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HomeMy WebLinkAboutGaines Street Pump Station Archaeological Assessment - 2001.07.27Day Road Industrial Park 8001 Day Road West, Suite B Bainbridge Island, WA 98110 wshs@macconnect.com 206.855.9020 WSHS Letter Report 0105A–1 July 27, 2001 David Peterson City of Port Townsend Public Works 181 Quincy Street, Suite 301 Port Townsend, WA 98368 Reference: Gaines Street Pumping Project Archaeological Assessment Dear Mr. Peterson: I am writing regarding our recent archaeological assessment for the above–referenced project. Please consider this letter to be an interim report for pre–construction investigations. I conducted a field survey of the project area on 20 June 2001, accompanied by John Merchant of the public works office. The location of the proposed project is shown on the attached map. Prior to fieldwork I inspected the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) listings, as well as archaeological site files and historic property inventories at the Washington State Office of Historic Preservation (OAHP) in Lacey. As you are aware, the only previously recorded site in the immediate project vicinity is archaeological site 45JE200. In 1989 archaeologist Gary Wessen recorded the site as a thin, 12 meter–long midden deposit immediately behind the bank building that is to the immediate north of the proposed Gaines Street pumping station. The site was discovered in the course of bank construction. Two thin shell lenses were noted: one was about 1–3 cm thick, the other 10–15 cm thick. The midden included animal bones, seeds, fire–cracked rock, and charcoal, as well as bone and stone artifacts. Dr. Wessen excavated an unspecified number of auger holes behind the bank; however he did not find any evidence that the midden extended southward toward the water. Cultural deposits seemed to be restricted to the general proximity of the present bank building. Because the bank parking lot presently is paved and there is minimal opportunity to excavate standard archaeological test pits or shovel probes within the construction footprint of the proposed project, we asked the city to provide an auger to excavate three deep bore holes at the location of the deep caisson in the middle of Gaines Street and in the footprint of the control building. The auger holes also provided an opportunity to examine sediments far deeper than would be reached by hand excavation and thereby allowed limited inspection of the deeper beach sediments which could have been occupied during early Holocene times when sea levels were lower. WSHS Letter Report 0105A–1 Gaines Street Pumping Station Port Townsend Page 2 Three auger holes were excavated: one on the Gaines Street centerline (ending 20 feet below surface), one on the shoulder of Gaines Street (35 feet below surface), and one on the southern edge of the bank parking lot (15 feet below surface). All auger holes went deeper than the maximum anticipated construction depths at their respective locations. I monitored excavation of all auger units and observed the same stratigraphic sequence recorded by HWA Geosciences in their geotechnical analysis of the lift station for Gray and Osborne. Basically, a thick stratum of sand with small gravels overlies about 25 feet of sandy beach deposits. Glacial till is at the base of the beach deposits. The uppermost unit is fill, varying between 5 and 10 feet thick. Interspersed in the beach sands were traces of shells; however there were no indications that these were cultural in origin. The associated hallmarks of an archaeological midden—a dark, organic soil matrix with a “greasy” feel, fire–cracked rocks, bone, and/or calcined shell—all were absent and there was nothing suggestive of cultural deposits within the auger backdirt. Despite the absence of midden indicators, I recommend that we monitor this area during construction. The three auger holes (four including the previous unit by HWA) provide significant but limited information about subsurface deposits. Prior to deposition of the fill which extends westward from Gaines Street under the marina towards Safeway, this area was the mouth of the Kah Tai Lagoon. A copy of the 1854 U.S. Coast Survey chart of Port Townsend shows a S’Klallam village site at this location. It is possible this had been a favored settlement for many generations in prehistory and archaeological deposits could be deeply buried here. Such was the case at the West Point sewage treatment plant in Seattle where archaeological deposits were discovered at depths below present–day sea level. I have discussed the Gaines Street project with Kathy Duncan of the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe and also with Dr. Rob Whitlam, State Archaeologist at OAHP. Both strongly recommend monitoring during construction as a precaution against inadvertent destruction of as yet unidentified archaeological deposits. I feel we’ve made a good initial step in attempting to identify the archaeological potential of the project area. Construction monitoring will complete this good faith effort and should comply with the intent of cultural resources preservation regulations. Please contact me should you have any questions regarding our findings. I look forward to working with you again soon. Sincerely, Glenn D. Hartmann Senior Archaeologist WSHS Letter Report 0105A–1 Gaines Street Pumping Station Port Townsend Page 3 Figure 1. Location of the Gaines Street Pumping Station project.