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<br />PREF ACE
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<br />
<br />The pages which follow represent the efforts of an Historic American Buildings
<br />Survey (HABS) team. Comprised of seven students, trained in architecture and
<br />history, and supervised by John White, Associate Professor of Architecture,
<br />Texas Technological University, the HABS team worked 12 weeks during the
<br />summer of 1981 in order to record the Lower Dolores River Valley's history
<br />before the valley was inundated by the Bureau of Reclamation's McPhee
<br />Reservoir. The project was sponsored by the Bureau of Reclamation and
<br />administered by the Rocky Mountain Regional Office of the National Park
<br />Service.
<br />
<br />HABS conducts a nationwide program of documentation and publication
<br />projects which focus on historic and architectural sites and structures. Highest
<br />priority is given to those sites threatened with destruction. In many cases, this
<br />documentation, deposited in the Division of Prints and Photographs in the
<br />Library of Congress, may be the only lasting record of a site's existence.
<br />
<br />The summer team was greatly assisted in their research by the previous work of
<br />others, most important of whom was Duane Smith, Professor of History at Fort
<br />Lewis College, Durango, Colorado. Two years earlier, Smith produced a solid
<br />historic overview of the river valley for the Bureau of Reclamation. * His
<br />overview provided the necessary historical framework to guide the team's
<br />specific research topics and the national perspective by which to evaluate the
<br />significance of individual sites.
<br />
<br />The project was vastly improved by the unselfish cooperation of numerous
<br />others. The project was conducted under the overall supervision of Katherine
<br />Cole, Chief, Division of Cultural Resources, Rocky Mountain Regional Office,
<br />National Park Service. de T eel Patterson Tiller, Chief, Branch of Project Review
<br />and Technical Assistance, spent considerable time proofing the manuscripts
<br />while Pat Kisling, Division Secretary, typed the many drafts. Project funding was
<br />provided by the Bureau of Reclamation, Upper Colorado Regional Office.
<br />Wayne Prokapetz, Regional Archeologist and Judy Kenyon, Staff Archeologist
<br />with the region provided technical assistance at various stages of the project.
<br />Tom King, Project Archeologist with the Bureau's Cortez office worked closely
<br />with the summer team, ensuring that the research compiled by previous
<br />consultants was readily accessible. Robert Righter, Professor of History,
<br />University of Wyoming, Robert Z. Melnick, ASLA, Professor of Landscape
<br />Architecture, Kansas State University, and Don Stevenson, AlA, provided the
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<br />academic and professional review of the manuscripts and architectural
<br />drawings. Correction of the HABS drawings for this publication was done by J.
<br />Keith Everett and James A. Caufield, Architects, National Park Service, Rocky
<br />Mountain Regional Office. Special thanks should be given to Alex Young, Chief,
<br />Division of Personnel, Rocky Mountain Regional Office of the National Park
<br />Service, who made hiring of the team a reality.
<br />
<br />The four essays are supplemented with photographs taken during the summer
<br />of 1981 by Jet Lowe, Photographer with the Historic American Engineering
<br />Record a division within the National Park Service. The historic photographs of
<br />McPhe~ are from the Robert Orr Collection, copy prints courtesy of Gordon
<br />Chappell, Regional Historian with the Western Regional Office of the National
<br />Park Service and the Colorado Railroad Museum, Golden, Colorado.
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<br />HABS TEAM MEMBERS:
<br />
<br />Supervisor:
<br />John White, Associate Professor of Architecture, Texas Technological
<br />University.
<br />
<br />Student Architects:
<br />Debra Brown, Virginia Polytechnic Institute
<br />Deborah Hurst, Washington University
<br />David Insinga, Virginia Polytechnic Institute
<br />Steven Wiesenthal, University of Maryland
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<br />Student Historians:
<br />Linda Dishman, University of California at Davis
<br />Maureen Gerhold, Pennsylvania State University
<br />Lisa Mausolf, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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<br />*In 1979 the Bureau of Reclamation retained the University of Colorado to produce a historical overview of the:
<br />Lower Dolores River Valley. The University in turn, contracted with the consulting firm of Centuries ReSearch,
<br />Inc.. of Montrose. Colorado, of which Duane Smith was a member to do the actual preparation of the manuscript.
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