Historical Archaeological Investigations at Dam Construction Camps in Central Arizona: Second Annual Report

In June 1986, the Bureau of Reclamation awarded a three year contract for historical archaeological studies as part of the mitigation program for the Central Arizona Project's Regulatory Storage Division, designated as Plan 6. This study focuses on reconstructing the social history of the workers and their families who lived in several temporary dam construction camps dating from the 1890s to 1940s. The first chapter discusses experience in managing the study during the second year of the project and outlines plans for the third and final year. Chapters 2 and 3 present the results of supplemental archaeological survey at the northern end of the New Waddell Dam locale. Chapter 2 describes homestead and ranch sites, and Chapter 3 discusses the Humbug Creek hydraulic mining complex. Chapters 4, 5, and 6 present historical, sociological and archaeological perspectives, respectively, of the Roosevelt Dam construction community. Versions of these papers were presented as a symposium at the annual meeting of the National Council on Public History held in Denver, Colorado in March 1988. The Epilogue presents comments of a labor historian who served as a discussant for the symposium.