faunal remains. The list goes on, but what we Historic Preservationists' are concerned with is....Historical Archaeology of course!
Historical Archaeology is the study of the material remains of past societies that have other forms of recorded history. Compare that with PRE-historic archaeology, and hopefully it starts to make sense. In prehistoric times, we have no written or recorded documentation of life. In historic times of course, we do. But then why would we need to employ archaeology to find out what was happening say 100 years ago if we have written records?? Well, we don't know EVERYTHING people may or may not have done in their daily lives. What was life really like in 1910? What kind of beer did they drink? What kind of toothpaste did they use? Did they even brush their teeth? What kind of T.V. dinner was the most popular? Wait, did they even have food in a box? We may know when Louisiana was purchased, and when Abe Lincoln was shot, but on a day to day basis, there are many things that archaeology can tell us.
This is especially important when we're trying to discover the history of an old homestead we're trying to preserve. We may have the house, and documents about who lived there when, but what really went on inside those walls? Or perhaps, maybe we don't know who lived there. Do you think prospectors climbing the Chilkoot trail in Alaska were concerned about documenting their stay? Doubtful, but it would sure be cool to find out! Enter Historic Archaeology.
Fortunately for us students at Colorado Mountain College, we have our very own 'laboratory' just south of town. The Hayden Ranch was purchased by the school a few years ago so that HP students would have a constant to lab to work on, not only for archaeology, but for the actual work of preserving buildings. And believe me, there's plenty of work to be done.
The ranch is really pretty big, with about 16 structures on the property. It was founded in 1859 and the buildings were constructed between 1880-1930
The Hayden Ranch operated mainly as a hay ranch through the 1890s, providing feed for the horses and mules serving Leadville's mining industry. Though many people have studied the history of the ranch, there is still plenty left unknown. In our attempt to learn as much as possible about this amazing place, we hold our archaeology class right on site during the fall. (Spring is way too cold and wet to excavate.)
The picture above shows the plot that I worked on this past fall. There are a couple of buildings that are no longer standing, and we're not exactly sure what those buildings were, or exactly where they were. We're going off of old hard to reach photos, sketches and documentations that aren't very clear. So we're using the archaeology to try and figure this out- what other buildings were there, and what exactly they were used for.
As you can imagine, archaeology is hard work. You must be very meticulous, and very patient. (It's hardly as glamorous as the movies make it out to be- in all of the digs I've been on, I've yet to see Indiana Jones and pits of snakes to keep me entertained). Regardless, it's still very interesting. In the plot that I worked on (along with my co-student Nick), we found lots and lots of small broken pieces of glass, some square nails, charcoal (indicating fires or hearths), what we think were animals teeth, maybe cow, and lots of ceramic pieces, among miscellaneous other items. I was most intrigued with the ceramic. There was enough of it, and large enough pieces that I began envisioning a kitchen or dining room of some sort. There were large pieces that suggested items like a plate, or mug, or serving platter. Coupled with the glass we found, it makes sense that this could have been a kitchen area of some kind.
We didn't get nearly as far in our excavation as I had hoped. With only a few hours a week to actually work on the plot, we only dug down a few inches on about 4 squares. Documenting the items you find takes more time than you'd imagine. So, we really aren't much closer to really finding out what the uncovered items mean, and their relation to the ranch. A considerable amount of work still needs to be done, a lot more digging of artifacts, and a lot of lab analysis needs to be done on all of the items. Once all of the artifacts are gathered, documented and analyzed, then we can begin to formulate ideas about what it all means. This takes a long time however, and needs to be coupled with whatever written documentation exists. You also need to consider the weather. At 10,200 feet, snow is often, and the times when you can actually dig are few. Sadly this all means that I may not know what once stood on my plot, at least not before I graduate from CMC. Hopefully the findings will be published however, as is the custom, and I'll be able to see if my visions of that kitchen are accurate.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Crazy Leadville History...
Ok so I must admit that this blog entry isn't entirely preservation related, but it definitely catches the historical spirit of Leadville, and I really just had to share this.
Recently moving from Alaska, I am very familiar with skijoring and running dog sleds. If you've never ridden on a sled behind a pack of running dogs, put this on your to-do list asap! It's more fun than you can imagine, and those little dogs go fast! So when I heard of Leadville's Winter Carnival, and their skijoring event, I thought it sounded kind of fun. Then I saw pictures of past years, wha?? you use horses?? Now that is just absurd. Skijoring with horses...insane. Well, this does go along with the Leadville spirit, and this event has been going on since 1949.
Now of course I had to see this, especially because they're passing right in front of my apartment building. I'm not sure what it is about animals pulling people on snow that is attracted to me, but for six years in Anchorage, the Iditarod passed directly below my office window too...lucky me I guess.
Yesterday was the first run, in the morning snow machines (or do they say snow-mobiles here?) towed kids up and down the track for $5. Then later in the afternoon they brought out the big dogs, I mean, horses. Holy roller! Those horses are not messing around, and then they throw in a few 8 feet jumps, yikes!
There were two different tracks used, the first set with smaller jumps. Actually the course was a bit of an obstacle course, you have to hit the jumps, and then spear several rings that are hanging from a magnetic pole. If you drop a ring, 2 seconds get deducted from your time. The fastest person through the course wins, and you must be in control at the end of the course, not really so easy behind a bucking bronco. I was pretty impressed by how well most of the skiers did, and as far as I could see there were no major injuries- always good!
Watching people get pulled by horses going about 30 miles and hour was pretty intense. It definitely drew a pretty good crowd. Lots of spectators enjoyed the festivities with lots of 'aaaah's and ooooooh's, oh that looked painful..." Good times in Leadville regardless. I guess when winter lasts this long and you have this much snow dumping on the ground you do what you can to have fun. I only have one complaint, to those folks with the prime spot as seen below, please, seriously, get off the fragile historical ledge of the 100 year old building!
Recently moving from Alaska, I am very familiar with skijoring and running dog sleds. If you've never ridden on a sled behind a pack of running dogs, put this on your to-do list asap! It's more fun than you can imagine, and those little dogs go fast! So when I heard of Leadville's Winter Carnival, and their skijoring event, I thought it sounded kind of fun. Then I saw pictures of past years, wha?? you use horses?? Now that is just absurd. Skijoring with horses...insane. Well, this does go along with the Leadville spirit, and this event has been going on since 1949.
Now of course I had to see this, especially because they're passing right in front of my apartment building. I'm not sure what it is about animals pulling people on snow that is attracted to me, but for six years in Anchorage, the Iditarod passed directly below my office window too...lucky me I guess.
Yesterday was the first run, in the morning snow machines (or do they say snow-mobiles here?) towed kids up and down the track for $5. Then later in the afternoon they brought out the big dogs, I mean, horses. Holy roller! Those horses are not messing around, and then they throw in a few 8 feet jumps, yikes!
There were two different tracks used, the first set with smaller jumps. Actually the course was a bit of an obstacle course, you have to hit the jumps, and then spear several rings that are hanging from a magnetic pole. If you drop a ring, 2 seconds get deducted from your time. The fastest person through the course wins, and you must be in control at the end of the course, not really so easy behind a bucking bronco. I was pretty impressed by how well most of the skiers did, and as far as I could see there were no major injuries- always good!
Watching people get pulled by horses going about 30 miles and hour was pretty intense. It definitely drew a pretty good crowd. Lots of spectators enjoyed the festivities with lots of 'aaaah's and ooooooh's, oh that looked painful..." Good times in Leadville regardless. I guess when winter lasts this long and you have this much snow dumping on the ground you do what you can to have fun. I only have one complaint, to those folks with the prime spot as seen below, please, seriously, get off the fragile historical ledge of the 100 year old building!
Friday, March 5, 2010
Living in a Historic Hotel
Seeing as how I am studying Historic Preservation, it's quite fitting that I am currently residing in a Historic Hotel. The Tabor Grand Hotel was converted to low-income apartments (I am a student!) in the 1990's, but before that it's had quite the interesting history.
You can see from the photo above that the Tabor Grand was quite the elite and prestigious hotel when it opened in 1885. While Leadville was becoming a very important city to the state of Colorado, money was pouring in with the heavy mining activity. The businessmen of Leadville wanted the town to have a hotel that was first rate and could compete with any metropolitan city. With a total cost of about $100,000, this four-story Second Empire hotel boasted all of the finest amenities. It had steam-heat, an elevator, a bar, kitchen, wine cellar, library, a waiting room for the ladies (ya I don't like that either but this was 1885 and I suppose NOT having a 'waiting' room was worse), a dining room that seated several hundred, 117 rooms that were 'very elegantly appointed', a barbershop, public parlor, two chefs, a billiard-room, several shops and a restaurant. This was quite the statement for Leadville!
The hotel went through many changes over the past 100 years, but for the first 70 or so, it remained a functioning hotel that hosted several famous people, including the Colorado famous Molly Brown- well, the actress that played her anyway (Debbie Reynolds) in the 1964 film "The Unsinkable Molly Brown." What? You've never seen this movie? Well if you'd like a brief taste of Leadville life, do rent it...http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/unsinkable_molly_brown/
Like a lot of America's finer buildings, things went south for the Tabor Grand in the 70's and 80's. Leadville began to struggle more and more with little mining activity, and little else to keep its economy alive. By the late 80's it was abandoned, except for the frequent squatters and otherwise shady happenings going on inside. You can see from these two pictures, the building was in pretty rough shape.
Most people thought it was through, and it would be torn down, too far from being saved. In the 1988 however, the Santa Fe Land Company bought the building for $2.3million. The very day after the sale, a rain storm brought down the northwest corner of the building in a pile of rubble.
Some deal huh! It get's better though, you see this corner, completely collapsed to the ground, well look closely at that second floor opening, yep, that's my very own apartment! I have to admit it was quite shocking the first time I saw this photo, and I noticed myself becoming a bit more ginger whenever I moved to the corner of my living room. That was prior to the $4million renovation though. In the early 1990's, the rehabilitated building was reopened with 32 apartments, and several retail businesses on the first floor. This is how it still stands today, as you can see from the picture below that I took in October of 2009:
I must say I think it's pretty cool to live in a building with so much history. I gave you a very brief overview, believe me there's lots more to this place! I sometimes like to think about what life was like here 100 years ago. Who has stayed in my room? Thousands of people, I wonder what kind of rough and tumbling mining town activity took place on my floor. It's rumored there were some pretty wild times in this grand hotel, almost makes me wish I could have been there. But for now I'm content with just thinking about it, and of course, studying this beautiful building in my Historic Preservation classes. It's actually quite convenient that I am writing a paper on my very own home. Don't have to go too far!
You can see from the photo above that the Tabor Grand was quite the elite and prestigious hotel when it opened in 1885. While Leadville was becoming a very important city to the state of Colorado, money was pouring in with the heavy mining activity. The businessmen of Leadville wanted the town to have a hotel that was first rate and could compete with any metropolitan city. With a total cost of about $100,000, this four-story Second Empire hotel boasted all of the finest amenities. It had steam-heat, an elevator, a bar, kitchen, wine cellar, library, a waiting room for the ladies (ya I don't like that either but this was 1885 and I suppose NOT having a 'waiting' room was worse), a dining room that seated several hundred, 117 rooms that were 'very elegantly appointed', a barbershop, public parlor, two chefs, a billiard-room, several shops and a restaurant. This was quite the statement for Leadville!
The hotel went through many changes over the past 100 years, but for the first 70 or so, it remained a functioning hotel that hosted several famous people, including the Colorado famous Molly Brown- well, the actress that played her anyway (Debbie Reynolds) in the 1964 film "The Unsinkable Molly Brown." What? You've never seen this movie? Well if you'd like a brief taste of Leadville life, do rent it...http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/unsinkable_molly_brown/
Like a lot of America's finer buildings, things went south for the Tabor Grand in the 70's and 80's. Leadville began to struggle more and more with little mining activity, and little else to keep its economy alive. By the late 80's it was abandoned, except for the frequent squatters and otherwise shady happenings going on inside. You can see from these two pictures, the building was in pretty rough shape.
Most people thought it was through, and it would be torn down, too far from being saved. In the 1988 however, the Santa Fe Land Company bought the building for $2.3million. The very day after the sale, a rain storm brought down the northwest corner of the building in a pile of rubble.
Some deal huh! It get's better though, you see this corner, completely collapsed to the ground, well look closely at that second floor opening, yep, that's my very own apartment! I have to admit it was quite shocking the first time I saw this photo, and I noticed myself becoming a bit more ginger whenever I moved to the corner of my living room. That was prior to the $4million renovation though. In the early 1990's, the rehabilitated building was reopened with 32 apartments, and several retail businesses on the first floor. This is how it still stands today, as you can see from the picture below that I took in October of 2009:
I must say I think it's pretty cool to live in a building with so much history. I gave you a very brief overview, believe me there's lots more to this place! I sometimes like to think about what life was like here 100 years ago. Who has stayed in my room? Thousands of people, I wonder what kind of rough and tumbling mining town activity took place on my floor. It's rumored there were some pretty wild times in this grand hotel, almost makes me wish I could have been there. But for now I'm content with just thinking about it, and of course, studying this beautiful building in my Historic Preservation classes. It's actually quite convenient that I am writing a paper on my very own home. Don't have to go too far!
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