Aztec Ruins Administrative History

FOR MANAGERS
(continued)

Residential/Maintenance Area

The small adobe custodian's house (building 2) erected in 1931 on the southern piece of monument land was subject to the same troubles with underground water that were threatening the ruin (see Chapter 12). When Custodian Miller asked for a supplemental emergency appropriation to attempt correction of drainage within the Anasazi structure, he added:

It might be well to mention here the condition of the custodian's quarters due to underground seepage. We have just finished replacing the floors in the kitchen and hall, which had rotted out due to moisture. Upon removal of the rotten flooring it was found that the concrete sub-floor was for the most part completely rotted out. Upon removing the mop boards it was found that the adobe partition walls were also completely water-soaked. All in all it is a dangerous situation and is certainly a detriment to the health of anyone living under those conditions. [55]

In the 12 years since the house was built, subsurface water had managed to work its way relentlessly downslope beneath the ancient house, beneath the modern house, and quite surely across the pasture land between the monument and the Animas River.

The next year Acting Custodian Russell L. Mahan submitted a proposal for rehabilitation of the house to include waterproofing the sub-floor, laying new hardwood, waterproofing adobe wall footings and replastering. He estimated the cost to be $1,280, or about a third of the original construction cost. [56] It was war time, so action on the plan was postponed.

After the war, a modest construction program revitalized the residential area of the monument (see Figures 10.4 through 10.8). The custodian's house was so dilapidated that it was razed to make way for a 1,400-square-foot cement block structure (building 8) consisting of a living room, dining alcove, kitchen, three bedrooms, two baths, and a utility room. The cost was $16,000. [57] In the same year, a frame-and-stucco addition was placed on the east side of the old garage to serve as an apartment for seasonal employees (building 4). [58] A four-to-eight-foot-high adobe wall with an elevated gate entry opened to the well-traveled county road. The wall provided privacy for what was planned to become a cluster of several houses but posed a visibility hazard on entering or leaving monument grounds.

Figure 10.4. Aztec Ruins National Monument, boundary status map, 1959.
(click on image for an enlargement in a new window)

Figure 10.5. Residence/Maintenance area.
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Figure 10.6. From right to left, buildings 2, 3, and 4. Photograph taken in 1949 prior to the razing of building 2.

Figure 10.7. Building 8, 1949.

Figure 10.8. Building 9, 1958.

One of the first constructions requested under the MISSION 66 program was a utility building (building 10). [59] It was erected of frame and stucco in 1958 just to the north of the garage and several years later could be reached through a paved utility court off the county road. [60] The dangerous adobe wall along the road was dismantled and replaced by chain link fencing. [61]

In the Master Plan Development Outline written by Superintendent Hastings in 1956, he stated that quarters for National Park Service personnel at Aztec Ruins were adequate. [62] Very shortly, the effects of the nearby natural gas and oil activities changed his mind. Housing became scarce and expensive. Long-term development plans included the addition of two residences for permanent staff and a duplex for seasonals. [63]

The first of the new houses (building 9), a three-bedroom cement block structure, was completed in 1958 at a cost of $24,951.34. It was placed to the east of the utility court (see Figure 10.8). This brought to four the number of service and domestic buildings in the southeastern part of the monument. The house was scarcely done before it was realized that a mistake had been made in the selection of its location. The southward slope of the land and natural drainage channels led directly to the house site. Surveyors established the elevation at the northeast corner of the West Ruin at 5,639.5 feet above sea level. At building 8, it was 5,622 feet above sea level, or a drop of 17 1/2 feet from approximately the north boundary of the monument to the south boundary. [64] The high water table and generally unstable bentonite subsoil added to the problems. Because of little drainage, water to a depth of nine to 18 inches rose beneath floors after rains, walls sweated, and the sewer system backed up. Maintenance workers made repeated attempts to pump water from under the new house, to install dry barrels, and to remove sewage from the septic tank. [65] Finally in August 1961, all the residences were connected to the city sewer at a manhole at the southwest corner of the monument with the aid of a lift station. [66] The ground beneath building 9 remained eternally damp and sticky, and sewage disposal was not corrected satisfactorily. In 1962, a drain put in to the east of the house proved useless. Although it was redone two years later, it still did not work properly. [67]

A natural gas main along the south boundary supplied fuel for the houses. [68]

Government planners should have been more alert to the potential difficulties of using this sector of the monument for contemporary buildings. Similar problems to those at residence 9 had been encountered earlier in the other dwellings. It already was decided by the time of the MISSION 66 work that the seven-year-old apartment was in such precarious condition it would be eliminated. At the custodian's house, despite a very heavy foundation, settling of walls had caused gaping cracks and threw door and window jambs out of plumb. [69] Modern construction was attacked by the same combination of destructive elements that was destroying the ancient house: water and earth movements resulting from it. The Master Plan, 1964, stated, "The soils and underlying strata of the area are such as to create problems of building movement, both prehistoric and National Park Service facilities, as they expand and contract with moisture fluctuation. The residences show displacement of floors and walls. During part of the year, water will stand beneath residence #9 in depths of a foot or more." [70]

Numerous memoranda passed between offices about relocating the proposed residential sites. [71] However, as late as 1963 further housing construction still was scheduled, pending an inspection by the Western Office of Design and Construction. It was cancelled that same year, not by the Western Office of Design and Construction but by the Bureau of the Budget. [72] Meantime, the apartment was torn down. A second utility structure, connected to the first by a breezeway, took its place. [73] The seasonal ranger, who had stayed in the apartment, was moved to a house trailer parked under some trees just to the north. The Master Plan of 1964 concluded that no further housing be considered and that staff secure living accommodations in the adjacent towns.