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The San Luis ValleyARCHAEO-UPDATEThe Bulletin of the San Luis Valley Archaeological Network Vol. 6 No. 2, May 2001 |
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Contents:
SOUTHERN SAN LUIS VALLEY PAST CLIMATE STUDY
BACKGROUND HISTORY OF THE MCINTIRE RANCH
UPDATE OF THE SLV ARCHAEOLOGICAL NETWORK 2001 ACTIVITY SCHEDULE
Saturday May 26: Trip to Site of Fort Massachusetts and the Fort Garland Petroglyphs. Ron Kessler will lead this trip to historic Fort Massachusetts located on the lower flanks of Mount Blanca near Fort Garland. Fort Massachusetts, the first military post established within the present confines of Colorado, was established in the San Luis Valley in 1852. The petroglyphs are also located near Fort Garland. Please call Ron Kessler at 719-852-5225 for more information about this trip.
Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday July 1, 2, 3: Colorado Archaeological Society (CAS) Encampment CAS members will camp at the Forest Service Mogote Campground (Juniper Unit) on the Conejos River to the west of Antonito. SLV Archnet members are invited to attend the associated field trips to the Dog Mountain and Dry Creek Petroglyph sites near Monte Vista, the McIntire Ranch (home of former Colorado governor Albert McIntire) near Sanford, and trips to sites local to the campground. Please call Vince Spero at 719-852-6242 (work) or 873-5916 (home) for details. E-Mail vspero@peoplepc.com.
July 17 to 26 and August 7 to 16: Great Sand Dunes National Monument (GSDNM) Archaeological Inventory and Site Testing. The GSDNM and Reserve will be conducting archaeological investigations, including the test excavation of prehistoric sites, during this time period. Volunteers from the SLV Archnet are encouraged to sign up to help. Site visitors will also be welcome. Please call Vince Spero at 719-852-6242 (work) or 873-5916 (home) for details. E-Mail address is vspero@peoplepc.com
August 16, 17, and 18: Continuation of Test Excavations at the Torrez Trading Post near La Garita. Last years testing revealed historic artifacts dating mainly to the 1920s and 1930s. Continued excavation of the same units to lower levels is expected to unearth artifacts from the older occupation of the adobe ruin. Volunteers are needed and tours will be done. Please call Vince Spero at 719-852-6242 (work) or 873-5916 (home) for details. E-Mail address is vspero@peoplepc.com.
September
1, 2, and 3:Excavation of Late Paleoindian site. Pegi Jodry, Smithsonian
Institution Archaeologist, will conduct an excavation of a Late Paleoindian
site near the Sand Dunes National Monument. Several volunteers are needed
for this project over the Labor Day weekend. In addition a site visit
may be possible. Please call Vince Spero at 719-852-6242 (work) or 873-5916
(home) for details. E-Mail vspero@peoplepc.com
Saturday, September 29: Rock Art Recording Workshop. Lee Coats,
of San Luis, will conduct an all day workshop on the recording of rock
art sites. Lee, who has recorded many rock art sites in New Mexico and
other locations, is very interested in the further recordation of rock
art sites in the San Luis Valley. The workshop will be followed the next
week by a field session. Please look for more information in an upcoming
issue of the Archaeo-Update.
Saturday, October 6: Rock Art Recording Field Session. The field portion of the above Recording of Rock Art Sites Workshop will be held during this session. Please look for details in an upcoming issue of the Archaeo-Update.
SUMMARY OF SOUTHERN SAN LUIS VALLEY PAST CLIMATE STUDY
A BLM study of packrat middens from the Rio Grande Riparian Corridor, done by Eric Feiler of the PaleoCultural Research Group in Flagstaff, Arizona, presents information pertaining to paleoenvironmental conditions of the southern SLV. Packrats have the habit of caching vegetative, animal, and inorganic material from the immediate vicinity in their nests. This material, sometimes encased and preserved by dehydrated urine called amberat, can be Carbon-14 dated and analyzed thereby providing important information about the past climate of a specific area. The contents of eleven such packrat middens were studied providing information on climatic conditions for the past 10,000 years. Information of this sort can be very important in the analysis of area archaeological sites. The oldest nest studied (9,830 years before present during the Early Holocene) indicates that the climate was quite a bit cooler and moister than present. Several plants at the site not present today included Colorado blue spruce, juniper, birch, and bristlecone or limber pine. These species, which presently grow at a higher altitude, reflect the wetter and cooler climate. A later midden (3,820 years before present) indicates that there was a change to conditions more similar to the present. Pinon pine and other more xeriphytic species associated with the warmer and drier climate were found. Willow and cottonwood were found in all middens tested indicating that these plant communities have been eliminated at the site in the last several hundred years. Sagebrush seems to have increased during this later time period.
BACKGROUND HISTORY OF THE MCINTIRE RANCH
The
impressive adobe ruin of the ranch of former Colorado governor Albert
W. McIntire is located on the banks of the equally impressive McIntire
Spring several miles from the town of Sanford in the southern San Luis
Valley. The architecturally significant adobe house and the spring,
which forms a river-like stream, must have been quite the sight when
it was built around 1880.
Time has taken a toll on the structure, but its' setting and architectural
detail are still very much evident. Undisturbed historic archaeological
deposits, relating directly to the occupation of the dwelling, are also
an important feature of the site.
A biography of Albert McIntire reveals that he graduated from Yale College
in 1875 obtaining a degree in law. He soon headed west to Denver where
he started a law practice. In 1880 he moved to the SLV to become a rancher
where he learned first-hand the art of Colorado water law. In 1884 he
became a Conejos County Judge and by 1891 was appointed to the 12th
Judicial District where he served until the Colorado Republican party
nominated him as a candidate for the governorship of Colorado. In the
1894 election he defeated the incumbent Populist governor Davis H. Waite
by a relatively large number of votes.
Accomplishments included working for women's rights, expansion of the
state mental asylum, providing for uniform sentencing in criminal cases,
and banking reform aimed at protecting the public. He also created a
system of state forests and established water conservation measures.
The Governor was forced to send the National Guard troops into the Leadville
area during a confrontation with a mining union in 1896.
McIntire was not reelected in 1896 and he returned to his ranch. He
died in Colorado Springs in 1935. He is buried in the La Jara Cemetery.
The land encompassing the ranch is now administered by the Bureau of
Land Management.
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