Mexican American History Research Papers (original) (raw)

Hedges/Tumco Historic Townsite is an abandoned gold mining town, located in a desert valley in the Cargo Muchacho Mountains, Imperial County, California. It has previously been designated California Historic Landmark No. 182, and has been recorded as site 4-Imp-3297-H; additional site numbers used for features at the site are 4-Imp-3298-H, -3200-H, - 3301-H, and-3302-H. Visible remains at the site include residential areas, two cemeteries, a commercial district, and a company district, closely associated with many mining-related features, including open pits and many shafts at the east end of the town in the valley head. The site covers about 260 acres. The project described in this report undertook archival research, aerial photography, oral histories, and limited test excavations, to derive a National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) eligibility assessment for the Hedges/Tumco Historic Townsite (Hedges-Tumco) located in lower Tumco Wash. Excavation of 100 test units (29.5 m1), limited surface collection, and scale drawing of selected structures, was used to sample more than 55 features and feature complexes. More than 2,500 catalogue entries of artifacts represented domestic, commer- cial, structural, and industrial items. Recovery of datable artifacts, fragile but well-preserved materials, and faunal and botanical remains, attests to a strong potential for research on technology, consumer patterns, and ethnic differences. Complementary information was yielded by abundant archival records. Historic photographs document the nature and location of the schoolhouse, Catholic church, company boarding house hospital, several saloons, and other specific buildings. Remains of mining and milling include three major mines and associated buildings, 10-stamp, 40-stamp, and 100-stamp mill remains, and a cyanide treatment plant. Based on these data, Hedges/Tumco is recommended eligible at the local and statewide levels for the NRHP, as per 36 CFR 800 60.4, Criteria (a), (c), and (d). The Hedges/Tumco Historic Townsite meets the 11 guidelines of National Register of Historic Places Bulletin 36, has an easily definable boundary ( excluding ubiquitous traces of mining peripheral to the site), and possesses sufficient integrity to support a recommendation of NRHP eligibility. Equally important is the demonstrated potential of Hedges/Tumco to yield additional information important in history (36 CFR 60.4).