Archaeology at Spokane's Riverfront Park, Former Town siteIn collaboration with the Spokane Tribe of Indians Preservation Program, Ashley co-led (at Fort Walla Walla Museum) a survey of portions of Riverfront Park in 2016 and 2017 to support the City of Spokane's current and ongoing upgrades known as the Riverfront Park Redevelopment Project. The location of Riverfront Park has undergone sweeping transformations from an ancestral fishery of regional tribes to the initial town site of Spokane (established in the early 1870s) and, a busy mixed commercial, residential, and industrial locality until the 1920s when population and industry began to stagnate and decline. By the 1960s the area was completely industrial and the City first began talking about revitalizing the space. Revitalization came in a grand scale, as the site of the World's Fair Expo in 1974. . After the Fair, the area became known as Riverfront Park and today is the City's flagship park.
Surveys resulted in the identification of pre-expo era archaeological remains including an NRHP eligible blacksmithing activity area. To learn more about the blacksmith (Peter Sondgerath) and urban Spokane life at the turn of the 20th century, click on the file below for a poster presentation. Learn more about the research and results of this work on the Spokane City-County Historic Preservation Office website!
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Walla Walla's Chinatown
In May of 2014, an archaeological survey was carried out by Fort Walla Walla Museum under contract with Anderson Perry & Associates Inc., under the Stormwater Quality and LID Retrofit Project. The survey was undertaken to identify impacts to cultural resources part of a state environmental policy act (SEPA) review and fulfillment of Executive Order 05-05. Survey and reporting was performed & directed by Ashley Morton at Fort Walla Walla Museum. Through archival research into federal census records, city directories, and Sanborn Fire insurance maps, part of Walla Walla's once thriving Chinatown was identified in the project area.
Like many towns and cities developing across the American West following the Civil War, Walla Walla had a sizable Chinese immigrant population. Walla Walla, being a major access point to other mining sites throughout the Pacific Northwest and a growing commerce center during the last quarter of the 19th century, attracted Overseas Chinese—as it did other foreign and American-born men seeking wealth. Despite numerous anti-Chinese territorial laws passed in Washington, by 1870, a small group of Chinese people resided in Walla Walla. Largely coinciding with the construction of Dorsey Baker’s Walla Walla and Columbia River (WW&CR) Railroad line, the WW & CR Railroad significantly contributed to the growth of Walla Walla’s Chinese population. By 1880, the city had the largest Overseas Chinese community in eastern Washington (between 600 and 800 people). However, by the 1940s, Walla Walla’s Chinese population had steadily dwindled. Laws prohibiting Chinese from owning property, a desire to join larger communities like those in Seattle, or to return back to China ultimately led to population decline or assimilation into Walla Walla’s society as a whole. Walla Walla’s Chinatown Locations Pre-1884 to 1888 Southern portion of block along Alder Street, between 2nd and 3rd Avenues. 1888-1894 Northern portion of block along Rose Street, between 3rd and 4th Avenues. 1894+ Dispersed and continuing west along northern portion of Rose Street. 1911-1962 “Chinese Building,” located at 5th Avenue and Rose Street, is the last location where a congregated Chinese community existed. |
Idora Mill
Surface Artifact Scatter with mill remnants in background.
In the summers of 2010 and 2011, data recovery of the Idora Mill site was carried out by Dr. Robert Lee Sappington, associate professor of Anthropology at the University of Idaho, under contract with TerraGraphics Environmental Engineering, Inc. under the Coeur d’ Alene Basin Superfund project, a program designed for remediating contaminated soils produced by abandoned hazardous mine sites. The Idora Mill site was recognized as a source of metals contamination by abandoned mine land surveys in 1993.
Artifact analyses was performed by Ashley Morton at Phinney Hall, University of Idaho. A total of 1,926 artifacts were analyzed from surface and excavated units. Artifacts include items made from ceramic, glass, metal, and other materials dating primarily between the 1920s and 1930s.
Mining has played a significant role in the physical development of Idaho’s cultural and natural resources. The Idora Mill site marks the importance of small-scale operations across the American West and those contributing to Idaho’s base metal production. Archaeological and historical analysis of such an operation shows the wider systems of technology, transportation, and consumerism that can be identified. Using a cultural ecology lens can illuminate human responses to the development of settlements associated with industrial landscapes. As environmental assessments and treatments of abandoned mine sites increase in Idaho it is imperative that these wider network systems are considered from a cultural resource perspective.
Artifact analyses was performed by Ashley Morton at Phinney Hall, University of Idaho. A total of 1,926 artifacts were analyzed from surface and excavated units. Artifacts include items made from ceramic, glass, metal, and other materials dating primarily between the 1920s and 1930s.
Mining has played a significant role in the physical development of Idaho’s cultural and natural resources. The Idora Mill site marks the importance of small-scale operations across the American West and those contributing to Idaho’s base metal production. Archaeological and historical analysis of such an operation shows the wider systems of technology, transportation, and consumerism that can be identified. Using a cultural ecology lens can illuminate human responses to the development of settlements associated with industrial landscapes. As environmental assessments and treatments of abandoned mine sites increase in Idaho it is imperative that these wider network systems are considered from a cultural resource perspective.