Aztec Ruins Administrative History

CIVIL WORKS ADMINISTRATION PROGRAM
(continued)

Cleaning Up the Monument

The clean-up project was the one that was most readily to change the appearance of the monument. It was necessary to proceed cautiously so as not to disturb any unknown ancient constructions outside the great house and not to remove talus that might buttress weak walls. Since in that part of the ruin there was little danger of outward thrust from pressure of deposits within the rooms, Morris suggested taking away debris from the north side of the house block up to the walls of the building. The excavated rooms or those having original ceilings served to anchor walls in place. The last level of occupation was established in the excavation of the northeast corner and was to be followed throughout. On the west side of the house, Morris advocated caution. He thought it probable that in that area there were flimsy structures not visible on the surface. [29] On the east side, there was likelihood of much reusable stone. An insufficient amount of building blocks had been recovered previously in that sector to account for the fall of several stories of the building. In 1917, a trench was dug outside the east wall to permit masons to reset the stones. The ditch was backfilled, forestalling possible disintegration upon removal of outer talus. [30] In the court, Morris suggested that piles of earth dumped on the east side of the Great Kiva excavation should be removed in anticipation of work to commence there the next spring. [31]

Twenty-one men with three teams of horses and six wagons went to work to finish this part of the general program by the end of 1933. Photographs of the period show a relay of wagons moving up and down the road leading to the ruin to deposit their loads in numerous pot holes (see Figure 7.4). [32] A horse-pulled grader transferred from Mesa Verde to Aztec leveled out the dirt. [33] The desired reserve of building stones did not materialize. [34]

Foreman Tatman's report on the clearing operation stated that the building stone was saved, and the dirt was taken to washes and low spots for proper leveling and landscaping. All debris was removed from around the Great Kiva. The stone was sorted into refuse, rough stone, and facing stone. Refuse or disintegrated stone was discarded; the rough stones and facing stones were saved for ruin repair. All told, 2,900 wagon loads of spoil materials were hauled away. [35]

As part of the clean-up campaign, the American Museum shanty behind what had been the Morris house was dismantled partition by partition and moved to the property of a former workman, Arthur Lawson, by the iron bridge across the Animas (see Figure 7.6). Paul Fassel moved along with it and continued to occupy the structure for some years. It now serves as a bait shop. [36]

Figure 7.6. Dismantling the American Museum storage shed at rear of Morris house, 1934.

Beautification of the monument setting as part of this project undoubtedly resulted in unintentional wholesale eradication of archeological resources and irreversible alteration of the prehistoric landscape. The old Animas River channel at some earlier time had cut a deep swath along the east boundary of the monument. It left behind a high embankment and a wake of uprooted, matted vegetation. Of more concern to archeologists was that it impinged upon the easternmost mound of the East Ruin complex, perhaps exposing structural elements and artifacts. Morris used the area slightly to the south of the ruin itself as a dumping ground for some of the fill from the interior West Ruin rooms. The solution in the 1930s to making this part of the monument more pleasing in appearance was to cut down the terrain and redeposit several thousand yards of earth in low spots and arroyos along the eastern perimeters of the preserve. Doubtless, hundreds of inconspicuous specimens went with the dirt. Proudly, Faris reported that all the land surrounding the visible ruins was plowed and harrowed, 400 native trees and shrubs were planted, and the irrigation ditch across the south was rocked. [37] With those actions, any traces of ancient roadways, waffle gardens, or earthen constructions were erased. Ironically, those clean-up measures cost the taxpayers seven times the amount devoted to concurrent archeology at the monument.