I 29.2-- M "7? Amidst Ancient Monuments

The Administrative History of

Mound City Group National Monument/

Hopewell Culture National Historical Park

Ohio

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Ron Cockrell

National Park Service

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Amidst Ancient Monuments

The Administrative History of

Mound City Group National Monument/

Hopewell Culture National Historical Park

Ohio

by

Ron Cockrell

Senior Historian

Division of Cultural Resources

Midwest Support Office

National Park Service

United States Department of the Interior

Omaha , Nebraska

1999

Superintendent Hopewell Culture National

Historical Park (formerly Mound City Group NM)

CONCURRED

Date

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APPROVED:

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Regional Director, Midwest Region

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Hopewell Culture

National Historical Park Lft

Mound City Group

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Figure 1: Entrance sign to Hopewell Culture National Historical

Park's Mound City Group/National Park Service administrative

headquarters. (NPS/1996)
DEDICATION

For Three Men Who Have Made a Difference —

"Mr. Moundbuilder, " Clyde B. King, first Mound City Group

National Monument superintendent;

And for my two National Park Service mentors:

F. A. "Andy" Ketterson, Jr., chief, cultural resources

management, Midwest Regional Office (retired)

and

Edwin C. ("Ed") Bearss, National Park Service chief historian

(retired)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Document Approval Sheet

Dedication

Table of Contents

List of Figures

Preface and Acknowledgements

Chapter One: A Brief History of the Hopewell Culture

** The Hopewell Experience / 1 / ** Squier and Davis at Mound City Group / 6 / ** Mythology of the Moundbuilders / 15 / ** Modern American Archeology and Hopewell Culture / 17 / Chapter Two: Preservation of the Mound City Group

** The War Department and Camp Sherman / 29 / ** President Harding Proclaims a National Monument / 36 / ** Ohio Establishes a State Memorial / 43 / ** The National Park Service Assumes Control / 68 / Chapter Three: Clyde B. King, "Mr. Moundbuilder," 1946-1962

** From Custodian to Superintendent / 74 / ** Recreation Overwhelms the National Monument / 88 / ** Era of Development: MISSION 66 at Mound City Group / 97 / Chapter Four: Administering the Mound City Group

** National Park Service Staff / 107 / ** History of Boundary Changes / 125 / ** History of NPS Archeological Research / 135 / ** Planning / 159 / ** A Special Emphasis: Energy Conservation / 168 / Chapter Five: Relations with the Community

** Veterans Administration / 169 / ** Prisoners as Neighbors / 178 / ** Ohio State Agencies / 184 / ** The State Coordinator Program / 188 / Chapter Six: Exhibiting the Hopewell Culture

** Attempts to Retrieve Squier and Davis' Collection / 197 / ** Ohio and the 1920-21 Mound City Group Collection / 206 / ** Mound City Group Visitor Center / 211 / ** Exterior Exhibits / 219 / ** Curatorial Services / 229 / ** Native Americans and the Human Remains Issue / 234 /
Chapter Seven: Maintenance of Mounds and Park Infrastructure

** Grounds Maintenance / 239 / ** Maintenance Challenges / 249 / ** History of the Physical Plant / 256 / ** Temporary Work Programs / 2 68 / Chapter Eight: Resources Management and Visitor Protection

** Resources Management Concerns / 271 / ** Law Enforcement / 278 / Chapter Nine: Interpreting the Mound City Group

** The Interpretive Program / 283 / ** Environmental Education / 290 / ** Eastern National Park and Monument Association / 291 / ** Interpretive Dilemma: The Prehistoric Landscape / 295 / Chapter Ten: The Long Road to Hopeton

** Significance of the Hopeton Earthworks / 309 / ** Park Expansion and Local Reaction / 314 / ** Threats Escalate, but Congress Is Slow to Act / 324 / ** Transformation: Hopewell Culture National

Historical Park / 332 / Appendix: A. List of United States Government Personnel

Connected with Mound City Group National

Monument/Hopewell Culture National Historical

Park / 341 / B. Annual Visitation Figures / 349 / C. Legislation / 350 / D. Chronological List of Significant Events / 354 / Bibliography / 358 / Index / 37 /
LIST OF FIGURES

Figure

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5

6

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910

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12

131415

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1718

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22

232425

26

2728

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3435

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48

entrance to Hopewell Culture NHP, Mound City Group:

Hopewellian hand made from mica: p. 2 Edwin Hamilton Davis: p. 7 Ephraim George Sguier: p. 8 Squier and Davis' Mound City drawing: p. 11 Scioto Valley monuments map: p. 12 1858 Davis prospectus: p Mordecai C. Hopewell: p. Camp Sherman barracks: p

14 1828

P« 3234 cross-section of Mound 18 31

excavation of Mound 7 : p excavation of Mound 7 : p

Shetrone and Mills: p. 35

mica deposit: p. 37 Mound City Group restoration: p. 41

Mound City Group restoration: p. 42 Mound City Group restoration: p. 45

Mound City Group restoration: p. 46

state park entrance sign and gate: p. 48

custodian's residence and maintenance building: p. 51

maintenance building: p. 52 shelter house: p. 55 visitors enjoy recreation: p. 56

YMCA group tours mounds: p. 58 railroad spur and parking lot: p. 59

Mound City Museum: p. 62 Mound City Committee: p. 64 first national monument entrance sign: p. 72 comfort station: p. 7 3 Clyde King and exhibits: p. 76

Clyde King with fifth-graders: p. 79

Adena State Memorial: p. 87

school group at shelter house: p. 89

John L. Cotter at visitor center dedication: p. 102

chestnut rail boundary fence: p. 104

ethnobotanical trail along Scioto: p. 105

Mound City Group staff, 1969: p. 109

General Superintendent William C. Birdsell: p. Ill

Superintendent Fred Fagergren, Jr.: p

Superintendent Kenneth Apschnikat: p. Superintendent William Gibson: p. 122

Raymond S. Baby: p. 13 6 post mold pattern of Mound 10: p. 137

southwest corner borrow pit: p. 138

excavation of Mound 13: p. 140

post patterns at Mound 13: p. 141

mica grave exhibit: p. 143

excavation of Mound 5: p. 144

114

117
Figure

49 Elmo Smalley, Sr. , removes Mound 17: p. 146

50 Martha Potter at Mound 17: p. 147

51 VA incinerator: p. 171

52 B & O railroad spur line: p. 173

53 burial ceremony mural: p. 196

54 copper hands on exhibit: p. 2 08

55 visitor center: p. 212

56 charnel house model: p. 215

57 glare problem in museum: p. 217

58 observation platform audio program: p. 220

59 Mound City necropolis wayside: p. 221

60 charnel house exhibit: p. 223

61 "Pipe Mound" wayside: p. 224

62 construction of mica grave exhibit: p. 226

63 visitor circulation to mica grave: p. 227

64 James Coleman and J. Vernon Acton: p. 241

65 Phillip Egan on mower: p. 246

66 quarters building: p. 253

67 repairs to flat visitor center roof: p. 259

68 redesigned visitor center roof: p. 261

69 old maintenance utility building: p. 263

70 modern maintenance building: p. 264

71 Frances Spetnagel and ground squirrels: p. 273

72 Ranger Jim Anderson on guided tour: p. 287

73 modern turf grass verses prehistoric landscape: p. 296

74 aerial view: p. 297

75 tree protrudes from a mound: p. 299

76 aerial view of turf practices: p. 305

77 Squier and Davis' Hopeton Earthworks: p. 3 08

78 Hopeton study area map: p. 317

79 Hopeton Earthworks: p. 331

80 Chillicothe Sand and Gravel Company: p. 3 38
INTRODUCTION AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

President Warren G. Harding signed a presidential

proclamation on March 2, 1923, establishing the Mound City Group

National Monument, thereby preserving a group of prehistoric (ca.

200 B.C. to A.D. 500) Hopewell burial mounds. The proclamation

declared the mounds to be "... an object of great historic and

scientific interest [to] be permanently preserved and protected

from all depredations and from all changes that will to any

extent mar or jeopardize their value...."

Mound City Group, in south central Ohio near Chillicothe,

was originally administered by the War Department, but managed by

the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society as a state

memorial under a revocable license. This arrangement continued

in 1933 when President Franklin D. Roosevelt reorganized the

executive branch and a number of national monuments, including

Mound City Group, were transferred to National Park Service

administration. Bowing to local pressure, NPS revoked the

license with the state society in 1946, and Mound City Group

thereafter came under National Park Service management. Since

194 6, several additions have been made to the monument's land

base and a development program undertaken. In 1980, Congress

added Hopeton Earthworks National Historic Landmark to the park,

and in 1992, it included several other ancient earthworks to form

Hopewell Culture National Historical Park. Mound City Group

remains as a subunit of this newly expanded park.

The National Park Service's Cultural Resource Management

Guideline (NPS-28) calls for the preparation of an administrative

history for each unit in the national park system. An

administrative history preserves information necessary to the

history of a park and provides a historic basis for park

management decisions. This research project concludes at the

1992 redesignation to Hopewell Culture National Historical Park,

but superintendent's annual reports are used to update events

through 1996. The primary information base for this history are National Park Service libraries and files of Mound City

Group/Hopewell Culture and the Midwest Regional Office, Federal

Record Centers in Philadelphia and Kansas City, Ohio Historical

Society, Ross County Historical Society, Chillicothe Gazette , as well as oral history interviews.

Preliminary research was accomplished in the mid-1980s by

Volunteer-In-Park Naomi L. Hunt. Some of Naomi Hunt's effort

appears in these pages. The author began a new start in 1992

with archival research substantially completed by December 1992.

Oral history interviews were conducted in 1993, the time when the

author changed positions from senior research historian to

regional historian/ chief, branch of history. Unfortunately,

demands of the new position resulted in frustrating delays in
completing this project as originally planned. The 1995

reorganization further delayed the project with a whole new set

of priorities. Finally, the author began a long-term training

opportunity in early 1996, with a duty-station change to the

University of Nevada, Las Vegas, for five months each subsequent

year. Thanks to the blessings of a flexiplace schedule and

working two days per week in quiet solitude at home, the draft

document finally crystallized in late 1997.

The methodology used in organizing this project can be seen

in the table of contents. With a few exceptions, events leading

up through the superintendency of Clyde B. King are presented

chronologically and include Chapters One through Chapter Three.

Thereafter, the chapter format becomes topical, although the

chronological approach remains within each section.

Many individuals directly or indirectly assisted in this

effort. I am indebted to the individuals who agreed to sit for

oral history interviews and share their memories. Special thanks

go to Bill Gibson, Ken Apschnikat, Bonnie Murray, Mark Lynott,

Phillip Egan, and John Kawamoto. Of course Naomi L. Hunt merits

tremendous praise for ignoring her well-deserved retirement from

the National Park Service's Washington Office where she served as editor of the Courier to take on this thankless chore. Her

concerted effort resulted in locating original documents,

conducting interviews and letters, and a first stab at making

sense of this long-neglected period of park administrative

history.

My appreciation is also extended to the park staff,

particularly Superintendent John Neal, Administrative Officer

Bonnie Murray, Administrative Assistant Laura Long, Chief of

Interpretation and Resource Management Bob Burgoon, Park Ranger

Rebecca Jones, and Archeologist Bret J. Ruby. All of them

responded to repeated requests for information and never let me

down. Their patience and understanding during the several years

when I seemingly made no progress on this study is now hopefully

rewarded. I am still amazed by their failure to complain about

why this history took so long to prepare.

Thanks, too, go to the various archivists at the two Federal

Records Centers, Ohio Historical Society, Ross County Historical

Society, and Dwight D. Eisenhower Library.

Finally, kind thoughts go to Donald L. Stevens, Jr. , a faithful friend and colleague who helped "hold down the fort"

during my absences from the office. Following a decade of

professional association, Dr. Stevens, always eager to discuss

the fine points of administrative history, remains a valued peer.

Equally warm thoughts go to mentors, Ed Bearss and Andy

Ketterson, whose support, encouragement, and wise counsel

continue to shape and guide this most enjoyable and challenging
career as a National Park Service historian. I will never forget

them.

Ron Cockrell

December 31, 1997

Omaha, Nebraska

Postscript:

This document underwent a lengthy review process during the

first half of 1998. The author made another trip to Chillicothe

in the summer to gather additional information for the chapter 1 section entitled "American Archeology and Hopewell Culture,"

which served as the basis for a graduate independent readings in

anthropology at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. It has

enriched the introductory chapter and hopefully places

Hopewellian studies and the role Mound City Group played within

the overall history of American archeology. The author also

gathered photographs and Squier and Davis drawings from park

archives. Final corrections were made in late 1998 and early

1999.

Chapter One

A Brief History of the Hopewell Culture

** The Hopewell Experience

While humans have been in southern Ohio's Scioto River Valley for more than eleven thousand years, the area's natural history

evolved over countless eons. The Teays or Deep Stage River

helped shape this valley when ice jams assisted in the deposition

of glacial debris from a succession of moving ice sheets. The

contemporary Scioto River flows south from the relatively flat

central Ohio region into Ross County where it meets the western

foothills of the Appalachian Highlands. Framed by 600-foot high

rocky hills, the valley stretches into a three-mile-wide fertile

plain.

The natural attributes of the area easily attracted early

humans who first arrived in North America from Siberia via

Alaska's Bering Land Bridge. In search of large game animals,

these Paleo-Indian hunters roamed ever southward, arriving in

Ohio more than eleven thousand years ago. Along with the

fossilized bones of their prey, virtually the only remaining

archeological evidence of Paleo-Indians are their fluted points.

More evident are habitation sites related to the Archaic hunters

and gatherers who depended in part upon mussels, hunting, and

gathering. By 1000 B.C., these groups developed a variety of

Woodland cultures known for their agricultural economy.

One of these Early Woodland period cultures, the Adena

culture, emerged about 3 00 years before Christ and subsisted

through about A.D. 200 in some areas. These prehistoric people

cultivated squash, sunflowers, marsh elder, and knotweed, but

supplemented their agrarian existence with hunting and other

gathering activities. They typically used pottery, copper, mica,

and shells. Most of what is known about the Adena derives from

their mortuary practices, which took two forms. While most were

cremated, specific individuals were selected to be encased in log

tombs that were subsequently covered by mounds of dirt. Adjacent

burials, and even burials on top of previous mounds, resulted in even larger mounds. While some Adena mounds have been identified

at almost ninety feet high, most are small containing single

burials, can be clustered in one area, and could even include

some of the various circular earthworks seen in southern Ohio. 1 The Hopewell, developed at least in part out of Adena

predecessors, because many Hopewellian cultural practices show

Barbara Bender, "Prehistoric Developments in the American Midcontinent

and in Brittany, Northwest France," in Prehistoric Hunter-Gatherers; The Emergence of Cultural Complexity , T. Douglas Price and James A. Brown, eds

(Orlando, Florida: Academic Press, 1985), 39-43.
Figure 2: An example of Hopewellian skill, a prehistoric

craftsman fashioned this human hand out of mica. (NPS/no date)
continuity with the Adena. 2 The Hopewell perfected the use of

copper to make intricate handicrafts, and are credited with

achieving the highest level of Indian artisan culture in the

prehistoric Eastern North America. Southern Ohio served as the

cradle of Hopewell culture, and although sites have been

identified throughout the "Old Northwest" and as far west as Nebraska and Kansas, they do not exhibit the high level of

achievement found in Ohio. Ross County alone features an amazing

collection of Hopewellian monuments, the most impressive of which

include: the Seip, Baum, Frankfort, Chillicothe, and Harness

groups (two circles and a sguare) ; the Dunlap and Hopeton groups

(a square and circle, with linear parallel walls) ; the High Bank

Group (a circle and octagon, with divergent parallel walls) ; the

Hopewell Group (two squares and circles) ; the Cedar Bank Group (a

square with a riverbank on one side) ; and the Junction and

Blackwater Groups (numerous squares and circles) . The Mound City

Group, although smaller and less complex, has the greatest

concentration of mounds, and is believed to have served at least

in part as a mortuary facility.

The earthworks themselves indicate an advanced, wellorganized society. Objects found with burials in the mounds

indicate the Hopewell did not limit themselves to Ohio or the

surrounding region. Hopewellian trade networks stretched to the

Gulf of Mexico for sea shells, North Carolina's Blue Ridge

Mountains for mica, the Chesapeake Bay for fossil shark teeth,

Michigan's Isle Royale and Keweenaw Peninsula for copper, and

Yellowstone for obsidian. Agrarian practices are thought to have

included maize as a minor garden plant, perhaps the first

introduction of this foodstuff in prehistoric North America, but

this point remains in dispute.

As with the Adena, few habitation sites have been found and

examined, and much of what is known about the Hopewell comes from

archeological evidence related to their burial practices. Some were buried in the flesh, others were cremated. Burials saw the

body placed on bark, netting, or animal skins along with

ornaments and implements. A covering of logs or stones

encompassed the corpse, which in turn received a covering of bark

or poles with a mound of earth topping the arrangement. While

some burials were alone, others appeared in groups, usually in

limited numbers. Cremations occurred in an area designated for

the purpose. Posts were usually placed in a circle around the

Don W. Drago, "The Development of Adena Culture and its Role in the Formation of Ohio Hopewell," Paper 1, in Hopewellian Studies , Joseph R. Caldwell and Robert L. Hall, eds., Illinois State Museum Scientific Papers, Volume 12 (Springfield: State of Illinois, 1964), 3-6, 13-14, 27-34.
special site. Within these "charnel houses,"3 preparers molded

damp clay into a basin within which the remains of their dead were cremated. The basins measured six by four feet, and nine

inches deep. Following cremation, ashes were deposited nearby

within the shrine where burial offerings were sometimes also

ceremoniously placed either intact, broken, or mutilated. After

the primary purposes of the charnel house were fulfilled, the

Hopewell burned it and subsequently began covering it with dirt,

erecting earthen monuments over the site, either in one continuous stage or a series of stages, perhaps separated by sand

and/or gravel. Only at Mound City and Tremper groups were cremations reserved exclusively for those sites.

Because of Hopeton's peculiar positioning across the Scioto

River from the Mound City Group, archeologists have tried to

explain a linkage between the two sites. However, the nature of

the relationship between them is entirely speculative. The

entire complex featured mounds of varying appearance. The

smallest mounds had but one burial and measured about three feet

high and twenty-five feet across. One mound with one burial,

measured seven feet high and fifty-five feet across, and had

three crematories. Another mound at eight feet high and sixty

feet across, featured twenty-two burials and one crematory.

Anthropologists believe that most of the community took part in

constructing the earthen monuments to the dead. People excavated

dirt adjacent to the walls of Mound City Group. Traces of eight

pits have been documented, the largest depression measured 2 00-

by 12 5- by 18-feet. The larger mounds featured ten to twentyinch-thick caps of gravel excavated from the nearby river.

Around A.D. 400, Hopewell lifeways changed. Because the

Hopewell left no written records and aboriginal peoples present

at the time of European contact were as mystified as anyone about

the "Moundbuilders, " anthropologists can only speculate as to

their demise. Disease, dwindling food supplies, changing

climate, and pressure from outside enemies have all been

suggested as reasons why the Hopewell culture changed to a pattern known as "Late Woodland" or "Mississippian.

4

According to National Park Service Archaeologist Bret J. Ruby of Hopewell Culture National Historical Park, the "charnel houses" probably

served many functions unrelated to mortuary activity. Some contained no burials. They served more like a "council house." Most artifacts were deposited in contexts not clearly associated with human remains.

4 Brian M. Fagan, "The Story of Maize," Chapter 13 in People of the Earth:

An Introduction to World Prehistory , Ninth Edition (New York: Longman Press,

1998), 344-47; Bender, "Prehistoric Developments in the American Midcontinent

and in Brittany, Northwest France," in Prehistoric Hunter-Gatherers , 48-49;

and James B. Griffin, "Culture Periods in Eastern United States Archeology,"

in Archeology of Eastern United States , James B. Griffin, ed. (Chicago:

University of Chicago Press, 1952), 358-61; and William S. Dancey, "Putting an End to Ohio Hopewell," in A View from the Core: A Synthesis of Ohio Hopewell
The Scioto River Valley did not become vacant. Descendants

of Hopewellian populations remained. Other aboriginal groups

migrated into the area from the north and used the curious

landscape features to bury their own dead, hence the name given

to them, the "Intrusive Mound" people. By 1000, a people known

as "Fort Ancient" occupied the valley. They were principally

sedentary maize agriculturalists. When village food storage pits were emptied, sometimes the pits were used to hold debris and even human burials. Some ground-level burials were covered by

small mounds, but most were in stone-lined depressions below

grade. The Fort Ancient ended their occupation by 1650, perhaps

in part driven away as a result of warfare with the Iroquois who

had access to Dutch guns.

Shawnees were the occupiers of western Kentucky, through

Ohio, to Pennsylvania at the time of contact in the eighteenth

century. Two of the five Shawnee clans settled in the Scioto

valley. Immediately prior to the American Revolutionary War, the

Tshilikautha5 clan settled at the present-day site of Frankfort.

The clan's Anglicized name, Chillicothe, emerged near the end of

the century. The Pikewaa clan's settlement lent its name to both

Pickaway County and Piqua, Ohio. Shawnee chieftain Blue Jacket

participated in the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794. Shawnee

leader Tecumseh fiercely resisted American migration into their

territory. Following the U.S. victory at Fallen Timbers, the

Treaty of Greenville in 1795 extinguished American Indian claims

in the Scioto valley and most of Ohio. A new nation conceived

and ruled by Anglo-European men, the United States of America

began expanding beyond the Appalachians, seeking to impose its

culture and military dominance over native peoples. With vast

continental resources to exploit and lands to explore, the

prehistoric mounds stood as powerful curiosities to spawn myths

and legends among white Americans. Nowhere was this intense

interest more manifest than along Ohio's Scioto River. 6

Archaeology , Paul J. Pacheco, ed. (Columbus: The Ohio Archaeological Council,

Inc., 1996), 394, 396-97, 402.

5The Shawnee pronounced the first three syllables of the word in low,

guttural tones with the accent on the last syllable. Its meaning is dwelling

place, or the place where people live.

6Parts of this section originates from the following: Clyde H. King,

Historical Sketch, Part 6, Archeoloqical Base Map, Mound City Group National

Monument, Ohio , 14 September 1956, Record Group 79, Records of the National

Park Service, Northeast Regional Office, in Federal Records Center, National

Archives and Records Administration, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (hereafter

cited as RG 79, FRC/NARA Philadelphia; King, History of the Mound City Group

National Monument , no date, park library; and David Arbogast, "Mound City

Group National Monument," National Register of Historic Places InventoryNomination Form, 1976. Readers desirous of more detailed treatment should consult the plethora of anthropological and archeological literature.
** Squier and Davis at Mound City Group

American settlers first reached the area in 1796 when

Nathaniel Massie of Virginia arrived four miles south of the

Mound City Group to lay out the town of Chillicothe. Virginia

laid claim to the entire region as part of its trans-Appalachian

military district reserved for Revolutionary War veterans. Two

years later, a 13 00-acre section containing the mounds was surveyed for William Davies, but title soon transferred to

Massie. As early as 1808, a Chillicothe newspaper reported on the peculiar collection of mounds in the vicinity, and news of

their existence spread further in 1809 when a New York medical

journal reported on them. Most local people were more concerned

about surviving the rigors of frontier life than the mounds.

During the War of 1812, Americans built Camp Bull, a drill field

and prisoner-of-war camp for British soldiers captured on or near Lake Erie. It stood north of Chillicothe on the Scioto River's

west bank about two miles from the mounds. As the local

community which served as Ohio's first capital continued to

expand, Nathaniel Massie subdivided his holdings and following

his death, Massie's heirs sold-off his tracts. In 1832, George

Shriver purchased the area including the Mound City Group, and

the Shriver family held title to the land until 1917. 7 Exploration of the mounds came in 184 6 when Ephraim George

Squier and Edwin Hamilton Davis conducted an extensive

investigation. Both men were amateur archeologists who explored

similar Ohio antiquities from 1845 to 1847. Squier, a New

Yorker, was a self-educated journalist who arrived in Chillicothe

in 1845 to serve as editor of the Scioto Gazette . Following his

association with Davis, Squier went on to explore antiquities in

Central and South America, becoming a respected authority.

Davis, a native-born Ohio physician, had a life-long interest in

the earthworks and mounds of his native state. Practicing

medicine in Chillicothe, he joined with Squier to document and

excavate antiquarian sites throughout southern Ohio. In all,

they opened more than two hundred mounds and examined

approximately half that many earthen enclosures. 8 Davis, who sought financial assistance from Eastern friends,

felt an urgency to accomplish the important scientific work

promptly. Acknowledging the advancing depredations of American

farmers, Davis wrote, "Whatever is done to arrest from

destruction the works of a former age and peculiar people must be

7 Ibid. Terry A. Barnhart, "An American Menagerie: The Cabinet of Squier and Davis," Timeline (December 1985-January 1986), 2; and Robert Silverberg, The Moundbuilders (New York: New York Graphic Society Ltd., 1970), 82-99.
Figure 3: Edwin Hamilton Davis

Historical Society)

(Collection of the Ross County
Figure 4: Ephraim George Squier. (NPS)
done quickly as hundreds are yearly ploughed into the earth by

our money loving tillers of the soil."9 Squier and Davis's work at the mysterious collection of

mounds three miles north of Chillicothe resulted in their naming

the site "Mound City." From Mound Eight alone came a cache of

two hundred stone-carved animal and human effigy pipes. It evoked a sense of wonder from the world's scientific community

and the significant find soon became called the "American

menagerie." Many marveled at the skill and anatomical level of

detail exhibited by the prehistoric artisans. Squier and Davis

acknowledged Mound City's variety and number of artifacts as the

most significant in the Scioto Valley. In the section devoted to

"sacred mounds," sixteen of eighteen pages concentrated on Mound

City where they reported cremated burials along with pipes, mica

symbols, various copper objects, obsidian knives, and freshwater

pearls. 10 Professional resentment clouded Squier and Davis'

relationship. Davis, believing himself alone to be the true

trained scientist, resented the top-billing Squier received and

his own designation as an "explorer." Because of Squier 's artistic graphic abilities and journalistic expertise, American

intellectuals credited Squier in the fall of 1847 with conducting

the primary research and preparing the forthcoming jointlyauthored book. Angered by an early review of the manuscript in

which kudos were heaped on his "junior partner" E. G. Squier,

Davis conveyed his bitterness to a friend. Davis noted that

Squier, who knew nothing about ancient earthworks prior to moving

to Chillicothe, spent considerable time away from the project

during their partnership, editing the weekly newspaper, reporting

on the Ohio Legislature's lower house for one winter, and serving

as its clerk during the previous session. "No where has he had

the time to do everything," exclaimed Davis.

No, this Herculean labour has required years as you

well know. When he came to Ohio, he found me engaged

in these researches, with much experience, and a large

store of facts already accumulated, and one of the best

collections of antiques from the mounds in the Western

Country. At this stage of the researches, Mr. S[quier], having some tasks for these subjects,

9E. H. Davis to Senator John Davis, letter, 22 February 1847, Davis

letters to the American Antiquarian Society, Worster, Massachusetts, microfilm

held by National Park Service, Midwest Archeological Center, Lincoln, Nebraska.

l0Ephraim George Squier and Edwin Hamilton Davis, Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley: Comprising the Results of Extensive Original Surveys and Explorations (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Series "Contributions

to Knowledge," 1848), 28; and Barnhart, "American Menagerie," 2-4.
10

proposes to join in as the junior partner, to continue

the investigation. As I was very happy to find any one who would sympathize with me in my unique pursuits, I accepted his offer. He came into the firm bringing a ready pen, a skillful pencil, with some knowledge of

surveying.

At this point, Squier devoted much attention to the excavations.

Davis continued his defense, stating:

We then continue to open mounds, survey works, purchase

authorities, with much vigour for two years (and almost

entirely at the expense of the senior partner) . At the

expiration of this time, the junior partner takes up

his abode in the library and cabinet of the senior,

where they both toil almost day and night for many

months producing the work in question. Now who is

entitled to the most credit. I am of a temperament to

bear most things, but this is beyond all forbearance. 11

By the time their book saw publication, Davis, embittered

and feeling betrayed, parted company with partner Squier. Their

efforts came to public scrutiny in the first volume of the

Smithsonian Institution's series Smithsonian Contributions to

Knowledge under the title Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi

Valley: Comprising the Results of Extensive Original Surveys and

Explorations . This 1848 book is credited as a milestone in the

early technical history of professional archeology. Journalist

Squier did indeed prepare the narrative, survey drawings, and

publication layout. While Davis funded their work and provided

his past experience and library to the effort, the physician also

undertook the meticulous task of restoring and piecing together

fragmented artifacts numbering in the thousands.

Their exploration and excavations were extensive in the Ross

County-Scioto River Valley region. One of Squier 's maps of a twelve-mile Scioto River segment, depicted the following "ancient

monuments:" Dunlap Works, Cedar Bank, Hopeton Works, Mound City

Group, Shriver Works, Junction Works, Chillicothe East, High

Bank, and Liberty or Harness Group.

Squier and Davis's association became irreparably damaged

not simply by arguing over their individual contributions to

Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley , but they disputed

ownership of the excavated antiquities as well. Davis, scorning

Squier 's claims, took the bulk of artifacts and left Chillicothe

"Davis to S. F. Haven, letter, 12 October 1847, microfilm, Midwest

Archeological Center.
Figure 5: 1846 Squier and Davis drawing of Mound City and

vicinity. ( Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley )
Figure 6: Squier's 1847 "Map of Twelve Miles of the Scioto

Valley with its Ancient Monuments." ( Ancient Monuments of the

Mississippi Valley )
13 in 1850 for New York where he also pursued archeology along with

his medical profession.

Within a year, Davis began to search for a buyer for all his

artifacts, and sought in vain for an American philanthropist or institution to keep the collection intact and at home. In preparation for the sale, Davis commissioned artist James

Plunkett to paint ninety-two watercolors, including some of

artifacts from the Ohio explorations, and published them along

with his narrative descriptions in a prospectus entitled Sketches

of Monuments and Antiques Found in the Mounds. Tombs, and

Ancient Cities of America . The cover reveals a Plunkett

watercolor of Mound City. In 1858, he found a temporary

repository for his collection at the New York Historical Society.

In 1863, William Blackmore, a British patron of

anthropology, informed Davis that if he failed to sell the

collection in America where it rightfully belonged, Blackmore

would buy it. In February 1864, Davis wrote Blackmore:

This is to notify you that circumstances compell me to

avail myself of the privilege contained in our agreement to withdraw my collection on paying the

amount advance with interest to date. It is hereby

necessary for me to say that I most profoundly regret

its going abroad and [?] being [?] to this country.

Yet it affords me some sonsolation to know that

foreigners and strangers do appreciate a collection

containing specimens showing the highest degree of art

yet developed in the stone age of this or any other

continent. 12 Lamenting the fact that no American buyers were interested, Davis

accepted Blackmore 's payment of ten thousand dollars and

represented himself as its sole owner. The collection in England

became known as the "Davis Collection." Nevertheless, thanks to Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley , it was already

popularly known in the United States as the Squier and Davis

Collection.

Blackmore took the collection to Salisbury, England, where

he established the Blackmore Museum dedicated to ancient European

and American man in September 1867. The loss of the collection

was soon lamented in the U.S. intellectual community. However,

Smithsonian Secretary Joseph Henry convinced Davis to make

plaster-cast duplicates of specific artifacts prior to the sale.

Davis and two artists made molds and produced three complete sets

TDavis to Blackmore, February 1864, letter in Ross County Historical

Museum, Negative 220-21 in the Hopewell Culture National Historical Park photographic collection, Chillicothe, Ohio.
14

Figure 7: Frontispiece for "Sketches of Monuments and

Antiquities" by Edwin H. Davis, 1858, depicting Mound City Group

(NPS)
15

of artifacts: one for the Smithsonian in 1868 for study

purposes, the second to the Peabody Museum of American

Archaeology at Harvard University in 1871, and the third to the

American Museum of Natural History in 1874. The last transaction

also accompanied purchase of thirteen Mound City pipes owned by

Squier. Finally, the Smithsonian purchased Davis's intricate

molds in 1884. Never reconciling since their close Ohio

association in the mid-1840s, both Squier and Davis died in the

spring of 1888. 13 Although their relationship ended in bitterness, both men contributed substantially to the development of professional

archeology. Their work together at Mound City perhaps ranks

highest on their list of lifetime achievements. As the highlight

of Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley , it represented

the first systematic, scientific analysis of prehistoric sites

using guidelines and techniques still in use more than a century

later. The intricate artifact drawings, mound cross-sections,

and site plans were innovative and set the standard for future

work. Also useful was their classification system based on function such as burial places, effigies, fortifications,

building platforms, and so forth. 14 Following destruction of

much of Mound City by the early twentieth century, this important

record served as the basis of a succession of professional

archeological investigations and reconstructions at the site.

Without the 1848 Smithsonian publication documenting and

speculating on the meaning and significance of such sites, the

degradation would likely have resulted in total obliteration of

Mound City and related areas.

** Mythology of the Moundbuilders

Speculation as to the origin of the prehistoric earthworks

began with the arrival of the region's first white settlers.

They viewed with wonderment walls from five to twelve feet in

height shaped in the form of rectangles, squares, octagons,

circles, and ellipses. The area which these earthworks covered

ranged from one to as many as two hundred acres. In the Ohio

Valley alone, more than ten thousand mounds dotted the landscape.

Digging into the conical-shaped mounds, settlers found burials

13 Barnhart, "An American Menagerie," 2-9.

14Bruce G. Trigger, A History of Archaeological Thought (Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press, 1989) , 106-07; Gordon R. Willey and Jeremy A. Sabloff, A History of American Archaeology , Second Edition (San Francisco: W. H. Freeman and Company, 1980), 36; Colin Renfrew and Paul Bahn, Archaeology:

Theories, Methods, and Practice , Second Edition (New York: Thames and Hudson,

1996), 28; and Terry A. Barnhart, "The Journalist and The Physician" Inquiry

Into the Career Association of Ephraim George Squier and Edwin Hamilton Davis,

Pioneer American Archaeologists," unpublished Master's thesis, Miami

University, 1980, pp. 67-74.
16

and a wide assortment of prehistoric grave goods. From the

start, virtually no one concluded that the immense earthworks

could have been the result of aboriginals. In the view of

whites, American Indians did not possess the skill, intelligence,

or work ethic to produce such marvels. Rather, to whites,

American Indians represented a savage culture which had to be

swept aside for the inevitable advancement of civilization.

Another rational solution had to be found concerning who built

the wide array of earthworks in the eastern United States.

Squier and Davis contributed to the Moundbuilder speculation

as they believed Indians were mere hunters, unable to construct

such prehistoric earthworks. In the aftermath of Squier and

Davis's work, ongoing public debate raged for decades. The

imaginative result, the myth of the Moundbuilders, ranged from

the romantic to the nonsensical. Whites looked to their own past

and selected previous civilizations which also engaged in

earthworks and credited them with somehow performing similar

feats in the Americas. Mythmakers selected the Egyptians,

Phoenicians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Ten Lost Tribes of Israel,

Hindus, and Vikings as the ancient Moundbuilders. Others thought

Adam and Eve inspired the first Moundbuilders, followed by Noah

and his offspring. Still others were convinced that the mighty

Aztecs strayed into the area to build the mounds. Whatever the

origins of this Moundbuilder race, many were convinced that this

advanced, sophisticated culture was overrun and exterminated by

the savage red American Indians. Indeed, removal to genocide

conducted against the red man somehow seemed justified if Indians

had done the same to the Moundbuilders. 15 Even after scientists

and archeologists solved the mystery, contemporary naysayers

continue to search for fantastic explanations, including beyond

Earth's orbit to give credit to "ancient astronauts."

Largely to settle the public debate and quell disagreement

within the intellectual community, Cyrus Thomas, head of the

Bureau of Mound Exploration of the Smithsonian Institution

(forerunner of the U.S. Bureau of Ethnology), began recruiting

local amateur archeologists. Under his instruction, amateurs

used horse-driven farm equipment to open mounds. Demonstrating

Thomas C. Patterson, "Who Did Archaeology in the United States Before

There Were Archaeologists and Why? Preprofessional Archaeologies of the Nineteenth Century," in Processual and Postprocessual Archaeologies: Multiple

Ways of Knowing the Past . Robert W. Preucel, ed., Center for Archaeological

Investigations Occasional Paper No. 10, 40-48; Bruce G. Trigger, A History of Archaeological Thought (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989), 104-05; Gordon R. Willey and Jeremy A. Sabloff, A History of American Archaeology , second edition (San Francisco: W. H. Freeman and Company, 1980), 15-17; Theresa F. Nichols, "The Hopewell Earthworks," unpublished National Park

Service manuscript, 10 January 1979, 1-2; Diana C. Gleasner, "The Native

Americans: Moundbuilders of the Midwest and South," Touring America (February

1994), 47; and Robert Silverberg, The Mound Builders (Athens, Ohio: Ohio

University Press, 1986), 44-48.
17 how far the profession had progressed, they utilized explicit

problem orientation and research design in combination with

documentation standards far superior to those of Squier and

Davis. By 1890, the Smithsonian program had investigated

hundreds of mounds in Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Wisconsin,

and Michigan. Thomas's findings established a solid scientific

basis for crediting extinct American Indian peoples with being

the true Moundbuilders of antiquity. 16

** Modern American Archeology and Hopewell Culture

Archeology began moving from an antiquarian footing to a professional discipline in the late nineteenth century. The

discipline eagerly embraced Darwinian evolution. In the U.S.,

Moundbuilder studies were eclipsed by the impressive Southwestern

ruins. Denied a glorious prehistoric past, American enthusiasm

waned with the perception that innately primitive and therefore

inferior native peoples had not advanced beyond the Stone Age and were culturally static. 17 Reflecting other professional

organizations, the Archaeological Institute of America, founded

in 1879, had an obligatory North American bent on the Southwest

and Mexico, but devoted considerable fiscal resources on ancient

civilizations, particularly in Greece. Eastern North America was treated like a backwater. 18 U.S. archeology embraced this

practice, domestically concentrating on the Southwest, and

regarded the East like a neglected stepchild, a trend that

continued through much of the twentieth century. 19 With the myth of the Moundbuilders solved, at least in the

minds of archeologists and scientists, new nomenclature became

necessary. Modern archeology adopted the name "Hopewell" when a rich lode of artifacts Warren K. Moorehead excavated from twentyeight mounds on Capt. Mordecai C. Hopewell's farm near Chillicothe were prepared for Chicago's Columbian Exposition in

1893. Because the anthropology exhibit focused on the Hopewell

farm artifacts, related earthworks and their cultural materials

were referred to as Hopewellian beginning in 1902. In that year,

16Willey and Sabloff, A History of American Archaeology , 40-43; Trigger, A History of Archaeological Thought , 125-26; John B. Carlson, "Hopewell:

Prehistoric America's Golden Age," Early Man (no date), 9, found in "Interpretive Operations Plan, Resources Information"; and Robert Silverberg,

The Mound Builders (Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press, 1986), 130-32, 204-

05.

Patterson, "Who Did Archaeology in the United States Before There Were Archaeologists and Why?," 248.

19Willey and Sabloff, A History of American Archaeology , 167.
18

Figure 8: Capt. Mordecai C. Hopewell

County Historical Society)

(Collection of the Ross
19 the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society's (OSA&HA)

William C. Mills first made distinctions between Adena, Hopewell

and Fort Ancient, and applied the term "culture" to each. 20 In the aftermath of Mills's work, U.S. archeology embraced a culture-historical ideology following 1910 as more practitioners

entered the field and shared professional methods and values.

Data revealed temporal changes, particularly with increasing

Paleo-Indian discoveries and the reality that native peoples had

inhabited North America far longer than previously believed.

Prehistorical cultural groups were defined in geographical

terms. 21 Professional archeological societies and organizations

became widespread in the early twentieth century, sponsoring

fieldwork and publications on archeological materials and

problems within state boundaries. Ohio possessed the best of

these early state archeological histories. The nation's

university programs also mushroomed so that by 1935, twenty-one

such institutions supported research in eastern U.S.

archeology. 22 American archeology was in transition from a speculative-descriptive period to one stressing classificationchronology. Archeologists concentrated on stratigraphy,

seriation, and typologies as well as culture classifications. 23 Still hampering archeologists was the belief that earthworks

represented the only historically recorded attainment of past

societies. They remained pessimistic with the assumption that

understanding of earlier eras could only be through written

records or credible oral tradition. This erroneous assumption

would only be shed in the mid-twentieth century as archeology

matured

24 Among other significant excavations the Ohio State

Archaeological and Historical Society (OHS) , founded in 1885,

undertook investigations at Mound City Group from 1920 to 1921.

N'omi B. Greber and Katharine C. Ruhl, The Hopewell Site; A Contemporary Analysis Based on the Work of Charles C. Wlllouqhby (Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1989), 4; Silverberg, The Moundbuilders , 176-77, 204-05; and Willey and Sabloff, A History of American Archaeology , 53, 77. Greber and Ruhl called the Hopewell materials "one of the most spectacular

collections recovered from any archaeological site in the Eastern Woodlands,

21 Trigger, A History of American Archaeological Thought , 186-87. ^Carl E. Guthe, "Twenty-Five Years of Archeology in the Eastern United

States," in Archeology of Eastern United States , James B. Griffin, ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1952), 2-3. Willey and Sabloff, A History of American Archaeology , 83. ^Trigger, A History of Archaeological Thought , 72.
20

William C. Mills, assisted by Henry C. Shetrone, announced at the

end of the first field season five important findings: The

mounds represented communal burial places of the Hopewell; the

"altars" described by Squier and Davis were not for sacrifices,

but rather for cremations; the Hopewell migrated southward along

the Scioto to the Tremper Mound area around Portsmouth, Ohio; the

Hopewell had progressed from individualism to communalism; and

the culture traded with Indians from the Carolinas and Lake

Superior region. The archeologists found examples of ancient

riveting and dowel pins amid a wealth of ornaments fashioned from

stone or copper among which were an otter with a fish in its

mouth, a bared-teeth bear, a raccoon digging in the ground, a heron eating a fish, a baying dog, frogs, and toads. Other

copper items included headdresses of deer and bear, large

ornamental plates, hands, turtles, beads, ear ornaments,

pendants, and arrow points. Also found were large plates of mica

used for mirrors, woven cloth and mats made from bark, engraved

discs of mastodon tusks, obsidian spears and knives, and pipes. 25 Another field season came in 1921. Mills and Shetrone saw their work as a valuable addition to archeology and the Mound

City Group as the best example of Hopewell culture in Ohio.

Mills published the findings and an impressive array of artifacts

were displayed in the society's museum in Columbus. 6 Fourteen

of the twenty-four mounds recounted by Squier and Davis were examined using modern archeological techniques. The effort

reignited public interest in Hopewellian studies and launched a drive to preserve its remnants.

Ohio archeologists explored other Hopewell sites during the

1920s, but with economic hardship in the 1930s, Hopewellian

studies slowed to a snail's pace. Unlike other states, Ohio

failed to take advantage of federal relief programs to fund

archeology projects, a decision that further paralyzed Ohio

Hopewellian studies during and after the Great Depression. Much

of the data collected by OSA&HS proved to be "disorganized and

defective.... In method, theory, and scope of research [Ohio

Season's Field Work for the O.S.A. and H.S.," Columbus Dispatch (5 September

1920), found in OSA&HS Scrapbook, 1920-1921, Ohio Historical Society; and Silverberg, The Moundbuilders , 206-210. According to Bret Ruby, Mills' views

on migration were naive, and his evolutionary interpretations were limited by

unilinearity and progressivism.

William C. Mills, "Exploration of the Mound City Group," Vol. 3, Part 4, Certain Mounds and Village Sites in Ohio (Columbus, Ohio: F. J. Heer Printing

Company, 1922), Ross County Historical Society Archives, Chillicothe, Ohio.
21

Hopewellian study] stagnated."27 Only one publication of note

appeared during World War II, and the long hiatus progressed

through the 1950s. Quite the opposite was the case in Illinois,

where Hopewellian study flourished and resulted in a classification of pottery that included forty types. 28 Discovery of a sealed stratum at Folsom, New Mexico, in

1926, resulted in building a chronology of early North American

human existence, but the exact placement of prehistoric peoples

like the Hopewell remained in dispute. 29 Part of the problem was

the lack of temporal data to understand how the Adena, Hopewell,

and Mississippian cultural complexes fit. At the Midwestern

Archaeological Conference held in Indianapolis in 1935,

temporally independent taxonomic categories were assigned to

Hopewellian artifacts. By 1939, the categories were officially

referred to as the "Midwestern Taxonomic Method" or the

"McKernian Classification." A conference at Andover Academy in

1941 evaluated the interface between Adena and Hopewell.

Material from both conferences resulted in regional sequences

found in the 1952 volume, Archeology of Eastern United States , edited by James Griffin. 30 By examining ethnological and

archeological evidence in concert, it became apparent that the

cultures overlapped. 31 On the eve of World War II, most archeologists held that the

Hopewell dated from A.D. 1200 to 1400, and by 1949, some thought

the dates could stretch from A.D. 500 to 800 or 900. 32 In 1950,

Olaf H. Prufer, "How to Construct a Model: A Personal Memoir," Chapter

4 in Ohio Hopewell Community Organization , William S. Dancey and Paul J. Pacheco, eds. (Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 1997), 112. ^Thorne Deuel, ed. , "Introduction," Hopewellian Communities in Illinois , Illinois State Museum Scientific Papers Vol. V (Springfield: State of Illinois, 1952), 7-11. For a good summary of Illinois Hopewell see same

volume, Deuel, "The Hopewellian Community," Paper 6, 249-265.

29Greber and Ruhl, The Hopewell Site: A Contemporary Analysis Based on the Work of Charles C. Willouqhby (Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1989),

9. ^David S. Brose and N'omi Greber, "Preface," Hopewell Archaeology: The Chillicothe Conference , Brose and Greber, eds. (Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 1979), xv-xvii; Willey and Sabloff, A History of American

Archaeology , 106-07; and Trigger, A History of Archaeological Thought , 190-91.

3l Fred R. Eggan, "The Ethnological Cultures and Their Archeological

Backgrounds," in Archeology of Eastern United States , James B. Griffin, ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1952), 35-38; and Richard G. Morgan,

"Outline of Cultures in the Ohio Region," same volume, 83, 97-98.

32James B. Griffin, "Radiocarbon Dates for the Eastern United States,"

Appendix in Archeology of Eastern United States , James B. Griffin, ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1952) 367, 369.
22chemist W. F. Libbey developed absolute dating from organic

material containing carbon, giving archeology the powerful new method of radiocarbon dating. For archeology, radiocarbon and

other geochronometric techniques allowed application of a universally accepted chronology that permitted the duration as well as relative order of subsurface archeological materials. 33 Most importantly, the new scientific tool began to energize the

field as radiocarbon dating for the Ohio Hopewell finally

categorized the culture at roughly 1500 to 2000 years ago. 34 In reaction to the seemingly mindless classifications and

obsession with culture history, archeologists Gordon R. Willey

and Philip Phillips, in their 1958 monograph Methods and Theory

in American Archaeology , proposed a three-pronged approach to

research: observation/ fieldwork, description, and explanation

(or processual interpretation) . Among others, their argument

helped spawn in the 1960s a fundamental shift of the discipline

led by younger archeologists, including Lewis Binford, away from

culture history to science-based archeology. Hopewellian studies

also reflected the larger discipline's shift to the "New

Archeology."35 Basing research on the scientific method,

archeologists no longer focused exclusively on classif icatory

exercises, making the Midwest Taxonomic System seem suddenly

archaic and obsolete. Instead, a whole new world of empirical

data from other science-based disciplines became available for

scrutiny and use. At the onset of this intellectual debate, Olaf H. Prufer

reluctantly undertook a Hopewellian topic for his doctoral

dissertation during the late 1950s and early 1960s. In seeking

professional courtesies from the Ohio Historical Society,

Prufer 's initial inquiry met an icy rebuke. The German-born,

Harvard-educated scholar, an unwelcome interloper, had

encountered the exclusive "Ohio gang" of archeologists.

Nonetheless, by examining both the body of literature and museum

collections, Prufer produced a reevaluation or new synthesis of

the Ohio Hopewell that shattered the subdiscipline's professional

complacency and lethargy. 36 Prufer offered different views on several topics. While

preferring "Hopewell Complex" to "Hopewell Culture," Prufer said

Trigger, A History of Archaeological Thought , 7.

34Greber and Ruhl, The Hopewell Site , 9.

35Gordon R. Willey and Philip Phillips, Method and Theory in American

Archaeology (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1958), 1-7; Trigger, A History of Archaeological Thought , 294-96; and Willey and Sabloff, A History

of American Archaeology , 143-44, 185-86.

36Prufer, "How to Construct a Model: A Personal Memoir," 105-11.
23

the evidence suggested that the Hopewell originated in Illinois

and spread through southern Indiana to Ohio where it "found its

purest expression and its most intense apotheosis."37 Prufer

concurred with cultural chronologies based on seriation of

artifacts, principally pottery, and confirmed by radiocarbon

dating. Evidence also suggested an overlap of Adena and Hopewell

cultures, and Prufer offered his own chronological ordering of

Hopewellian sites, with defensive hilltop enclosures appearing in

the Late Hopewell period during its terminal phase. 38 Prufer

likened the classic Mesoamerican settlement pattern to the

Hopewell, i.e., vacant ceremonial centers with shifting semipermanent small settlements on the periphery, and speculated on contact between the two cultures. 39 Concurring with Prufer

regarding Southwestern contact, anthropologist Edward McMichael

postulated in 1961 that this Mexican diffusion originated in

Veracruz and stimulated Hopewellian lifeways through the Crystal

River Complex on Florida's Gulf Coast. 40 It was through study of the well-known Hopewell trade

network that archeologist Joseph Caldwell developed the concept

of interaction spheres in the early 1960s. The innovative

concept had universal application throughout the discipline.

Interaction spheres exist when independent societies, or peer

polities, exchange material products as well as information in

the form of symbols, ideas, values, inventions, and goals.

Within Ohio Hopewell society, the far ranging interaction sphere

created an overall semblance of cultural unity while enveloping

other societies and cultures within its mortuary-ceremonial or religious beliefs. 41

Olaf H. Prufer, "The Hopewell Complex of Ohio," in Hopewellian Studies , James R. Caldwell and Robert L. Hall, eds. Illinois State Museum Scientific

Papers 12, No. 2 (Springfield: State of Illinois, 1964), 40-41.

38 Ibid., 42-49, 66-67. Among others, the defensive thesis has been disputed by Griffin. See his "Interpretations of Ohio Hopewell 1845-1984 and the Recent Emphasis on the Study of Dispersed Hamlets," Chapter 15 in Ohio

Hopewell Community Organization , William S. Dancey and Paul J. Pacheco, Eds.

(Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 1997), 416-17.

39 Ibid., 70-71. This pattern is known as Vacant Ceremonial CenterDispersed Agricultural Hamlet. ^Edward V. McMichael, "Veracruz, the Crystal River Complex, and the Hopewellian Climax," Paper 5, in Hopewellian Studies , Joseph R. Caldwell and Robert L. Hall, eds. Illinois State Museum Scientific Papers, Volume 12 (Springfield: State of Illinois, 1964), 125, 128, 130, 132. Joseph R. Caldwell, "Interaction Spheres in Prehistory," Paper 6, in Hopewellian Studies , Joseph R. Caldwell and Robert L. Hall, eds., Illinois

State Museum Scientific Papers, Volume 12 (Springfield: State of Illinois,

1964), 135-38; Stuart Struever, "The Hopewell Interaction Sphere in Riverine- Western Great Lakes Culture History," Paper 3, in same volume, 87-89, 105-06; Renfrew and Bahn, Archaeology: Theories, Methods, and Practice , 364, 367;
24 Invigorated by the New Archeology, a revival of Hopewellian

scholarship took place in the 1970s, culminating with the 1979

monograph, Hopewell Archaeology: The Chillicothe Conference , edited by David Brose and N'omi Greber. Fifty-four submissions

covered the gambit of Ohio prehistory, including trade,

domesticated plants, and settlement patterns. The conference and

its regionally diverse submissions demonstrated that this branch

of archeology was no longer moribund. 42 Within Hopewellian studies, few archeologists avoided the

so-called "maize debate" that emerged in the post-World War II era concerning the role of maize in the Eastern Woodlands. With

the introduction of stable carbon isotope analysis in the late

twentieth century, determining maize content in the prehistoric

diet became possible. Such data suggested that limited maize

consumption became a pattern only after A.D. 900-1000. Using the

accelerator mass spectrometer (AMS) to refine the radiocarbon age

of maize kernels, coprolites, and archeobotanical sequences,

maize did find itself in eastern North America as early as A.D. 200-300, during the Hopewell culture, but only as a minor crop.

However, Bruce Smith argued that these premaize so-called huntergatherer people were limited agriculturalists who cultivated,

stored, and processed a variety of other crops. Smith argued

that archeobotanical assemblages dating from the time of Christ

demonstrated the significance of seed crops for Middle

Woodland/Hopewellian people. 43 Other scholars continued to

disagree, asserting that hunting-gathering-fishing intensified,

with small-scale horticulture augmenting that primary subsistence

activity only in the late Middle Woodland. The Hopewell were

thinly dispersed and seasonally mobile, and in no way tied to the

land other than with their mortuary-ceremonial complexes. 44

Willey and Sabloff, A History of American Archaeology , 175; and Trigger, A

History of Archaeological Thought , 331.

42James B. Griffin, "An Overview of the Chillicothe Hopewell Conference,"

in Hopewell Archaeology; The Chillicothe Conference , David S. Brose and N'omi

Greber, eds. (Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 1979), 278; and Griffin, "Interpretations of Ohio Hopewell 1845-1984 and the Recent Emphasis

on the Study of Dispersed Hamlets," Chapter 15 in Ohio Hopewell Community

Organization . William S. Dancey and Paul J. Pacheco, eds. (Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 1997), 414-415.

43Bruce D. Smith, "Hopewellian Farmers of Eastern North America," Chapter

9 in Rivers of Change: Essays on Early Agriculture in Eastern North America , Bruce D. Smith, ed. (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1992), 201-07; and Brian M. Fagan, "The Story of Maize" in People of the Earth , 346. ^Barbara Bender, "Prehistoric Developments in the American

Midcontinent. .

. " in Prehistoric Hunter-Gatherers , 25-26; and James B. Griffin,

"Interpretations of Ohio Hopewell 1845-1984..." in Ohio Hopewell Community

Organization , 415-16.
25

Papers presented at a 1992 symposium entitled "Testing the

Prufer Model of Ohio Hopewell Settlement Pattern," resulted in a 1995 monograph edited by William S. Dancey and Paul J. Pacheco

called Ohio Hopewell Community Organization . Presenters found

that few archeologists had tested Prufer 's contention concerning

Hopewell habitation sites, and it became their goal to do just

that. 45 The editors concurred that existing data supported the

"Prufer model," but more fieldwork could yield as many as four

alternate hypotheses, namely:

1. Communities are nucleated and the major settlements

are villages located adjacent to the earthworks

(Nucleated Sedentary)

2. Communities inhabit nucleated settlements adjacent

to earthworks for part of the year but disperse

seasonally to outlying camps (Semi-permanent

Sedentary)

3. Communities are residentially stable, but highranking households ( chiefdoms?) reside in the shadows

of the earthworks (Central Place)

4. The households making up a community are seasonally

mobile throughout the year (Seasonal Mobility)

46 Using microwear analysis to test artifacts found in close

proximity to the Newark Earthworks, Bradley Lepper and Richard

Yerkes cast doubt on Prufer 's hypothesis of uninhabited

ceremonial centers because of the immediate presence of

seasonally occupied camps. 47 Other site evidence supported their

position. 8 Archeologist James B. Griffin determined that the

notion of dispersed hamlets was overdrawn, and the incidents of

residential debris near the earthworks could not be ignored.

45William S. Dancey and Paul J. Pacheco, "Preface" in Ohio Hopewell

Community Organization , Dancey and Pacheco, eds. (Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 1997), xv-xvii.

"^William S. Dancey and Paul J. Pacheco, "A Community Model of Ohio

Hopewell Settlement," Chapter 1 in Ohio Hopewell Community Organization , Dancey and Pacheco, eds. (Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 1997), 3.

47Bradley T. Lepper and Richard W. Yerkes, "Kopewellian Occupations at the Northern Periphery of the Newark Earthworks: The Newark Expressway Sites

Revisited," Chapter 7 in Ohio Hopewell Community Organization , William S. Dancey and Paul J. Pacheco, eds. (Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press,

1997), 175, 187-89.

""Robert P. Connolly, "The Evidence for Habitation at the Fort Ancient

Earthworks," Chapter 10 in Ohio Hopewell Community Organization , William S. Dancey and Paul J. Pacheco, eds. (Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press,

1997), 251, 268-69.
26

Griffin concluded that Ohio Hopewell settlement systems "included

permanent settlements, perhaps of great size, near the Hopewell

centers . " 49 Following up on the 1979 Chillicothe conference, a similar

effort came in 1993, which three years later resulted in an edited book by Paul Pacheco called A View from the Core: A

Synthesis of Ohio Hopewell Archaeology . True to its subtitle, it

represented the most comprehensive overview of the Ohio

Hopewell/Middle Woodland period. 50 While it provided new information supporting and opposing Prufer's settlement model, one of the more unusual papers examined geometric or mathematical

distinctions of Ohio's earthworks. James A. Marshall, an Illinois civil engineer with an avid interest in prehistoric

geometry, surveyed and analyzed Hopewell earthworks through the

Midwest. He called them the "closest to a written record of a prehistoric people yet discovered north of the Rio Grande."

These sophisticated people did not construct the mounds at random. Rather, Marshall established that planning and a precise

knowledge of geometric principles were used along with a standard

measuring unit. The mounds appear to have been built in an orderly alignment. 51 As contemporary knowledge about the Hopewell continues to

grow, the need to locate and examine habitation sites becomes more apparent. Until the late twentieth century, most work

accomplished concentrated on burial sites. However, enough is

known to categorize the Hopewell as the pinnacle of all moundbuilding cultures, and the most advanced of any north of Mexico.

Robert Silverberg in The Mound Builders described the Hopewells

as the "Egyptians of the United States, packing their earthen

'pyramids' with a dazzling array." Silverberg further observed,

There is a stunning vigor about Ohio Hopewell. By

comparison, the grave deposits of the Adena folk look

sparse and poor. Hopewell displays a love of excess

that shows itself not only in the intricate geometrical

James B. Griffin, "Interpretations of Ohio Hopewell 1845-1984 and the Recent Emphasis on the Study of Dispersed Hamlets," in Ohio Hopewell Community

Organization . 405. ^Paul J. Pacheco, "Introduction" in A View from the Core: A Synthesis of Ohio Hopewell Archaeology , Paul J. Pacheco, ed. (Columbus: The Ohio

Archaeological Council, Inc., 1996), vi. "Geometry of the Hopewell Earthworks," Early Man (Spring 1979), 1-2; and Marshall, "Toward a Definition of the Ohio Hopewell Core and Periphery Utilizing the Geometric

Earthworks," in A View from the Core: A Synthesis of Ohio Hopewell

Archaeology , Paul J. Pacheco, ed. (Columbus: The Ohio Archaeological Council,

Inc., 1996), 210, 218-19.
27 enclosures and in the massive mounds, but in the gaudy

displays in the tombs. To wrap a corpse from head to

foot in pearls, to weigh it down in many pounds of

copper, to surround it with masterpieces of sculpture

and pottery, and then to bury everything under tons of

earth—that is the kind of wastefulness that only an amazingly energetic culture would indulge in. 52 In moving from myth to scientific study over the course of

two centuries, Hopewellian studies have contributed to and

benefitted from the maturation of American archeology. This

remains true as the larger discipline experiences its current

post-processualism phase, maintaining its feet in science, but

also revisiting culture history. 53 Like most research,

conclusions presented herein are still undergoing scrutiny as many more secrets of the Hopewell culture remain to be uncovered

464.
28

Figure 9: World War I-era Camp Sherman barracks built atop a leveled mound, with cut made for adajacent roadway. (NPS/ca.

1920)
Chapter Two

Preservation of the Mound City Group

** The War Department and Camp Sherman

Following Squier and Davis's excavations in 184 6, the Mound

City Group remained largely ignored, with the surrounding area cleared and put to the plow for the next seventy years. While

many farmers regarded prehistoric mounds as obstacles and

nuisances to be obliterated, the concentration of large mounds in

the Scioto River Valley did not escape this fate, with most of

them incorporated into fields as plowing permitted. Upon the

outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, Chillicotheans, as had been

done in the War of 1812 at Camp Bull, used the area as a drill

ground and referred to it as Camp Logan. 1 The region's bucolic serenity came to an abrupt end following

President Woodrow Wilson's April 6, 1917, call for the commitment

of United States military forces against Germany in World War I. Rapid mobilization for war required federal establishment of

training camps throughout the country. Chillicothe's claim of

hosting such facilities during two previous wars gave it an edge over competing cities when in June 1917 it became the site of a World War I cantonment called Camp Sherman. Because farmers

resisted the loss of fertile land for the low government lease

price of fifteen dollars an acre, local businessmen contributed

an additional five dollars per acre. Some farmers still resisted

until eminent domain settled the matter. Lease terms gave the

government the option to purchase all two thousand acres within

five years, and the War Department began exercising that right

between 1919 and 1921.

Construction of Camp Sherman as the subsequent home of the

83rd, 84th, 95th and 96th Divisions during the wartime

mobilization caused Chillicothe's population to swell from 16,000

to 60,000. Erecting a building every twenty minutes, a construction crew of more than five thousand men raced to

complete the task in a matter of weeks. Amazingly, the first

draftees arrived at Camp Sherman on September 5, 1917. In all,

Camp Sherman consisted of two thousand buildings, including twostory wooden barracks accommodating up to forty thousand

Clyde B. King, "History of the Mound City Group National Monument," nc date; and "Chillicothe and Ross County" in Works Progress Administration,

Federal Writers' Project of Ohio, Ohio; American Guide Series (Washington,

D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1938). During the Spanish American

War, Chillicothe's Company H of the 42nd Division mustered into service here

as well. See G. Richard Peck, The Rise and Fall of Camp Sherman: 'Ohio's World War One Soldier Factory,

second edition (Chillicothe, Ohio: pamphlet

privately published, 1972), 21.
30

doughboys, at a cost to taxpayers of four million dollars. In essence, it represented a small city unto itself with full

hospital, railroad, prison, sanitary, and farming facilities. 2 Siting of barracks in the area of the Mound City Group in

Section N and O came about under the influence of local and state

officials. Albert C. Spetnagel, a prominent Chillicothe amateur

archeologist, appreciated the significance of the mound group and

did not want to see the complex destroyed to accommodate the

Army's regimented grid pattern. Among Spetnagel 's friends were William C. Mills, director of the Ohio State Museum, and his

fellow professionals at the Ohio State Archaeological and

Historical Society, Henry C. Shetrone and Gerard Fowke. Through

Spetnagel 's efforts, Shetrone, the society's curator of

archaeology, successfully urged the Army to turn one barracks so

as to avoid razing one of the largest mounds. Shetrone met with

Capt. Ward Dabney, camp commander, to urge caution. Dabney

replied: "We will construct the buildings in such a way on the

mounds that they will not be destroyed. However, it will be

necessary to run pipe lines through some of the mounds. Care

will be taken so that specimens may be preserved intact, but if

this is impossible, they will be turned over to the [society]."3 Nonetheless, barracks, streets, and utility lines severely

intruded on Mound City Group. While some of the smallest mounds

had already been leveled by plowing, still others were obliterated or severely damaged by Camp Sherman construction.

Most damaging was the installation of water and sewer lines

because they intruded far below grade. 4 The November 11, 1918, Armistice brought the inevitable

announcement five days later to discharge twelve thousand men

from Camp Sherman. Members of the 40th Infantry were designated

custodians of the facility during peacetime. The newly-formed

U.S. Veterans Bureau designated the Camp Sherman medical

facilities to house a permanent Chillicothe Veterans Hospital to care for wounded soldiers. By July 192 0, most of the discharges

were completed, and the 19th Infantry took over as custodians,

leaving Camp Sherman as one of the last World War I cantonments

to be closed and its buildings sold as surplus.

1917)

'Peck, The Rise and Fall of Camp Sherman , 1-3.

3 "Camp Sherman Construction," Chillicothe News Advertiser (30 July

4Clyde H. King, "Historical Sketch, Part 6, Archeological Base Map, Mound City Group National Monument, Ohio," 14 September 1956, RG 79, FRC/NARA

Philadelphia; and King, "History of the Mound City Group National Monument,"

no date.
31

Figure 10: Cross-section of Mound 18 covered by Camp Sherman

barracks. (NPS/1920-21)
32

'7f 5h*

Figure 11: Excavation of Mound 7 by the Ohio State

Archaeological and Historical Society. (NPS/1921)
33 Through President Warren G. Harding's Executive Order 3 558

of October 11, 1921, under congressional authority granted on August 9, Camp Sherman Military Reservation transferred to the

Veterans Bureau. The U.S. Veterans Bureau Training School opened

in conjunction with the hospital and became fully operational in

1922. A Camp Sherman brick factory, operated by prisoners of war

and conscientious objectors, produced the bricks which built the

Chillicothe Correctional Institute (CCI) just to the south of

Mound City Group. The vegetable gardens and fields maintained by

prisoners subsequently were chores taken up by CCI inmates in the

early 1930s. 5 The Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society

undertook investigations at Mound City Group from 1920 to 1921.

After a five-hundred-dollar state appropriation proved

inadequate, Columbus Dispatch editor Arthur C. Johnson, along

with contributions from R. F. and H. P. Wolfe, financed the

fieldwork, and the newspaper further helped to secure the

necessary verbal permission from the War Department and Camp

Sherman commander. 6 Dr. William C. Mills, assisted by Henry C. Shetrone, also of the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical

Society, began excavating the first of eight mounds on June 16,

192 0. Four of those mounds were half-covered by barracks. Mills

called the 1920 season one of the most successful of his career. He told the newspaper,

The life story of this people as told in these mounds

is one of the highly interesting chapters in the

history of primitive civilization. No primitive people

has shown such skill and perserverance in wresting from

nature the raw materials needed for their purposes, nor such versatility in fashioning these materials into

5 "Mound City Group National Monument Briefing Book, 1974," and Peck, The Rise and Fall of Camp Sherman , 22-23. In 1927, the area immediately south

of Mound City Group came under Department of Justice jurisdiction for federal reformatory purposes.

6 "Mound City Relics Formally Turned Over to Ohio Museum," Columbus Dispatch (15 December 1920), found in scrapbook entitled "OSA&HA Newspaper

Items Relating to the Society, Its Activities, Parks, Monuments, and Etc.,

Sept. 1920-Dec. 1921" (hereafter cited as OSA&HA Scrapbook 1920-21); and Theresa F. Nichols, "History of Mound City's Establishment and Administration," unpublished NPS manuscript, 19 March 1979, compiled from data recorded in Proceedings of the Ohio State Archeoloqical and Historical Society

journals, 1920 to 1946, Ohio Historical Society. Mound City artifacts were placed on exhibit on the second floor north of Archeological Hall, along with

intrusive burial artifacts.
34

Figure 12: Excavation of Mound 7. (NPS/ 192 0-21)
35

Figure 13: Henry C. shetrone (left) and William C. Mills (right)

of the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society at the

Mound City Group excavation. (NPS/ 192 0-21)
36

finished products. In the records preserved in these

mounds we find a vivid picture of the strength and

persistence of the forces underlying human development

and urging it against odds toward a higher plane of

development.

Mills said a future project would be to investigate the village

site across the river to "see if there is any connection between

the earthworks on the east side of the river and the burial

grounds on the west side."7 Another field season came in 1921, as Congress, reacting to

a post-war economic recession, began slashing funds for Camp

Sherman operations. 8 Mills and Shetrone called their work a "rich addition to the archeology of Ohio,"9 with Mills stating

that Mound City Group represented the "best example of Hopewell

culture in Ohio." 10 Their work concentrated public attention on the Mound City Group and ignited a drive to preserve it. 11

** President Harding Proclaims a National Monument

Camp Sherman had helped transform sleepy Chillicothe into a thriving economic center in south-central Ohio. Peacetime

brought about new opportunities for use of the large federal

holdings to the city's north. Albert C. Spetnagel remained

determined to secure a safe future for the prehistoric Hopewell

mounds at Mound City Group. The impending demise of Camp Sherman

forecast an uncertain future for the mounds. Spetnagel 's effort

gained credible support when William C. Mills announced his

support for a "national park" at Mound City Group. It

7William R. Palmer, "Dr. William C. Mills, Assisted by H.C. Shetrone,

Directs Successful Season's Field Work for the O.S.A. and H.S.," Columbus Dispatch (5 September 1920), found in OSA&HS Scrapbook, 1920-1921.

8 "Mound Excavation" (5 July 1921) and "Important Finds in Camp Mounds"

(16 July 1921), both in Chillicothe Advertiser , OSA&HS Scrapbook 1920-1921.

'"Rich Scientific Reward from Two Years' Field Work," Columbus Dispatch

(21 August 1921), OSA&HS Scrapbook 1920-21. ^"Reorganization of Ohio Historical Museum Staff Proposed," Columbus Dispatch (12 October 1921), OSA&HS Scrapbook 1920-21. "Clyde H. King, Historical Sketch, Part 6, Archeoloqical Base Map, Mound City Group National Monument, Ohio , 14 September 1956, RG 79, FRC/NARA

Philadelphia; King, "History of the Mound City Group National Monument," no date; and David Arbogast, "Mound City Group National Monument," National

Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination Form, March 7, 1976.
37

Figure 14: Mica deposit at the bottom of a Squier and Davis

shaft in a mound excavated by Shetrone and Mills. (NPS/ 192 0-21)
38

represented a fourth suggested use for the military reservation,

the others being a training center for disabled soldiers, a reformatory for youths, and a citizens' military training

grounds. n Ohioans desirious of preserving Camp Sherman in any form

conducted a furious letter-writing campaign directed at President

Warren G. Harding, himself a native Ohioan. Many letters were

sent to the president's personal physician and confidant, Brig.

Gen. Charles E. Sawyer. One letter, from Ohio State

Archaeological and Historical Society Secretary C. B. Galbreath

declared the prehistoric earthworks should be "under the custody

of the state or national government."

Galbreath explicitly offered to assume guardianship of the

117-acre farm containing Mound City Group with a plan to operate

it on a self-sustaining basis. He concluded by affirming, "The

transfer of this farm to the custody of our society would in no way interfere with the other uses that have been suggested for

the large Camp Sherman tract of land." Impressed by the

society's offer, and letters of support from the Smithsonian

Institution and other scientists, Sawyer pledged to dispatch his

son, Dr. Carl Sawyer of Marion, Ohio, to inspect the site and

deliver a recommendation. 13 The U.S. Veterans Bureau, newly charged with Camp Sherman,

did not object to use of Mound City Group for park purposes. In October 1921, bureau chief C. R. Forbes inspected the site and

conveyed his decision to retain title to the land, but to allow

the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society to develop a state park there. 14 At the grassroots level, Albert C. Spetnagel lead a civic

committee dedicated to ensuring the preservation of the mound

group. Utilizing the auspices of Chillicothe's newly-formed

Rotary Club chapter, Spetnagel 's committee worked with Ohio

political figures, and first proposed designation of "Mound City

Group National Monument" in 1921 utilizing executive branch

powers authorized by the Antiquities Act of 1906. Because there

was no legislative mechanism to do otherwise short of a timeconsuming act of Congress, the group strategized retaining the

"Dr. Mills May Recommend Camp's Prehistoric Mounds as National Park

Site," Chillicothe Adverstiser (29 July 1921), and "Would Use Mounds as National Park," Columbus Citizen (29 July 1921), OSA&HS Scrapbook 1920-21. 'Louis Ludlow, "Watching Ohioans Run the Government," Columbus Dispatch

(15 August 1921), OSA&HS Scrapbook 1920-21.

'""Government to Retain Title to Mound City," Columbus Dispatch (28 October 1921), OSA&HS Scrapbook 1920-21.
39

proposed national monument under War Department jurisdiction;

however, its daily administration and operation would be as a state memorial of the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical

Society.

Thanks to the mechanism provided by the 1906 Antiquities

Act, their preservation effort easily bore fruit. On March 2,

1923, President Warren G. Harding signed proclamation 1653

establishing the Mound City Group National Monument on fiftyseven acres along the Scioto River. 15 Harding's statement called

the prehistoric mounds "an object of great historic and

scientific interest and should be permanently preserved and

protected from all depredations and from all changes that will to

any extent mar or jeopardize their historic value." 16 The 1906

Antiquities Act, originally passed to protect archeological

resources in the American Southwest from vandals, gave the

president the right to declare "historic landmarks, historic or prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest. . . to be national monuments" anywhere in the

country. Afflicted by willful abuse and damage under previous

terms of federal stewardship, Mound City Group National Monument

could only hope for more prudent care. Because the federal government had not developed a statement

of purpose for the country's national monuments, most remained in

limbo with volunteer caretakers overseeing them. Congress

allocated almost no funding for their development or care. Even

upon the National Park Service's creation in 1916, America's

national monuments received scant attention from the new bureau,

a practice that continued until the New Deal era when the

majority of such sites transferred to NPS administration and

Congress loosened its pursestrings. The legacy of second-class

status, however, did not quickly evaporate. Therefore, the

decision to seek non-federal stewardship for Mound City Group

proved fortuitous. 17 Twenty-five days following President Harding's action,

Assistant Secretary of War Dwight F. Davis executed a revocable

license per the plan of Spetnagel's Rotary Club committee. The

license read as follows:

Ibid., and Brian Hackett, "Local Rotarians Initiated Idea of Mound

City Park," Chillicothe Gazette (17 May 1992). On the same day, President

Harding also proclaimed Hovenweep National Monument straddling the Colorado

and Utah border. See John Ise, Our National Park Policy; A Critical History

(Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1961), 291.

16 "Mound City Group National Monument Briefing Book," 1974.

17Hal K. Rothman, America's National Monuments: The Politics of Preservation (Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas, 1994), 89-90, 187- 191.
40

The Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society is

hereby granted a license, revocable at will by the

Secretary of War, to care for, preserve, protect, and

maintain the "Mound City Group" of historic mounds

located on the Camp Sherman Military Reservation at

Chillicothe, Ohio, and declared a national monument by

Presidential Proclamation No. 1653, dated March 2,

1923, under authority of Act of Congress approved June

8, 1906 (34 Stat. 2251), and for that purpose to occupy

the tract of land upon which they are situated, which

tract was reserved by said proclamation as the site of

the said monument, the site so reserved and hereby

authorized to be occupied and cared for being described

as follows:

All of Sections N and O, bounded on the north by East

Liverpool Street, on the east by the Scioto River, on the west by Columbus Avenue, and on the south by

Portsmouth Street, containing fifty-seven (57) acres, more or less.

The license is granted upon the following provisions

and conditions:

1. That the said site shall be open to all people

desiring to visit these mounds and shall be properly

cared for and policed by the licensee without any

expense whatever to the United States.

2. That no buildings or structures of any kind

whatever shall be erected upon the property without the

consent of the Secretary of War.

3. That no excavations of the said mounds shall be

allowed, except upon permission granted by the

Secretary of War. 18 The War Department and its Veterans Bureau had little to no interest in the Mound City Group National Monument. Federal

authorities were only too happy to permit Ohio officials to care

for and operate the monument. By 193 0, of the sixteen national

monuments under the War Department's care, fifteen were expressly

related to military operations significant to the nation's

history. Mound City Group clearly did not fit that mold, and

only remained under the War Department's purview because it was surrounded by the former Camp Sherman Military Reservation

governed by the Veterans Bureau. Ohio's offer seemed like the

l8Transcribed "Revocable License" in park files
41

4HK

fc

Figure 15: Mound City Group restoration of the mid-192 Os,

looking southeast. Death Mask Mound in center features stairs

and viewing platform. (NPS/ca. 1927)
42

Figure 16: Mound City Group restoration of the mid-192 Os,

looking southwest. Note a Camp Sherman-era remnant fire hydrant

at left. (NPS/ca. 1927)
43

best possible option to federal military officials perplexed by

the innocuous piece of real estate known as Mound City Group

National Monument. 19

**Ohio Establishes a State Memorial

In late 1921 or early 1922, the Ohio State Archaeological

and Historical Society adopted Albert C. Spetnagel 's committee of

Rotarians, calling it the "Mound City Committee." With Spetnagel

as committee chairman, the membership included Edwin F. Cook,

Charles Haynes, Dr. J. M. Leslie, Robert W. Manly, D. M. Massie,

and William Allen Scott, all of Chillicothe; Arthur C. Johnson

and W. C. Mills, both of Columbus; and J. R. Gragg, of

Bainbridge. In his 1922 summary for the annual report, Mills

reported:

The committee. . . has been constantly at work trying to

have the Government turn over about 50 acres for a public park. ... Mr. Spetnagel has carried on a very

voluminous correspondence with the War Department and

this department now finds that no law will permit the

gift of this land to the Society but can issue a revocable license which would give the Society the

right to restore and beautify the ground to be kept as

a free public park.

I can see no objection to such a license as it

gives us the property to have and to hold for park

purposes and I fully recommend to the Society the

acceptance of the license and to ask the legislature to

appropriate funds for its restoration and maintenance.

During the society's fall 1922 meeting, Mills announced that

Spetnagel had received assurances from the War Department of its

willingness to transfer the land by revocable license. In response to Mills' enthusiastic recommendation, the society

accepted the verbal offer. 20 The 1923 presidential proclamation and subsequent transfer

of Mound City Group National Monument saw the state ill-prepared

"Glimpses of Our National Monuments," National Park Service pamphlet,

Washington, D.C., 1930, found at the Ohio Historical Society. There were a total of sixty-four national monuments. In addition to those of the War

Department, sixteen were under Department of Agriculture jurisdiction, and thirty-two were administered by Department of Interior bureaus. ^Theresa F. Nichols, "History of Mound City's Establishment and Administration," unpublished NPS manuscript, 19 March 1979, compiled from data recorded in Proceedings of the Ohio State Archeoloqical and Historical Society

1920 to 1946 journals, 1922: 42-43, 76-77, 38-89, Ohio Historical Society.
44to accept the offer. Inexplicably, the initial appropriation

requested for mound reconstruction and site restoration was omitted from the legislature's 1923 budget. However, Director

William C. Mills used other funds to purchase the Camp Sherman

YMCA building remaining on the property as a prelude to site

development work. 21 While Spetnagel's group, renamed the "Mound

City Park Committee," supervised preliminary site work, Mills had

to intervene with military authorities to save the mounds.

Charged with clearing away much of what remained of Camp Sherman,

overzealous workers threatened to sweep away the damaged remnants

of the mounds as well.

The Ohio Legislature appropriated funds to begin converting

Mound City into a state memorial in 1925. On October 1, site

clearing began under Henry Shetrone's supervision, and fifty

wagonloads of Camp Sherman debris were removed. Workers then

deep-plowed the mound area, and twenty-four mounds and their

earthwork enclosure walls were located using the Squier and Davis

map. Federal assistance from the Veterans Administration (newly

renamed from the Veterans Bureau) came when farm manager Dean

Gaddon provided a tractor, mower, horses, wagon, tools, and

electrical power at no cost. Reconstruction work based on the 1848 map continued for

several weeks into the fall and resumed until completion in the

spring of 192 6. 22 Twenty large dead trees along the Scioto

River, tall weeds, brush, along with saplings and omnipresent

Virginia creeper that covered the area were carried away in

eighty wagonloads. Laborers again deep-plowed the area. The

Mound City Park Committee sold the western part of the YMCA

building containing a large auditorium. The deteriorating

structure, too costly to repair, was not needed and its salvaged

pieces were used for a small picnic shelter. However, the

remaining portion of the YMCA building was ideal for

rehabilitation into a five-room quarters for a caretaker.

Concrete latrine bases were broken up and removed along with lead

packing, iron piping, and wood scraps. 23 In 1927, reformatory workers from the Chillicothe

Correctional Institute planted and harvested an oat crop on the

mounds before cultivating a mixture of timothy and blue grass.

2l Ibid., 1923: 24-25. The price was likely minimal because the 1926 report states the YMCA building was donated. ^Ibid., 1925: 82-85.

50, 61, 81, 83-84; and Clyde B. King, "History of the Mound City Group National Monument," no date [circa 1953).
45

Figure 17: Mound City Group restoration of the mid-i920s,

looking northwest. Note Death Mask Mound at left with stairway

and viewing platform. (Ross County Historical Society, ca. 192 7)
46

Figure 18: Mound City Group restoration of the mid-192 03,

looking southwest. Taken from atop the observation platform,

note the perimeter earthwall, restored mounds, and sterile

landscape. (NPS/ca. 1927)
47 Workers finished rehabilitating the caretaker's home, converted a latrine into a tool house, and painted both buildings. With the

fencing of the monument, Spetnagel reported confidently that the

area would soon be ready to open for visitors. 24 The following year, work included building a stone gateway

to the park as well as an observation platform atop the high,

centrally-located Mound 7, which provided a good view of Mound

City Group as well as the surrounding river valley. The

ornamental gateway and entrance drive tied into existing Camp

Sherman roads to form a loop drive past the mound group,

paralleling the active railroad spur, and then exiting through

the north boundary road. In conjunction with the rustic shelter

and surrounding picnic grounds, laborers roughed out a baseball

diamond for use by a local league.

Clearly, the intent of local planners was to provide a recreational emphasis for the park with little concern for its

true national significance. Proud of the gleaming new picnicking

grounds, Chillicothe staged its own dedication ceremony in the

early summer of 1929 as the new state park opened for visitors.

The local newspaper revealed future plans of the Spetnagel group

for "winding roadways with extensive parking facilities, the

planting of a variety of shade trees and the laying out of picnic

grounds to the east and bordering on the river."25 Funding for such development was not forthcoming from

Columbus, nor would it be as financial crisis on Wall Street in

the early fall of 1929 precipitated a virtual collapse of the

nation's once-booming economy. As the Great Depression gripped

the country, budgets for Ohio parks flattened and declined.

^Ibid., 1927: 96. On April 23, 1979, Intake Park Ranger Theresa F. Nichols reported that the owners of the Chillicothe bus station informed her that James Sampson served as caretaker during the years the monument served as

a state memorial. Sampson, his wife, and son Albert, lived in the caretaker's

residence. They reported that visitors frequently enjoyed digging in the mounds for recreation. See note to files, H24; King confirmed the claim. Sampson was superintendent or supervisor in charge of maintenance for Mound

City and other state memorials in south-central Ohio from 1930 until 1946. See King, "History of the Mound City Group National Monument," no date [circa

1953].

^Quote in "City Considering Formal Dedication of Mound Park,

Chillicothe News Advertiser (14 February 1929), Albert C. Spetnagel

Collection, Ross County Historical Society Museum; and King, "History of the Mound City Group National Monument," no dat^ [circa 1953].
48

V J

1

1yy 1^

1

ll

mound en

1 m0i£

V 0|

^

Figure 19: Newly-constructed entrance gate and sign for "Mound

City State Park." (Collection of the Ross County Historical

Society/1928)
49

Growing public complaints about the lack of facilities

development brought a subcommittee of the state finance committee

on an April 193 3 visit. After an inspection tour in which

legislators called Mound City "the best kept and cleanest state

park they had seen anywhere in Ohio," local representatives asked

for shelter houses to be considered as soon as possible for park

development. As their predecessors had done in previous years,

the legislators promised to advocate increased development only

in accordance with the state's worsening financial condition. 26 Even as the spring 1933 visit took place, steps were being

taken in Washington, D.C., to change the course of historic

preservation in the United States. President Franklin Delano

Roosevelt followed through on a plan by his predecessor to

reorganize the executive branch via executive order. One bureau

that benefitted tremendously was the National Park Service which

became charged with administering all of the national monuments

scattered throughout federal departments. For example, in

addition to historical battlefields, the War Department

relinguished control of its national monuments, including Mound

City Group, effective August 10, 1933. The move consolidated the

function of federal historic preservation into one agency: the

National Park Service. 27 Six weeks prior to his inauguration as the thirty-second

president of the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt proposed to

employ a quarter-million men in public works and conservation

projects as a means of breaking the cycle of social and economic

misery brought about by the Great Depression. A compliant

Congress, alarmed by the mounting despair and panic pervading the

American public, gave the new president a virtual carte blanche

and authorized much of Roosevelt's "New Deal" proposals. Thus

began the United States' turn away from laissez-faire capitalism

to an active course of federal intervention and regulation in not

only the economy, but many other areas of American life.

During the "First 100 Days," Congress passed and Roosevelt

began implementing his strategy to provide immediate relief. In March 1933, President Roosevelt officially announced the

formation of Emergency Conservation Work (ECW) which soon became

popularly known as the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) . Four

"Legislative Committee Visits Mound City," Scioto Gazette (6 April

1933), Albert C. Spetnagel Collection, Ross County Historical Society Museum. Locals included Spetnagel, E. S. Wenis and John A. Poland of Ross County

Historical Society, Chillicothe Mayor J. Robert Gunning, R. E. Myers of the chamber of commerce, Fred C. Keeler representing organized agricultural

interests, and E. F. Greenman of Ohio State Archaeological and Historical

Society.

"Executive Order 6166, 10 June 1933 and Executive Order 6228, 28 June

1933, in "Mound City Group National Monument Briefing Book," 1974.
50

departments of the executive branch had authority over the New

Deal program: Labor to select the enrollees; War to handle

administrative concerns; and Agriculture and Interior to utilize

the manpower. Of these last two departments, two bureaus reaped

the most benefit from this unemployment relief program:

Agriculture's U.S. Forest Service and Interior's National Park

Service.

For the National Park Service (NPS) , ECW/CCC meant the

opportunity not only to develop the long-neglected national

parks, but to provide a needed boost to the nation's individual

state park systems. Initially, Assistant Director Conrad Wirth

turned to the Washington Office's division of Planning and State

Cooperation to handle the new program. The project's magnitude

prompted the bureau to decentralize its operations in August 1937

by establishing four NPS regional offices in the following

cities: Richmond, Virginia (Region I) ; Omaha, Nebraska (Region

II) ; Santa Fe, New Mexico (Region III) ; and San Francisco,

California (Region IV) . The regional offices directly supervised

NPS field personnel and equipment; oversaw funding; approved

designs; and supplied technical expertise. Areas within each NPS

region were further subdivided into district offices containing

field inspectors who, in addition to certifying projects, gave

advice on designs and plans. Ohio, which fell under the purview

of the Region I Office in Richmond, was served by the District D Office in Cincinnati, and later by the CCC Ohio Central Design

Office in Columbus. 28 Because Mound City Group National Monument hung in limbo

until its late summer transfer to NPS jurisdiction, it did not

benefit directly from CCC labor or NPS oversight. Chillicothe

and south central Ohio, suffering from high unemployment and

depressed agricultural prices, needed immediate help and the

undeveloped Mound City Group provided an ideal place to stage

emergency public works projects. Therefore, the mounds received

similar conservation assistance as a result of two other New Deal

emergency relief programs: Civil Works Administration (CWA) and

Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) . CWA/FERA

combined funding in 1933 and 1934 to construct two buildings.

The first was a massive two-story with partial basement frame

utility/maintenance garage building with toilet facilities and a coal furnace. Its rough sawn redwood timbers were salvaged from

a nearby covered bridge. Because temporary quarters for the

caretaker were placed on the second floor, most likely the

^Ron Cockrell, A Green Shrouded Miracle: The Administrative History of Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area, Ohio (Omaha, Nebraska: Midwest

Regional Office, National Park Service, 1992), chapter 2.
51

Figure 20: Mound City Group custodian's residence and

maintenance building. (NPS/early 1940s)
52

Figure 21: Imposing maintenance building, the second story later

featured dormer windows to accommodate groundskeeper James

Sampson. (NPS/early 1940s)
53

deteriorated Camp Sherman-era YMCA building was razed at this

time. The second was a one-story, two-room masonry comfort

station with wood shingle roof measuring more than 430 square

feet. Unheated, the building featured concrete facilities with

open-pit toilets and unfinished interior walls, floors, and

ceilings. 29 The rustic architecture of the facilities mirrored

similar park construction by the National Park Service-directed

Civilian Conservation Corps.

Yet another relief program, the Works Progress

Administration (WPA) , funded two additional park improvements in

1937. First, WPA workers built a one and one-half story wood

frame residence on a masonry foundation adjacent to the utility

building. The house, also with a coal furnace, featured a total

of twenty-seven rooms (including closets) and had a ten-by-tenfoot office for park administrative purposes at its east

entrance. The house and the utility/maintenance garage building

were both stained gray to emulate aged redwood.

The second WPA building was a one-story, two-room picnic

shelter house measuring more than 2,64 square feet. A rustic

chestnut frame rested on a masonry foundation with stone wall

columns connected to a shingle roof. A six-foot cobblestone walk

connected to the east side of the shelter and on the west and

south sides where an enclosed kitchenette stood. 30 State workers added soil to many of the mounds, most without

consulting the 1848 Squier and Davis documentation. A parking

area, walkways, and boatlanding were also installed. Acting on a recommendation from the Division of State Memorials, the Ohio

State Archaeological and Historical Society added Seip Mound,

another Ross County Hopewellian earthworks, to Mound City's

administration

31 By the late 1930s, Mound City Group National Monument had

Park buildings files, Utility Building (Building 2) and Comfort

Station (Building 4); and King, "History of the Mound City Group National

Monument," no date [circa 1953].

^Ibid., Residence (Building 1) and Picnic Shelter/Temporary Museum

(Building 3)

31 Theresa F. Nichols, "History of Mound City's Establishment and Administration," unpublished NPS manuscript, 19 March 1979, compiled from data recorded in Proceedings of the Ohio State Archeoloqical and Historical Society

1920 to 1946 journals, 1937: 65; and King, "History of the Mound City Group

National Monument," no date [circa 1953]. The board also sent Director

Shetrone to Mound City to investigate "practices involving moral turpitude"

involving society employees in connection with WPA projects. Shetrone found

no evidence of wrong-doing, but did admonish workers who used state-funded gas

and labor on personal vehicles used for WPA-related matters (see 1937: 80-

82).
54

become a full-fledged member of the Ohio state memorial system.

Its national nomenclature was largely ignored; state promotional

materials referred to it as "Mound City State Memorial," while

road signs declared "Mound City State Park," one of about thirtyfive such units operated by the Ohio State Archaeological and

Historical Society. There was no signage announcing its national

status to visitors. 32 Indeed, even the National Park Service remained unconcerned

about Mound City Group National Monument. Since Mound City

Group's transfer from the War to Interior Department in 1933, NPS

officials suggested to their Ohio counterparts that they

supported a federal to state transfer of title, but progress on this initiative cooled when Ohio Congressman W. E. Brahn

protested the move. However, when Interior Secretary Harold L. Ickes approved the transfer on March 6, 1937, NPS Assistant

Director Conrad L. Wirth formally announced the proposed move on March 10. 33 In the meantime, NPS perfunctorily pursued a boundary expansion for a wider buffer strip varying from three

hundred to six hundred feet along the northern edge of the

mounds

34 As a quasi-state institution founded in 1885 with support

from private members, the Ohio State Archaeological and

Historical Society's budget was subject to the legislature's

whim. Within the Division of State Memorials, Mound City fared

well budget-wise, but the state's "drastic economy program" made

it impossible to plan for sustained growth and development. The

society benefitted tremendously from CCC funding and labor at many of its units. As late as 1940, Mound City received grounds

World's Fair. 1939 . pamphlet, Ohio State Archives, Ohio Historical Society.

33 "File Finder for Research on Mound City," prepared by George A. Palmer, 27 July 1982, from RG 79, Box 91, Federal Records Center, National

Archives and Records Administration, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Brahn

letter was dated July 1934. On April 14, 1934, Director Cammerer decided not to act on the management issue. See "Note for Mr. Wirth, Mound City Group,"

G. L. Collins, 5 December 1944, Midwest Archeological Center Files, Lincoln, Nebraska.

34NPS Director Arno B. Cammerer to Veterans Administration

Director/Brig. Gen. Frank T. Hines, letter, 27 May 1937. The roughly ten-foot existing buffer was deemed unsatisfactory, and additional land "would allow

for the proper landscape development of the monument." Apparently, the move

came as a result of a site visit from the Region One Office in Richmond,

Virginia. Because of access road adjustments and the potential relocation of the VA incinerator and warehouse, no agreement was reached.
55

Figure 22: Picnic shelter house built at Mound City State Park

(NPS/June 26, 1937)
56

liflf ly

...... «*l

'''.':\^^^"..-S; ^ t

^^raV^H

il

Figure 23: Chillicotheans and Ross County residents soon made

the Mound City shelter house their premier recreation destination

point. (NPS/June 26, 1937)
57 maintenance attention from a U.S. Soil Conservation Service camp

in Chillicothe. Without the additional federal help, the Ohio

sites would not have fared as well as they did through the

Depression. Indeed, all of Mound City's capital developments

came as a result of federal funding. Curator of State Memorials

Erwin C. Zepp acknowledged his dilemma to society members in his

1940 report:

To expand properties and facilities at the expense of

maintenance and control is recognized by the Division

as unsound policy. With a state policy of economy in

force, a program of maintenance and control was

mandatory. However, there existed and continues to

exist an acute need for expanding the educational phase

of the memorial program. To merely preserve historic

sites and structures is falling short of fulfilling the

mission of the Division of State Memorials. This was increasingly apparent in 1940. The average visitor is

becoming more aware and appreciative of his democratic

heritage in the light of events abroad. He is seeking

to rediscover the facts of Americanism. He is

demanding an explanation and an interpretation of the

history which is preserved in State Memorials.

Museums, guides, literature, signs, and other

informative and educational media are badly needed. 35

Zepp's statement was unguestionably targeted at Mound City

Group and its local promoters. The lack of adequate state

financing clearly frustrated Mound City boosters in Ross County.

Led by Albert C. Spetnagel, the group opposed ongoing

negotiations by NPS to relinquish title to Ohio, thereby

terminating Mound City Group's national monument status. Such a move, Spetnagel believed, would forever banish the mounds to an inferior position within the state bureaucracy with little

development likely to occur anytime soon. Society Director

Mills, however, concurred with NPS Historian Herbert Kahler's

suggestion that because Ohio funds maintained Mound City since

1923, Ohio should rightfully hold title to it. Mills believed

that such a move would eliminate the legislature's reluctance

State Memorials, Annual Report, 1940," Ohio State Archives, Ohio Historical

Society. Organized geographically into four districts, three supervisors

managed all but District One which was managed out of the Columbus central

office. The latter included Mound City, Buckeye Furnace, Bigg Bottom, Buffington Island, Fort Hill, Leo Petroglyph, Logan Elm, Seip Mound, Serpent

Mound, and Tarlton Cross. In budget terms, Mound City ranked third behind

Serpent Mound and Fort Hill, and second in visitation (36,135) behind Serpent Mound (58,719). A 1943 reorganization saw Mound City made a district office

headquarters.
58

; •.>>.\35«t i *

Figure 24: A picnic sponsored by the YMCA brought a large crowd, some of whom toured the prehistoric mound area. (NPS/June 26,

1937)
59

Figure 25: With the B & O railroad spur in the foreground, the

parking lot for the popular shelter house can be seen beyond the

Mound City Group enclosure earthwall. (NPS/no date)
1920 $ 500.

1921 $ 499.06

1922-24 $ o. 1925 $2,000.

1926 $2,000.

1927

1928

1929 $ 720.

1,000.

40.

2,000.

1930 $2,500.

60

to increase the park's appropriations. 36 A summary of Ohio's fiscal expenditures at Mound City Group

from 1920 to 1946 is as follows:

archeological fieldwork

archeological fieldwork

site work funds spent $683.39

site work funds spent $1,216.61

restoration $26.14; fence $411.18

no data/no annual meeting or report

salaries spent $720

repairs spent $998.15

communication spent $1.75

general plant spent $1,652.80

salaries $510; wages $193.45; agric.

supplies $717.25; office supplies $1.00;

printing $14.50; building repairs

$509.18; and materials $528.78 = $2474.16

1931 total disbursements $3,040.65

1932 total $2,948.43 (personnel $1,632.40;

maintenance $1,316.03

1933 total $2,152.25

1934 total $2,166.86

1935 total $2,367.76

1936 $2,194.54

1937 $2,500

1938 $3,633.42

1939 $3,228.48

1940 $3,674.96

1941 $3,822.50

1942 $6,423.27

1943 $4,604.62 (became headquarters of

District One)

1944 $4,463.20

1945 $5,214.36

194 6 Park returned to NPS in summer; Curator

of Archeology withdraws exhibits. 37

36Mills to Spetnagel, letter, 30 December 1940, Ohio Historical Society, State of Ohio Archives. Mills further worried that public pressure on NPS to expand its system and create additional jobs might imperil the revocable

license and recission of state custody of Mound City.

37Clyde B. King, "History of the Mound City Grot date [circa 1953]. The average annual spending at Mound City Group "state memorial" was slightly over $3,550. Total state investment stood at $61,618.54.
61

As another world war loomed and the chances of further park

development vanished, Spetnagel acted. Ever more cognizant as each year passed that no educational facilities interpreting

Mound City Group's significance to the public would be

forthcoming from Columbus, he donated funds to construct a small

museum. Spetnagel paid more than $780 to remodel the kitchenette

at the end of the shelterhouse into a display room, with the

south walkway also enclosed at the same time. He also donated a display case within which he placed Hopewellian artifacts from

his personal collection. A small spotlight lit the display area. The Mound City museum opened with a special dedication ceremony

on May 26, 1942. 38 Albert Spetnagel 's intentions, however, were not respected

or followed by the Columbus society. The only Mound City Grouprelated interpretation provided to the public were Spetnagel 's own donated artifacts. The society's interpretive displays said

nothing about Mound City Group. On the walls were a large map of

Ross County, artifacts and photographs related to the three

cultures of Ohio's mound builders, and similar depictions of

artifacts relating to Ohio's other archeological sites. Locals

noted that after the museum dedication, Albert Spetnagel withdrew

from his active participation in the society. Local opposition

to the proposed transfer of Mound City Group National Monument to the state had his full support. 39 National and world events in the late 1930s and early 1940s

prevented substantive progress on the transfer. Mound City Group

never became a priority for action. As early as December 20,

194 0, NPS Chief Historian Ronald F. Lee recommended Mound City

Group be dis-established as a national monument, to which

Associate Director Arthur B. Demaray concurred. In a background

"Archaeological Museum is Opened at Mound City," Chillicothe Gazette

(26 May 1942), Albert C. Spetnagel Collection, Ross County Historical Society

Museum.

39King, "History of the Mound City Group National Monument," no date

[circa 1953]. Spetnagel's health may have begun to decline as he took no active public role in opposing the transfer. Upon his death, a newspaper

editorial credited him with saving the mounds: "Almost single-handed, he brought about establishment of Mound City as a national monument by his contacts with Camp Sherman commanders and representatives in Washington." See

"Al Spetnagel," Chillicothe Gazette editorial (18 June 1946), found in scrapbook volume 4, "About People January 13, 1946-December 28, 1947,"

Division of State Memorials collection, Ohio Historical Society.
62

Figure 26: Thanks to Albert C. Spetnagel, the shelter house's

kitchen became the "Mound City Museum." (Collections of the Ross

County Historical Society/1942)
63 check on the issue, one official wrote to Assistant Director

Conrad Wirth:

...it is a very important site, but... was pot hunted

by early students, Squier and Davis, in 1846, and later

192 0-21 was systematically dug out by the Society. So

there is little left in original condition. The

historians say that it is representative only of the

culture, a very important one of the Hopewell people,

but it has been so disturbed and restored that little

original condition remains. They want another,

untouched, example of what the Hopewell people left

behind and say that it might be possible to obtain one

for the NPS. 40 Operations of the national headquarters of the National Park

Service were severely impacted when the wartime emergency

necessitated drastic personnel reductions and removal of the non- defense agency to Chicago for the duration of the war. Many park

units were simply mothballed until after the war. The policy

question concerning Mound City Group nonetheless arose again in

late 1944, and the NPS chief of interpretation offered a similar

recommendation to relinquish title to Ohio. 41 With the war in Europe over and Japan on the brink of

defeat, steps were initiated in May 1945 to achieve the transfer.

Upon approval of Ohio Governor Frank J. Lausche, the National

Park Service prepared draft legislation to effect the deed

transfer. When news of the effort reached Chillicothe, four

powerful groups formed a coalition to voice their opposition.

The coalition, whose membership included the Chillicothe Chamber

of Commerce; Chillicothe Retail Merchants Association;

Chillicothe Newspapers, Incorporated; and Ross County Historical

Society, for the first time publicly announced dissatisfaction

with Mound City Group National Monument's management by the Ohio

State Archaeological and Historical Society. It called for

revocation of the 1923 War Department license and advocated

National Park Service assumption of daily site management. The

coalition formed a special committee, called the "Mound City

Committee," to achieve its goals. Its membership included the

following prominent businessmen: J. Herbert Mattox, Roy Drury,

"Note for Mr. Wirth, Mound City Group," G. L. Collins, 5 December

1944, Midwest Archeological Center Files, Lincoln, Nebraska.

"'Acting Regional Director George A. Palmer to Director, 10 May 1968,

Management Appraisal Report, A5427 Management Appraisal 1963-75, RG 79, Midwest Regional Office Records, Federal Records Center, National Archives and Records Administration, Kansas City, Missouri.
64

M" k -a

A

Figure 27: The Mound City Committee, a coalition of local

businessmen, mobilized to transfer Mound City Group National

Monument from state to federal stewardship. ( Chillicothe

Gazette , August 21, 1945)
65

Nelson L. Kellenberger, Eugene D. Rigney, Oliver O. Overly, Earl

Barnhart, David McKell, David Crouse, J. K. Hunter, and Harold

Cruit. 42 Along with wide press coverage of their action, the Mound

City Committee's most effective move came with a lengthy letter

to Eleventh District Congressman Walter E. Brehm outlining the

"deplorable condition" of Mound City Group National Monument

along with recommendations on how to remedy it. The committee's

well-argued grievance against the society included the following

statement:

In twenty-two years, The Ohio State Archaeological & Historical Society has done nothing to improve or develop the property; to the contrary, it has permitted

a National Monument to become little more than a roadside park. During the course of exploration of

Mound City by the State Society, in 192 0-1921, a magnificent collection of prehistoric art was discovered and promptly hauled off to Columbus where it

has remained, partly in storage, despite the fact that

it is federal property and should have been displayed

in a museum on the site. The State Society has never

instituted a program of interpretation, although this

was suggested years ago by the National Park Service.

The State Society has always ignored the area's

status as a National Monument and has classed it as another of the State Memorials under its supervision.

As such, picnic facilities were provided and

landscaping carried out. No attempt was made to

provide a museum on the site or in any other way to

foster knowledge of the area. Neither printed guides

nor even the simplest form of descriptive leaflet have

ever been available for general distribution in, or

about, the area. There are no signs at the entrance

indicating Mound City IS a National Monument. The only

descriptive plaque in the area (besides one prohibiting

the use of 3.2 beer!) recites the number of mounds, and

suggests that the visitor (who reasonably expects to

learn about Mound City on the site) may travel fifty

miles farther to Columbus for the privilege of seeing

the artifacts removed from the mounds! It is little

wonder, then, that visitors have skirted the mounds on their way to picnic spots and departed without the

42King, "History of the Mound City Gr sup National Monument," no date

[circa 1953]
66

faintest conception of the importance of their

surroundings

43 The letter mirrored Albert Spetnagel's long-standing disgust at the society's inaction and his personal funding of the existing

inadequate museum. The society refused to place its Mound City

Group artifacts there because the facility was not fireproof.

The group opposing the transfer to Ohio called it "a little room with a complex, unimportant mass of material from other mound

areas, to pad out a meager showing of trifling odds and ends,

plaster casts and some photographs of pieces from Mound City.

The visitor is still bewildered."44 The committee further

informed the congressman that the monument's budget was

inadequate, resulting in deteriorated roads and "antiquated

facilities" as the hallmarks of the society's "slipshod

operation.

The coalition demanded revoking the society's operating

license and placing Mound City Group National Monument under

National Park Service management. Once accomplished, NPS should:

fully develop the area and erect a suitable, fireproof museum building to house the superb collection of

prehistoric art, owned by the federal government, and, at present, in the Ohio State Museum. The Mound City

Museum should be in keeping with the quality of the

fine art housed therein and with the dignity of the

surrounding area. The size of the building should be

governed not only by the collection stored at Columbus

but also by the distinct possibility of recovering the

Davis Collection of Mound City material (including over

two hundred effigy pipes) from the British Museum. 45

Finally, the group called for the congressman to work for

adequate NPS appropriations for monument maintenance and

development, as well as a site visit for an NPS architect to

conceive cost estimates for site construction. It asked for

expeditious action: "We believe that every effort should be made

to have all phases of this program instituted or in operation by

1946, the 100th anniversary of the first exploration of the Mound

43 "Mound City Needs Told in Letter to Rep. Brehmn, " Chillicothe Gazette

(25 August 1945)

'Ibid. "ibid. They suggested the British government would be amenable to the

gift because Mound City Group, located on the Camp Sherman reservation, was connected to the sacrifice of World War I and II servicemen with the training

camp and VA hospital: "The gift of this collection to the United States would constitute a suitable memorial to commemorate these great struggles."
67 City area by [Squier and] Dr. Davis."46 After having been the target of fierce lobbying since May

194 5, which included Ohio's U.S. Senators Robert A. Taft and

Harold H. Burton, Governor Lausche withdrew his support for the

transfer on August 1. Lausche informed Ohio State Archaeological

and Historical Society Director Henry C. Shetrone,

It is my considered judgment that further negotiations

for the transfer of title to this land from the Federal

Government to the State Government ought to be promptly

terminated. The preponderance of judgment is that it

would be better for the development of the memorial and

for the attraction of tourists to that community to

have title remain in the Federal Government. It is

further revealed to me that the Federal Government is

not insisting nor asking that the title in the memorial

should be taken in the name of the State of Ohio. 47

Congressmen Brehm acted immediately. On August 21, 194 5, Brehm, accompanied by NPS Chief Historian Herbert E. Kahler, met

with the committee and local officials and toured Mound City

Group. Kahler advised that an appropriations request would have

to be submitted by September 15, and at Brehm' s request, an NPS

architect would be sent to survey the area. 48 In September,

Acting NPS Director Hillory A. Tollson requested Region One

Director Thomas J. Allen to send an architect to Chillicothe to

prepare a master plan. 49 The same month Tollson informed Brehm

that an Interior appropriations request for Mound City Group

maintenance and operations had been forwarded to the Bureau of

the Budget on its way to the House Interior subcommittee. 50 Regional Landscape Architect Ralph W. Emerson arrived for an inspection of Mound City Group's condition and needs in late

"ibid.

47 "Mound City Unchanged," Chillicothe Gazette (1 August 1945), Albert C. Spetnagel Collection, Ross County Historical Society Museum. ^"Appropriation for Museum at Mound City Requested of Congress by Local Committee," (22 August 1945) and "Chief of Parks at Mound City," (21 August

1945) Chillicothe Gazette , Albert C. Spetnagel Collection, Ross County

Historical Society Museum.

49 "Park Plans to Ickes," Chillicothe Gazette (10 September 1945),

Spetnagel Collection, Ross County Historical Society Museum. Region One officials reported that the regional landscape architect was hospitalized with

severe burns and to expect some delay in accomplishing the survey. ^"Mound City In Budget," Chillicothe Gazette (26 September 1945),

Miscellaneous Clippings Book September 7, 1 944-December 26, 1946, Division of State Memorials, Ohio Historical Society.
68

October 1945. Emerson surveyed the grounds for the proposed museum and any other necessary developments to "bring the park up

to federal standards."51 NPS officials, forced by public and political pressure to

take Mound City Group National Monument seriously after twentytwo years, were never comfortable about the management

arrangement with Ohio. Many questioned whether the revocable

license was actually legal in the first place. Forced to assess

the situation because of the dissatisfaction of Chillicothe

citizens, NPS acknowledged the prevailing political winds and

honored Governor Lausche and the Ohio congressional delegation's

wishes. The federal bureau announced its intention to take

charge of Mound City Group National Monument at the start of the

next fiscal year: August 1, 1946.

**The National Park Service Assumes Control

Although a bitter pill to swallow, officials at the Ohio

State Archaeological and Historical Society bowed to the

inevitable. On September 21, 194 5, the society's board of

trustees passed a formal resolution concurring that Mound City

Group National Monument should be returned to the federal

government. Further, the board pledged its support to help the

Ross County Historical Society achieve the goal. 52 However, the

society realized Ross County citizens advocated return of the

Mound City Group artifacts gathered in 192 and 1921, and few on the board supported such a move. Little did board members

realize that NPS officials were already investigating the

question of who owned that collection, the federal or state

government. On September 5, 1945, the Department of the Interior

requested a War Department review and report on the matter. The answer came on April 19, 1946, in a letter from Secretary of War

Robert P. Patterson:

A search of the records of this Department and a study

of files pertinent thereto discloses no grant of

authority from the United States to the Ohio State

Archaeological and Historical Society to excavate in

the Mound City Group, Camp Sherman, Ohio. A study of

the records indicates that the license granted said

society on 27 March 1923 was the only license properly

5l "Architect Visits Mound City Park," Chillicothe Gazette (26 October

1945), Miscellaneous Clippings Book September 7, 1944-December 26, 1946,

Division of State Memorials, Ohio Historical Society. ""State Society to Go Along," Chillicothe Gazette (10 October 1945),

Miscellaneous Clippings Book September 7, 1944-December 26, 1946, Division of State Memorials, Ohio Historical Society.
69

granted. This license provided that no excavation of

the mounds would be allowed except upon permission

granted by the Secretary of War. There is no evidence

available that such permission was ever granted. It,

therefore, appears that the artifacts excavated by the

Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society in the

Mound City Group and removed therefrom were taken

without right. Accordingly, it is the opinion of this

Department that the subject artifacts remain the

property of the United States. 53

NPS officials determined not to make an issue over its ownership

of the 1920-1921 Mound City Group artifact collection. Because

there were not adequate curatorial facilities at Mound City Group

or in Chillicothe, particularly at the Ross County Historical

Society and Museum, NPS officials were no doubt content to

maintain the status quo and not antagonize their state

counterparts unnecessarily. For the time being, the collection

would remain in Columbus.

Notice that the 1923 Mound City Group management license

with the War Department would be revoked as of August 1, 1946, came from Interior in early 1946 when it became clear Congress

would include Mound City Group in the fiscal 1947 NPS budget.

The revocation notice came in a letter to society director Henry

C. Shetrone. Interior recognized the society's role in saving

Mound City Group from destruction, and guiding its development

program. 54 Regional Archeologist J. C. Harrington arrived at Mound City

Group on July 30, 194 6, to make last-minute arrangements for the

transfer. William W. Luckett accompanied Harrington from

Richmond to Chillicothe. Luckett, who served as custodian at Shiloh National Military Park (Tennessee) , Ocmulgee National

Monument (Georgia) and Salem Maritime National Historic Site

(Massachusetts) , entered on duty as acting custodian of Mound

City Group on his way to his next permanent assignment at Fort

Pulaski National Monument (Georgia)

On the morning of August 1, Harrington accepted

responsibility for the park from Richard S. Fatig, curator of

state memorials for the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical

Society. Harrington reported the park to be in good physical

condition, "mowed and every part of it was neat and clean."

However, the temporary museum was stripped bare. The society had

letter, 19 April 1946. ^Secretary of the Interior to Dr. Hei ry C. Shetrone, letter, undated

(circa spring 1946], Midwest Archeological Center files, Lincoln, Nebraska.
70

withdrawn its exhibits, as had Albert C. Spetnagel, who probably

did so to spur federal park officials into approving long hoped

for developments. The society also removed its equipment and

signage from the Chillicothe park.

With the agency's position on retaining Mound City Group

National Monument within its system of federal parks remaining

unclear, the National Park Service faced the daunting task of

"starting from scratch."55

Quotes from Harrington to Regional Director Thomas J. Allen, 2 August

1946, Mound City Group History File; "Mound City Returned to the United

States," Museum Echoes of the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical

Society, Vol. 19, No. 10; "Mound City Park Passes to U.S.," Columbus Dispatch

(1 August 1946) and "Mound City Becomes U.S. Park," Chillicothe Gazette (31 July 1946), both in Albert C. Spetnagel Collection, Ross County Historical

Society Museum.
Chapter Three

Clyde B. King, "Mr. Moundbuilder , " 1946-1962

The transfer of Mound City Group National Monument from

state to federal stewardship on August 1, 1946, occurred without

fanfare. The National Park Service faced an immediate dilemma of

providing basic public services, a task made more difficult by

state removal of its non-real park property for use in other

state memorials. While it would take nearly two decades to bring

Mound City Group National Monument up to the high standards

expected of any National Park Service unit, the initial

rudimentary steps proved significant to establish an immediate

federal presence.

One of Acting Custodian William W. Luckett's first moves was

to secure a large entrance sign which for the first time informed

visitors they were at a national monument. Another interpretive

marker went up near the mounds. During Luckett's two-month

tenure, the monument experienced heavy visitation and Luckett

found it impossible to provide the same services as before such

as reserving picnic tables for a fee and selling charcoal. He

also began turning off the shelterhouse lights earlier than

usual.

On November 2, 1946, Mound City Group's first permanent NPS

custodian entered on duty. Clyde B. King was pleased to find

buildings and utilities in good condition, slightly less than

ideal roadways, and gravel walkways to the comfort station and

Scioto River. Picnic facilities included seven fireplaces and an assortment of unstable picnic tables. Although picnicking was to end at dusk, there had never been strict enforcement other than

flashing the lights on and off in the shelterhouse to encourage

people to leave. King noted, "A hitching rail encouraged hayride

parties which invariably arrived after dark to hold picnics; a ball diamond, dangerously close to the picnic area, had been

unattended except such attention as could be given from the

residence. Ml King lamented the unusual amount of picnicking that occurred

at the park. The recreational use, almost to the exclusion of

the site's interpretive significance, would be a thorn in Clyde

B. King's side for years to come.

King, "History of the Mound City Group National Monument," no date

[circa 1953]
72

Figure 28: First National Park Service entrance sign on Highway

104 for Mound City Group National Monument. (NPS/William W. Luckett, September 194 6)
73

Figure 29: Comfort station near Scioto River, across parking lot

from Mound City shelter house. (NPS/late 194 0s)
74

** From Custodian to Superintendent

Acting Custodian William W. Luckett was not a one-man show

at Mound City Group National Monument. Maintenanceman James

Sampson stayed on and continued routine maintenance operations

such as mowing the fifty acres of bluegrass and regular cleaning

of the picnic grounds. Thanks to the loan of mowing equipment

from the Veterans Administration and state, and donation of small

equipment from other Eastern NPS units, the transition from state

to federal operations went smoothly. Bereft of interpretive

exhibits, the "hordes" of visitors were left to enjoy picnicking,

softball, and horse-shoe pitching. In order to provide minimal

interpretive services, Luckett prepared a two-sided site flyer

which the Region One Office mimeographed for distribution.

Luckett reported his literary effort paid off because he found no discarded copies of it littering the grounds. 2 Briefed for two days by his predecessor, Clyde King assumed

the Mound City Group custodian position on November 2, 1946.

King, a Park Service employee since 1935 with service at Natchez

Trace Parkway, Tennessee; Moore's Creek National Military Park,

North Carolina; and Meriwether Lewis National Monument,

Tennessee, was pleased by Luckett' s work on signage and

interpretive services. During these early years with minimal

staff, King enjoyed budget and personnel services provided by the

Region One Office. 3 In the late 1940s and early 1950s, the park

received similar administrative services from Mammoth Cave

National Park, Kentucky. In October 1948, reflecting a nationwide effort to conform job classifications, King's title

changed from custodian to superintendent. 4 King spent considerable time individually counting visitors,

groups of picnickers, and noting various state license plates on vehicles parked in the lot. During the first year of NPS

administration, 31,572 visitors came to Mound City Group, and

5,445 people entered the pavilion exhibit room where King

displayed a topographical model of the mounds and he discussed

Acting Custodian Luckett to Director Newton Drury, 10 September 1946,

August 1946 report; Luckett to Drury, 6 October 1946, September 146 report;

and Custodian Clyde B. King to Drury, 1 September 1948, August 1948 report. On September 7, 1948, Sampson transferred to the Fire Guard at Patterson Field

in Dayton. On September 8, King hired Joseph V. Acton from Adena State Memorial for the position.

3King to Drury, 1 December 1946, November 1946 report; and King to Drury,

2 February 1947, January 1947 report.

4King's title changed between the September and October 1948 monthly

reports. King routinely carbon-copied Mammoth Cave on all important

correspondence to keep that unit informed of Mound City Group activities.
75

their use in the context of Hopewell culture. In July 1947,

bowing to public demand and to prevent foraging for natural fuel,

King arranged an informal concession with a Chillicothe hardware

store to supply picnickers with charcoal. Typical of hardworking, unheralded, and uncompensated Park Service spouses, Mrs. King handled area sales. 5 Unfortunately, hopes for speedy development of NPS

facilities were not forthcoming. An effort to include $47,700

for a museum building and exhibits into the 1948 and 1949 NPS

budget failed. 6 King made the best of the situation. Nine new picnic tables for the shelterhouse and fifteen for the

surrounding grounds were purchased for the 1948 visitor season, along with homemade exhibits added to the display room. Five

thousand additional visitors arrived, reflecting the rapid

national increase in vacation travel during the prosperous post- war years. Superintendent King increasingly made off-site talks

to groups within a fifty-mile radius of Chillicothe on topics

ranging from the national parks, moundbuilders, and wildf lowers.

Like most managers at small parks with a staff of one to two

people, Clyde King was a jack-of-all-trades. When not building

exhibits and signs or interacting with visitors, King rendered

assistance to Maintenanceman J. Vernon Acton. Such duties could

be hazardous. For example, in February 1949, while helping to move picnic tables from storage in the shelter, King sprained his

back. Several weeks later while pulling out a dead snag from

shrubbery, it broke loose, struck him in the mouth, and caused a wound requiring three stitches. A chagrined King reported he

lost no work-time as the mishap and the quick trip to the doctor

took place during his lunch hour. 7 Living with his family in the

onsite residence, King found himself on twenty-four-hour, seven- days-a-week call. Relief came during the 1952 season when local

teacher Max V. Baughman entered on duty as the park's first

seasonal employee, an information receptionist. "His presence

gives me relief four evenings out of the week from 6 p.m. until

dark," King noted, "and makes it possible for me to have two full

lieu days each week."8

2 July 1947, June 1947 report; and "31,572 Visit Mound

City During One Travel Year," Chillicothe Gazette , 7 October 1947. ""Museum for Relics of Mound-Builders May be Built on World War Camp Site Near Chillicothe," Columbus Dispatch (9 October 1947), Memorials Misc. Clippings Book 1944-1947, Division of State Memorials, Ohio Historical

Society.

7 "Mound City is Popular Even During the Winter," Chillicothe Gazette (1 October 1948); King to Drury, 28 February 1949, February 1949 report; and King

to Drury, 31 March 1949, March 1949 report.

8King to Director Conrad L. Wirth, 1 July 1952, June 1952 report.
76

Figure 30: Superintendent Clyde B. King inspects museum

exhibits, many of which he designed and built. ( Chillicothe

Gazette /Marcus Orr, September 14, 1949)
77 The predictable routine of monument operations lifted

momentarily when special guests passed by for a visit. On August

22, 1950, NPS Director Newton B. Drury and his wife arrived at Mound City Group National Monument for a tour. Director Drury

told the media he found the park "impressive" and "interesting,"

and said that development plans for Mound City Group were still

pending within Interior. King arranged a personal meeting

between the director and the park's "staunchest supporters":

Eugene D. Rigney of the Ross County Historical Society and

chamber of commerce secretary Douglas R. Pinkerton. 9 If he was inclined after his visit to Mound City Group

National Monument to assist its development, Newton Drury did not

do so. Seven months later, Drury was no longer NPS director, but was replaced for most of the remainder of 1951 by Arthur E. Demaray, who then retired. On December 9, 1951, Conrad L. Wirth

became the sixth NPS director. Just as the top administrative

juggling caused uncertainty, so too did a reorganization in mid1955. When the new Region Five (renamed in 1962 to Northeast

Region) was created with headquarters in Philadelphia, a sixteenstate area, including Ohio, came under its purview. During the

Truman administration and early Eisenhower years, facility

improvements at Mound City Group never elevated to a priority

level. 10 Superintendent King first enumerated clear management goals

for the park in 1953. His number-one priority was to shift Mound

City Group's focus from recreation to interpretation. To do so, however, required a headquarters-museum building for adequate

exhibits to provide enough visitor interest in order to curtail

or eliminate outright the popular picnic usage. King's second

goal was a complete restoration or more accurate reconstruction

of the earthworks along with elimination of the railroad spur

line and related Veterans Administration facilities. Third on King's list was a landscape program of screening and ornamental

plantings. Until these goals were accomplished, King did not

believe Mound City Group could be classified as a truly

functional national monument. 11 Lack of NPS movement on park development was undoubtedly

rooted in persistent concerns about Mound City Group's physical

"National Park Service Chief Finds Mound City Interesting," Chillicothe

Gazette (23 August 1950); and King to Drury, 1 September 1950, August 1950

report.

'°Wirth to Fred A. Seaton, "Annual Report of the Director, National Park

Service, to the Secretary of the Interior, Fiscal Year 1956," Ohio State

Archives, Ohio Historical Society.

"King, "History of the Mound City Group National Monument," [circa 1953]
78

integrity and, hence, its eligibility for national significance.

Upon Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay's reguest, NPS

formed an "Area Management Study" in late 1953, the purpose of

which was to identify National Park System units of guestionable

significance for possible disestablishment and relinguishment to

state or local governments. In formulating its goals, the team

cited Mound City Group National Monument among others as initial

units to be studied. News of the December 1953 survey team

effort reached Ohio authorities in February 1954. The

Chillicothe Gazette , noting that a similar effort to transfer

Mound City Group to the state was defeated just nine years

previously, denounced claims that the site lacked national

significance. The editorial stated, "It appears it will be

necessary to serve notice again that the Chillicothe area is

vitally interested in Mound City and not just as a picnic and

softball area as it was referred to so lightly in Washington

dispatches." The newspaper warned that if successful, the

transfer would place it at the "whims of the legislature and

eventually it will become just one of the 60 state parks." 12 On February 19, 1954, survey team member and cooperative

activities chief Ben H. Thompson recommended to Director Wirth

that Mound City Group be one of the units included in the

disposition program. Eugene Rigney, Ross County Historical

Society director, denounced the action and pledged to work with

the chamber of commerce and others to block it. Rigney feared

loss of national monument status would mean a decrease of

national visitation as the Chillicothe park was the only NPS unit

in southern Ohio. With nearby Adena State Memorial, Rigney

warned that the legislature would not be likely to provide

adeguate funding for two state parks in the same vicinity. To

create such a state unit in the middle of the federally-owned

reformatory and Veterans Administration land would be untenable.

Disagreeing with Rigney, Ohio State Archaeological and Historical

Society director Erwin C. Zepp welcomed the proposed transfer,

while former director Henry C. Shetrone exclaimed, "I think it

would be the finest thing that could happen to Ohio in a long

time. Their park was developed with Ohio funds [sic] and belongs

to Ohio." 13 Two weeks later, Ohio Governor Frank J. Lausche once again

came to the defense of Chillicothe and Mound City Group National

Monument. He denounced the determination that the monument was

not nationally significant, and pointed out that NPS administered

only two Ohio parks totalling no more than eighty-two acres

12 "Keep It National," Chillicothe Gazette editorial (13 February 1954).

l3Quote in "Proposal Stirs Fuss: Urge U.S. Retain Mound City Park," Columbus Dispatch (19 February 1954); and "Administrative History of Mound

City Group National Monument," unpublished typewritten manuscript, April 1980.
79

Figure 31: Clyde King presents a program to a fifth-grade

science class. Whether discussing natural or cultural resources, King never missed a chance to highlight Mound City Group and the

Hopewell culture. ( Chillicothe Gazette , October 1948)
80

total. Federal park services rendered in Ohio, Lausche argued, were miniscule in comparison to fiscal commitments in other

states. He called the federal withdrawal "wrong and an injustice. Ohio, with an area of about 43,000 square miles, has

[82] acres being administered by the National Park Service. If

you abandon Mound City, from the standpoint of area," Lausche

argued, "you will have nothing left. To me, it is inconceivable,

that from the standpoint of National Monuments, Ohio should be so devoid of worth. It simply isn't so." 14 Responding to Lausche 's protest, Director Wirth declared:

The Secretary of the Interior last year designated a survey team to study the organization of the National

Park Service in the interest of greater efficiency and

economy. Among the recommendations submitted by this

survey team was one to the effect that this Service

should review certain areas of the National Park System

to determine which, if any, might be found to be of

less than national significance and whether they might more appropriately be administered by State or local

agencies of government.

The Mound City Group National Monument happened to

be among those mentioned by the survey team as examples

of the kinds of areas it felt should be reviewed. The

Secretary accordingly has directed this Service to make

the review as suggested and it is currently being

undertaken as a basis for further Departmental

consideration. Until this study is complete I am unable to say, of course, which areas may be

recommended for disposition. As you may know, however,

the abolishment or transfer of any area of the National

Park System would require legislation by the

Congress. 15 Adding fuel to the Ohio controversy, the Interior secretary's

Advisory Board on National Parks, Historic Sites, Buildings, and

Monuments entered the fray. The advisory board, established

following passage of the 1935 Historic Sites Act, reviewed the

NPS survey team's results of seven areas that lacked national

l4Lausche to Wirth, letter, 3 March 1954, L1415, Record Group 79, Records

of the National Park Service, Northeast Regional Office, Federal Records

Center, National Archives and Records Administration, Philadelphia,

Pennsylvania (hereafter cited as "RG 79 FRC/NARA Philadelphia"); and "Lausche Urges U.S. to Retain Mound City," Chillicothe Gazette (5 March 1954). In the March 6 editorial "Lausche Lends a Hand," the newspaper praised the governor's

action. Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial at Put-in-Bay, South

Bass Island, was the other NPS Ohio unit.

l5Wirth to Lausche, letter, 19 March 1954, L1415.
81

significance and should be transferred. 16 Approving the four on the top of the NPS list, including Mound City Group, the board

added nine more sites of its own. 17 On March 22, 1954, the

advisory board formally resolved that Mound City Group National

Monument lacked national significance and should be abolished,

and that NPS begin the process of getting the park turned over to the state. 18 Superintendent King refrained from issuing any personal

position on the controversy to the media, but continued to stress

NPS's role in protecting and interpreting the site. By contrast,

whereas the state society's usual practice was to provide site

interpretation of local units in its Columbus museum, King hoped

"this public service contribution by [NPS] can be brought out more effectively in the community. It is unfortunate that here

the interpretive point is so completely surrounded by the picnic

facilities." 19 King succinctly summarized the debate for

Director Wirth as follows:

That if prehistoric tribes are to be recognized on a National level then the Hopewell certainly should be

included in at least one site. This group was the most

extensive in occupation area and the most advanced

culturally of all prehistoric tribes in the eastern

United States.

That of all Hopewell sites the Mound City Group is the

outstanding burial shrine, both in the type of burials

and the variety of objects found at the site. Too, it

is central to the largest concentration of their

geometric earthworks.

That while it is unfortunate that the site is a

John Ise, Our National Park Policy: A Critical History (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1961), 522. The areas included: Millerton Lake Recreation Area, Piatt National Park, Mound City Group National Monument,

Moore' s Creek National Military Park, Big Hole Battlefield National Monument, Natchez Trace Parkway, and Lehman Caves National Monument.

l7 Ibid., 523. It approved for disposition: Hot Springs National Park,

Piatt National Park, Capulin Mountain National Monument, Mound City Group

National Monument, Pinnacles National Monument, Shoshone Cavern National

Monument, Verendrye National Monument, Moore' s Creek National Military Park,

Brices Cross Roads National Battlefield Site, Cowpens National Battlefield

Site, Tupelo National Battlefield Site, White Plains National Battlefield

Site, and Millerton Lake National Recreation Area.

l8 "Administrative History of Mound City Group National Monument,"

unpublished typewritten manuscript, April 1980, 4, and see appendix "Memoranda

on Turning Over Mound City to the State: 1954-1956."
82

restoration, it is even more unfortunate that no other

site can be acquired which will not require restoration

to make it an effective display. Further, no site of

this type can equal the Mound City Group in economy of

operation since the area involved is so limited and

located near utilities.

That no other site matches it in the part played in the

history of American Archeology, especially in

connection with "Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi

Valley" first of the Smithsonian publications.

That the completion of a headquarters building and of a display will tend to change the emphasis from picnic

use to interpretive and will increase such use in what

is normally the "off" season. That while the State of Ohio will maintain the area effectively it will not maintain a proper interpretive

program. Too, the National status tends to draw

tourists from all states and countries whereas a State

status will tend to localize its use. 20 In Clyde King's mind, in spite of its overwhelming use for

picnicking, Mound City Group deserved retention of national

monument status and operation by the National Park Service.

Politically, the transfer effort initially received

enthusiastic endorsement from Congressman James G. Polk. Polk,

whose district included Ross County, stated that Ohio might do a better job at Mound City Group because federal spending there had

been stingy in recent years. When his constituents in

Chillicothe rose in protest, Polk tempered his position and

announced federal funding would be available for at least one more year of NPS operations at Mound City Group. 21 Polk received

his assurances from Conrad Wirth who, encouraged by the Ohio

State Archaeological and Historical Society's willingness to assume management, was at the same time reluctant to act because

of Governor Lausche's vehement opposition. On June 9, 1954,

Wirth informed Secretary McKay that while Ohio Senator John W. Bricker might back the transfer legislation, "I recommend that no further action for the transfer of this national monument be

taken in the immediate future. Later in the year," Wirth

continued, "I would expect to discuss with members of the Ohio

delegation and others concerned the possibilities of the

Ibid. King reported that February visitation alone had increased from

the 676 counted in 1953, to 1,060 because of the public debate.

2l "Fight Promised if Mound City Shift Develops," 12 February 1954, and ""Mound City Park 'Safe', Polk Feels," no date, Chillicothe Gazette .
83

enactment of legislation to abolish the area as a national

monument and transfer it to the appropriate State agency for

administration as a State historical park or monument."22 By the end of 1954, when public opposition to the transfer

had not abated, Area Management Study team member Ben Thompson

concurred with Senator Bricker's staff assistant that the matter

should be deferred to a later date. In the meantime, Thompson

recommended NPS move ahead by asking the Ohio society to turn

over Mound City Group artifacts in order to warrant construction

of a museum and full interpretive program. The strategy received

both Director Wirth and Secretary McKay's approval. In June

1955, Erwin C. Zepp told NPS Chief Historian Herbert Kahler that

while the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society was

still interested in the new management scenario, it could not

cooperate as long as Governor Lausche remained opposed. Zepp

confided that perhaps things would change following the next

gubernatorial election. 23 Yet another NPS review approved by Associate Director Eivind

T. Scoyen on February 20, 1956, sanctioned continued efforts for

Mound City Group disposition. Scoyen 's act came in the context

of the agency's MISSION 66 program, a ten-year facility

development effort launched by the Eisenhower administration to enhance visitor services in the national parks in time for the

Park Service's fiftieth anniversary in 1966. This initial

MISSION 66 prospectus for Mound City Group simply reiterated

contemporary NPS policy of maintaining status quo operations

while seeking authority to transfer the area. However, lingering

doubts about the transfer which had simmered within the cultural resources professional ranks, soon erupted to call the policy

into question.

In a landmark move, NPS Staff Archeologist John M. Corbett's

observations on February 29, 1956, delivered the first

professional argument from an archeolgical standpoint to justify

retention of Mound City Group. Recognizing that MISSION 66

sought a well-rounded, balanced national park system, Dr. Corbett

observed that NPS managed nineteen archeological units, including

fifteen recognizing various American Southwest culture groups,

primarily pueblos and cliff dwellers. Outside that region were a scant four: Effigy Mounds National Monument, Iowa; Ocmulgee

National Monument, Georgia; Pipestone National Monument,

^irth to McKay, 9 June 1954, "Administrative History of Mound City Group

National Monument," April 1980. B "Area Management Study, Mound City Group," E. V. Bushman to Ben H. Thompson, 2 November 1956 in "Administrative History of Mound City Group

National Monument," April 1980. The spate of correspondence is dated 2 7 December 1954, 2 February 1955, and 1 June 1955.
84

Minnesota; and Mound City Group National Monument, Ohio. Corbett

noted that while Effigy Mounds demonstrated some Hopewellian

traits, it was peripheral to and probably later than classical

Hopewellian sites in the Ohio and Illinois valleys. Therefore,

Mound City Group represented the sole Hopewellian unit of the

national park system. The Hopewell culture, Corbett argued, was significant and had to be interpreted to the American public:

Although the visible remains left by the Hopewell

people, largely earth-covered burial mounds, are not so readily interpreted or as spectacular to the average

visitor (or as well publicized for that matter) as the

ruined pueblos and ancient cliff dwellers of the

Southwest, the Hopewell people themselves possessed a remarkably well developed and unigue culture, and which

existed a thousand years before the great prehistoric

pueblos of the Southwest, and one which had a marked

effect upon all subseguent Indian cultures east of the

Mississippi River from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico.

The intellectual, cultural, and religious achievements

of these people were in their way, just as magnificent

as that of the later Southwestern Anasazi and

Hohokam. 24 While archeologists had studied the Anasazi for seventy years,

serious examination of the Hopewell had been underway only one or two decades. Further, Dr. Corbett noted, while the Antiguities

Act had been invoked to save a multitude of Southwestern sites,

most of the finest Hopewell sites had already succumbed to the

ever-advancing population and industrialization of the Eastern

United States. As archeologists continued to study sites and

develop better technigues for interpretation of past cultures,

public interest would be elevated and lead to increased

appreciation for the Hopewell on a level approaching that held

for the pueblo and Anasazi. Corbett recognized the Historic

Sites Survey and Advisory Board's subseguent designation of Grave

Creek Mound, West Virginia; Miamisburg Mound, Ohio; and Serpent

Mound, Ohio, all classic Adena sites under state control, as national historic landmarks. He viewed divestiture of Mound City

Group as unwise:

Since disestablishment of Mound City Group as a national monument would only further throw out of

balance a system already heavily weighted toward the

Southwest, and since we have no other truly comparable

area in the park system and since the accomplishments

of the Hopewell people and their effect upon later

culture are not as readily appreciated today as they

Corbett to Chief, Division of Interpretation, Ben H. Thompson, 29 February 1956. Corbett subsequently became NPS chief archeologist
85

may be in the foreseeable future, I recommend:

1. That we move with extreme caution in attempting to

turn Mound City Group National Monument over to Ohio

state; and 2. If disestablished, the Service acquire

an equal or better area characteristic of Hopewell

culture. 25 In a follow-up examination of Mound City Group's potential,

John Corbett observed there were no other Hopewellian sites left

that were of its same or greater magnitude. "There is no one area which encompasses the story of American archeology

especially that part of the story which started east of the

Mississippi and later spread to the Southwest. But Mound City,"

Corbett argued, "is as logical a place in which to tell this

story because of its association with Squier and Davis and later

with Shetrone of Ohio archeology fame and because of its physical

closeness to the center of much of the early archeological work

which took place in the Ohio valley."26 To improve the park's

interpretive possibilities, Corbett urged reduction of the heavy

local picnic usage by imposing a modest entrance fee in

conjunction with an increased interpretive program focused both

on the Hopewell culture and the development of American

archeology through the early work of Squier and Davis. "Such a combined archeological-historical interpretive approach," Corbett

opined, "would assist greatly in gradually shifting the emphasis

at Mound City from local recreational use to the more

conventional historical-interpretive use pattern. It would make

Mound City Group National Monument a full working member of the

Park Service family."27 While John Corbett 's argument to retain Mound City Group

National Monument in the National Park System ended the policy

decision to seek disposition, and likewise quelled the political

impetus, the February 20, 1956, MISSION 66 prospectus remained in

effect, providing no program benefits to the Ohio park. Until

the prospectus was amended, Mound City Group remained in limbo. 28 Clyde King worked diligently at the local level to change

the laissez-faire policy. As early as January 1949, King began

aibid. ^Corbett to Thompson, 27 April 1956, K1815.

27 Ibid. ^"Administrative History of Mound City Group National Monument," April

1980 (applicable memoranda are dated 20 February, 2 May, and 1 October 1956) and "Threat to Mound City Dissipated," Chillicothe Gazette (no date, circa

June 1956), Ross County Public Library microfilm. Senator Bricker

discontinued Interior-inspired efforts to introduce transfer legislation.
86

scouring the archives in Columbus searching for survey and

excavation notes from 1920-21, and discussed loan of artifacts.

Columbus officials refused to discuss temporary loans, especially

in light of inadequate museum conditions in Chillicothe.

Nonetheless, King persisted in attempts to build an interpretive

program. One of his off-season duties involved preparing the

park's archeological base map. Handicapped by the "missing or mislaid" 1920-21 records, King approached completion of draft

base maps by the spring of 1951. When the disestablishment

effort intensified, he forwarded the package, complete with

historical narrative, to Region Five. On October 23, 1956,

Regional Director Daniel J. Tobin sent it to the Washington

Office with the expressed wish that "it will add weight to the

retention of Mound City Group in the National Park System and

[for] its full development and interpretation."30 In addition to

continued efforts to negotiate artifact loans from Columbus, King

worked to update the park's master plan that focused on a selfguiding leaflet for visitors in the mound area. There were no trails planned; instead, visitors were free to wander the mounds

at will. 31 In ten years at Mound City Group, King's belief in the

park's significance never wavered, but this resolve was tempered

by boredom and disgust at the lack of park development. In the

aftermath of the failed disposition attempt, he confided his

personal desire for a transfer to a colleague: "I want one but I stay here, for no more than 9 years more anyway [until

retirement] . However, rather than sit idly by waiting for

something to happen, and not a thing has. .

.

, I took on an extra

part-time job."32 Using his accrued vacation time, King began

31 January 1949, January 1949 report; 31 March 1949, March 1949 report; 1 March 1951, February 1951 report; and 1 May 1951, April

1951 report. In this last report, King noted he was still working on the

final sheet: "This was to have been one depicting precise information on mound

sites and sizes as detailed by the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical

Society. To date I have been unable to locate neither the original survey

notes nor the notes made during the restoration in 1926." '""Administrative History of Mound City Group National Monument," April

1980. "Data Sheets for Archeological Base Map" were approved by Dr. John L. Cotter, Regional Archeologist of Philadelphia Service Center on 24 May 1961. King credited John Corbett for their development in his 1 July 1961 memorandum

for the June 1961 report.

3l King to Director, 1 February 1951, January 1951 report; Acting Chief of Design and Construction Henry Langley to Region One Director Elbert Cox, 2 July 1953, D1815; King to Director, 1 October 1958; September 1958 report; and King to Director, 1 November 1958, October 1958 report.

32King to Superintendent, Stones River National Military Park,

(unidentified, but probably Victor H. Shipley), letter, 18 December 1956. Confessing boredom, King wrote, "If I could just get out of seeming to be on duty it would be even easier. Today I have recorded a grand total of 8 cars."
87

Figure 32: School groups ate lunch at Mound City before

reboarding school buses for their ultimate destination: Adena

State Memorial. (NPS/no date)
88

substitute teaching in the local schools to provide himself with

an intellectual challenge as well as to escape the monotony of

counting visitors and picnic groups. Until the pervasive

recreational aspect could be curtailed or, even better,

altogether eliminated, Mound City Group National Monument would

never progress beyond being a local playground.

** Recreation Overwhelms the National Monument

While picnicking and group recreation, primarily softball

and horseshoes, were the most common visitor activities at Mound

City Group, other popular endeavors included kite-flying and

"rolling down the mounds."33 Clyde King's efforts to curb

picnicking began soon after he entered on duty in late 1946. Two

stone grills were removed north of the pavilion in an effort to

end picnicking in that area adjacent to the parking lot and

mounds. In 1948, King implemented further restrictions,

including no children under sixteen unless chaperoned by an

adult, an absolute 10 p.m. curfew, not more than three picnic

tables per group unless conditions permitted otherwise, and

moving softball playing to an open area further away from the

pavilion for safety reasons. As a result, fewer large groups

came, and those that did come were there for educational

purposes, too. Because of its many years of use, closing the

park to picnickers was not advisable, King lamented. Too many

touring groups used the park as a lunch and information stopover,

particularly those on their way to Adena State Memorial.

Families of patients at the Veterans Administration hospital also

regularly used the pavilion. Most of the use was local; few

tourists from outside the region knew about, or used, the

pavilion. 34 In 1952, another restriction limited picnicking strictly

within the picnic grounds themselves, except when that area was

at capacity. King directed absolute policy enforcement toward

school groups which served food in the shelter, and then

dispersed into the mounds to eat. High school children

particularly were guilty of leaving "plates, cups, wrappers, and

cellophane bags in the mound area" for Maintenanceman J. Vernon

Acton to pick up. 35

"King to Director, 1 April 1955, March 1955.

34King to Director, 2 January 1947, December 1946 report; and King,

"History of the Mound City Group National Monument," [circa 1953], 18. Tired

of reminding ballpayers to go further away from the parking and picnic areas, King planted trees in the spots used for bases. See King to Director, 1 May

1952, April 1952 report.

35King to Director, 2 June 1952, May 1952 report.
89

Figure 33: Groups of children arrived at Mound City Group in

droves during the fall and spring while on school-sponsored

trips. (NPS\circa 1960)
90

When MISSION 66 development plans (see next section) for a museum/visitor center were unveiled in November 1957, news that

picnicking would be de-emphasized was not well-received. The

local newspaper advised against eliminating the shelterhouse. 36 However, King remained adamant, ignored local sentiment outright,

and secured NPS permission to remove it. 37 By late summer 1959,

King received verbal commitments from both city and state

government to accept the pavilion if details could be worked out. On October 1, 1959, the Chillicothe Park and Recreation

Commission urged the mayor to accept the structure and secure funding to dismantle, transport, and resite it in the city's

Yoctangee Park. 38 At its October 15 meeting, the city council

failed to act on the NPS offer, and King speculated the council

was playing "power politics" in light of behind-the-scenes

efforts to get NPS to change its mind. He reported to

Philadelphia, "I prefer to raze the building myself than to have

it become a nuisance to the entire future program of the area."39 In an October 24 meeting with city officials and Garrett S. Dill,

manager of the local American Automobile Association (AAA) , King

informed them that if the campaign to retain the pavilion

persisted, NPS might revisit the issue of relinquishing

management of the site. Anticipating political pressure, King

urged Regional Director Tobin to stall "long enough that the

shelter will be a thing of the past before January 1, I960."40 In response to local letters of protest, political pressure

came swiftly. One typical letter came from the Ross-Highland

Automobile Club representing four thousand members in two

counties. In a unanimous vote, its board of directors demanded

NPS retain the pavilion and reopen the recently-closed road

"Monument or Park?" Chillicothe Gazette editorial, 12 November 1957. Recognizing that new facilities would draw more tourists, the paper, rationalizing that "monument" gave the impression of a memorial shaft like

that at Perry's Victory, urged a name change to "Mound Builder Park," "Park of the Prehistoric Indians," or "Indian National Park."

37On August 26, 1959, Regional Architect Lawrence B. Coryell visited and prepared a report of survey (request for structural removal) on September 9. The pavilion required $10,000 for rehabilitation with annual maintenance costs

set at $1,000. The NPS Regional Board of Survey on October 20 set its value

at $800, and stated maintenance would be excessive in comparison to benefit,

and cost of razing it would exceed salvage value. The board recommended it be offered free to any public entity providing the recipient pay for dismantling

and removal. In case of no takers, NPS should raze it. See Acting Regional

Director George A. Palmer to Director Wirth, 23 December 1959.

38King to Wirth, 1 September 1959, August 1959 report; and "Mound City Shelter House Offered City," Chillicothe Gazette (1 October 1959).

39King to Tobin, 17 October 1959.

"°King to Tobin, 24 October 1959.
91

leading to it. Extolling the good condition of the structure,

the group could not understand why it had to be removed when it

could scarcely be viewed from the proposed visitor center-museum.

Used for reunions, club meetings, Sunday school and church

groups, political gatherings, and diverse types of city, county,

and regional groups, the pavilion was like no other comparablysized public facility in that part of Ohio. 41 Senator Stephen

Young of Ohio, promising to do his "utmost to postpone or prevent

the discontinuance" of the pavilion, arranged an emergency

meeting with NPS Director Conrad Wirth. 42 In the meantime, Tobin

instructed King once again to offer it to the state and, should

Ohio decline the offer, "take immediate steps to demolish the

structure . " 43 As King acted on his instructions, Mother Nature intervened

to save the pavilion. By late fall, contract workers had already

removed the parking lot to pavilion roadbed as well as the 4 0-car

lot itself. After exhibits were removed, they also dismantled

the pavilion's small museum display room. As work was set to begin separating the building from its stone foundation, a December 7 snowstorm struck and delayed the work long enough that

by mid-December, mounting political pressure forced Interior

officials to agree to a public meeting. Tobin ordered the

initial removal work be halted. In the meantime, in reaction to the removal work, the state division of parks accepted the

building, the city immediately asked that it be given another

shot at it, and the state withdrew its offer. 44 Into this confusion came Regional Archeologist John L. Cotter and Assistant Regional Director George A. Palmer on January 27, 1960. The public meeting promised by Interior took

place in the Ross County probate courtroom. Palmer announced his

4I L. T. Franklin to Senator Frank J. Lausche, letter, 26 October 1959.

42 "Solon Against Moving of Shelter House," Chillicothe Gazette (27 October

1959).

43Tobin to King, 29 October 1959. Tobin suggested immediate removal of the museum room exhibits: "Our objective should be to get rid of the structure at the earliest possible date."

44King to Tobin, 2 January 1960, December 1959 report; "City May Get Shelter House Yet," Chillicothe Gazette (10 December 1959); City Manager C. R. Lukens to Tobin, letter, 11 December 1959; "Shelter House to be Subject of Confab," Chillicothe Gazette (11 December 1959); "Mound City Shelter to be Given to State," Chillicothe Gazette (12 December 1959); L. T. Franklin to Tobin, letter, 13 December 1959; and Chief, Division of Parks, Ohio Department

of Natural Resources, to King, letter, 14 December 1959. Ironically, as Assistant Secretary (with NPS oversight responsibility) Roger C. Ernest stood

firm and informed the Ohio congressional delegation the pavilion would be removed, Assistant Secretary Royce A. Hardy agreed to instruct Regional

Director Tobin to set up the public meeting to discuss the issue.
92

and Cotter's presence was merely to gather information on the

1957 NPS decision, expressed in the MISSION 66 prospectus, to remove the shelter house. He stated dissimilar activities,

recreation and education, needed to be physically separated.

When the pavilion was built in the 1930s, Palmer declared, it was allowed because there was nothing else for visitors to do at Mound City Group and those facilities were lacking in the area. Three decades later, Palmer noted, the situation had changed, and

Mound City Group's MISSION 66 facilities were soon to be open to

the public. Palmer then listened as twenty local representatives

of organizations and businesses presented their arguments which

reflected three principal themes: groups needed a place for

lunch while on organized tours, it encouraged increased tourism

travel, and the local perception of MISSION 66 necessitated

recreational development at each unit. Garrett Dill, manager of

the Ross-Highland Automobile Club, dramatically announced a telephone poll of the eighty-one national monuments operated by

NPS. It revealed thirty-nine possessed picnic facilities. From

a national standpoint, Dill concluded, Mound City Group conformed

to Park Service policies. 45 Palmer later reported being disconcerted by two things.

First, the same contractor who performed the work of removing the

parking lot and road to the pavilion spoke out against the very

policy which gave him a job. Second, the person who presented

the most effective argument against NPS had been portrayed to him

by Clyde King as a staunch friend and supporter. Eugene Rigney,

director of the Ross County Historical Society, said the logical

thing to do would be to assess the situation only after the new visitor center had been in operation for a few visitor seasons.

To make the decision at this time, Rigney argued, seemed very

premature. Palmer reported to Regional Director Ronald F. Lee,

"The National Park Service is not without fault in this very

unfortunate public relations situation from which I am convinced

there is no withdrawal without considerable loss of prestige and

friendship in the community." Palmer believed King should have

taken the 1957 prospectus to community officials and discussed

its implications. Further, believing the structure had to be

removed, maintenance was deferred and deterioration occurred.

"To anyone attending the public meeting," Palmer noted, "it was obvious that our reversal of policy [regarding picnicking] and

45King saw Dill's organization as the most vocal and effective opposition

group through its petition-circulating activities and political lobbying.

King later noted that Dill's group advocated full road, parking, and shelter

repairs, along with winterization of the shelter house; modern restrooms; additional softball grounds with backstops and bleachers; croquet fields; badminton, volleyball, and horseshoe courts; fencing along the river; and regular spraying for flies. See King to Lee, 12 September 1961.
93 the presentation of it to the community has been mishandled."46 In response to a public meeting claim that the deteriorated

shelter house was "not worth moving," King conducted an immediate

safety inspection. A red-faced superintendent apologized to

Regional Director Lee that he had not paid more attention not

only because he believed the building would be razed, but that

much of the extensive wood rot had been covered up by high

shrubbery stripped away in November in preparation for the

removal. Finding it potentially unstable, King recommended it be

condemned as unsafe pending professional investigation. He

worried that because four of the five roof supports showed signs

of deterioration that much of the remaining wormy chestnut could

also be affected by dry rot as well. Determined to be rid of

picnicking once and for all, Clyde King advised that the contract

proceed for pavilion removal. 47 George Palmer responded tersely to King's request. Still

peeved by being blindsided during the public relations debacle,

Palmer nixed King's counsel, admonishing, "You should, by all

means, not make any public statement that will make our relations

with the local community any more difficult than they are at the

present. The Director has taken the matter of the final

disposition of the building out of our hands so that the action

you take or the action that we take here will not be the

determining one."48 King's subsequent request to disassemble the

remainder of the museum room as well as electrical power and

fixtures "to discourage night use and youths playing music"

brought another rebuke from Philadelphia. Palmer denied

permission to proceed with any additional dismantling work which

"could be misunderstood and misinterpreted" by the community. 49 In Region Five's recommendation to Director Wirth, Palmer

noted that with removal of the parking lot, pavilion road, and even the VA incinerator road, it was too late to retreat from the

policy decision to abandon picnic facilities. To replace proper

Quotes from Palmer to Lee, 5 February 1960; and "Shelter House Issue Aired at Meeting," Chillicothe Gazette (27 January 1960).

47King to Lee, 3 February 1960, January 1960 report; and King to Lee, 30 January 1960. Following up on the safety hazard theme, King relayed a freguent demand by picnickers that NPS erect barricades along the riverbank to prevent children from falling in and drowning. From the boat landing along

the picnic grounds to the southeast boundary, the main channel ran not less than six feet deep with the hazardous riverbank riprapped, in 1925 and 1927 to prevent erosion, with rocks piled atop rolled-wire fencing and Camp Sherman- vintage bunk beds. ^Acting Regional Director Palmer to King, 4 February 1960.

49Quotes from King to Lee, 19 February 1960, and Acting Regional Director

Palmer to King, 3 March 1960.
94access would cost $40,000, and $10,000 more to make all necessary

building repairs. While the region believed it to be necessary

to stand firm on removal, Palmer admitted, "It is my honest

opinion that the Service has made a mistake at Mound City in

accepting statements that the picnic ground is not needed or used

sufficiently to justify it. There is a local need for a picnic

ground and the state has not provided one that would replace the

picnic facilities at Mound City." Palmer committed Region Five

to channeling federal recreation monies to Ohio to construct such

area facilities, but in the interim, Mound City Group should

continue to serve those picnickers willing to walk to the

pavilion from a new parking lot. NPS Washington officials

concurred. 50 Rehabilition of the shelter house roof support system

occurred in April 1960 for the summer visitor season, and the

first of many groups balked at having to carry their supplies

from the new visitor center lot to the pavilion. King had to

barricade the "driveway beyond the railroad tracks to prevent

groups from parking around the shelter itself. It may become

necessary to barricade the residence driveway to keep it from

becoming an area for picnic parking. Some groups demand it." 51 George Palmer, returning to Mound City Group for an inspection

tour and to meet with local officials, announced the shelter

house would remain for at least three years until other

facilities became available in the area. Visitors would have to

walk to the pavilion from the visitor center parking lot, and

outdoor cooking grills along with the former museum room walls

would be removed. 52 These measures contributed to a dramatic reduction of

picnicking use. Following the 5 p.m. visitor center closing,

evening picnics ceased altogether, and weekend use came about

only by those groups willing to walk to the area, after which

most said they would henceforth go elsewhere. In light of

diminished use, King again recommended razing the pavilion prior

to the 1961 season. Region Five, anxious to avoid further public

criticism and confident that the passage of time would cure the

problem, again rebuffed King's reguest, advising him to focus his

Quote from Acting Regional Director Palmer to Director Wirth, 29 February 1960; and Acting Director E. T. Scoyen to Lee, 10 March 1960.

52King to Lee, 1 June 1960, May 1960 report; "Shelter House to Stand at Mound City for While," Chillicothe Gazette (10 May 1960); and Acting Director

Hillory A. Tolson to Senator Frank J. Lausche and Senator Stephen M. Young,

letters, 17 July 1960.
95

attention on the new visitor center and forget the picnic area. 53 Visitor use statistics revealed the drop in picnicking use. July

1960, traditionally a heavy visitor-use month, saw 3,806 visitors

compared to 7,782 during July 1959. Those visitors largely were recorded at the new visitor center. King reported that only one group of thirty and ten family groups used the picnic grounds

along with a "few 'die-hards' who feel the change in emphasis was

a personal slap at Chillicothe.

54 In his August 1960 report,

King noted,

Local 'play' groups just will not come out for picnics

if they cannot drive almost to their tables. With but

few exceptions the local citizens are accepting the

changes, if they are explained in the proper way. The

first approach: that we are responsible for operating

a Monument, not a playground, therefore, the road was

removed. Then if they are not satisfied they are reminded that an area with a steep bluff and deep river

is not the ideal choice for a playground. After that

but few have more to say for most local people have

often commented about how dangerous the area was, especially for small children.

The closing of the picnic ground, even in the

remote future, does not come into the discussion but

for all effective purposes, the picnic ground is

closed. They rarely use it during the week, sometimes

only one group, sometimes none, and seldom more than

two groups use it on Sunday. The Ross County

Fairground is open to group picnics such as formerly

used this area and several of these groups have gone

there this year. 55 Other recreational uses continued on a reduced scale as well.

Evening use included people exercising their dogs, children

running and rolling over the mounds, fishermen walking to the

river, and those out for an evening drive. 56 King refused to back down from his non-compromising position

on razing the shelter house. When asked to assess local

sentiment at the end of the 1961 season, King reported that while

King to Lee, 21 June 1960; and Acting Regional Director to King, 19 July

1960.

54King to Lee, 2 August 1960, July 1960 report.

55King to Lee, 2 September 1960, August 1960 report.

56King to Lee, 1 December 1960, November 1960 report; and King to Lee, 2 August 1961, July 1961 report.
96

Dill and Rigney stuck with their previous views, the chamber of commerce now believed picnicking should be strictly the city's

responsibility. Most local people had already found other

accommodations. King said that the goal of eliminating such

facilities was intentionally omitted from the MISSION 66

prospectus "lest local pressure compel us to keep and improve

[them] . Since my arrival here almost 15 years ago I have been

advised by the Service to eliminate picnicking as soon as possible." In the two seasons that elapsed since the phase-out

of picnicking was announced, none of the picnics actually

reguired use of a shelter. "In fact," King commented, "the use

of the area has been insufficient to warrant the retention of any

facilities in that area. To reopen the discussions might

endanger our position, whereas the razing of the building as a justifiable safety measure would be accepted with no comment."57 Clyde King did not see demolition of the despised shelter

house occur on his watch. In late March 1962, he transferred to

Harper's Ferry National Monument, West Virginia, as management

assistant. Although hailed as "Mr. Moundbuilder" by the local

newspaper, King's editorial tribute was muted in its praise; the

long altercation had clearly taken its toll. 58 In July 1962,

following an inspection that revealed the pavilion's

deterioration might again make it unsafe, George Palmer met again

with Chillicothe officials, and secured agreement from Eugene

Rigney that the building should be removed. However, they agreed

that three picnic tables, a trash barrel, and a small parking lot

be provided in the park's northwest corner adjacent to State

Route 104. 59 On August 24, 1962, contract work began to remove

the wooden pavilion, leaving the stone foundation, concrete

12 September 1961; and Acting Regional

Director J. Carlisle Croner to King, 6 September 1961.

58,, Mr. Moundbuilder Leaving," Chillicothe Gazette editorial (22 March

1962); and Acting Superintendent Richard D. Faust to Lee, 6 April 1962, March

1962 report. Other than Clyde King's repeated and determined requests to raze

the pavilion in spite of decisions already made in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., the files do not explicitly suggest that King's transfer was

less than voluntary. However, when local controversies were elevated to the departmental level, traditional Park Service practice was to move a park

manager. The conflict blemished an otherwise good record, and King did not receive a comparable assignment. The picnicking strife lived on in the public's memory. According to former park archeologist Lee Hanson: "I found myself having to defend the decision from visitors, who bemoaned the fact that

the park wasn't what it used to be. The files contained a spate of letters written in protest at the time and calling for King's dismissal." See Lee Hanson to Naomi Hunt, letter, 15 March 1986.

59Faust to Lee, 9 August 1962, July 1962 report; and Lee to Director

Wirth, 14 December 1962. The new picnic facilities were placed on July 12. From that day to the end of the month, forty-four cars stopped to use the new picnic site.
97

walks, and comfort station, 60 which were removed by April 17,

1963, with the sites fertilized and seeded in grass. ' Picnicking never again became the dominant recreation

activity that it was prior to 1960. The long-held NPS goal of

eliminating it was successful, but cost the agency considerable

public goodwill by the manner in which it came to be. In August

1973, the small picnic area was moved inside the perimeter fence

for safety reasons. The poorly-designed lunching spot became

increasingly hazardous as the volume of State Route 104 traffic

continued to increase. Moved to a spot northwest of the visitor

center, patrons could now more conveniently park in the main lot

and walk to the tables. This interim solution ended in 1976 when

the picnic area was again relocated and received favorable public

comment

62

**Era of Development: MISSION 66 at Mound City Group

With disposition to the state of Ohio looming in the mid1950s, MISSION 66 improvements at Mound City Group National

Monument almost did not occur. The February 20, 1956 prospectus

arrived with instructions from Associate Director E. T. Scoyen

not to undertake any facility development without prior agreement

with Ohio. Instead of being placed in a new visitor

center/museum, administrative functions were approved for removal

from the small office in the superintendent's residence to the

shelter house which would be rehabilitated to accommodate this

combined purpose. 63 New attitudes directed toward Mound City Group came in the

aftermath of Archeologist John Corbett's early 1956 assessment of

significance. A Region Five team conducting an area management

study in June 1956, reflected Corbett's views. The team declared

the pavilion was poorly sited to serve as the park's visitor

center and administration building, and to make it as such would

be "pouring good money after bad." They added,

It is our conviction that Mound City Group National

Faust to Lee, 6 September 1962, August 1962 report; and Superintendent

John C. W. Riddle to Lee, 10 October 1962, September 1962 report.

6l Riddle to Lee, 12 April 1963, March 1963 report; and Riddle to Lee, 13 May 1963, April 1963 report. One year later, Riddle reported that the area

had rejuvenated to such an extent it was almost impossible to detect any trace

of the former improvements. See Riddle to Lee, 5 June 1964, May 1964 report.

62 "Mound City Picnic Area Moved," Chillicothe Gazette (15 August 1973); and Superintendent's Report, 1977.

63 Scoyen to King, 20 February 195S.
98

Monument should not be subjected to a further interim

period of existence. If the decision is to retain it

in the National Park System, it should be effectively

developed as soon as it can be programmed. If it is to

be disposed of, it should be left as it is and

immediate steps taken to transfer it. 64 The team concurred with Clyde King that "undue emphasis" remained

on the picnic area with the mounds considered a mere adjunct area

for amusement. The monument required a visitor center to

"provide proper understanding of the mounds." The team declared,

"As a result of our study of Mound City and visits to other mound

sites in the vicinity of Chillicothe, we feel that the Monument

should be retained as a unit in the National Park System to tell

the fascinating story of the Hopewell Indians." If retained,

Mound City Group should not only be restored to the prehistoric

period, but its title should be changed to convey a more accurate

picture to visitors, with a name like "Hopewell Mounds" or "Indian Mounds" National Monument. 65 In its review and approval of the area management study,

Region Five shifted gears and recommended a fundamental revision

of the MISSION 66 prospectus. The region concurred with John

Corbett concerning national significance, and in assessing the

integrity issue, George Palmer stated, "The erection of Camp

Sherman did not bring complete destruction of the mounds as we

had understood and it appears that the excavations of 192 and

1921 by the Ohio Archaeological Society was a highly professional

project. To us the Mound City Group appears to have higher

professional recognition and archeological merit than the

National Park Service has credited to it in the past."66 Therefore, Palmer recommended that the prospectus be altered to

include a new visitor center/museum building and parking lot

along State Route 104. Such a facility would serve visitors

immediately upon their entering the park, would separate primary

cultural resources from the public service area, and would

constitute an interpretive focus on the mounds themselves.

Acknowledging the tardiness of this MISSION 66 proposal, Palmer

Region Five Chief of Operations J. Carlisle Crouch, Chief of Interpretation Murray H. Nelligan, and Administrative Officer Benjamin F. Gibson, Area Management Study of Mound City Group National Monument , 6-7 June

1956. "ibid. Interpretive planner Nelligan first proposed the name change.

King subsequently recommended "Hopewell Indians National Monument" with Mound

City Group as the "illustrative exhibit." He expressed the hope that the name change would prompt the state highway department to change its directional

signs from "Mound City" to, at the very least, "National Monument." ^Acting Regional Director George A. Palmer to Director Wirth, 25 January

1957.
99

pressed for its timely consideration. 67 Although the MISSION 66 prospectus was soon amended to

reflect Palmer's request, Director Conrad Wirth's final approval

hinged on preparing an acceptable museum prospectus. When a March 1958 draft included plans to use artifacts at the Ohio

State Museum, NPS Washington officials wanted a written

commitment that the artifacts would be made available upon the

visitor center's completion. Acting Director E. T. Scoyen

warned, "We believe it would not be proper to program this

project without this assurance."68 When Ohio Historical Society

director Erwin C. Zepp agreed to the long-term loan as well as procurement of replicas, 9 planning continued unencumbered.

Public announcement of MISSION 66 improvements came on November 11, 1957. Clyde King reported phase one, fiscal year

1958 improvements of $22,700 in the form of roads, trails, and

signs, with $163,200 programmed the following year for the

visitor center and utilities. King announced the de-emphasis of

Mound City Group as a city picnic area as follows: "The need for

a balanced program of cultural preservation at Mound City has not

been met. This program will place the interpretation of the

Hopewell prehistoric peoples and their culture in its proper

perspective and give it the needed emphasis." With new interpretive facilities, King predicted visitation to hit 75,000

by 1966. 70 Unfortunately, the MISSION 66 program for Mound City Group

came in the immediate aftermath of President Dwight D. Eisenhower's speech calling for increased military scientific

research spending following the Soviet Union's successful

"Sputnik" manned spacecraft launch into Earth's orbit. It prompted a petition circulated by Circleville resident Stewart F. Martin, signed by fifteen other citizens, opposing "spendthrift

foolishness" to improve a park already "attractive and highly

Ibid. The Advisory Board on National Parks, Historic Sites, Buildings,

and Monuments had at one meeting reversed its prohibition on Mound City Group

development, and at the next reinstated it. Dr. John O. Brew, member from April 1952 to June 1958, remainded adamantly against the monument. See Regional Archeologist John L. Cotter to Regional Chief of Interpretation

Murray H. Nelligan, 13 November 1957, D18. ^Acting Director Scoyen to Regional Director Tobin, 31 March 1958, D6215; and Chief, MISSION 66 Staff, W. G. Carnes to Tobin, 13 January 1958. Wirth's concurrence to Palmer's request can be found in Wirth to Tobin, 3 June 1957. Approval of Final Master Plan Drawing NM-MCG 3000B of the General Development

Plan came from King via memorandum dated 30 July 1957, D18.

'""Mound City Additions to Total $185,900 by 1960," Chillicothe Gazette

(11 November 1957)
100

satisfactory." Directed to their immediate congressional

delegation, the petition-signers said only a periodic "fogging"

for flies was reguired, adding, "When we reflect upon the

President's recent address and consider the gravity of the

current world conditions with the effort and expense of

maintaining defense, we cannot afford the luxury of the whimsical

desire to put the Hopewell, or any other prehistoric Indians, in

the 'proper perspective' or give them their 'needed emphasis.'"71 In response, Acting Director E. T. Scoyen stated the monument was nationally significant, and as such merited Park Service

preservation and interpretation, with development not going

beyond the modest amount of $185,900 over a ten-year period. 72 A local drive to drown out the small opposition group effectively

mobilized to support park development. 73 Budget limitation imposed by the Bureau of the Budget

eliminated Mound City Group's development funds scheduled for

fiscal year 1959. Responding to Ohio Senator Bricker, Acting

Director Scoyen said the park held a high priority in the MISSION

66 program and expressed hope that national economic conditions

would permit reprogramming and/or scheduling the project. 74 Such

a hope sparked to life at mid-year but in reduced form when

Director Wirth limited visitor center development to less than

$100,000 for building and exhibits. The museum prospectus

estimatated space reguirements at 4,500 sguare feet, but to fit

Stewart F. Martin, William R. Sheridan, Hugh R. Barnhill, James A. Wade, Charles D. Harrison, Ramona Charles, R. T. Kerrison, James W. Steele, G. D. Welsh, Charles D. Lee, Darrol Timmons, Robert Schumann, Donald E. Bowman, James E. Hinkle, Leroy D. McManis, and Glen Poff to Senators Frank J. Lausche

and John W. Bricker and Representative James G. Polk, letter, 15 November

1957.

72Scoyen to Senator Frank J. Lausche, letter, 5 December 1957. ^Dr. L. T. Franklin, president, Ross-Highland Auto Club, to Senator John

W. Bricker, letter, 21 December 1957; "Auto Club Spurs Action on Mound City

Project," Chillicothe Gazette (2 January 1958); and "Foe of Mound City

Expenditure Tells Why," Chillicothe Gazette (4 January 1958). Eisenhower's

beating of the Cold War drums against the USSR, led to his 1958 State of the Union message for Americans to sacrifice federal projects for national goals.

In a local editorial, eerie parallels were drawn to MISSION 66 at Mound City

Group: "Can we leave anything to posterity unless we have the military and financial strength to face up to Russia? The President in calling for sacrifices cited the grave peril confronting the U.S. as result of the Soviet

sweep in military science. The $186,000 project for Mound City is a mere drop

in the bucket compared with the billions involved in the forthcoming budget.

But, we'll gladly forego that project if it will help save the nation from bankruptcy and conquest." See "Economy Begins at Home," Chillicothe Gazette

editorial (10 January 1958).

74Scoyen to Bricker, letter, 23 January 1958; and "Mound City Development

Loses Out," Chillicothe Gazette (7 February 1958).
101

funding, planners began reducing the overall space allocation. 75 To King, the reduction in office space still represented more

than the existing ten by ten office room in the residence, and he

approved space cuts in this area. 76 Typical of the Park Service's minimalist approach, Mound

City Group was to get a "bare bones" MISSION 66 package.

Building design came after exhibit planning which occurred in

July 1958 with the assistance of Washington Office Archeologist

John Corbett and Regional Archeologist John Cotter. The team

took their draft plan to Columbus for review by Ohio State Museum

curator Raymond Baby. It contained fifteen exhibits to show the use of mounds, who built them and how, and an array of objects

the Hopewells used. The plan adopted an existing exhibit and one exhibit was to be seasonal in nature and changed frequently. 77 With funds identified in the fiscal year 1960 budget, King

scheduled a project bid-opening for August 18, 1959.

Construction drawings called for a one-story stone and brick veneer museum/office building with a panorama bridge deck atop

its eastern end. Plans called for a museum surrounding an openair patio measuring forty by forty feet, with offices, utility

room and entranceway facing State Route 104. An outdoor lecture

area with steps leading to the panorama bridge faced the mounds

and afforded an excellent view of the mound group. A forty-car

paved lot to the south was connected via a new road to the

existing entrance. 78 Winning bidder at $119,334 (not including landscaping), C. A. Yeager and Company of Portsmouth, Ohio, began work on September 21, 1959, with Brewer and Brewer of Chillicothe

constructing the roadway. 79 Yeager finished work, including that

of a gas and oil house measuring twenty-four square feet, on May

5, 1960. A separate landscaping contract came in late May with

chief, design and construction division, 11 July 1958; and Tobin to Zimmer, 1 August 1958.

76King to Tobin, 5 August 1958. Employee levels in 1960 were set at three permanent s: superintendent, archeologist, and administrative aide. King did

not foresee an "operative staff exceed[ing] 5, including part-time employees." Because original artifacts would be on loan from Columbus, there would not be

a large collection for display purposes "and will likely never be in storage

at the site."

77King to Tobin, 1 August 1958, July 1958 report; "Mound City Museum

Awaits Funds," Chillicothe Gazette (14 July 1958); and "Funds Awaited: Mound Museum Planned," Columbus Dispatch (3 August 1958).

78,

New Center Planned for Mound City," Chillicothe Gazette (27 July 1959). "Work on Mound City Center is Under Way," Chillicothe Gazette (22 September 1959).
102

Figure 34: Region V Archeologist John L. Cotter delivers the

keynote speech at the visitor center dedication. (NPS/Mrs. Clyde

King, May 14, 1961)
103

work held up until fall because of difficulty in finding the

specified flagpole. 80 Limited use of the visitor center came on May 13, I960, with existing office furniture and exhibits. The new museum displays were installed in early July along with Mound

City Group artifacts from the Ohio State Museum. A tentative

dedication, planned for early October, was postponed until May

1961, pending finishing touches and selection of an appropriate

lead dignitary from Director Wirth's staff. 81 The most popular visitor service came on August 8, 1960,

when speakers were installed on the visitor center's roof and

panoramic viewing platform. A recording operated by push-button

related the interpretive story of the mounds and the Hopewell

culture. It remained available even during the visitor center's

after-hours and received very favorable public comment. 82 Dr. John L. Cotter, regional archeologist, served as keynote

speaker at the May 14, 1961, visitor center dedication with Mayor

Nicholas H. Holmes the master of ceremonies. Also on the program

was James H. Butt, president of the chamber of commerce; Superintendent King; Ross County Historical Society director

Eugene D. Rigney; and Ohio Historical Society director Erwin C. Zepp. In his keynote address, Cotter spoke about the park's

significance: "Mound City Group is a silent but eloquent

testimonial of mankind and his noble effort to honor the past and

dedicate himself to the future. It is the story of a people who,

from the remote centuries of which we can only surmise a history,

draw a living tradition of ceremony to which they devoted some of

the finest prehistoric art known to modern man." 83

Gas and Oil House (Building 6) description, 31 March 1960; Visitor

Center (Building 5) description and Form 10-174 Completion Report:

Construction of a Museum and Visitor Center and Alterations to the Utility

Building, Mound City Group National Monument, Contract No. 14-10-0529-1801, 23 June 1961; King to Lee, 3 May 1960, April 1960 report; and King to Lee, 2 August 1960, July 1960 report.

8l King to Lee, 1 June 1960, May 1960 report; "Visitors' Center Gets Moundbuilder Displays," Chillicothe Gazette (2 July 1960); Lee to Wirth, 8 September 1960; and Associate Director Scoyen to Lee, 9 February 1961.

82King to Lee, 2 September 1960, August 1960 report; and "Mound City in 38th Anniversary," Chillicothe Gazette (2 March 1961).

83Quotation from "Visitor Center Dedication Speech by Dr. John L. Cotter"

in History file; "Dedication Sunday at Mound City," Chillicothe Gazette (13 May 1961); and Dedication Program, 14 May 1961. Steering committee included

A. P. Story, Chairman; G. S. Dill; Ralph W. Heckel; N. L. Kellenberger

Richard E. Midden; Peavy Schachne; and H. L. Worf. Regular members: Earl Barnhart, Harold Breiel, Lloyd Davis, Raymond Embree, Richard Enderlin, Joseph

Epperson, A. E. Gower, Leonard Growdon, John Hershey, Jr., Paul Hydell, Alvin

Jones, J. A. MacLeod, Col. David McC. McKell, Merton A. Moore, Truman A. Morris, William H. Nolan, Don H. Placier, Eugene D. Rigney, Maurice Schachne,

N. A. Seidensticker, Bernard J. Stacey, and R. M. Stewart.
104

Figure 35: MISSION 66 also saw a chestnut rail fence erected

around the monument's boundary; looking north from the entrance

road is the new fence along tree-lined Highway 104. (NPS/Richard

D. Faust, June 19 63)
105

Figure 36: Another MISSION 66 project included construction of an ethnobotanical trail, part of which paralleled the Scioto

River. (NPS/John C. W. Riddle, August 1963)
106

Upon completion of the visitor center, several additional

MISSION 66 projects were funded. A June 30, 1961, contract

provided for modifications to the entrance gate and signage. 84 As part of the Kennedy administration's "New Frontier" public

works program in 1963, $85,000 were earmarked to accomplish four

Mound City Group projects. First, reforestation "back to the

days of Squier and Davis" saw 139 large-sized trees planted along

with 1,400 seedlings. Second, workers installed 5,210 feet of

split-rail chestnut fencing along the park's north, south, and

west boundaries. Third, came an ethnobotanical trail featuring

stone walls and a pathway along the Scioto River as well as an interpretive audio station. The fourth and final MISSION 66

project, an earthworks restoration, involved the borrow pits and

several other mounds, two of which had never before been opened

(see Chapter Four) . 85 Superintendent Clyde B. King's sixteen-year tenure at Mound

City Group National Monument constituted a period of dramatic

change. King arrived in 194 6 to find a largely undeveloped park

being operated exclusively as a playground. Park visitors,

preoccuped by recreational pursuits, had scant knowledge of the

prehistoric earthworks. King immediately set to work formulating

an interpretive program spending countless hours conducting

historical research and utilizing historical society and museum

archives in Chillicothe and Columbus. He personally designed and

constructed the exhibits in the small museum room, and never missed an opportunity to wax eloquent on the Hopewell culture.

Following long-held NPS policy, King worked tirelessly to curtail

and nearly eliminate picnicking at Mound City Group. He

cultivated allies from within and outside the Park Service to

stave-off attempts to turn the park over to the state. King

believed strongly in his park and worked tirelessly for it to be

transformed from a playground to a legitimate national monument.

His dream for Mound City Group was only fulfilled through the

auspices of MISSION 66. In his zeal to achieve NPS goals, Clyde

King damaged himself in terms of community goodwill and, by

extension, caused strained relations with superiors in

Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. Nonetheless, King's tribute as

"Mr. Moundbuilder" remains legitimate and enduring. Clyde King's

strength and vision truly transformed Mound City Group National

Monument from a roadside municipal picnic ground into a modern,

fully-functional unit of the national park system.

84King to Lee, 1 July 1961, June 1961 report.

85 "Mound City Grant Not Clarified," Chillicothe Gazette (21 January 1963) "Mound City Project Clarified," Chillicothe Gazette (24 January 1963); and "Mound City Undergoing Four-Point Development," Chillicothe Gazette (15 June

1963). A cost breakdown for the four projects was as follows: $4,900,

$10,100, $10,000, and $60,000.
Chapter Four

Administering the Mound City Group

It takes good managers and a talented, hard-working

professional staff to make park administration and operations a success. Mound City Group National Monument and it successor

entity, Hopewell Culture National Historical Park, have largely

enjoyed both. With a dedicated corps of park professionals in

Chillicothe, the park's geographical positioning near the center

of the state, close to the capital at Columbus, made it a natural

focal point for National Park Service operations in Ohio. In the

early 1970s, Mound City Group National Monument, itself already

fully developed, served as headquarters for the "Ohio National

Park Service Group," whereby all Ohio's federal parks answered to the "general superintendent" in Chillicothe and Mound City Group

staff served more than one park. Known within the bureau simply

as the "Ohio Group," the cooperative administrative entity

endured only a few years.

The idea refused to die, however, as Mound City Group/

Hopewell Culture employees helped establish and augment

operations as new federal park units came on-line in Cincinnati,

Cleveland/ Akron, and Dayton. Bureau reorganization in the mid1990s created new opportunities for the Chillicothe park to shine

within the National Park Service's Midwest Region and presented a real possibility of cooperation among Ohio's federal parks.

** National Park Service Staff

Following the March 1962 transfer of Clyde B. King, John C. W. ("Bill") Riddle arrived on September 7, 1962, to become Mound

City Group's second superintendent. This represented Bill

Riddle's first super intendency, having served as district ranger

at Acadia National Park, Maine, with previous assignments at Gettysburg National Military Park, Pennsylvania; and Colonial

National Historical Park, Virginia. A management inspection

conducted by Northeast Regional Administrative Officer John J. Bachensky found Mound City Group operations "very compact,

direct, and efficient" and the four permanent staff in

conformance with the Group 'A' category, a designation indicating

the monument functioned at a basic operations level with minimal

staff. Bachensky foresaw no further increases for permanent or temporary personnel. The staff included Superintendent Riddle,

Administrative Aide (vacant) , Maintenanceman J. Vernon Acton, and

Archeologist Richard Faust. Three seasonal positions included a
108

laborer, information-receptionist, and ranger-historian. 1 Riddle held the first staff meeting in Mound City Group

history on November 26, 1962. The exercise received such high

praise that Riddle resolved to hold regular meetings at least

twice per month. Riddle hardly had time to adjust to his new position for by mid-June 1965, he transferred to the

superintendency of Hopewell Village National Historic Site,

Pennsylvania. 2 Administrative Aide Delmar G. Peterson became

acting superintendent until James W. Coleman, Jr. , entered on duty on July 19, 1965. Coleman, a second-generation Park Service

employee, formerly served as historian at Manassas National

Battlefield Park, Virginia. 3 As a newly-developed park with daily operations static and

routine, the Mound City Group superintendency ideally lent itself

as a training position for new managers preparing themselves for more challenging positions elsewhere. Like his immediate

predecessor, Coleman remained at Mound City Group for only two

years. On July 2, 1967, Coleman transferred to Saratoga National

Historical Park, New York. Coleman's replacement, George F. Schesventer, the former management assistant at George Washington

Birthplace National Monument, Virginia, took over the job on July

30, 1967. It was under Schesventer 's superintendency that NPS

Director George B. Hartzog, Jr.'s, policy of having "state

coordinators" became implemented. The politically astute Hartzog

ordered one NPS superintendent per state be designated as the

bureau's "eyes, ears, and mouth." The coordinator position was a key link between state and federal park and historic preservation

programs, and Hartzog intended it to give NPS an elevated profile

in state and local political circles. Chillicothe, in close

Quotation in John J. Bachensky, "Management Inspection Report," 19 December 1962, A5427 Management Appraisal 1963-75, Record Group 79, Records of the National Park Service/Midwest Regional Office, National Archives and Records Administration, Federal Records Center, Kansas City, Missouri

(hereafter cited as RG 79, NARA/FRC, Kansas City); Riddle to Regional Director

Ronald F. Lee, 10 October 1962, September 1962 report; and "New Superintendent

on Jobs at Mound City," Chillicothe Gazette (15 September 1963).

Via secretarial order of September 19, 1985, this unit's name changed to "Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site."

3Riddle to Lee, 11 December 1962, November 1962 report; Riddle to Lee, 4 June 1965, May 1965 report; "Peterson in Charge at Mound City," Chillicothe

Gazette (26 June 1965); "Mound City Has New Superintendent," Chillicothe

Gazette (21 July 1965); and Coleman to Lee, 12 August 1965, July 1965 report.
109

Figure 37: Mound City Group National Monument staff: (left to

right) Kathleen Allyn, Virginia Skaggs, Walter Fraley, Linda

Shreve, Nicholas Veloz, Susan Brady, J. Vernon Acton, and George

Schesventer. (NPS/Phillip Egan, June 10, 1969)
110

proximity to Columbus, made Mound City Group's superintendent the

logical choice to be state coordinator. 4 In addition to his liaison role, Schesventer also assumed

superintendent responsibilities for William Howard Taft National

Historic Site in Cincinnati upon its authorization by Congress on December 2, 1969. Schesventer continued in that capacity until

December 3, 1970. The following day, at the behest of Director

George Hartzog, the Ohio National Park Service Group was established with headquarters at Mound City Group National

Monument. Taft, along with Perry's Victory and International

Peace Memorial, were linked with Mound City Group and

administered by the Office of the General Superintendent

physically located at Mound City Group. Schesventer was not

designated general superintendent of the new entity, however, as he transferred on March 6, 1971, to assume the superintendency of

Castillo de San Marcos and Fort Matanzas National Monuments,

Florida.

Taking his place in Chillicothe and filling the new Ohio NPS

Group general superintendency, William C. ("Bill") Birdsell began

his duties on March 7, 1971. Public relations was at the heart

of Birdsell 's position as he acknowledged in early 1974: "It

became apparent shortly after the Office of the General

Superintendent was established that NPS public relations in the

State of Ohio were in need of top priority attention. It was of

major concern to us," Birdsell wrote, "that U.S. Representatives

and Senators and the Governor and his staff were not even aware

of National Park Service areas in their state, and that most

local townspeople had never visited their neighboring NPS

sites."6 Tying Park Service units together to achieve economy and

coordination in operations had long been a favored practice.

Grouping all NPS units within a state under one general

superintendent represented something tried in several other

areas, but largely discarded after the 1970s, particularly after

""Mound City Staff Loses Two," Chillicothe Gazette (27 May 1967); "Named Mound City Superintendent," Chillicothe Gazette (29 July 1969); and Acting

Regional Director George A. Palmer to Director Hartzog, March 4-8, 1968,

Management Appraisal Report, 10 May 1968, A5427 Management Appraisal 1963-

1975, RG 79 NARA/FRC, Kansas City.

5Historic Listing of National Park Service Officials , May 1991, 75, 145,

153, 188; and "New National Parks Chief has Many Jobs," Chillicothe Gazette (9 April 1971).

6 "Ohio Group" booklet, circa February 1974, folder MOCI Area General

File, Midwest Archeological Center files.
Ill

Figure 38: Superintendent William C. ("Bill") Birdsell

(NPS/Betty White, May 1974)
112

President Richard M. Nixon's December 1972 firing of NPS Director

Hartzog. 7 Remarkably, Bill Birdsell had not previously been a superintendent before he received his new assignment with

Hartzog 's blessing. 8 Although Birdsell continued to lobby for it, he was unsuccessful in getting Northeast Region approval to fill the

park manager position for Mound City Group in order for Birdsell

to devote full-time to state coordinator and Ohio NPS Group

duties. 9 In fact, the Ohio NPS Group existed only through the

strength of Birdsell 's personality. It never received a separate

budget allocation. Instead, Birdsell was forced to skim funding

from all three Ohio park units, but with extra amounts taken from

William Howard Taft National Historic Site which had yet to be

restored and made fully operational. Birdsell staffed his office

with Administrative Technician Joan Crider, Secretary Virginia

Skaggs, and Clerk-Typist Rhonda Hughes. George Kane, the only

NPS ranger in Ohio, divided his time between Mound City Group and

the visitor season at Perry's Victory. Ohio NPS Group employees

Birdsell, Skaggs, and Hughes took care of administrative and

clerical matters for Mound City Group, with interpretation and

maintenance remaining as the only full-time permanent function

allotted for Mound City Group. Park Technician Bonnie Meyer took

care of visitor services and interpretation for four summer seasons at Perry's Victory before transferring to Mound City

Group in winter 1973-74 to fill a permanent position. 10 On January 6, 1974, following establishment of the Rocky

Examples include: Boston National Park Service Group (1968-1974); Alaska Group Office (1959-1972); Flagstaff National Park Service Group (1968-

1971); Indiana-Illinois National Park Service Group (1971-1974); Rocky

Mountain National Park Service Group (1969-1972); Seattle Administrative Group

(1969-1971); New York City National Park Service Group (1964-1967); New York Group (1974-1975); Southern Utah Group (1969-1972); and Southern Arizona Group

(1971 to present). Similar entities would also include Southeastern National Monuments Headquarters and Southwestern National Monuments Headquarters. See Historic Listing of National Park Service Officials , May 1991, above listings.

8 Birdsell to Hartzog, letter, 6 May 1971, P4019.

9Mound City Group National Monument Briefing Book , 1974. As a GS-12 general superintendent, Birdsell wanted to down-grade the other three superintendents from GS-11 to GS-9. His plan was not adopted. According to his position description, Birdsell was to divide his time as follows: state coordinator sixty percent; Mound City Group fifteen percent; Perry's Victory

ten percent; and William Howard Taft fifteen percent. His position

description clearly stated that someone else serve as Mound City Group

superintendent

Roundup" newsletter, no date (circa February 1975); "Ohio Group" booklet, circa February 1974, folder M0CI Area General File,

Midwest Archeological Center files; and Bonnie Murray interview, 26 August

1993.
113

Mountain Region, NPS underwent a fundamental shift of boundaries.

The Ohio parks, already subjected to two previous regional

realignments (Region One/Richmond and Region Five/ Northeast

Region, Philadelphia) , found themselves shifted yet a third time

to the purview of Midwest Regional Office with headquarters in

Omaha, Nebraska. Effective March 1, 1974, the administrative

transfer took place and Ohio NPS Group began reporting to Midwest

Regional Director J. Leonard Volz. 11 While the Northeast Region

directorate favored "grouping" parks, officials in Omaha did not. Termination of the Ohio NPS Group became imminent. Upon

authorization of Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area on June

26, 1975, Bill Birdsell, who as state coordinator had served as project keyman for the proposed unit sandwiched between Cleveland

and Akron, Ohio, became the new park's superintendent. Effective

July 1, 1975, the Ohio Group dissolved. All four Ohio parks

became autonomous with their superintendents reporting to Omaha.

When Birdsell left Chillicothe on July 21, he took his state

coordinator duties with him. 12 That was not all Birdsell took with him. In addition to

using Mound City Group personnel to perform maintenance and

administrative tasks prior to hiring his own staff, Birdsell took

Mound City Group capitalized equipment, including a vehicle, and

other materials to Cuyahoga Valley. When Fred J. Fagergren

arrived in Chillicothe to replace Birdsell on October 26, 1975,

he found the unauthorized transfer of property intolerable.

Fagergren complained to Regional Director Volz that not only

would he have to debit his own budget to replace the items, he

resented the fact that Cuyahoga Valley, as a new area, would

henceforth automatically receive priority funding at levels

higher than Mound City Group's. 13

Birdsell to Regional Director Chester L. Brooks, letter, 29 January

1974, A34 (Ohio Group records). From the tone of Birdsell's letter, he regretted leaving the Northeast (renamed Mid-Atlantic) Region. See also Bonnie Murray interview, 26 August 1993.

l2John Kawamoto interview, 21 December 1993. Upon Birdsell's fatal coronary on August 18, 1980, state coordinator duties returned to the Mound

City Group superintendent.

13Bonnie Murray interview, 26 August 1993; Superintendent's Annual Report,

1975; Birdsell to all employees, 18 July 1975, file A6435 Book 1 1968-1975, RG

79, NARA/FRC, Kansas City; Ohio NPS Group staff meeting, 30 June 1975, A40; Mound City Group staff meeting, 22 August 1975, A40; Superintendent Fagergren

to Regional Director Volz, 18 November 1975, S42; and Ron Cockrell, A Green

Shrouded Miracle; The Administrative History of Cuyahoga Valley National

Recreation Area, Ohio (Omaha: NPS, Midwest Regional Office, 1992), 311-12.

In the interim, Administrative Technician Joan F. Crider served as acting

superintendent. Virginia Skaggs and Bonnie Murray helped set up Cuyahoga

Valley park headquarters and trained new employees. Maintenancemen Phil Egan

and Joe Gothard provided maintenance services. As staff increased at Perry's

Victory and William Howard Taft, Mound City Group continued to provide basic

services and support.
114

Figure 39: Superintendent Fred Fagergren, Jr. (NPS/Theresa

Nichols, January 1979)
115

An operations evaluation report in February 197 6 conducted

by Midwest Region personnel concurred with Fagergren and

recommended expedited replacement of the "fairly significant list

of property and supplies" removed from Mound City Group. In examining the de-clustering of the Ohio parks, the team reported

it "has had [a] less positive effect on Mound City than on the

other units." Grade-level re-evaluations were recommended for

the superintendent, administrative technician, and secretary, and

the team urged speedy review and approval of a new park

organizational chart. 14 Superintendent Fagergren 's tenure at Mound City Group

spanned five years. Like Coleman, Fagergren was a secondgeneration Park Service employee. Mound City Group represented

his first park management assignment, and Fagergren was its first

superintendent with a degree in anthropology. Fagergren 's administration embodied a significant time of transition when

studies on other Hopewell sites were prepared that subsequently

spawned an initiative to expand and transform Mound City Group.

Fagergren aggressively pushed for change with a determination to reorient the park's interpretive focus upon its cultural

resources. 15 Upon Fagergren 's transfer on March 7, 1981, Ken Apschnikat

became Mound City Group's seventh superintendent on April 19,

1981. Apschnikat, historian at Appomattox Court House National

Historical Park, naturalist at Shenandoah National Park, and

chief of interpretation and visitor services at Richmond National

Battlefield Park, all in Virginia, had eleven years of experience

before assuming his first park management post. 16 Apschnikat'

tenure arrived at the same time the administration of President

Ronald W. Reagan began implementing its tight controls on landmanaging federal agencies through Secretary of the Interior James

G. Watt. Watt, a conservative Westerner who wanted to curb

federal power over the private sector, instituted a moratorium on federal land acquisition until such policies could clearly be

14Hugh P. Beattie and Thomas L. Weeks, Operations Evaluation Report, Mound

City Group National Monument, February 1976 . approved 10 March 1976, A5427 January 1976-December 1979, RG 79, NARA/FRC, Kansas City.

15 Fagergren graduated from the University of Arizona with a bachelor's

degree in 1972, and served as an interpretive specialist for Rocky Mountain

National Park, Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site, and Florissant Fossil

Beds National Monument, all in Colorado. Prior to his Ohio assignment, he served as park ranger/archeologist at Effigy Mounds National Monument, Iowa. "Fagergren Family Moves to Florida," NPS news release, 18 February 1981, K3415; and Bonnie Murray interview, 26 August 1993.

l6 Ibid., and "New Director to Oversee Mound City Improvements,"

Chillicothe Gazette (17 July 1981), K3415.
116

spelled out through Interior-approved land acquisition plans. In the meantime, as the nation slipped further into an economic

recession, NPS adopted "basic operations" plans for each unit.

Mound City Group's focused on resource preservation and

protection. Apschnikat's basic operations objectives were as follows:

To identify, inventory, and evaluate the park's

cultural resources; to monitor their condition; and to

preserve, protect, and interpret them in a manner consistent with the requirements of the enabling

legislation, historic preservation laws, and National

Park Service policies.

To ensure, through authorized acquisition or other

means, a land base that is adequate to protect and

interpret the burial mounds and associated cultural

resources.

To help ensure that land use and development in the

park's vicinity are compatible with long-term

preservation of park resources through cooperation with

other agencies, organizations, and interests.

To protect the historic and prehistoric resources from

erosion by the Scioto River.

To foster public understanding and appreciation of the

Hopewell and other native American cultures and the

relationship between these people and their

environment, as well as the more general evolution of

the relationship between man and his environment.

To re-establish to the degree possible, the historic

scene to reflect the environment of the "Hopewell

Culture." 17 Watt came into office believing the national park system had

grown too big, too fast, and contained units of less-thannational significance which should more properly be administered

by state or local governments, non-profit organizations, or other

qualified groups. Reminiscent of the 1950s, when Interior's

inspector general began making plans to audit such small

historical parks, Mound City Group National Monument once again

found itself on a deaccession "hit list." The uproar from around

the country, spearheaded by cultural and environmental interest

groups, was angry and immediate. Stunned by the response,

Secretary Watt publicly disavowed knowledge of the move,

Apschnikat to Regional Director Jimmie L. Dunning, Basic Operations

Declaration, 18 January 1982.
117

Figure 40: Superintendent Kenneth Apschnikat. (NPS/ November

1982)
118

instructed that the audits be cancelled, and stated no part of

the national park system would be dismantled while he held

office. 18 The Reagan administration launched a number of federal

spending programs in the early 1980s to ease the brunt of a deepening domestic economic recession. For NPS, still under

tight land acquisition controls, Watt wished to improve existing

parks, not add new ones, and launched the billion-dollar Park

Rehabilitation and Improvement Program. In 1982 at Mound City

Group, it meant road repairs, replacement of the visitor center

viewing deck, addition of handicapped and bus/recreation vehicle

parking, a ground water heat pump for the visitor center, and a solar-heated water system for the residence. Additional manpower

came under the Emergency Jobs Appropriation Act of 1983. It provided $28,500 for Mound City Group to replace the river trail

steps as well as painting and general repair work. 19 The Reagan/Watt-imposed basic operations program also

generated a new policy of "management efficiency," which in

effect formalized the practice of "doing more with less."

Managers were encouraged to identify a range of cost-saving

measures. A part of this exercise involved the Office of

Management and Budget's "Circular A-76," which entailed

contracting various federal functions to the private sector. A primary target for A-76 was grounds maintenance and janitorial

services (see Chapter Seven) . A-76 symbolized the

administration's anti-big government stance that many federallyperformed activities could best be handled by private enterprise.

At Mound City Group in 1983, as at most parks, A-76 was deferred

pending further instructions, and eventually the bureau received

an exemption from Congress. 20 To improve productivity, the park

installed a radio system, a pay-telephone for visitors, converted

the secretary from subject to furlough to full-time permanent,

and purchased its first computer, a Xerox 82 0-11 to streamline

administrative functions. 21 Seeking to improve efficiency further, the park purchased

its own touch tone telephone system in 1984, which resulted in

reduced service costs, increased staff efficiency, and shorter

18 "Mound City to Retain Park Status," Chillicothe Gazette (8 December

1982)

19 "Mound City Sees Increase in Visitors," Chillicothe Gazette (27 February

1982); and "New Jobs Bill to Benefit Mound City," Chillicothe/Ross Advertiser

(15 June 1983)

interview, 26 August 1993.
119

time periods in placing calls. Mound City Group had come a long

way since its last upgrade in service. In 1962, it switched from

an eight-party business line to two private lines, one each in

the visitor center and residence. Unsatisfactory service from

the Federal Telecommunications System (FTS) operator in Columbus,

led to going through Cincinnati at a higher cost. Prohibitively

high costs to install its own FTS line or accessing FTS through

the Veterans Hospital continued to frustrate Mound City Group

managers. 22 An evaluation of how electronic transmission of data

between the park and Midwest Regional Office via computer and

telephonic modem began in 1985, and succeeded in April 1987 when

timecards, payroll data, and reports could easily be exchanged. 23 William Penn Mott, Jr., only the second NPS director to

visit Mound City Group National Monument, arrived on November 24,

1985, for a brief park tour and side trip to Hopeton

Earthworks. 24 Superintendent Apschnikat, attempting to implement

provisions of Mott's "Twelve-Point Plan," began working with a local American Indian citizen to form a park friends group. The

effort did not bear fruit. 25 Despite the perceived heavy-handedness at the top executive

branch level, Superintendent Apschnikat continued to make

positive changes. On August 25, 1986, Ken Apschnikat issued the

first compendium of "Superintendent's Orders" for the monument.

He set visiting hours to daylight periods only, except for

special evening programs or by individual permits. To prevent

erosion, mounds and earthwalls were closed to public foot and

vehicular travel, although visitors could walk between these

features. Recreational pursuits such as jogging, kite-flying,

and games were confined to the mowed turf area between the

highway and visitor center, principally to "reduce potential for

accidents with other visitors, to avoid disturbing those visitors

taking part in activities deemed appropriate to management

^Superintendent 's Report, 1982, 1983, and 1984; Riddle to Lee, 10 October

1962, September 1962 report; Fagergren to Dunning, 1 December 1980, A44; and Bonnie Murray interview, 26 August 1993. Another upgrade came in the early

1990s with the advent of FTS 2000. See Superintendent's Report, 1991; and Murray interview. ^Apschnikat, report on meeting in Midwest Regional Office, 21 February

1985, D2215; Superintendent's Report, 1987; and Bonnie Murray interview, 26 August 1993. ^Superintendent 's Report, 1985; and "National Director Visits Mound

City," Chillicothe Gazette (3 December 1985).

^Apschnikat to Regional Director Charles

Ken Apschnikat interview, 19 August 1993. Apschnikat proposed the name of "Native American Cultural Preservation and Restoration" group with a purpose

of advocating historical sites, being an informational source on Native

American issues, and encouraging study of native customs and traditions.
120

objectives of the area, and to preserve the dignity of the

prehistoric burial area." Gathering or collecting of fruits,

nuts, berries, mussel shells, leaves, and other natural resources

were also prohibited. To protect government property and for

fire prevention, lighting or maintaining fires, and the use of

stoves or any other cooking device, were banned as well. 26 To offset flat budgets, a donation box first appeared in the museum area near the visitor register and free brochure rack in

November 1985. The following calendar year donations nearly

totalled $2,600. Donated funds were used to support ongoing park

projects. In 1987, Congress first instituted park entrance fees

at 135 areas, and $54 million was earmarked nationwide for

research and visitor services with the remainder of NPS fees

going back into the U.S. Treasury. Mound City Group used its

portion of fee money to hire seasonal employees for curatorial

work ranging from inventory to preparing exhibits to research,

and seasonal rangers for walks and talks on summer weekends. On

July 1, 1988, the monument began charging an entrance fee in the

visitor center. Donation box contributions immediately declined.

Remarkably, only a few visitor complaints were received, most of

which came from locals who frequented the park. 27 The one-dollar

per person fee or three dollars maximum per private vehicle

charge netted the park fifty percent of the revenue, plus an additional percentage of total nationwide fees based on the

monument ' s budget

28 Doubling of the single visit entrance fee in 1993 resulted

in an eighteen percent drop in visitation from the previous year.

Instead of the one-dollar charge, the fee went to two dollars,

and the vehicle entrance fee went from three to four dollars.

Total revenues from entrance fees surpassed $13,500 for 1993. 29 Lack of sufficient administrative office space had been an issue since the visitor center's opening in 1961. Innovative

ways were found to jam together a growing number of employees,

office equipment, and files into a small space. A 1987

operations evaluation report, acknowledging the difficulty in

securing funding for a visitor center expansion, recommended

adapting the quarters for administrative offices and storage.

Superintendent's Orders for Mound City Group National Monument, 25 August 1986, W46 General Regulations.

"Superintendent's Report, 1987 ai Expanded Fee Program," Chillicothe/Ross Advertiser (7 June 1987). ^Ken Apschnikat interview, 19 August 1993; "Mound City Begins Charging

Entrance Fees," NPS press release for July 1, 1988, K3415 Press Releases; and "Mound City Visit Will Soon Cost $1," Chillicothe Gazette (28 June 1988).
121

Upon Ken Apschnikat 's transfer on August 13, 1988, work began

that fall and winter on the superintendent's residence to convert

it to a new administrative headguarters. Offices were fabricated

for the superintendent, administrative technician, secretary,

chief of interpretation and resource management, and maintenance

worker foreman. Space for a lunch/break room, copier/mailroom,

conference and storage rooms were accommodated. Office space

promised to become less problematic in the late 1990s when a new maintenance building allowed conversion of the previous structure

into the "Resource Management Building."30 Administrative Technician Bonnie Murray served in an acting

capacity from August 14 until Superintendent William Gibson

arrived on December 4, 1988. Gibson, chief ranger from Saratoga

National Historical Park, New York, was also in his first park

management position. 31 Gibson and staff occupied the new headguarters building in the fall of 1989. In one of his first

moves, Gibson ended the twenty-four-hour flag-flying policy at the visitor center, conforming flag protocol to reflect operating

hours only. In 1989, computer automation extended to all park

divisions as the technology became integral to budget formulation

and preparation of reports and correspondence. Reflecting

increased responsibilities and an expanding park, position

upgrades were approved for the superintendent (GS-11 to GS-12)

and park ranger (GS-05 to GS-07) in 1990. On October 6, 7, and

8, employees were furloughed and the park closed because of lack

of congressional appropriations. 32 The first facsimile machine came in October 1990, a gift

from the Midwest Regional Office. While enhanced communication

with Omaha had been a reality for a number of years, "fax"

capacity meant almost instant contact with hard-copy documents.

Automation also continued to advance as new eguipment arrived and

curatorial employees began tracking collection items in a database.

MKen Apschnikat, "Mound City Group National Monument Management Briefing

Paper, 1987"; Superintendent's Report for 1988 and 1994-95; Ken Apschnikat

interview, 19 August 1993; and William Gibson interview, 24 August 1993. The building holds the name without immediate justification, awaiting

rehabilitation, as staff remains housed in separate buildings.

31 "New Superintendent Starts at Mound City on Dec. 4," Chillicothe Gazette

(23 November 1988). Apschnikat transferred to Manassas National Battlefield

Park, Virginia, as superintendent. Gibson's previous service included

Morristown National Historical Park, New Jersey; Gila Cliff Dwellings National

Monument, New Mexico; Glen Canyon National Recreation Area (district ranger);

and Gateway National Recreation Area, New York (chief of interpretation and resource management).

32William Gibson interview, 24 August 1993; chiefs squad meetings, 12 January 1989 and 14 November 1989, A4031 Meetings; and Superintendent's

Report, 1989 and 1990.
122

Figure 41: Superintendent William Gibson. (NPS/February 1991)
123

On June 14, 1990, the third NPS director to visit Mound City

Group, James Ridenour, toured the park on his way from

Washington, D.C., to his Indiana home. 33 Following up on the groundwork laid by his predecessors,

Superintendent Gibson and his staff worked tirelessly to assist

NPS efforts to transform the park and other nearby related sites

into Hopewell Culture National Historical Park (see Chapter Ten)

In spite of the roadblocks to land acquisition erected during the

Reagan administration, success finally came when President George

Bush signed the authorizing legislation on May 27, 1992.

Much had occurred in the course of Mound City Group National

Monument's seven-decade history. The roadside municipal

playground of Clyde King's era had steadily progressed under a succession of competent NPS managers to a point where its resources were fully appreciated, preserved, and interpreted in a broader cultural context. In 1992, more than just the "City of

the Dead," Mound City Group became the administrative hub of a larger NPS unit including additional sites related to the

Hopewe 1 1 cu 1ture

Lack of funding to implement provisions transforming the

area into Hopewell Culture National Historical Park limited

transitionary measures during that fiscal year to simplistic,

cosmetic changes like new letterhead and signage. Mound City

Group's visitor brochure received a wrap-around interpretive

flyer explaining Public Law 102-294 to visitors during the

interim period. 34 Superintendent Bill Gibson transferred as the first

superintendent of Dayton Aviation National Historical Park in

Dayton, Ohio, in April 1993. Administrative Technician Bonnie

Murray provided administrative support, earning herself a temporary promotion. Because permanent staff increases for

Dayton Aviation Heritage were slow to materialize, Gibson's

arrangement with Hopewell Culture continued, eventually leading

to Murray's upgrade to administrative officer with plans to hire

administrative assistants at both areas. Hopewell Culture

received a new superintendent in July 1993 when John Neal,

formerly park manager at Missouri's George Washington Carver

National Monument, entered on duty. With the nationwide

implementation of "Ranger Futures" at mid-decade, Hopewell

Staff meeting, 27 July 1990, A4031 Meetings; Bonnie Murray interview, 26 August 1993; William Gibson interview, 24 August 1993; and Superintendent's

Report, 1990. The late 1980s electronic telecommunication program was known

as "Seadog," which gave way to cc:Mail in the early 1990s.

34William Gibson interview, 24 August 1993; Bonnie Murray interview, 26 August 1993; and Superintendent's Report for 1992.
124

Culture Chief of Interpretation and Resource Management Robert

Burgoon and Park Ranger Robert Petersen both received grade

increases, from GS-09 to GS-11, and GS-07 to GS-09 respectively.

Audit of the superintendent position resulted in its upgrade from

GS-12 to GS-13 in August 1995. 35 John Neal not only faced the challenge of managing an expanded park, but effectively dealt with a shift of

responsibility from the regional office to the parks. The

October 1, 1995, National Park Service reorganization saw not

only the states of South Dakota, North Dakota, and Arkansas

placed into an expanded and redesignated Midwest Field Area, but

the division of the former Midwest Region into two geographic

clusters of parks, Great Plains and Great Lakes, with the

professional staff in Omaha divided similarly into respective

system support offices. Management and coordination of each

geographic cluster group fell to a cluster management team. For

the duration of the 1995-1997 Great Lakes Cluster Management Team

(CMT) , Hopewell Culture Superintendent John Neal served as chairman. The important position required devoting considerable

attention away from daily park operations to matters covering the

six-state Great Lakes cluster. As Great Lakes CMT chairman, Neal oversaw and directed project and budget priority-setting for his

park cluster. New responsibilities, including delegation of

cultural resources compliance from the regional director to park

superintendents, further empowered Neal and his peers. These

actions highlighted a new management philosophy to shift

responsibility to local, front-line managers and enhance

cooperation, not competition, among parks.

Upon the October 1, 1997, reorganization back to the former

Midwest Region, the Omaha support staff collapsed into a consolidated Midwest Support Office and delineation among

geographic clusters blurred but did not vanish. The two CMTs

subsequently blended into the Midwest Leadership Council, and

Neal's collateral-duty special assignment ended. 36 The spirit of Park Service cooperation fluorished among the

Ohio parks. In the north, Cuyahoga Valley assisted Perry's

Victory in numerous administrative ways. In Southern Ohio, on October 23, 1996, superintendents, supervisory personnel, and

professional discipline specialists of Dayton Aviation Heritage

National Historical Park, Hopewell Culture National Historical

Park, and William Howard Taft National Historic Site convened at Caesar Creek State Park to discuss the feasibility of integrating

park operations. Facilitated by a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

employee, the group discussed forming a potential "Southern Ohio

Superintendent's Report for 1993 and 1994-95.

6Author's observations.
125

Group," formally sanctioning the shared expertise between park

areas that Mound City Group initiated years previously. One of

the many offshoots of this cooperative spirit involved agreement

on utilizing Archeologist Bret Ruby's expertise to oversee archeological compliance requirements at all three parks per

section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. The

largest Ohio park unit, Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area,

extended its fully operational human resources management office

to handle Hopewell Culture's personnel recruitment for permanent

jobs and classification of existing positions. The larger park

also helped ease Hopewell Culture's conversion to a new payroll

entry program. 37 Fiscal year 1996 hosted numerous furloughs of federal

employees as President Bill Clinton battled a Republicandominated Congress over the federal budget. The longest furlough

stretched over the course of several weeks, all the while

America's federal government ceased to function except for

critical positions and services. The National Park Service

shutdown its operations. Hopewell Culture National Historical

Park, still experiencing its growing pains, reluctantly closed to

the public and went into a mothball status. Essential work

remained undone, and the small staff, once back to work,

struggled to regain the initiative on a growing backlog of

projects. 38

** History of Boundary Changes

The first NPS-produced survey map, prepared by Region One

Topographical Engineer George Martin, appeared in late 1946.

Efforts, which began a decade previously, continued to secure

from Chillicothe Veterans Hospital a northern buffer strip

measuring three hundred feet wide and fronting on State Route 104

eastward to the river. In April 1948, VA officials arrived to assess the proposal. Even though the ten-and-a-half-acre tract

served its farming program and included the hospital's

incinerator, VA officials supported the transfer. Citing its

scenic protection and ability to ensure full park restoration,

Interior pushed for the transfer before the House of

Representatives as the veterans committee considered H.R. 5951.

The bill easily passed Congress, receiving President Harry S Truman's signature on April 3, 1952. 39

Superintendent's Report for 1995-96. ^Superintendent 's Report for 1995-96.

39Custodian King to Regional Director Allen, 1 December 1946, November

1946 report; King to Allen, 19 March 1947; King to Allen, 9 November 1947; King to Allen, 1 May 1948, April 1948 report; "Mound City Park May Be
126

Enlarging the boundary to include a total monument area of

67.5 acres raised more questions than were answered. A search of

Virginia Military District and early Ohio land records showed

imprecise methods adopted to mark boundaries. In fact, when Camp

Sherman evolved, the excepted State Route 104 became appropriated

by the Army, relocated, and not officially defined again.

Neither the VA nor Department of Justice's reformatory possessed

surveys, even of the earlier transfer to establish the

reformatory. King proposed that all parties agree to accept Camp

Sherman's road system for boundary configuration purposes, using

the centerpoint of north-south roads as boundary demarcations.

During agency deliberations however, Director Conrad Wirth

proposed to VA that "where the Monument is bounded by a street

the boundary shall be a line fifteen feet toward Monument

property measured from and parallel to the center line of the

street." In other words, NPS would not own or maintain the

road. 40While the VA officially acknowledged Wirth' s proposal and

pledged to cooperate at the local level, in practice, nothing

happened. In July 1956, Clyde King, irked by the inactivity and

jolted by a sudden land transfer between the VA and Department of

Justice, borrowed a transit, measured three hundred feet from the

center of Portsmouth Road (effectively dismissing Wirth'

position) , and pounded in iron posts to mark the proposed

boundary. A year later, NPS engineer C. S. Waldren arrived to

conduct an official survey and monument the boundaries. When the

Bureau of Prisons reformatory indicated its satisfaction, the

marking work became complete in September 1957. King wryly

noted, "For the first time in its 44 year history the area has

defined boundaries."41 In late 1958, the VA declared additional land surplus to its

needs and notified the General Services Administration (GSA) to

effect its disposal. The area included land immediately west of

Mound City Group across State Route 104. Regional Archeologist

John Cotter arrived on February 25, 1959, to conduct a one-day

Expanded," Chillicothe Gazette (1 February 1952); and Clyde B. King, "History

of the Mound City Group National Monument," circa 1953. '"Quotation from Wirth to VA Administrator H. V. Higley, letter, 27 May

1954, L1415 Boundaries, RG 79, NARA/FRC, Philadelphia; King to Cox, 21 May

1954, RG 79, NARA/FRC, Philadelphia; King to Cox, 2 March 1953, February 1953 report; and King to Cox, 1 April 1953, March 1953 report. King noted the new

addition, which he intended to permit to reforest naturally, had become a sanctuary for ground-brooding birds such as pheasants. See King to Cox, 2 July 1954, June 1954 report.

"Quotation in King to Tobin, 1 October 1957, September 1957 report; H. V. Higley to Wirth, letter, 11 June 1954, L1415, RG 79, NARA/FRC, Philadelphia;

King to Tobin, 1 August 1956, July 1956 report; and King to Tobin, 1 August

1957, July 1957 report.
127

examination of the tract for archeological resources. The VA

lent a road grader and operator to test six strips, fifty feet

long, eight feet wide, and about eighteen inches deep to reach

sterile soil. Cotter's inspection revealed negative signs of

aboriginal occupation. He relayed his findings to Regional

Director Daniel J. Tobin with the recommendation that a 3 00- to

500-foot buffer strip be acquired to protect the monument:

If the National Park Service does not acquire this

land, the Department of Justice will definitely take it over for agricultural purposes, I was told by local

workmen. This has already been indicated to the

National Park Service, I believe, by GSA. This would

mean that 'trusty' convicts would be working within a few yards of the new visitor center and directly across

the highway from the National Park Service land. This

would be most undesirable, as the distraction of

visitor interest, plus the possibility — even temptation — of a break by the reformatory inmates

near a lot full of parked and often unlocked cars, should render obvious. 42 In March 1959, regional planners met with King to discuss the

matter and determined that the land had no historical or administrative value. While NPS determined not to seek its

acquisition, it did inform GSA of Park Service interest in

keeping the area undeveloped and in continued agricultural use. 43

The Bureau of Prisons announced in September 1966 the

closure of its Chillicothe reformatory and ten-year lease to the

state commencing December 1, 1966. Governor James Rhodes

announced that the cellblock and hospital segment would serve as

a psychiatric treatment and care facility for psychotic prisoners

while the remainder of the complex would be a medium security

prison, all collectively called the Chillicothe Correctional

Institution (CCI)

44 Along with the facility transfer, the

Department of Justice leased its farmland to CCI, but in early

19 69, however, the department announced plans to dispense with

42Cotter to Tobin, 27 February 1959, Mound City Archeology through 1973, Midwest Archeological Center files.

43King to Tobin, 2 January 1959, December 1958 report; King to Tobin, 3 March 1959, February 1959 report; Regional Chief of Planning Andrew G. Feil, Jr., to Tobin, 20 March 1959, L1427, Mound City Area General File, Midwest

Archeological Center files; and "Interpretive Operations Plan and Administrative History of Mound City," no date [circa 1980]. Regional

officials were more interested in acquiring the Hopeton Earthworks. ^"Reformatory to go to State on Dec. 1," Chillicothe Gazette (23 September 1966).
128

the properties altogether. The announcement prompted

Superintendent George F. Schesventer to propose an ambitious

acquisition program to add almost 186 acres, in effect, trebling

the monument's size. The parcels Schesventer proposed in no particular priority order to Regional Director Lemuel A. Garrison

were as follows:

Parcel 1: A forty-foot-wide strip along the park's south

boundary measured 2.2 6 acres. From a management standpoint, the

existing boundary, determined then to be down the centerline of

Portsmouth Road, was undesirable because NPS controlled only half

of its own utility road. Schesventer proposed acquiring all of

the road, the southern berm, and enough to plant a vegetative

screen between the mound complex and the prison. Prison

authorities consistently cut back or removed trees and shrubs

along the corridor so as to have an unobstructed field of view to

shoot at escapees.

Parcel 2: This 4 5. 4

4 -acre tract on the park's northern boundary

would follow both State Route 104 and the Scioto to the VA's

drainage ditch. Judging from surface finds, archeologists

believed it potentially contained a Hopewell occupation site.

Its acquisition could also provide sufficient area for

reforestation, a more desirable natural scene than its

contemporary agricultural use. Parcel 3: An 18.37-acre tract in front of the prison contained a large circular Hopewellian earthwall. Because the partial circle

could still be seen from aerial photographs, it easily could be

reconstructed and interpreted from the visitor center.

Parcel 4: This 114-acre parcel stood on the opposite side of

State Route 104 across from the park's visitor center. The same

1959 arguments for its acquisition resurfaced in 1969 and became more urgent because it could now pass out of federal ownership

and control. Two buildings at the tract's southwest corner could

serve park needs. The largest could serve as a maintenance and

storage building, while the second, Camp Sherman's library, could

be used to interpret one of World War I's largest US Army

cantonments. Schesventer proposed relocating picnic grounds to

this parcel's northeast corner to satisfy locals.

Parcel 5: The 5.75-acre tract included four contemporary houses

within view of the visitor center. Its acquisition would solve

the park's chronic employee housing problem. "The superintendent

and the permanent staff," according to Schesventer, "would be

able to reside nearby but still not be 'under the guns' of the

prison and in the migration route of the Veteran's Hospital

mental patients. Future recruiting of employees would be
129

improved if there were housing available to them in the area . "^ Regional Director Lemuel Garrison sent specialists to

inspect the proposed additions. John L. Cotter, chief, office of

archeology and historic preservation in the Philadelphia Planning

and Service Center, 46 and regional maintenance chief Nathan B. Golub largely concurred with Schesventer 's proposals. Cotter

believed Parcel 2's acquisition was necessary in order to control

Scioto River erosion into archeological resources as well as provide for a "living farm-ethno-historical demonstration area."

They recommended reducing Parcel 4 to eliminate the large metal

maintenance shed and historic library building which lacked

considerable original fabric. Instead, a nearby Camp Sherman-era

recreational hall and two brick buildings could be adapted to

served as a maintenance, interpretive, and administrative complex

to tell the combined Hopewell, Ohio and Erie Canal, and World War

I story. Further, they believed the superintendent's residence

and utility buildings should be removed for safety reasons as the area came under the direct line of fire from the prison's guard

towers. 47 Garrison forwarded the Cotter-Golub findings, which added up

to 172 acres, to Associate Director for Management and

Programming Edward A. Hummel. Garrison saw considerable

environmental and recreational potential for the additions, as well as a management need to prevent adverse development

surrounding the park. In addition, he advocated adding a five- acre strip connecting Parcels 3 and 4 along State Route 104.

Because of the urgency involved with the acquisitions, he

requested scheduling immediately an amendment to the 1966 park

master plan. 48 The Park Service's bid on the surplus lands interrupted

surreptitious plans between the Bureau of Prisons and Ohio penal

authorities to transfer all of the property. As a federal

agency, however, NPS had first claim to any excess federal land.

Schesventer to Garrison, 19 May 1969, L14 General, MOCI Area General

File, Midwest Archeological Center files.

"""This entity began as the Field Office of Design and Construction on June

1, 1954, and became a planning and service center in March 1966. Abolishment

and transfer of function to the Washington Planning and Service Center came on September 7, 1969. See Historic Listing of National Park Service Officials

(Washington, D.C.: NPS, 1991), 37.

47Garrison to Schesventer, 17 June 1969, L14; Cotter to Garrison, 18 August 1969; and Golub to Garrison, 15 August 1969, MOCI Area General File,

Midwest Archeological Center files.

16 September 1969, L1415, MOCI Area General File,

Midwest Archeological Center files. Such an amendment took almost two decades

to schedule and achieve.
130

The agricultural leasing agreement between the two continued

however, and the only land transfer came in 1971 when 14.75 acres went to the Ross County Board of Commissioners to establish the

Camp Sherman Memorial Park at the beginning of Camp Sherman

Memorial Highway (State Route 104) . 49 On February 4, 1972, General Superintendent Bill Birdsell

secured Congressman William H. Harsha's support to effect the

land transfer for NPS. Harsha soon learned from the Department

of Justice that CCI and state authorities opposed it. Birdsell

wanted to continue using congressional means to achieve NPS

goals. "We believe we have an excellent opportunity to round-out

the Hopewell Indian culture story" Birdsell reported, "by

developing [Mound City Group] into the area its significance

deserves and makes it more than just a 'City of the Dead' (pun

intended) .

50 Birdsell warned of increasing area industrial

development with the advent of flood control programs. He

dismissed the Northeast Regional Office's view of "Hopeton is

hopeless," that acquisition of the ceremonial and habitation site across the river would never happen. Instead, Birdsell pressed

for its addition to the park along with Justice department lands

and called for the necessary master plan amendment. 51 In response to a query from the Northeast Regional Office,

Acting Regional Solicitor William H. Thornton, Jr., opined that

while legislation was not necessary to complete the federal lands

transfer, a presidential proclamation under the 1906 Antiquities

Act would suffice. However, the House Interior and Insular

Affairs and Interior Appropriations committees let it be known

that they wanted NPS to seek legislation so as not to usurp

congressional authority. 52 To produce public pressure for the transfer, in August 1972,

Birdsell outlined NPS plans to tell a more complete Hopewell

culture story before the Chillicothe Rotary Club. Birdsell held

out the promise of picnic facilities if a sufficient land base

not in conflict with archeological resources could be secured.

Birdsell to Regional Director Henry G. Schmidt, 23 July 1971, 23 July

1971, L1417 Surplus Real Property. NPS supported Ross County acquisition of the land, in return for which commissioner Grant MacDonald pledged support for NPS plans, including acquiring Hopeton Earthworks.

"Birdsell to Brooks, 20 April 1972, A3815. "Assistant Regional Director, Operations, Nathan G. Golub to Regional

Solicitor, 3 July 1972, L14; Thornton to Golub, 21 July 1972, L14 Transfer of Land from VA; and Acting Regional Director Richard P. Schwartz to Chief,

Office of Land Acquisition, Phillip Stewart, 22 December 1972, L14 Transfer of Land from VA.
131

On October 14, Congressman Harsha announced 9.27 acres of land in

the southeast corner of the VA Hospital's grounds would be

transferred to NPS under the Legacy of Parks program. The

transfer took effect on November 2, 1972. 53 In mid-1973, a Denver Service Center planning team led by

Robert L. Steenhagen began a study which led to the March 1974

formal assessment of surplus federal land additions. It largely

reflected the park and Northeast Region plan from 1969, although

it pared down Parcel 2 provisions to exclude an area still

desired by the VA, and called it "Parcel 2a." The team

recommended that surplus Justice lands be used in an exchange for

Hopeton Earthworks. 54 Omaha regional officials accepted the

report, but no progress was made to draft legislation. All

parties acknowledged that if Ohio needed the land to continue its

program at CCI, the legislation would not progress very far. 55 A meeting with CCI officials in 1976 found resistance to

relinguishing agricultural lands to NPS. Superintendent

Fagergren pushed for legislation to acquire Parcels 1, 2, 2a, and

4, with consideration given to obtaining either Parcels 5 or 6 to alleviate the park's chronic housing problem. With the

dissolution of the Ohio NPS Group, the Denver Service Center's

findings in 1974 were no longer valid. He advocated a high-level

meeting of all parties to resolve the logjam. 56 In September

1976, the Midwest Regional Office requested legislative support

data and materials for Congress. The package that went to

Congress in the fall of 1977 was as follows:

"Mound City Growth Areas Outlined for Rotary Club," Chillicothe Gazette

(22 August 1972); "Land Freed for Park Near Mound City," Chillicothe Gazette

(14 October 1972): Birdsell said the tract was not adequate to serve as a picnic grounds, but hoped Department of Justice lands would soon become

available for this purpose. Referring to the development of recreation in the

area including Great Seal State Park, a proposed riverfront park, and the

"Tecumseh" amphitheater on Sugarloaf Mountain, Birdsell said "We believe it is our responsibility to grow, too." "Two Park Tracts Turned Over to County; Mound City Grows 9 Acres," Chillicothe Gazette (3 November 1972).

54Planning directive for special Denver Service Center study, July 1973, L14 Transfer of Land from VA; Steenhagen to Regional Director J. Leonard Volz,

22 March 1974, L14 Federal Land Acquisition; and Birdsell to Volz, 28 June

1974, L14 Federal Land Acquisition.

^Legislative Specialist Frosty Freeman to Birdsell, telephone call, 8 July 1974, L14; and Acting Regional Director Merrill D. Beal to Manager, Denver Service Center, John W. Henneberger, 16 July 1974, L14 Federal Land

Acquisition. The report's title: "An Evaluation of the Suitability of Including Certain Federal Lands as Part of Mound City Group National Monument .

56Fagergren to Files, "Land Acquisition, NPS vs. CCI Interests," 13 August

1976; and Fagergren to Regional Director Merrill D. Beal, 14 August 1976, L14 Federal Land Acquisition.
132

Parcel 1: Adjacent to State Route 104, Parcel 1 contained 7.5 acres and a house occupied by a state prison employee, lending

itself to employee housing or future park infrastructure.

Parcel 2: 4 8.85 acres; bounded on the west by State Route 104,

and the east by the eroding Scioto riverbank. Parcel 2 contained

an unexcavated Hopewell village or campsite. Planners envisioned

the tract accommodating the park's residence and utility

building, relocated here so as to remove them from their close

proximity to the Mound City Group earthworks. Gone from this

proposal was any mention of the "ethno-historical demonstration

area.

Parcel 3: An east-west strip fifty feet by 2,600 feet containing

3.34 acres along the park's south boundary utility road,

cultivation here would cease with grass planted. There would be no vegetative screening.

Parcel 4: Contiguous with Parcel 3 to the prison wall, this

buffer strip, used by CCI for alfalfa, measured 350 feet by 3,000

feet and contained 22.4 acres. Continued agricultural lease was recommended.

Parcel 5: A north-south strip immediately west of State Route

104, Parcel 5 measured 200 by 3,800 feet, or 21.59 acres, and

used as corn fields. Cultivation occurred to within twenty-five

feet of the road and within this strip were powerlines and

evenly-spaced silver maple trees. 57 Continued agricultural use was recommended.

The entire proposal constituted 103.68 acres. 58 Continued

opposition expressed by the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and

Correction stalled the effort. In December 1979, Governor James

Rhodes announced plans to construct a new prison on the leased

agricultural lands across State Route 104 from Mound City Group

National Monument. NPS promptly notified General Services

Administration to reserve specific tracts should the Department

of Justice lands be declared surplus. The Park Service had

already drafted legislation and pushed for its introduction into

the second session of the 96th Congress in January 1980. The

legislation eliminated Parcel 1 and, with a few minor

While most (20.49 acres) was Department of Justice land, 1.1 acres was VA land maintained as lawn. This latter tract was part of a larger 9.274-acre

tract extending west beyond Parcel 5 and was under special use permit by NPS. The remaining 8.174 acres beyond the 1.1 were not needed by NPS.

58 Fagergren to Beal, 28 October 1977, "Legislative Proposal for Adding

Certain Federal Lands to Mound City Group National Monument"; Fagergren to all employees, 17 September 1976, W38 Legislation; and Fagergren to files,

boundary expansion/federal lands, 1 July 1977, L14 Federal Land Acquisition.
133

alterations, the package now stood at 92.2 3 acres. 59 While Fagergren advocated presidential proclamation to

transfer the land, his superiors continued to rule the action

unwise and a disregard of congressional prerogative. The surplus

declaration came in April 1980, and Ohio declared its interest in

acquiring all lands it already leased. NPS officially notified

GSA of its interest in the lands with the promise that if GSA did

not set them aside, NPS intended to nominate the significant

archeological resources to the National Register of Historic

Places, thereby invoking section 106 compliance review per the

National Historic Preservation Act of 1966. 60 NPS designed the move to slow the process down and prevent surreptitious action.

The presence of the National Register-eligible Hopewell

village brought about a June 3, 1980, meeting attended by NPS,

GSA, Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, Ohio State

Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) , and three state agencies:

Department of Mental Health and Rehabilitation, Public Works, and

Bureau of Prisons/CCI. NPS was the only federal agency

expressing an interest in the excess property. State agency

officials, exclusive of the SHPO, were either unconcerned about

cultural resources or denigrated them. The meeting revealed

state plans to site the new prison on Parcel 4. While Ohio did

not object to NPS plans for Parcels 1 and 2, it vigorously

opposed them on Parcels 3 and 4 . GSA pushed NPS not to request

transfer of 3 and 4, instead asking that deed restrictions

guaranteeing present use with a reversion to NPS clause should

ownership ever change. NPS accepted the compromise if Ohio

promised to provide water and sewer service to the area within

five years of the transfer. During review of the deed

restrictions, NPS insisted on an additional clause on Parcel 4 which gave NPS the right to implement a mutually-acceptable

vegetative screening plan with costs borne by NPS. 61

Fagergren to Beal, 3 January 1978, L14; and Acting Regional Director

Odell A. Hanson to Director, Real Property Division, GSA, Robert H. Crouse,

letter, 21 December 1979. With previous Parcel 1 eliminated, the renumbering

started over with a new Parcel 1 and the total now at four. ^Foster Freeman to Fagergren, 28 March 1980; Fagergren to Arthur Eck, 28 March 1980; John Puffer, GSA Real Property, Chicago, to Freeman, 28 March

1980; Fagergren to Bill Dean, 18 April 1980; Freeman to Fagergren, 23 April

1980, all in L14 Federal Land Acquisition; "Federal Land at Correctional

Institute Declared 'Surplus,'" Chillicothe Gazette (17 April 1980); and Acting

Regional Director Randall J. Pope to Crouse, letter, 25 April 1980, L14 Federal Land Acquisition.

6l Fagergren, meeting minutes of 5 June 1980; Crouse to Dunning, letter, 1 August 1980; Dunning to Crouse, letter, 19 September 1980, all in L14 Federal

Land Acquisition. The site is believed to be one of many short-term campsites

surrounding Mound City Group. See Mark J. Lynott interview, 20 January 1994.
134

On December 28, 1980, President Jimmy Carter signed Public

Law 96-607 which, in part, expanded the monument and provided for

acquisition of the 150-acre Hopeton Earthworks and 52.7 acres

surplus to the Justice department (Parcel 1 at 47.16 acres and

Parcel 2 at 2.87 acres). 62 Immediate transfer became hampered by

two events: the beginning of the Reagan administration and GSA

request for a fair market value payment of $72,500 for Parcels 1 and 2. Because GSA did not consider PL 96-607 as congressional

direction to it to transfer the tracts without reimbursement, NPS

had to seek an exception via a request from Interior Secretary

Watt to GSA, with concurrence from the Office of Management and

Budget. Watt's request did not come until March 4, 1983, and

GSA's conveyance came on April 28, 1983. Under direction of PL

96-607 and the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act

of 1949, GSA Real Property Division Chief Robert M. Crouse

transferred the property "without reimbursement to the Department

of the Interior together with a reversionary interest in a strip

of land 200 feet wide situated along the west side of State Route

104 and another strip of land 3 50 feet wide located along the

southern boundary of the monument."63 Under the historic leasing program, Mound City Group

promptly issued an agricultural special use permit to CCI. Park

maintenance installed boundary markers, planted shrubs and trees

for screening, and instructed the telephone company to move its

utility poles. To provide a more effective natural screen, the

park stopped mowing the strip adjacent to the agricultural use

area. 64 The expansion effort that began in 1969, came to

legislative fruition in 1980, and culminated in 1983, with all

but Hopeton Earthworks yet to be acquired (see Chapter Ten)

Superintendent's Report, 1980 and 1981; "Carter OK's Growth of Mound

City Group," Columbus Citizen-Journal (30 December 1980), K3415; and Dunning

to Crouse, letter, 9 January 1981. Title 7, Section 701 (b) of PL' 96-607 provides that the "Secretary is authorized to acquire lands and waters by

donation, purchase with donated or appropriated funds, transfer from any other

Federal Agency, or exchange. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to

the contrary, Federal lands in the vicinity of the Monument which are determined to be surplus to the needs of the United States shall upon the request of the Secretary be transferred to the Secretary for use by him in acquiring lands within the Monument by exchange." NPS requested "any or all 244 acres be transferred... for use in facilitating exchanges with landowners within the boundaries" of the monument. ^Quotation in Crouse to Dunning, letter, 28 April 1983; Dunning to Crouse, letter, 8 April 1982; Crouse to Dunning, letter, 28 June 1982; and James Watt to Gerald P. Carmen, GSA Administrator, letter, 4 March 1983, a;; in L14 Federal Land Acquisition, folder 2; and Superintendent's Report, 1982. CCI purchased its Justice department lands for $8 million on 27 August 1982. MKen Apschnikat interview, 19 August 1993; Superintendent's Report, 1983 and 1984; and Apschnikat, "Mound City Group National Monument Briefing Paper, 1987."
135

** History of NPS Archeological Research

National Park Service archeologists who compared the Squier

and Davis survey with the restoration work performed by Mills and

Shetrone in the early 1920s noticed that the extant configuration

differed from the historic plan. An early 1960s report prepared

by Northeast Regional Archeologist John L. Cotter made five

recommendations to rectify the discrepancy. First, Cotter called

for restoration of the borrow pits, one to the north of the

rectangular enclosure, the other outside the northeast corner.

Second, the earthen wall itself required restoration by finding

the cross sections at each corner as well as on the north side.

Third, Cotter wanted all mounds that lacked adequate excavation

data to be base-tested to verify extant post molds because

original mound circumferences were on or slightly within the post

mold circles. These included mounds 1, 4-6, 10-11, 14-17, 19,

and 21-24. Two small mounds outside the enclosure, north and

south of the visitor center, also required verification. Fourth,

other mounds needed to be checked for precise location and

restored in height and shape per 1848 data. Fifth, Cotter called

for the area to be tested again to corroborate 1848 and 1920s

claims that no habitation evidence existed within or near Mound

City Group.

Cotter recommended that NPS contract the work to the Ohio

Historical Society's curator of archeology, Raymond S. Baby. He

estimated that the excavation work would require two, six-month

seasons, performed by about twenty laborers. Earthen restoration

would cost $60,000, including $25,000 for investigation and

research. As Cotter first conceived it, the contract would run

from May 1963 to October 1964, with a final report due in 1965. 65 As work progressed, however, NPS ultimately expanded the project

to span a dozen years.

Funding came almost immediately. The Kennedy

administration's Accelerated Public Works Program made available

$85,000 in January 1963, and the contract work began May 1. Contract supervisory archeologist James A. Brown from the

Illinois State Museum served as Baby's onsite project manager,

with Mound City Group Archeologist Richard D. Faust looking after

NPS interests. In the first month, the team found the charnel

house and a cremated burial of Mound 10 beneath Camp Sherman's

Toledo Avenue. Below grade of the charnel house was a subfloor

tomb, which in addition to the crematorium, were a copper

headdress, adze, and beads, as well as shells and freshwater

John L. Cotter, Historic Structures and Grounds Report, Part I on Mound

City Group National Monument (Philadelphia: Northeast Regional Office,

National Park Service, 1963).
136

Figure 42: Raymond S. Baby, curator of archeology, Ohio

Historical Society. (NPS/Betty White, May 1974)
137

Figure 43: Excavated Mound 10 revealed a post mold pattern of a structure as well as a ditch associated with a Camp Sherman

street, visible as a dark linear stain. (NPS/ca. 1963)
138

Figure 44: On the southwest corner periphery, archeologists

discovered and restored a previously unrecorded borrow pit.

(NPS/John C. w. Riddle, September 1963) pit
139

pearls. Workers subsequently picked up and moved the 1920s Mound

10 reconstruction to its proper location. During the second

month, Superintendent Riddle reported his pleasure at increased

local press coverage, stating the new finds "have changed a somewhat static [public] attitude" toward the park and spawned

increased demand for an interpretive program. Indeed, locals were intrigued by the discovery of a previously undocumented

borrow pit near the earthwall's exterior southeast corner that

yielded the first skeletal Hopewellian burial ever found at Mound

City Group. Placed with the skeleton were nine flint knives. 66 Work performed in August 1963 ascertained that the entire

south earth wall had been incorrectly sited during the 192 0s

restoration, including its opening leading towards the river.

Archeologists did not remove a skeletal burial partially exposed

outside the south earth wall because it rested beneath the

railroad spur right of way. In September, reexcavation of Mound

13 occurred with the south enclosure wall accurately located

thirty-five feet away. Archeologists ascertained Mound 13' s true

configuration, and restoration of the in situ exhibit, known as the "great mica grave," was deferred until 1964, its outline

marked by wood posts protruding a few inches above the restored

mound's surface. A "carbon 14" date performed on charcoal from

the cremation burial found in Mound 10 produced an A.D. 178, plus

or minus fifty-three years, result. The new test provided the

"closest and best authenticated carbon 14 date for Mound City

Group and one of the key dates for the entire Hopewellian

culture." Regional Archeologist Cotter further reported at the

conclusion of the first field season: The work beneath Mound 13 has now revealed two complete

charnel house floors, one rectangular and one square

with double wall post molds. At the margin of the

Mound, but associated with Hopewellian occupation, an extended burial has been found in good condition. The

individual has an undeformed head, long in proportion

to width, indicating a true Hopewellian physical

type. . . . The outline of Mound 13 has been determined

accurately to have been 70 feet rather than nearly 100

feet as reported by Squier and Davis, and its estimated

height according to the 70 foot diameter would be 14 feet.

It is now beginning to be apparent that the

original placement of the Mounds within the enclosure

Quotation from Riddle to Lee, 11 July 1963, June 1963 report; Riddle to

Lee, 8 February 1963, January 1963 report; Riddle to Lee, 13 May 1963, April

1963 report; Riddle to Lee, 10 June 1963, May 1963 report; Lee Hanson to Naomi

L. Hunt, letter, 15 March 1986; and "Mound City Mounds to be Put in Place,"

Chillicothe Gazette (7 May 1963).
140

Figure 45: Excavation and recording of Mound 13. (NPS/John C. W. Riddle, October 1963)
141

Figure 46: Mound 13 post patterns and remnants of original

floors indicated the presence of two structures, one built

earlier than the other. (NPS/May 19 63)
142 was symmetrical and with a well-defined pattern rather

than the haphazard one apparent to the visitor in the

faulty restoration of 1923. Present indications are that when the restoration is completed Mound City Group

will take on a far more meaningful appearance and will

interpret more accurately the true intention of its

builders. 67 With a six-man crew employed by the Ohio Historical Society

and Richard Faust as supervisory archeologist, the second phase

of restoration work began on July 29, 1964. Work focused on restoration of Mounds 4 and 5. Excess earth taken from the

construction of the great mica grave exhibit, also underway in

1964, went to Mound 4 in addition to a new load of dirt obtained

to restore the mound to sixty feet in diameter by three-and-ahalf-feet high. Contemporary disturbances at Mound 4 had all but

obliterated it, save for post molds and its charnel house. 68 Construction of the mica grave exhibit concrete structure

continued through the winter of 1964-65, with the glass front

installed in mid-1965 to reveal in situ ashes in four burial

pits. Securing an additional $2,500, NPS extended the Ohio

Historical Society's contract to perform additional location work

on Mound 5, restore the northwest corner of the enclosure wall,

and excavate Camp Sherman debris out of the borrow pit at the same corner. Work on this phase began on September 27, 19 65,

with new Park Archeologist Lee Hanson overseeing the project.

Mound 5 proved to be fifty feet west of where the 192 0s

restoration placed it, and twelve times larger. The work for

this phase ended in early November 1965. 69

11 October 1963, Mound City Group archeology through 1973, Midwest

Archeological Center files; Riddle to Lee, 7 August 1963, July 1963 report;

Riddle to Lee, 11 September 1963, August 1963 report; Riddle to Lee, 4 October

1963, September 1963 report; and Riddle to Lee, 6 November 1963, October 1963 report. A request to use Chillicothe Federal Reformatory labor to perform

test work on large circular earthwork on the reformatory grounds met a firm rebuff from the reformatory superintendent who objected only to the use of prison trustees, not the investigation under specific conditions. See Lee to Riddle, 21 April 1964, and Acting Regional Director Palmer to Riddle, 3 June

1964, H2215-CHAA, Mound City Group archeology through 1973, Midwest

Archeological Center files. ^Riddle to Lee, 7 August 1964, July 1964 report; Riddle to Lee, 10 September 1964, August 1964 report; and Riddle to Lee, 12 October 1964,

September 1964 report.

^Riddle to Lee, 4 June 1965, May 1965 report; Coleman to Lee, 8 September

1965, August 1965 report; Coleman to Lee, 13 October 1965, September 1965 report; "Indian Burial Site Displayed for Public at Mound City Memorial," (17 June 1965) and "Mound Five Being Put in Old Place," (4 November 1965)

Chillicothe Gazette ; Coleman to Lee, 12 November 1965, October 1965 report;

and Coleman to Lee, 3 December 1965, November 1965 report.
143

Figure 47: Construction of the Mica Grave Exhibit necessitated

installation of a vertical panel to reduce glare on the glass.

NPS removed this exhibit and restored Mound 13 in 199 6.
144

Figure 48: Charnel house of Mound 5 appears in center of post

molds marked by newspaper. (NPS/Lee Hanson, October 1965)
145

Two Ohio Historical Society reports on the excavation/

restoration work were accepted by NPS in 1966. 70 However,

archeological work yet continued. Park Archeologist Hanson,

using power equipment wielded by the maintenance crew, restored a borrow pit north of the enclosure wall. Jim Ryan of the Ohio

Historical Society assisted in the June 20-22, 1966, work that

saw the removal of a large cottonwood tree and fill removed from

the pit and stored for use in future restoration activities.

In October 1966, Hanson completed the excavation and

restoration of the east gateway in the enclosure wall, with the

incorrect gateway filled back in with soil. During the 1920s

restoration, a depression caused by a Camp Sherman waterline was mistaken for the opening, while the correct one was filled in.

Hanson made two recommendations that he directed be accomplished

prior to siting an interpretive trail through Mound City Group.

First, one of four mounds along the northern tier should be taken

down and its charnel house pattern exposed to enhance visitor

understanding. Second, whereas Squier and Davis recorded twentythree mounds at Mound City Group, and Mills and Shetrone restored

twenty-four, the mound in dispute required testing to

authenticate it. 71 No archeological work transpired during 1967, but resumed in

1968 with the Ohio Historical Society's excavation and relocation

of mounds 17 and 23. Directed by Barbara S. Saurborn, the

archeologists quickly determined that Mound 23 's exact location

was just to the south of where its 1920 's position had been.

Mound 17 took longer to pinpoint, but it was relocated to the

southeast and its configuration proved to be larger. Baby

announced the significant discovery that the charnel houses of

Acceptance of Mound City Revisited , Cotter to Baby, letter, 15 July

1966; and Excavation of Section F, Mound City Group National Monument , Garrison to Baby, letter, 13 January 1966, both found in H24.

7l Coleman to Garrison, 7 July 1966, June 1966 report; Coleman to Garrison,

10 November 1966, October 1966 report; and Lee H. Hanson, Jr., Excavation of Section B, The East Gateway at Mound City Group National Monument , November

1966, Record Group 79, records of Northeast Regional Office, National Park

Service, Federal Records Center, National Archives and Records Administration,

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
146

Figure 49: Elmo Smalley, Sr., uses heavy equipment to remove

Mound 17. (NPS/Nicholas Veloz, Jr., April 29, 1968)
147

Figure 50: Ohio Historical Society's Martha Potter plots the

post molds of Mound 17. (NPS/Nicholas Veloz, Jr., May 19 68)
148

mounds 17, 3, and 23 were in direct alignment through the center

of Mound City Group. 72 With six of the twenty-four mounds verified, NPS wanted to

extend the work to include the remaining eighteen mounds. A

management appraisal report prepared in early March 1968, called

for guidelines for the archeology program that "can be

consistently followed by Northeast Regional Office and the

changing superintendents and park archeologists. " Acting

Regional Director George A. Palmer informed Director Hartzog that

the 1958 decision to retain Mound City Group was "based upon the

premise that it would be an interpretive site. During the

interim period it has been demonstrated that there were archeological deposits that had not been destroyed in the past

and could be uncovered." Because the 1960 's work proved

successful in yielding new information, Palmer advocated "a thorough study and recommendation from the Office of Archeology

and Historic Preservation" on the park's collection and research

policies that constantly shifted with changes in park personnel.

He observed the collection included an array of artifacts not

directly associated with Mound City Group, gathered by off-duty

personnel or donated by citizens. 73 Ernest Allen Connally, chief of the office of archeology and

historic preservation, directed NPS to continue its practice of

cataloging artifacts excavated by the Ohio Historical Society,

and advocated continued verification of mound locations. He

acknowledged that artifacts the society previously excavated were unquestionably federal property, but "to make any real efforts to secure the collection at this time, when our relations... are excellent, would only have very unfortunate public relations

repercussions." NPS facilities for curation and research at Mound City Group and Ocmulgee continued to be inferior to the

1968); "Two Mounds Being Relocated," Chillicothe Gazette (5 June 1968); and "Indian Mound Relocation Project Now Under Way Near Chillicothe," Columbus Dispatch (12 May 1968). NPS accepted Saurborn's report, A Re-examination of Mounds 23 and 17, Mound City Group National Monument , when her abstract was submitted (February 1969). See Acting Regional Director Thomas E. Whitcraft

to Raymond S. Baby, letter 8 January 1969, H42 Contract—Archeological

Excavations.

A request for a $4,500 donation from Eastern National Park & Monument

Association, to be combined with a proposed $1,500 in NPS funds, did not transpire for the "central complex" of mounds 3, 7, and 18. See Acting

Superintendent Nicholas F. Veloz, Jr., to executive secretary, Eastern

National Park & Monument Association, 8 November 1968, Mound City archeology

through 1973, Midwest Archeological Center files. March 4-8, 1968: Palmer to Cotter, 10 May

1968, and Palmer to Hartzog, 10 May 1968, A5427 Management Appraisal 1963-75, Record Group 79, records of Midwest Regional Office, National Park Service, Federal Records Center, National Archives and Records Administration, Kansas

City, Missouri (hereafter cited as RG 79, FRC/NARA, Kansas City).
149

society's. Connally recommended Park Archeologist Nicholas F. Veloz begin compiling an archeological research management plan

to address outstanding issues. 74 Another contract with the Ohio Historical Society in 1969

resulted in mounds 1 and 19 relocated to their original sites.

Society employees involved in the effort were Baby, Assistant

Curator Martha A. Potter, and Ohio State University students

Wayne Haulpert and Steven Stathes, while Veloz and Edward Wolford

represented NPS. Phase two, involving mounds 6, 20, and 24, came

in 1970. 75 A fortuitous discovery in 1970 yielded the location of

Squier and Davis's field notes along with fifty pictorial plates.

Long-standing efforts to locate the materials bore fruit when an astute researcher noticed in a 1954 reference book that the longlost papers were in the Library of Congress. A request to the

manuscript division yielded the response that not only did it

possess numerous boxes of Ephraim G. Squier 's papers, but it was

in the process of microfilming all of it. 76 Mound 24 testing conducted by Dr. Baby in 1970 revealed no subsurface features, thereby demonstrating that Mound 2 4 never

existed. Mills and Shetrone mistakenly constructed it in 1923.

Baby attributed the discrepancy to the Squier and Davis map that

depicted twenty-three mounds, while the narrative stated there were twenty-four. In October 1970, workers removed Mound 24, and

mounds 6 and 20 were moved slightly to the south to conform to their post hole patterns. In April 1971, excavation and

relocation of Mound 12 began. It proved to be the most

productive work in terms of artifacts since the investigations

began in 1963, an unusual finding since the mound had previously

been disturbed and excavated. Mound 12 also proved significant

because of its charnel house pattern and single, not double, post

holes. Experts speculated that the mound could represent one of

the earliest constructed at Mound City Group.

Connally to Hartzog, 19 June 1968, A5427 Management Appraisal 1963-1975, RG 79, FRC/NARA, Kansas City.

75 "Mounds Relocated at Mound City by Ohio Historic Society Team,"

Chillicothe Gazette (18 September 1969); and "Mound Restoration Efforts

Successful," Chillicothe Gazette (27 September 1969). A proposal to establish

an "Archeological Field Study Station" at the park with living accommodations

for up to eighteen Ohio State University students came to naught. See Schesventer to Garrison, 16 June 1969, H2215.

76Schesventer to Library of Congress, letter, 24 November 1970; and Library of Congress Assistant Chief, Manuscript Division, John C. Broderick,

to Schesventer, letter, 10 December 1970. The 1954 source book was Bibliographical Society of America, Volume 53, Number 4 , pages 309-326.
150

Additional archeological work performed under contract by- Ohio Historical Society in 1971 involved mounds 11 and 16, the

last of the mounds north of the enclosure's center to be

relocated to their true positions. Baby's work uncovered two

nearly intact clay pots inserted into two postholes. Mound 11

had a charnel house with a single, not a double, doorway that

opened to the east covered with a large canopy. It had nine

interior roof supports, not the typical seven. Mound 11 proved

to be twenty-five feet north of its original placement, while

Mound 16 was only slightly off. Following up on the

recommendation first made in 1966, the archeologists advocated

Mound 15 not be reconstructed, but to have posts placed in

postholes for visitors to see and better comprehend what lay

beneath the mounds. 77 Nineteen seventy-two saw the removal of the railroad spur

through the mound group and restoration of the area. Removal of

the ballast beneath the rails provided the opportunity to

excavate the skeleton of an Indian woman initially uncovered in

1963 while probing for the southeast corner borrow pit. 78 General Superintendent Birdsell found sufficient funds

($4,500) in the Ohio NPS Group's budget to accomplish research

and restoration of Mounds 14, 21, 22, and the completion of

interpretive exhibit Mound 15. Dr. Baby found the charnel house

of Mound 15 to be rhomboidal-shaped with a north-south

orientation directly aligned with Mound 3, which gave additional

credence to his theory of mound alignment. Mound 15 proved to be

120 feet east of its 1920s predecessor. Treated wooden posts

were installed to mark its post hole pattern, and a May 1974

dedication brought four hundred people to view the new exhibit.

During the event, archeologists demonstrated their restoration

and relocation methodology to quell persistent rumors that the

mounds were being arbitrarily moved about. The same season saw Mound 14 's restoration sixty-six feet southwest of its previous

site, and among the scattered artifacts were pieces of sheet

mica. Workers resited Mound 2 2 forty-four feet southeast of its

"Explorations Show Mound 24 Not Real," Chillicothe Gazette (8 December

1970); Birdsell to Mrs. D. M. Arnold, letter, 6 April 1971, K1459; Schesventer

to Schmidt, 24 February 1971, H24 Contract —Archeological Excavations (work on mounds 11 and 16 cost $1400); "Mound City Team Ending Location Study on Mound

12," Chillicothe Gazette (3 June 1971); "Mound City Relocation Work Planned,"

Chillicothe Gazette (12 August 1971); and "Prehistoric Clay Pots Found in New Mound City Digs," Chillicothe Gazette (10 November 1971) . ^Acting Superintendent Roberto A. Costales to Brooks, 19 November 1971, H2215; and "Burial Uncovered," Chillicothe Gazette (18 May 1972). NPS also accepted the following report: Raymond S. Baby, Martha A. Potter, and Stephen

C. Koeszar, Excavation of Section I and J, Mound City Group National Monument , see Acting Regional Director Palmer to Baby, letter, 31 January 1971, H24 Contract—Archeological Excavations
151

previous location. This mound featured the second rectangular

charnel house yet discovered. Orientation of the charnel house's

long axis was to the west gateway of the earthwall enclosure. In the last project of the 1974 season, archeologists determined

Mound 21 to be 180 feet off its correct site and filled with

large pieces of Camp Sherman debris. 79 Commiserate with the shift in NPS regional boundaries

brought a move to assign project cost estimates based upon Denver

Service Center (DSC) -devised figures. When DSC arbitrarily

assigned restoration costs at $15,000 per mound, Birdsell

exploded. Citing the Ohio Historical Society's niggardly $3,000

to $4,000 estimates, Birdsell complained to Midwest Archeological

Center chief F. A. "Cal" Calabrese, "It greatly disturbs us to

have an exorbitant and unsubstantiated amount programmed for each

of these excavations when we have on record a lower relative firm

estimate to accomplish this work." Birdsell feared that the high

estimates would prevent Mound City Group from receiving

programmed funds. The park would be forced continuously to

siphon money from its own operating budget, supplemented by

surplus Midwest Archeological Center monies, to keep its

archeological program alive. 80 Times had clearly changed as the professionalization of what

became known as "cultural resources management" occurred in the

1970s. With the burgeoning field of public history thriving,

thanks to the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966,

universities and their allied partners in state historical

societies and museums no longer dominated. That meant without

traditional subsidization by academia by using students and

volunteers, the true cost of such work emerged. With cultural resources management becoming standardized throughout the federal

government, the cheap, good old days vanished. In archeology,

this became acutely apparent. 81 The 1975 season proved to be the capstone of the twelve-year

archeological program. In the spring, an Ohio State University

team of archeologists and anthropologists, led by Raymond Baby,

excavated Mound 9 and relocated it ten feet north. In September,

Baby's team investigated Mound 8, the site where Sguier and Davis

in 184 6 uncovered nearly two hundred effigy stone pipes. Mounds

8 and 9 were in alignment east to west. Baby noted with the

Birdsell to Brooks, 19 June 1973, H22; Birdsell to Brooks, 25 October

1973 and 18 June 1974, H2215 Jan. 73-Dec. 75, RG 79, FRC/NARA, Kansas City;

"Ancient Evidence," Chillicothe Gazette (20 May 1974); and Birdsell to Carl

Falk, telephone call memorandum, 26 November 1974, K18. ^Birdsell to Calabrese, 6 March 1975, H2215 Jan. 73-Dec. 75, Midwest

Archeological Center files.

8l Mark J. Lynott interview, 20 January 1994.
152

season's work, "major errors have been corrected" in restoring

mound alignments at the park. He observed, a "deliberate

orientation of the [charnel] house structures" with mounds 23,

17, 19, and 1 aligned 120 feet from one another. Carbon-dating

analyses determined structures at Mound 10 at 179 A.D., the south

earth wall at 61 A.D., and Mound 17 at 358 A.D. 82 After 1975, there was only one additional mound excavation

at Mound City Group. In early 1975, the Midwest Regional Office

discovered activities in its Ohio parks were not in conformance

with section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of

1966. Section 106 guidelines, promulgated in the early 1970s,

provided the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation an opportunity to comment on federal projects determined to affect

National Register-eligible resources. With the passage of the

1966 legislation and the creation of the National Register of

Historic Places, cultural units of the national park system,

including Mound City Group National Monument, were automatically

listed on the register. So as not to derail the 1975 season, Cal

Calabrese pointed out to the Advisory Council that the work was being conducted by the Ohio state historic preservation officer's

own agency, the Ohio Historical Society, and secured a verbal "no adverse effect" determination for work to be performed on mounds

8 and 9. 83 The section 106 legal requirement coincided with a realization that final archeological reports produced by Ohio

Historical Society contained scant administrative, interpretive,

or scientific information beyond mound location and size of post

molds. Issues of significance within the larger mound complex were not addressed. Upon Fagergren's recommendation, the Midwest

Regional Office rejected Baby's report for mounds 14 and 22 until

it contained adequate professional content per the purchase order

agreement. Further, Fagergren called for Midwest Archeological

Center's assistance in clarifying the park's management of its

cultural resources, stating, "It is our belief further

archeological investigations should not occur unless they can provide information useful to management and interpretation of

the area. Past research has done little beyond verifying mounds

locations and a greater cost-benefit ratio should be shown for

justification of future work." NPS also pressed for Raymond Baby

to submit long-overdue reports. Once received, a comprehensive

synthesis of all past archeological work would yield research

Gazette (18 September 1975); and Acting Superintendent Joan Crider to Regional

Director Merrill D. Beal, 12 September 1975, H30. ^Cooperative Programs Assistant Regional Director Bill W. Dean to Deputy

Regional Director Robert Giles, 6 May 1975; and Beal to Executive Secretary,

Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, Robert Garvey, letter, 14 May 1975, H2215 Jan. 73-Dec. 75, Midwest Archeological Center files.
153

questions to fill remaining gaps in knowledge related to Mound

City Group. Only then could responsible archeological

excavations resume. 84 David S. Brose of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History

led a survey team in 1976 in areas identified for potential

landscaping work to determine the presence of significant

resources, and thereby eliminate those sensitive areas from

consideration. The survey took place beyond the immediate mound

group itself, and yielded conclusive evidence of Hopewellian

activity. Brose noted,

A more significant result of these archaeological

investigations is their demonstration of the presence

of prehistoric Hopewellian activities beyond the walls,

possibly associated with the ceremonial activities

within the Mound City Group enclosure. Whether such

occupation represents domestic or ritual behavior, and

whether it is to be associated with some construction

or post-construction phase of mound-building

Hopewellian cultural behavior remains uncertain given

the limited excavation and the extensive recent

disturbance of the area. However, it is now clear that

models of Hopewellian ritual, subsistence-settlement

pattern, or regional exchange cannot justifiably use missing data as true negative evidence for occupation

from the vicinity of the major Hopewell ceremonial

centers. Hopefully, future archaeological

investigations of Ohio Hopewell sites will concentrate

less on the mounds for the dead than on the excavation

of evidence for the living culture. 85 Fagergren 's discussions with Brose over books for the park's

sales area led to a more grandiose scheme for the first

professional conference devoted to Hopewell archeology. Held

March 9-12, 1978, in Chillicothe, the conference received joint

sponsorship by Mound City Group National Monument and the

Cleveland Museum of Natural History with an objective of

"providing adequate and current regional and topical data for

discussion of the Hopewellian complex in Eastern North America."

Proceedings of the conference did provide a sales item at the

Quotation from Fagergren to Beal, 2 April 1976, A5427 Jan. 76-Dec. 79, Midwest Archeological Center files; Fagergren to Calabrese, 18 February 1976, H2215; untitled report on status of interpretive prospectus objectives, circa

1976, A6419; and Superintendent's Report for 1976. NPS accepted Baby's report

on mounds 8 and 9 in 1977. See Calabrese to Martha Potter Otto, letter, 6 June 1977, H24.

City Group, Ross County, Ohio , October 1976.
154

park. 86In 1977 , the stone steps to the summit of Mound 7 were

removed, thus eliminating visitor confusion concerning their

origin and resulting in random use patterns within the mound

group. Maintenance workers repaired the eroded scar and reseeded

the following year. In 1979, excavation of Mound 9, in the

program pipeline since 1975, took place and received its correct

siting. Bruce Jones and Bob Nickel of Midwest Archeological

Center first used a proton magnetometer at Mound City Group in

August 1979 on areas to determine magnetic differences between

Camp Sherman remains and less disturbed areas. 87 Working with Martha Otto, curator of archeology at the Ohio

Historical Society, Fagergren tracked down long-forgotten

purchase orders and firmly pressed for completion of outstanding

mound excavation reports. Reports for mounds 11, 12, and 16 were approved for payment in 1980, with the remaining reports on mounds 21 and 24, following soon after. 88 In 1982, Regional Archeologist Mark Lynott, assisted by Sue

Monk, Bob Nickel, and Chris Schoen, surveyed surplus Department

of Justice land north of the park boundary designated for

addition to the monument. Their survey demonstrated the area contained a significant Hopewell occupation site, most likely

related to Mound City Group. Monk's work at the park with faunal

remains indicated a disproportionate number of rib cage sections

were brought into the mound enclosure, thereby bolstering the

hypothesis of Mound City Group not ever having been permanently

inhabited. 89 The report and subsequent work has established that no one previous to A.D. 900 or 1000 in the Eastern United States were

true agriculturalists. While the Hopewell may have used maize

for gardening, they did not practice dedicated farming. Most

86David S. Brose and N'omi Greber, editors, Hopewell Archaeology; The Chillicothe Conference . Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 1979.

87Staff meeting minutes, 11 July 1979; John Kawamoto interview, 21 December 1993; Superintendent's Report for 1978; and "Tests Aimed at 'New' Mound City Remains," Chillicothe Gazette (29 August 1979). Proton magnetometers and other soil resistivity equipment measure electromagnetic

differences between and within soils to assess what might occur there without

excavation. Mark J. Lynott interview, 20 January 1994.

88 Fagergren to Regional Director Jimmie L. Dunning, 23 August 1979, H22; and Fagergren to Dunning, 15 August 1980, H24. ^Superintendent ' s Report for 1982; and Susan A. Monk, A Summary of Identified Vertebrate Remains Recovered from Mound City Group National

Monument, Ross County, Ohio (Lincoln, Nebraska: National Park Service,

Midwest Archeological Center, 1985).
155

Hopewellian peoples practiced a fully agricultural economy, but

it focused on a suite of native annual seed-bearing plants. 90 By the early 1980s, the National Park Service lacked basic

data only on Mounds 3, 7, and 18. None of these had been re- excavated since the 192 0s, nor had two other mounds to the west

outside the earthwall enclosure. The latter mounds were

suspected of being 1920s fabrications, approximately sited to

mimic mounds which appeared on Squier and Davis' map. Modern

archeological methods would certify the authenticity of these

unrestored mounds. 91 James Brown of Chicago's Northwestern University received

custody of some of the Mound City Group archeological collections

to produce a contracted synthesis of past research and excavation

efforts. In response to Brown's concern regarding the condition

of the collection, Mark Lynott and Melissa Connor, both of the

Midwest Archeological Center, met with him to discuss the issue

in November 1983. The archeologists noted mistreatment of the

collection by "improperly trained personnel" resulting in

"considerable damage to the research value of the collection."

Lynott recognized curation and cataloging practices performed on the archeological collections "without insuring that basic

provenance information about the artifacts is preserved." The consensus recommendation was either to add a professional

archeologist to the park staff to manage the collections or to

transfer the artifacts to Midwest Archeological Center to ensure proper care. 92 The curatorial concern remained until the

transformation of the monument into a large, multiple unit

national historical park. Following a two-decade absence, the

park added a term-appointment archeologist to its staff in the

mid 1990s.

The combined body of twentieth-century archeological reports

related to Mound City Group excavations are of poor quality,

lacking basic, detailed information, and in many cases, maps.

Contemporary experts find reconstructing an informed history of

Mound City Group archeology nearly impossible based upon the

hastily-prepared reports, most of which were accomplished by the

Ohio Historical Society. This observation applies to most other

reports of the pre-1970 period, including those of the National

Park Service. Future excavations will have to be based upon

^Mark J. Lynott interview, 20 January 1994.

91 Ranger Jerry B. Chilton, "Threats to Cultural Resources in the Parks" questionnaire, 27 January 1981; and Apschnikat, 10-238 "Excavate, Verify and Restore 5 Mounds," 10 December 1982, D2215. lynott to Acting Regional Director Randall R. Pope, 23 November 1983,

A26, Midwest Archeological Center files.
156

legitimate research questions in areas such as chronology and

persistent cases of verifying mound placements. [Archeology

related to Hopeton Earthworks appears in Chapter 10.

93 A minor footnote to the archeological history of Mound City

Group is the National Park Service's role in the controversial

work of Arlington Mallery related to the mysterious "iron

furnaces" found in the western half of Ross County. Intrigued by

his search for pre-Columbian stone masonry, Mallery visited

Spruce Hill in 1948, discovered what he determined to be iron

slag, and began formulating his theory of a pre-Columbian Iron

Age in North America. Mallery began excavating more than a dozen

archeo-pyrogenic sites, or iron furnaces, and as press coverage

spread news of his findings, public curiosity grew. Mallery

attempted to lend credence and prestige to his findings by

declaring his iron materials would be displayed by the National

Park Service at Mound City Group National Monument. Mallery did

so in the absence of Superintendent King. Upon his return, King

restricted the viewing to scientists and consigned the display

area to the maintenance building, thereby limiting and

controlling the publicity. In the Chillicothe area, the

publicity proved largely negative.

Mallery and his display were at Mound City Group from

November 2 3 to November 30, 1949. Other than a few scientists,

no more than twenty-five individuals viewed the materials.

Raymond Baby denounced Mallery' s findings, stating "The evidence

does not warrant any of the claims." Dr. S. L. Hoyt,

metallurgist, declared it "interesting but not conclusive."94 Ralph Solecki of the Smithsonian Institution's Bureau of American

Ethnology, in the area conducting river basin surveys along Deer

Creek and Paint Creek for flood control along the Scioto, also

visited. Solecki even inspected the Mallery sites themselves and

denounced the Norse or Viking furnaces as "nothing more than

lime-burning pits which probably date from the period of the

construction of the Ohio and Erie Canal in about 1835.

95 Undaunted, Mallery went on to publish his work in 1951 in a book titled Lost America , which gained even more popularity when

a related article appeared in National Geographic Magazine . An

updated version, co-authored by Mary Roberts Harrison in 1979,

eleven years after Mallery' s death, was titled The Rediscovery of

Lost America . In assessing Mallery' s work, David Orr criticized

93Mark J. Lynott interview, 20 January 1994.

94King to Regional Director Thomas J. Allen, 1 December 1949, November

1949 report.

95 Frank H. Roberts, Jr., director, River Basin Surveys, Smithsonian

Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology, to Allen, letter, 9 December 1949.
157

it as "sloppy even by contemporary standards" in that he

demolished sites in his zeal for corroborating evidence.

Further, Orr charged Mallery "stacked one questionable claim upon

another until he could conclude exactly what he had hoped: that

the pre-Columbian New World had been visited by a superior race

of people—undoubtedly of European" origin. 96 Although some individuals and organizations still herald

Mallery' s claims, no professional archeologists have been willing

to examine extant evidence or search for more. References and

inquiries to Mallery' s work, however, still occupy Park Service

attention and will continue to do so as long as the mystery of

the iron furnaces persists. 97 Following up on the successful 1978 Hopewellian conference,

"A View from the Core" took place in Chillicothe on November 19

and 20, 1993. Co-sponsored by Hopewell Culture National

Historical Park and the Ohio Archeological Council, more than 250

individuals attended and heard papers presented by noted

archeologists and anthropologists. One session saw Park Ranger

Robert Petersen discussing how interpreters convert raw archeological research into material for public education.

Participants were also able to tour the new units of the national

historical park. 98 Archeologist Bret J. Ruby, who began working at Hopewell

Culture on a term appointment in January 1995, soon reinvigorated

the park's archeology and cultural resource management program.

Giving the program increased visibility, Ruby initiated a monthly

archeology column in the Chillicothe Gazette . Some 1995

accomplishments included hosting an Ohio State University-Midwest

Archeological Center field school at Hopeton designed to salvage

Hopewellian occupation sites. The public benefitted from weekly

public lectures by noted scholars connected with the field

school. Ruby helped facilitate surveys adjacent to Hopewell

Mound Group to determine if the boundary adequately encompassed

archeological resources. Conducted through the cooperative

agreement with Ohio State University, Dr. William S. Dancey

performed inventory and evaluation work that continued into 1996.

Ruby led park personnel in similar activities at Spruce Hill

Works, part of a special resource study mandated by Public Law

^David K. Orr, "Arlington Mallery's Mixed Legacy," found in ArcheoPyroqenics Journal , published by the Archeo-Pyrogenics Society, Columbus,

Ohio, Vol. 1, No. 2 (July 1992), Midwest Archeological Center files. William Gibson to J. Louis

Bauer, letter, 26 July 1990, A3615; and Ranger Robert Petersen to Dr. Duane

Aston, letter, 29 October 1990, D18. One such organization is the New England

Antiquities Research Association.

^Superintendent 's Report for 1993.
158

102-294 to determine the suitability and feasibility of adding it

to the national historical park. With the assistance of outside

researchers, Ruby directed geophysical surveys at High Bank and

Hopeton.

To spearhead interest in the Hopewell culture, Midwest

Archeological Center in the mid-1990s launched a newsletter

entitled "Hopewell Archeology: The Newsletter of Hopewell

Archeology in the Ohio Valley." Designed to attract widespread

professional attention in the field, the newsletter also

effectively consolidated into a single format news of recent site

preservation developments, research conducted, and published

material pertaining to the Hopewell."

In the summer of 1996, Archeologist Ruby undertook

investigations at Hopeton Earthworks, utilizing staff and

students from Milton Hershey School in Hershey, Pennsylvania.

Assisting with the special field school were Forest Frost and

Karen Archey of Midwest Archeological Center. This effort

concentrated on excavating in the northwest corner of the large

square earthwork. Using radiocarbon dating, three construction

periods were noted, the earliest commencing circa A.D. 20. The crew also uncovered prairie soils beneath the earthworks giving

additional clues as to natural conditions during the Hopewellian

era. During the same season, NPS also surveyed sixty-five acres along the high terrace west of the earthworks and found assorted

small sites of prehistoric and historic occupations. They

employed remote sensing technology to find, using the Squier and

Davis map, an almost undistinguishable circle and ditch enclosure

near the southeast corner of the large Hopeton square.

Throughout the field season, interpreters delighted in presenting

public bus tours, evening programs, and special talks for the

Archaeological Society of Ohio and other groups.

The 1996 archeological season yielded completed fieldwork at Spruce Hill Works for the congressionally-mandated special resource study. Results determined that "1) the site retains a high degree of overall integrity despite some localized areas of

disturbance; 2) portions of the 'stone wall,' especially the

gateways, are human-made and represent a monumental investment of

human labor in construction; 3) Woodland period ceramics and

Hopewellian stone tools were found in direct association with one

of the gateway features, strongly supporting the conclusion that

the site was built by Hopewellian peoples between ca. A.D. 1 and

A.D. 400; and 4) several locations in reaching temperatures in excess of 1100 degrees Celsius. However, their cultural

affiliation remains open to question." 100

Superintendent's Report for 1994-95. "superintendent's Report for 1995-96.
159

Evaluation of resources within and around 1992 designated

boundaries is ongoing with adjustments expected at Hopewell Mound

Group and Seip Earthworks.

** Planning

During the first few years of operating the MISSION 66-era

visitor center/museum building, it became readily apparent that

the facility lacked sufficient space to accomplish any of its

intended missions well. To address this as well as boundary

expansion issues and other programmatic needs, Superintendent

Riddle secured the services of regional master plans divisional

chief Donald W. Humphrey, who drafted a chapter of a new master

plan in September 1964. A year later, a team from the Northeast

Regional Office came to Chillicothe during the third week of

September 1965 and completed a draft document. 101 The Mound City

Group master plan underwent policy review in the Washington

Office on February 18, 1966, during which time officials approved

it, minus one critical change. Reviewers determined that the

proposed construction of an archeological storage and workshop

addition to the visitor center could more properly be done by the

Southeast Archeological Center at Ocmulgee National Monument,

Georgia. 102 Dismayed by the Washington-level veto, Regional Director

Lemuel Garrison responded with three observations. First, he

relayed the "great local disappointment" that the 1920-21

artifacts still remained in Columbus, and that locals would be

very upset should the National Park Service send artifacts

outside Ohio. Second, there were few items from the ongoing

1960s excavations available to send to Ocmulgee because Ohio

Historical Society technicians continued to study them for

purposes of writing final reports. Third, Garrison stated,

Superintendent Coleman and the Ohio Historical Society planned to continue annual excavations and perform earthwork restorations

over the next decade and those artifacts would be needed. In essence, Garrison contended that the status guo should suffice,

adding "it appears that the only practical solution, pro tern, is

to utilize for workshop facilities the second floor of the

utility building, as previously, when archeological work is

current, and maintain the collection in the hands of the

Riddle to Regional Director Ronald F. Lee, 12 October 1964, September

1964 report; and Coleman to Lee, 13 October 1965, September 1965 report. Team members included Bernie Grace, Dave Kimball, and Ben Connavo.

Northeast Regional Office, National Park Service, 1966); and Washington Office

Branch of Master Plan Drawings Chief Edward S. Peetz to Lee, 21 February 1966, RG 79, NARA/FRC, Kansas City. Because this represented the only change and to save the expense of reprinting the master plan, Peetz asked "all offices make necessary notations on their present copy to echo the [revision.]"
160

historical society except for the limited collection which is now housed for local reference in museum storage cabinets in the

superintendent's office." 103 In response to Garrison's observations, another Washington

Office policy review of the draft master plan took place on May

12, 1966, but headquarters officials refused to reverse

themselves, arguing that adequate storage and workshop space

already existed at Southeast Archeological Center. Once

artifacts were catalogued, photographed, and recorded, they

should be sent "to Ocmulgee from where any needed items can be

recalled quickly." They noted that the utility building had

adequate space and refused to authorize new construction. 104 The unpopular decision soon garnered critics from within the

Washington Office itself. Archeologist [?] Willcox declared:

This unfortunate decision will reduce both the

interpretive and research capabilities of the park.

Museum collections provide more than specimens for

permanent exhibits. The collections are useful for

varied day-to-day operations, e.g., revolving and

special exhibits, touch items for tours, off -site

talks, and for comparative studies. I hope this

decision will be reconsidered, in due course, and

reversed.

Of greater concern, however, is the possibility

this philosophy will be extended to other parks and

other collections. Such moves are simply not in the

best interests of public edification and enjoyment.

Finally, Willcox mused, "Will Mound City be permitted to retain a representative study collection?" 105 Concurring with his

colleague, Northeast Regional Archeologist John L. Cotter called

the master plan curtailment "unrealistic and not in the best

interest of the Service." The artifact room above the garages in

the utility building was too far away from the visitor center and

lacked fire suppression, temperature, and humidity control

systems. Cotter informed Regional Director Garrison that the

archeological storage and workshop space needs were "incidental

to making more adequate interpretive facilities," including an

""Ibid., Garrison to Peetz, 10 March 1966.

104 Ibid., Washington Office Division of New Area Studies and Master

Planning Chief Raymond L. Freeman to Garrison, 1 June 1966. Freeman noted

"Resource Studies staff" concurred with the decision.

I05 lbid., Washington Office Archeologist [?] Willcox, handwritten note attached to photocopy of 1 June 1966 Freeman to Garrison memorandum.
161

audio-visual area. He termed the visitor center "extremely

inadequate," and related seeing a dozen people in attendance for an evening program held in the foyer area squeezed together in

discomfort. Daytime programs were out of the question. The park

simply needed more interior visitor services space, Cotter

concluded. 106 Such was not to be during the 1960s as the nation's fiscal

spending trends focused on social programs and the escalating

Vietnam War. Mound City Group National Monument saw itself

saddled with an unsatisfactory master plan that did not serve its

needs, and did not give it any future direction or vision. As

far as Philadelphia and Chillicothe park managers were concerned,

the 1966 master plan proved worthless, and they began cultivating

efforts to schedule a new master plan. The magnanimous William

Birdsell, superintendent of the Ohio National Park Service Group,

lobbied hard to obtain a new master plan for general development

and land acquisition. In 1972, Birdsell secured Northeast

Regional Office support to include Mound City Group's planning

effort to commence in fiscal 1973, but it fell victim to the

servicewide planning and development backlog and the demands of

Bicentennial commemoration projects. 107 Undaunted by the reprogramming efforts and unwilling to

concede defeat, in February 1973, Birdsell pressed to have Denver

Service Center Planner Rich Giamberdine assigned to head a small

planning team that came to the park in early March to commence

initial scoping efforts. Birdsell expressed his elation in

"getting the horse back in front of the cart" to spur

developments to relate the "full story" of Hopewell culture. He

wrote, "To date we have interpreted only one phase of this

culture by preserving a 'graveyard' and telling a story of death.

We are now planning to expand this area to preserve and interpret

the full environmental story of the Hopewell Indians, which will

bring the prehistory to life." 108 In late July 1973, Birdsell

requested Philadelphia's support to authorize an amendment to the

1966 master plan. It appeared to Birdsell to be the only way to get an updated development plan and proceed with land

acquisition. Birdsell already had the endorsement of the

governor, Congressman William H. Harsha, and Senator Robert Taft.

Unfortunately, he lamented, "It appears that everyone is anxious

1U6 Ibid., Cotter to Garrison, 14 September 1966.

I07 lbid., Birdsell to Regional Director Chester L. Brooks, 13 November

1972; and Brooks to Associate Director, Administration, J. Leonard Norwood, 14 December 1973, D18.

l08 Birdsell to Brooks, 16 February 1973, D18.
162

to proceed except the National Park Service." 109 More pressing

regional and national priorities, however, frustrated Birdsell's

endeavor, and with his transfer in 1975, planning efforts

fizzled.

Shifting regional boundaries in 1974 placed Ohio's parks

under the purview of the Midwest Regional Office in Omaha,

Nebraska. Omaha officials held different attitudes concerning

parks in its new Great Lakes states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois,

Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. Many of the areas were newly-authorized national parks and lakeshores of tremendous

acreage that demanded immediate planning for visitor services

developments. Mound City Group National Monument's needs were

dwarfed if not altogether obscured by these larger, more recent

parks. Omaha officials also rationalized delaying scheduling for

a general management plan (GMP; preferred nomenclature for the

old master plan format) until the acquisition status of Hopeton

Earthworks National Historic Landmark became apparent.

While Hopeton still remained in doubt, Superintendent Ken

Apschnikat lobbied hard to schedule a new-start GMP in fiscal

1987, and his effort succeeded when Mound City Group appeared on the bottom of the Midwest Region's list. Director William Penn

Mott took a personal interest in promoting the park's

development. Mott recommended a three-phase approach: a scoping

meeting, accomplish the basic studies, and perform the GMP. A

critical baseline study, the Hopeton Sites Study, already neared

completion in mid-1987 (see chapter 12) . The GMP scoping meeting

took place May 5, in Columbus, hosted by State Historic

Preservation Officer W. Ray Luce at the Ohio Historical Center.

Another meeting at the park resulted in the decision not to proceed until Hopeton could be acquired. Acting Regional

Director William W. Schenk approved a conditional GMP task

directive on May 17, 1988. Because the acquisition program did

not progress as planned, Director William Penn Mott, Jr.

cancelled the Mound City Group GMP in November 1988, and

reprogrammed that funding for the Calumet National Historic

Landmark feasibility study. 110

Birdsell to Brooks, 31 July 1973, L14 Federal Land Acquisition.

"°Midwest Planning and Environmental Quality Chief David N. Given to Ranger Jerry B. Chilton, telephone conversation, 7 August 1986, D18; Superintendent Ken Apschnikat, minutes of 6 January 1987 meeting in Omaha, 13 January 1987, D2215; Apschnikat form letter to Columbus GMP scoping meeting,

26 March 1987, D18; Given to Midwest Cultural Resources Management Chief F. A. Ketterson, Jr., 2 April 1987, D18; Apschnikat, "Mound City Group National

Monument Management Briefing Paper, 1987"; Deputy Regional Director Schenk to Acting Manager, Denver Service Center, Robert J. Shelley, 26 January 1988, D18; and Schenk to Regional Director Don Castleberry, 1 December 1988, D18. Calumet became part of Keweenaw National Historical Park, Michigan.
163

Fortune changed in the 1990s, as did the park itself,

necessitating a new GMP to replace the perpetually inadequate

1965 master plan. The 1992 legislation expanding the park and

changing its name spurred the GMP effort. A new general

management plan reflecting all five authorized units of Hopewell

Culture National Historical Park commenced in June 1994 when the

planning team first assembled for an information-gathering

workshop. Led by Denver Service Center team captain Marilyn

Habgood, the GMP team began conceiving vision statements for the

park's future development by consulting with subject matter

experts and the park's community partners. 111 A special meeting

took place in Oklahoma where planners shared and gathered ideas

with tribes who formerly inhabited the area of southern Ohio.

The first GMP public newsletter went out in November 1994

soliciting comment on draft narratives of purpose, significance,

and vision statements. During Hopewell Week also in November

1994, came the first GMP public meeting. In January 1995,

another workshop in Chillicothe fine-tuned various alternatives,

and another consultation with the same Oklahoma-based tribes took

place in April. The second GMP newsletter in May 1995 released

the draft alternatives for public comment. In October 1995, the

team met with park staff to outline needed special resource

studies, the draft GMP, and resolve outstanding issues. GMP

reviews and editing consumed 1996, and Midwest Regional Director

William Schenk approved the final plan on April 8, 1997. 112 The 1997 GMP, replacing the inadequate 1965 master plan

prepared in the aftermath of niggardly MISSION 66 development,

did not remotely resemble its predecessor. Presenting a clear

vision of NPS actions for the next ten to fifteen years, the GMP

spelled out a realistic, albeit ambitious, blueprint for Hopewell

Culture National Historical Park. Three units were proposed for

public enjoyment, Mound City Group, Hopewell Mound Group, and

Seip Earthworks, while Hopeton Earthworks and High Bank Works are

to receive limited access, largely reserved for research and

preservation. Highlights of the plan featured acquisition and

visitor enhancement of the new sites as well as hosting an

'"other GMP team members were Project Manager Jon Holbrook,

Socioeconomist Rich Lichtkoppler, Outdoor Recreation Planner Mary McVeigh,

Archeologist Diane Rhodes, Landscape Architect Susan Schemer, and Interpretive Planner Sam Vaughn. Park staff team members were Superintendent

John Neal, Chief of Interpretation and Resource Management Bob Burgoon,

Archeologist Bret J. Ruby, Maintenance Worker Supervisor Jon Casson, and Administrative Officer Bonnie M. Murray. See General Management Plan,

Hopewell Culture National Historical Park, Ohio (Denver: Denver Service

Center, National Park Service, 1997), 48.

" 2 Ibid.; and Superintendent's Report for 1994-95. Tribes consulted were: Absentee-Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma, Eastern Delaware Tribe, Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma, Loyal Shawnee Tribe, Miami Tribe of Oklahoma, Western

Delaware Tribe, and the Wyandotte Tribe of Oklahoma.
164

"international center for the interpretation, study, and

preservation of the Hopewell culture." 113 Also recognizing a long-held dream, the GMP called for expanding the existing Mound

City Group visitor center, or building a new facility to

accommodate more exhibits, house the library research center, and

include a museum curation/collections facility. 114 The GMP encapsulated the park's purpose as follows:

Preserve, protect, and interpret the remnants of a group of once extensive archeological resources that

might be lost if not protected, including mounds and

earthworks, artifacts, the archeological context, the

cultural landscape, and ethnographic information.

Promote cultural resource stewardship and understanding

of the importance of the resources to present and

future generations.

Promote, coordinate, conduct, and synthesize

anthropological research that focuses on the major

questions about the Hopewell culture.

Educate the public about the Hopewell peoples' daily

lives, contributions, perceived values, and dealings

with other peoples and the environment around them.

Understand past societies and foster an appreciation of

past, present, and future societies. 115 Concerning the park's significance, the 1997 GMP states:

It is the only federal area that preserves, protects,

and interprets remnants of the Hopewell culture, a culture (including various regional settlement

patterns, rituals, and trade routes) that was distinctive and widespread for over 700 years.

The park and the related sites represent some of the

most elaborate of the Hopewell culture, evidenced by

the large tripartite geometric enclosures that are unique to the Scioto River area, as well as the biggest

and densest concentrations of Hopewellian earthworks in

the country.

" 3GMP 1997, 1.

" 4 Ibid., 2.

1,5 Ibid., 4.
165

Park units were among the first places in North America

where the practice of scientific archeology was used

and described in scientific publications.

The park contains the type-site for the culture; that

is, the site where the Hopewell culture was first

defined by archeologists.

It contains Hopewell resources, including nonmound

resources, with tremendous potential for directed

research and further investigation to answer many

questions about the Hopewell culture.

It preserves some of the general physical environment

in which the Hopewell people lived, worked, and played.

It preserves some of the most spectacular Hopewellian

achievements—the biggest conjoined mound (Hopewell

Mound Group) ; largest concentration of mounds within an enclosure (Mound City Group) ; and one of two known

extant octagonal structures (High Bank Works) —and a substantial collection of artifacts.

The parks provides potential for new knowledge about

the Hopewell peoples and their relationship with the

environment and other peoples, which will be valuable

to researchers in the future. 116 The GMP's vision for the park declared:

The park educates the public about the daily lives,

contributions, perceived values, and interactions of

the Hopewell peoples with other peoples and the

environment around them.

The significant sites in the park and related sites are protected and preserved by various means, and the local

community feels a sense of stewardship for these and

other sites.

The different characteristics of the sites guide how

the sites are used, whether for visitor use, interpretation, limited visitor use, research, or preservation.

The park cooperates with others for stewardship,

research, management, interpretation, transportation,

and facility development for such sites within and

outside the park boundaries.

'Ibid., 4-5.
166

Intrusions have been removed and potential new intrusions or impacts are actively resisted by the park

and partners.

The park conducts and serves as a focus for research on Hopewell culture, attracting scholars from around the

world.

The visitor leaves the park and related sites with a greater knowledge about the Hopewell culture, an understanding of the relationship between the sites, an admiration of the Hopewell accomplishments, and a cognizance of the need to preserve them.

Artifacts are available for study, education, and

display.

The visitor has the opportunity to experience different

sites in a variety of ways and their interest is

stimulated in seeing other associated sites. 117 Following an enumeration of primary interpretive themes, the

GMP briefly summarizes a series of issues and concerns, chief

among which are fiscal levels found to be "lacking." 118 The

document envisions "cooperation with and funding from nonfederal

sources will be essential to the success of this plan." 119 A

primary goal is for Hopewell Culture National Historical Park

serving as the center for research on the culture in cooperation

with its partners. Additional resource managers will be required

to help guide the research program as well as to monitor longterm effects to resources. The GMP identifies a cultural

landscape report as a vital document needed to guide the course

of future developments at all park units. Non-roadway access to

the dispersed areas may also soon come in the form of pedestrian

and bike trails and canoe access points along the Scioto River

and Paint Creek drainages, with a long-term vision for a pedestrian bridge spanning the river thereby connecting Mound

City Group with Hopeton Earthworks. 120 Mound City Group unit will continue to serve as park

headquarters and the focal point of visitor information with

increased emphasis on the Hopewell's daily lives. The visitor

center will either be modified or new structures added to handle

'ibid., 5. Quotation on page 9, Ibid., 6 and 8.

9 Ibid., 17. °Ibid., 20-21 and 23-26.
167

expanded exhibit, research, and curatorial space. For curation

and interpretation, an additional 5,000 square feet will be

needed, while 1,600 square feet for exhibits and other public

areas are forecast. Increased parkinq demands may result in a lonq-term lease to place parkinq on prison land to the south of

the leqislated boundary. At the Hopewell Mound Group unit,

boundaries need to be inceased to encompass known resources and

facilitate access. Development may include a twenty-car lot,

visitor contact station with restrooms, a trail with waysides,

and an overlook. The GMP suqqests outlininq the earthworks with

a "nonpermanent material" on the qround to increase their

visibility. 121 At the Hopeton Earthworks unit, preservation of

the resource as well as salvaqinq habitation sites in advance of

qravel company operations are the principal activities forecast

for this area. Limited public access may include special quided

tours, small parkinq lot, primitive picnic area, and a site

overlook. 122 At Seip Earthworks, the GMP calls for acquirinq land

to the west and east of the Ohio Historical Society's existinq

tract. Its location on U.S. Route 50 makes it a primary site for

interpretation, second only to Mound City Group. Should onsite

visitor services development prove infeasible, the GMP provides

for a cooperative effort with the Ohio Historical Society or the

Ohio Department of Natural Resources in the nearby town of

Bainbridqe. Relocation of Dill Road to the proposed eastern

boundary and restoration of the earthworks is also a lonq-term

qoal. A viewinq platform, demonstration qardens, interpretive

waysides, and boundary fencinq and screeninq is recommended

there. At Hiqh Bank Works unit, the earthworks are the best

preserved of all five and their potential for research releqates

this area for special quided tours and archeoloqy field schools.

Only temporary facilities are suqqested at Hiqh Bank Works.

Acquisition of park units will follow a formula that favors

land within leqislated boundaries first. Those tracts within the

boundaries that have ownerships that miqht be severed or made

inaccessible by federal acquisition will be qiven secondary

consideration. Third, adjacent areas with siqnificant resources

or important viewsheds will be acquired. And lastly, areas needed for facility development will be added. The GMP commits

NPS to seekinq alternative methods such as easements, local

planninq, and trusts to protect siqnificant related areas with

technical assistance available to those kindred interests.

Short-term research easements may also be pursued, and

partnerships once aqain are encouraqed to auqment NPS

operations. 123

Ibid., 30-33.

J Ibid., 10-11 and 34-35.
168

** A Special Emphasis: Energy Conservation

An area of park operations in which Mound City Group

National Monument excelled beyond most other parks is in the area

of energy conservation. This initiative became a national

priority in the aftermath of the Arab-Israeli War of 1973 and the

subsequent oil embargo imposed on Israel's supporters, including

the United States. The energy crisis prompted executive branch

agencies to formulate energy conservation programs. Nothing

emerged out of discussions to close small park areas like Mound

City Group to lower energy usage, but stringent measures were immediately adopted, including a directive that all vehicles be

driven under fifty miles per hour, thermostats set at sixty-eight

degrees, desk lamps replaced overhead lights, continuous restroom

lights and exhaust fans were disconnected, and lobby and exhibit

lighting turned on only when visitors were present. 124 When national preoccupation with energy conservation waned

following the oil embargo's termination, Mound City Group

National Monument's dedication to the effort intensified under

the direction of an enthusiastic Fred Fagergren. In 1977, a wood-burning stove in the visitor center's lobby reduced fuel oil

consumption for the furnace and electricity for its air

circulation fan. The traditional Christmas tree appeared without

electrical lights. The superintendent's government-furnished

quarters underwent retrofitting for energy efficiency.

Additional insulation in the attic and walls, wood stove, new storm doors and windows, and better-insulated siding helped show

savings parkwide on utility bills to the tune of twenty-five

percent on electricity and forty-five percent for fuel oil.

Noncritical use of vehicles by employees in favor of using

bicycles also cut gasoline purchases. In 1980, the

superintendent's residence received a solar water heater

installed on the roof. In 1981, the visitor center received a ground water heat pump and an improved, double-walled stove

equipped with a blower to improve heating efficiency even

more. 125 While energy conservation appeared as the primary, laudable

goal, increasingly stringent or flat budgets during the last

quarter of the twentieth century made such frugality not merely

desirable, but mandatory.

Acting Superintendent Robert F. Holmes to Brooks, 15 November 1973, D50; and "National Park Sites Conserving Energy," Chillicothe Gazette (15 December 1973) .

125 Bonnie Murray interview, 26 August 1993; energy committee report, 17 December 1977, staff meeting minutes; Fagergren to Regional Director Jimmie L. Dunning, 6 April 1979, A70; Energy Committee Report, 12 August 1980, staff meeting minutes; Fagergren to Dunning, 29 August 1980, A7021; and Superintendent's Report for 1981.
Chapter Five

Relations with the Community

Since the creation of Mound City Group National Monument,

the people of Chillicothe, Ross County, and southern Ohio have

demonstrated a strong proprietary interest in this small park

area. For those keenly aware of the significance of the place,

it represents a source of local pride that a key remnant of the

Hopewell culture once flourished there. Likewise, those unaware

of its significance have taken a similar pride in the site's

anomalous landscape and beauty. More popularly referred to

simply as "Mound City," local citizens in the late twentieth

century considered Mound City Group National Monument an attribute to the region's tourism-enhanced, post-industrial

economy.

From the onset of National Park Service administration, the

national monument has taken its role as a member of the community

seriously. Cognizant of its contribution to the area's economic

viability as well as its mission to help enlighten young and old

alike, managers have excelled at cultivating positive public

relations. With its small staff and budget, park development and

operations have benefitted from community partnerships to fulfill

its congressional mandate, including those with other federal,

state, and local agencies.

**Veterans Administration

One of the closest management relationships Mound City Group

National Monument has actively cultivated for five decades is

with the Veterans Administration (VA) . The VA hospital inherited

a large segment of Chillicothe' s federal reservation following

the World War I-era demise of Camp Sherman. As early as January

1947, Superintendent Clyde King reported the first fire caused by

the VA's incinerator building: "The Veteran's Hospital has an incinerator at the northeast corner of this area, just over the

boundary. When [the] wind is out of the north or northeast it is

not unusual for entire newspapers to come out of the smokestack

and ignite while sailing through the air. One of these started a fire which was extinguished before it got beyond the negligible

stage." 1 VA administrators were amenable to relinquishing the

incinerator and the surrounding 10.5-acre tract. Congressional

approval of the land transfer came on April 3, 1952, along with

Clyde King to Director Newton B. Drury, 2 February 1947, January 1947 report. A March 4, 1948, fire burned .003 of an acre and "gave the Custodian

an opportunity to demonstrate to the maintenance man the use of the backpack

can." See King to Drury, 2 April 1948, March 1948 report.
170 an easement for the VA to continue using the incinerator and its access road until an alternative refuse disposal system became

available. In the meantime, landscaping, reforestation, and

restoration of a Hopewellian borrow pit by the National Park

Service could commence on the new tract as funding permitted.

In the late 1950s as part of MISSION 66-related master

planning efforts, Northeast Regional Office personnel focused

their attention to solving issues related to Mound City Group, in

concert with planned development. Assistant Regional Director

George A. Palmer visited in June 1957 to meet with VA officials

and discuss not only incinerator and road easements, but the VA's

Baltimore and Ohio (B & 0) railroad spur line and right-of-way

that bisected the national monument itself. Discussions with Dr.

H. H. Botts, VA hospital manager, revealed his frustration at not

securing funding to move the incinerator building to another

location. He welcomed National Park Service efforts at the

Washington level to urge VA managers to fund the project. As for

the railroad spur, Botts agreed that it should be relocated

outside the national monument, but that the National Park Service

would have to pay for it. The spur gave the VA a contracting

advantage in bids for supplies traveling via rail, and especially

for coal to fuel its central heating system. For annual

maintenance, Botts estimated the spur required about four

thousand dollars and carried 244 railcars. 2 While an ultimate solution to the B & Railroad spurline

intrusion would have to wait, progress came swiftly on the

incinerator. In 1959, the VA commenced its own landfill

operation and stopped using its incinerator. In late September,

the VA authorized NPS to close the paved access road from State

Highway 104, and in January 1960, this same road along the

original north boundary was obliterated. In July I960, the VA

declared the building surplus to its needs, and on August 24,

authorized demolition. Clyde King lost no time in ridding his

park of the eyesore. By the end of September, a contractor razed

the building and restored the site to natural conditions. 3

hcing to Director Conrad L. Wirth, 1 May 1952, April 1952 report; King to Wirth, 2 July 1957, June 1957 report; and Acting Regional Director J. Carlisle

Crouch to Wirth, 12 July 1957, L1417, Record Group 79, Records of the National

Park Service, Northeast Regional Office, Federal Records Center, National

Archives and Records Administration, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (hereafter referred to as RG79, FRC/NARA, Philadelphia).

3King to Wirth, 1 September 1959, August 1959 report; 1 October 1959,

September 1959 report; 2 August 1960, July 1960 report; 2 September 1960,

August 1960 report; and 1 October 1960, September 1960 report; King to Regional Director Ronald F. Lee, 15 July 1960, Buildings, Incinerator, Utility

file; and VA Assistant Administrator for Construction Whitney Ashbridge to Acting Director Hillory A. Tolson, letter, 24 August 1960, Buildings,

Incinerator, Utility File.
171

Figure 51: Veteran's Administration incinerator within Mound

City Group National Monument's boundary. (NPS/1956)
172

War Department funds paid for the 192 0s construction of a spur from the B & O's mainline in Chillicothe north across the

Federal Reformatory, Mound City Group National Monument, and

terminating at the VA hospital. B & operated the spur under a revocable permit. As National Park Service officials explained

the need to have the intrusion removed in time for the visitor

center's dedication, particularly a siding of the spur that cut across the Mound City Group enclosure itself, a sympathetic VA

expressed its need to continue use. Superintendent John C. W. Riddle convened a meeting in his office on June 14, 1963, to

discuss the issue with the VA, Federal Reformatory, Ohio Highway

Department, and the B & Railroad and laid the groundwork for

eliminating the spur. In April 1965, two hundred feet of rails were detached from the siding of the B & spur that bisected the

mound enclosure. VA maintenance workers completed the cleanup of

railroad ties the following month, filled in the cuts, and

landscaped the grounds to the park's satisfaction. 4 Final removal of the entire railroad spur through Mound City

Group took another six years. In 197 0, the VA began installing a gas-fired boiler to replace its coal-powered heating plant,

thereby obviating use of the spur. VA hospital director Benjamin

S. Wells requested that Superintendent George F. Schesventer put

the National Park Service's request for the spur's removal in

writing for the benefit of Wells' national managers. In his

letter, Schesventer argued that a significant burial discovered

under the tracks could not be removed. Because the railbed

remained, funds could not be programmed to continue research and

interpretive development. Finally, rising visitation increased

chances for an accident and subsequent tort claims against both

agencies as long as the hazard remained. 5 Schesventer 's effort succeeded. On June 16, 1970, Wells

informed Schesventer that the VA would not require use of the B & O spur after September when the new boiler plant went on-line.

Conditional to the line's removal was the VA's need to dispose of

a crane and coal car already declared surplus. Problems with the

conversion from coal to gas and surplusing the equipment caused a one-year delay. During the summer of 1971, the B & O spur permit

was revoked, and the VA and National Park Service worked

cooperatively to remove the tracks and railbed within their

4Fred Fagergren, Jr., to Midwest Regional Director Merrill D. Beal, 7 December 1976, W38 Legislation; VA Assistant Administrator for Construction

Whitney Ashbridge to Acting Director Hillory A. Tolson, letter, 24 August

1960, Building, Incinerator, Utility file; Riddle to Wirth, 13 May 1963, April

1963 report and 11 July 1963, June 1963 report; and Riddle to Director George

B. Hartzog, Jr., 11 May 1965, April 1965 report and 4 June 1965, May 1965 report.'Schesventer to Regional Director Lemuel A. Garrison, 25 February 1970,

L24; and Schesventer to Dr. Benjamin S. Wells, letter, 25 February 1970, L24.
173

Figure 52: Baltimore and Ohio Railroad spur line bisecting Mound

City Group earthworks. (NPS/late 1960s)
174

respective boundaries, and to revegetate the scar. Because the

Chillicothe Correctional Institute required use of the spur from

the B & mainline, its part remained intact. 6 Monument staff became adept at steering away from park

visitors those mentally unbalanced patients who occasionally

wandered away from the VA hospital's neuro-psychiatric facility.

Visitors reported one man in November 1962 wandering the mounds

wearing a gun. Rangers found upon investigation the man wearing

a toy pistol placed in a shoulder holster. In August 1968, a patient found his way to the maintenance utility building where

he was given a soft drink and a cigarette, and to further mollify

him, the superintendent's four-year-old son, Carl Schesventer,

entertained him until VA orderlies arrived. Such patients were usually easy to identify because they were dressed in white

clothing. Some met tragic deaths by attempting to swim the

Scioto River. On February 19, 1984, one VA patient drowned on the monument's eastern boundary. On May 7 the same year, another

patient was discovered floating downstream only semi-conscious.

In 1989, yet another psychiatric patient cut his own throat while

on park property, but his suicide was thwarted by VA police

officers. 7 Water and sewage treatment services for all government

installations on Chillicothe' s federal reservation were supplied

by facilities at the Federal Reformatory. In the fall of 1966,

this free service ended as the facility converted to a central

water softener plant with metered service. National Park Service

usage was set at 200,000 gallons per month and, based on total

output, the charge came to $2 per month, plus a sewage treatment

fee. The change came just prior to the state's conversion of the

prison into the Chillicothe Correctional Institution (CCI) in

December 1966. Managers negotiated a contractual agreement

between CCI and Mound City Group National Monument during 1967. 8

Schesventer to Garrison, 24 June 1970, L24; Acting Superintendent J. Vernon Acton to Regional Director Henry G. Schmidt, 8 March 1971, L24; Benjamin S. Wells to Regional Medical Director, Region 4, Veterans

Administration, 1 April 1971, L1427 Surplus Real Property; General Superintendent William Birdsell to Schmidt, 8 June 1971, S4219; Superintendent

Fred Fagergren, Jr., to Regional Director Merrill D. Beal, 7 December 1976, W38 Legislation. Because the area was federal land, legal recording of the railroad right of way was never accomplished and did not have to be extinguished.

7Lee Hanson to Naomi L. Hunt, letter, 14 March 1986; Riddle to Wirth, 11 December 1962, November 1962 report; Schesventer incident report, 2 August

1968; and Superintendent's Reports for 1984 and 1989.

8Riddle to Hartzog, 11 May 1965, April 1965 report; Coleman to Hartzog,

10 November 1966, October 1966 report and 13 January 1967, December 1966 report; and Acting Regional Director George A. Palmer to Hartzog, 10 May 1968,

Management Appraisal Report conducted 4-8 March 1968, A5427 Management
175

Securing an independent water supply became of prime

importance in the early 1980s and prompted both agencies to find

a common solution. Both the VA and national monument's water

supply system was dependent on the Federal Reformatory and its

successor, Ohio-owned and operated CCI. When the federal

penitentiary transferred to the state, the VA agreed to find its own water supply, but continued to use CCI's sewage system.

Increased water demands from the second prison built across State

Highway 104 mandated not only the VA, but Mound City Group

National Monument to look for new water sources. One option was

to get water from the Ross County Water Company, but the utility

lacked funds to build new lines to reach these potential

customers. Preliminary park plans called for drilling a well at the maintenance area and establishing the monument's own system,

complete with a small treatment plant. Another viable solution

called for the two agencies to work together to solve the water

dilemma. Because of the prohibitively high cost for obtaining

water from the local utility company, VA engineers advocated

drilling their own wells, using the existing VA water treatment

plant, and permitting the national monument to tap into the VA

system utilizing existing lines for a nominal fee. Ken

Apschnikat recommended deferring a decision until VA planning

progressed further. 9 In the meantime, Apschnikat arranged to secure sewage and

water for fire protection lines and irrigation purposes only from

CCI. Agency managers agreed to maintain the $240 annual fee

established in 1974 as a baseline sewage charge figure. In 1986,

the monument installed a meter and shutoff valve on the CCI water

line entering the maintenance shop. 10 Test drilling for water on VA land proved unsuccessful.

Hydrologists determined the aguifer from which CCI drew its water

existed between the east side of State Highway 104 and the Scioto

River, within the national monument. In April 1985, the VA began

pressing the National Park Service for permission to drill test

wells within park boundaries. Omaha officials determined that

Appraisal 1963-1975, Record Group 79, Records of the National Park Service,

Midwest Regional Office, Federal Records Center, National Archives and Records Administration, Kansas City, Missouri (hereafter cited as RG 79, FRC/NARA, Kansas City)

'Ken Apschnikat interview, 19 August 1993; and Apschnikat to Dunning, 2 November 1981, D5039.

"^Superintendent Arthur Tate, Jr., Chillicothe Correctional Institute,

Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, to Apschnikat, letter, 17 October 1985, D5039; Apschnikat to Tate, letter, 10 December 1985, D5039; and Superintendent's Report for 1985. In 1989, the park constructed a new sewer

line from the visitor center to hook into the main sewer line to CCI. See Superintendent's Report for 1989.
176

Superintendent Apschnikat possessed the authority to allow

ingress to the VA, but urged the conditions be spelled out in

advance, including following the advice of Midwest Archeological

Center in Lincoln, Nebraska, in order to stay away from

significant, subsurface cultural resources. Initially, Midwest

Regional Office cultural resources specialists pressed the VA to

conduct section 106 compliance review under the National Historic

Preservation Act, and stipulated keeping drilling, well lines,

and all construction activity within the abandoned railroad bed

corridor. The land upon which the wells were to be drilled would

be leased, not transferred, to the VA. Upon closer examination,

Omaha officials quickly withdrew approval and asked Apschnikat to

approach the VA with new concerns. 11 In mid-June 1985, Apschnikat informed his counterpart that

the tract in question, added to the national monument in 1982

because of a Hopewellian habitation site, possessed automatic

National Register of Historic Places designation as a component

of Mound City Group National Monument. The amount of ground

disturbance required to drill a number of wells and to lay water

and utility lines once potable water was found could have longterm impacts on significant archeological resources. Apschnikat

urged the VA to exhaust all other alternatives, including

adjacent state land, before considering National Park Service

property. n Three months later, VA officials were back with the same

request. CCI refused to consider such a proposal, citing its own agricultural and facility expansion needs. The VA proposed

moving the test drilling to the heavily disturbed gravel pit area

in the monument's northeast corner where there were no known

resources. Section 106 compliance, accomplished through the

Midwest Regional Office, resulted in a "no effect" determination.

A special use permit issued in January 1986, authorized VA

drilling in the old gravel pit. By mid-February, drillers found

a sufficient water supply and the VA requested an interagency

agreement be negotiated to allow installation of production wells

and water distribution systems. Negotiating the agreement took

most of 1986 to achieve, with the National Park Service unwilling

to grant an easement. Protection stipulations that would

normally be written into an easement were incorporated into the

VA Medical Center Director Garlond E. Evers to Apschnikat, letter, 4 April 1985, A44; Apschnikat to Midwest Regional Director Charles Odegaard, 9 April 1985, A44; Acting Regional Director Randall R. Pope to Apschnikat, 3 May

1985; Acting Regional Director David Shonk to Apschnikat, 7 June 1985; and Odegaard to Apschnikat, 14 June 1985.

12Apschnikat to Evers, letter, 18 June 1985, A44.
177

final interagency agreement signed in November 1986. 13 A primary component of the interagency agreement, for the VA

to extend use of its facilities and certain privileges to

National Park Service employees in exchange for obtaining one hundred thousand gallons of water per day, was estimated to save

the small park's budget up to three thousand dollars annually.

The 1986 agreement only formalized a practice that was already in

place. In fact, the close association and special relationship

dated to the days of Clyde King who found he could always rely on the VA to loan eguipment or provide a critical service. In 1964,

the VA began providing exams and licensing Mound City Group

employees with government drivers' licenses when the first park

assigned vehicle arrived. VA firemen and eguipment responded to park fire alarms and drills, and staged cooperative fire

prevention activities on monument grounds. In 1979, the VA's

gymnasium became available to park employees two mornings each

week. In 1983, permanent park employees were invited to join the

VA's credit union. A year later, the monument issued a special use permit and joined the VA in staging what became an annual

disaster drill on monument land. In 1986, the VA installed a special crystal on its radio system permitting expanded

monitoring and radio communication with National Park Service law

enforcement rangers, a service that became especially vital

during emergencies and after park operating hours. 14 Within the first year of the agreement, the monument

received the loan of heavy eguipment, locksmith services, road

striping, welding services, hazardous tree removals, access to

training programs, and VA employee association membership. In 1988, VA police joined park rangers in investigating an attempted

burglary at the visitor center. The aforementioned services

continued, but also included film processing, vehicle and

13Evers to Apschnikat, letter, 3 October 1985, A44; Apschnikat to Odegaard, 8 October 1985; Acting Regional Director Harold E. Thompson to State Historic Preservation Officer W. Ray Luce, letter, 30 October 1985; Luce to Thompson, letter, 21 November 1985; Ralph O. Canady for the Regional Solicitor

to Odegaard, 8 January 1986 [Note: legal authority to contract with VA for drilling and acquiring water comes from 16 USC section la-2(e)]; Apschnikat to Evers, letter, 7 January 1986; Evers to Apschnikat, letter, 14 February 1986; Odegaard to Apschnikat, 11 September 1986; Odegaard to Apschnikat, 23 September 1986, D5039; and Superintendent's Report for 1986. At the same

time, VA negotiated with state officials to replace the old sewage treatment

plant at CCI . VA agreed to fund its prorated share of construction costs in return for a discounted use rate. Flow calculations put it at thirteen

percent of plant capacity, or $761,391. See "Facts Concerning the Sewage

Plant Project," Chillicothe/Ross Advertiser (7 January 1987).

l4Ken Apschnikat interview, 19 August 1993; John C. W. Riddle to Director

George B. Hartzog, Jr., 10 September 1964, August 1964; James Coleman to Hartzog, 12 August 1966, July 1966 report- and Superintendent's Report for

1979, 1983, 1984, and 1986.
178

equipment repair, metal shop services, and grounds and

landscaping support. In 1989, the VA surveyed and produced

drawings for a new sewer line, provided a dethatching unit for

the lawn areas, took air samples to test for asbestos, and

repaired the visitor center's door. In 1990, VA surveyors worked

at the Hopeton unit to establish and re-establish park boundary

markers. Coordination between the two agencies remains

remarkably intimate. 15

**Prisoners as Neighbors

Mound City Group National Monument enjoyed equally close

relations with the Chillicothe Federal Reformatory, administered

by the Department of Justice, from the post-World War II era until December 1, 1966, when the facility transferred to state

control and subsequent ownership. As with VA psychiatric

patients, the monument experienced unexpected visits from escaped

federal convicts causing periods of extreme excitement and

anxiety at the otherwise quiet, pastoral area. The maintenance

utility building and superintendent's residence were within sight

of the federal prison's lookout towers. Located immediately to

the south, guards with binoculars and high-powered rifles could

easily survey much of the national monument. One of Custodian

Clyde B. King's first meetings with the warden concerned National

Park Service plans to reforest the park, and whether changing the

area's common grassland and cultivated farm field landscape might

meet with the Federal Reformatory's opposition. While not

expressing any objection to the plan, the warden noted that there were other forested areas nearby, especially along the Scioto,

and that escapees always tended to head for the nearest woodland

for cover. As the park grew more forested to reflect its

prehistoric Hopewellian landscape, it might become a primary

initial destination point for escaped prisoners. 16 As long as the prison remained a next-door neighbor, park

managers perpetually feared that visitors, employees, or family

members might be taken hostage, killed, or have their vehicles

hijacked. The apprehension began on September 2, 1952, when a riot at the institution drew heavy traffic and a crowd of

spectators outside the prison entrance on State Highway 104

Bureau of Prisons personnel put down the uprising without

experiencing any escapes. On December 15, 1962, on a Saturday

August 1993; Apschnikat, "Mound City Group National Monument Management

Briefing Paper, 1987"; and Superintendent's Report for 1987, 1988, 1989, and

1990. Construction of the water wells cost the VA a half-million dollars and became operational in August 1988.

16King to Region One Director Thomas J. Allen, 16 February 1947.
179

morning, three inmates staged a break-out from the main compound.

Two men were apprehended at the park's boundary fence, while the

third sprinted to the mound enclosure area before two guards

collared him. 17 The 1963 incident prompted John C. W. Riddle to purchase a pistol for protection against desperate escaped convicts.

Because the park lacked commissioned law enforcement rangers and

no one else on staff had firearms training, the gun and its

ammunition remained safely tucked away in the superintendent's

combination safe. The break-out also prompted a Bureau of

Prisons employee to appear in the visitor center lobby to conduct

a special briefing on safety and security measures for Mound City

Group employees to observe while working in the shadows of the

Federal Reformatory. The recommendations came in handy as another escape by three prisoners came during the late afternoon

of February 25, 1965. One prisoner was shot and killed upon

crossing the open farm field and reaching Mound City Group land.

Another man simultaneously halted at the fence, having been shot

in the lower abdomen. The third convict darted behind the

utility and residence buildings, then sprinted for the west bank

of the Scioto where a dozen guards recaptured him. 18 Numerous escape attempts characterized the mid-1960s when

the federal prison downsized in anticipation of its transfer to

state control. On May 3, 1965, a group of inmates commandeered a private contractor's pickup truck to punch through the main gate

only to become involved in a head-on collision with a Federal

Reformatory truck approaching from the outside. Inmates hijacked

yet another prison-owned truck and sped west away from Mound City

with prison guards in hot pursuit. Park employees watched the

activity from the visitor center's office area, relieved that the

danger did not involve them. On the evening of July 26, two

inmates walked unobserved away from a grass-cutting crew, only to be recaptured the following day in Circleville, Ohio. Thirteen

months later, on August 26, 1966, four prisoners tried to climb

the rear fence as guards fired their automatic weapons. Three

immediately surrendered, but the fourth scaled the barrier and

ran to the wooded area along Mound City Group's riverfront. The

King to Director Conrad L. Wirth, 1 October 1952, September 1952 report;

Riddle to Wirth, 7 January 1963, December 1962 report; and "Reformatory Trio

Fails in Escape Try," Chillicothe Gazette (15 December 1962). An employee of the Federal Reformatory tried to commit suicide by drowning, but lost his nerve and presented himself wet and trembling at the superintendent's

residence. See King to Wirth, 3 March 1959, February 1959 report.

l8Lee Hanson to Naomi L. Hunt, letter, 15 March 1986; Riddle to Wirth, 10 June 1963, May 1963 report; and Riddle to Hartzog, 12 March 1965, February

1965 report.
180

escapee was apprehended the next day in Chillicothe. 19 While Mound City Group's water and sewage needs were initially controlled by the prison, so, too, did its electricity

come from the same source. This dependency became acutely

apparent at 5:20 in the evening of January 19, 1951, when the

park's electrical current stopped flowing. Utility workers at the Federal Reformatory traced the problem to the underground

high tension lines. Six days later, they determined that not

only had a previous splice deteriorated, but the line had shorted

out at three other known points. Buried four feet beneath grade,

any repairs would be temporary on the decaying line. The prison

lacked the funds to repair the line, and advised Clyde King to

negotiate with the local power company to provide electricity.

The Columbus and Southern Ohio Electric Company constructed a quarter-mile line from State Highway 104 along the park's south

boundary to the utility building and residence. After one month

living and operating without electricity, the new lines were activated on February 19, 1951, and the park began purchasing its

power from the local utility company. 20 While the area's three federal agencies cooperated on fire

protection, the Federal Reformatory exercised exclusive

maintenance of Mound City Group National Monument's pre-MISSION

66 road system. This constituted Portsmouth Road, the common boundary road. Under an informal agreement, the prison

maintained the gravel surface and park maintenance workers mowed

the roadside. In 1957, the National Park Service surveyed and

installed boundary markers in the area. In mid-1964, the

prison's warden told Superintendent John C. W. Riddle that

Portsmouth Road was superfluous to the prison's needs as it had

built its own periphery road for patrols and it lacked funding to

provide upkeep on Portsmouth Road. Henceforth, maintenance of

the rough road, perennially dusty or muddy, was Mound City

Group's responsibility. 21 Close relations continued with state prison managers of CCI

State prison patrols continued the practice of including the

visitor center loop road on their routine patrols, particularly

during the evening and nighttime hours. Park rangers began using

CCI's indoor firearms range in 1977, and attended training

Riddle to Hartzog, 4 June 1965, May 1965 report; and Coleman to Hartzog,

12 August 1965, July 1965 report, and 8 September 1966, August 1966 report.

^King to Director Arthur B. Demaray, 1 February 1951, January 1951 report, and 1 March 1951, February 1951 report.

2l Riddle to Wirth, 7 January 1963, December Regional Director Ronald F. Lee, 22 July 1964, D22
181

sessions there. 22 Escape attempts continued under CCI management and prompted

General Superintendent Bill Birdsell to issue emergency

procedures in the event of a prison break. The official park

policy read as follows:

1. As a preventive measure, employees will remove keys from all

vehicles left unattended. This includes Government vehicles as well as personal vehicles.

2. Upon notification of an attempted escape, or the suspicion of

one, the person notified will inform the park staff. Staff

members are to be alerted in this order: General Superintendent,

Interpretive Specialist, Administrative Assistant, and

Maintenanceman. A telephone call will be made to the quarters

(774-1356) to notify the occupants there to lock all doors and to

take cover. A similar call will then be made to the

Interpretation-Maintenance Office to alert all employees on duty

in that building to take cover in the basement office.

3. The responsible employee on duty in the Visitor Center will warn all visitors and employees on duty to stay inside the

Visitor Center building. Immediate contact will be made with

visitors on the grounds, through personal contact and/or the use

of the megaphone, directing them to return inside the Visitor

Center in an orderly manner and without running.

4. In the event of gunfire from the towers, visitors and

employees must be cautioned against exposing themselves or attracting gunfire while running for shelter. During gunfire,

employees and visitors on the grounds are to take immediate cover

on the north side of the nearest mound or earthwork, until

conditions are such that it will be safe for them to be brought

inside the Visitor Center.

5. When all visitors and employees in the area are safely within

the Visitor Center, all outside doors will be locked. An

employee will stand by in the lobby to allow entry to uniformed

law enforcement personnel or late arriving visitors.

6. The responsible employee in the Visitor Center will call CCI

to notify prison security of the situation at [Mound City Group]

and to request notification when the situation is under control.

7. Visitors and employees will not be allowed to leave the

22Coleman to Hartzog, 7 February 1967, January 1967 report; and Superintendent's Report for 1977. To maintain firearms certification, rangers

also used the Chillicothe firearms range along with local agents of the

Federal Bureau of Investigation.
182

Visitor Center until word is received from CCI authorities that

the area is safe. When notification to this effect is received

from a CCI official, the Interpretation-Maintenance Office and

the quarters will be notified by telephone.

8. Under no circumstances will National Park Service employees

attempt to apprehend, or assist in the apprehension of, escaped

prisoners. Our responsibility rests solely in the protection of

visitors and employees. The apprehension of escaped prisoners is

the responsibility of trained law enforcement officers, and this

will be handled under CCI direction. To repeat, the safety of

park visitors and employees takes precedent over all other

responsibilities. 23 The policy remained in effect during a December 1979 attempted

escape which CCI guards thwarted a fleeing inmate a mere thirty

feet from the monument's south boundary. The cooperative

relationship between CCI and Mound City Group became formalized

in a memorandum of agreement signed in August 1983. The agencies

pledged cooperation in the event of prison breaks, and in

exchange for continued CCI patrols in the park, the monument

permitted its grounds to be used for observation posts and

staging areas in the event of a prison riot or breakout. 24 On August 27, 1982, the Department of Justice transferred

all of its 1,200-acre holdings in Chillicothe's federal

reservation area to CCI for $8.4 million. Ohio corrections

officials announced beginning of construction in 1983 of the

proposed "CCI 2" to ease the state's overcrowded prisons.

Located across State Highway 104 from "CCI 1" and Mound City

Group National Monument, the new facility was conceived to

replace the Columbus Correctional Facility, itself under courtorder to close by the end of 1983. In mid-October 1982, CCI

Superintendent Ted Engle and employees of the state's contractor,

George S. Voinovich, Inc., of Cleveland, met with Ken Apschnikat

to discuss the project and its impact on the national monument.

The group devised a screening plan along State Highway 104

opposite Mound City Group National Monument within the twohundred-foot buffer specified in the land transfer deed. While

the extant treeline and powerline would remain, new vegetation

18 April 1973, A7615. ^Bonnie Murray interview, 26 August 1993; Superintendent's Report for

1979; and Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the National Park Service

and Chillicothe Correctional Institute, August 1983 (MU6514-3-001 ) . The MOU recognized the wooded park entrance area adjacent to prison land as "the closest logical spot for someone to either wait at night to pick up a prison

escapee or to leave a vehicle for him." CCI agree to patrol Mound City Group

to contact "late-night visitors," whether they be the "lost, curious, vandals,

burglars, partiers, or drug dealers." By frequent patrols, the agencies hoped

to "negate potential avenues of escape."
183

introduced to fill screening gaps had to be compatible with the

powerline's height and not interfere with the highway right of

way

25A change in the Columbus Statehouse, budget cutbacks, and a redesign exercise combined to delay groundbreaking for CCI 2 until 1984. During construction, Mound City Group experienced

severe littering, boundary encroachments, noise, and blowing

dust. The single-building style of prison, favored in the postWorld War II era, gave way to the 1980s predilection for multiple

buildings. CCI 2 became two, five-hundred-bed residential

structures united by a common services and classroom area. The

$52 million facility, completed in the spring of 1985, also

included a minimum-security honor dormitory accommodating 2 50

inmates. Unlike CCI 1, it had no guard towers, only "security

devices" on the perimeter and two fences crowned with razor- ribbon wire. Alarms were also installed in the elaborate fencing

along with twenty-four-hour perimeter patrolling. The official

ribbon-cutting ceremony for the "Ross Correctional Institution"

came on March 27, 1987. 26 Close cooperation and coordination between prison and park

officials characterized the 1980s. CCI workers removed the

monument's abandoned underground oil tank using a CCI-owned

front-end loader in July 1982. CCI also removed the old

telephone poles and lines along the south boundary in 1983. Also

in 1983, the park issued a special use permit to CCI to continue

farming alfalfa on 3 5.5 acres of newly-acguired monument land

known as "the North Field." The following year, CCI agreed to

the local electric company removing overhead electric lines north

of Portsmouth Road onto CCI land. In 1989, Superintendent

William Gibson negotiated and signed a memorandum of

understanding with Ross Correctional Institute based on the

similar agreement with CCI covering emergencies, patrols, and

alarm responses. Gibson amended the original agreement with CCI

to include agricultural uses on the North Field in exchange for

"Prison Site Officially Turned Over to State," Chillicothe Gazette (27 August 1982); and minutes of meeting, Ken Apschnikat with Ted Engle and Voinovich, Inc., 17 November 1982, L14 Federal Land Acquisition (2). Omaha

officials recommended that the maples specified in the landscape screening

plan for CCI 2 be of the hardwood variety. Regional Director Jimmie L. Dunning noted that the state "made an excellent effort to provide appropriate

and attractive screening for the new prison facility" and that it constituted

a "compliment [to] the monument." See Dunning to Apschnikat, 25 April 1983, L14 Federal Land Acquisition (2). ^"New Chillicothe Prison First in State Program," (13 July 1983) and CCI2 Honor Dorm Under Construction," (23 February 1984) Chillicothe Gazette ; and Superintendent's Report for 1984. CCI 1 deactivated its guard towers in 1984.
184

the visitor center's connection to CCI's sewage disposal plant. 27 Recognizing the abysmal quality of the park's well water,

negotiations in 1993 yielded progress in agreement to connect

with one of the prison's water system. A 1994 memorandum of

understanding with Ross Correctional Institution granted it the

privilege of haying 13 acres at Hopeton Earthworks in exchange

for Mound City Group connecting to its water system. 28 This

arrangement was cancelled in 1998.

**0hio State Agencies and Other Management Partners

Along with the Ohio Historical Society and state prison

authorities, Mound City Group managers have also cultivated close

relations with the Ohio Highway Department. When highway workers

installed new road signs in the Chillicothe area during the summer of 1948, Clyde King inquired why Mound City Group National

Monument directional signs were not also positioned in light of new signs for the VA and Federal Reformatory. King requested

from the highway division engineer four signs and received

assurances that the signs would be manufactured. After the onset

of the Korean War, King learned that while the signs were made,

installing them would be delayed because of the national steel

shortage. In the meantime, in March 1951, the highway department

graded the road from the highway to the utility building, but

budget and manpower prevented any regrading in 1952. Following

the Korean War, King again contacted the Ohio Highway Department

concerning proper directional signage, stressing the increasing

numbers of tourists who relied upon state highway maps and local

signs to find the monument. King learned that while the original

order had been cancelled, a new order would be executed.

Finally, in March 1954, six signs at three different points were installed directing visitors to Mound City Group National

Monument

29

Ken Apschnikat interview, 19 August 1993; Superintendent's Report for

1982, 1983, 1984, and 1989; and Gibson to Regional Director Don Castleberry,

25 April 1989, transmitting Memorandum of Understanding between the National

Park Service and Ross Correctional Institute, A44 Cooperative Agreements with

Federal, State, Local Government. ^Superintendent's Report for 1993, 1994-95, and 1995-96. Renewal of the agreement with RCI came in July 1996. As in past years, it included haying

forty acres at Mound City Group as well as sewage disposal and after-hour

security patrols.

^King to Din

November 1950/October 1950 report, and 1 March 1951/February 1951 report; King

to Director Conrad Wirth, 2 June 1952/May 1952 report, 3 November 1953/October

1953 report, and 1 April 1954/March 1954 report. Ohio Highway Department

agreed to replace all signage for federal institutions in the Scioto valley in the summer of 1963. For Mound City Group, this meant directional signage at
185

State highway crews painted a yellow centerline stripe at no charge from the visitor parking lot to the park entrance in 1964.

Upon Superintendent James Coleman's reguest for increased

motorist safety, the highway department also painted a solid

yellow stripe indicating a no-passing zone on State Highway 104

approaching the monument's entranceway. 30 In 1984, to commemorate State Highway 104 as "Camp Sherman

Memorial Highway," the department installed a special marker just

inside the entrance gate. The redesignated Ohio Department of

Transportation worked cooperatively with park and local groups to reestablish the tree-lined historic Camp Sherman-era landscape by

replacing the highway's canopy of silver maples. Saddened by

abrupt removal of decayed, damaged, and diseased trees, the

community coalition launched the tree-planting project in 1990. 31 With impetus from the park's active safety committee, concern over road safety developed during the superintendency of

Ken Apschnikat. The monument suggested a number of measures to

improve motoring conditions in the area. To alleviate a growing

number of visitor complaints, Apschnikat reguested the department

in 1985 install monument directional signs at the junction of

U.S. Highway 23 and 35 to the northeast of Chillicothe. Because

of the monument's comparatively low visitation figures, state

engineers refused to honor the reguest. 32 Issues related to parks, recreation, and tourism in the

Chillicothe area usually involve participation and professional

input from NPS. These issues, closely related to the park's

mission, necessitated forming partnership relations between all

levels of government. Mound City Group lent its support to local

and state efforts to develop Mount Logan State Park in the midstate Route U.S. 35 and State Route 104 as well as State Route 104 and State Route U.S. 22. The signs were in place in early 1965. See Riddle to Wirth,

11 July 1963, June 1963 report; and Riddle to Hartzog, 12 February 1965,

January 1965 report.

^Riddle to Hartzog, 14 July 1964, June 1964 report; and Coleman to Hartzog, 5 October 1966, September 1966 report.

31 William Gibson interview, 24 August 1993; and Superintendent's Report

for 1982, 1989, and 1990.

32Ken Apschnikat inte: Deputy Director Marshall P. Baum, Ohio Department of Transportation, letter,

19 July 1983, A76. The safety suggestions were as follows: "1) lowering the speed limit along this section of SR 104 to at least 45 MPH; 2) posting signs

warning drivers of turning vehicles, slow moving traffic, and/or a congested

area; 3) eliminating or shortening the passing zones between the VA entrances

and the Camp Sherman Memorial Park area; and 4) installing caution lights and signs at strategic points along the road to warn drivers of a hazardous area.' Also, see Apschnikat to Baum, letter, 29 August 1985, D66.
186

1960s. During the 1965 visitor season, the first exchange of

evening interpretive campfire programs occurred between the

area's state parks and Mound City Group. Superintendent John C. W. Riddle served as an instructor at the Ohio Department of

Natural Resources, Division of Parks and Recreation's annual

Regional Interpretive Training Program at Pike Lake State Park in

April 1965. Natural and cultural resource preservation were primary agenda items the following year as Superintendent James

Coleman attended meetings of the South Central Ohio Preservation

Society, serving Ross, Vinton, Pike, and Jackson counties. 33 Perhaps the most vexing issue confronting Mound City Group

managers entailed how to accommodate or deflect requests for use

of monument grounds for special recreational events. Many

activities simply did not lend themselves to the monument's

mission of preserving and interpreting the Hopewell culture.

Like the persistent local demand to have picnicking facilities,

this and other recreational uses emerged from decades of local

visitor use that the public fully expected to continue. Each

year came requests to hold Easter egg hunts. While this innocent

activity used to take place atop the mounds themselves, following

park development in the early 1960s, the groups of young children

searching for colored eggs and candies were accommodated on the

mowed lawns of the visitor center. In 1966, James Coleman

directed it be moved away from areas of heavy visitor use and the

Chillicothe Child Guidance Club was the first to hold its annual

egg-hunt on the lawn behind the superintendent's residence. 34 Because the growing area needed more recreational space,

Coleman participated in the August 1966 formation of a tourism

promotion group attended by representatives of the Optimist Club,

Chamber of Commerce, Adena State Memorial, Ross County Historical

Society, Mead Paper Company, Ross County Automobile Club, and the

Ohio Historical Society. Eugene Rigney of the Ross County

Historical Society made it clear to the attendees of the key role

Mound City Group National Monument played in the area's tourism

economy. Rigney set forth his agenda for what the National Park

Service should accomplish, including building a "Treasury Room"

to display Mound City Group artifacts held at the Ohio Historical

Society Museum, acquire land to construct a memorial to Camp

Sherman, and rebuild the old picnic shelter. Rigney related his

nagging fear that the monument could one day be turned over to

the state, a move that he strongly opposed.

12 February 1965/January 1965 report and 14 April

1965, March 1965 report; and Coleman to Hartzog, 8 September 1966/August 1966 report and 5 October 1966/September 1966 report.

34Coleman to Hartzog, 4 March 1966/February 1966 report and 12 May

1966/April 1966 report.
187

While Coleman could only refer local park proponents to the

monument's master plan, the dilemma for providing nearby green

space for egg-hunts, picnicking, and other recreational

activities again presented itself during Bill Birdsell's tenure.

Deflecting the activity to a more appropriate off-site area, Birdsell eagerly committed National Park Service technical

assistance to the planning and development of Ross County's Camp

Sherman Memorial Park. Philadelphia Park Planner Barry Bohnet

visited the area in October 1973 to draft a plan for the new county park. Birdsell served as a member of the Camp Sherman

Memorial Committee and focused all chronic efforts at siting

World War I memorials and picnic shelter houses to this new park

located on State Highway 104 between Chillicothe and the national

monument. The county park also featured remnants of the defunct

Ohio and Erie Canal. £ In order to explain fluctuations in visitation patterns,

John C. W. Riddle asked the U.S. Weather Bureau in October 1962

to install a weather station at Mound City Group National

Monument for daily monitoring by park staff. Regional weather

reporting came from Columbus, with only precipitation recording

in Chillicothe. While the U.S. Weather Bureau rejected the

reguest for an official weather station, it did install a rain

gauge in an area north of the visitor center. On February 15,

1963, Mound City Group began recording daily precipitation

statistics for the U.S. Weather Bureau. 36 In 1972, Mound City Group employees were monitoring another

new gauge mounted atop a high concrete tower on Chillicothe'

Riverside Street. Considerable risk was involved in reading the

gauge as one had to climb a metal catwalk to the tower's

midpoint, then take a iron ladder to the tower's pinnacle.

Because of the danger in winter due to snow and ice conditions,

two employees had to be dispatched to ensure safety procedures.

By the mid to late 1970s, the National Park Service regularly

provided daily weather statistics from a monument-based class B weather station to three local radio stations, a cable television

company, the Chillicothe Gazette , and an area factory. By the

early 1980s, Mound City Group employees were monitoring a precipitation and water-level gauge on the Scioto River for the

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. An eguipment

Coleman to Hartzog, 8 September 1966, August 1966 report; Birdsell to Mid-Atlantic Regional Director Chester L. Brooks, 7 February 1974, L34; and Ohio National Park Service Group staff meeting minutes, 22 December 1974.

36Acting Regional Director J. Carlisle Crouch to Riddle, 8 October 1962, N42; Riddle to U.S. Weather Bureau, Washington, D.C., letter, 15 October 1962, N42; Riddle to Director Conrad L. Wirth, 7 January 1963/December 1962 report

and 12 March 1963/February 1963 report. Riddle referred to the device as "our cooperative station" with the "Ohio State Division of Forestry, Chillicothe,"

suggesting the area's previous gauge may have been relocated to the monument.
188

update of the class B weather station came in early 1985 when the

National Weather Service installed an electronic temperature

reading unit in the visitor center office area, replacing the

alcohol and mercury thermometers. The device eliminated the

daily excursion to the weather station to gather data,

effectively saving twelve to fifteen man-hours annually. 37

**The State Coordinator Program

As the National Park System experienced its most expansive

growth during the 1960s, Director George B. Hartzog, Jr., debated

how best to inculcate the agency's mission and core values into

the American mindset. In the political realm, Hartzog believed

that political contacts should be made not only at the regional

office level, but at the park superintendent level as well. Park

managers were encouraged to meet with local, state, and national

political leaders and educate them about National Park Service

programs and goals. To this end, Hartzog ordered a nationwide

initiative that he called the "State Coordinator Program." Upon

the recommendation of his regional directors, Hartzog appointed a National Park Service superintendent in each state to be his

"eyes and ears" and requested monthly reports be submitted to

him.

On October 23, 1967, Hartzog appointed George Schesventer as Ohio State Coordinator, and explained the importance of his new post as follows: "The importance of this vital assignment is to develop a better public understanding of National Park Service

objectives and policies and to improve liaison and coordination

between the Service and the various government and non-government

agencies and organizations as well as influential individuals

within the state. Our accent should be on a program that will

lead to an improved attitude of cooperation and mutual

understanding our respective interests." Hartzog instructed

Schesventer to meet with the governor and top state officials as well as contact members of the congressional delegation, and

arrange meetings with them both locally and in the nation's

capital. Emphasizing his intense interest in the nationwide

initiative, Director Hartzog called the assignment an "extremely

important and sensitive responsibility."38 Ohio's state coordinator duties conducted out of Mound City

August 1993; Safety Committee meeting minutes, 11 October 1972, A7619; Superintendent's Report for 1978, 1980, 1981, 1984, and 1985; and Apschnikat

to Odegaard, 29 March 1985, A64 Management Efficiency.

38Hartzog to Schesventer, 23 October 1967, L7019 State Coordinator Monthly

Reports.
189

Group National Monument went so well that it contributed to the

management decision to form the Ohio National Park Service Group

based in Chillicothe. General Superintendent Bill Birdsell took

the state coordinator duties to heart and perfected it to an art

form, using his gregarious personality to engender public and

political goodwill towards the agency. Birdsell devoted the

majority of his time to the program and became the most visible

National Park Service official in Ohio. Upon the shift in

regional boundaries in 1974, Birdsell literally became the

Midwest Regional Office's "keyman" for Ohio as the Omaha office

had never before had a system of established contacts in the

state. Birdsell' s power and influence as general superintendent

and state coordinator grew exponentially, garnering for Mound

City Group increased attention. His success netted him the job

as first superintendent at Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation

Area, the first sizeable national park area established in Ohio

in late 1974. Birdsell took his state coordinator's designation

with him to the Cleveland area, but following his fatal heart

attack in 1980, the duties reverted back to Mound City Group

National Monument. 39 Mound City Group superintendents performed important tasks

beyond their park's boundaries even in the absence of the state

coordinator's role. James Coleman spent several months in the

spring of 1966 preparing the history section of the Ohio River

Basin Comprehensive Survey, a cooperative planning effort ordered

by Congress between the Department of the Interior and the U.S.

Army Corps of Engineers. 40 Another important planning effort involved the National

Afro-American Museum and Cultural Center at Wilberforce, Ohio.

The concept for a facility to house the premier interpretive

display of the Negro experience in the United States began in the

1960s and centered on Wilberforce, a southern Ohio town with

seven stations on the Underground Railroad and home to two

historically black colleges: Wilberforce and Central State

universities. In 1972, the Ohio legislature authorized a planning council to assist the Ohio Historical Society in

developing an operations plan for such a center. In 1976,

Congress authorized the National Park Service to conduct a suitability and feasibility study that began the following year

with Superintendent Fred Fagergren serving on the six-member

team. In mid-1979, Acting Assistant Secretary of the Interior

Birdsell to Midwest Regional Director J. Leonard Volz, 28 June 1974, L7019; and Ron Cockrell, A Green Shrouded Miracle; The Administrative History

of Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area, Ohio (Omaha: Midwest Regional

Office, National Park Service, 1992), 192-93.

"°Coleman to Hartzog, 13 April 1966/March 1966 report and 12 May

1966/April 1966 report.
190

Richard J. Myshak recommended against national museums outside

the Smithsonian Institution with its existing National Museum of

African Art in Washington, D.C. Nonetheless, members of the Ohio

congressional delegation submitted bills calling for the

establishment of "Wilberforce National Historic Site" in the 95th

Congress with the Col. Charles Young house, a national historic

landmark, the centerpiece of the proposed park. By the end of

the session, however, this provision was deleted from the omnibus

parks bill, and only called for National Park Service technical

assistance to a national commission established to study the

federal government's role in developing the Wilberforce center. 41 Ohio's plan for developing the National Afro-American Museum

and Cultural Center came in three phases, and eventually included

archives, libraries, and art galleries. It envisioned

Wilberforce as the national center for African-American studies

and research. With a cumulative pricetag set at well over $25

million, ground-breaking for the first phase came in January

1983, and future construction phases became dependent on the success of private fund-raising.

Ken Apschnikat represented the National Park Service at the

facility's dedication on April 16, 1988, and reported on the numerous calls he heard for federal funds to continue operations.

In 1991, those efforts at gaining federal funding took the form

of H.R. 1960, which called for federal construction and operating

dollars. The National Park Service opposed the action, citing

duplication of the Smithsonian's mission and maintaining out of

self-interest that the center remain non-federal. Midwest Region

officials feared that connecting the Wilberforce facility to the

National Park Service's budget would siphon off considerable

resources and adversely impact the national park system. With

the federal deficit and calls to balance the budget in the early

1990s, the National Afro-American Museum and Cultural Center

found itself existing on donations and static state funding,

unable to expand its collections, and without a training center.

Federal operating funds were not forthcoming. 42

4l "Park Service," Chillicothe Gazette (28 April 1978); Myshak to Chairman, House Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, Morris K. Udall, letter, 22 June 1979 (the Act of October 17, 1976, calling for the study was Public Law

94-578, 90 Stat. 2447); and "Ground to be Broken for Afro-American Center," Columbus Dispatch (21 November 1982).

42Ken Apschnikat interview, 19 August 1993; "Ground Broken for Afro- American Center," Columbus Dispatch (21 November 1982); Superintendent's

Report for 1988; "Grand Opening, National Afro-American Museum and Cultural

Center" brochure, 15-17 April 1988, L58; Don H. Castleberry to Assistant

Director, Legislative and Congressional Affairs, George K. Rasley, 3 September

1991, L58; and "Black Museum Growth Stunted Financially," Columbus Dispatch

(16 December 1991)
191

State coordinator responsibilities also meant participating

in regional and local organizations. In 1980, Mound City Group

National Monument joined the Chillicothe-Ross County Chamber of

Commerce and park managers began attending regular meetings to

promote community cooperation. Fred Fagergren also joined the

newly-formed Southern Ohio Travel and Tourism group to promote

regional attractions and events through a membership of thirtyfive organizations. In 1982, Ken Apschnikat was named to the

chamber's Visitors and Convention Bureau and served in a number

of capacities including its board of trustees, ensuring that the

national monument figured prominently in local promotional

publications. 43 Apschnikat revived the high profile status of the state

coordinator's program role and began including it in his annual

reports in 1982 in which he noted thirteen separate actions. In

1984, he joined the Ohio Parks and Recreation Association in

order to interact on a professional basis with state parks

professionals. Before leaving the area, he observed: "The state

coordinator duties are not extremely demanding due to low key

activities for the NPS in Ohio. The greatest amount of

involvement comes in trying to promote the NPS image and parks in

the state. Because the five parks are not extremely well known

the challenge comes in promoting these lesser-known parks."44 One of the means to promote awareness of Mound City Group

came in the form of media relations. During the 1980s, numerous

radio stations and independent film companies came to the park as did the Educational Television Association of Metropolitan

Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, and Wilberforce television

stations, "Odyssey" of Public Broadcasting System, National

Geographic Society, and British Broadcasting Corporation.

Rapport with local media outlets remained exemplary with only

1980, 1982, and 1987; "Tourism Group Being Formed," Chillicothe Gazette (18 February 1980); "Convention Members Named," Chillicothe Gazette (6 July 1983); and Ken Apschnikat, "Mound City Group National Monument Management Briefing

Paper, 1987." The Ross Chillicothe Convention and Visitors Bureau formed in 1983. Apschnikat served on the board of the chamber of commerce and chaired

its Recreation Development Committee as well as helped form the Area Attractions Committee, which later dissolved and merged with the Ross Chillicothe Convention and Visitors Bureau. When Mound City Group was inadvertently omitted from the cultural and recreation section of the chamber's "Community Profile" packet, Apschnikat pointed out that "not every county is fortunate to have a National Park within its boundary" and stated

his intention to elevate the community's awareness of the park at every

opportunity. See Apschnikat to Chillicothe-Ross Chamber of Commerce President

John N. Gunning, Jr., letter, 8 June 1984, A38. ""Quotation in Apschnikat, "Mound City Group National Monument Management

Briefing Paper, 1987"; Ken Apschnikat interview, 19 August 1993; and Superintendent's Report for 1982 and 1984.
192 rare occurrences of misinformation or biased reporting. In 1990,

the monument established close relations to a local cable

television station interested in broadcasting the monument's

interpretive programs and messages for increased community

outreach. 45 In an admirable partnership to provide child care in the

Chillicothe community, Mound City Group National Monument joined

with four other organizations to form the Interagency Employees

Child Care Task Force in 1987. Apschnikat joined with the

Veterans Administration Medical Center, Chillicothe Correctional

Institute, Ross Correctional Institution, and Union-Scioto School

District to obtain grants to provide reliable, affordable child

care services close to the workplace. The five agencies

represented 2,400 employees, and in late 1987 the task force

began searching for a suitable facility to begin services. The

Interagency Child Care Center opened its doors in building 212 at

the VA Medical Center and by 1989 accommodated 130 children and

employed eleven full-time and five substitute employees. Its success made the rural day-care facility a model for Ohio.

Because of his involvement in this local effort, Ken Apschnikat

received an appointment to serve on the National Park Service's

Youth Educational Programming and Day Care Task Force in 1988.

The group developed a range of recommendations to help address

agency child care issues. 46 Plans that began in the 1970s for bicycle and hiking trails

in the area gained impetus in 1980 when the chamber of commerce

called for the acquisition of land adjacent to Yoctangee Park to

provide trail linkage from Mound City Group National Monument

through Yoctangee Park to connect with the flood levee biking and

hiking path near North Bridge Street. The VA Hospital

simultaneously expressed interest in joining the trail network.

The effort gained further notice because of the Federal Highway

Administration's Bicycle Grant program making federal funding

available to state and local governments to construct bikeways. 47 The initiative mushroomed in the late 1980s as a "rails-totrails" project formed to utilize abandoned railroad rights of

ways in three counties. Superintendent Bill Gibson took the lead

in advocating the program because many of the Hopewell sites

45 Ibid.; Superintendent's Report for 1990; and review of K3417 file,

"Radio and Television Activities."

^Ken Apschnikat interview, 19 August 1993; "Public Employees May Share Child Care," Chillicothe Gazette (2 October 1987); "Child Care Center Could be Funded," Chillicothe Gazette (31 May 1989); and Superintendent's Report for

1988.

47 "Chamber of Commerce Advocates Purchase of Additional Parklands,"

Chillicothe Gazette (10 September 1980), K3415.
193

under consideration for addition to the federal park passed near

or through them. Gibson's strategy was that the trails network

would help link together the noncontiguous sites as well as help

engender support for their preservation. Gibson worked to patch

together a tri-county rails-to-trails project encompassing Ross,

Highland, and Fayette counties. Gibson received the assistance

of Outdoor Recreation Planner Paul Labovitz, a Midwest Regional

Office employee duty-stationed at Cuyahoga Valley National

Recreation Area. In September 1990, the not-for-profit citizens

group incorporated under Ohio law as "Tri-County Triangle Trail,

Inc." The following year with the benefit of public input the

group announced plans for a fifty-two-mile recreational trail

along abandoned railway lines linking Chillicothe, Frankfort,

Greenfield, and Washington Courthouse. As press attention

escalated so, too, did grassroots membership and increased public

involvement. 48 Bill Gibson also laid the groundwork to form a "Friends of

Mound City Group" by hosting a formation meeting on January 25,

1990. Like Ken Apschnikat's previous effort involving American

Indians, initial enthusiasm did not result in perpetuating a park

friends group. 49 Gibson continued the community involvement of his

predecessors. In 1990, he accepted an invitation from the

Archaeological Conservancy to serve on its Ohio Advisory

Committee. Using his position on a regional waste management

advisory board, Gibson spurred recycling efforts at Mound City

Group National Monument and received high visitor participation

rates as well as favorable comments. He also became a founding

charter member of the Federal Executive Association of Southeast

Ohio, a body formed to further interagency cooperation and

coordination

50 An initiative that began with a phone call to Omaha in 1989

eventually lead to substantial involvement by the state

coordinator, introduction of legislation, and authorization of a new unit of the national park system. In the spring of 1989,

Gerald Sharkey, president of Aviation Trail, Inc., in Dayton

called Midwest Regional Director Don Castleberry to explain his

group's efforts at preserving remnants of historic properties

William Gibson interview, 24 August 1993; and Superintendent's Report

for 1989 and 1991; and Gibson to Castleberry, 14 February 1990 and 6 October

1990, L7019 State Coordinator Reports.

49William Gibson interview, 24 August 1993; and Gibson to Castleberry, 14 February 1990, L7019. ^William Gibson interview, 24 August 1993; Gibson to Castleberry, 6 June

1990 and 5 March 1990, L7019; and Superintendent's Report for 1989, 1990, and

1991.
194

related to native sons Wilbur and Orville Wright. In response to

Sharkey's request for a National Park Service assessment of the

Wright-associated properties, Castleberry dispatched Historian

Ron Cockrell to Dayton. Cockrell met with Sharkey and local

historian Mary Ann Johnson, and inspected the wide range of

properties on May 1 and 2, 1989. Impressed by what he saw, Cockrell recommended a national historic landmark survey be

conducted along with preparation of individual nominations. The

work took place during the summer of 1989, led by Regional

Historian Jill York 0' Bright, Historian David Richardson, and

Historical Architect Bill Harlow. Seven nominations were prepared and considered for national historic landmark status.

Concurrent with the Omaha-led effort, Bill Gibson became

involved and began serving on Dayton's 2 003 Fund Committee, a group assisting Aviation Trail but focusing on celebrating the

centennial of flight on December 17, 2003. From Mound City

Group, Gibson helped coordinate a management alternatives study

conducted by the Denver Service Center. The study, financed by

private funds through the 2 003 Fund Committee, came as a result

of a request by Congressman Tony P. Hall of Dayton. Completed in

early 1991, the National Park Service urged authorization of an affiliated area with limited federal funds and technical

assistance but managed by local or state interests. Nonetheless,

the Ohio congressional delegation introduced draft legislation

calling for establishment of Dayton Aviation Heritage National

Historical Park. In 1992, congressional hearings and political

machinations led to passage and presidential approval for the new

park. 51In a replay of the same circumstances which saw Bill

Birdsell leave Chillicothe for a newly-established park

assignment in 1975, Bill Gibson, rewarded for his hard work as state coordinator and the Midwest Regional Office's Dayton

keyman, in April 1993 became the first superintendent of Dayton

Aviation Heritage National Historical Park. 52 Over the course of six decades, National Park Service

willingness to acknowledge and appreciate public interest in its

management of Mound City Group National Monument, and now Hopewell Culture National Historical Park, changed dramatically

since Clyde King's super intendency. Through the late 1940s and

Director, Planning and Resource Preservation, David N. Given, 10 May 1989, H34 Wright Brothers; O'Bright, Richardson, and Harlow to Given, 26 June 1989, H34; Superintendent's Report for 1989, 1991, and 1992; Congressman Tony P. Hall to Director James M. Ridenour, letter, 19 October 1989; Gibson to Castleberry, 6 June 1991, H34; and "House OKs National Park Honoring Wright Brothers," Columbus Dispatch (5 March 1992).

52William Gibson interview, 24 August 1993.
195

1950s, King operated at will, issuing press releases that usually

were printed verbatim whenever King wished to announce what he

deemed to be newsworthy events. His failure fully to communicate

MISSION 66 policy and facility development with the community

guaranteed the unpleasant, but predictable, public backlash.

King realized his public relations blunder only when it was too

late, and his super intendency ended under an unfortunate cloud.

Subsequent managers learned from King's mistake, and did well

performing their jobs inclusively and in concert with the

community and area agencies. When public input into federal

planning efforts became law under the National Environmental

Policy Act of 1969, park managers received training in how to

conduct public information meetings and incorporate that input in

agency planning efforts. The special skill became a key job

requirement. At Mound City Group, superintendents increased

their effectiveness and simultaneously enhanced the park's

visibility and profile by participating in community

organizations. Contemporary managers, Ken Apschnikat, William

Gibson, and Johnny Neal, have excelled in soliciting, evaluating,

and implementing public concerns.
196

Figure 53: Museum exhibit showing artistic interpretation of

Hopewell ian burial ceremony. Mural painting by Louis Glanzmai

(NPS/ca. 1970s)
Chapter Six

Exhibiting the Hopewell Culture

Apart from the earthworks, objects retrieved by

archeological investigations are the principal physical remnants

of the Hopewell culture and serve as important means of teaching

the public about the prehistoric past. Much human effort and

financial resources have been expended to obtain, procure, and

preserve Hopewellian artifacts. For the Squier and Davis

collection lost to Great Britain during the Civil War, efforts to

return it to the United States have waxed and waned since its

purchase by William Blackmore. While a loan of some of the

objects did occur, collective American hopes for the collection's

repatriation have dimmed considerably at the end of the twentieth

century.

** Attempts to Retrieve Squier and Davis' Collection

The earliest public information describing the array of

artifacts excavated by E. G. Squier and E. H. Davis from the

Mound City Group in 1846 came in the form of a scholarly 1848

publication initiating the "Smithsonian Contributions to

Knowledge" series called Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi

Valley . While the narrative did not fully detail the extent of

the Mound City Group collection, it did indicate that the

Hopewellian artifacts were numerous and of great detail and

scientific interest to the nascent field of archeology. Edwin H. Davis ended up with the bulk of the artifacts following his

professional split from Ephraim Squier, and Davis continued highprofile activities in prehistoric antiquities.

Unsuccessful in his efforts to sell the 1300-piece Mound

City Group collection to the Smithsonian Institution or the New

York Historical Society, Davis prepared a catalog featuring his

cumulative collections and placed them up for sale on the open

market. The catalog included not only Ohio antiquities, but

those from his excavations in Peru, Central America, and Denmark

as well. Davis preferred having the collection remain in the

United States, but no American institution came forward to make a serious monetary offer.

In 1864, Davis sold the antiquities for $10,000 to William

Blackmore, founder of the Blackmore Museum in Salisbury, England.

In 1931, the Mound City Group or "Davis" collection changed hands

again, sold to the British Museum, while the Peruvian and Central

American artifacts went to Cambridge University and the Denmark

specimens remained at the Salisbury-South Wiltshire Museum
198

(formerly the Blackmore Museum). 1 Both Henry C. Shetrone and Erwin C. Zepp of the Ohio

Historical Society viewed the artifacts in England, with Shetrone

obtaining several casts of effigy pipes in the late 1930s.

University of Michigan scholar James B. Griffin studied the

collection in 1954, but his observations were never published.

With development of the Mound City Group National Monument during

the National Park Service's MISSION 66 program, the agency

expressed its own desire to study the Davis collection, and to compare it with artifacts unearthed in annual excavations

beginning in 1963.

A partner in those excavations, the Ohio Historical Society

in 19 65 sent Curator of Archeology Raymond Baby and staff

archeologist Martha Potter to the British Museum where they spent

twenty days studying the Mound City Group collection,

meticulously measuring and drawing each artifact. Less than two

dozen effigy pipes were actually on public display while the

other cache of pipes were wrapped in their seven original cloth

bags stored in ten wooden boxes in a locked basement room. They

discovered fragments comprising two pots, and assorted other

artifacts with their accompanying provenance data. Baby and

Potter were able to determine that the 1847 account only

partially described the collection's actual extent. 2 In 1958, Regional Archeologist John L. Cotter recommended

the National Park Service actively pursue seeking the return of

the Mound City Group collection from the British Museum. Cotter

believed the agency had a "good chance" working through the

secretary of the Interior and the Department of State to obtain

the artifacts. Cotter did not mention the terms, be it goodwill

or financial recompense, to negotiate for such a "return."

Because the museum complex had been dropped from the MISSION 66

program at the time of Cotter's recommendation, the agency took

'Transcript of conversation, Raymond Baby, Martha Potter, and George

Schesventer, 19 September 1968, found in "Interpretive Operations Plan, Resources Information," no date. Terry A. Barnhart, "The Journalist and The Physician: Inquiry Into the Career Association of Ephraim George Squier and Edwin Hamilton Davis, Pioneer American Archaeologists," unpublished Master's

thesis, Miami University, 1980, pp. 71-74. A British Museum publication,

Flint Chips , featured an 1890 article by E. F. Stephen detailing twenty-nine

carved effigy pipes from the Mound City Group. See Regional Archeologist John

L. Cotter to Regional Director Daniel J. Tobin, no date [circa 1958], Mound

City Archeology through 1973, Midwest Archeological Center files.

2 Ibid. According to Naomi L. Hunt, she saw the handwritten version of the Baby/Potter survey from the British Museum in February 1986 when Hunt accompanied Park Ranger John Mangimeli to visit Potter at the Ohio Historical

Society. No copy existed in National Park Service files.
199 no official action. 3 In 1959, the Dayton Art Institute sought a "temporary

return" of the prehistoric art pieces. On July 7 , 1959,

Institute Director Thomas C. Colt requested the assistance of

Secretary of State Christian W. Herter to expedite the loan

request for a special exhibit planned on the Hopewell and Adena

cultures. The Eisenhower administration apparently did not take

substantive action on the Dayton request. 4 The 1965 England trip of Raymond Baby and Martha Potter

sparked a renewed interest in seeking the return of the Squier

and Davis collection. Baby reported that most of the items were uncleaned and unrestored. He found three provenance ledgers and

the 1864 sale memorandum of agreement on file at the Salisbury

facility. While in England, Baby understood from Adrian Digby,

British Museum Head Keeper of the Ethnographic Section, that a six-month loan could be arranged. Surprisingly, British Museum

officials denied Baby's formal request to clean, record,

photograph, and display the materials at the Ohio State Museum.

The news prompted Acting Mid-Atlantic Regional Director George A. Palmer to request help from the Washington Office, stating,

Due to the fact that there are only a few artifacts

from the several pre-National Park Service excavations

at Mound City Group presently on display or otherwise

available at the area, we suggest that the Service make

a definite effort to initiate formal action presumably

through the State Department, to obtain the Squire

[sic] and Davis artifacts from Mound City for the

National Park Service, preferably as a permanent

acquisition for study and display purposes. Such an acquisition, we believe, is more than warranted by the

historical importance, as well as the scientific

significance of the Squire [sic] and Davis collection. 5

3Cotter to Tobin, no date [circa 1958], Mound City Archeology through

1973, Midwest Archeological Center files. In an attached note to the memo,

Dr. Murray Nelligan, an historic preservation specialist, instructed Cotter

"Suggest you initiate action to so recover" to which Cotter responded on 25 November 1958, "No use doing anything until the museum building is in the program again."

4Associated Press newsclipping published in unspecified newspaper

f Columbus Dispatch ?]. "Old Chillicothe Art Loan Asked" (7 July 1959), Ross County Historical Society Archives. An inquiry at the Dwight D. Eisenhower

Library in Abilene, Kansas, yielded no correspondence on this subject in the Christian W. Herter Papers.

Quotation from Palmer Cotter to Mound City Group File, 22 November 1965, Mound City Archeology

through 1973, Midwest Archeological Center files.
200

Headquarters officials focused their hopes on the United

States National Museum, Smithsonian Institution, and its interest

in the collection because of volume one of the "Smithsonian

Contributions to Knowledge" series. During the summer of 1966,

Smithsonian employees visited London and during the course of

their work, urged British Museum officials to enter into a loan

agreement along the lines proposed by Raymond Baby. The

Smithsonian's effort appeared to be only half-hearted as Anthropologist Richard B. Woodbury explained in early 1967:

I have explored at considerable length the possibility

of the Smithsonian attempting to arrange a loan from

the British Museum of the Hopewell pipe fragments that

Ray Baby examined when he was there. The reaction I have from all sides is extremely negative. This is

based on the principle that it is risky for the

Smithsonian to become a third party in research

activities that do not directly involve the work of one

of its staff members. In this case we would have to

undertake full responsibility for any work done with

the Hopewell material, yet it would be only feasible

for it to be done by Baby in Columbus rather than here.

Our unwillingness to become involved does not stem from

any lack of confidence in Baby or lack of interest in

the research he contemplates with the material.

Woodbury told the National Park Service that Baby should pursue a grant to visit the British Museum and perform the study in

England. 6 Chief Archeologist John M. Corbett, in conveying the

bad news, admitted, "for the time being there does not seem to be

much hope for getting the material back."7 The matter languished until General Superintendent Bill

Birdsell revived it in 1973. A visit to Chillicothe by

International Affairs Specialist Fred M. Packard initiated the

concept of swapping other artifacts for the Mound City Group

collection. Packard related an inquiry from the British Museum

seeking American Southwest materials possessed by the National

Park Service. Packard learned from Chief Curator Harold L. Peterson that headquarters officials were planning on asking the

British Museum for their cooperation in making reproductions of

their Mound City Group holdings. With the rise of American

Indian cultural and political activism, however, Peterson added

Quotation from Chairman, Smithsonian Institution Office of Anthropology,

Richard B. Woodbury, to Dr. John M. Corbett, letter, 16 January 1967; and see also Acting Chief Archeologist Zorro A. Bradley to Superintendent James W. Coleman, Jr., 22 July 1966, Mound City Archeology through 1973, Midwest

Archeological Center files.

7 Ibid., Corbett to Regional Director Lemuel A. Garrison, 21 March 1968, H22.
201

the following, "My only mental reservations about the display of

the original objects at Mound City lie in the uncertainty the more militant members of the American Indian Movement might take

towards such an exhibit. As you know, there have been some fairly strong statements about the propriety of displaying

objects of religious significance or objects related to burials.

To the best of my knowledge, none of this has really crystalized

into a policy as yet, but there is just a possibility that these

very valuable objects might be safer in England than they would

be here." 8 Hopes for a permanent swap with the British Museum per

Packard's suggestion dimmed in late 1973 when Chief Historian

Harry W. Pfanz opined that the Antiguities Act of 1906 prohibited

the sale or trade of cultural resources obtained from federal

lands. Non-federally obtained objects from private collections

could still be arranged for a trade, but even the legality of

that proved problemmatic. Any exchange would have to be made on

a negotiated loan basis, and no formal reguest from the National

Park Service had yet been submitted to the British Museum. 9 A

few weeks later, Packard appealed to John Cripps, chairman of the

Countryside Commission for England and Wales, about a loan or reproduction of British-held Mound City Group artifacts.

Encouraged in learning about the renewed effort, Raymond Baby

again offered the services of the Ohio Historical Society, noting

that Mound City Group National Monument lacked the facilities and

staff to perform the cleaning and restoration work. Baby offered

to go to London at his own expense to assist in packing the

artifacts for shipment. Unfortunately, news from England proved

yet again negative. 10 Fred J. Fagergren tried again in 197 6. Fagergren set a personal goal of trying to arrange a return of the artifacts as part of the nation's bicentennial celebration. This effort he

directed through the National Park Service's Harpers Ferry

Center, the agency's central organ for museum and interpretive

programs. Fagergren urged coordination again through the

Washington Office's division of international affairs and to

Quotation from Peterson to Packard, 1 August 1973, correspondence

obtained by Naomi L. Hunt from the Ohio Historical Society; and Acting Park Manager Robert F. Holmes to Ohio Group General Superintendent Bill Birdsell, 9 July 1973, D62. 'Handwritten note, Pfanz to Birdsell, undated [circa late November 1973).

l0 Packard to Cripps, letter, 11 December 1973; and Baby to Packard,

letter, 21 December 1973, both obtained by Hunt from Ohio Historical Society

files. Hunt also uncovered a December 28, 1973, handwritten note from John Welfinden on British Museum stationery to John Cripps stating, "If museums all round the world started sending everything back to where it came from there would eventually not be much point in having museums."
202

emphasize the British Museum's desire for Southwestern materials.

He also recommended joining forces with the Ohio Historical

Society, which had its own loan effort underway. 11 Harpers Ferry Center Manager Marc Sagan requested National

Park Service Director Gary E. Everhardt contact the new director

of the British Museum, Sir John Pope-Hennessy. Sagan affirmed

"It would be nice to have the whole collection, but we do not

need it. In fact, if we obtained it, some would probably have to

be stored in the Ohio Historical Society. If we could obtain a few representative pieces, they should be sufficient for exhibit

purposes. Failing that, good casts of the originals would be a help." 12 In mid-May 1976, the National Park Service made its first

direct, high-level appeal for the Davis collection. The text of

Acting Director Raymond L. Freeman's letter follows:

A century ago The British Museum showed the

perspicacity to acquire the collection of Hopewell

Culture artifacts excavated in Ohio by Squier and

Davis. This was at a time when no institution in this

country either recognized their significance or had the

funds to obtain them.

The National Park Service is now designing a museum to interpret the site where these objects were

found, and we wonder if it would be possible to work

out an exchange for some of these artifacts or, failing

that, to obtain reproductions of them. Some years ago,

just before you became Director of The British Museum, we explored this possibility with some of the staff,

and they indicated an interest in acquiring some artifacts from the Indian cultures of the American

Southwest. We might be able to offer some such

artifacts now if such an exchange is still of interest

to you.

We would like to assure you that we do not

subscribe to the current popular attitude that such

artifacts ought by right to be returned to the place of

their origin. After all, if it were not for the

foresight of The British Museum and of some Continental

European museums, these objects would have been lost

completely. The same is true of Classical and Near

Fagergren to Harpers Ferry Center Chief, Branch of Reference Services,

David Wallace, 23 January 1976, D62.

12Sagan to Assistant Director, Development, Raymond L. Freeman, 7 April

1976, D6223.
203

Eastern antiquities. Younger nations owe such great

institutions a debt of gratitude for saving these

objects. At the same time, however, we hope that you

can appreciate the difficulty we face in interpreting a culture with no important artifacts whatsoever. It is

because of this that we herewith broach the possible

exchange, or of obtaining some casts from the

originals. 13 The response from England came in the form of a verbal

exchange between the British Museum director and Harold Peterson

of Everhardt's staff. Sir John Pope-Hennessy cited the British

Museums Act of 1963 and subsequent British law for preventing the

trade or return of artifacts. Underlying the director's concern

was the fear that if one collection is returned or exchanged to

its country of origin, other nations would then clamor for

analogous deals. The Englishman did agree to have high quality

reproductions made. 14 Fagregren refused to accept the undocumented "no" for an answer. In September 1979, he asked Regional Director Jimmie L. Dunning for approval to reopen formal discussions "to investigate

the possibility of a permanent exchange of artifacts, or an exchange based upon long-term loans." Fagregren urged the

Washington Office's international affairs office to work through

the State Department to secure the indefinite loans or exchanges.

Fagergren asserted that recent American visitors to the British

Museum reported seeing few if any Mound City Group artifacts.

Some pieces did emerge every few years as part of a rotating

display, but much of the collection remained in storage. 15 The Midwest Regional Office concurred with Fagregren 's position that the matter deserved to be elevated to governmentto-government negotiation, but saw "very little hope for our ultimate success." The Omaha office believed that British law

had not changed in regard to repatriating antiquities, and

pointed out that neither the United States nor Great Britain had

ratified the UNESCO convention in 1970 dealing with return of

archeological materials. In the hope that different attitudes

might prevail in light of new management of the British Museum,

Freeman to Sir John Pope-Hennessy, letter, 14 May 1976, D6223.

'"Memorandum to the Files, telephone conversation, Benjamin Miller,

Harpers Ferry Center, to Fagregren, 1 September 1976; and Midwest Region

Briefing Statement: "Squier and Davis collection, British Museum," no date

[circa late 1970s], History Division Files, Washington Office. The briefing

statement recommends "Formally request a loan from the British Museum in language that will cause no embarassment . Expect that the British Museum

will, on record, demur.

15 Fagergren to Dunning, 11 September 1979, D62.
204

the request to re-open the issue went forward to the Washington

Office. 16 Washington officials decided against elevating the

negotiation to the State Department, and instead Deputy Director

Ira J. Hutchison directly requested a loan of the Davis

collection in November 1979. Keeper of the British Museum's

Ethnography Department M. D. McLeod immediately asked for "more

detailed information about which items you wish to borrow, where

these are to be exhibited, under what security and conservation

conditions and for what length of time." Awaiting the receipt of

such information in order to process the request, McLeod sent a copy of the museum's loan regulations and stated that all

requests had to be approved by the board of trustees. 17 Fagergren responded to McLeod 's questions in general, and to

his superiors expressed disappointment that a loan, rather than

acquisition, was the only avenue being pursued. Fagergren 's frustration also produced a letter from park files suggesting

that some of the collection may have been lost or stolen, and

that the museum could only have replicas. The issue seemed to

contradict the professional findings of Raymond Baby and Martha

Potter who viewed and studied the collection in 1965. On the

surface, it appeared to be sour grapes on behalf of Fagergren,

and introduction of the issue only served to cloud the difficult

matter even further. 18 Press coverage of the attempt to secure a long-term loan in

mid-1980 revealed Fagergren' s optimism that a deal could be

struck with the British Museum. Fagergren expressed the belief

that the collection could return to Mound City Group National

Monument "for a few months," although he would like to have it

for scientific study for five to ten years. British Museum

Acting Regional Director Randall J. Pope to Fagergren, 6 October 1979, D6223.'Quotation from McLeod to Hutchison, letter, 3 December 1979; Official

Application Form and Conditions for Loans to Exhibitions from the British

Museum, Loans Abroad; and Assistant Director, Cultural Resources, F. R. Holland, Jr., to Dunning, 26 December 1979, H2017.

18Acting Regional Director Randall J. Pope to Associate Director,

Management and Operations, Daniel J. Tobin, Jr., 21 February 1980, H2017; and Fagergren to Dunning, 30 January 1980. Pope stated, "We believe that this

allegation must be taken seriously and that any further correspondence with

the British Museum must include an inquiry into this matter." Region One Archeologist J. C. Harrington wrote the letter in question [circa 1950] to Clyde King stating, "Actually, there is not a great deal in it. As Dr. Shetrone told me once, the effigy pipes are mostly fragments. It has also

come to light that many of the better pieces are caste, the originals having

been removed by some clever person in the past and casts substituted. Even

the few partially whole pipes are not in too good condition."
205

officials were querying Fagergren on the monument's security and

environmental conditions for the Davis collection. Press reports

also revealed that the Ohio Historical Society's two attempts to secure a loan had both failed. 19 British Museum curators determined the Mound City Group

National Monument facilities did not pass muster, and rejected

Fagergren 's loan application. In late September 1982, Midwest

Regional Curator John E. Hunter ventured to London to examine the

Davis collection and discuss the potential loan directly. 20 National Park Service efforts to obtain a loan failed, but

the Ohio Historical Society succeeded in 1986 when 2 6 items were delivered in Columbus by British Museum Curator for North

American Collections Jonathan King. Martha Potter Otto changed

tactics in the spring of 1983 and asked for a one-year loan of a select portion of the Davis collection to be displayed in a new prehistoric Indian exhibit. It represented the first time since

E. H. Davis moved to New York in 1850 that the Hopewellian

artifacts had returned to Ohio. Otto affirmed that the society

had not forsaken its aim of recovering the entire collection,

stating, "That's always something we have in the back of our minds."21 Prior to the exhibit opening, Dr. Mark J. Lynott, Midwest

regional archeologist, accompanied James Brown, professor of

anthropology at Northwestern University, to conduct a comparative

study of Mound City Group artifacts with Davis collection pieces.

Brown was under contract with the National Park Service to

evaluate all Mound City Group-originated artifacts. Part of

Brown's work uncovered correspondence and tracings in the E. H. Davis papers collection at the American Antiquarian Society in

Worcester, Massachusetts. Brown obtained the materials on microfilm, and recommended professional reproduction of the

sketches of never-before-seen illustrations.

Most importantly, Brown found a large-scale map of the Mound

"Hopewell Clues with a British Accent," Columbus Dispatch Sunday

Magazine , no date [circa May 1980]. Martha Potter Otto, head of the archeology department, said that loss of the Davis and other collections

resulted in the formation of the society two decades following the 1864 sale.

Dr. Otto particularly wished to compare the Davis items to the "Tremper pipes" excavated in the Tremper Mound Group in Scioto County, north of Portsmouth, in 1914 and 1915. ^Keeper M. D. McLeod to Hunter, letter, 3 August 1982. McLeod indicated

that none of the material was on display, rather it remained in storage at a facility a few miles away from the museum accessible by bus.

21 "Ohio Relics Back Home, For A While," Columbus Dispatch (5 December

1986); and Ken Apschnikat interview, 19 August 1993.
206

City Group earthworks, including a section excluded from the

1847-published map. Another sketch showed the central three

mounds standing in an open woodlot, demonstrating the vegetation

that existed prior to cultivation. A third tracing depicted two

pot rim sherds used in 1847 to recreate two pots for the

subsequent Smithsonian publication. It suggested that upon

excavation in 1846, none of the Mound City Group pots were discovered whole. 22 While NPS has failed to secure the return of any Britishheld Mound City Group artifacts, the position of the foreign museum and government finally became known. As long as federal museum facilities in Chillicothe remain substandard, even a loan

of these unique artifacts cannot occur.

** Ohio and the 1920-21 Mound City Group Collection

During the first two decades of National Park Service

administration of Mound City Group National Monument, the agency

remained content to have the 1920-21 artifacts excavated by the

Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society from the

Chillicothe monument remain in the Columbus society's possession

and care. As Superintendent Clyde King wrote in 1957, "The

entire Mound City collection is now at Ohio State Museum where

all but a few of the 10,000 artifacts are in storage. Except for

a limited number of display objects [here] , it is appropriate

that the bulk of the Mound City Group collection be retained for

study purposes at Ohio State Museum."23 As the monument underwent development and the visitor center

and museum complex began operating, the National Park Service's

attitude on this topic underwent a fundamental transformation. A

management study prepared by the George A. Palmer of the MidAtlantic Regional Office in 1968 noted the on-going contractual

relationship whereby artifacts excavated from Mound City Group in

the 1960s were cleaned and provenanced by Ohio Historical Society

staff, professional reports prepared, and the items returned to

the National Park Service for cataloging. Palmer's report

22Ken Apschnikat interview, 19 August 1993; Superintendent's Report for 1986 [Ken Apschnikat attended the exhibit's official opening.]; and Brown to Lynott, letter, 15 June 1983. The drawings, while not showing the earthwall gateways and depicting a more square configuration, confirmed the positioning

of a suspected twenty-fourth mound. Brown also began speculating as to the whereabouts of the original documents. An 1850s letter indicated that Davis

planned another publication and hired an artist to illustrate the proposed

book. ^Preliminary draft by Clyde B. King, "Museum Prospectus, Mound City Group

National Monument, Ohio," October 1957. Quote is handwritten in the bottom

margin of page 17.
207

acknowledged a "gnawing administrative problem" dating to 194 6, concerning the artifacts excavated by the Ohio Historical Society

in 1920-21. The Ross County Historical Society, ever mindful of

the loss of the Sguier and Davis collection, resented removal of

those artifacts to Columbus and continued to dispute the

proprietorship and display of the 1920-21 items. Palmer cited

the 194 6 letter from the Department of War ruling that the

excavated material remained federal property, a finding not

officially shared with the historical society. Before the

agency made any attempt to reclaim the collection, Palmer

declared the National Park Service "must determine if we can preserve them as well as Ohio Historical Society and if recovered

would they be retained at Mound City or Ocmulgee [Southeast]

Archeological Center." To remove them from Columbus would

engender "strained relations" as would moving them outside Ohio

create difficulties with local citizens. 24 In response to Palmer's management report, John Cotter,

chief of archeological research at the Philadelphia Planning and

Service Center, recommended retrieving the 192 0-21 artifacts.

Cotter declared,

The National Park Service is the one and only

legitimate owner and caretaker of the remarkable Mound

City Group archeological collection housed at Ohio

State Museum. By continuing to neglect its right and

duty to establish ownership and curatorship of these

artifacts, the Service is prolonging a dereliction

which it cannot justify except on the premise that Ohio

State Museum and the Ohio Historical Society represent

responsible and competent scientific agencies and that

the new Ohio State Museum building now under

construction may provide admirable facilities for

display [. This] does not establish legal ownership of

the artifacts or prevent the Service from providing

adeguate display and safety for them at Mound City

Group

25 No follow up on the issue occurred during the late 1960s.

The next decade saw not only two changes in superintendents, but

the regional boundary shift brought new central office managers

in Omaha completely oblivious of the issue. The changes resulted

Jr., 5 May 1968 transmittal of "Mound City Group National Monument Management

Appraisal Report, March 4-8, 1968," A5427 Management Appraisal 1963-75, Record Group 79, Records of the National Park Service's Midwest Regional Office, Federal Records Center, National Archives and Records Administration, Kansas

City, Missouri (hereafter cited as RG79, FRC/NARA, Kansas City).

^Ibid., Cotter to Chief, Division of Archeology Ernest A. Connolly, 28 May 1968.
208

Figure 54: Copper hands were but some of an assortment of

Hopewellian artifacts on display in the visitor center's small

museum. (NPS/July 1981)
209

in a quick loss of the proverbial "institutional memory" because

agency managers literally forgot about the legal basis upon which

they asserted ownership of the 1920-21 artifacts.

The ownership question rekindled in 197 6 as a fundamental

reworking of the visitor center exhibits by Harpers Ferry Center

included some of the 1920-21 artifacts, some of which were on display in Columbus. In response to a meeting with Fred J. Fagergren and F. A. Calabrese, chief of the Midwest Archeological

Center, during which the new exhibit requirements were discussed,

Martha Potter Otto wrote, "we need to consider carefully the

items requested from our collections that were recovered by Mills

and Shetrone. Certain artifacts can probably be loaned without

any problem, however, items such as the duck pot that are a critical part of our exhibits may be a more difficult matter."26 The dispute centered around eight one-of-a-kind artifacts

the Columbus-based society had on public display. It understandably did not wish to relinquish them to Mound City

Group National Monument. After consulting advisors in Omaha and

Lincoln, Fagergren sent an August 1976 letter officially

requesting the return of the items prior to their installation in

the new exhibits, projected to begin on October 1. While not

directly addressing the issue of ownership, Fagergren 's presentation suggested just that. He expressed the hope that the

society had adequate time to produce replicas, thanked it for

storing and caring for the items, and requested notification of a mutually satisfactory transfer date. 27 Stunned Columbus officials did not immediately respond to

Fagergren 's request nor did they wish to discuss relinquishing

the disputed artifacts. The October 1 deadline came and went

with no resolution of the matter in sight. A late February 1977

search of the park's "dead files" brought about the rediscovery

of the April 19, 1946, letter from Secretary of War Robert P. Patterson to Interior Secretary Oscar L. Chapman addressing the

issue of federal ownership of the 1920-21 excavated items.

Fagergren quickly presented the society with the letter and

Columbus officials, not wishing to engage in a potentially nasty

public battle, particularly with vocal and influential

Chillicotheans, agreed to the proposed transfer of requested

items to Harpers Ferry Center for installation in the new

Otto to Calabrese, letter, 15 June 1976. Otto reviewed the proposed

exhibit plan and questioned its focus on the mortuary practices of Hopewell

culture.

27Record of telephone call, Fagergren to Archeologist Adrienne Anderson,

10 August 1976; and Fagergren to Ohio Historical Society Director Thomas H. Smith, letter, 11 August 1976, Mound City Group Archeology 1974-82, Midwest

Archeological Center files.
210

exhibits. 28 Concerning items not on display, it soon became clear that

inadequate recordkeeping created the illusion of duplicate

artifacts. The confusion cleared when curators determined that

items documented as in storage at Columbus had in fact been

delivered to Mound City Group National Monument in previous

years. It resulted in a detailed study of all Mound City Group

artifacts, both at the monument and in Ohio's capital city.

The evaluation brought about an onsite inspection of Ohio

Historical Society curatorial storage areas. What Superintendent

Fagergren saw shocked and disabused him of the preconceived

notion that the Columbus facilities were superior to the national

monument's. Such was not the case. He reported that "Most of

the copper artifacts have been severely damaged by oxidation and

'copper disease.'" He notified the Midwest Regional Office of

his intention to transfer the entire 1920-21 collection to the

monument as soon as possible. He asked that a professional

assessment be conducted of the artifacts to determine which

specimens needed immediate preservation treatment by Harpers

Ferry Center prior to their return to Chillicothe. In requesting

all deliberate speed, Fagergren grimly concluded, "I am afraid

that much of a once-very-valuable collection has been severely

damaged through neglect and improper care."29 Midwest Regional Curator John Hunter arrived in Columbus in

late October 1977, and with park staff assistance from Bonnie

Meyer [Murray] , made an assessment of the condition of Mound City

Group artifacts. Hunter concurred in Fagergren' s decision not to

leave the collection at the Ohio Historical Society. On November

1, 1978, Fagergren presented Martha Potter Otto with a list of

all artifacts believed to be in the society's possession and

asked that they be brought to one location for delivery by

January 15, 1979. National Park Service staff accomplished

wrapping and packaging the materials on January 17, and much of

1979 was devoted to cataloging, storing, and arranging for

preservation treatment by Harpers Ferry Center. A preliminary

inventory indicated missing items believed to be still in

Fagergren to Regional Director Merrill D. Beal, 4 March 1977, D15; Superintendent's Report for 1976 and 1977; and Patterson to Chapman, letter,

19 April 1946, Mound City Archeology file through 1973, Midwest Archeological

Center files. See further discussion of the 1946 letter in Chapter Two.

29Quotations from Fagergren to Beal, 12 October 1977, D62; Bonnie Murray

interview, 26 August 1993; and Fagergren to Otto, letter, 3 February 1977.
211

Columbus. 30 The extent of the missing items became clear in early 1980

when park curators opened the last cabinet of artifacts.

Following the long process of inventorying the artifacts,

Fagergren contacted Martha Porter Otto and sent a list, noting

that some artifacts remained on display and needed to be picked

up. While the society again searched its holdings and failed to

produce the items, it was not until James A. Brown's inventory

conducted under contract in the early 1980s that a clear picture

emerged. In 1983, Brown informed the Midwest Archeological

Center that "quite a few items Mills reported were never accessioned by the Ohio State Museum. There are some big gaps in

the collection the NPS has of the 1920s dig."31 By the end of the 1970s, most of the Mound City Group

artifacts from the 1920-21 excavations had been returned to

Chillicothe. While local citizens and supporters cheered the

transfer, most remained unaware of the condition and extent of

the collection. For the first time, Mound City Group National

Monument found itself in charge of a substantial array of primary

site-originated artifacts, but struggled to determine its exact

parameters and preservation needs.

** Mound City Group Visitor Center

Mound City Group's MISSION 66 visitor center opened in 1960

as a simple one-story brick and stone veneer building of 3,100

square feet. The museum component represented an enclosed L- shaped corridor containing exhibits attached to a fieldstone wall

with the other wall comprised of large glass windows affording

visitors simultaneous viewing of exhibits and the exterior mound

area while passing through the museum. Unfortunately, the

designer was only told the structure was for "an Indian area,"

and not specifically for the sometimes harsh weather extremes of

Ohio. The designer, thinking of the more moderate Southwest,

intended the museum to be open-air and subsequently changed the

outer L-shaped walls around the inner patio to consist of singlepaned glass. The hastily prepared, ill-advised design placed the

building's principal air circulation outlets in the museum area

Fagergren to Otto, letter, 1 November 1973, D62 [The one-year delay may

have resulted in time to prepare a comprehensive list.]; Fagergren to Harpers

Ferry Center Chief, Division of Museum Services, Arthur Allen, 1 November

1978, D62; Minutes of Mound City Group staff meeting, 11 November 1977 and 13 February 1979; Bonnie Murray interview, 26 August 1993; and Superintendent's

Report for 1979.

31 Quotation from Brown to Regional Archeologist Mark J. Lynott, letter, 15 June 1983, Hopewell Culture Annual Archeological File, 1983, Midwest

Archeological Center files; and Fagergren to Otto, letter, 27 March 1980, D62.
212

Figure 55: The 1961 MISSION 66 visitor center proved inadequate

to National Park Service interpretive and curatorial needs.

(NPS/Bonnie Murray, October 1980)
213

and featured circular, roof-mounted air ducts with deflectors.

The configuration proved woefully energy-inefficient and could

not provide a stable environment for the artifacts. 32 The extensive excavations of 1963 and 1964 made the 1960

exhibits obsolete and prompted calls for their revision and

replacement. Suggestions for changing the "Shrine Ceremony" and

"Cremating the Dead" exhibits came in 1965 to reflect the new archeologically-produced knowledge. 33 Monument staff also were

concerned about making the exhibits more appealing by adding new artifacts and interpretive data. They emphasized eliminating the

monotonous two-dimensional characteristics of the displays by

adding angles and elevated surfaces to the cases.

In October 19 65, Superintendent James W. Coleman, Jr.,

called for replacement of all Mound City Group exhibits. He

reported problems with peeling paint and faded colors in addition

to outdated information. On October 7, Washington Office Curator

Vera B. Craig examined the park's museum operations and concurred

in an "overall revamping" of exhibits. She also attributed the

increasingly apparent deteroriation and fading problem to the

intensity of ultraviolet light passing through the glass walls.

As a stopgap measure, Craig recommended installing light-colored

sheer curtains on traverse rods so as to be easily opened and

closed for operating hours. In addition to the fading and

blotchy coloring of exhibit panels, she noted fluctuating

humidity conditions were contributing to "flaking" of painted

surfaces. 34 Rehabilitation work on three exhibits commenced in May 1967.

Prior to their shipment to the Eastern Museum Laboratory in

Washington, D.C., the panels were photographed and the prints

were enlarged for temporary visitor use. Six separate exhibit

case revisions underwent review in 1967, and brought about a decision to include the issue in a parkwide interpretive

prospectus exercise. In the meantime, exhibit case reflection

10-238 funding request to retrofit museum with storm windows,

29 August 1980, D2219.

W. Riddle to Northeast Regional Director Ronald

F. Lee, 8 April 1965; and Archeologist Richard D. Faust to Lee, 13 May 1965. Revisions included existence of roofed charnal houses and ceremonial processes

of cremations.

Middle to Hartzog, 4 June 1965, May 1965 report; and Coleman to Lee, 8 October 1965, and Washington Office Chief, Branch of Museum Operations, Ralph

H. Lewis, to Lee, 9 December 1965, D6215 1965-1972, RG 79, FRC/NARA, Kansas

City.
214

and deterioration problems grew worse. 35 In 1969, Superintendent

George Schesventer considered removing the two exhibits, "Why Did

They Leave?" and "Other Outstanding Mounds" because of extreme

deterioration. In the former, he commented on use of a bow and arrow to depict enemies as a "glaring error." Schesventer

declared, "It is an anachronism inasmuch as the bow and arrow was

not in use then. Having it associated with the Hopewell Culture

would be like portraying the Minutemen using machine guns at Lexington and Concord. The proper weapon to be shown in use in

this panel should be either a spear or an atlatl and dart."36 A 1971 proposal to install smokey gray plexiglas panels to

reduce the exhibit glare and deterioration problem was ultimately

rejected by Harpers Ferry Center because of unacceptable adverse

visual and esthetics concerns. 37 Ongoing planning to upgrade exhibits in 1972 yielded an interpretive painting for the burial exhibit "Cremating the Dead"

by an Ohio Historical Society museum artist in close consultation

with Martha Potter Otto. Birdsell, wishing to "avoid undue

provocation in these sensitive times" and no doubt recalling the

occupation of National Park Service-operated Alcatraz Island by

American Indian Movement members, decided to remove the few human

bones included in the exhibit design plan. In early 1973,

Harpers Ferry Center exhibit specialists Ike Ingram and Ben

Miller visited and commenced planning and designing new Mound

City Group exhibits. In the interim, Birdsell decided to

purchase diaphanous draperies for the museum area in hopes of

retarding ultraviolet light damage. 38 Again the National Park Service's reorganization of 1973-

1974 intervened to skew Mound City Group National Monument

Coleman to Hartzog, 13 June 1967, May 1967 report; and Regional

Naturalist Earl W. Estes to Regional Director Lemuel A. Garrison, 12 July

1968, D6215 1965-1972, RG 79, FRC/NARA, Kansas City.

36 Schesventer to Garrison, 13 May 1969, D62 Exhibits—General. The Northeast Region programmed for the museum rehabilitation in fiscal year 1970,

placing Mound City Group second highest in priority order. Funding was not forthcoming. See Acting Regional Director George A. Palmer to Hartzog, 29 May

1969.

Superintendent William C. Birdsell, 18 June 1971; and Harpers Ferry Center

Chief, Division of Museums, Russell J. Hendrickson, to Birdsell, 9 July 1971, D6215 1965-1972, RG 79, FRC/NARA, Kansas City.

38Quotation from Regional Director Chester L. Brooks to Director, Harpers

Ferry Center, William C. Everhardt, 1 May 1973, D6215; Birdsell to Harpers

Ferry Center Chief, Branch of Exhibits Russell J. Hendrickson, 24 August 1972, D6215; Birdsell to Everhardt, 29 January 1973, D62; Birdsell to Rondo Antel

Fabric Corporation, letter, 15 March 1973, D52.
215

Figure 56: A conceptual model of a Hopewell house appeared in

the visitor center prior to a 1978 comprehensive exhibit

redesign. (NPS/Richard Frear, April 1972)
216

planning efforts. The exhibit concept plans completed in

September 1973 remained in limbo until mid-1975 when Harpers

Ferry Center queried Omaha officials about it. A search of the

transferred Philadelphia files revealed nothing about the

planning document. A turnover in Chillicothe park staff also

contributed to the delay. An expedited review, however, yielded

dissatisfaction with the product and the Midwest Regional Office

organized a spring conference with park and Harpers Ferry Center

staff to discuss it. The consensus of 1973 had clearly

evaporated with substantial changes in content and design

proposed. Of particular concern was the "extent to which the

plan deals with the funerary and mound building aspects of the

Hopewellian culture." Midwest Regional Chief Interpreter Jim

Schaack negotiated a redesign of the lobby, inclusion of a security system, reconsideration of exhibit 12 dealing with

cremated remains, and revisions to exhibits 15 and 18 to include

nonfunerary aspects. 39 Funding for the new exhibits, anticipated during the interim

period between fiscal years 1976 and 1977, 40 evaporated due to a "clerical error" at Harpers Ferry Center. An upset Fred J. Fagergren denounced the communications gap and asked for priority

consideration in the Midwest Region's fiscal 1978 exhibitry

requests over Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, Nebraska, and

Effigy Mounds National Monument, Iowa. In the meantime, Mound

City Group staff scrambled to assemble temporary rotating

exhibits to augment the static, deteriorating displays covering

secondary subjects like historic canals, wildf lowers,

archeological methods, and birds. 41 In 1977, museum rehabilitation included lobby installation

of a central visitor information and sales desk, a sales rack,

temporary exhibit case, and an introductory interpretive panel,

all paid by Eastern National Park and Monument Association funds.

Fagergren, spurred to action by a 197 6 burglary, began working

with the regional office to design a security system, something

that proved problemmatic in the absence of designs for the new

Robert G. Johnsson to Beal, 13 February 1976, D6215; Hendrickson to Beal, 17 July 1975, D6215; and Beal to Hendrickson, 5 August 1975. ^The United States Government changed its fiscal years which prior to 1976 had always commenced on July 1. This change resulted in an "Interim

Fiscal Period" from July 1 to September 30, 1976. On October 1, 1976, fiscal year 1977 began and henceforth all fiscal years commence on October 1. "'Superintendent's Report for 1975 and 1976; Mound City Group staff meeting minutes for 9 December 1975; and Fagergren to Beal, 27 September

1976, D62. The monument already purchased $5,000 in new audiovisual

equipment, and secured a pledge from Eastern National Park and Monument Association for $4,000 to construct a new information desk and sales area display rack.
217

Figure 57: Glare from the glass-wall separating the museum and

courtyard proved not only annoying for visitors, but ultraviolet

rays damaged sensitive prehistoric objects. (NPS/ca. late 1960s)
218

exhibits. Installation of those exhibits came in July 1978, with

work finally completed in early 1979. The rehabilitation work

met with universally positive public acclaim. Work on an eightminute interpretive video "The Hopewell Indians" concluded in

February 1979, thus ending a decade-long effort to upgrade the museum exhibits. 42 The monument addressed the long-fought problem with glare,

fading, and fluctuating temperature and humidity caused by the

glass-paned walls in 1981 by converting to a thermopane system.

Dual panes and seals were installed on the thirty-six windows

covering 63 6 sguare feet. Problems with moisture being retained

between the glass resulted in the contractor honoring its

guarantee and replacing more than three-guarters of the panes the

following year. Water intrusion through the flat metal roof, an ongoing problem, stained a museum mural in 1982, resulting in the

mural's replacement in 1983 by Harpers Ferry Center. A groundwater heat pump system installed in 1982 brought numerous operational problems and uncomfortable conditions leading to

three prolonged closures exacerbated by spotty service, improper

installation, and warranty problems. Replacement of the visitor

center observation deck in early 1983 included placement of

heated mats to thaw ice and snow as well as benches for sitting,

thereby enhancing visitor safety and comfort. 43 An overflow parking lot using "turfstone" on a stabilized

turf area came in 1981 and provided expanded capacity whenever

needed during peak visitation periods or special events. Workers

also constructed handicapped parking spaces and walkway accesses

for the visitor center lot. 44 Moving an exhibit case in August 1986 to allow an archeologist to study some earspools resulted in the unfortunate

breaking of two copper artifacts. Two Harpers Ferry Center

exhibit specialists made an emergency trip to rehabilitate the

jostled exhibit, and the two copper pieces, a human torso

headdress and a falcon, were taken back to West Viriginia,

Acting Regional Director Randall J. Pope to Fagergren, 27 October 1977, D6215; Superintendent's Report for 1976, 1977, 1978, and 1979; Mound City

Group staff meeting minutes, 18 August 1978, A4031 Jan. 1978-Dec. 1979, RG 79, FRC/NARA, Kansas City; and "Mound City Adds Exhibits," Chillicothe Gazette (23 February 1979). The 1976 break-in resulted in new floodlights to light up the building's exterior.

10-238 funding request for museum retrofit with storm

windows, 29 August 1980, D2219; and Superintendent's Report for 1981, 1982, and 1983. ^Superintendent's Report for 1981.
219

repaired, and replaced in April 1987. 45 Another attempted break-in during April 1988 saw a brick

hurled through the window of the audiovisual room to gain access. Sounding of the security alarms frightened off the intruder.

Five days later, another forced entry proved unsuccessful

yielding severed wiring to a roof-mounted siren and abortive

prying on an enclosure containing another siren. Ken Apschnikat,

noting newspaper advertisements offering substantial monetary

payments for artifacts and recent looting and burglarizing at a state-operated site, acted immediately to ensure heightened

security at Mound City Group. 46 Weary of reacting to perennial leaking of the flat visitor

center roof and enduring water damage to interior museum and

office areas, a reroofing project in 1992 included a visually

dramatic solution to the problem. A metal pitched roof installed

in the spring of 1992 not only easily drained away precipitation,

but altered the appearance of the nondescript MISSION 66

structure, particularly with the metal's shiny bright-red

coloring which complimented the existing brick. 47 With the transformation into Hopewell Culture National

Historical Park came remodeling and redesign of the inadeguate

visitor center. At long last, an auditorium accommodating fifty

people permitted viewing of an award-winning orientation film.

Expanded exhibit and sales areas also improved visitor enjoyment.

The 1997 general management plan calls for additional

construction to provide additional space for the educational and

curatorial demands of a growing park. The 1997 general

management plan recognized the need to provide a comprehensive

interpretation of Hopewellian life, less focused on mortuary

behavior. The vintage 1978 exhibits were designed prior to the

first modern synthesis of Hopewell archeology the following year.

The deficient exhibits were designed poorly with respect to

artifact safety as well.

** Exterior Exhibits

Following construction of the visitor center museum building

in 1960, it soon became apparent that visitors reguired

1986 and 1987; and Report of Accident/Incident, Form DI-134, Chief of Interpretation and Resources Management Jerry Chilton, 20 June 1986, A7623. ^Physical Security Coordinator John E. Hunter to files, 29 April 1988, A7623 Accidents, Injuries, Death. "Superintendent's Report for 1991.
220

"||TMJJl9B^5^^**BW«it.

Figure 58: A button-activated audio program assisted visitor

understanding while surveying Mound City Group on the visitor

center observation deck. (NPS/Sprague Photography, ca. 1965)
221

Figure 59: "The Mound City Necropolis" wayside exhibit

(NPS/Sprague Photography, ca. .1965)
222

interpretive signage in the outdoor areas of significant cultural

and natural resource interest. The April 1963 installation of

"The Mound City Necropolis" wayside exhibit immediately attracted

visitor attention and appreciation. Placed just inside the

entrance to the west wall of the mound enclosure, it helped

orient visitors to the prehistoric topography surrounding them. 48 An interpretive audio program atop the observation deck

during after-hours saw its first use in August 1965. In its

first weeks of service, park employees noticed that its principal

usage came in the early morning hours instead of in the late

evening as anticipated. Upgrading audio messages to meet sound

and quality standards came in 1973 through the efforts of Mound

City Group Interpretive Specialist Robert F. Holmes working with

the Harpers Ferry Center. 49 A sign plan contained within an intepretive prospectus

completed in the mid-1970s determined that the self-guided trail

mapped out in the park's brochure was not adequate in

interpreting key features to visitors. With the necropolis

wayside moved outside the mound enclosure closer to the visitor

center, the only other sign depicting the charnel house outdoor

exhibit was temporary and did not meet standards. In 1976, six

cast aluminum panels were developed: "Mound of the Pipes,"

"Death Mask Mound," "Scioto River," "Camp Sherman," "Charnal

House Exhibit," and "Ohio & Erie Canal Stone." All six were

installed in April 1977, and the mound area signs were placed

close to the ground, abutting the slope of individual mounds.

Others were mounted to metal stanchions. Maintenance workers

mounted the panel on the Scioto River trail atop a stone pedestal

specially constructed for the purpose in 1975.

The signs dramatically improved the self-guided visitor

experience in the mound area as well as Scioto River trail.

Fifty small metal photographic and text signs were installed

throughout the area identifying native plants and relating how

American Indians and white settlers used them in their daily

lives.

According to the interpretive prospectus, intentions for the

charnal house exhibit included full-scale reconstruction of such

a prehistoric structure on either Mound 10 or Mound 15. However,

National Park Service policy regarding any reconstruction changed

in the 1970s in response to criticism that past efforts contained

inaccuracies or were blatantly false. Official policy included

^John C. W. Riddle to Director Conrad Wirth, 13 May 1963, April 1963 report.

49James Coleman to Hartzog, 8 September 1965, August 1965 report; and Birdsell to Everhardt, 30 January 1973, K18.
223

Figure 60: Charnel house exhibit. (NPS/ca. 1970s)
224

Figure 61: "Pipe Mound" wayside exhibit. (NPS/ca. 1970s)
225

rigorous criteria which had to be met prior to funding a reconstruction. Because archeologists could only speculate as to the above grade configuration of a charnal house, plans for the

reconstruction were cancelled in 1976. Instead, the charnal

house pattern post molds were highlighted on the ground. In turn, this became a maintenance dilemma attracting weeds and

debris. In response, in 1985 a local Boy Scouts of America troop

spread sand in the charnal house exhibit area as well as in front

of other interpretive wayside signs. 50 By far the most visible exhibit within the Mound City Group

enclosure was the mica grave at Mound 13. Begun in 1963 with

Accelerated Public Works Program funding, the Ohio Historical

Society designed and built the in-place exhibit as a component of

its contractual partnership with the National Park Service to

perform archeological excavations and restorations at Mound City

Group National Monument. Archeologists chose Mound 13 for this

intensive interpretive treatment because of the quality and

quantity of its cultural resources. Its documentation by

discoverer William C. Mills in 1920 proved to be another

contributing factor in Mound 13 's selection. The exhibit's

purpose was to portray a group of Hopewell burials as they were discovered inside the prehistoric mound, including original

cremated remains, four-by-six-inch mica sheets, replicas of

copper head-dresses, and mica "mirrors" associated with two of

the four burials.

Cy Webster of the Ohio Historical Society directed the mica

grave construction, a concrete foundation with concrete block

walls and a copper roof. The exhibit included a push buttonactivated audiotape recording, two ventilation fans, two

florescent lights, and two floodlights. Construction work ended

in October 1964, but because the exhibit window faced west,

direct sunlight made the exhibit impossible to see. Substantial

glare and reflection problems on the temporary glass panel

necessitated a quick design change to incorporate a redwood

baffle erected two feet in front of the exhibit. Accomplished

the following month, the feature helped reduce the visibility

problem and had the added attraction of identifying it for

visitors by featuring "Mica Grave" in solid brass lettering

accompanied by a Hopewell depiction of a falcon. Installation of

permanent "Herculite" glass came on April 20, 1965, effectively

completing the exhibit. 51

and 1985; 10-238 funding request

for interpretive panels, 25 June 1976, D2215; and untitled report on status of interpretive prospectus objectives, 1976, A6419 1976-1979, RG 79, FRC/NARA, Kansas City.

file; Lee to Hartzog, 12 June 1964, D6215; and Riddle to Hartzog, 13 November 1964/October 1964 report, 10 December

1964/November 1964 report, and 11 May 1965/April 1965 report.
226

Figure 62: Construction of the Mica Grave exhibit. (NPS/October

1964)
227

Figure 63: The Mica Grave, directly behind the visitor center,

attracted visitors inside the Mound City Group enclosure wall via

a connecting concrete walkway. (NPS/early 1970s)
228

Although the modern structure constituted an unmistakable

intrusion on the prehistoric scene, its immediate popularity with

visitors ameliorated those concerns. Despite its design flaws,

the Ohio Historical Society expressed pride in the exhibit. On

September 28, 1965, Ohio Governor James A. Rhodes visited Mound

City Group National Monument with an entourage of twenty-five

other dignitaries. His stop was one of several on a tour of

historic, natural, and recreation areas in his "Wonderful World

of Ohio" campaign designed to increase tourism. Superintendent

James Coleman accompanied Governor Rhodes through the visitor

center and then out to the mound enclosure with the first stop

being the mica grave exhibit. Told that the Ohio Historical

Society designed and built it, Governor Rhodes turned and told

society director Daniel Porter that the exhibit "looks like a Jackson County crapper!"52 Hopes for favorable publicity for the new exhibit were dashed by the governor's remarks, and initiated park efforts to

lessen the visual intrusion. On August 25, 1966, Ohio Historical

Society workmen returned to place removable covers over the

entrance to the exhibit, connecting the baffle to the building to

reduce the glare problem further. Five days later in hopes of

making it less intrusive, park maintenance painted the concrete

blocks green. Coleman reported, "Everyone seems to agree that

the appearance of the exhibit is much improved."53 In May 1979, severe deterioration in the form of leaking

concrete walls and water accumulating within the mica grave

exhibit threatened the burials and artifacts themselves. Within

one week of reporting the emergency situation, the Midwest

Regional Office provided funding and park maintenance workers

removed the mound from around the building to expose its

foundation and footings for cleaning, sealing, and installation

of drain tiles. Taking advantage of the ground disturbance, park

employees re-interred a partial skeleton previously donated to

the monument. They subseguently restored Mound 13 to its

correct configuration. 54 Destruction of the redwood baffle in 1980 by vandals brought

"Presumably, the governor was referring to outhouses he had seen in his native county. Coleman to Hartzog, 13 October 1965, September 1965 report;

and Lee Hanson to Naomi L. Hunt, letter, 15 March 1986. As part of a servicewide "Quality Design Campaign," Bill Birdsell submitted the mica grave

exhibit as a classic example of "bad design" and asked for assistance.

Birdsell to Beal, 6 March 1975, D3415 (1975), RG 79, FRC/NARA, Kansas City.

53Coleman to Hartzog, 8 September 1966, August 1966 report.

23 May 1979, D24 (Jan. 1976-Dec. 1979), RG 79, FRC/NARA, Kansas City; and Superintendent's Report for 1979.
229

about its replacement with pine boards backed by plywood for

added strength. By the late 1980s, the overall condition of the

exhibit required rehabilitation to meet standards. Park

maintenance treated the exterior in 1990, making it handicapped

accessible, reduced glare, helped precipitation runoff, and

replaced the sidewalk. In early 1991, Harpers Ferry Center via a contractor accomplished the interior exhibit rehabilitation. A

freak lightning strike on May 18, 1991, damaged electrical

outlets and melted wiring, but harmed nothing else. 55 Until 1996, the mica grave was the most popular exterior

exhibit at Mound City Group. With the previous removal of

cremations, consultation with American Indians found the

intrusive structure objectionable. NPS promptly removed all

exhibit items and began planning alternative means of treating

the mica grave using other media. 56

** Curatorial Services

As the National Park Service gained visibility and stature

in the Chillicothe area, amateur archeologists began contacting

Superintendent Clyde B. King with offers to donate parts or the

entirety of their personal collections. The first offer came in

September 1953 when Harold Steel presented King with his late

father, Samuel Steel's, collection obtained from local mounds and

farm fields. King accepted the relics for study, identification

through State Archeologist Raymond S. Baby, and potential

display. Those items of no association or use would be returned,

with the remainder accessioned into the park's collection. The

news brought about a swift response from the Richmond regional

office clearly restating agency policy. While accepting

prehistoric Ohio relics unrelated to the Hopewell for such

plainly-identified exhibits was acceptable, Assistant Regional

Director Daniel J. Tobin stated, "Only those objects which can definitely be identified and are suitable for future museum use

or for study purposes should be accepted. If this is done they

should be cataloged carefully so that there is no possible chance

of their becoming associated with Mound City at a later date."

Tobin warned that "If the specimens cannot be identified they

should not be accepted. As a rule, unless the locality where a specimen was found, its association in situ, and the conditions

of the findings are known exactly, it is usually worthless for

Mica Grave (Building 9) file; Superintendent's Report for 1990 and 1991; Safety Committee meeting minutes, 3 June 1991, A7619; 10-238 funding request

to rehabilitate Mound 13/Mica Grave, 27 March 1985, D2215; and Ken Apschnikat,

"Mound City Group National Monument Management Briefing Paper, 1987." The brass falcon and exhibit lettering were also painted black to deter theft. ^Superintendent 's Report for 1995-96.
230

exhibition or study." The result proved to be the acceptance of

a scant twenty-five objects. 57 Negotiations with other potential donors followed the same

formula. A substantial Ross County collection donated to the

monument came on June 29, 1964, with acceptance of the Biszantz

collection. It numbered over one thousand pieces and included

artifacts removed from the Hopewell Group and two surrounding

farms. 58 Park Archeologist Lee Hanson began the first inventory of

Mound City Group's museum collections in April 1965. Hanson

worked to process and store the material, estimated to be at

10,000 pieces, in the following three stages: 1). Inventory all

previously cataloged material to determine condition and

location; 2) . Accession all remaining specimens; and 3) . Catalog

all accessioned material including cleaning and preservation

work. The first two stages were completed within two months, and

by the end of 1965, all specimens excluding materials from the

1963-65 excavations were cataloged. Because those items remained

for study and reporting purposes at the Ohio Historical Society,

they could not be processed. Hanson's cataloged collection stood

at slightly over 4,000 pieces. 59 Three years later, the total surpassed 10,000 specimens

through continued donations, purchases, indefinite loans, and

ongoing excavations. Artifacts from the Ohio Historical

Society's early 1960s excavations began arriving for curation and

storage space became stretched to the limit, with more excavations anticipated. Initially, museum storage cabinets

occupied the small, increasingly cramped visitor center office.

Master plan provisions called for curatorial storage and

laboratory space in connection with expanded audiovisual areas, but funding to expand the visitor center was not forthcoming.

Dr. John Cotter, chief of archeological research in the

Philadelphia Planning and Service Center, proved to be the most

vocal critic of Mound City Group facilities. Addressing the

inadeguacy of the structure for interpretive services, Cotter

declared:

[It was] designed as a semi-enclosed walk-through panel

Quotation from Tobin to King, 11 September 1953, History file; King to Regional Director Elbert Cox, 5 September 1953; and King to Wirth, 2 March

1954, February 1954 report.

58Riddle to Harzog, 14 July 1964/June 1964 report and 4 June 1965/May 1965 report.

59Riddle to Hartzog, 11 May 1965/April 1965 report and 4 June 1965/May

1965 report; and Coleman to Hartzog, 5 January 1966/December 1965 report and 8 February 1966/ January 1966 report.
231

display corridor with rest rooms and a tiny indoor

lobby, plus small office space. As such, it has never functioned as a museum facility. This has been a continuing bitter disappointment to the Ross County and

Chillicothe residents as well as to many visitors who

learn of the remarkable collections secured in the

archeological investigations of the 1920 's and 1960 's. The fact is, the Visitor Center is badly deficient as an interpretive facility which should measure up to

modern NPS standards in general and the needs of this

area in particular. There is no auditorium, no AV

facilities, no storage space, no shelter for large

groups which will be increasing in number, especially

with the accessibility of the area to adjacent new superhighway facilities.

A staunch Mound City Group advocate, Cotter called for a collection and research policy with emphasis on museum displays

and curatorial services. Cotter concluded stating, "It has taken

the National Park Service many years to arrive at the conclusion

that Mound City Group is worthy of inclusion in the System as nationally important. It may not yet be realized by the Service

that Mound City Group is a major archeological resource in the

Nation and the best-developed remaining site of the great

Hopewell culture manifestation of American prehistory."60 Although the park had its own informal collection policies,

programmed funds for a formal collection management plan did not

materialize until 1984. 61 Escalated national defense spending, mushrooming of the

national park system, and other planning priorities stalled the

visitor center expansion project. In 1977, the monument's "space

crunch," always a problem, became critical. Superintendent

Fagergren noted the cramped visitor center office space, 139

sguare feet, accommodated six employees during winter (twentythree square feet per person) and nine employees during summer

(15.4 square feet per employee). The maintenance shop featured

an office for the maintenance work leader and maintenance worker.

Three Youth Conservation Corps employees had a small area in

Quotations from Cotter to Chief, Division of Archeology, Philadelphia

Service Center, (?) , 289 May 1968, A5427 Management Appraisal 1963-75, RG 79, FRC/NARA, Kansas City; Coleman to Lee, 1 October 1965, D6215; Archeologist

Nicholas F. Veloz, Jr., to Garrison, 30 October 1967, History file; and Schesventer to Garrison, 12 March 1968.

6I 10-238 funding request for collection management plan, 20 April 1984, D2215. The first of its kind for the monument, the product, also called a collection preservation guide, would also address artifacts on display and establish policies for researchers studying the collections. In the interim, Park Technician John Mangimeli prepared a status of collections report for internal use.
232

connection with a classroom for YCC enrollees during the summer. Library space, artifact storage, and interpretive work space were

also jammed into the building. The crowded conditions

necessitated expansion of the visitor center to include an audiovisual room and auditorium as well as a research laboratory

and collection storage area. Fagergren tagged it as the

monument's top project, and hoped for funding within two years. 62 Unfortunately, it received a low national priority for

funding. Projections were that a visitor center expansion would

be "many years" in the future. No longer willing to rely on storage accommodations at the Ohio Historical Society, Fagergren

wanted all Mound City Group artifacts kept according to

professional standards at the monument. In August 198 0,

Fagergren adopted a new strategy. He proposed modifying the

existing artifact storage area in the maintenance building's

basement to accommodate curatorial services. He suggested

enclosing one end of the basement with a special curatorial room complete with environmental stabilization systems. 63 Anticipation of potentially large private collections being

donated to Mound City Group prompted a 1990 effort to expand the

collections storage area in the maintenance building's basement.

Artifacts were moved into new storage cabinets and separated with

archival materials. Curators also cataloged the collection using

the Automated National Cataloging System for the first time.

Mitigation of elevated radon levels in 1991 allowed for the

expansion and rehabilitation of the basement area to proceed.

The work brought about a tripling of storage capacity, including

use of a track and carriage system for museum storage cases. Curatorial services also benefitted by adjacent office and

workshop areas in 19 9 1. 64 In 1980, the first collections inventory undertaken since

the 1960s revealled missing artifacts and confusion regarding

past recordkeeping methods. Artifacts unearthed during Ohio

Historical Society excavations were processed and cataloged using

state methods. Returned to Mound City Group in the mid-197 0s,

the material did not immediately receive National Park Service

Fagergren to Beal, development /study package proposal, 13 June 1977, D22; Superintendent's Report for 1977 and 1978; and Dunning to Denver Service

Center Manager Denis P. Galvin, revised 10-238 for visitor center expansion,

21 June 1979, D2215. The package deleted the auditorium, but included 2,000

square feet of curatorial work space and storage.

63 10-238 funding request to modify shop basement for artifact storage

room, 29 August 1980, D2219. In 1981, park maintenance workers built a masonry wall and installed a security door in anticipation of future funding

to complete the curatorial room. See Superintendent's Report for 1981. "Superintendent's Report for 1990 and 1991.
233

catalog numbers on individual pieces. The Ohio Historical

Society material, received in boxes and sacks, did not remain

safely inside marked containers and the separation resulted in

loss of their requisite numbering system. The situation became

especially acute following the 1980 inventory when objects

packaged and organized according to catalog numbers were loaned

for study purposes and subsequently returned packaged and

organized according to type. The absence of professionally

trained cultural resource managers, specifically an archeologist

and/or a museum curator, contributed to the deterioration of the

Mound City Group collection.

This confusion, the result of different archeological

curation methods of the Midwest Archeological Center, brought

about two additional comprehensive inventories in 1984 and 1987.

The latter effort took more than two months and yielded 33,069

objects covering 104 accessions. A board of survey conducted in

1988 resulted in eighty-four missing artifacts removed from the

inventory. In 1991, Park Ranger Robert Petersen began an item by

item review to develop a list of controlled property, with

miscellaneous items accessioned and cataloged at the end of the

multiple-year effort. By the mid-1990s, the park finally had

professional accountability for its collections. 65 One of the most extensive private collections in Ross County

first came under consideration for donation in January 1990.

Robert Harness informed Superintendent Bill Gibson of his

intention to will his significant Hopewellian collection from the

Liberty Works to Mound City Group National Monument via

negotiation of an appropriate codicil. A draft agreement

reviewed in late 1991 brought a prompt ruling that language

prohibiting repatriation or any other restriction could not be

accepted under National Park Service policies. Robert Harness,

wanting professional care of the Harness collection and making it

available for research purposes, did not want it broken up, removed from Ross County, or subjected to repatriation

challenges. A compromise came in the formation of the Harness

Collection Trust. In exchange for a signed deed of gift form

pledging unconditional donation for unrestricted usage, the trust

was devised to dissolve eight years after the formal donation.

According to Gibson, "As the Trust comes into being and manages

the collection, we can look forward to exploring alternative

Odegaard to Chief, Midwest Archeological Center, F. A. Calabrese, and Apschnikat, 7 March 1985, H20; Apschnikat to Regional Director Don H. Castleberry, 30 September 1987, H2017 Acquisition, Gifts, Loans, and Inventories; Apschnikat to Castleberry, 14 April 1988, S7421 Report of Survey, and Gibson to Regional Director William Schenk, 8 April 1991. The brouhaha

between the monument and the Midwest Archeological Center, exacerbated by a suggestion from Lincoln that the artifacts could best be managed there,

brought a command from Regional Director Charles Odegaard to stop sniping and work together to solve the dilemma.
234

language to that presented in the draft agreement. Surely people

with good intentions can come to agreement on a safe, secure and

permanent home for this outstanding collection."66 Future plans recognize expansion of collections and

increased burdens relating to the curatorial program. The 1997

general management plan calls for removing the museum storage

area from the basement of the Resource Management Building, what

once served the park's maintenance and utilities functions.

Subject to flooding and fire, the curatorial storage will be

relocated to a new facility or placed within an expanded addition

to the visitor center.

** Native Americans and the Human Remains Issue

The tumultuous 1960s and early 1970s saw a fundamental shift

in American social and cultural institutions to reflect changing

public attitudes concerning class, race, and gender. One aspect

of this period of social upheaval, initiated by the Civil Rights

Movement for African Americans, concerned native Americans and

the formation of various American Indian rights groups. As

Indians asserted their constitutional rights and discussed past

injustices, all aspects of white-red relations were reexamined.

During the 1978 "Longest Walk" across the United States, Indian

rights activitists called attention to museums along the route

that displayed Indian bones and grave goods, denouncing the

practices, and calling for repatriation and reburials. It brought the Indians' conflict with the professional anthropology

and archeology community into the public arena for bitter debate.

Changing federal perceptions yielded congressional action.

In 1978, the Native American Religious Freedom Act (Public Law

95-341) brought an operational and administrative review

throughout the national park system for potential conflicts with

the new law's intent. The Mound City Group review identified the

two exhibits of authentic cremated remains as well as the partial

human remains represented in the park's collections. Fred J. Fagergren noted that because no native group claimed ties with

any of the Eastern Woodland Moundbuilders, including the

Hopewell, there existed the "possibility that Native American

groups in general might object to these procedures as being

offensive to their religious practices."67

Quotation from Gibson to Alva McGraw, letter, 17 January 1992, H2017 Acquisition, Gifts, Loans, and Inventories; William Gibson interview, 24 August 1993; Mark J. Lynott interview, 20 January 1994; Gibson to Castleberry,

14 February 1990, L7019 State Coordinator; and Gibson to Castleberry, 8 September 1991, H2017.

A6423; and "Indians Battling 'Arrogance,'" Chillicothe Gazette (6 February 1986).
235

Nonetheless, the ongoing debate prompted a change in the

monument's interpretive program. In June 1978, the park accepted

a local donation of an assortment of human bones of no known

association for use in interpretive programs. The remains were

not accessioned into the permanent collection. After using the

bones in several programs, park interpreters concluded their use

was inappropriate, and decided to rebury them. Encompassed in a polyethelene bag and sealed in a plastic bucket with a galvanized

dated metal tag, the interpreters buried the package in Mound 13 on December 4, 1979. Adajacent to the mica grave exhibit, the

burial is marked on the exhibit's blueprint. 68 In 1979, the Archeological Resources Protection Act (ARPA,

Public Law 96-95) stated that archeological resources found on public and Indian lands were part of America's heritage and were therefore protected from unauthorized taking. Archeological

resources of more than one hundred years of age could also

include graves and skeletal remains. ARPA guidelines were first

promulgated in 1984, developed by an interagency task force and

subject to public review and comment. American Indians led the

call for new regulations to separate human remains from generic

archeological resources covered by ARPA, to promote repatriation

and reburial.

The debate raged on in the middle and late 1980s. Mound

City Group managers pointed out that most of the human remains at the monument were in the form of cremated ashes. Press accounts

noted that the museum's cremation display was designed by an American Indian who intentionally placed the ashes at ground

level in order that visitors who viewed them would respectfully

have to bow their heads while standing in front of the exhibit.

An alert in late 1986 to the monument warned of a potential visit

by a registered lobbyist for the National Congress of American

Indians gathering data for congressional hearings on proposed

repatriation legislation. 69 A management review of Mound City Group practices evaluated

the issue of displaying cremated remains of five individuals, one

in the museum and four at the mica grave exhibit. While

recognizing the sensitivity of the issue, the monument had not

received any protest from individuals or groups. Ken Apschnikat

speculated that the reason stemmed from "the cremations

themselves not resembling human remains and because no known

Park Ranger Theresa Nichols to the files, 5 December 1979, H20 Collection Management and Preservation. wKen Apschnikat interview, 19 August 1993; Associate Director, Cultural

Resources, Jerry L. Rogers to Representative Christopher Shays, letter, 6 February 1990, H2215; "Mound City Remains Stay in Ross County Park,"

Chillicothe Gazette (6 February 1986); and Regional Curator John E. Hunter to Charles Odegaard, 29 December 1986, D6215 Human Remains.
236

contemporary tribe can trace their ancestral line to the

Hopewell." Apschnikat acknowledged the potential for future

complaints, noted the existence of human remains in the stored museum collection, and pledged to "continue to treat these human

remains and objects with reverence and dignity."70 Chief of Interpretation and Resource Management H. Reed

Johnson conducted an indepth analysis in 1989. Noting the

extinction of the Hopewell culture and no proven ancestral link

to historic American Indian cultures, Johnson asserted that

artifacts and remains were displayed in a "respectful manner."

Johnson noted that "While the exhibits contain partially cremated

remains consisting of bone fragments, they are displayed 'in

context, ' that is, they are depictions of the actual cremations

and burials as they were performed by the Hopewell." He

recommended that removal or modifications to these exhibits could

be done as part of the next programmed rehabilitation of museum

exhibits, which should also include consultation with Indian

groups during planning and design. Unidentified bones in the

collection required study to determine human or animal origins.

Future excavations uncovering human remains would involve

reinterment as soon as possible following exhumation. 71 Park plans to alter the exhibits ceased in early 1990

following a review by Associate Director for Cultural Resources

Jerry L. Rogers. Rogers' review came in anticipation of passage

of the Native American Grave Protection and Repatriation Act

(NAGPRA) of 1990. The last skeletal remains on display in the

national park system were removed from Mesa Verde National Park

in 1987 following a request by American Indian groups. Rogers,

concerned that human remains were still on display at Mound City

Group National Monument three years after this incident, called

for their immediate removal. Superintendent Bill Gibson ordered

his staff in February 1990 to comply, requesting clean sand

appear in the cremation pit bottoms. 72 A concurrent review of the collection for human remains

yielded inhumation of forty-two individuals and cremations of

thirty-seven individuals, totalling seventy-nine representatives

associated with the Hopewell culture. Unidentified remains of

Ken Apschnikat interview, 19 August 1993; and Apschnikat, "Mound City

Group National Monument Briefing Paper, 1987."

71 William Gibson interview, 24 August 1993; and Johnson to Gibson, 30 March 1989, H20 Collection Management and Preservation.

72William Gibson interview, 24 August 1993; Bonnie Murray interview, 26 August 1993; Rogers to Shays, letter, 6 February 1990, H2215; Regional Curator

John E. Hunter to Gibson, 25 January 1990, D6215 Human Remains;

Superintendent's Report for 1990; and Mound City Group staff meeting minutes,

12 February 1990, A4031 Meetings.
237

questionnable origins included ten inhumations and five

cremations believed to be associated with either the Hopewell or possibly the later Intrusive Mound Culture. Asked to identify

Indian groups for regulatory consultation purposes, H. Reed

Johnson identified the Shawnee tribe of Oklahoma as the "closest

officially recognized leaders" of the southern Ohio region.

Their geographical dislocation made consultation "somewhat

difficult."73 Completing the NAGPRA-mandated inventory of human remains

and associated funerary objects in park collections, Dr. Paul S. Sciulli of Ohio State University performed the work via a cooperative agreement between the Midwest Archeological Center

and the Ohio State University Research Foundation. The effort

provided information on the age, sex, and cultural affiliation of

human remains and related burial items, and park curators updated

in excess of five hundred records for more than 18,000 items.

About three thousand documents were also catalogued. 74 Consultations with American Indian groups required under

NAGPRA began in July 1994, when representatives of the Joint

Shawnee Council on Repatriation visited Mound City Group.

Council members are volunteers from three federally recognized

tribes comprising the Shawnee Nation. Subsequent consultations

took place in March 1995, when Council representatives again came

to the park, and in April 1995, when NPS officials traveled to Oklahoma. The joint effort laid the groundwork for a July 5, 1996 memorandum of agreement for treatment and disposition of

past or future American Indian remains, funerary objects, sacred

objects, or objects of cultural patrimony found within park

lands. The successful federal-tribal consultations prompted

Hopewell Culture staff to host an April 1995 NAGPRA workshop

attended by NPS employees, the Joint Shawnee Council, and members

of the Ohio Museums Association. 75 Thanks to NAGPRA' s establishing a federal commitment to

consult American Indians, in 1996, NPS responded to expressed

concerns over its interpretation of Hopewell burial practices,

and removed the mica grave exhibit. Through consultation,

agreement was reached that more appropriate ways of conveying

mica grave information using different media could be

accomplished. Such native input also helped enrich an

and Johnson

to Gibson, 14 December 1990, D6215.

Ibid.; and Superintendent's Report for 1995-96. The workshop and other accomplishments netted the park in April 1996 the Ohio Museum Association's

Service Award.
238

interpretive prospectus revision, thereby for the first time

reflecting American Indian perspectives in Hopewell Culture

interpretation

76 Lack of sustained funding and making do with substandard

facilities have hampered NPS efforts in Chillicothe to present

the Hopewell culture on the same scale and quality as Southwestern prehistoric cultures are presented in collective NPS

units of the American Southwest. With its transformation into a national historical park in the early 1990s, expanded staff and

facility needs will likely continue to be key issues through the

initial decades of the twenty-first century.

Superintendent's Report for 1995-96.
Chapter Seven

Maintenance of Mounds and Park Infrastructure

** Grounds Maintenance

Mowing the extensive turf areas of Mound City Group National

Monument constituted the primary time-consuming maintenance task

during Superintendent Clyde B. King's initial era of National

Park Service administration. Using borrowed equipment from the

Veteran's Administration hospital and the state for the 1946

growing season, the monument's first mowing tractor arrived in

February 1947 and was immediately pressed into service removing

dead and diseased elm trees. Maintenanceman James Sampson

spanned this state-federal period of the 1940s, ensuring a smooth

transition at Mound City Group. Following Sampson's transfer to

Dayton, Adena State Memorial employee J. Vernon "Vern" Acton

filled the position, entering on duty in September 1948, and

continuing service for more than three decades.

Vern Acton paid special attention and care to the mound

area, recalling "It was hard to maintain the mounds in those

days. The kids made paths on them and, when it rained, the water

washed out gullies which we had to patch." Grounds maintenance

proved to be an arduous task, performed in typical Midwestern

weather extremes. Acton later reflected, "When I started out,

mowing was a continuous undertaking in the growing season. At

that time, all the park site was mowed. We did the mounds with a sickle bar and trimmed the tops with a mowing scythe. The picnic

area [and remaining areas were] done with a riding mower." 1 One of the earliest park management goals envisioned

reducing the time and expense of this maintenance burden through

a reforestation program. The primary means to achieve this goal

involved converting the once-cultivated, open landscape to its

former, pre-contact, forested composition. Many held that a forested appearance naturally characterized the Scioto River

Valley and would be more accurate to Hopewellian times, or at the

very least, reflect the 1840s period of Squier and Davis'

excavations.

Toward this end, the first professional National Park

Service inspection of the monument's landscape came on October

24, 1946, when two foresters from the Region One Office met

onsite with plant pathologist Roger Swingle of the Bureau of

'Quotations from "Changes Seen in 30 Years at Mound City," Chillicothe

Gazette (27 January 1979); also Custodian Clyde B. King to Director Newton

Drury, 2 March 1947, February 1947 report; and J. Vernon Acton interview with

Naomi L. Hunt, 3 March 1985, Chillicothe, Ohio.
240

Plant Industry. The team recommendations included conducting

heavy feeding of existing maples and prune those affected by

wilt. Because many trees were crowded and in poor condition, the

group advised developing a tree replacement plan. 2 The first planting plan for the monument came in October

1947 for the superintendent's residence area. Designed primarily

to beautify that part of the grounds, its contemporary design

appropriate to a private home also served to differentiate it

from the remainder of the monument. 3 Public interest in the monument's landscape program afforded

King an opportunity to explain the philosophy behind the

"planting scheme." During the July 1948 picnic of "Mr. and Mrs. Garden Club of Chillicothe, " King dismissed the possibility of

large formal plantings of exotics, but explained three objectives

as follows: "this area should present to the people as a whole a section of Ross County; that the presentation, except for

residence area, should present that picture only; and that

developments are limited to those with lowest maintenance

costs."4 King's principal emphasis within the planting program was to

erect natural screening, particularly around the mound enclosure,

to obscure unsightly modern intrusions in adjacent areas. The

sooner these natural barriers took root, the better, and to this

end, Clyde King began making his management goals a reality.

Impatient at the lack of funding for screen plantings, he began

gathering seeds of native species during personal drives to view

the fall colors through the countryside. On November 1, 1950,

King wrote: "Using black locust stakes for markers I have been

planting groups of seeds by species around these stakes. They

are placed informally over the area to be planted. This planting

has been limited to native species and in it the species either

absent or in limited numbers have been stressed. Even persimmons

have been included." King acknowledged three objectives: "To

plant the area, to provide a number of species, and to provide

food for various birds and forest animals. Incidentally, I have

added over 20 native species to the planting already in the

area."5

2Acting Custodian William W. Luckett to Drury, 3 November 1946, October

1946 report.

3King to Drury, 1 November 1947, October 1947 report. A search of park

archives failed to produce a written document containing this early planting

plan.

"King to Drury, 1 August 1948, July 1948 report.

5 King to Drury, 1 November 1950, October 1950 report.
241

V

Figure 64: Superintendent James W. Coleman, Jr., presented jackof-all-trades maintenance worker J. Vernon Acton with a special

service award. (NPS/Lee Hanson, Jr., April 1967)
242

Mother Nature proved to be an uncooperative partner in

King's zeal for healthy trees. As early as June 1948, he

reported infestations of locust leaf minor turning entire trees

brown and defoliating them. Those trees were automatically

removed as were elms infested with phloem necrosis, or Dutch Elm

Disease. An aggressive removal and burning of diseased elms

began in September 1949 in a vain effort to halt further spread

of the malady. 6 In addition to insects, harsh weather conditions also

wreaked havoc. Severe summer heat and drought in 1951 brought

emergency conditions to southern Ohio, killing most of the

seedlings King had planted. Undaunted, he pledged to continue

his efforts. Two years later, the same conditions devastated

another crop of young spring-planted trees. Climatic conditions

in North America brought a return of dust bowl-like conditions

reminiscent of the 1930s. While concentrated in the Great

Plains, this climatic misery also impacted the larger Midwest and

became known as the "Filthy Fifties."

King's spring 1954 inventory of seedlings revealed forty-one

still alive. That same season he proudly announced planting of one hundred more trees by his fifteen-year-old son as a scouting

project and expressed hope that this might complete the planting

project. Unfortunately, another severe summer drought browned

much of the grass and again killed the young trees. Only a few were saved by hand-watering. In late 1955, King secured the

services of an entire scout troop to plant trees. A return to

normal rainfall patterns in 1958 brought King's relieved report

in July that "The entire area is really green and trees planted

this spring are doing very well. Too, it is probable that

certain parts of the area will begin to reforest with silver

maple, sugar maple, green and white ash, sycamore, and

cottonwood .

7 The few trees allowed to grow within the mound enclosure

area required care and occasional removal. In October 1953, two

large Hackberry trees were removed from one of the mounds.

Anticipating construction of the visitor center, Maintenanceman

°King to Drury, 1 July 1948/ June 1948 report, 1 July 1949/ June 1949 report, and 1 September 1949/August 1949 report. In addition to fighting

European Elm Bark Beetles, removal programs for fall webworm, tent caterpillar, and bagworms were conducted. Quotation from Wirth to Drury, 1 August 1958, July 1958 report; also King to Director Arthur Demaray, 1 September 1951, August 1951 report; King to

Drury, 1 September 1953/August 1953 report, 1 May 1954/April 1954 report, 2 August 1954/ July 1954 report, and 1 November 1955/October 1955 report; Donald

E. Worster, Dust Bowl; The Southern Plains in the 1930s (New York: Oxford University Press, 1979), 226-29; and R. Douglas Hurt, The Dust Bowl: An Agricultural and Social History (Chicago: Nelson-Hall, 1981), 153-56.
243

Acton began clearing away trees and other "accumulated growth" in

the northeast corner of the mounds. King directed the work in

order to open the area and make it visible from the proposed museum building. The concentrated vegetation had been encouraged

to grow in order to screen out the Veterans Administration's

incinerator and access road. Recommendations from Philadelphia

brought the advice to wait until the visitor center neared

completion before removing the screening. In 1959, a declining

White Mulberry, which protruded from the earthworks enclosure

wall, required a tractor to pull out each of its six trunks. 8 Abandonment of the access road to the incinerator brought

about the obliteration of that intrusive linear feature in 1960

by seeding and mulching the former roadbed. Allowed to grow tall

with only infrequent mowing, the treatment disguised its former

appearance so well that foot and vehicle trespass to access that

part of the monument virtually ceased within a few months. 9 Yet more reforestation took place in 1963 through the

Accelerated Public Works program, particularly in the visitor

center vicinity. When larvae and flat-headed worms infesting

these trees turned out to be flat-headed apple tree borers,

spraying with a DDT-solution occurred in the summer of 1966. By

1969, with passage of strict environmental laws, pesticide use changed to a Malathion spray, and instead of aerial application,

individual trees and shrubs were treated. 10 Malathion proved

ineffective against a Japanese Beetle infestation in 1972. A

special application of Methoxychlor ended this defoliation of

ornamental trees. 11 A 1963 report peripherally treating the grounds pledged no changes to the monument's extensive grass- and tree-growing

King to Wirth, 3 November 1953/October 1953 report, 2 December

1958/November 1958 report, and 1 July 1960/ June 1960 report; and Regional

Director Daniel J. Tobin to King, no date [circa December 1958].

'King to Wirth, 1 July 1960, June 1960 report.

l0Coleman to Hartzog, 10 November 1966, October 1966 report; and Schesventer, "Summary Report on New Or Substantially Changed Projects or Programs Using Pesticides, 18 April 1969. Schesventer described the reforestation goal as follows: "to 'reforest' and encourage existing trees

and shrubs to grow on all 3 sides of the mound enclosure wall so as to screen

out the intrusive view of the prison on the south and farm activities to the north as well as to achieve a wooded environment at the river boundary."

"Birdsell to [title?] Barney Kolb, 3 August 1972, Y18.
244

regimen. 12 The MISSION 66 developments of the late 1950s and early

1960s at Mound City Group National Monument substantially

burdened its maintenance staff. As late as 1967, Vern Acton

remained the only permanent maintenanceman, assisted by only one additional seasonal worker. Designed plantings and intensive

turf maintenance around the visitor center required increased

attention, and plans to increase the monument's size by adding

adjacent surplus federal land promised to overwhelm the park's

capabilities. Northeast Region horticulturalist David L. Moffitt

recommended the staff be increased by another seasonal position,

stating, "Until the extensive plantings in the visitor center

area reach maturity and require less maintenance, this area will

have a difficult time keeping up with the workload." In response

to safety concerns at the residence caused by escaped mental

patients hiding in the overgrown shrubbery, Moffitt suggested

extensive trimming to eliminate potential hiding places for both

psychiatric patients and prison inmates.

In addition to recommending an annual fertilization program,

Moffitt proposed a unique means of reducing labor costs in the

park's mowing operations. Moffitt suggested using a growth

retardant on one-half of the mound area, particularly on those

mounds hardest to mow, in order to judge the product's

effectiveness. 13 Actual testing with a growth retardant came in

late 1973, and yielded inconclusive results. Applied with the

same results in 1974, the experiment ended and previous

maintenance practices resumed. 14 Keeping the grass maintained within the mound enclosure

proved time-consuming, labor-intensive, and a safety concern. Park Archeologist Lee Hanson later recalled that Maintenanceman

John L. Cotter, Historic Structures and Grounds Report, Part I on Mound

City Group National Monument, Chillicothe, Ohio (Philadelphia: Northeast

Regional Office, National Park Service, 1963). Prepared by the regional

archeologist, its only landscape-related narrative reads: "It is proposed to keep the landscaping, that is, the planting of grass and trees, within [the] enclosure in the present mode following the archeological investigations. The archeological field work is not intended to disrupt in any way the net aspect

of the present landscape except for the authentication of earthwork contours

and locations."

13Moffitt to Regional Director Lemuel A. Garrison, 25 August 1967, A2623.

14Phillip Egan interview, 25 August 1993; Birdsell to Superintendent Dixon

B. Freeland, Fredricksburg and Spotsylvania County Battlefields Memorial

National Military Park, 27 February 1974, D32; and Birdsell to Regional

Director Chester L. Brooks, 8 March 1973, Y46. Produced by U.S. Borax and Chemical Corporation, "Maintain CF125" promised to eliminate or reduce mowing, control broadleaf weeds, retard growth, inhibit grass heading, and improve

turf appearance.
245

Acton had a "tractor with a gang mower and a sickle bar.... The

tractor had a counterweight on one side and he used to make a run

at the mounds, even the high one in the center, and, using

centrifugal force, mow a swath up over one side of the mound. He

would keep circling in this manner at top speed until the mound

was mowed. To my knowledge, he never turned the tractor over." 15 Presenting the mounds to visitors with a green, uniformly-mowed,

and typically park-like appearance could not only be dangerous,

but was a spectacle to behold. By the late 1960s, the

aforementioned daredevil antics were discontinued in favor of

hand-powered mowers on steep slopes. 16 Ohio State University's Ross County Cooperative Extension

Service evaluated the monument's groundcover of Kentucky

bluegrass mixed with creeping red fescue in 1965. In dry spells

during the summertime, the turf typically turned pale green to

yellow indicating poor root development. Soil experts

recommended a sustained treatment of 10-6-4 fertilizer for turf

vitality and growth during spring and summer, with aeration in

compacted areas exacerbated by heavy foot traffic. Such annual

treatments first began in May 1965 and concentrated in the mound

and visitor center areas. 17 Perceived inattention or lack of punctual grounds

maintenance could yield angry public complaints. By 1969, park

interpreters succeeded in changing the golf course-like

appearance of the mounds. No longer mowing the entire

earthworks, a few of the larger mounds were left in higher grass

and occasionally trimmed using a sickle bar mower. Paths of

short grass helped to direct visitors from one interpretive stop

to another through the mound enclosure. When the entire area appeared overgrown on Independence Day 1969 because of broken

mowing equipment, a contrite George F. Schesventer explained the

situation to Philadelphia superiors in anticipation of a promised

visitor complaint to Interior Secretary Walter Hickel. 18

15 Lee Hanson to Naomi L. Hunt, letter, 15 March 1986.

16Birdsell to Environmental Maintenance Specialist [?], 4 August 1971, D32 Mound City 1965-72, Record Group 79, Records of the National Park Service's

Midwest Regional Office, Federal Records Center, National Archives and Records Administration, Kansas City, Missouri (hereafter cited as RG 79, FRC/NARA, Kansas City)

17Riddle to Lee, 16 February 1965, and Acting Assistant Regional Director,

Operations, Wilbur L. Savage, to Riddle, no date [circa March 1965], both

found in D32 Mound City 1965-72, RG 79, FRC/NARA, Kansas City; Riddle to

Hartzog, 4 June 1965, May 1965 report; and Coleman to Hartzog, 13 October

1965, September 1965 report. Using a donated, but defective, fertilizer

spreader, the device spread the mixture unevenly. Following several days of heavy rain, the grounds had an embarrassingly uniform streaked pattern.

18 Schesventer to Garrison, 9 July 1969, A36.
246

Figure 65: On steep-sloped earthworks, special care was required

while using heavy mowing equipment. Phillip Egan used a tractor

with a safety roll-bar. (NPS/July 1988)
247

Leaving the grass to grow long in problem maintenance areas changed with each new superintendent adding to or subtracting

from such areas. A 1976 operations evaluation identified grass

mowing as the single maintenance activity requiring the most manhours. The report called for re-evaluating mowing techniques and

a "landscape planting plan" from the regional landscape architect

to provide windbreaks, shade, and screening. Turf issues for the

Mound City Group earthworks were subsequently deferred for

resolution in the park's resources management plan developed in

the late 1970s and early 1980s. 19 (For a discussion on reestablishing a prehistoric landscape, see Chapter 9)

The Omaha-developed landscape plan slowly emerged by 1980,

but went beyond what was needed and had to be scaled back. The

monument supported planting large trees for screening, and

recommended more be placed to block views and audible intrusions

of State Highway 104 from the mounds. The park review of the

plan rejected proposed extensive planting of small species of

viburnum and dogwood around the visitor center, a design that

negated the goal of presenting a more natural scene and easing

the maintenance workload. 20 Four years later, a contractor

implemented the planting plan, which also included installing

trees for screening along Portsmouth Road and near the park

residence. Maintenance allowed the quarter's front yard to

revert to natural conditions with plantings in the northeast

corner added for additional screening for the mounds. 21 Two modern intrusions were removed from the mound area in

1983. Maintenance workers relocated a bench intended for weary

visitors to a spot near the handicapped parking area. They also

moved a trash receptacle to the interpretive trail. 22 Agricultural land added north of the monument required

little effort for park maintenance upkeep. In 1987, the thirtyl9Hugh P. Beattie and Thomas L. Weeks, Operations Evaluation Report, Mound

City Group National Monument, February 1976 (Omaha: Midwest Regional Office,

National Park Service, 1976), A5427; and Superintendent's Report for 1979. Vern Acton noted that Superintendent Bill Birdsell was a "perfectionist" and

his insistence on manicured grounds only added to the maintenance workload

burden. See Acton interview transcript by Naomi L. Hunt, 3 March 1985,

Chillicothe, Ohio. ^Fagergren tc Fagergren reguested screening for the visitor center's large air-conditioning

units in full view of the small picnic lunch area as well as plantings to obviate snow fences along the sidewalks.

and Ken Apschnikat, "Mound City Group

National Monument Management Briefing Paper, 1987." ^Superintendent's Report for 1983. Records do not detail when these

items were first introduced to the prehistoric earthworks area.
248

Figure 66: Maintenance of turf grasses concentrated not only in

the mound area, but the expansive visitor center lawn fronting on Highway 104. (NPS/John C. W. Riddle, September 1962)
249

five-acre field came under the historic property leasing program,

leased to Harold Sanford to continue caring for the alfalfa crop

cultivated there through 1988. Lease income went toward sowing

native grasses in order to protect subsurface archeological

resources. Subsequent annual income from the haying crop under

the program went toward maintaining the grasses, fence, treeline

maintenance, and perimeter mowing. 23 When turf grasses continued to fail in 1988 along two

connector trails from the earthwall's southeast side leading to

the Scioto River trail, workers laid down a base of heavy mulch.

As heavy foot traffic continued to erode dirt and grass atop the

river trail steps, concrete pads were installed there as well as at each interpretive sign. The stone deck at the Scioto audio

station also gave way to concrete for safety and aesthetic

reasons. Putting practice into written guidelines, the following

year saw preparation of separate management plans for turf,

earthworks, and integrated pest control. 24 Mound City Group participated in 1990 along with community

groups and businesses to launch a three-year tree-planting

program. As many as three hundred trees were planted along State

Route 104, also known as "Camp Sherman Memorial Highway," at 100-

foot intervals for four miles between U.S. Highway 3 5 and State

Route 207. Local prison inmates planted sugar maples and ash

trees in conjunction with Earth Day and the Department of the

Interior's "Take Pride in America" campaign. Superintendent Bill

Gibson played a pivotal role in the effort, calling attention to environmental issues and community pride in restoring the scenic

roadway setting reminiscent of the World War I Camp Sherman

era. 25 Growing archeological evidence that Hopewellian geometric

earthworks were sited in pre-existing native prairie openings led

to efforts to restore significant areas of native prairie

beginning in 1997.

** Maintenance Challenges

Following passage of the Clean Air Act and other

environmental legislation, the monument discontinued its practice

of open-air burning to dispose of garbage and refuse in 1965. By

'Management Briefing

Paper, 1987." ^Superintendent 's Reports for 1988 and 1989. William Gibson interview, 24 August 1993; and "Trees to Line 104 Once

Again," Chillicothe Gazette (1 May 1990).
250

contracting for periodic removal by a local refuse collector, it

effectively reduced the constant threat of fire on monument

lands. 26 As recycling programs gained popularity and landfill

space began becoming scarce, monument employees voluntarily began

an aluminum recycling program among the staff. With a statemandated twenty-five percent reduction in solid waste for

landfills set for 1992, Maintenance Worker Foreman Jon Casson

began planning in late 1989 to launch a voluntary recycling

program to include the public by installing containers to recycle

aluminum, plastic, and glass. To the delight of park staff, the

four-slotted recycling containers became a regular stop for

school groups with teachers using the opportunity to discuss

recycling and the environment. 27 Ensuring water quality standards became a maintenance task

in the early 1970s when the monument began purchasing its water

from the state-leased Chillicothe Correctional Institute.

Although the state as part of its lease obligations began

monitoring the Camp Sherman-era well water source, the National

Park Service acted to ensure public safety at the monument by

taking monthly samples alternately from the visitor center,

residence, and maintenance building and forwarded them to the

Ohio Department of Health. Typically free from bacteriological

agents, the water itself proved to be of poor quality with high

concentrations of iron, sulphur, alum, and other minerals. Water

used in the residence had to be run through an iron filter and a conditioning unit, but even then it remained unsuitable for

cooking and drinking. Maintenance workers had to obtain bottled

water from Chillicothe' s municipal supply and transport it to the

residence and visitor center for consumptive uses. The

neighboring Veteran's Administration medical center built its own million-dollar treatment plant in hopes of improving water

quality.

By the late 1970s, upgrading of Mound City Group's aging

water system included a new iron filter, chlorinator, and

replacement of the piping system. With increased usage, the

Chillicothe Correctional Institute began experiencing difficulty

in sustaining stable pressure. Low pressure invited bacterial

contamination, while high pressure burst valves and other parts

along the aging system. 28 Addressing the water problem came in a

Middle to Hartzog, 12 February 1965/January 1965 report and 12 March

1965/February 1965 report.

27Gibson to Castleberry, 21 November 1989, and Gibson to Deputy Regional

Director William W. Schenk, 24 October 1990, both in D50 Service and Utilities.

August 1993; Birdsell to Brooks, 20 March 1973, L54; and Fagergren, package

103 visitor center expansion, 16 May 1979, D2215 Water Resource Proposal.
251

cooperative partnership with the Veterans Administration during

the 1980s (see Chapter 5) . By the mid-1990s, NPS connected to

the Ross Correctional Institute's water system.

A 1976 operations evaluation lauded the park's maintenance

division as "exceptional" and noted that "Even in the off season

all facilities almost sparkle." The staff played a key role in

presenting a professional, top-guality park operation to the

visiting public, thereby achieving and maintaining high agency

standards. To provide equal accommodation to all visitors,

maintenance staff ensured parkwide handicapped accessibility by

modifying restrooms and all doorways. They also constructed a specially-designated handicapped parking area close to the

visitor center entrance and installed a wheelchair-friendly

picnic table in the outdoor luncheon area. 29 The very existence of an in-house maintenance function at Mound City Group National Monument, like at other parks

throughout the national park system, came into question during

the end of President Ronald Reagan's first term. Heralded by the

anti-big government Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and its

Circular A-76, each park undertook an A-76 review of all grounds

maintenance and custodial services in 1984 to ascertain the most

cost-effective means to perform "commercial or industrial

activities." Following A-76 guidelines, agencies were mandated

to determine the cost-effectiveness of performing these functions

using federal employees or through contracts with the private

sector.

At Mound City Group, the dreaded A-7 6 review began on Marcn

20, 1984, following notification to three potentially affected

employees and in close consultation with the Midwest Regional

Office. In submitting his management study to Regional Director

Charles H. Odegaard, Superintendent Apschnikat asked that his

park be exempted from A-7 6 requirements. Apschnikat declared,

"small parks like Mound City need a continuing uniformed in-house

maintenance presence that is qualified, versatile, able to adapt

quickly to emergency conditions or changing priorities, sensitive

to cultural and natural resource concerns, and able to meet and

deal with people." With the potential loss of his skilled

workers, Apschnikat feared much flexibility would be lost. He

believed the most efficient and cost-effective means remained

with an in-house maintenance force. Loss of that capability

would result in an inability to fulfill the monument's mission. 30

Quotation from Beattie and Weeks, Operation Evaluation Report , 1976; and "Accessibility Increased at Park," Chillicothe Gazette (14 January 1983).

^Phillip Egan interview, 25 August 1993; Ken Apschnikat interview, 19 August 1993; Superintendent's Report for 1984; and Apschnikat to Maintenance

Division employees Phillip Egan, David Dere, and Doug Wolfe, 13 March 1984,
252

Thanks to two years of intensive lobbying by the National

Parks and Conservation Association and other groups, the

deleterious impacts of OMB Circular A-7 6 were mitigated through

an amendment attached to a Senate bill revising the Volunteers in

the Parks Act of 1969. Signed into law on October 4, 1984, the

legislation exempted the National Park Service, U.S. Fish and

Wildlife Service, and Bureau of Land Management in local unit

operations involving ten full-time equivalencies (FTE) or less.

Congress called on the agencies to implement a maintenance

management system (MMS) , first called for by a June 1, 1984

General Accounting Office report. MMS, involving computerized

calculations for a diverse array of work functions, was intended

to streamline and improve federal maintenance operations. The

data collected in 1984 helped serve as baseline data for the

monument's MMS, in operation in 1989. Ultimately, the exercise

did help increase the effectiveness and efficiency of Mound City

Group's already superior maintenance workforce. 31 A May 1979 inspection of the visitor center's ceiling by the

Ohio Department of Health revealed the presence of 3.18 percent

chrysotile asbestos by weight. Although the inspectors found the

ceiling to be in good condition and therefore not presenting an immediate health hazard, their report recommended that the

maintenance staff monitor the acoustic plaster ceiling closely.

As the material aged, they warned the binding capacity within the

plaster would begin to lose its cohesiveness and fail, causing a dangerous release of air-borne asbestos fibers. By maintaining a coating of quality paint to the ceiling, the cancer-causing

fibers would be held in place and not pose any threat to

employees or visitors. 32 Ill at ease because of the potential health threat, Ken

Apschnikat engaged the services of a Columbus architectural and

engineering firm in 1982 to develop alternative strategies

regarding the asbestos problem. Apschnikat 's discomfort centered

on the building's flat metal roof that had a history of leaks.

Penetrating water seemingly could not be stopped, and it posed a constant threat after each rainfall of causing the asbestos-laden

plaster ceiling's collapse. While the 1979 state inspection

involved only one room, three other rooms needed to be tested.

On March 17, 1983, the National Institute for Occupational Safety

and Health (NIOSH) conducted a health hazard evaluation by

and Apschnikat to Odegaard, 29 May 1984, both in S7215 OMB Circular A-76. ^Superintendent 's Report for 1984; and National Park and Conservation

Association open letter to National Park Service superintendents, 30 October

1984, S7215 OMB Circular A-76.

32David E. Kos, Ohio Department of Health, to Fred Fagergren, letter, 3 July 1979, A76.
253

Figure 66: The monument's only quarters building, home to all

but one Mound City Group National Monument superintendent,

presented maintenance workers with a wide range of problems,

including high radon gas levels. (NPS/Fred Fagergren, June 1977)
254

collecting samples of ceiling plaster and tap water. Results of

the NIOSH industrial hygiene survey found asbestos air

concentrations ranging from 0.01 to 0.02 fibers per cubic

centimeter over an eight-hour period. While NIOSH 's recommended

criteria level came at 0.1, the Occupational Safety and Health

Administration's (OSHA) high threshold standard came at 2.0. No

hazardous traces were found in the tap water, and three of four

bulk samples contained chrysotile asbestos ranging from two to

sixty percent. In essence, the NIOSH report found no immediate

health hazard existed. 33 While committed to maintaining a good painted surface to ensure the ceiling's continued integrity and mandating sustained

monitoring, the Midwest Regional Office advised that any sudden

release of fibers be immediately reported to the region's safety

officer. Further, it recommended the park program for funding to remove and dispose of the hazardous material and install a new

ceiling. Almost a decade passed before a two-inch May 1992

rainfall resulted in numerous leaks that allowed water to

saturate sizeable areas of the ceiling. While it did not fail,

and maintenance workers warily monitored it during the drying out

period, emergency testing revealed no hazardous levels of

asbestos. The event nonetheless expedited plans to eradicate the

problem permanently, accomplished as part of the roof replacement

and visitor center renovation effort of the early 1990s. 34 Another potentially hazardous health condition emerged in

the mid- to late 1980s. On December 3, 1986, Associate Director

for Park Operations Stanley T. Albright called on all regional

consultants from the U.S. Public Health Service to coordinate a nationwide testing program for radon gas in employee and

concessioner housing. Radon commonly seeped into buildings

through subsurface cracks and tended to concentrate in ever- higher levels until properly ventilated. Medical experts warned

that sustained exposure to elevated radon levels could result in

lung cancer in humans. The National Park Service contracted with

the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)'s laboratory in

Montgomery, Alabama, to evaluate samples from park housing.

Mound City Group's single test canister arrived in late January

1987. Park maintenance collected the air sample from the

superintendent's residence and forwarded the canister to the EPA.

Apschnikat to NIOSH, letter, 31 January 1983, A76; NIOSH Industrial Hygienist Raymond L. Ruhe to Apschnikat,

letter, 24 March 1983, A76; and Ruhe, NIOSH Report (HETA 83-134), no date

[March 1983], A76.

34Ken Apschnikat interview, 19 August 1993; Phillip Egan interview, 25 August 1993; Acting Regional Director Randall J. Pope to Apschnikat, 28 July

1983, A76; and Mound City Group Safety Committee meeting minutes, 12 May 1992, A7619.
255

Test results on March 2, 1987, revealed the residence not

only exceeded the maximum contaminant levels for radon, but it

had the dubious honor of being ranked at the highest exposure

level in the ten-state Midwest Region: 39.3 picoCuries per liter

(pCi/1) . The measurement constituted nearly ten times the safe

benchmark reading of 4 . pCi/1. Follow up testing for the

residence's first floor and basement, as well as the maintenance

building's basement brought an even higher radon reading of 4 6.5

pCi/1 in the residence's basement and 11.5 pCi/1 in the firstfloor bedroom. Readings in the maintenance building's basement

came in at 24.0 and 25.5 pCi/1.

In May 1987, Ken Apschnikat requested emergency assistance

from Omaha to mitigate the radon gas problem. Apschnikat 's initial discussions with U.S. Public Health Consultant Bert

Mitchell revealed no funding or properly trained personnel to

plan and implement a mitigation and monitoring program. In the

meantime, the Apschnikat family's use of the basement ceased

except for the laundry area. 35 In late August 1987, Radon Remediation Consultant Thomas L. Sinclair, an employee of Effigy Mounds National Monument in Iowa,

arrived at Mound City Group for an inspection accompanied by U.S.

Public Health Service Consultant Bert Mitchell. Sinclair

recommended all "hot spots" be sealed, including floor drains and

cracks, wall cracks, and utility openings where subterranean gas

could penetrate. If these and other measures did not work,

Sinclair recommended demolishing the house and its foundation,

and replacing them with a specially-designed subslab with proper

ventilation and drainage systems. Another option would be to cease the structure's use as a quarters and convert it to

administrative and storage purposes. Human use of the building

would then be on a more limited basis. 36 Actual radon mitigation work came in late August 1988

following Ken Apschnikat 's transfer to Manassas National

Battlefield Park, Virginia. Vacating the structure permitted its

conversion from a residence to use as a park headquarters and

administrative office building. Effigy Mounds maintenance worker

Timothy Mason performed the mitigation measures in the two

affected areas and radon levels declined dramatically to within

safe levels at the new headquarters. Radon levels in the

maintenance building's basement, however, continued at unhealthy

memorandum, undated [circa December 1986] for Midwest Region superintendents,

D50; Mitchell to Odegaard, 22 December 1986, D50; Mitchell to Apschnikat, 20 January and 30 April 1987, D50; and Apschnikat to Odegaard, 29 May 1987, D50.

36Phillip Egan interview, 25 August 1993; and Sinclair to Apschnikat, 4 December 1987, D32.
256

readings, resulting in its discontinued use as a routine work

area. 37 Radon monitoring remains a frequent activity.

Extensive road rehabilitation took place in the 1980s and

1990s. To eliminate a safety hazard for employees by having two

roads entering State Highway 104 within a few yards of one

another, a connector road in 1983 linked Portsmouth Road with the

visitor center entrance road. In 1991, a deceleration lane to

enter the park from State Highway 104, paving the formerly gravel

base of Portsmouth Road, repaving all remaining roads and lots,

and adding a parking lot for the administrative headquarters

building were accomplished. Workers also eradicated the former

outlet of Portsmouth Road onto State Route 104. For the first

time, park roads met National Park Service standards. 38

** History of the Physical Plant

The small MISSION 66-era visitor center and museum building

became the monument's key visitor services point following its

1960 opening. To accent the modern complex, a new stone entrance

gate and sign replaced the original configuration in October

1961. One of the earliest "glitches" concerning the new construction concerned its septic tank in that it proved to be

too close to the ground's surface. This resulted in turf failure

and planting bushes to screen visitor's views of the bare spot

from the observation deck. 39 Water seeping along the edges of the visitor center's

skylights came in September 1962. While the building's original

contractor made those repairs, no one anticipated that the flatdesigned roof would continue to leak so badly throughout its

lifetime. Two years later, Superintendent Riddle reported that

leaks over the restroom areas had to be patched and the "Other

Outstanding Mounds" exhibit required leak-related repairs.

Laborers replaced the fifteen-year old roof in 1975 and new skylights were also installed, but leaks persisted. Park

maintenance continued to perform roof-patching chores each

season. Exasperated by delays working through the Denver Service

Center to discover the sources of water leaks, Superintendent

Fagergren cancelled the assistance request by stating that his

1988; and Mitchell to Regional Director Don H. Castleberry, 7 January 1988, D32. ^Superintendent 's Reports for 1983, 1990, and 1991; and Gibson to CCI Warden Terry Morris, letter, 20 February 1991, S7219 Construction Contracts

(Roads)

39King to Wirth, 2 November 1961/October 1961 report and Riddle to Wirth,

7 November 1962 /October 1962 report.
own staff plugged the suspected entry points.

257

40 So stingy on space was the visitor center that it lacked

sufficient storage areas for maintenance supplies and small

equipment. In 1963, maintenance workers erected for such a purpose a small metal building measuring both six-foot, eightinches wide and long by eight-feet high at the visitor center's

northwest corner. Regularly supplied hot water did not arrive

until mid-1971 when workers installed a small hot water heater in

the utility space between the two restrooms. An incredulous Bill

Birdsell exclaimed upon the new addition, "Having hot water

available for building maintenance is very helpful, and at least we are not having to heat scrub water in the office coffeepot ! " 41In October 1977, the Denver Service Center prepared a task

directive for expansion of the visitor center as part of the

Bicentennial Land Heritage Program. The expansion accommodated

an additional 2,900 square feet of space as follows:

artifact basement storage and library 400 square feet

auditorium 1,2 00 square feet

interpretive workspace 150 square feet

office space (six interpreters) 440 square feet

stairs, mechanical, circulation 700 square feet

According to the directive, construction drawings were to be

generated in 1979. 42 Appropriations for the expansion failed to materialize and

construction planning documents were not prepared. In the vain

hope that dropping the auditorium from the request might move the

project up to a higher priority for funding, Fagergren believed

that slashing the cost might make the project a reality. While

the January 1970 Interpretive Prospectus had first recommended an auditorium, Fagergren deemed a late 1970s video presentation in

the museum as sufficient and stressed more basic needs as essential. Fagergren' s first concern was to provide a stable

Riddle to Wirth, 10 October 1962, September 1962; Riddle to Regional

Director Ronald F. Lee, 5 June 1964; Riddle to Hartzog, 14 July 1964, June

1964 report; Superintendent's Report for 1975; and Fagergren to Regional

Director Merrill D. Beal, 6 April 1978, D24 Jan. 1976-Dec. 1979, RG 79, FRC/NARA, Kansas City. for Building 5, 4 October 1974 (prepared to document installation of a steel door); and Birdsell

to Environmental Maintenance Specialist [?], 4 August 1971, D32 Mound City

1965-72, RG 79, FRC/NARA, Kansas City.

42Associate Manager, Denver Servio

Director Beal, 7 October 1977, including visitor Center Expansion Package 103.
258

environment for the archeological collection. His second

consideration envisioned providing an external area for

interpretive events during inclement weather by using the patio,

the spot for the proposed auditorium, as a covered veranda. His

third basic need involved having adequate administrative work

space for park staff. 43 Funding for the necessary additions did not arise. A

critical over-crowding of the administrative office area came in

May 1979. A new floorplan for the compact twelve- by twentyfour-foot office called for new furniture to accommodate five

permanent and three seasonal employees. Funding from the

retiring maintenance leader's lapsed position in the fall of 1979

allowed the purchase of space-efficient furniture, but office

conditions remained cramped in the visitor center for the next

nine years. 44 Visitation continued to grow and increasing numbers of heavy

vehicles such as school buses and large touring coaches needed to

be accommodated, but overflow parking resulted in unsightly ruts

and damage to the lawn. No one wished to expand the already

sizeable lot. A compromise solution involved converting a 3,000

square foot grassy area to serve as an overflow lot. The

informal area received stability for parking purposes by

installing a pattern of "turfstones" in 1981. 45 After years of applying patching material to fix the sievelike visitor center roof, the National Park Service awarded a roof replacement contract in 1984 to Rebel Roofing Company of

Colonial Beach, Virginia. It represented the building's third

and last flat roof. Contractor delays resulted in one time

extension and work began on July 3 during the middle of the

heavy visitation season and concluded five weeks later. Not

satisfied with the quality of work, particularly after a new leak

developed, Omaha contracting officials granted another contract

extension until the end of November. When attempts to find and

stop the leak failed, the agency declared Rebel Roofing in

default on December 24. 46 The defaulted roof contract yielded negotiations locally for

a new contractor to conduct repairs. On March 25, 1985,

Mound City Group staff meeting minutes, 15 May 1979 and 12 September

1979, A4031 Mound City Jan. 1978-Dec. 1979, RG 79, FRC/NARA, Kansas City.

45 Fagergren, 10-238 funding reguest for improved parking area, no date

[circa 1980], D2219; and Superintendent's Report for 1981.

"^Ken Apschnikat interview, 19 August 1993; and Superintendent's Report

for 1984.
259

Figure 67: The flat visitor center's roof perpetually leaked,

despite repeated attempts to repair it. Extensive interior water

damage and disturbance of an asbestos ceiling necessitated a radical redesign. (MPS/ September 7 984)
260

Alexander Roofing Company of Chillicothe removed roofing material

over the suspected leak, exposing damage over a 214 square foot

area. Repairs were finished the following day. 47 The same month that the defaulted roof contract occurred,

the monument learned more bad news. After consulting with the

Ross County engineer, Ken Apschnikat reported severe splitting at

the base of the four outside steel beams supporting the visitor

observation deck. While there was no immediate danger of

structural failure because there was no evidence of bowing or bulging at any weak points and the four inside supports were

undamaged, the condition called for a solution. Apschnikat hoped

that it would also contribute to halting the water intrusion

problem.

As early as August 1981, the park had requested funding to

replace the aging concrete and steel observation deck. Freezing

and thawing contributed to the concrete slab's deterioration and

the steel I-beams began rusting as water penetrated through

hairline cracks. In order to prevent pieces of the rusted metal

ceiling falling on visitors walking beneath the deck, maintenance

workers began applying temporary patches to prevent the hazard.

Such efforts did nothing to halt rusting caused by trapped

moisture between the concrete slab and metal ceiling. In 1983, a contractor replaced the concrete deck, made necessary repairs,

and installed heated floor mats to eliminate freezing and

thawing. 48 Roof woes resumed on February 1, 1988, when heavy rains

pooled water on the visitor center roof's northeast corner, causing extensive water damage to the interior walls, ceiling,

and floor coverings. Damage concentrated in the superintendent's

office south to the outer administrative office. It raised new

fears of catastrophic ceiling failures and releasing deadly

asbestos fibers into the work areas. Emergency repair work

included installing a rubber membrane over the building's

Superintendent's Report for 1985; memorandum of telephone call, Midwest

Region Contract Specialist Gerald T. McClarnon to Administrative Technician

Bonnie Murray, 26 December 1984; and Maintenance Foreman Jerrold Napier to Regional Director Charles H. Odegaard, 30 April 1985, S7219 Construction

Contracts. The original contractor failed to install roofing felt for waterproofing. Park maintenance suspected other developing leaks at various

roof drains.

"^Minutes of meeting between Ken Apschnikat, Jerry Chilton, and Ross County engineer [?], 13 December 1984, D24 Maintenance and Rehabilitation of Physical Facilities Program; 10-238 funding reguest to replace observation

deck, 18 September 1981, D2219; and Superintendent's Report for 1983.
261

Figure 68: The pitched, red metallic roof gave a dramtic

facelift to the MISSION 66-era visitor center. (NPS/Rebecca

Jones, fall 1996)
262

northeast corner. 49 The incident prompted calls for a radical redesign of the

flat roof, but not before another pooling episode on April 1,

1990, in the same area brought water cascading down on the park's

library. Moved from the maintenance utility building's basement

following conversion of the residence to the new administrative

offices, the library had returned to the newly spacious visitor

center only to be met with a third of the shelved volumes

suffering water damage. After air-drying the soggy books, park

maintenance placed the entire archive in boxes and moved it for

safekeeping to the administration building until permanent roof

repairs were made. 50 In late 1990, a contract called for four alternative design

concepts to retrofit the failed roof. Selecting the preferred

design, the agency awarded the contract on October 7, 1991, for a raised metal seam roof to shed rain and snow to Brothers

Construction Company of Columbus, Ohio. Difficulties in securing

the required bonds delayed construction work until mid-1992, and

all the while employees were using buckets and plastic tarps to

prevent further interior damage until the work concluded later

that year, including removal of the hazardous ceiling. 51 Because the park budget could no longer endure the $550

annual payment to the telephone company to maintain the public

telephone booth adjacent to the visitor center parking lot, Bill

Gibson requested it be removed on January 4, 1990. Local workers

at the Veteran's medical center and prison employees used it to

make personal phone calls, and only occasionally did non-local

park visitors make use of it. Gibson reasoned the annual expense

could not be justified, and visitors with legitimate calling

needs would be permitted to use agency telephones inside the

visitor center. When no action resulted, Gibson learned that the

Rehabilitation of Physical Facilities Program; and Superintendent's Report for

1988. Maintenance workers suspected the problem existed because the roof was never properly joined to the walls, creating low spots at roof drains and fresh air intakes. ^Park Ranger Robert Petersen, 3 April 1990, report on visitor center roof

leak of 1 April 1990, W34 Case Incident Reports 10-343 (1989-91); and Acting

Superintendent Bonnie M. Murray to Castleberry, 6 April 1990, F34 Budget

Execution. The library first left the visitor center to the interpretive and maintenance area office space in the shop's basement in 1972. See staff meeting minutes, 22 December 1972, A40. ''Superintendent 's Report for 1990; and McClarnon to Brothers Construction Company, letter, 26 November 1991, both

no file code; "Construction Activity at Mound City Group," 10 March 1992, K3415 Press Releases; and Petersen, visitor center roof leak on 8 May 1992, prepared 10 May 1992, W34 Case Incident Reports 10-343 (1992).
263

r i"i

i I

1

1 unit1 1 I

I 1 !I1

* iium

I

1

i sffvihii !

!:

-—

Figure 69

1989)

The old maintenance utility building. (NPS/February
264

Figure 70: Modern maintenance building. (NPS/Rebecca Jones,

spring 1996)
265

company released the monument from its payment obligation and

wanted the telephone booth to remain in place until its removal

in 1993. 52 Substantial remodeling and redesigning of the cramped

visitor center began in the summer of 1994, resulting in its

closure through November of that year. Addition of the longawaited auditorium seating fifty people occurred as a component

of visitor center redesign. Future development plans include

further expansion or new construction of Hopewell Culture's

principal visitor center. 53 The maintenance utility building has perhaps seen the most

change throughout the park's history. It, too, suffered from

poor design, possessing an over-bearing, two-story height that

dominated the park's landscape and dwarfed the adjacent

residence. From its inception, both state and federal managers

recognized the building's undesirability and recommended its

replacement. Discussions in early 1949 held in the Region One

Office determined that the building could be altered more

economically than building a new fireproof structure. Richmond

planners developed a new floor plan as well as a scheme to

eliminate the second floor, its six dormer windows, and lower the

roof. They planned to replace the hinged swinging doors,

impractical for Ohio's snowy winters, with lift-type garage

doors.

A decade passed before MISSION 66 development funds were available to implement the 1949 plans. By 1959, the Philadelphia

Planning and Service Center exhibited "considerable hesitation"

in undertaking the extensive rehabilitation, preferring the new construction route, but Regional Director Daniel J. Tobin

overruled the office of design and construction. Clyde King

concurred that the rehabilitation was more practical, the second

floor space was not needed for storage, and that a lower roof line

would help screen the building from the prehistoric Mound City

Group. The work occurred during the summer of 1959. 54 Few alterations to the maintenance building occurred during

Gibson to park staff, 4 January 1990, A46 Communications Systems;

Gibson, memorandum of telephone call, 19 August 1992; and Superintendent's

Report for 1993. ^Superintendent 's Report for 1994-95.

54King to Regional Director Thomas J. Allen, 28 February 1949, and Allen

to King, 1 September 1949, Utility Building (Building 2) File; King to Tobin,

28 April 1959, 12 June 1959, and 4 August 1959, Buildings, Incinerator,

Utility File; and Tobin to Chief, Philadelphia Planning and Service Center, Eastern Office of Design and Construction, Edward S. Zimmer, 5 May 1959,

Utility Building (Building 2) File.
266

the 1960s and 1970s. In 1966, Maintenanceman Acton removed the

inefficient coal-burning furnace for a contemporary model. In

1975, the building received a new roof. Both the utility

maintenance building and the superintendent's residence were

stained matching gray with white-painted trim to unify the

complex. New gutters were also installed. 55 To increase facility development and accommodate the

expanded national historical park, construction of a new 3,2 00

square foot maintenance building came in 1994, providing three

work and storage areas, a multipurpose room, and office space.

NPS placed the long-awaited facility immediately to the east of

the former maintenance and utility building, which workers began

converting to operational use by resource management specialists

in what became called the Resource Management Building. 56 Since Clyde B. King's arrival on November 2, 1946, the

residence served as required park quarters for the superintendent

and his constant presence served to provide a degree of

protection to the monument. A management inspection in 1961

recommended housing be provided to the park's archeologist. A

similar inspection in 1962 noted the wisdom of including a second

required housing proposal, but questioned its likelihood in light

of the Kennedy administration's strict Bureau of the Budget and

General Accounting Office fiscal views. 57 Keeping a good coat of paint on the 1930s park buildings

proved problematic. Paint applied to the redwood kept blistering

and peeling, causing endless maintenance attention. The white

buildings were frequently unsightly. Bill Birdsell's 1972

request for vinyl siding met with Philadelphia's rejection in

favor of chemical stripping and repainting. In 1974, the

contractor who performed the work damaged the existing aluminum

doors and windows as well as the surrounding vegetation, and

replaced the structural items at no charge. The extensive paint

job also failed, yielding charcoal gray steel siding four years

later. 58

55Civil Engineer Joseph J. Monkoski to Garrison, 8 August 1967; and Superintendent's Report for 1975. ^Superintendent 's Report for 1994-95.

'Regional Administrative Officer Johi Group Management Inspections, 26 July 1961 and 19 December 1962, A5427 Management Appraisal.

58Monkoski to Garrison, 8 August 1967; Birdsell, 10-238 funding request to reside quarters and maintenance buildings, 20 January 1972; Superintendent's

Report for 1975; and Fagergren to the files, minutes of pre-construction

conference with Anglin Sales and Service Company, 4 May 1979, F74.
267

Birdsell's call for an air-conditioning system for the

residence received sympathetic attention. The quarters suffered

from humidity problems and became stifling during frequent air

pollution blanketings by Chillicothe's paper manufacturing plant.

Birdsell wrote, "We shudder to think of having to live through

future summers here with mildewed furniture and clothing and to

wake up at night because of the factory fumes. This, combined

with the paint peeling off the walls and the house soggy with

moisture, seems to us to justify proceeding with the

installation."59 Following the system's June 1973 installation,

a grateful Bill Birdsell reported the humidity levels were

finally under control, stating "This has made a big difference

inside the house. The carpets are no longer buckled, the

furniture is no longer 'sticky' and mildewing, the paint on the

walls has stopped peeling, and even the basement is now dry and

usable."60 In the late 1980s, NPS converted the residence into the

park's administration building, foreshadowing radical changes to

the physical plant with the creation of Hopewell Culture National

Historical Park. In anticipation of new construction, utilities

work in 1993 at Mound City Group included natural gas pipeline

installation to connect all buildings and replace the existing,

inefficient heating and air-conditioning system. The same ground

disturbance also accommodated telephone line installation to

upgrade the outdated system. 61 Renovation of the administrative headquarters followed in

1995, providing adequate space for copying and fax machines, a mailing center, central files, and a paging system. Work on the

same structure in 1996 included remodeling the front entryway

into a reception area and contracting to replace the building's

windows and siding. The park library, shuffled from building to building and at one point suffering water damage, emerged from

its boxed-up slumber in storage when volunteers organized it in

the remodeled Administration Building. The new library room also

featured work space for researchers and park staff. 62

Birdsell to Northeast Region Environmental Maintenance Specialist [?], 7 February 1972, D3415. ^Birdsell to Assistant Regional Director, Operations, Nathan B. Golub, 17 August 1973, D50. ^Superintendent 's Report for 1993. "Superintendent's Report for 1994-95 and 1995-96.
268

** Temporary Work Programs

The first temporary employment program to benefit Mound City

Group National Monument was the Kennedy-era Accelerated Public

Works Program that the agency used to fund the Ohio Historical

Society's excavating and reconstruction of mounds. Launched in

the spring of 1963, program funds employed twenty men whose labor

also included non-archeological projects. Workers erected a chestnut split rail boundary fence, installed a stone wall and

path along the Scioto, and planted ninety-six large trees.

Planning for the river trail included it in a larger nature use

trail to interpret plants used by prehistoric Indians. 63 Congress authorized the Neighborhood Youth Corps (NYC) as a component of the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964. The temporary

employment program for young people helped give them practical

experience working for public lands administering agencies.

Mound City Group National Monument eagerly used the nonresident

employment program since 1967 to augment its maintenance and

administrative staff with excellent results. The assistance,

accomplished through the Ross County Community Action Office,

made possible the completion of many projects that otherwise

could not have been conducted with available staff. Use of NYC

became especially important in the 1970s, when Manpower, Inc.

workers were also used. Maintenance Leader J. Vernon Acton

supervised the programs and employees. In 1975, 2,871 manhours

augmented maintenance operations. In 1976, the monument also

established a Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) camp and the

combined manhours surpassed 7,000 hours. That year, laborintensive projects ranged from linking the mound enclosure trail

to the river trail and creating an ethnobotanical trail system,

removing the concrete steps at the Death Mask Mound, removing

debris along the Scioto, and constructing a twelve- by thirtyeight-foot addition to the maintenance utility building. The

young workers conducted additional projects in 1977, and were so successful at clearing up the maintenance backlog, that a YCC

camp was deemed unnecessary for 1978. M

In the late 1970s, the Comprehensive Employment and Training

Act (CETA) created temporary employment opportunities to assist

federal agencies. At Mound City Group, CETA workers, usually one

or two at a time, continued to assist in either administrative or maintenance positions. In 1979, six CETA students worked thirty-

""Mound City Work Good for 20 Jobs," Chillicothe Gazette (17 April 1963)

Riddle to Wirth, 13 May 1963/April 1963 report and 10 June 1963/May 1963 report; and Riddle to Hartzog, 9 June 1964, May 1964 report.

"Phillip Egan interview, 25 August 1993; staff meeting minutes, 8 May

1978, A4031 Jan. 1978-Dec. 1979, RG 79, FRC/NARA, Kansas City;

Superintendent's Report for 1975, 1976, 1977, and 1983; and Acting

Superintendent Joan F. Crider to Beal, 1 October 1974.
269

two hours during the summer and eight hours per week during the

school year for more than 1,000 manhours. The park continued to benefit from CETA labor until October 1983 when congressional

appropriations for CETA stopped. For the first time in seven

years, two YCC enrollees worked at the monument in 1984 for eight

weeks. The park also received Federal Jobs Bill funding in 1983

to pay two local workers to augment maintenance operations.

Non-federal workers principally assisting the interpretive

division came under the Volunteers In Parks (VIP) program. VIPs,

individuals who volunteer their time and talents without pay,

assisted with interpretive functions, and during the 1980s did

not number more than a dozen in any given year.

Utilizing all available options to augment its small

permanent staff resulted in a slow erosion of the park's fulltime equivalency (FTE) levels. From September 1981 to November

1984, its FTE declined from 9.6 to 8.9. A concerned Ken

Apschnikat noted, "We have taken advantage of these programs, as encouraged and directed, in order to save FTE. However, it

appears we have 'cut our own throat' so to speak in order to meet

program goals, objectives, and mandates and still stay within our allocation over the years." Fearing further attrition, he

declared, "Frankly, I am very concerned that this will never end.

Small parks like Mound City can't stand many more of these cuts

before we'll be curtailing visitor services.... At the present

time we are .1 away from reducing visitor services."66 FTE relief in 1985 came through funding from the Private

Industry Council for three participants in the Summer Youth

Employment Program (SYEP) , a successor to CETA. Three YCC

enrollees also helped with grounds and custodial care as well as

a new rail fence along State Highway 104. In 1986, two SYEP

participants were employed and no YCC workers. Neither program

received funding for 1987, but the monument began using Ross

County Court of Common Pleas Save-A-Child Program. Two youths

performed maintenance duties as VIPs to earn community service

hours

67 Temporary labor assisted in demolishing a severe safety

hazard, the Works Progress Administration-built dock, steps, and

retaining wall. The badly deteriorated structures were first

removed from the National Register of Historic Places in 1982, as

Superintendent's Reports for 1976, 1979, and 1984; and Apschnikat to Dunning, 30 September 1983, A64. "Ken Apschnikat interview, 19 August 1993; and Apschnikat to Odegaard, 30 November 1984, F34.
270 were the Ohio and Erie Canal stones, none of which related to why

the monument was enrolled on the National Register upon the

list's creation in 1966. Fishing activities that routinely took

place there were relocated to a gravel bar further up the Scioto,

and extensive measures were taken to block the area from public

access. Temporary workers helped install new concrete steps on the river trail in 1984, complete with handrails. In 1987, they

placed an all-weather gravel tread upon the ethnobotanical trail

in 1987, with wildf lowers planted along the route. 68 With the emergence of Hopewell Culture National Historical

Park, volunteers contributed nearly five thousand hours in 1995.

Maintenance augmented its workforce using the Green Thumb program

and Summer Youth Employment Program to hire three workers. CCI

prisoners assisted in both maintenance and interpretive projects.

At Hopeton, the prisoners removed old fencing, raked and seeded

the mounds and earthwalls, and removed debris from the storage

area. At Mound City Group, a prison crew replaced the roof on the former maintenance building, remodeled the interior, and

converted it into what became called the "Resource Management

Building." The workers installed two concrete pads, an accessible ramp at the Administration Building, and helped

convert the restroom there to accommodate the handicapped. 69 Volunteerism nearly topped the 6,000-hour mark in 1996, with

prison labor for maintenance totally nearly 3,600 hours.

Volunteers, a cadre of whom staffed the visitor center

information desk, also continued to be responsible for the success of annual observances such as National Park Week and

Archeology Day. A local scout group devoted two weeks posting

boundary signs at Hopeton Earthworks, and various volunteers

expended 3 64 hours assisting with excavations and cataloging

duties. 70 Beginning in earnest in the 1960s, the assortment of

temporary employment programs as well as volunteer efforts became

essential in most areas of park administration, but none were

more pivotal than in maintenance operations. Without access to

supplementary labor, many important projects could not have been

performed utilizing existing NPS manpower. As the twentieth

century concludes, Hopewell Culture National Historical Park

remained dependent upon such labor augmentation to meet increased

maintenance needs for the expanded park.

^Superintendent 's Report for 1982, 1984, and 1987; Apschnikat to Dunning,

5 April 1982, D18; and Superintendent to files on riverdock demolition, 25 October 1982, H30. ^Superintendent 's Report for 1994-95. Superintendent's Report for 1995-96.
Chapter Eight

Resource Management and Visitor Protection

The natural and cultural resource management functions and

visitor protection program grew in a haphazard fashion during the

pre-development era of Mound City Group National Monument. Until

proper facilities were built and funding became available for

professional positions, the monument operated as a "one man show"

in the form of Clyde B. King. While King could depend on professional advice and assistance from the Region One Office in

Richmond (1946-1955) and Northeast Regional Office in

Philadelphia (1955-61) , actual permanent staff positions for

these program areas did not materialize until after King's

departure and the MISSION 66 facility developments were in place

and operating. Staff additions came only incrementally. Until

the late 1960s, only an archeologist supplemented the permanent

staff . The resource management and visitor protection (RM & VP)

functions grew slowly, a secondary consideration to the more

basic need for interpreters to help educate the visiting public

concerning the prehistoric Hopewell culture. In essence, the

interpretive program was preeminent in the small park's Division

of Interpretation and Resource Management, which took form during

the decade of the 1970s.

After Clyde King, most of the men who held the job of

superintendent were in the park ranger series and possessed law

enforcement certification, a skill that only rarely required

active use during any calendar year. Surrounded by larger

federal installations with capabilities and personnel in far

superior numbers to the small National Park Service unit,

national monument managers found having these federal neighbors

proved invaluable whenever emergency services were required for

visitor protection. Resource management issues were readily

identified, but were seldom addressed unless one could no longer

be ignored or threatened to impede park operations. For decades

the park lacked any formal resource management plan. The first one addressing both cultural and natural resources appeared in

1982.

A 1968 management appraisal of Mound City Group's initial

forays into resource management interpretation brought the

recommendation to kill it. Citing tight budget and personnel

ceilings, Assistant Regional Director George A. Palmer advised

the practice of holding late evening programs on the visitor

center's patio be discontinued because they attracted only small

groups of local residents. He doubted the time and expense of

providing such a service could be justified, suggesting instead

special open house events be held. Palmer believed other means

Superintendent's Report for 1982.
272

of engendering local support for the monument should be found. 2 Park managers ignored Palmer's advice, opting not to cancel

the special programs that addressed a variety of topics beyond

the immediate Hopewell culture theme. The park possessed an array of resources, and managers felt the programs would help

establish an appreciation for their promotion and protection.

Such an attitude has prevailed to the present day.

** Resource Management Concerns

Following the visitor center's opening in I960, damaged turf

and shrubbery around the building appeared to be caused by

burrowing gophers. Superintendent John C. W. Riddle invited two

members of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's rodent and

predator control unit based in Columbus to visit and advise on this damaged area as well as similar depredations within the

mounds enclosure. On October 2, 1962, the experts determined

that the omnipresent thirteen-lined ground squirrels were the

chief culprits for turf damage, while mice were wreaking havoc on the new shrubbery. Recommended chemical deterrents included

calcium cyanide for the ground squirrels and zinc phosphidetreated grain for prairie voles. The rodent control regimen

received Washington Office approval, and the first treatments

were applied in November 1962. 3 Controlling the orchard mouse or prairie vole proved

difficult. The vegetarian rodents constructed noticeable surface

runways through the turf, and frequently availed themselves to

tunnels abandoned by ground squirrels. They particularly were

fond of seeds and roots and bark of young trees and shrubs, and

used burlap from young plantings to construct nests. Monument

workers applied zinc phosphide to poison feed grain that was then

broadcast to the mounds and along edges of unmowed fields at a rate of six to ten pounds per acre. A January 1963 assessment

deemed the poisoning an effective deterrent with reapplication

used as conditions warranted.

Acting Regional Director Palmer to Director Hartzog, 10 May 1968, A5427 Management Appraisal 1963-75, Records of the National Park Service, Record

Group 79, Federal Records Center, National Archives and Records Administration, Kansas City, Missouri (hereafter cited as RG 79, FRC/NARA, Kansas City)

3Lee to Wirth, 31 October 1962, N1427, and Assistant Director Jackson S. Price to Lee, 9 November 1962, N1427, both in Record Group 79, Records of the National Park Service's Northeast Regional Office, Federal Records Center,

National Archives and Records Administration, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

(hereafter cited as RG 79, FRC/NARA, Philadelphia); and Riddle to Wirth, 7 November 1962, October 1962 report, and 11 December 1962, November 1962 report.
273

Figure 71: Park Guide Frances Spetnagel indicates a display on ground squirrels in the visitor center lobby. (NPS/early 1960s)
274

Most methods to control ground squirrels at Mound City Group

failed. These included using a twenty-two caliber air gun and

pumping in water to flood burrow entrances. Although the rodents

produced only one litter per year, each litter typically varied

from five to fourteen young. If left unchecked, the colony could

become very destructive. Application of calcium cyanide using a foot pump duster involved inserting the device into burrow

openings and pumping the poison gas into the dens in early spring

and late fall, periods of light visitation. While leaving turf

areas unsightly, the rodents constituted a real safety hazard as Riddle explained, "They become a nuisance in public use areas by

burrowing holes and throwing up small mounds of gravel. This is

a hazard to the visitor, as the ground or path that the visitor

must walk over to visit the different points of interest become

unstabilized and constantly pitted with holes and loose mounds of

gravel. The mounds of loose gravel also create a hazard during

the periods that the mound area must be mowed."4 Superintendent James Coleman made the best of the situation.

An avid golfer, Coleman enjoyed practicing his putting upon the

lawn of the superintendent's residence. Taking advantage of the

ground squirrel holes for making put shots, Coleman sometimes was unable to retrieve his golf balls. After the poison gas regimen

was ruled a failure at curbing the ground squirrel population,

Coleman authorized purchase of a pellet gun. Concerned by the

safety hazard, particularly to small children who enjoyed,

despite NPS restrictions, running through the mound area, the

staff declared war on the rodents. During one week in March

1966, forty-two ground squirrels were killed as they began

emerging from hibernation. Coleman, Maintenance Leader J. Vernon

Acton, and Archeologist Lee Hanson took turns using the gun.

Hanson later recalled, "We... used to take turns shooting them

when there were no visitors around. I thought highly of my

marksmanship and did most of the shooting. I found that the

ground squirrels had one flaw in their character which was

curiosity. I took advantage of this and whenever one would dive

into its hole, I would draw a bead on the hole and wait for it to

stick its head up to see if I was still there. I got a lot of

head shots. We tried to retrieve the carcasses but once in a while one would go down into its burrow and we couldn't reach

it." Following a complaint from an irate visitor who viewed one

"Riddle, "Combined Long Range and Annual Wildlife Management Plans for Mound City Group National Monument," 5 March 1964, N16, RG 79, FRC/NARA,

Philadelphia. The summer of 1963 treatment of cyanide dust involved 1,200 entrance holes over a ten-acre area. See Riddle to Wirth, 7 August 1963, July

1963 report.
275

of the poor deceased creatures, the monument put the gun away. 5 The thirteen-lined ground squirrel issue, and to a lesser

extent groundhog burrowing, remains to be solved. Permitting

native grass to grow tall has changed the habitat and made it

less desirable. Overall numbers of these rodents have decreased.

Resource managers continue to seek alternatives to control or remove this exotic species that has few natural predators. New

forms of poison gas approved by the Washington Office for rodent

control were tried in 1991 by depositing gas cartridges into

burrow openings. 6 Such measures have helped keep the nuisance

rodent population under control.

Jon Casson, the monument's integrated pest management (IPM)

coordinator, prepared a draft IPM plan in 1990. Its primary

feature included converting existing turf grasses to native

grasses, a radical reversal of past management practices. The

plan suggested the same treatment for the Hopeton Earthworks

Unit, converting cultivated fields to a mixed native grass

species. While the monument lacked sufficient human and fiscal resources to launch its own IPM program, it did engage in

cooperating with the U.S. Forest Service to monitor for gypsy

moths in the area. By 1990, Mound City Group had six traps

installed with negative results. In 1991, it was one of four

Midwest parks participating in a regional gypsy moth monitoring

program. Chillicothe results were negative until the summer of

1996, when the first specimen appeared in one of seven traps set

at Mound City Group. Migrating from northern Ohio, the gypsy

moth began to infiltrate the Chillicothe area. 7 Riverbank erosion became a key issue to be addressed as early as 1977, several years prior to the area of primary erosion

being added to the monument. Thirty-five acres of a 52.7-acre

Quotation from Lee Hanson to Naomi L. Hunt, letter, 15 March 1986; Coleman to Hartzog, 4 March 1966/February 1966 report and 13 April 1966/March

1966 report; and Staff Park Ranger Gordon Bruce to Garrison, trip report, no date [circa November 1967], A2623.

'Ken Apschnikat, 10-238 funding request for ground squirrel impact and mitigation study, 10 December 1982, D2215; and Associate Director, Natural

Resources, F. Eugene Hester to Castleberry, 2 July 1991, N50 Pest and Weed

Control. Superintendent's Report for 1981; Gibson to Castleberry, 26 April 1990, N50 Pest and Weed Control; U.S. Forest Service Biological Technician Rodney L. Whiteman, (Morgantown West Virginia Office) to Park Ranger Robert Petersen,

letter, 10 September 1990, N22 Research Programs; U.S. Forest Service

Biological Technician Karen D. Felton, to Midwest Region IPM Coordinator Steve

Cinnamon, letter, 9 January 1992, N22 Research Programs; and Superintendent's

Report for 1995-96. The other three parks were Lincoln Boyhood National

Memorial (Indiana), Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area (Ohio), and Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore (Indiana).
276

tract on the north boundary suffered intensive erosion. Over a fifty-year period, the bank had been worn away an estimated foot

per year by the Scioto. The activity threatened to undermine a Hopewell habitation site, and posed an immediate safety hazard to

agricultural workers. Park managers needed immediate studies to

determine how best to halt the erosion along the large horseshoe

river bend as well as learn how mitigative measures might impact

private land across the river. That landowner, Bill Houser, had

long before contacted the Federal Bureau of Prisons and

Chillicothe Correctional Institute (CCI) over the federally-built

levee that he contended caused accelerated erosion. Houser 's suggestion of a flood channel across CCI land to alleviate

potential flooding in north Chillicothe received swift rejection

from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, but the opinion was not

backed up by research. In early 1983, Ken Apschnikat formally

requested the Corps' assistance in developing alternatives for

riverbank stabilization. 8 Erosion-control engineers arrived for an inspection in late

March 1983, and it soon became apparent that offering technical

assistance under section 55 of the Water Resources Development

Act of 1974 might be problematic. Because the legislation lacked

language authorizing Corps assistance to another federal agency,

the needed assistance had to be postponed for two years in order

for the National Park Service to program fiscal resources to

reimburse the Corps of Engineers.

Riverbank stabilization work resumed in 1985 with up to

$25,000 available for a design analysis of stabilization

alternatives and cost estimates, but no full-scale plans and

specifications. The Corps' August 1985 study found severe erosion along an eighty-five-foot section of the west bank where

piping or surface water leaching off the cultivated field

contributed to the accelerated riverbank erosion. To a much

lesser extent, erosion caused by high-water events also claimed

slough-off. The Corps recommended three courses of action with

cost estimates all in excess of $100,000. Because of lack of

funds and no visitor use of the area, Superintendent Apschnikat

Mark J. Lynott interview, 20 January 1994; Ken Apschnikat interview, 19 August 1993; Fred Fagergren, funding request 10-238 for riverbank

stabilization study, 31 August 1977, D2215; Fagergren meeting with Bill

Houser, meeting minutes 31 December 1980, A5431; and Apschnikat to Col. James

H. Higman, Huntington District Engineer, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, letter,

3 March 1983, A5431. Apschnikat 's request came under authority of the section 14, Emergency Streambank Protection Authority, of the Flood Control Act of 1946. 'Record of meeting between Apschnikat and Larry Workman, Bob Maslowski,

and Charlie Riffe, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Huntington District, 21 March

1983, D2215; District Engineer John W. Devens to Apschnikat, letter, 6 May

1983, A5431; and Apschnikat to Devens, letter, 17 May 1983, A5431.
277

determined to monitor the area every two years and post signs

warning people of the dropoff danger. In 1986, two seasonal

engineers from the Midwest Regional Office established two

monitoring points. These were replaced in 1990 with more

accurate fixed datum points to assess the rate and degree of

erosion pending construction funds to arrest the problem. 10 Under provision of the Endangered Species Act of 1973,

federal land managing agencies are required to identify all

threatened and endangered plants and animals and their critical

habitats. National Park Service policy also holds that species

considered rare or unique to a park unit be identified and their

distribution noted on maps. Federal managers are mandated to

protect the species from development or other human-caused harm.

While Clyde King prepared lists of plants and animals as early as

1947, no professional survey for threatened and endangered

species had been conducted until Ken Apschnikat submitted a funding request in the early 1980s. Resource management experts

believed any endangered species would likely exist along the

relatively undisturbed Scioto River. In 1987, Apschnikat

requested the Natural Areas and Preserves Division of the Ohio

Department of Natural Resources to help identify threatened and

endangered species that might exist at Mound City Group National

Monument. The state findings determined no endangered or rare species within the monument, but four sensitive species known to

be in the Chillicothe vicinity. A request for information to be

added to a computerized database in 1991 brought the response of

lack of staff and funds to compile information on park species. 11 As the small monument grew beyond the immediate Mound City

Group in the early 1990s, it became necessary to expand resources management capabilities in Chillicothe. While still prone to

seek expertise at the regional office or closer to home, the park

clearly established its need for professional expertise to manage

and preserve its increasing number of resources. This

Apschnikat meeting with Huntington District's Planning and Engineering

Division, 3 January 1985, A5431; Apschnikat, "Mound City Group National

Monument Management Briefing Paper, 1987"; Superintendent's Report for 1990; and Robert Petersen to Jon Casson and Reed Johnson, 11 December 1990, N22 Research Programs.

"Apschnikat, 10-238 funding request for survey of plant species and update herbarium, 10 December 1982, D2215; Apschnikat, "Mound City Group

National Monument Management Briefing Paper, 1987"; and Chief, Natural Areas

and Preserves, Ohio Department of Natural Resources Richard E. Moseley, Jr., to Midwest Regional Office Natural Resource Specialist Mike Van Stappen,

letter, 13 January 1988, N16 Endangered Plants and Animals. The findings were

as follows: Upstream: Prenanthes crepidinea (Nodding rattlesnake root) —Ohio

threatened; and Downstream: Rorippa sessifolia (Sessile Yellow-cress),

Ichthyomyzon unicuspis (Silvery Lamprey) —both Ohio threatened; and Magnonaias

neros (Common Washboard Mollusk) —endangered. Note to files, 24 May 1991, N16 Endangered Plants and Animals.
278

professionalization of the staff included for the first time in a quarter-century the addition of an archeologist.

A scoping session to prepare Hopewell Culture National

Historical Park's first resource management plan came in November

1993. Hosted by Superintendent Neal and park staff, team

specialists included, Associate Regional Director James Loach,

Regional Museum Specialist Abby Sue Fisher, Regional Chief of

Resource Management Steve Cinnamon, Regional Historian Ron

Cockrell, Regional Historical Landscape Architect Mary V. Hughes,

and Regional Archeologist Mark J. Lynott. Recognizing the

evolving nature of the expanded park, another revision of the key

document came in 1995. 12 Natural resource management in 1995 saw a comprehensive

inventory of plants within the five discontiguous units by the

National Biological Survey. The agency hired Jennifer Course, a graduate of the University of Wisconsin, to conduct the effort

with assistance from volunteers. The team collected 438 species,

and found two state-listed species. 13

** Law Enforcement

Simplicity characterized law enforcement activities during

Clyde King's super intendency, and he saw fit to solve his most

vexing problems by posting a sign stating monument regulations.

In May 1947, King reported, "Much of our trouble comes from three

sources: picking flowers and damaging trees, the latter to get

sticks for use in picnics; using the river bank as a shooting

gallery; and driving cars off the roadways as well as operating

bicycles on the mounds themselves." For more serious

infractions, King sought close ties with the State Highway Patrol

as well as the Ross County Sheriff. 14 King typically found himself acting as a surrogate parent to

rowdy and vandal-prone juveniles. In one instance, he had to

inform a scoutmaster that the only reason four scouts did not

light a fire on the floor of the picnic shelter was because the

boys could not get the firewood to ignite. When another boy

ignored King's warnings about riding his motor scooter over the

earthworks, King's phone call to the boy's father resulted in

Superintendent's Report for 1993, and 1994-95. ^Superintendent 's Report for 1994-95. Spiranthes ovalis erostellata

(Lesser Ladies Tresses), found at Mound City Group, is listed by Ohio as potentially threatened, while Eleocharis ovata (Blunt Spike Rush), found at Hopewell, is threatened. Report publication came in March 1996. See Superintendent's Report for 1995-96.

14King to Newton Drury, 1 May 1947, April 1947 report.
279 never seeing the boy or the machine inside the park again.

Sometimes King found himself warning adults to behave themselves.

One group that used the picnic area every Sunday afternoon in the summer of 1953 became too loud and intoxicated for a public park.

King warned them that another infraction would result in their

expulsion, and he promised to have State Highway Patrolmen

waiting to arrest them for drunk driving. The warning proved a sufficient deterrent. 15 King's philosophy of always having a uniformed employee

visible to the visiting public worked for more than fifteen

years. During his tenure, there were no arrests made and

vandalism constituted nothing more than carving initials into

wooden picnic tables. King's remedy for miscreant carvings was

to scour them out as soon as they were discovered in order to

discourage other potential vandals. In March 1962, prior to his

transfer, King proudly reported that his watchful method worked

well, adding that "law violation was at a minimum here where it was almost impossible to hide from the employee on duty, the

occupants of the residence, and the twenty-four-hour vigil of the

watchtowers of the Federal Reformatory." 16 On the eve of King's transfer, theft of two audio speakers

from atop the visitor center proved an omen of future

depredations. Even with the assistance of the local Federal

Bureau of Investigation officers to help solve the theft of

government property, increasing visitation and expanded park

infrastructure foreshadowed more law enforcement incidents. In the absence of adding more staff, park managers had to rely on Clyde King's method as well as assistance from area federal,

state, and local law enforcement officers. 17 Indeed, the monument lacked any formal law enforcement

program for another fifteen years. It was not until the late

197 0s that a formal program emerged with the reguirement that the

chief of interpretation and resource management hold a law

enforcement commission. It represented the first full-time staff

member to hold such a commission beyond the superintendent.

Beginning in 1980, law enforcement appeared as a permanent

category in the superintendent's annual report. 18

l5King to Drury, 1 March 1959, February 1950 report; and King to Wirth, 1 October 1953, September 1953 report.

l6King to Regional Director Ronald F. Lee, 18 March 1962.

l7Acting Superintendent Richard D. Faust to Wirth, 6 April 1962, March

1962; and Riddle to Wirth, 12 March 1963, February 1963 report.

'"Superintendent's Report for 1930. It included fourteen case incidents

ranging from theft to vandalism to security alarm responses to drug

possession.
280

What made the program possible was the resolution of the

thorny issue of jurisdiction. Because the army paid local

farmers for Scioto Valley farmland to form the Camp Sherman

Reservation in the late 1910s and early 1920s, the federal reserve had exclusive jurisdiction and could rely on only federal

law enforcement officers for assistance. The date used for

federal acceptance of exclusive jurisdiction for the 67.50 acres

of Mound City Group National Monument was December 2, 1919. 19 In response to recommendations made by the Department of the

Interior's Public Land Law Review Commission in 1971, Director

George B. Hartzog, Jr., ordered a systemwide review of

jurisdictional status and speedy retrocession of jurisdiction.

For Mound City Group, the exercise rekindled interest in changing

from exclusive to concurrent jurisdiction. 20 The change could

not come soon enough for park managers unable to call upon local

assistance and frustrated by lack of concern by the U.S. District

Court in Columbus. The court refused to adopt a bail forfeiture

or collateral system or even process misdemeanor cases. An

exasperated Fred Fagergren, Jr., exerting constant pressure on Columbus court officials, exclaimed "[my] staff is placed in the

position of being unable to take effective enforcement action

itself and being unable to call for local assistance. While the

enforcement problem in this area is negligible, we are remiss in

not having a truly effective course of action short of arrest."21 Fagergren 's concerted pressure on U.S. Attorney William

Milligan prompted Milligan to present the dilemma to Chief

District Judge Timothy Hogan in Cincinnati. Hogan convened a meeting of district judges to discuss the issue and the group,

"with some misgivings" to assume the increased workload, agreed

in August 1976 to establish a collateral forfeiture system for

all federal non-military installations in the Southern District

of Ohio. Referred to as the "ticket system" for minor offenses,

Judge Hogan called upon each agency to submit a list of offenses

and recommended fines for consideration. Omaha officials sent

Interior's Twin Cities field solicitor Elmer T. Nitzschke to

Cincinnati to assist the court in establishing the new system

March 1982 response to Washington Office questionnaire, W30 Jurisdiction. Exclusive jurisdiction is defined as follows: "The Federal Government has received, by whatever method, all the authority of the State with no reservation made to the State except the right to serve civil and criminal process resulting from activities which occurred off the land involved.

^Ibid.; and Special Assistant to the Director Jackson E. Price to Regional Director Chester L. Brooks, 23 September 1971, W30 Jurisdiction. Concurrent jurisdiction is where a "State reserves to itself the right to exercise jointly the powers granted to the Federal Government."
281

that went into effect September 1, 1977. 22 Public Law 94-458, National Park System Improvement in

Administration Act of 1976, directed the Secretary of the

Interior to standardize disparate jurisdictional issues in the

national park system, and to this end the Midwest Regional Office

in 1977 sought to obtain concurrent jurisdiction for fourteen

parks in six states. Only Mound City Group had exclusive

jurisdiction and to retrocede jurisdiction to the state reguired

both congressional and gubernatorial approval. Success finally

arrived on November 15, 1982, when Ohio Governor James A. Rhodes

signed the document accepting concurrent jurisdiction at Mound

City Group National Monument. The action became official upon

its recording in Ross County on January 13, 1983. 23 With the addition of two parcels of excess Department of

Justice land in April 1983, the issue of jurisdiction again

emerged for the newly-acguired 52.7 acres. Two years later,

officials determined the status of the land to be concurrent

jurisdiction. With the acguisition of Hopeton Earthworks, Park

Service officials in 1987 again had to consider petitioning the

state to change jurisdiction for the new additions. 24 Addition of Hopeton Earthworks also prompted the need for a park radio system for visitor and resource protection. In January 1981, Fagergren initiated steps with the Denver Service

Center to get a radio freguency assigned to Mound City Group.

Denver officials recommended sharing the same freguency used by

Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area in northeast Ohio to

promote further cooperation between the two parks. Citing the

letter, 8 January 1976 and 15 September 1976; Milligan to Fagergren, letter, 15 January 1976 and 27 August 1976; Hogan to Milligan and U.S. District Court Clerk John D. Lyter, letter, 13 August 1976; Fagergren to Regional Director Merrill D. Beal, 26 January 1977; and Lyter to Fagergren, letter, 24 August 1977, all in W34 Law Enforcement Bond Forfeiture;

and Hugh P. Beattie and Thomas L. Weeks, "Operations Evaluation Report, Mound

City Group National Monument, February 1976," A5427 Jan. 1976-Dec. 1979. ^Beal to Regional Solicitor, Denver [?], 27 May 1977; Regional Director

J. L. Dunning to Governor Rhodes, letter, 29 April 1981; Rhodes to Dunning,

letter, 25 May 1981; Director Russell E. Dickenson to Senator James McClure,

Chairman, Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, letter, no date [circa

May 1981]; Dickenson to Rhodes, letter, 20 October 1982; and Rhodes,

"Retrocession of Jurisdiction over Mound City Croup National Monument," 15 November 1982, all in W30 Jurisdiction; and Superintendent's Report for 1981 and 1982. ^Acting Regional Director Randall J. Pope to Associate Director, Park

Operations, Stanley T. Albright, 2 February 1984, W30 Jurisdiction;

Superintendent's Report for 1985; and Acting Regional Director John Kawamoto

to Apschnikat, 29 October 1987, W30 Jurisdiction. Omaha officials expressed

the desire to seek legislation eliminating the need to petition states each

time boundaries changed to cede jurisdiction automatically.
282

lack of an effective communications system as a hinderance to

efficient management and park operations, Ken Apschnikat listed a radio system in the park's management efficiency standards in

1983. He envisioned the system could be invaluable not only for

park operations, but for partnership relations with surrounding

agencies, including helping prison and hospital authorities

search for escapees and patients, and responding after-hours to

visitor center security alarms. 25 Approval of sharing Cuyahoga Valley's radio frequency came

in the fall of 1983, but the equipment was not installed until

early spring 1984. With local availability of LEADS service in

January 1987, Ross County Sheriff Thomas L. Hamman extended the

service as a courtesy to Mound City Group. 26 In February 1981, the monument prepared its first official

policy on commissioned rangers bearing arms. Recognizing the

historical reality of few law enforcement cases, officers were

not to be routinely armed. Rangers were instead instructed to use their own discretion concerning arms when answering burglar

alarms, transporting prisoners, engaging in hunting patrols, or any other instance when physical harm might threaten. Following

park expansion in the late 1980s and early 1990s, however,

managers recognized the need for at least one additional staff

person with a law enforcement commission to address patrolling

for Archeological Resources Protection Act violations, poaching,

and illicit drug cultivation. The expanded park rendered the

radio system nearly obsolete, with a repeater needed for Seip

Earthworks and increasing occurrences of receiving Cuyahoga

Valley's routine radio traffic. 27 Because the radio system did not always operate consistently

from the new outlying park units, two cellular telephones were acquired in the fall of 1993. The special purchase obviated any

disruption in communication during potential emergencies. 28

Fagergren to Dunning, 9 January 1981, and Apschnikat to Dunning, 5 July

1983, D5027. Regional Radio Coordinator Ralph Dierks to Apschnikat, 30 September

1983, D5027; Apschnikat to Cuyahoga Valley Superintendent Lew Albert, 6 April

1984, D5027 (The radio base station, KPC 754, featured a thirty-watt

transmitter, and rangers utilized five-watt handie-talkies); and Hamman to Apschnikat, Agreement for LEADS Service, 2 January 1987, W34 Law Enforcement.

27J. B. Chilton, Defensive Eguipment Policy, 9 February 1981, S38 Fuels; Apschnikat, "Mound City Group National Monument Management Briefing Paper,

1987"; and Superintendent William Gibson to Regional Director Don H. Castleberry, 5 June 1991, W34 Law Enforcement. Gibson recommended an additional 1.75 FTE for law enforcement to establish parkwide coverage seven

days per week. ^Superintendent ' s Report for 1993.
Chapter Nine

Interpreting the Mound City Group

Interpretation or public education has enjoyed the bulk of

fiscal and human resources at Mound City Group National Monument

from the onset of the 1960s facility development era to the

present. Within the Division of Interpretation and Resource

Management, public education has historically overshadowed

resources management. Seasonal staffing increases rival those

for maintenance workers as the National Park Service seeks to

educate the visiting public about the Hopewell culture, not only

at the Mound City Group, but throughout Ross County, Southern

Ohio, and the greater Midwest.

** The Interpretive Program

Superintendent Clyde B. King made it a point not only to be seen by visitors, but to contact them personally and endeavor to explain to them the significance of the mounds. In the summer of

1947, he reported contacting 1,262 out of 6,080 visitors in July.

Outside of maintenance, King represented the only National Park

Service employee trained to educate visitors. Like the

consummate park ranger wearing the green and gray uniform, King

took the responsibility to heart and made himself available at all times, including his days off. In the late fall, cold

temperatures necessitated closing the unheated picnic shelter,

but Clyde King still welcomed visitors who came to the residence

to seek site information. 1 The first crude mimeographed informational leaflet produced

in the Region One Office was replaced in March 1948 with a new

supply prepared by Clyde King. As news of the interpretive

exhibits on display in the shelterhouse museum spread, a gratified Superintendent King greeted more and more visitors

coming to the park seeking information, not recreation.

Contacting almost half of the 1,200 visitors in November 1953,

King noted that "It is not recognized by many that this is the

only interpretive display in this section of country on this

subject." In a not-too-veiled reference to the historical

society in Columbus, he added, "By section, I refer to a broader

field than even the state."2

King to Director Newton Drury, 2 August 1947/July 1947 report and 1 December 1947 /November 1947 report.

Quotation from King to Director Conrad L. Wirth, 2 April 1948, March 1948 report; and King to Drury, 1 December 1953, November 1953 report.
284

King endeavored to deliver accurate information,

incorporating current data into displays and interpretive

folders. In early 1954, King himself researched and wrote

"Indians of the Scioto Valley" with an eye toward having the

narrative history substitute for a traditional park historical

handbook. King made the document available for loan to students

and teachers, and felt that with the addition of photographs and

illustrations, it could one day be converted into a park

handbook. Its availability soon sparked a demand by local

academics, particularly by spokespersons preparing for group

tours to the area. Conferring with Richmond officials in late

1953, King decided that interpretive materials include a separate

self-guided trail sheet oriented from a single beginning point,

rather than a more traditional marked tour route. This decision

was based on the premise that the "mounds are so much alike."3 With facility developments in the early 1960s, came the

decision to include a marked path for self-guided tours through

the mounds for visitors who purchased a tour booklet produced by

Eastern National Parks and Monuments Association. In the spring

of 1963, the tour path was rerouted through the earthworks with

tour guideposts repainted to reflect a uniform color scheme. In assessing the park's infant interpretive program, Regional

Administrative Officer John J. Bachensky reported in late 1962

during a management inspection that the Park Service needed to ensure uniform interpretive information be "reflected in

everything presented to the public." Bachensky criticized the

bronze wayside exhibit "The Mound City Necropolis" produced by

the Washington Office's museum division for depicting twentythree burial mounds, not the twenty-four shown in site literature

and other exhibits. 4 Northeast Regional Director Ronald F. Lee approved the first

interpretive prospectus (IP) for Mound City Group in April 1963.

The brief IP included three recommendations for future

implementation. The first called for an official handbook, and

February 1954/January 1954 report, 1 April 1954/March 1954 report, and 2 March

1960/February 1960 report. King consulted the Ohio state archeologist to utilize

scientific radio-carbon dating data. He updated the informational leaflet in February 1960 to reflect facility development, adjusting the map and figures, and presenting "a more challenging opening." See King to Wirth, 2 September 1960,

August 1960 report.

4Quotation from Bachensky to Regional Director Ronald F. Lee, 19 December

1962, A5427 Management Appraisal 1963-75, Record Group 79, Records of the National Park Service, Federal Records Center, National Archives and Records Administration, Kansas City, Missouri (hereafter cited as RG79, FRC/NARA, Kansas

City; and Superintendent John C. W. Riddle to Lee, 10 June 1963, May 1963 report.

Bachensky noted the topographical bronze wayside reflected the 1846 site map prepared by Sguier and Davis. It sparked the necessity for archeologists to determine the validity of the twenty-fourth mound.
285

noted one was scheduled to be completed in fiscal year 1965.

While this handbook did not materialize, neither did a similar

effort performed under contract in the mid-1970s with the Ohio

Historical Society. The second IP recommendation dealt with "the

main drawback to interpretation at Mound City Group," namely that

there was "no place within the visitor center to give an audiovisual lecture or address more than a dozen people who can crowd

into the small space by the desk." The alternatives the IP considered included constructing an auditorium addition to seat

one hundred visitors in the patio area, or placing a projection

cabinet against the rear lobby wall for audio-visual

presentations. The IP stressed the auditorium as the "best and

most adequate service."

The third recommendation called for a campfire program away

from the modern visitor center and earthworks in the forested

area along the river. It envisioned evening programs centered

around a campfire with vertical logs set in the earth for benches

"to suggest the prepared floor surrounded by posts in a circle

which lay at the base of each mound and indicated the ceremonials

held by the Hopewell people." The IP pointed to the vale near

the old picnic shelterhouse as a potential site for the campfire

programs. For lack of funds, such a development never came to

pass, although evening programs were held in close proximity to the visitor center and without campfires.

The 1963 prospectus concluded with the expressed wish for more research into the daily lives of the Hopewell. Such details

would make the interpretive story more interesting and pertinent

to visitors. The IP reflected the thinking of regional

archeologists in Philadelphia as well as park archeologist

Richard D. Faust. The document concluded with the following

emphasized statement: "Until Mound City Group is adequately and

extensively interpreted by 'livening up' the dramatic aspect of

Hopewellian life by showing ON THE GROUND just what is known to

have taken place AT THE MOUND SITES, and what was found in them , it will be difficult to keep the area from looking like a pleasant little green park, instead of a great prehistoric

ceremonial center."5 The need for more information came to pass during the summer

of 1963 as the Ohio Historical Society, under contract with the

National Park Service, began a multiple-year excavation and mound

"Interpretive Prospectus for Mound City Group National Monument," approved

by Regional Director Ronald F. Lee, 25 April 1963, park history file. August

1963 saw the first four Sunday evening campfire programs presented to a total of 158 visitors with themes of "Songs of the National Parks" and "Indians of Mound

City." See Riddle to Wirth, 11 September 1963, August 1963 report. The handbook

was to be prepared by Martha Potter Otto and paid for by Eastern National Parks

and Monuments Association. When no draft report was submitted by the deadline, the contract was terminated. See Superintendent's Report for 1977.
286

restoration program. This program failed to address the need to

explore non-mortuary aspects of Hopewellian life, and continued

the myopic focus on mound exploration that characterized Ohio

archeology since the early nineteenth century. Monument

interpreters took full advantage of the educational opportunity

the archeological work itself presented by erecting temporary

displays in the mound area to explain what was happening.

Overzealousness, however, also resulted in including a human

skeleton unearthed in the southeast corner of the excavations.

The remains were left on display as long as possible until the

bones were collected and accessioned into the park collection.

Temporary displays of photographs in the visitor center also

served to whet the appetite of visitors who wished to see previous work of archeologists digging up artifacts and other

burial features. June 1963 initiated guided tours conducted by

uniformed interpreters through the museum and earthworks in

forty-five-minute increments every afternoon. 6 The monument's interpretive leaflet met professional

standards of other developed parks for the first time in May

1964. The simple foldover format gave way to a twelve-page, sixfold information folder with sharp illustrations and more descriptive text. A new after-hours distribution box for

interpretive folders installed the following month brought a brisk pattern of after-hours use. Operating hours were first

expanded during the three peak summer months in June 19 64 when

the work schedules of one permanent interpreter and two seasonals

were staggered to allow expanded operation from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. 7 During the tenure of General Superintendent William

Birdsell, the interpretive program entered a new era. As mound

excavation and restoration concluded, the need for a staff

archeologist to oversee such contract work gave way to a more

immediate need for professional interpretation. In January 1973,

the Chillicothe Gazette proudly announced Robert F. Holmes

entrance on duty as Mound City Group's first interpretive

specialist in the monument's fifty-year history. Holmes began as chief of interpretation and resource management on January 7,

1973, charged with preparation of new programs, panels, and

signs, public relations, research, school programs, special

tours, and developing an environmental study program. Birdsell

announced his pleasure at utilizing the archeological expertise

of the Ohio Historical Society, but anticipated Holmes enhancing

"Riddle to Wirth, 11 July 1963/June 1963 report and 7 August 1963/July 1963 report.

7Riddle to Director George B. Hartzog, Jr., 9 June 1964/May 1964 report and

14 July 1964/ June 1964 report. An update of the folder to include the self- guided tour came two years later. See James Coleman to Hartzog, 7 June 1966, June 1966 report.
287

Figure 72: Ranger Jim Anderson presents a guided tour. (NPS/July 1977)
288

the interpretive story for visitors in not only the Hopewell

culture, but sub-themes like Camp Sherman and the Ohio and Erie

Canal as well. 8 Professionalizing the interpretive program soon paid

dividends. In 1976, a "teaching kit" about the Hopewell sent to

schools through the mail proved widely popular. The slide

program and written narrative also included photographs of

artifacts, a replica smoking pipe, and a publication about the

Hopewell. So successful was the teaching kit that the Ohio

Historical Society duplicated the slide program and made it

available to schools throughout the state. Utilizing United

States Bicentennial funding for increased interpretive programs,

Mound City Group sponsored traveling exhibits, a spring film

festival, a play, and three summer concerts. A special exhibit

of "Indian Pride on the Move" in July 1976, represented the first

non-Washington, D.C., showing of this display of American Indian

culture and history. 9 In addressing the success of a primary management objective

to "foster public understanding of Hopewell and Adena cultures,"

Superintendent Fred Fagergren, Jr., commented on the growing high

morale and enthusiasm of his interpreters in 1977. The esprit de

corps resulted in better interpretation and glowing visitor

comments. Fagergren observed that in previous years, visitor

contact from the small interpretive staff was small, but special

weekend events and a commitment to expand educational outreach

began to yield more than half of all visitors receiving personal

attention. He attributed expansion of the trail system, improved

signage, and revised museum exhibits as sparking an improved

attitude among interpreters. Clearly, Holmes' hard work had

begun to yield substantive dividends. 10 An overnight "Camp In" for youths aged eleven to thirteen

came in July 1979, chaperoned by Park Ranger Teresa Nichols and

seasonal rangers Beverly Cooper and Steve Race. Limited to

twenty children with advanced reservations reguired, the activity

proved immensely popular. The year had special themes of "Year

of the Visitor" and "Year of the Child" and programming changed

to reflect these special emphases with more than a dozen other

8 " Interpretive Specialist Goes to Work at Mound City," Chillicothe Gazette

(26 January 1973) . 'Superintendent's Report for 1976. ^Superintendent's Report for 1977.
289

special programs lead by rangers. 11 Interpretive ranger Teresa Nichols conducted sixteen oral

history interviews in the spring of 1980 with individuals

connected with Camp Sherman. The interviews were designed to be

incorporated into a slide-tape program about the World War I army

facility to be shown to visitors. Work soon began transcribing

the interview sessions, with original recordings maintained at the Harpers Ferry Center. Interpreters also began accumulating

quality photographs of the defunct installation. In 1982,

seasonal Ruth Bartlett completed the program with technical

assistance and narration done by volunteer Joe Murray of WBEX

radio, husband of staff member Bonnie Murray. The same year

Interpreter Murray wrote the first "Statement for Interpretation"

for the monument, a document approved without revision. 12 Native Americans began receiving special emphasis in 1987

when the park began its first "Native American Indian Day" on September 26. Paralleling Ohio's Native American Recognition

Day, Mound City Group provided temporary exhibits and invited

Indian volunteers for special talks. In connection with the

National Park Service's seventy-fifth anniversary, the park

sponsored the "Hopewell Spirit Art Contest," awarding prizes to the best renditions of Hopewell culture. 13 The first interpretive newsletter debuted in November 1993,

designed to keep the public informed about NPS plans and programs

for Hopewell Culture National Historical Park. Interpreters

assisted in developing a fifteen-minute orientation film called

"Legacy of the Mound Builders." Filming took place in June 1993

by Camera I Productions of Seattle, in anticipation of the new auditorium programmed for construction. The park received a first place video award for the film in April 1996 from the Ohio

Museum Association. 14 Utilizing funding from the Mead Corporation, National Park

Foundation, and the NPS's Parks as Classrooms program, park

interpreters developed and distributed in 1996 more than 150

Hopewell Curriculum Guides to area educators. The 177-page guide

"Scioto Scene," Chillicothe Gazette (5 July 1979); and Superintendent's

Report for 1979. The programs were: "Niyht Hikes, Wild Edibles Walk, Summer Flower Identification, Snakes Alive, Dusk Walk, Camp Sherman Program, Camp-Outs

for Youth, Herbal Medicine Walk, Bird Walks, Tree Identification, Shrew Movie, Dawn Walk—Coffee With a Ranger, and Native American Legends."

^Superintendent's Report for 1980, 1981, and 1982. ''Superintendent ' s Report for 1987; and "Mound City Looking for Artwork for Celebration," Chillicothe Gazette (31 July 1991), A8215 Diamond Anniversary.

'"Superintendent 's Report for 1993, and 1995-96.
290

proved popular with elementary school teachers and nicely

augmented a long-time outreach effort. A record 191 onsite

school programs reached nearly five thousand individuals during

the 1995-96 school year. The Junior Ranger program, launched

earlier in the decade, continued to be popular, with more than

1,400 children earning a patch or badge in 1996. 15 A greatly

expanded series of "site bulletins" addressing a wide range of

topics in depth was instituted since 1995, improving the quality

of public information provided.

** Environmental Education

As part of the larger environmental movement of the late

1960s and early 1970s, the National Park Service endeavored to be

in the vanguard of educating the American people on environmental

issues. A partnership effort to spark public interest in

environmental education, the Department of the Interior joined

with the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, the

National Education Association, and interested local educators to

form the National Environmental Study Area (NESA) program.

Interest to include Mound City Group National Monument in

environmental education began with Superintendent George

Schesventer, and culminated with opening an environmental study

area (ESA) in May 1973. The Mound City Group ESA, like other

such areas, provided an outdoor classroom or laboratory for use

by educational institutions in the Chillicothe and Ross County

area. To spur academic interest, Interpretive Specialist Robert

Holmes hosted an environmental education workshop at the park in

October 197 3, and invited teachers, resource managers, and

environmental specialists to discuss use of the ESA. While the park provided the ESA opportunity, program

development and use rested upon the initiative of local schools

and agencies. Few local educators took advantage of it,

expressing problems with lack of funding for transportation to access the ESA. Expansion of the nature trail in 1975 to include

adjacent fields and woodlands was accomplished in an effort to

encourage ESA use. Metalphoto signs were installed the following

year that emphasized how native plants were used by American

Indians. In the fall of 1975, the park purchased equipment and

books in an attempt to revitalize the ESA program. With only two

permanent interpreters on staff, calls to local high schools were

made seeking interested students to volunteer to assist student

groups that might use ESA study facilities. With less than an enthusiastic response, interpreters found that environmental

education films were the most popular items requested by area

^Superintendent's Report 1995-96.
291

teachers, not physical park resources. 16 Undaunted by lack of local response, interpreters pressed

ahead with plans to include the entire monument as an officially

designated NESA, an effort that succeeded in 1978. Combined with

special training, the designation committed the monument to lead

a more aggressive campaign for an active NESA. To counter local

apathy, interpreters in 1977 held a conservation camp at a Chillicothe elementary school, imparting basic environmental

concepts to 150 schoolchildren.

Aggressive recruitment of ESA users brought only a few more

school groups with environmental education issues on their tour

agendas. In 1983, the Ohio University at Chillicothe'

ornithology class regularly used the park for field exercises.

Ornithologists informed pleased park managers that Mound City

Group should be "considered to be one of the outstanding birding

areas in the country." 17 When plant specimen collecting

threatened to become a problem, Ken Apschnikat issued in the fall

of 1987 an open letter to biology and general science teachers

concerning collecting leaf or insect specimens for class

projects. Informing them that any such collecting was illegal

within a National Park Service area, Apschnikat wrote, "If every

student assigned such a project removed leaves or insects from

the park there would soon be nothing left for future enjoyment by

others." Apschnikat requested their assistance in ending the

objectionable practice. 1 * In the early 1990s, however, park

policy changed to grant an exemption to allow collection of plant

specimens by students for academic purposes.

** Eastern National Park and Monument Association

On November 4, 1960, Eastern National Park and Monument

Association (ENP&MA) officially established a cooperative agency

at Mound City Group National Monument. It received an Ohio

vendor's license on July 7, 1961, to cover sales of books and

souvenirs to visitors. A 1969 inspection by national cooperating

'"Birdsell to Regional Director Chester Brooks, 15 February 1973, A8215 1968-

1975, RG79, FRC/NARA, Kansas City; Robert F. Holmes form letter for ESA, 17 September 1973, A98; "Mound City to Host Workshop on Environmental Education,"

Chillicothe Gazette (24 September 1973); Acting Superintendent Joan F. Crider, form letter to high schools, 12 September 1975, A98; and Superintendent's Report

for 1975 and 1976.

l7Quotation from Superintendent's Report for 1983; and Superintendent's

Report for 1977 and 1978.

18Quotation from Apschnikat, form letter to area biology and general science

teachers, 15 September 1987, A90 Permits; also Ken Apschnikat interview, 19 August 1993; and Bonnie Murray interview, 26 August 1993.
292

association coordinator Edwin C. Alberts revealed "a sharp little

association operation" conducted by agent Virginia Skaggs,

secretary to the superintendent. Alberts advised remitting sales

tax revenue to the state at six-month intervals. Alberts

determined there was next to no chance for unfair competition

charges being leveled as there were no other park concessioners

and the nearest private enterprise was at least four miles away

in Chillicothe. He noted, "This region is almost completely free

of any tourism-oriented businesses, and no problems appear likely

to arise in this field for many years." 19 In June 1961, a thirty-five-cent, twenty-page illustrated

trail pamphlet, "Art and Burials in Ancient Ohio: A Tour of the

Mound City Necropolis" went on sale as new trail markers were

installed. ENP&MA also developed the first park-related

postcards to be sold. In September 1963, a slide show funded by

ENP&MA became available for school groups unable to visit the

park. Other single slides went on sale at the visitor center in

1964. Working with a Philadelphia manufacturer, a replica of the

1846-excavated human effigy platform pipe went on sale at the

ENP&MA outlet and instantly became a popular item. In the fall

of 1966, workers constructed the first ENP&MA counter, screen, and sales display rack in the visitor center lobby. 20 Poor bookkeeping and "incomplete and inaccurate" records

prompted the decision in 1972 to contract for the temporary

services of a professional bookkeeper as new sales items and

increased visitation dramatically boosted annual sales.

Particularly popular among visitors were the wide array of

replica Hopewell effigy pipes that included the raven, bobcat,

squirrel, quail, otter, duck hawk, human head, and wolf. These

popular items helped boost sales eighteen percent in 1975. 21 In 1976, Mound City Group began carrying catlinite pipes and

19Alberts to Regional Director Garrison, 16 July 1969, A42 Cooperating

Associations. ENP&MA, in a September 11, 1956 letter to Clyde King, indicated

willingness to establish a local association at that time. Lack of proper

facility development, however, prevented it until late 1960. ^ing to Wirth, 1 July 1961, June 1961 report; Riddle to Wirth, 4 October

1963, September 1963 report; Riddle to Wirth, 9 June 1964, May 1964 report; Eastern National Park and Monument Association and Mound City Group National

Monument, "Art and Burials in Ancient Ohio: A Tour of the Mound City Necropolis"

(no date) [circa 1961]; and Coleman to Hartzog, 5 October 1966, September 1966 report.

21 Birdsell to ENP&MA Business Manager Robert J. Smentek, letter, 2 August

1972, A42; Birdsell to Rhonda Ford, Franklin and Marshall College, letter, 18 August 1972, K1459; and Superintendent's Report for 1975. A $1,000 ENP&MA

donation in 1975 yielded 200,000 flyers depicting the Ohio Group of the National

Park Service for distribution at the four parks, the Ohio Department of Natural

Resources, and the Ohio Travel Bureau.
293

other articles made by the Pipestone Indian Shrine Association at Pipestone National Monument, Minnesota. The monument also

requested that Pipestone craftsmen make quality replicas of

Hopewell pipes out of Ohio pipestone to replace the poor clay

replicas on exhibit. The Minnesota ENP&MA association agreed to make the reproductions without charge. A $4,000 donation brought

about construction of a new ENP&MA information and sales desk and

two display racks in the visitor center lobby in 1977. 22 Maturation of the Mound City Group ENP&MA operation came in

1980 when the addition of quality publications and deleting

substandard items precipitated a nineteen percent sales increase.

For the first time ENP&MA hired its own part-time sale clerk to

handle school groups and heavy weekend visitation during the 1980 summer season. The welcome action freed interpretive staff to

devote its full energy to educational activities without being

tied to the sales desk. ENP&MA donated funds helped purchase a telescope, astronomy materials, a geometric map of Ohio's

prehistoric earthworks, and informational brochures of related

sites, all of which assisted in improving visitor education

programs. ENP&MA funds in 1981 helped publish a museum artifact

and exhibit guide, made available during the 1982 season for

visitors wanting to know more about specific artifacts. 23 Ken Apschnikat credited his cooperating association for

providing "as much or more financial assistance presently as any

local private sector group could" in relating to his Omaha

superiors that the park lacked outside private sector

involvement. Stressing the park's size, visitation levels, and

local economic conditions, he reported "We cannot be optimistic

that private sector involvement is a viable alternative for us. As a matter of fact the private sector is looking to us for

assistance and help more often than we are looking to them."

Citing Ross County's unemployment rate of twelve percent,

Apschnikat acknowledged that local businesses and industry were

all "fighting hard to avoid bankruptcy." Having the assistance

of ENP&MA, therefore, proved to be a real blessing for Mound City

Group

24 While hiring a sales clerk for the busy 1980 season was

beneficial, receiving the same luxury for subsequent seasons became nearly essential as sales and visitation increased.

Citing budget and staff cutbacks in 1985, Apschnikat requested

Superintendent's Report for 1976 and 1977; and Fagergren to Pipestone

National Monument Superintendent David Lane, 20 July 1976 and 11 February 1977, K14 and K18. ^Superintendent 's Report for 1980 and 1981.
294

the association hire a sales agent to work no more than eight

hours per week over a six-week period. He admitted finding it

"increasingly difficult to handle the Eastern National operation

and the rest of our interpretive activities."25 Sales continued to climb during the 1980s despite the

national economic recession. Loss of popular out-of-print books

concerning the Hopewell, particularly Martha Otto's "Ohio's

Prehistoric Peoples," hindered interpretive efforts and kept

sales from climbing further. Apschnikat observed in 1985 that

"Our greatest need continues to be the lack of affordable sales

items that deal with our primary theme. Efforts are being made

to find publishers to reprint two publications that deal directly

with the Hopewell Indians." With paper donated by The Mead Paper

Company of Chillicothe, ENP&MA updated the 1975 brochure called

"National Park Service Areas in Ohio," adding two affiliated

areas, James A. Garfield National Historic Site in Mentor, and

David Berger National Memorial in Cleveland, Ohio. 26 Despite a nine percent drop in visitation, ENP&MA sales

increased almost twenty percent in 1990, and forty percent in

1991. In the latter year, the display area expanded as the once crowded visitor center saw most of its administrative operations

relocate to the former residence building. ENP&MA added a third

display rack using donated funds. 27 ENP&MA experienced its best year in Chillicothe in 1995 when

its sales increased seventy-five percent in fiscal year 1995 over

1994 ($64,500 from $36,200). Impacted by construction activity

in 1994, the visitor center remodeling yielded expanded sales areas and a fifty percent increase in sales items with a stock

total of 230. The economic boom netted Hopewell Culture National

Historical Park more than $4,700 in donated funds allocated for

three audio stations and new printed materials for the selfguided trail, educational brochures for interpretive programs,

closed-captioned service for the video program, new interpretive

signage within the visitor center, and new book shelves. The

cooperative association paid for more than four hundred hours to

employ a sales clerk. 28

Apschnikat to ENP&MA Administrator George J. Munnucci, Jr., letter, 13 March 1985, A42

^Quotation from Apschnikat to ENP&MA Executive Secretary [?], letter, 7 October 1985; and letter, 22 October 1984, A2621. Fiscal Year 1984 sales were

$15,750, and 1985 sales were $16,322. Eastern National Park and Monument

Association, "National Park Service Areas in Ohio," four-fold leaflet, 1985.
295 In 1997, the organization simplified its name. The

corporate national cooperative association is now called Eastern

National.

** Interpretive Dilemma: The Prehistoric Landscape

National Park Service Director Conrad L. Wirth approved the

MISSION 66 Prospectus for Mound City Group National Monument on June 3, 1957, with the added provision for "restoration of ground

cover to approach that of the historic period of the mounds."29 Indeed, the goal to convert the grassy, heavily mowed landscape

to more natural, aboriginal conditions had been a National Park

Service goal for the national monument since the agency assumed

management responsibility in 1946. It became a practical

necessity from a management standpoint considering the manhours

and eguipment needed for mowing operations. With the lack of

funds to achieve reforestation, Clyde King began planting seeds

and transplanting young trees himself. Interpreters trying to

relate the Mound City Group landscape to the time of Hopewell

use, however, had the greatest difficulty convincing visitors to

see beyond the green, evenly-cut turf, which clearly reflected

the ideals of twentieth-century America, to a dim forested

reality of centuries past. Turf management practices designed

for golf course beauty had to be abandoned at Mound City Group.

The goal became embedded in planning documents ranging from the

1965 master plan to interpretive prospectus to the archeological

research management plan.

Landscaping around the 1960 visitor center was itself

designed to place the new building in a forested setting to

reflect what the larger restored scene would one day appear like.

Yews were to be maintained as a "loose informal hedge-like trim

to the building" and never pruned evenly with hedge shears.

Other foundation plantings were to be kept in a similar, natural

form. Certifying the completion of the project, Clyde King

wrote, it "completes the first step toward the ultimate goal of

restoring the area to woodland setting with the Mounds appearing

within a partially cleared space surrounded by woods." King

continued, "Steps should be taken immediately to bring

reforestation of the area through the natural process of

regeneration and as funds become available this process can be

supplemented by the addition of certain basic forest hardwood

seedlings of the proper associated species. Accordingly, it is

recommended that all mowing operations cease in those areas proposed for future woodland, and since the park is located on highly fertile river basin land, it is anticipated that this

29Wirth to Regional Director Daniel J. Tobin, 3 June 1957.
296

Figure 73: The golf-course turf management practices at Mound

City Group sparked interpreters and park managers to contemplate

the prehistoric Hopewell ian landscape. (NPS/1974)
297

Figure 74: Aerial view of Mound City Group looking southeast,

with reforestation having a noticeable impact on the landscape

(NPS/Brian Jones, Harpers Ferry Center, November 1978)
298

reforestation will proceed with surprising speed."30 In anticipation of reforestation, the 1961 growing season

saw a substantial curtailment or elimination of mowing in

specific areas. Before the forest could appear, however,

managers agreed that the park's boundary had to be fenced.

Initial plans for a hurricane fence were changed in 1961 to

provide for a low, post-cable type fence primarily to prevent

automobiles from leaving the highway and creating informal roads

through the park. Once reforestation occurred, however, the

fencing could be removed. In late 1962, plans changed again to

have the fencing be a post-rail type. Foresters recommended that

1,600 trees cover a forty-acre area. Accelerated Public Works

Program workers began the planting and fencing task in April

1963. Severe drought conditions took a tremendous toll on the

1,600 seedlings, while ten percent of 168 transplanted older

trees perished. 31 Estimates for achieving reforestation were revised in 1970.

Exhausting available funds, Mound City Group purchased one thousand seedlings in February 1970 from the Division of Forestry

and Reclamation, Ohio Department of Natural Resources. Seedlings

numbered 2 50-each of green ash, red gum, white oak, and

tuliptree. To continue the program, five thousand more seedlings

were required. The effort came in a piecemeal fashion. In 1975, as part of a scouting project, a local troop planted one thousand

hardwood seedlings on an acre of former lawn north of the

entrance. Maple whip stock from other forested areas were also

introduced in this area. 32 This emphasis on reforestation was pursued without any

scientific consideration of what the scene might have been two

thousand years ago. Scholarship at the end of the twentieth

century empasized natural prairie openings to a drastically

modified environment, one of deforestation because of aboriginal

agricultural practices. The emphasis reflected a pervasive

King, Form 10-174 Completion Report—Planting, Visitor Center, Parking

Area, Mound City Group National Monument, Contract No. 14-10-052901803,

$4,474.15, William Reinhold, Landscape Contractor, Flat Rock, Michigan, found in Visitor Center (Building 5) File.

3l Regional Administrative Officer John J. Bachensky to Lee, 26 July 1961 and

19 December 1962, A5427 Management Appraisal 1963-75, RG 79, FRC/NARA, Kansas

City; Riddle to Wirth, 13 May 1963, April 1963 report; and Riddle to Hartzog, 5 June 1964, May 1964 report.

32George Schesventer to Garrison, 24 March 1970, F22; Purchase order to Ohio

Department of Natural Resources, 17 February 1970; Superintendent's Report for

1975; and Birdsell to Boy Scouts of America, Chief Logan Council, Chillicothe,

letter, 3 June 1975, Y18 Forestry and Range Construction on Maintenance. The purpose of this planting, accomplished May 24 and 31, 1975, was to recreate the "prehistoric appearance" and screen "modern visual intrusions."
299

Figure 75: Interpreters looked to Squier and Davis descriptions

of trees and river gravel atop portions of the Mound City Group

earthworks. A tree grows from a mound in the northeast corner. (NPS/circa 1975)
300

Euro-American myth that America was wilderness prior to white

colonization.

More tree-planting took place in 1976 in areas east and west

of the entrance road. More mature trees were taken from heavily

wooded areas, and for the first time, archeologists monitored the

ground disturbance for potential subsurface resources. The same year saw an operations evaluation team recommend a land use plan

to realize once and for all the recreation of a "prehistoric

scene." The idea originated by similar mounds maintenance issues

at Effigy Mounds National Monument, Iowa, and the recognition

that Mound City Group required similar technical assistance from

regional landscape architects. Preliminary recommendations from

Omaha essentially concurred that planting plans sanctioned in

1960 with the visitor center landscape and in the 1965 master

plan be implemented. The monument invited public comment for

comprehensive reforestation, which also included removing steps

from Mound 7, the Death Mask Mound, obliterate all signs of

former railroad grades, transferring the picnic area to a wooded

area adjacent to the visitor center, and expand the trail

system. 3 Interpreters envisioned more than just trees surrounding the

Mound City Group earthworks enclosure to make the landscape more

realistic. To reflect the conditions known to exist in 1846, one key goal of the interpretive prospectus called for covering

"certain mounds with pebbles as when originally constructed by

Hopewells." Superintendent Fred Fagergren, Jr., enthusiastically

made this interpretive goal into his own management objective in

1976, only to be met with a Midwest Archeological Center request

to delay implementation pending further research. Acknowledging

the maintenance dilemma inherent to his idea, Fagergren proposed

restoring the pebble and gravel coverings, from eight to twenty

inches thick, to eight mounds as described by Squier and Davis in

Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley . Fagergren argued

that "Restoration of the mounds to a gravel and pebble surface

will more accurately reflect the realities these people faced in

construction of these monuments to their dead. While the present

turf-covered mounds might be easier to maintain, they are not

accurate reconstructions nor can they be interpreted as such."34

John Kawamoto interview, 21 December 1993; Phillip Egan interview, 25 August 1993; Superintendent's Report for 1976; Fagergren to Beal, 18 February

1976, 29 March 1976, and 2 April 1976, D18 Book 2, Jan. 1976-Dec. 1979, RG 79, FRC/NARA, Kansas City; and Barbara B. Kalfs, "Authentic Atmosphere Planned at Mound City," Chillicothe Gazette (7 April 1976).

34Mark J. Lynott interview, 20 January 1994; Ken Apschnikat interview, 19 August 1993; Fagergren to Beal, 18 February 1977, H22. The mounds were numbers

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, and 18. See also, Superintendent's Report for 1976 and

1977; and untitled report on status of Interpretive Prospectus objectives, 1976, A6419 1976-1979, RG 79, FRC/NARA, Kansas City.
301

Fagergren 's goal of restoring Mound City Group to historic

1846 conditions remained unfulfilled during his super intendency.

It remained stalled because of a servicewide policy concerning

reconstructions that mandated any physical changes to recapture

elements from a previous era had to be based on a minimum of

conjecture. Agency policy had matured since the 1960s when

reconstruction efforts, including that at Mound City Group

itself, could progress without intensive scrutiny by cultural

specialists. Oftentimes the result of these ill-advised efforts

produced scenes that strayed far from historical reality or authenticity. Under evolving historic preservation policies of

the 197 0s, radical changes to cultural resources such as reconstructions had to be based on substantial research and

ultimately approved by the agency's director. In the absence of

any concerted research into the actual characteristics of Mound

City Group's Hopewellian appearance, management policy as determined by Washington, D.C., and implemented by regional Omaha

agency officials required the status quo continue indefinitely.

Making the best of the situation, Fagergren issued a July

1980 policy directive instructing employees to help maintain the

integrity of the historic scene in their everyday activities. In the "Historic Area" of the mounds enclosure, modern intrusions

were to be kept to a minimum during primary visitation periods.

Fagergren declared:

A substantial reduction in acreage being mowed has

occurred compared to previous years, but not

necessarily the smallest reduction possible. Policy

calls for grass on the earthworks proper. The acreage

within the wall is mowed in absence of research/data on the actual scene. Vistas are maintained for the

Visitor Center from the highway and from the Visitor

Center to earthworks. The extent of mowing mandates an intrusion by equipment. Mowing is not scheduled on weekends to remove the intrusion at least during that

peak period. Research on the historic scene must

occur; this data will affect and lessen the mowing

practices. . .

Fagergren determined that other recreational uses could and

should take place in these green, open vistas. He continued,

stating:

The vista areas are the focal points for the other

'non-conforming recreational use.' Generally the

earthworks do not experience this use. The large

vistas are naturally inviting to an occasional frisbee,

baseball or volleyball player. We strive to conform

with policy by asking visitors to restrict these

activities to the vista area west of the Visitor

Center, and therefore out of the historic scene. The
302

picnic area is also out of sight in the trees and does

not intrude on the scene.

In conclusion, he informed his staff, we "can do little to more closely conform with policy until research has occurred and data

are available on the historic scene."35 Programming for necessary research funds came about

simultaneously with the new resource management plan in 1982.

The proposed "prehistoric vegetation study" would include an archeological pollen study, analysis of faunal remains, charcoal

analysis, and evaluation of soil samples taken from undisturbed

areas. Observing that contemporary grass cover and forest

succession conditions might or might not resemble the prehistoric

period of Hopewell occupation, roughly 200 B.C. to 500 A.D., Ken

Apschnikat stated, "All suppositions as to what vegetative

conditions might have existed are scientifically unsupported

hypotheses . " 36 Three different hypotheses circulated in the mid-1980s

concerning the prehistoric landscape. The first held that before

the Hopewell occupation and construction of Mound City Group, a prairie or savanna naturally maintained by fire existed with a narrow band of floodplain forest along the Scioto River.

Following Indian occupation and the lack of fire episodes,

hardwood forest took over. The second hypothesis determined that

hardwood forest existed during the moundbuilding era and the

Hopewell removed and kept trees from growing within the mound

earthwall enclosure itself. The final hypothesis differed from

the second only in that the Hopewell removed trees merely to

construct charnel houses, mounds, walls, borrow pits, and

potential vista areas. Otherwise, the forest prevailed. 37 But even Apschnikat showed impatience at waiting for funding

and initiated a new experiment by authorizing an expanded area in

the northeast corner of the mounds be allowed to revegetate

naturally during the 1986 growing season by removing it from

regular mowing. He did so in order to demonstrate "the

park policy 80-4, "Maintaining the Integrity of our Historic

Area," 24 July 1980, H30; and Superintendent's Report for 1979.

36Quotation from Apschnikat, 10-238 funding reguest for prehistoric

vegetation study, 10 December 1982, D2215; Apschnikat to Dunning, 7 October 1981, F30; and Apschnikat to Odegaard, 14 January 1986, D18, with attached resource management plan project statement, Midwest Archeological Center files. Susan Monk of Midwest Archeological Center based the 1984 faunal remains study on 5,887

specimens.

37Resc Study, January 1986
303

appearance... during Squier and Davis' time."38 Initial funding materialized in 1987 when a resource management specialist from Michigan's Pictured Rocks National

Lakeshore, Dr. Walter Loope, began a literature search and

interviews with archeologists to outline prehistoric vegetation

compositions at both Mound City Group and Hopeton Earthworks.

Resource managers recognized that based upon study results,

contemporary maintenance practices could be reversed or lack of

credible data could leave them with the status quo. In any case, Apschnikat believed his experiment in permitting tallgrass to

exist next to manicured lawn simply gave visitors "another

possible historic landscape for the mound area."39 Nineteen-eighty-nine represented a watershed year concerning

traditional turf management practices at Mound City Group. The

previous growing season had featured a lingering drought that

browned and weakened an already stressed turf. Conditions were

further exacerbated by construction activity for the new prison

across State Highway 104 when the former agricultural fields

began being infested with noxious weeds, seeds of which blew with

prevailing winds onto monument lands. The result brought an aggressive invasion of unsightly weeds that threatened to

overtake mowed areas unless prevented by chemicals and other

expensive, labor-intensive actions. With this bleak scenario, a change in top park management came in late 1988.

Superintendent William Gibson took three months to assess

the situation before making his bold announcement for a radical

change of course. In a March 1989 memorandum to his subordinate

division chiefs, Gibson shared his impression of the park's

earthworks landscape management practices and shared with them

knowledge gained from a cultural landscape management seminar

sponsored by the Southeast Regional Office in Atlanta, Georgia.

Gibson's attitudes were particularly influenced by an earthworks

management manual developed in the Mid-Atlantic Region for Civil

War-era landscapes. He suggested its approach be adopted as a model and operating guide. Because of funding limitations, the

incorporation of an expanded Hopeton Earthworks, as well as proposals to add other Hopewell sites for NPS management, the

time proved propitious for altering management practices at Mound

City Group.

Recognizing that study results were still pending, Bill

Gibson rejected outright the mowed appearance of the mounds.

Gibson asserted:

Superintendent's Report for 1986.

39Quotation from Apschnikat, "Mound City Group National Monument Briefing

Paper, 1987;" and Superintendent's Report for 1987.
304

...this golf course appearance in no way represents the

appearance created by the Hopewell moundbuilders. With

the most probable landscaping of the mound builders era being dense river bottom woodland, interspaced with

human created slash and burn open spaces and/or

naturally occurring patches of prairie grassland,

neither scene is represented by our modern day turf

lawn maintenance. More probable would be vast expanses

of uncut forest interspaced with small, patchy woodland

openings, created by arduous cutting with stone tools,

and maintained using fire to burn debris. Such

openings, containing stumps and downed timber, would

quickly be overgrown by invading growth of weeds, vines

and woody sprouts. With no domesticated grazing

animals available, and no mechanical means other than

the wear of daily foot traffic to keep down the brush,

fire remains as the most likely management tool

available to the moundbuilders. 40 He concluded by ascertaining "the predictable result of such

slash and burn land clearing, as well as that of naturally

occurring patches of prairie grassland, is native tall grass

ground cover." Gibson recommended the park's immediate resource management priority was to convert more turf to tall-grass native

species and reduce the maintenance burden. 41 Anticipating public inquiries or complaints as the grass

continued to grow in early June 1989, Gibson prepared a briefing

statement to help educate the public on the "Native Tall Grass

Restoration" effort underway. Explaining the rationale behind

the landscape changes, the statement acknowledged that turf

maintenance efforts would only occur in core interpretive areas

and walkways while the remaining open grounds would be encouraged

to revert to native tall grass. Maintenance by controlled

burning might be considered to either replace or complement

periodic mowing. Change in habitat would also bring biological

change and more diversity as native grass, wildf lowers, and other

native plants submerged bluegrass and common weeds. Thirteenlined ground squirrels, discouraged by the tall grass, would go

elsewhere, but groundhogs could increase. Field nesting birds

like the bobolink would appear but so would hawk predators.

Ticks and chiggers might discourage visitors from leaving mowed

areas to explore the tall grass with the beneficial aspect of

reduced foot traffic erosion, earthworks destruction, and

enhanced archeological protection. Natural restoration would

continue for two growing seasons, with the first cutting in the

fall of 1990 accomplished with a tractor on flat areas and hand-

'Ibid.
305

Figure 76: This aerial view plainly shows divergent turf

managment practices within the Mound City Group, from mowed to tallgrass areas. (NPS/July 3, 1994)
306

carried brush cutters on the raised earthworks. 42 The native bluestem restoration area encompassed

approximately nine acres of previously maintained lawn area in

the Mound City Group earthworks. Thanks to the efforts of a vigilant interpretive staff, visitor reaction to the radical

change proved "favorable and supportive." An interpretive

handout designed to educate the public concerning the project

also helped prevent any adverse public reaction. Interpreters

reported the new appearance helped ease the task of recapturing a pre-twentieth century era as well as incorporating coverage of

native plants and wildlife into their daily visitor contacts. 43 With acquisition of Hopeton Earthworks in 1990, the tall

grass restoration project shifted across the Scioto River.

Previously cultivated areas were seeded with a mixture of

switchgrass, Indian grass, and little bluestem, providing a quick, low maintenance cover to arrest erosion while at the same time rendering an "aesthetically pleasing" look. Problems at both areas in 1991 centered on an infestation of Canada thistle.

With manual removal proving ineffective, managers selected

periodic mowing as a means to check the pesky exotic. 44 A contract to provide the long-promised prehistoric

vegetation study, while let in 1988, did not yield a final

product until the spring of 1991. Preliminary data, however,

became known as early as 1989 and served to validate the

management actions taken by Bill Gibson. In July 1988, Dr. Ronald 0. Kapp of Alma College, and Gordon G. Snyder of

Schoolcraft College, both in Michigan, took a series of

sedimentary core samples from area ponds. From these murky

depths, the researchers discovered undisturbed sediment from

which pollen analysis could determine area vegetation patterns

over the course of centuries. Their final report determined that

"the extent of open, non-forest vegetation was considerably

greater prior to ca. 2000 B.C. than after." During the early

stages of the Hopewell culture, the area experienced a

Gibson to Chief, Interpretation and Resource Management, Reed Johnson, 9 June 1989, K18; William Gibson interview, 24 August 1993; and attachment,

"Briefing Paper, Native Tall Grass Restoration at Mound City Group National Monument as part of Earthworks Management Plan, Spring 1989." "Superintendent's Report for 1989. To strengthen the remaining lawn areas, maintenance workers overseeded with tall fescue and rye. See also, H. Reed

Johnson, "Managing and Interpreting the Cultural Landscape at Mound City Group

National Monument," Interpretation (Spring/Summer 1991).

^Superintendent's Report for 1990 and 1991.
307

"transition from a more open to a more forested environment."45 The report seemed to contradict efforts to restore an open,

prairie-like environment. For the first time, park managers had

scientific data to make landscape management decisions. The data

put into question the tall grass restoration launched by Bill

Gibson in 1989. Working behind the scenes to formulate long-term

management strategies were H. Reed Johnson, chief of

interpretation and resource management, and Steve Cinnamon, resource management specialist in Omaha. 46 Ironically, the goal of recreating a Hopewellian cultural

landscape predated the birth of an aggressive cultural landscape

program in established in the Midwest Region. With the arrival

in Omaha of Regional Historical Landscape Architect Mary V. Hughes in January 1991, the changed cultural landscape at Mound

City Group, the subject of heated debate for decades, was already

taking firm root in the Chillicothe soil. With the ascendancy of

historical landscapes within cultural resources management, the

1997 general management plan calls for a cultural landscape

report to guide development within all five units of Hopewell

Culture National Historical Park.

45Quotations from "Palynological Studies Associated with the Mound City Group

National Monument, Chillicothe, Ohio," completion report 13 April 1991, D18 Resources Management. Linda C. K. Shane, University of Minnesota, accompanied

Snyder and Kapp as an author. See also Superintendent's Report for 1988, 1989, and 1991.

""Gibson to Castleberry, 13 August 1991, A6437 Management Improvement

Project, Maintenance Management System.
Figure 77: Squier and Davis' drawing of Hopeton Earthworks.

("Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley"/1848)
Chapter Ten

The Long Road to Hopeton

From the onset of National Park Service involvement at Mound

City Group National Monument, managers and cultural experts

lamented that the site under their care represented a macabre

aspect of Hopewell culture, its peculiar graveyard and funerary

aspects. "The City of the Dead" itself was surrounded in Ross

County by other Hopewell-related earthworks containing clues that

might shed more light upon this mysterious civilization, the

greatest prehistoric culture of eastern North America. While a surprising number of these sites had survived centuries of EuroAmerican occupation, efforts to preserve them had largely been as

a result of enlightened and sympathetic private landowners. As

time passed and economic conditions changed, however, such

private sector benevolence could not guarantee the preservation

of remaining Hopewell sites in perpetuity. The public sector

slowly came to this realization in the late twentieth century.

Clearly, if the National Park Service took its preservation

mandate seriously, the Mound City Group could not be the sole

Hopewellian site within the national park system. As serious

planning efforts for Mound City Group began in the 1950s, this

concept received much discussion, especially once MISSION 66

development for the Chillicothe monument became agency policy,

forever renouncing notions of allowing Mound City Group to revert

to state management and operation. From the late 19 50s onward,

the National Park Service committed itself to playing a key

leadership role in understanding, educating, and preserving

significant sites related to the Hopewell culture. The impetus

for this preservation vision lay just across the Scioto River

from Mound City Group National Monument at the Hopeton

Earthworks

** Significance of the Hopeton Earthworks

E. G. Sguier and E. H. Davis first described "Hopeton Works"

in 1846, stating the earthworks consisted of "a rectangle, with

an attached circle, the latter extending into the former, instead

of being connected with it in the usual manner. The rectangle

measures nine hundred and fifty by nine hundred feet in

diameter." Continuing the description, they wrote: "The walls

of the rectangular work are... twelve feet high by fifty feet

base, and are destitute of a ditch on either side. The wall of

the great circle was never as high as that of the rectangle; yet,

although it has been much reduced of late by the plough, it is
310

still about five feet in average height." 1 The accompanying

lithograph depicts the site, spelled slightly different than the

nearby settlement of Hopetown about four miles north of

Chillicothe, sitting beneath the table land on "fine, arable

land." Four small mounds and three small attached circular

enclosures are depicted. Where the twenty-acre circle and

equally large square conjoin, two, 2 , 400-foot-long parallel

earthwalls proceed across the farmland toward the river, slicing

through a natural depression, to an area marked "low bottom,

occasionally inundated." The manmade feature, perhaps intended

as a promenade, points to the south of Mound City Group on the

opposite bank of the Scioto. 2 While Superintendent Clyde King spoke often of the Hopeton

Earthworks to anyone who would listen, his belief in the site's

significance and its inherent interrelation with the national

monument received validation when the Washington Office

instructed Northeast Region officials on October 3, 1958, to

assist in preparing site surveys for potential national historic

landmarks (NHL) . NHLs were recommended by the Advisory Board on National Parks, Historic Sites, Buildings, and Monuments for

designation by the secretary of the interior. Known as the

National Survey of Historic Sites and Buildings, the NHL program

was authorized by the Historic Sites Act of 1935. Once

contextual themes were developed following World War II,

concerted initial nationwide surveys began in the 1950s and

concluded in the early 1960s. While outstanding sites could

receive NHL status and remain in private ownership, others found

to possess exceptional value to the nation's history were eligible for inclusion in the national park system.

Regional Archeologist John L. Cotter got the nod to prepare

the "Hopeton Group" site survey. Philadelphia officials were

eager "to formulate a definite opinion as to the nature and

value" of the site, but believed from the start that Ohio should

manage it and would "encourage them to obtain title to it."3 Cotter finished his survey and sent it to Washington in early

1959, when Regional Director Tobin informed Director Wirth that

"It is our feeling that Hopeton Group is a portion of an

Squier and Davis, Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley;

Comprising the Results of Extensive Original Surveys and Explorations

(Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge Series, 1848).

2 Ibid. Two build

as "Cryder's." Within the circle are two more buildings. Leaving the circle

and continuing inside to fill the square are trees marked on the lithograph as "orchard.

3Acting Regional Director J. Carlisle Crouch to Director Conrad L. Wirth, 29 October 1958, H2215.
311

archeological unit represented by Hopeton Group, Mound City

Group, and the large adjacent circular earthwork now on the land

of the Department of Justice which should be considered as closely related to the rectangular necropolis of Mound City

Group. Therefore, full consideration should be given to the

interpretation of all of these earthworks together."4 Relating the results to Ohio State Archaeological and

Historical Society Director Erwin Zepp, Tobin stated, "We believe

that at present too little is known of the actual cultural

definition of this site to link it positively with Mound City

Group. Nevertheless, in our opinion, the Hopeton Group

represents one of the few presumably Hopewellian earthworks which

still has a trace of circular and rectangular earthworks in

conjunction, together with an associated causeway of parallel

earth walls and earth mounds." He nominated the state society as the best agency to preserve the site, and should further study

establish a definite association with Mound City Group, Tobin

pledged to integrate interpretive programs at both sites. 5 Philadelphia officials placed too much credence in Erwin

Zepp's statements that the Hopeton Earthworks would be favorably

considered for acquisition by the Ohio legislature. This belief

pervaded state-federal discussions in the late 1950s and perhaps

influenced a 1958-59 boundary study by Andrew Feil of the

Northeast Region's National Parks Planning division to recommend

against administratively declaring Hopeton to be within Mound

City Group National Monument's boundaries. In the fall of 1960,

National Park Service officials were stunned to learn that Zepp

had not included Hopeton on the 1960 list of to-be-acquired

sites, nor had he done so in previous years. In response,

dramatically shifting its position, the Philadelphia office

recommended Hopeton as one of two sites in the Northeast Region

to be considered as potential national monuments. 6 Zepp's duplicity prompted Regional Archeologist John Cotter

to press ahead and make the case for Hopeton 's national

4Tobin to Wirth, no date [circa January 1959], H2215.

5Tobin to Dr. Erwin Zepp, letter, 24 February 1959, H2215. Tobin

indicated that Washington's Chief Archeologist, Dr. John Corbett, assisted

Cotter in the Hopeton Group site survey.

6Regional Director Ronald F. Lee to Wirth, 2 September 1960, L58. Hopeton was second only to Nundawao Site, New York, traditional birthplace of the Iroquois, under National Survey of Historic Sites and Buildings'

archeological theme sites recommended for possible inclusion in the national

park system. Two others failed to qualify because they were already stateowned: Cahokia Mound Site, Illinois, and Angel Site, Indiana. Feil's

boundary study visit came in March 1959. See King to Wirth, 1 April 1959, March 1959 report.
312

significance. In the total absence of state action, Cotter

declared "the Hopeton site can only be preserved through the

National Survey of Historic Sites and Buildings

recommendations."7 Cotter felt the two sites were strongly

linked, and NPS management of an enlarged national monument was

"logical and warranted for the complete interpretation of the

story." Further, he concluded, "The statement of purpose and

justification in the enabling legislation of Mound City Group can

as well apply to Hopeton."8 In February 1961, Regional Director Ronald F. Lee brought

events at Hopeton to Director Conrad Wirth 's attention. The

previous month, Lee agreed to consider amending Mound City

Group's boundary survey report to include Hopeton. He reported

news from Clyde King concerning a threat of residential

subdivision within the earthworks itself. A sixty-eight-acre

section called the McKell tract was subdivided by owner/developer

Merrill Vaughn of Chillicothe and his agent, Donald H. Watt of

Columbus. The immediate threat was one side of the twenty-acre

square had one of its earthwalls leveled by a bulldozer. To help

orchestrate public pressure to halt the destruction, the National

Park Service notified Robert Garvey, National Trust for Historic

Preservation director. 9 While no additional ground disturbance occurred, the

development action by a landowner unimpressed by prehistoric

values prompted King to prepare information about the site to

send to Columbus and Philadelphia in March 1961. 10 In the fall

of 1962, a meeting with Ohio Historical Society's Curator of

Archeology Raymond S. Baby and Mound City Group Superintendent

John C. W. Riddle and Archeologist Richard Faust took place in

Columbus primarily to discuss contractual relations the following

year for an Accelerated Public Works program. The men spent

considerable time discussing Hopeton Earthworks and its need for

preservation. The meeting laid the groundwork for a new spirit

of cooperation between the two agencies, and Baby pledged to keep

an eye on Hopeton for the state. A change in the society's site

management leadership promised new hope for state acquisition

7Cotter to Regional Chief of Interpretation [?], 30 November 1960, H2215. Cotter learned from Raymond Baby of Zepp's lack of action. Cotter

reported Baby said "Zepp gave no explanation" but added [Hopeton] "won't be pursued in the future."

8 Ibid., 6 December 1960.

9Lee to Wirth, 23 February 1961, H2215.

l0King to Wirth, 1 April 1961, March 1961 report. King wrote, "It is one of two areas remaining that could be restored without interference from a major highway or railroad, and the only one without modern developments within

the area."
313

efforts. 11 Renewed NPS confidence in Ohio's acquisition of Hopeton lead

to incorporating into the 1963 Mound City Group interpretive

prospectus the assertion that "The State of Ohio plans

legislation to acquire and develop Hopeton." 12 But even before

the document's ink was dry, NPS officials knew state action would

not be forthcoming. On March 12, 1963, Cotter learned from

Raymond Baby that severe state budget cuts not only resulted in

closing all state memorial parks, but ended plans for Hopeton

until fiscal matters improved. Faced by this news, John C. W. Riddle continued to support NPS acquisition by revising Mound

City Group's boundary. Cotter concurred, calling it "the only

possibility of saving this site." 13 Monument staff researched county deeds to determine Hopeton

land ownership and prepared plat maps on each interest for

Riddle's meeting in April 1964 with regional officials. Riddle

reported an "interesting discussion" took place, and mused about

"the possibilities, someday, of a direct tie in with Mound

City." 14 Riddle's lack of enthusiasm was probably related to the

1964 "Parks for America" publication, the last such NPS report

anticipated for nationwide park planning before that function

officially transferred within the Interior department to newlycreated Bureau of Outdoor Recreation. In its treatment of Ohio,

"Parks for America" noted "sites illustrating the prehistoric

cultures that once flourished in Ohio have great educational

value." Unfortunately for Hopeton Earthworks and other

meritorious archeological sites, the agency's recommendation

called for adding no prehistoric sites to the national park

system. 15

"Riddle to Wirth, 7 November 1962, October 1962 report; and Lee to

Wirth, 20 July 1962, L58. Lee reported one property owner, Barnhart, was "in sympathy with conservation," but that Faust would be "maintaining watch on the Hopeton site in case any unanticipated developments are attempted by any of the property holders."

12 "Interpretive Prospectus for Mound City Group National Monument,"

approved by Regional Director Ronald F. Lee, 25 April 1963, "History" file.

''Quotation from Cotter, to Chief, Division of History and Archeology

[?], 12 March 1963, Hopeton file.

MQuotation from Riddle to Hartzog, 12 May 1964, April 1964 report; and

Ibid., 6 March 1964/February 1964 report and 7 April 1964/March 1964 report.

15Parks for America: A Survey of Park and Related Resources in the Fifty States, and a Preliminary Plan (Washington, D.C.: National Park

Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, 1964), found in State Archives, Ohio

Historical Society, Columbus, Ohio.
314 In July 1964, a public announcement from Interior Secretary

Stewart L. Udall's office included Hopeton Earthworks on a list

of four Ohio national historic landmarks. Completing work by the

National Survey of Historic Sites and Buildings of archeological

properties, Hopeton Earthworks joined Newark, Serpent Mound, and

Fort Ancient National Historic Landmarks thus elevating these

sites for preservation in the public mindset. 16 Four years passed before any substantive state action

transpired regarding Hopeton Earthworks NHL. On December 13,

1968, the Board of Advisors of the Ohio Historical Society

considered a proposal by Raymond S. Baby to acquire 250 acres at Hopeton. While the board viewed Baby's pitch favorably, it

viewed owners Vaughn and Barnhart as unwilling sellers by asking

an inflated selling price. The board threw its support to

acquiring Seip Mound as its first priority, but instructed the

society's director to try acquiring Hopeton by "other means,"

including options to buy. Spurred by developments in Columbus,

Superintendent George Schesventer advocated proceeding with more Hopewell-related research, concluding "Hopeton and Mound City may

be miles apart in the bureaucratic sense, but they are almost as one in the story of the Hopewell Culture of the Scioto Valley."

It was up to the Park Service, Schesventer believed, to make the

case crystal clear. 17

** Park Expansion and Local Reaction

The ambitious park expansion effort launched by

Superintendent William C. Birdsell in the early 1970s had Hopeton

Earthworks as the only tract nominated for acquisition not

already federally owned. While Birdsell worked to secure state

and local support for Hopeton' s addition, he also used his

political savvy to court congressional representatives and

expressed optimism about having the national historic landmark

included in the final legislative package. Gone were the days

when the agency could merely administratively determine

adjustments in park boundaries. During the 1960s and 1970s,

Congress had clearly asserted its authority over the executive

branch in such matters. 18

l6 "Ohio has Four Landmarks on New Interior Dept. List," Columbus Dispatch (19 July 1964).

l7 Schesventer to Regional Director Lemuel Garrison, 20 December 1968,

H34, Hopeton file. The inflated price was given as two to three thousand

dollars more per acre than surrounding agricultural land prices.

l8 Birdsell to Regional Director Chester L. Brooks, 27 January 1972, D22. Birdsell did secure an offer to purchase or trade land from Maston M. Sansom, owner of more than forty-five acres adjacent to the Barnhart property at Hopeton. See Birdsell to files, 27 January 1973, L14 Hopeton Earthworks.
315

Bill Birdsell failed to see progress made on Hopeton

Earthworks during his tenure other than the preparation of a formal National Register nomination, the primary purpose of which

was to establish a firm boundary. Upon passage of the National

Historic Preservation Act on October 15, 1966 and creation of the

National Register of Historic Places, cultural units of the

national park system like Mound City Group and all NHLs,

including Hopeton Earthworks, were automatically added to the

national inventory of significant properties. Because Hopeton

Earthworks NHL preceded the 1966 act, it lacked the required

nomination form and an official boundary determination. When

Fran Weiss, Washington Office archeologist, accompanied by Martha

Otto of the Ohio Historical Society, arrived in August 1974 to

walk the NHL and decide on a boundary, they stood on the Barnhart

tract and peered over the fence at the Vaughn tract. The latter

landowner flatly denied permission to access his property.

Nonetheless, the National Register nomination form went forward

on November 8, 1974. 19 Archeological testing at Hopeton Earthworks to determine its

significance and integrity took place in the summer of 1976 by

David S. Brose, curator of archeology at the Cleveland Museum of

Natural History and instructor at Case Western Reserve University

in Cleveland. Brose 's September 1976 report represented the

first phase of a suitability/feasibility study undertaken by the

Midwest Regional Office. Brose determined the site's national

significance and integrity made it a worthy addition to the

national park system. 20 The second phase to determine feasibility began in January

1977 with formation of the planning team. Primary members were

team captain Allen Hagood and Park Planner Donald Clark, both of

the Denver Service Center, and Superintendent Fred Fagergren.

Technical experts were F. A. Calabrese, manager of Midwest

Archeological Center, and Finis Rayburn, land appraiser at Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, Indiana. Delays in Denver

postponed team information-gathering and public meetings until

late July 1977, and other service center projects intervened to

Acting Chief, Historic Sites Survey, Benjamin Levy to M. D. Vaughn,

letter, 8 August 1974, H3417, Washington History Division NHL Files, Hopeton Earthworks Ohio; Staff Archeologist Fran Weiss to files, boundary

justification, 12 January 1976. The 1974 boundary included only known

earthworks. Because none could be seen extending west from the bluff into the floodplain, that bottomland area was not included. Weiss wrote that if archeological evidence proved sufficient there, the NHL boundary should then

be enlarged.

^avid S. Brose, "An Historical and Archaeological Evaluation of the Hopeton Works, Ross County, Ohio" (Cleveland, Ohio: under contract for the National Park Service, 1976); and Superintendent's Report for 1976.
316

push progress on Hopeton until later the following year. 21 The delay proved costly. In October 1977, the Chillicothe

Planning Commission approved a development plan for a one hundred-fifty-unit apartment complex south of Barnhart Road,

adjacent to Ohio Highway 159 or North Bridge Street. Named

"North River Place," the apartment complex, financed in part

through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

(HUD), was set for construction in spring 1978. Fagergren

immediately informed both city and county planning commissions of

the potential park development conflict, and found no zoning in

effect to halt adverse developments, the city commission had

merely ruled there were no housing code violations. Because

planning was still underway and the agency's position remained

"speculative and uncertain" without congressional action, Omaha

regional experts determined NPS had no grounds to halt the

development

22 Bordering on "apologetic," this unfortunate attitude

permeated the agency's regional and Washington-level decisionmaking, which resulted in reactive, not proactive, resource

preservation. On matters archeological, NPS lacked political

will or astuteness. Indeed, the Park Service failed to include

its own Midwest Archeological Center as a full partner in the

discussion concerning Hopeton and other Hopewellian sites.

Testifying before Congress, NPS officials could not answer basic

questions concerning the endangered resources, reflecting its

ingrained bias and second-class treatment of all things

archeological. At the regional level, communication became

funneled through the Midwest Regional Office's public affairs

officer, Bill Dean, who strangely enough also served as liaison

to Washington Office legislative specialists. Dean placed tight

restrictions on information exchanges, and at one point forbade

professional interaction with the Archaeological Conservancy, a group he perceived as unwelcome interlopers, and not valued

preservation partners. To his credit, Regional Archeologist Mark

2l Denver Service Center Assistant Manager, Midwest /Rocky Mountain Team, Donald A. Purse to Regional Director Merrill Beal, 24 January 1977 and 30 September 1977; Hagood to Fagergren, telephone call, 10 June 1977; "Hopeton

Earthworks Study Team to Visit Chillicothe Next Week," NPS news release, 18 July 1977; "Meeting Thursday on Mound City Plan, Chillicothe Gazette (27 July

1977); and Acting Regional Director Randall J. Pope to Purse, 25 October 1977, all in L14 Hopeton Earthworks. ^Quotation from Acting

23 November 1977; Mark J. Lynott interview, 20 January 1994; "City Approves

Apartment Plan," Chillicothe Gazette (no date) [circa late October 1977];

Hagood to Fagergren, 28 October 1977; and Fagergren to Beal, 2 November 1977, all in L14 Hopeton Earthworks. Because the development was within

Chillicothe 's three-mile boundary jurisdiction, the city commission possessed

housing code authority. Developers were "HRH Properties, Limited," consisting

of Dennis Hartsough, John Roseboom, and Larry Hardin.
317

Figure 78: Map of the Hopeton study area from the 1978

feasibility report in relation to other Chillicothe sites

(NPS/1978)
318

J. Lynott ignored Dean's order. Lynott later recalled,

The Park Service's whole involvement in Hopeton was one

of an apology. All the problems that we have out there

today we have only ourselves to blame because we have never taken an assertive stance on preservation of that

resource. It's a chronic problem that this

organization has. I mean, in my opinion, we like to wave the flag that we're this great preservation

agency; but the fact of the matter is, there is

absolutely no courage on the part of any of our leadership to preserve something that's worthwhile....

It's been a view from management at the top:

Washington and some of the former upper level managers

at the Midwest Region. The commitment just has not

been there to take the stance to preserve the resources

in Ross County that should be preserved. 23 In the interim as planning efforts plodded ahead, the first

academic conference ever held in Chillicothe concerning the

Hopewell culture took place for four days in March 1978. Cosponsored by Mound City Group National Monument, the Cleveland

Museum of Natural History, and the Mid-Continental Journal of

Archeology , the gathering represented the first such conference

since 1961 and produced a valuable synthesis on Hopewell

archeology. More than forty professional papers were presented

at the well-attended "Conference on Hopewellian Archeology." The

NPS arranged an afternoon tour of area Hopewell sites, with much

discussion concerning Hopeton Earthworks and the need to preserve

such sites. 24 By late May 1978, Regional Director Beal approved final

changes to "An Evaluation of the Feasibility of Adding Hopeton

Earthworks to Mound City Group National Monument." It boldly

stated that "Hopeton Earthworks and Mound City Group should be

protected as a combined resource, administrated [sic] as a single

unit of the National Park System. Should the combination of

alternatives we recommend be approved and enacted, approximately

1,02 acres would be added to the System—477 acres in fee and

543 acres with a combined scenic and archeological easement."25 Fagergren seized the opportunity to press for consideration of a name change for the expanded park, but offered no suggestion. He

^Mark J. Lynott interview, 20 January 1994. ^Mark J. Lynott interview, 20 January 1994; Superintendent's Report for

1978; and "Organizers Pleased with Hopewell Conference," Chillicothe Gazette

(13 March 1978). Key speakers were David Brose, James B. Griffin, Martha

Otto, and N'omi Greber. ^Denver Service Center Associate Manager Donald L. Bressler to Beal, 20 June 1978, L14 Hopeton Earthworks.
319

also heralded the idea of establishing an archeological center

similar to the Chaco Archeological Center to study the Eastern

Woodland Indians. Finally, he urged expedited drafting of

legislation for Interior department approval so that citizens

could hear the federal government's position as soon as possible. 26 Fagergren' s concern over public reaction proved well-founded

as rumors about federal land acguisition plans swept Ross County.

Even before official study results were known, special interest

groups such as the Ross County Taxpayers Association, Ross County

Farm Bureau, and East Side Civic Improvement Association passed

resolutions opposing park expansion to include Hopeton and other

prime industrial, commercial land. An informal group

representing these opponents from the business community appeared

before the Ross County Planning Commission in late June 1978 to

urge that body to pass a similar resolution. Group leader, Larry

Hardin, president of Hardin Real Estate and an investor in the

stalled North River Place development, warned that the buffer

surrounding the forty-acre Hopeton circle and square would be a thousand acres, putting a total of seven percent of Ross County

in federal ownership. Hardin subsequently launched a petition

drive objecting to the land being removed from tax rolls. 27 Rushing to stave-off an avalanche of public opposition,

Fagergren released the sixty-six-page suitability-feasibility

study for public review on July 7. Stressing that the government

had taken no position and the final approval was up to Congress,

the alternatives ranged from the status quo to full federal

purchase of 1,020.39 acres. Briefing the Ross County Planning

Commission on July 18, Fagergren noted Maston Samson, owner of

forty-five acres, as the lone favorable landowner, and

acknowledged the selfish interests of the growing opposition. He

downplayed economic impacts to the county's tax base, citing 1977

figures crediting more than seven million dollars annually pumped

into the county by heritage tourism. Adding Hopeton, Fagergren

argued, would only increase tourism profits. 28

""Fagergren to Beal, 24 May 1978, D18 Book 2 Jan. 1976-Dec. 1979, Record Group 79, Records of the National Park Service, Federal Records Center,

National Archives and Records Administration, Kansas City, Missouri (hereafter

cited as RG 79, FRC/NARA, Kansas City).

27 "Group Opposes Federal Acquisition of County Land," (22 June 1978) and "Resident Seeks Support in Opposing Land Acquisition," (14 July 1978),

Chillicothe Gazette . M "Newly Completed Study Explores Possibility of Preserving Hopeton Area within National Park System," NPS news release, 7 July 1978, L14 Hopeton

Earthworks; and "Hopeton Earthworks Study Available," (12 July 1978) and "Residents Divided on Land Use for National Park," (22 July 1978), Chillicothe

Gazette.
320

Congress had already acted on adverse impacts to local tax

districts affected by federal land acquisition by passing Public

Law 94-565, providing payments in lieu of taxes. In an effort to

influence Congressman William H. Harsha, thought to be

sympathetic with his anti-Hopeton constituents, NPS calculated

1976 valuations of the 1,020 acres at $4,080. Thanks to

Congress, Ross County would get the same amount for the first

five years following federal acquisition plus an additional $765

annually. After five years, the annual payment would remain at

$7 65. With increased tourism revenues, Ross County would

experience no adverse economic impact by this tax base

reduction. 29 Harsha 's supportive nature as cultivated by Bill Birdsell in

the early 1970s all but turned to hostility, thanks to

miscommunication between the Washington and Midwest Regional

Offices. Irked when his June request for a copy of the

suitability-feasibility report was denied in Washington because

of that office's understanding that it would not be available

until fall, Harsha was rebuffed again even as the report freely

circulated in Chillicothe. In an indignant letter to Secretary

Cecil B. Andrus, Harsha claimed "I believe the National Park

Service deliberately misled me. This apparent effort on the part

of the bureaucracy to deceive a member of Congress is

outrageous." Explaining the blunder, Andrus said the study could

not be considered complete until Interior's position had been

determined sometime in the fall, and apologized for the

inadvertent error. 30 With Carter administration approval, Interior's nod to

include Hopeton Earthworks in the national park system finally

came in February 1979. Previous suggestions to accomplish it by

executive proclamation under authority of the 1906 Antiquities

Act granting the president power to declare a national monument

were laid to rest in favor of congressional action. Although

approved for submission under section 8 of the General

Authorities Act for 1978 and 1979, Interior's delay had spawned

additional slowness in drafting legislation and pushing it

through laborious reviews throughout 1979. 31

letter, 25 July 1978, L14 Hopeton Earthworks. ^Harsha to Andrus, letter, 11 August 1978; "On Capitol Hill," The Plain Dealer (26 August 1978); and Andrus to Harsha, letter, 14 September 1978, all

in L14 Hopeton Earthworks. Harsha was so incensed he had his letter published

under the heading "Federal Bureaucracy" in the August 14 Congressional Record . ^Superintendent 's Report for 1979; Assistant Interior Secretary Bob Herbst to Chairman, Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, Morris K. Udall, letter, 1 February 1979; Fagergren to Harsha, letter, 14 February 1979, L14 Hopeton Earthworks; and "Hopeton Site Approved for National Park,"
321

News of firm federal plans for Hopeton prompted the Ross

County Planning Commission to request Congress not to permit land

or easement purchases until planning and funding were available

for park development. It requested further that the minimum land area be acquired and current tax values be used for

compensation

32 Commissioners made their statement based upon the knowledge

that land values continued to climb. In December 1978, the

commission gave final approval to developers HRH Properties,

Ltd., for the 120-unit, $3.7 million North River Place apartment

complex. Word of grant approval confounded NPS officials. The

Washington Office informed Ohio HUD officials that funding for

North River Place constituted a "direct conflict with adding

Hopeton Earthworks to the National Park System." Receiving no response from HUD, Fagergren later learned that HUD claimed to

have received none of the previous NPS protest letters on the

subject, and lacking any written objections, HUD decided to

proceed with the loan application. 33 HUD did delay the project during 1978, requiring HRH to secure an archeological survey and then to supply the negative

results to the state historic preservation office (SHPO) and the

Keeper of the National Register, both of whom concurred that the

tract lacked cultural resources. Intentionally deciding not to consult with NPS officials over the project, HUD proceeded

through the section 106 consultation process, in accordance with

the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, receiving both

SHPO and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation's

concurrence with a "no adverse effect" determination. Once the

section 106 process concluded, HUD was free to proceed.

Fagergren first learned in June 1979 of these developments as well as HUD's resolve not to change its mind, but to continue

granting HRH time extensions to secure bonding for the HUD grant.

A furious Fagergren found HUD officials had not bothered to read

the NPS Hopeton study, believing that land lacking in cultural resources should not be of interest to NPS. When Fagergren

pointed out the tract was ideal for his agency's own development

Chillicothe Gazette (19 February 1979). The newspaper reported Hardin's

petition drive yielded 250 responses.

32 "Limitations Asked on Federal Park Plan," Chillicothe Gazette (21 March 1979)

"Quotation from Acting Deputy Director Daniel J. Tobin, Jr., to HUD Deputy Director, Ohio Area Office, Sylvester Angel, letter, 4 May 1979; "Apartment Development Planned Near Hopetown, " Chillicothe Gazette (20 December 1978); Fagergren to Assistant Director, Cooperative Planning, Bill W. Dean, telephone call, 1 June 1979; and Dean to Director, HUD Office of Regional Administration, Brenda Head, letter, 4 June 1979, all in L14 Hopeton Earthworks.
322

facilities for Hopeton, the explanation fell on deaf ears. 34 In a desperate effort to get the HUD grant terminated, Fred

Fagergren attempted to reopen the section 106 process by

contending NPS was omitted from the consultation and that adverse

visual and audible effects to the adjacent Hopeton Earthworks NHL were not considered. His request for Omaha officials to reopen

the case with the Advisory Council did precipitate news that the

Council had determined that the low-rise nature of the buildings

would have a minimal impact on the NHL. There was no precedent

for reopening a completed section 106 case, but the Council said

it would consult its solicitor should NPS decide to press the

issue. To Fagergren 's dismay, Regional Director Jimmie L. Dunning decided against it. 35 On August 30, 1979, North River Place developers closed with

HUD on its loan and were set to begin construction. The letter

that Fagergren coaxed the Washington Office to prepare two months

before for the interior secretary's signature was too late.

Signed by Acting Secretary Robert L. Herbst to Acting HUD

Secretary Jay Janis on September 9, the letter sought to prevent

the two departments from working at "cross-purposes." It warned

North River Place would "occupy the only available entrance for

100,000 visitors to Hopeton" and exappropriate the site for an NPS administrative facility. It warned that Interior faced the

"unpleasant possibility" of condemning the HUD project. 36 Reporting on the North River Place groundbreaking ceremony

in late September, a dejected Fred Fagergren refused to give up. Pressing Omaha officials do more, including pressing for

condemnation, Fagergren asserted: "I am appalled that we were

unable to deal with the bureaucracy and have some effect upon

this project. I remain convinced that some effort should be made

Section

106 of the National Historic Preservation Act provides that when federal

funds, permits, or licenses are used on properties possessing significant

cultural resources, a review process designed to mitigate adverse effects must

be undertaken prior to project approval in which the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation is afforded an opportunity to comment. The review

process included providing sufficient information and can result in substantial delays on such federal undertakings.

35 Fagergren to Park Planner Frosty Freeman

1979; Fagergren to Dunning, 9 August 1979; and Dunning to Fagergren, 23 August

1979, all in L14 Acquisition of Hopeton Earthworks.

36Quotation from Herbst to Janis, letter, 7 S€ Drafted by Washington Office Legislative Affairs Specialist Art Eck on July

11, 1979, this pivotal letter took two months to clear channels.]; North River

Place corporate lawyer John Talbott to Fagergren, telephone call, 30 August

1979, L14 Acquisition of Hopeton Earthworks; and MWRO Keyman Arthur Eck to Files, 4 September 1979, Washington Office History Division Files.
323

to work with the Advisory Council to have them at least place

requirements upon the apartment developers to provide the

screening, which will be necessary, on their acreage. The

responsibility is with the Council to minimize impact on historic

resources. The NPS should not bear the responsibility of

screening for off-site projects which are Federally backed. To

plant vegetation north of Barnhart Road as screening will be very

difficult and extremely expensive."37 Determined to put the matter back into perspective, Dunning

stated no legislation had yet been introduced, and condemnation

was "both premature and presumptive." With no acquired

interests, screening requirements had no basis. Two events,

however, soon changed Dunning 's negative position. First, fall

1979 draft legislation to add Hopeton was introduced, then got

incorporated into an omnibus parks bill. Second, Fagergren

reported in mid-November 1979 that land east of Hopeton was under

consideration for an industrial park development by Ross County

Community Improvement Corporation. Encouraged by progress made

on North River Place, developers were salivating to improve

agricultural land to the east. 38 In a December 20, 1979, meeting at the HUD office in

Columbus, Jimmie Dunning spoke bluntly. Concerned by HUD's

failure to communicate honestly, he threatened the political

reality of one government department condemning the project of

another, an embarrassing prospect in an approaching presidential

election year. Dunning presented three ways to reach common

ground and avoid condemnation: realigning the apartment complex

entrance from Highway 23, not Barnhart Road as designed;

installing extensive vegetative screening; and to fence along the

south edge of Barnhart Road to separate apartment dwellers from

tourists. Should these modifications be made, NPS would then

request that the development site be removed from the Hopeton

acquisition. Dunning called for another meeting in early 1980 to discuss mitigation measures. Failure to satisfy NPS concerns, he

warned, would bring certain litigation. 39

Fagergren to Dunning, 21 September 1979, L14; and "Apartment Project

Launched," Chillicothe Gazette (24 September 1979).

38Dunning to Fagergren, 26 September 1979, L14 Acquisition of Hopeton

Earthworks; and Fagergren to Dunning, 14 November 1979, D18.

39Fagergren to files, 21 December 1979; and Dunning to Director William

J. Whalen, 26 December 1979, L14 Acquisition of Hopeton Earthworks. In attendance were Dunning, Fagergren, and Art Eck, all of NPS, and representing

HUD were Sylvester Angel, area manager; Ron Williams and Larry Moore, project

supervisors for North River Place; Eric Axelrod, environmental division; and John Yoakum and Edward Towner, appraisers. Barnhart Road subsequently became

known as Hopetown Road.
324

** Threats Escalate, but Congress is Slow to Act

The promised mitigation meeting had ominous results. The

developer failed to attend, contending instead with a construction site strike, and HUD reneged on earlier assurances

it could leverage the developer to make changes. Fred

Fagergren 's suspicions that the earlier meeting had merely

allowed HUD to claim it listened to NPS concerns proved accurate.

He later learned that an Advisory Council on Historic

Preservation stipulation to HUD was for that agency to consult

with NPS on the project. Until it did, and reported back to the

Council, section 106 compliance had not been completed, and HUD

illegally proceeded with project approval. Surprisingly, a meeting with developers did take place a week later and

representatives were amenable to making design changes. 40 A mid-February conference in Washington, D.C., on the

apartment complex brought consensus that NPS could not afford to

pursue condemnation with a tract price of $1.8 million and

improvements at $3.5 million. NPS would instead work for maximum

mitigation measures, and if those failed to materialize, language

would then be inserted in the Hopeton legislation to provide

funding for NPS to install mitigative features. The following

day, Fagergren and Dunning met with Advisory Council officials to

confirm that HUD failed to complete section 106 compliance and

would be notified of their illegal action and urged to work

closely with NPS on mitigation. Council staff members

acknowledged that intense political pressure had been imposed on them to pass the apartment complex project through the section

106 process. 41 Although no names were used, NPS knew the political

pressure originated from Congressman William Harsha's office.

Harsha staff members wanted NPS to compromise further so that the

retiring congressman could support the Hopeton bill and tell

constituents he helped reduce the total acreage. NPS officials

asserted the agency had already compromised by its willingness to

delete the apartment complex and pursue easements in lieu of fee

purchases. NPS would compromise no further because a minimum

23 and 30 January 1980. Larry Moore delivered

the new HUD position. Developers were uncertain about getting easements for entrance road realignment.

4, Fagergren, summary of 12 February 1980 Washington Office meeting with

Dunning, Eck, Special Assistant to the Director Dave Sherman, Chief

Archeologist Doug Scovill, and Archeologist Diane Gelburd; Fagergren, summary

of 13 February meeting with Dunning and Gelburd, and Advisory Council members

Bob Utley and Charlene Dwin. Utley's letter to HUD Ohio Area Manager

Sylvester Angel is dated 29 February 1980. HUD ' s responded it met its section

106 requirement by meeting with NPS. See Fagergren to Larry Moore, telephone

call of 9 April 1980.
325

boundary for preservation purposes had already been defined. 42 Reducing the amount of farmland taken for Hopeton was precisely what Congressman Harsha intended to do. By May 198 0,

the House subcommittee added two new potential boundary packages

for discussion, one consisting of 150 acres encompassing little

beyond the earthworks themselves, the other a slightly larger

tract at 320 acres. Fagergren opposed both, stating, "We would

be taking the traditional Ohio approach and concentrating on the

mounds and earthworks alone, ignoring the village, camp, and

other type sites."43 He favored no less than 450 acres. Harsha 's persistent lobbying of the House subcommittee paid off

and the 150-acre proposal prevailed with the strong backing of

Congressman John Seiberling (Democrat-Ohio) . The House of

Representatives passed H.R. 3 304-102 on May 20. u Ohio Senator Howard Metzenbaum pledged to shepherd the measure through the Senate and he proved true to his word. By

fall 1980, all NPS-related legislation got lumped together into

an omnibus national parks bill that became known as the National

Park and Recreation Act of 1980. President Jimmy Carter signed

Public Law 96-607 on December 28, 1980. Section 701 pertained to

expansion of Mound City Group National Monument. For Hopeton

Earthworks, a map called "Parcel X," drawn by Harsha's staff,

served as the official boundary map. The 1980 law specified that

no more than 150 acres could be bought in fee, and "Access to

lands in the vicinity of the mounds by existing roadways shall in no way be encumbered by Federal acquisition or administration of

the Monument." It also included a one million dollar ceiling for

land acquisition and development, archeological studies not to

exceed $100,000, and two years to investigate adjacent land to

determine their significance to the expanded national monument. 45 Progress in 1981 and 1982 on acquiring Hopeton Earthworks

stalled with the ushering in of President Ronald Reagan's

summary of meeting with Eck, Gelburd, and Congressman

Harsha 's staff assistant Keith Reicher, 17 March 1980. ""Quotation from Fagergren, comments on congressional options to Ross County Commissioners, 13 May 1980; and Fagergren to HUD, Larry Moore, letter,

12 May 1980. ^"Senate Fight Expected on Proposed Park," (21 May 1980) and "Ross Countian About to Win Government Battle," (19 May 1980), Chillicothe Gazette . John Barnhart worked closely with Harsha 's staff to exclude most of his 600- acre farm, leaving Merrill Vaughn as the principal landowner.

"'Quotation from section 701 of Public Law 96-607; photocopy of "Parcel

X" map; Chief, Office of Legislation [?] to John Barnhart, letter, 6 January

1981, L58; Metzenbaum to Administrative Officer Joan F. Crider, telephone call

of 25 June 1980, all in L14 Acquisition of Hopeton Earthworks; and "Mound City

to Expand to 321 Acres," Chillicothe Gazette (30 December 1980), K3415.
326

administration. Secretary of the Interior James G. Watt, hostile

to further national park system expansion, invoked a land

acquisition moratorium and froze further allocations from the

Land and Water Conservation Fund. Mound City Group management

changed in April as Ken Apschnikat entered on duty as superintendent. Park Service energy expended on Hopeton during

these years involved identifying road corridor alternatives to

eliminate vehicular routes that bisected Hopeton Earthworks and

producing an official 150-acre boundary map. Property owners threatened to stall negotiations for purchase, and take the fight

to court, if need be. Conservation organizations like the

National Parks and Conservation Association began criticizing

James Watt for not proceeding with Hopeton 's acquisition. 46 Lack of progress characterized 1983, too, as the Reagan-Watt

land acquisition moratorium continued. In the face of growing

criticism, Interior officials mandated that each NPS unit

possessing non-federal land within congressionally-authorized

boundaries must prepare "land protection plans" (LPP) to replace

all existing land acquisition plans. LPPs were to consider the

most fiscally-responsible methods for land protection compatible

with the purposes for which Congress authorized each park. LPPs

would provide landowners and other citizens with the reasoning

behind federal intentions for fee simple or other land protection

methods

The massive paperwork exercise began for Mound City Group in

March 1983, with a draft LPP produced late in the year. NPS

inaction on assessing Hopewellian-related sites and reporting to

Congress within two years evoked a critical letter from Ohio

State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO) W. Ray Luce. An

inquiry from John Seiberling, House chairman of the Public Lands

and National Parks subcommittee, brought the agency's reply that

Congress had not authorized nor appropriated funds for such a new

area study, and no funding requests would be made until the LPP was approved. By late 1983, however, the Midwest Regional Office

determined it would proceed with the "Hopewell Sites Study."47

Superintendent's Report for 1981 and 1982; "Boundary Proposal —Hopeton

Earthworks," undated report [circa April 1981], L14; and "Ross County Farmers

Call Federal Plan to Take Land Unjust," Columbus Citizen-Journal (2 January

1981), and "Attorney Fights to Preserve Prehistoric Site," Chillicothe Gazette

(10 February 1982), both in K3415.

47Mark J. Lynott interview, 20 January 1994; Ken Apschnikat interview,

19 August 1993; Superintendent's Report for 1983; "Land Plan in the Works,"

Chillicothe Gazette (18 March 1983); Luce to Congressman Bob McEwen, letter, 8 September 1983, A36; Seiberling to Director Russell Dickenson, letter, 23 September 1983, A36; and response by Randall J. Pope for Dickenson, draft

letter, 6 October 1983. The LPP went on public review in mid-1984. It recommended acquiring Hopeton in fee. See "Mound Draft Plan Ready,"

Chillicothe Gazette (4 May 1984).
327

Phase one of the Hopewell Sites Study, an archeological

evaluation with recommendations, was awarded under contract to

John Blank of Cleveland State University. Blank's findings would

serve as the basis of phase two, a feasibility evaluation for

adding significant sites. NPS also authorized Blank to include

evaluative work at Hopeton, using an emergency grant from the

Ohio SHPO. As this effort commenced, news came that American

Aggregates Corporation of Greenville, Ohio, commenced

negotiations with Hopeton area landowners about sand and gravel

mining operations. In June 1984, Ken Apschnikat learned that

John Barnhart planned to join with Carmel G. (Bud) Tackett to

form the Chief Cornstalk Sand and Gravel Company. Commencing in

a gravel pit first used during the Depression, large areas of

topsoil were peeled away and a bulldozer began excavating gravel

as Barnhart pledged not to mine near the earthworks. By July,

the company applied for a mining permit from the Ohio Department

of Natural Resources. Apschnikat began working closely with the

SHPO to get the permit denied. He found that no legal avenue existed to halt mining operations from impacting an NHL. Apschnikat nonetheless reported the activity for the 1984

"Threats to the Parks" report for Congress as well as having

Hopeton included as a threatened NHL. 48 Ohio law provided that two hundred tons could be removed

without a state permit. SHPO approval no longer was required for

such permits, although SHPO staff could be involved in the

process to protect the NHL. Estimates on gravel content were as high as a 188-year supply at 150 truckloads per day. By mid-July

Apschnikat received the news he dreaded most: with no federal

regulation or action in the area to prevent it, Ohio had no other

choice but to grant the mining permit. While projected

excavations were within the southern boundaries of the NHL, it

did not infringe on the parsimonious 150-acres dictated by

William Harsha. In the fall, Congressman Bob McEwen, Harsha's

successor, inserted one million dollars for Hopeton acquisition

in the House's Interior bill, but it failed to clear the

Senate. 49 Dr. John E. Blank completed the first phase of the Hopewell

Superintendent's Report for 1984; Park Planner Dave Given to Associate

Regional Director John Kawamoto, trip report, preparation of draft Hopewell

Sites Study Task Directive, 1 February 1984; and Apschnikat to Dunning, 19 July 1984, A2623. Although National Parks and Conservation Association first began calling Hopeton a threatened NHL in the early 1980s, NPS first included

it in the 1983 NHL Section 8 Report to Congress.

19 July 1984; Apschnikat to Luce and Franco

Ruffini, telephone call of 30 May 1984, A2623; Superintendent's report for

1984; and "Chief Cornstalk Sand and Gravel Now in Operation," The Advertiser

(19 September 1984). Tests in 1981 determined the premium deposit "one of the best in the South-Central Ohio area."
328

Sites Study in July 1985, identifying more than one hundred sites

in Ross County alone. Keeping citizens informed, Blank's study

underwent public review. Well-known sites were determined to be

significant over other lesser-known sites like villages. To

obviate this bias, NPS circulated the report to the professional

community and in late 1985, convened a special group hosted by

the SHPO to make final site selections to be included in an environmental assessment. The professionals expressed concern

that the limited area identified for purchase did not include all

of its related archeological resources. Habitation sites on the

terraces surrounding the earthworks needed to be preserved and were endangered by gravel quarrying. One expert reported seeing

human skeletal remains and post holes in an area exposed by

quarrying. 50 Efforts to secure the one-million-dollar Hopeton acquisition

appropriation nearly succeeded in 1985. While McEwen again

attached it to the House version, the Senate failed to adopt it.

NPS Director William Penn Mott, Jr., lobbied heavily for the

funding, and succeeded in getting a half-million-dollars

introduced during the conference committee. The funding failed

to be included in the bill's final passage at the Christmas

recess. Thanks to Mott's personal interest, however, the

director pledged to redouble his efforts for fiscal year 1987. 51 Mott enlisted Howard Metzenbaum and the National Parks and

Conservation Association in 1986 to champion Hopeton'

acquisition appropriation in the Senate, and by fall, the fiveyear effort finally succeeded, the result of an exchange of

favors between Metzenbaum and Senator James McClure (RepublicanIdaho) . Much of the year was spent conducting a boundary survey,

but the Vaughn family's steadfast refusal to permit entry forced

NPS to file a condemnation for right of entry lawsuit. By the

end of the year, a draft environmental assessment included six

sites for acquisition: Hopeton Earthworks (including additional

land beyond 150 acres as well as the quarrying operation) , High

Banks Works, Hopewell Mound Group, Spruce Hill Works, Seip

Earthworks, and Harness Group. For the fifth consecutive year,

Hopeton NHL made the endangered landmark list, threatened both by

Mark J. Lynott interview, 20 January 1994; Superintendent's Report for

1985; Given to Kawamoto, trip report 26 April 1985, D18; Blank, "Results of an Intensive Study of Hopewellian Culture in Ross County, Ohio and Publically

Owned Hopewellian Sites in the Remainder of Southern Ohio" (Cleveland: contract with NPS, 1985); Deputy SHPO Franco Ruffini, open letter, 27 November

1985, D18; "Upcoming Meeting Set to Discuss Indian Mounds," Chillicothe

Gazette (4 December 1985); Regional Archeologist Mark Lynott to Chief, Midwest

Archeological Center, F.A. Calabrese, trip report, 20 December 1985, A2623

Reports, Situations.

^Superintendent's Report for 1985; and Mott to Apschnikat, letter, 23 December 1985, L14 Acguisition of Hopeton Earthworks.
329

agriculture and gravel guarrying. John Blank added a sense of

increased urgency by declaring what remained at Hopeton might be

gone in as little as five years. Blank, using aerial

photography, satellite imaging, and computer projections,

asserted that cultivation had rapidly decimated the earthworks

and scant time remained before Hopeton disappeared. The year

also proved significant with John Barnhart declaring bankruptcy,

then filing an inverse condemnation lawsuit against the federal

government, claiming it had restricted his full use and enjoyment

of the disputed Hopeton tract. 52 Even with funding approved for acguisition, prospects for

purchasing the 150-acres at Hopeton Earthworks were dim. In January 1987, the U.S. District Court in Columbus ordered the

Vaughn family to permit NPS access for a boundary study. Work

began on this the following month, and an official appraisal

offer went to the Vaughns and Barnhart at summer's end. Both

rejected it. As legal troubles already complicated the Barnhart

acquisition, the Vaughn negotiation became more problematic upon

the death of Gladys Vaughn and uncertain probate issues. In August 1987, phase two of the Hopewell Sites Study, the

environmental assessment, went on public review, the results of

which urged purchase of more Hopewellian sites.

At this time, the Archaeological Conservancy joined in full

partnership with NPS as a key player in preserving significant

sites. The Conservancy, led by president Mark Michel, owned

ninety acres at Hopewell Mound Group, an interest in High Banks

Works, and negotiations were underway to buy Spruce Hill Works.

The Archaeological Conservancy and National Parks and

Conservation Association stood in the wings, ready to push

Congress to add the sites to an enlarged Mound City Group

National Monument. Assessing the progress at year's end,

Apschnikat recommended that any proposed legislation include a stipulation to rename the NPS unit Hopewell Culture National

"Ken Apschnikat interview, 19 August 1993; Apschnikat, "Mound City

Group National Monument Management Briefing Paper, 1987": Superintendent's

Report for 1986; "Hopeton Earthworks 'Threatened' Again," (22 March 1986), "Gravel Operator Needs Money to Preserve Indian Culture," (7 April 1986), "Mound City on Funding List," (17 September 1986), "Earthworks Part of Bill,"

(23 October 1986), all in Chillicothe Gazette ; and Midwest Region Chief of Land Acquisition Fred Meyer to Assistant Regional Solicitor, 9 July 1986 (regarding "Barnhart Cryder Farms, Ltd., et al vs. United States, Civil No. 354-86L"), L1425. From the mid-1800s to the 1920s, horse-drawn plows caused

an inch of erosion per decade. At the end of World War II, diesel-powered

tractors brought an erosion rate of one-foot per decade. See "A Battle Over

Indian Legacy: Park Service Fights to Save Earthworks," Akron Beacon Journal

(7 July 1986)
330

Historical Park. 53 Acquisition negotiations continued through 1988 without

positive results. In May 1988, Regional Director Don H. Castleberry transmitted the Hopewell Sites Study, mandated by the

1980 Public Law 96-607, to Director Mott. Castleberry

recommended four sites be authorized for immediate inclusion with

Mound City Group: 2 24 more acres at Hopeton, High Banks Works,

Hopewell Mound Group, and Seip Earthworks. Castleberry deferred

inclusion of Spruce Hill Works because of questions raised

concerning its Hopewellian origins, and Harness Group was not

recommended because of loss of integrity. He called for

acquisition, donation, or exchange authority as well as cooperative management flexibility. The Omaha director urged

further boundary studies of the four sites to determine that all

significant resources were included as well as authority to make

minor boundary adjustments up to ten percent of the park unit's

total acreage. Castleberry also endorsed the monument's name change and sufficient appropriations, including deleting the

parsimonious $100,000 development and research ceiling for

Hopeton imposed by Public Law 96-607. Director William Penn

Mott, Jr., endorsed the Midwest Regional Office's recommendation

in July 1988. 54 Settlement on the Barnhart tract of 57.87 acres came in late

1988 with a sheriff's sale of the bankrupt property. NPS

purchased the Hopeton-related parcel under authority of the 1980

legislation, and was dismayed when another sand and gravel

operation acquired the remaining Barnhart interests, including

portions within the NHL boundaries. The Hopeton Unit of Mound

City Group National Monument became official with the deed filing

on January 8, 1990. Under NPS ownership were the southeast

corner of the square earthwork wall, and the southwest ends of

the parallel walls. Negotiations with the Vaughns continued even

as NPS helped draft legislation incorporating the Hopewell Sites

Study recommendations. The Archaeological Conservancy pressed

NPS to include Cedar Banks and Spruce Hill, once testing proved

United States District Court, Southern Ohio District, Eastern Division in Case

No. C-2-86-0779 USA v. 87.68 acres of land, more or less, situate in Ross

County, State of Ohio, and Gladys C. Vaughn, et al., and Unknown Owners,"

granted 20 January 1987, W32 Civil Litigation/Court Procedures; Apschnikat,

open letter, 12 August 1987, D18; "Environmental Assessment, Hopewell Sites

Study, Mound City Group National Monument, Ohio" (Chillicothe, Ohio: NPS, 1987); "Mound City Hopes to Manage More Mounds," (19 August 1987), Chillicothe

Gazette ; Acting Regional Director William Schenk to Director Mott, 13 August

1987, L7617; and Apschnikat to Castleberry, 18 November 1987, D18. Apschnikat

based the name change to emulate the example set by Chaco Culture National

Historical Park. See Ken Apschnikat interview, 19 August 1993. "Castleberry to Mc report 12 July 1988, D18
331

Figure 79: View of Hopeton Earthworks looking west. (NPS/

February 1980)
332

the latter' s authenticity, in the legislative package.

Superintendent William Gibson took the recommendation under

advisement, seeking input from the Hopewell Sites Study's

seventeen original advisors. 55 After a decade of hard work and enduring public skepticism

and muted opposition concerning its efforts, the National Park

Service's vision of an expanded park became more clear in the

public mindset. With the passage of Ronald Reagan's

administration to that of George Bush, less dominant and

arbitrary policymakers held reign within Interior and expansion

of the national park system, while not resuming its earlier

frenetic pace, continued with better coordination and far less

acrimony. Political support in Congress, bolstered by growing

unanimity within the Ohio delegation, flowered as NPS presented

convincing data to support its position. While those involved in

the Mound City Group National Monument expansion effort

experienced considerable frustration during the contentious

1980s, the decade served as a necessary catalyst, permitting

Congress to perform an amazing metamorphosis in Ross County,

Ohio.

** Transformation: Hopewell Culture National Historical Park

While political momentum grew, threats to Hopeton Earthworks

NHL continued unabated as the 1990s dawned. Cultivation

continued on the disputed Vaughn tract with a condemnation trial

set for late summer. Shelly Gravel Company, successor to the

bankrupt Chief Cornstalk operation, set up a crusher plant in May

1990 and began excavating within the NHL's western edge.

Superintendent William Gibson reported amicable relations with

Tim Evans, president of the Thornville, Ohio-based company, and

his willingness to avoid known mounds and earthworks inside the

NHL boundary. Shelly Gravel, operating under the name Chillicothe Sand and Gravel Company, permitted announced NPS

visits onto its property to view operations. One such December

visit came as a result of a complaint received at Ohio Historical

Society concerning a human burial exposed in one of the gravel

pits. An NPS inspection found the area obliterated with no sighting of human bones. Quarrying operations there consumed

Superintendent's Report for 1989; Gibson to Castleberry, 5 September

1989, D18; Michel to Gibson, letter, 7 August 1989, A22; and Gibson, letter to Hopewell Sites Study advisors, 6 September 1989, D18. In addition to the real

estate, NPS paid more than twice that amount to settle the inverse

condemnation lawsuit for a total cost of $289,270. See Chief, Midwest Land

Resources, Fred Meyer to Gibson, 25 January 1990, D18.
333

about eighty square meters of ground per year. 56 James Ridenour became the third National Park Service

director to visit Mound City Group in its history. On his way

home to Indiana, Ridenour stopped on June 14, 1990, to view

Hopeton and familiarize himself with the area and its issues.

While not expressing strong support, Ridenour did nothing to

impede or promote progress on Hopeton and the expanded park

bill. 57Acquisition of Hopeton's remaining 92.13 acres of the

authorized 150 came in late September 1990. In a condemnation

trial in U.S. District Court with defendants Merrill and Lawrence

Vaughn, a federal jury awarded the Vaughns compensation at less

than three percent over the government's final offer. NPS took

immediate possession of the land, along with the right of access

along a farm road. 58 Prompted by lobbying from the Archaeological Conservancy,

Ohio Historical Society, Ohio Archaeological Council, and the

Chillicothe-Ross Chamber of Commerce, Howard Metzenbaum announced

his intention in September 1990 to sponsor legislation expanding

Mound City Group National Monument. Metzenbaum cited his concern

for encroaching developments threatening the areas NPS identified

for acquisition. One such site, the Hopewell Mound Group,

received increased security when the Archaeological Conservancy

purchased the railroad right of way adjacent to Anderson Station

Road. The purchase blocked potential residential development and

preserved Hopewell Mound Group's integrity. 59 With persistent claims that human bones were being exhumed

in the topsoil overburden, a January 9, 1991, onsite meeting at the quarry site took place with Superintendent Gibson, Ohio

Gibson to Castleberry, 6 June 1990, L7019 State Coordinator; Gibson to Evans, letter, 25 April 1990, H34 Ohio NHLs; and Park Ranger Robert Peterson

to Gibson, 17 December 1990, H30.

Gibson to Castleberry, 6 October 1990, L7019 State Coordinator; Mound

City Group squad meeting minutes, 2 October 1990, A4031 Meetings;

Superintendent's Report for 1990; and Jane Schmucker, "National Park Planned: Mound City to Pay $258,000 for Hopewell Land," Chillicothe Gazette (24 September 1990). On September 20, the jury set the price at $258,249, and the Vaughns were permitted to harvest existing crops.

59Metzenbaum to Interior Secretary Manual Lujan, letter, 11 September

1990, H30; President, Chillicothe-Ross Chamber of Commerce, James L. Doersam,

to Congressman Bob McEwen, letter, 16 February 1990, D18; Gibson to Castleberry, 6 November 1990, L7019; and Mound City Group squad meeting

minutes, 2 October 1990, A4031.
334

Deputy SHPO Franco Ruffini, and Regional Archeologist Mark J. Lynott. They were accompanied by Oliver Collins, member of the

Tallige Cherokee Nation and a representative of the Ohio

Traditional Indian Rights Council. Unlike the December

inspection, pieces of human bone and lithic debris were discovered and given to Oliver Collins for ceremonial reinterment

elsewhere. The meeting also produced the startling revelation

that spring 1991 quarrying would take place twenty feet away from

the NPS boundary. Should quarrying be allowed to progress

unchecked, Regional Archeologist Lynott observed that NPS' 150 acres "will be a remnant pedestal surrounded by quarry waste."

Lynott recommended invoking section 9 of the Mining in the

National Parks Act of 1976 (Public Law 94-429) , with its

provisions of notifying Congress and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation of mining threats to national historic

landmarks. He also called on NPS to work with the Ohio SHPO to

acquire emergency funds for a research program to salvage areas

in advance of quarrying to recover archeological information

before it could be obliterated. Concurring with Lynott 's findings, Midwest Archeological Center manager F. A. Calabrese

informed Regional Director Don Castleberry "It is imperative that

the Service immediately respond to this threat. . . [because] a significant part of the NHL will be destroyed in 1991.

60 Notifying congressional representatives and the Shelly

Company of the adverse effect caused by mining, the non- confrontational NPS action and persistent calls for cooperation

resulted in such a positive atmosphere that the local newspaper

hailed the development. Congressman Bob McEwen pledged his

utmost to effect a "reasonable and equitable settlement." A

coalition of national conservation organizations stepped up

efforts to convince Congress and the Bush administration to use Land and Water Conservation Fund money to purchase the entire

Hopeton Earthworks NHL. 61 On March 21, 1991, Howard Metzenbaum, member of the Senate

Energy and Natural Resources Committee, introduced S. 749, to

transform Mound City Group National Monument into Hopewell

Culture National Historical Park. The legislation incorporated

Quotations from Lynott, Hopeton Earthworks Status Report, undated

[circa January 1991]; Mark J. Lynott interview, 20 January 1994; and Calabrese

to Castleberry, 17 January 1991, H30.

61 Mid-Atlantic Regional Director James W. Coleman, Jr., to President,

The Shelly Company, Don E. Mill, letter, 8 February 1991, H30; McEwen to

Coleman, letter, 22 February 1991, and Coleman to McEwen, letter, 2 April

1991, H30; "Working Together to Preserve Hopewells," editorial (18 February

1991) and Lou Moliterno, "Parks Might Want More Private Land After Find," (15 February 1991), both in Chillicothe Gazette ; and "Coalition Asks U.S. to Buy

Historic Hopewell Land," The Plain Dealer (10 February 1991).
335

recommendations of the Hopewell Sites Study, calling for adding

224 more acres to complete Hopeton Earthworks NHL, High Banks

Works (190 acres), Hopewell Mound Group (180 acres), and Seip

Earthworks (168 acres) . Metzenbaum's bill called for further

evaluative studies for possible addition of Spruce Hill, Harness

Site, and Cedar Banks, as well as "other areas significant to

Hopewellian culture." He informed his colleagues of the need for

swift action. 62 Perpetuating the cooperative spirit, a public and private

sector meeting in late March 1991 with representatives from NPS,

Metzenbaum's office, Ohio Historical Society, and Chillicothe

Sand and Gravel reached agreement on salvaging Hopeton artifacts.

Volunteer archeologists, working in advance of bulldozers, began

finding hearths used for baking food or pottery and other

Hopewellian objects. 63 As gravel quarrying proceeded at full speed, Congressman Bob

McEwen introduced a companion House bill to Metzenbaum's S. 749

designated H.R. 2328 on May 14, 1991. A week later, Senate

subcommittee hearings began with the most convincing testimony

delivered by Mark Michel, president of the Archaeological

Conservancy. Michel urged preserving as much as possible of

"Prehistoric America's Golden Age," and recommended additional

acreage to preserve Hopewell Mound Group and Seip Earthworks, to

avoid future Hopeton-like adverse developments. 64 On July 11, 1991, property estimates for the Hopewell sites

developed by the Midwest Regional Office lands division in

cooperation with the Trust for Public Land were presented to

Congress. Advised of the three-million-dollar pricetag for the

combined 762 acres, neither Senate nor House subcommittees took

62Metzenbaum to Director James M. Ridenour, letter, 9 April 1991; Gibson

to Director, National Museum of American History, Roger Kennedy, letter, 4 and

17 January 1991, D18 and H30; "Congress to See Mound City Expansion Pitch,"

Chillicothe Gazette (23 March 1991); Eastern Regional Director, Archaeological

Conservancy, Sylvia Ball, to Members of the Ohio Advisory Committee, 11 April

1991; "S. 749, A Bill to Rename and Expand the Boundaries of the Mound City

Group National Monument in Ohio" and remarks of Senator Howard Metzenbaum, The Congressional Record—Senate (21 March 1991), S. 4013-14; and Briefing

Statement Prepared for Secretary Lujan, 27 March 1991.

63Mound City Group staff meeting minutes, 26 Marc and Lou Moliterno, "Meeting Prompts Optimism: All Sides Looking to Save Indian Remains," Chillicothe Gazette (5 April 1991). ""H.R. 2328, To Rename and Expand the Boundaries of the Mound City

Group National Monument in Ohio," 102d Congress, 1st Session, 14 May 1991; Gibson to Castleberry, 11 July 1991, L7019 State Coordinator; and Michel

testimony, 21 May 1991, before the Subcommittee on Public Lands, National

Parks and Forests, Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, United States

Senate. Michel also spoke for National Parks and Conservation Association and Society for American Archaeology.
336

any action before their end-of-summer recess. Chances for early

acquisition of one site, the High Banks Works, improved in late

July when its owners sold a one-year option to the Archaeological

Conservancy. Celebrating all of these positive developments,

including the NPS's diamond anniversary, Mound City Group hosted

a ceremony dedicating the Hopeton NHL with a plaque and Hopeton

Unit's addition to the monument on August 25, complete with a bus

tour to the site. 65 On September 23, the Senate unanimously passed S. 749, and

on November 19, the House Subcommittee on National Parks and

Public Lands first held hearings on it. Superintendent William

Gibson sat with Director James M. Ridenour as he testified for

the Bush administration in favor of both bills. Ridenour

informed the subcommittee that the gravel company's self-imposed

moratorium on excavating next to the earthworks in the same area where human remains were uncovered had ended in late October.

Ridenour stated, "The mined area has been expanded and topsoil is now being stripped off heretofore undisturbed areas that likely

may contain additional remains of the Hopewell people and their

culture. Without the protection offered by S. 749 the gravel

company will destroy the remaining 60% of the Landmark that they

currently own."66 Weighing in on the quarrying threat and supporting full

federal acquisition of Hopeton Earthworks NHL, the Advisory

Council on Historic Preservation issued a special report per

section 9a of Mining in the National Parks Act of 1976. Visiting

the site on September 5, the Council made formal recommendations

to Interior Secretary Manuel Lujan on November 4. Supporting the

bills before Congress, the Council recommended salvage archeology

in advance of short-term topsoil stripping, called on NPS to

conduct a professional NHL boundary survey, and urged

preservation of all historic resources at the site. 67

Gibson to Castleberry, 7 August 1991, L7019 State Coordinator; Deputy

Assistant Secretary of the Interior J. F. Spegnole to Chairman, Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, Senator J. Bennett Johnston, letter, 27 August

1991; "Major Hopewell Earthworks to be Acquired," The Archaeological

Conservancy Newsletter (Summer 1991); Superintendent's Report for 1991; and 25 August 1991 invitation, A8215 Diamond Anniversary.

^Quotation from Ridenour statement to Subcommittee on National Parks

and Public Lands, House Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, on S. 749 and H.R. 2328, 19 November 1991; Congressional Record—Senate , 23 September

1991, S13471; Legislative Affairs Specialist Gerald Tays to Files, 19 November

1991; and Gibson to Castleberry, 12 November 1991, L7019 State Coordinator. Excavators needed eighty tons for a project and promised future pit expansion

would be to the north and northwest, not east toward the earthworks.

"chairman, Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, John F. W. Rogers, to Secretary Lujan, letter, 4 November 1991; Report of the Advisory

Council on Historic Preservation on the Threat of Surface Mining to Hopeton
337

While the House subcommittee approved H.R. 2328 in early

December, it did not mark up the bill until March 19, 1992. On

March 25, the House Interior and Insular Affairs Committee

approved it with a voice vote and sent it to the full House of

Representatives for consideration. First scheduled for a vote on April 7, H.R. 2328 was pulled from the schedule upon Congressman

Bob McEwen's request when he discovered he could not attend.

Following the Easter recess, the House took up and passed the measure on May 12. 68 The final step on the long, tortuous road to add all of

Hopeton Earthworks NHL and other related Hopewell culture sites

to the national park system came on May 27, 1992. President

George Bush signed Public Law 102-294 authorizing Hopewell

Culture National Historical Park. Upon Bush's signature, Mound

City Group National Monument ceased to exist as a distinct

administrative entity. Mound City Group became a unit, like the

previously-added 150 acres of Hopeton Earthworks, of the larger

national historical park. Hopewell Mound Group, Seip Earthworks,

High Banks Works, and additional Hopeton acreage were authorized

for acquisition, but the act did not include appropriations to

carry out its provisions. Thanks to lobbying by the

Archaeological Conservancy's Mark Michel, the act called for

further study and consideration for adding Cedar Bank, Spruce

Hill, and the Harness Site (Liberty Works) . Interest by a southern Indiana congressman resulted in the Mann Site of that

state being added to the study list. 69 Elation over the president's signature creating the expanded

national historical park, soon became tempered by political

Earthworks National Historic Landmark, Chillicothe, Ohio, In Accordance with

9(a) of the Mining in the National Parks Act of 1976 (October 1991);

Superintendent's Report for 1991; and Gibson to Castleberry, 12 November 1991, L7019 State Coordinator. Historic resources might range from early AngloEuropean settlement to troop movements and encampments of General Sherman

during the Civil War. See also Mark J. Lynott interview, 20 January 1994. Lynott stated both the Council and SHPO refused to invoke section 106 review

on the Ohio Department of Transportation, which used federal funds to purchase

much of Ross County's gravel, including that mined at Hopeton Earthworks NHL. ^Mound City Group squad meeting, 6 December 1991, 27 March 1992, and 21 April 1992, A4031 Meetings; "Mound City Bill Expected to Pass Easily,"

Chillicothe Gazette (26 March 1992); Congressional Record—House 13 March

1992, D270 and 2 April 1992 [page?]; and Gibson to Castleberry, 11 May 1992, L7019 State Coordinator. A concern voiced by Congressman Bruce Vento that the similarity in names might bring confusion, NPS responded that public education

would negate any perceived similarity between Hopewell Culture National

Historical Park and Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site. See Gibson to Castleberry, 11 February and 10 March 1992, L7019 State Coordinator.

^William Gibson interview, 24 August 1993; and Gibson to Castleberry,

15 June 1992, L7019, State Coordinator.
338

Figure 80: At top of this aerial view is Hopeton Earthworks with

the immediately adjacent Chillicothe Sand and Gravel Company.

(NPS/1993)
339

reality, expressed best by Superintendent Bill Gibson: "My real concern was the funding issue, which I knew was the crux of the

matter; the mere legislation would be insufficient. In fact,

Director Ridenour at one point commented that 'the sites are not

preserved because they're not funded, ' even though the

legislation existed. He had had the experience—and I gained it

through this process—to know that having a law on the books that

set aside an area is not the same as acquiring and managing

it. . . . I didn't appreciate it at that time because the immediate

goal was to get that legislation, and it was wonderful.... [It]

turned out you can't do much until you do the acquisition."70 Gravel operations continued during the 1992, and land

acquisition negotiations with the gravel company were conducted

by the Trust for Public Land. By December, an impasse developed

over price. The company's demand for more than $3 million did

not come close to the estimates provided to Congress. Trust for

Public Land negotiators withdrew, turning the matter back to NPS

for resolution. In early January 1993, Superintendent Gibson

reported renewed, aggressive quarrying at Hopeton. Heavy

equipment moved eastward, toward the NPS boundary. Gibson

requested that Omaha officials seek condemnation authority and

emergency reprogramming of acquisition funds to halt the gravel

quarrying within Hopewell Culture National Historical Park's

authorized boundaries. 71 On February 23, 1993, Acting Assistant Secretary for Policy,

Management, and Budget Brad Leonard notified Congress of

Interior's intention to file a declaration of taking. The

emergency condemnation covered 211.40 acres owned by the

Chillicothe Sand and Gravel Company. Leonard argued the measure

was the only way to stop the quarrying, estimating that

"Approximately 60-70 acres within the park have been stripped and we have no assurance that the destruction will cease." To

reimburse the gravel company, up to $1.5 million were reprogrammed from Cumberland Island National Seashore, Georgia,

to cover the costs. 72 Quarrying at Hopeton during 1993 continued to accelerate as acquisition negotiations intensified. Of the 201 proposed acres, sixty-seven were destroyed by mining, and NPS determined not to purchase those acres, but concentrate on the remaining 134 acres. William Gibson interview, 24 August 1993.

71 Ibid.; and Gibson to Castleberry, 7 January 1993, H34.

72Leonard to Chairman, Subcommittee on Interior and Related Agencies,

Committee on Appropriations, Senator Robert C. Byrd, letter, 23 February 1993, L1425. Identical letters were sent to Congressman Sidney R. Yates, chairman,

Subcommittee on Interior and Related Agencies, and Senator J. Bennett

Johnston, chairman, Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
340

In the failure of negotiations, the declaration of taking action

continued. 73 Without undergoing legal proceedings in U.S. District Court,

settlement came in 1995 as result of the declaration of taking

initiative on 134 acres at Hopeton Earthworks. An arbitrator

successfully negotiated agreement between NPS and Chillicothe

Sand and Gravel Company. Eight acres in agricultural easement

also were negotiated for Hopeton, and good progress was made on the Hopewell Mound Group acquisition with the Archaeological

Conservancy that same year. In 1996, surveys of three parcels

of land totalling ninety-three acres took place to the west and

south of Hopewell Mound Group's proposed boundary. Late in the

year, surveying along the north boundary began. 75 Planning for the future of Hopewell Culture National

Historical Park includes additional land acquisition,

development, and increased staff depending on congressional

appropriations. Surely no preservation battle will be as grueling, time-consuming, and resource-degrading as the one fought over Hopeton Earthworks. NPS remains vigilant, having put

the public on notice that other significant Hopewellian sites

merit concern and preservation.

The National Park Service is programming for and building

the fundamental infrastructure needed for an expanded national

historical park, utilizing its historic Ross County base at the

former Mound City Group National Monument. Facilities

reconfiguration of the 1990s, conducted throughout the Mound City

Group unit, proved not only excitingly disruptive to NPS staff,

but reinforced the concept that times had indeed changed.

Working at the Mound City Group unit headquarters was nothing

like what it had been in decades past, and certainly the "City of

the Dead" during the mid-1990s had found new life, challenge, and

excitement. And that is how it should be, as present and future

Americans strive to understand the Hopewell culture, by walking

amidst ancient monuments.

Superintendent's Report for 1993.
341

APPENDIX A: LIST OF UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PERSONNEL

CONNECTED WITH MOUND CITY GROUP NATIONAL MONUMENT/

HOPEWELL CULTURE NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK1 President Warren G. Harding signed an executive order

declaring Mound City Group National Monument on March 2, 1923.

Because the monument came from land within Chillicothe's federal

reservation containing Camp Sherman, it came under the

jurisdiction of the Secretary of War. The War Department

immediately assigned administration via a revocable agreement to

the Ohio Historical Society. Federal jurisdiction of the

monument changed on August 10, 1933, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt assigned prehistoric and historical monuments to the

National Park Service via the Secretary of the Interior. The

bureau terminated the state's onsite involvement as of July 24,

1946. Mound City Group National Monument thereafter received

onsite National Park Service administration, continuing through

its redesignation on May 27, 1992, as Hopewell Culture National

Historical Park.

Mound City Group's superintendent also administered William

Howard Taft National Historic Site from December 2, 1969 through

December 3, 1970, and subsequently served as general

superintendent of the Ohio National Park Service Group (including

Mound City Group NM, William Howard Taft NHS, and Perry's Victory

and International Peace Memorial) from March 7, 1971 through July

15, 1975, at which point the Ohio NPS Group was abolished. In the mid to late 1990s, managers of Hopewell Culture NHP, William

Howard Taft NHS, and Dayton Aviation Heritage NHP discussed

sharing personnel, services, and other resources in a looselyformed cooperative effort to be called "Southern Ohio Group."

President of the United States

Warren G. Harding: 1921-1923

Calvin Coolidge: 1923-1929

Herbert C. Hoover: 1929-1933

Franklin D. Roosevelt: 1933-1945

Harry S Truman: 1945-1953

Dwight D. Eisenhower: 1953-1961

John F. Kennedy: 1961-1963

Lyndon B. Johnson: 1963-1969

Richard M. Nixon: 1969-1974

Gerald R. Ford: 1974-1977

Information on secretaries of the interior and bureau management

officials can be found in Danz, Harold P., compiler, Historic Listing of National Park Service Officials (Washington, D.C. : U.S. Government Printing

Office, 1991), with updates from 1995 based on the author's personal

observations
342

Jimmy E. Carter: 1977-1981

Ronald W. Reagan: 1981-1989

George H. W. Bush: 1989-1993

William J. Clinton: 1993-

Secretary of War2 John W. Weeks, 1921-1925

Dwight F. Davis, 1925-1929

James W. Good, 1929

Patrick J. Hurley, 1929-1933

George H. Dern, 1933-1936

Harry H. Woodring, 1936-1940

Henry L. Stimson, 1940-1945

Robert Porter Patterson, 1945-1947

Secretary of the Interior

Harold L. Ickes, March 4, 1933-February 15, 1946

Julius A. Krug, March 18, 1946-November 30, 1949

Oscar L. Chapman, December 1, 1949-January 20, 1953

Douglas McKay, January 21, 1953-April 15, 1956

Fred A. Seaton, June 8, 1956-January 20, 1961

Stewart L. Udall, January 21, 1961-January 20, 1969

Walter J. Hickel, January 21, 1969-November 25, 1970

Rogers C. B. Morton, January 30, 1971-April 30, 1975

Stanley K. Hathaway, June 13, 1975-October 9, 1975

Thomas S. Kleppe, October 17, 1975-January 20, 1977

Cecil D. Andrus, January 23, 1977-January 20, 1981

James G. Watt, January 21, 1981-November 8, 1983

William C. Clark, November 21, 1983-February 6, 1985

Donald P. Hodel, February 7, 1985-January 20, 1989

Manuel Lujan, Jr., February 3, 1989-January 20, 1993

Bruce Babbitt, January 22, 1993-

Director, National Park Service

Arno B. Cammerer, August 10, 19 3

3 -August 9, 194

Newton Drury, August 20, 194 0-March 31, 19 51

Arthur B. Demaray, April 1, 1951-December 8, 1951

Conrad L. Wirth, December 9, 1951-January 7, 1964

George B. Hartzog, Jr., January 8, 1964-December 31, 1972

Ronald H. Walker, January 1, 1973-January 3, 1975

Gary E. Everhardt, January 13, 1975-May 27, 1977

William J. Whalen, July 5, 1977-May 13, 1980

Russell E. Dickenson, May 15, 1980-March 3, 1985

William Penn Mott, May 1, 1985-April 15, 1989

James M. Ridenour, April 17, 1989-January 20, 1993

Roger Kennedy, June 1, 1993-March 29, 1997

Robert G. Stanton, August 4, 1997-

2Bioqraphical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-1989 , One Hundredth Congress, Second Session, Senate Document No. 100-34 (Washington,

D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1989).
343

Regional Director. National Park Service

Region One Office. Richmond. Virginia3 Thomas J. Allen, June 16, 1944-December 8, 1951

Elbert Cox, December 9, 1951-July 14, 1955

Region Five /Northeast Regional Office. Philadelphia.

Pennsylvania4 Daniel J. Tobin, July 15, 1955-December 31, 1959

Ronald F. Lee, January 11, 1960-December 30, 1965

Lemuel A. Garrison, January 2, 1966-July 11, 1970

Henry G. Schmidt, July 12, 1970-August 22, 1971

Chester L. Brooks, August 22, 1971-January 5, 1974

Midwest Regional Office. Omaha, Nebraska5 J. Leonard Volz, January 6, 1974-December 1, 1975

Merrill D. Beal, February 2, 1975-December 2, 1978

Jimmie L. Dunning, December 3, 1978-July 17, 1983

Randall R. Pope (Acting), July 18, 1983-December 31, 1983

Charles H. Odegaard, January 1, 1984-February 14, 1987

Don H. Castleberry, February 15, 1987-May 1, 1994

William W. Schenk, May 2, 1994-September 30, 1995

Field Director. National Park Service6 Midwest Field Office. Omaha. Nebraska

William W. Schenk, October 1, 1995-September 30, 1997

^tfith the regionalization of the National Park Service during the Great

Depression, four regional offices were established. Ohio came under the purview of the Region One Office upon the establishment of the Richmond,

Virginia, headquarters on August 7, 1937. In 1962, this region was redesignated "Southeast Region" and the headquarters relocated to Atlanta,

Georgia, on January 9, 1972.

4The Region Five Office was established in 1955 and redesignated as "Northeast Regional Office" in 1962. Following the January 6, 1974 transfer

of parks in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin, to the Midwest Regional Office, the Philadelphia headquarters became known as "Mid-Atlantic Regional Office."

5The Omaha regional office opened on August 1, 1937, as the Region Two

Office, which became known in 1962 as the Midwest Regional Office. With the creation of the Rocky Mountain Regional Office in early 1974, Omaha officials transferred the western states of Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South

Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming to the new Denver, Colorado, office. Shifted to the Midwest Region from Philadelphia were Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota,

Ohio, and Wisconsin.

6The 1995 reorganization of the National Park Service saw the abolition

of ten regional offices and the institution of seven "Field Areas, " one of which was the Midwest Field Area with a "Field Director's Office" in Omaha incorporating ten states of the previous Midwest Region, and adding Arkansas, South Dakota, and North Dakota. The professional staff of the former Midwest

Regional Office were subsequently divided according to geographical ecosystems

to form two "system support offices." Ohio parks, along with those in Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin were serviced by the Great Lakes System Support Office, vhich was itself directly accountable to the Midwest Field Director.
344

Regional Director , National Park Service7 Midwest Regional Office. Omaha, Nebraska

William W. Schenk, October 1, 1997-

Superintendent , Mound City Group National Monument

(Acting Custodian) William W. Luckett, July 24-September 24, 1946

(Custodian/Supt. ) Clyde B. King, November 2, 1946-March 31, 1962

James C. W. ("Bill") Riddle, September 4, 1962-June 12, 1965

James W. Coleman, Jr., July 18, 1965-July 2, 1967

George F. Schesventer, July 30, 1967-March 6, 1971

(General Supt.) William C. Birdsell, March 7, 1971-July 15, 1975

Fred Fagergren, Jr., October 26, 1975-March 7, 1981

Kenneth E. Apschnikat, April 19, 1981-August 13, 1988

(Acting Supt.) Bonnie M. Murray, August 14, 1988-December 3, 1988

William Gibson, December 4, 1988-May 26, 1992

Superintendent, Hopewell Culture National Historical Park

William Gibson, May 27, 1992-April 15, 1993

Johnny D. Neal, June 27, 1993-

Other Mound City Group/Hopewell Culture Employees:

Park Archeologist

1961-1965 Richard D. Faust

1965-1967 Lee H. Hanson, Jr. 1967-1970 Nicolas F. Veloz, Jr. 1970-1971 Benjamin Morris

1971-1972 Robert Costales

1995-1998 Bret J. Ruby (term)

1999- Jennifer Pederson

Supervisory Park Ranger (Chief. Interpretation and Resource

Management)

1972-1975 Robert Holmes

1975-1977 Michael S. Bitsko

1977-1987 Jerry B. Chilton

1987-1992 Harrie Reed Johnson

1992- Robert C. Burgoon

Park Technician

1974-1982 Bonnie Meyer Murray

1983-1985 John A. Mangimeli

7The 1995 reorganization proved too confusing and the nomenclature

returned to the more familiar designations. Midwest Field Area reverted to Midwest Region, and field director titles were similarly changed. System

support offices co-located in Philadelphia, Atlanta, Denver, San Francisco,

and Omaha, were shuffled back into single "Support Offices." Consequently,

the Great Lakes and Great Plains system support offices became the "Midwest

Support Office" at the onset of fiscal year 1998.
345

Park Ranger (title change from Park Technician)

1985-1986 John A. Mangimeli

1986-1988 Jean M. Schaeppi

1988-1995 Robert W. Petersen

1995-1999 Rebecca R. Jones

1999-

Park Ranger Intake

1971-1975 George M. Kane

1977-1980 Theresa F. Nichols

Maintenance Foreman

1948-1979 J. Vernon Acton

1979-1987 Jerrold D. Napier

1988-1993 Jon H. Casson

Maintenance Worker Supervisor (title change)

1993- Jon H. Casson

Maintenance Worker (permanent appointment)

1969 Gerald Monroe

1971-1994 Phillip H. Egan

1981- David W. Dere (VRA)

1994 Timothy A. Newberry (VRA)

1994-1997 James N. Sharps (VRA)

1997-1999 Charles A. Henry (reinstatement)

Maintenance Mechanic

1994- Phillip H. Egan

Laborer ( Stav-in-School)

1982-1985 Douglas A. Wolfe

1986 Penny A. McGraw

1987 Lana K. Detty

1988-1989 Orville Brewster

1989-1990 Harry Pierce

1990-1992 Everett Lee Anderson

1992-1993 Quienton A. Perkins

1993-1994 Wendy J. Knisley

1998- Stephen T. Johnson

Maintenance Worker /Laborer (Seasonal appointment)

1962-1971 Walter Fraley

1977-1978 Joseph D. Anglemyer

1979 Joseph D. Anglemyer, Terry L. Leach

1980 Terry L. Leach

1981 Terry Fry, Joseph D. Anglemyer, Ronald A. Watkins, David W. Dere

1982 Joseph D. Anglemyer

1983-1986 Joseph D. Anglemyer

1987 Emery Coker, Joseph D. Anglemyer, Ann Lupton,

Jerry Isaac
346

1988 Joseph D. Anglemyer

1989 none

1990 none

1991 Peggy Ater

1992 Peggy Ater, Eldon Smith

1993 Timothy Newberry

1994-1995 Joseph Johnston

1996 Thomas Hagerty, Robert Alexander

Clerk-Stenocrrapher

1946-1947 Louis Lundblad

1948 Betty Bateman

Secretary

1971-1976 Virginia Basye Skaggs

1979-1980 Shirley Keesee-Lambert

1981-1990 Lisa Stanton White

1990- Laura L. Long

Clerk-Tvpist

1948-1962 Margaret Henry

1973 (Summer) Barbara Green

1974 (Summer) Barbara Green

1974-1975 Rhonda Hughes

1976-1977 Betty Wainscott

1977 (June) Kristy Siberell

1977-1979 Shirley Keesee-Lambert

Administrative Aid

1962-1963 Sam Peck

1963-1967 Delmar Peterson

Administrative Clerk

1967-1969 Virginia Basye Skaggs

1969-1973 Joan F. Crider

1982-1983 Bonnie M. Murray

Administrative Technician

1973-1980 Joan F. Crider

1980-1982 Shirley Keesee-Lambert

1983-1993 Bonnie M. Murray

Administrative Support Specialist (title change)

1993-1994 Bonnie M. Murray

Administrative Officer (title change)

1994- Bonnie M. Murray

Seasonal Interpreters

1952 Max Baughman

1953 Margaret Anderson

1956-1962 Richard Painter
347

1963 Richard Painter, Francis Spetnagel

1964-1965 Richard Painter, Martin Peterson

1966 Richard Painter, Martin Peterson, Joan Thelan

1967 David Augsburger, Bill Weaver, Martin Peterson

1968 Bob Ward, Martin Peterson, Bill Weaver, Martin

Peterson

1969 Linda Shreve, Susan Brady, Kathleen Allyn,

Pamela Shoemaker

1970 Pam Shoemaker, Pamela Gaston, Margie Pulliam,

Pamela Ramsey

1971 Pam Shoemaker, Pam Ramsey

1972 Pam Ramsey, Joe Gothard, Sara Knox

1973 Joe Gothard, Terry Allen, Marilyn Kellough

1974 Janet Prine, Bob Kline, Joe Gothard

1975 Joe Gothard, Bob Kline, Llyn Conrad,

(Communications Specialist) , Don Floyd

1976 Joe Gothard, Carl Roth, Debbie Shoemaker

1977 Jim Anderson, Katie Keim, Lynn Boydelatour

1978 Jim Anderson, Lynn Boydelatour, Anita Picciano

1979 Jim Anderson, Steve Race (Co-Op Ed) , Beverly

Cooper

1980 Jim Anderson, Kathy Albers (Co-Op Ed) , Lisa

Kutschbach (Co-Op Ed)

1981 Jim Anderson, Kathy Albers (Co-Op Ed) , Ruth

Bartlett

1982 Jim Anderson, Brent Devitt, Ruth Bartlett

1983 Jim Anderson, Dave Ziegler, Nita Waggoner, Ruth

Bartlett

1984 Jim Anderson, Jody Newton, Nita Waggoner

1985 Jim Anderson, Gayle Stadt, Nita Waggoner

1986 Jim Anderson, Gayle Stadt, Misty Jackson

1987 Sheila Mays, Jim Anderson, Nita Waggoner, Gayle

Stadt, Ken Yeso, Allen Burt

1988 Sheila Mays, Paula Potts, John Short, Elizabeth

Houserman, Claude Britt

1989 Michael Hamilton, Mary Current, John Morrell,

Elizabeth Houserman, Sharon Bogner,

Claude Britt

Mary Current, Pamela Barnes, Elizabeth

Houserman, Claude Britt

Mary Current, Pamela Barnes, Jody Newton,

Claude Britt

Mary Current, Michael Hamilton, Claude Britt,

Elizabeth Houserman

Mary Current, Michael Hamilton, Elizabeth

Houserman, Paula Butcher, Jeanette Lamb

Mary Current, Paula Butcher

Mary Current, Paula Butcher, Deborah Wood

Deborah Wood, William Anderson

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994--1995

1996

Museum Aids

1994-1995
348

Archeology Technician

1995-1996 William E. Anderson (term)

1995-1998 Jennifer Pederson

1995- Leslie Frazee, Scott Troy, Tori Saneda

199 6- Deborah Wood

Biological Technician

1996- Constance Jones
349

APPENDIX B: ANNUAL VISITATION FIGURES

Opening of the Highway 35/50 Bypass in 1968 resulted in a dip in attendance with many complaints received concerning lack

of directional signs. In late December 1969, Mound City Group

reported its one-millionth visitor. [See "Mound City Visitor

Total Crosses One-Million Mark," Chillicothe Gazette (27 February

1970)]. In the late 1970s, NPS instituted a different method of

gathering and calculating visitation data, thereby explaining the

apparent visitation drop. In recent years, adoption of an entrance fee explains declining or flattening of visitation

figures.

1946: 9,039 1976: 66,600

1947: 32,322 1977: 84,100

1948: 35,470 1978: 70,487

1949: 41,604 1979: 51,915

1950: 44,484 1980: 57,539

1951: 44,181 1981: 60,528

1952: 44,683 1982: 44,051

1953: 49,771 1983: 43,339

1954: 55,000 1984: 42,420

1955: 53,000 1985: 39,632

1956: 44,500 1986: 43,172

1957: 43,400 1987: 46,172

1958: 41,600 1988: 42,952

1959: 43,000 1989: 42,123

1960: 29,000 1990: 38,509

1961: 31,800 1991: 42,322

1962: 30,700 1992: 41,402

1963: 43,800 1993: 33,832

1964: 45,800 1994: 37,042

1965: 56,000 1995: 38,836

1966: unavailable 1996: 37,005

1967: unavailable 1997: 34,660

1968: 54,300 1998:

1969: 47,200 1999:

1970: 70,000 2000:

1971: 66,400 2001:

1972: 84, 191 2002:

1973: 85,900 2003:

1974: 82,800 2004:

1975: 97,600 2005:
350

APPENDIX C: LEGISLATION

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA A PROCLAMATION

[No. 1653—Mar. 2, 1923—12 Stat. 2298] Whereas, by section 9 of the Act of Congress approved August 9, 1921 (42 Stat. 147-150), the Director of the Veterans' Bureau, subject to the general direction of the President, was authorized to utilize, inter alia, exist- ing facilities of the War Department in connection with the care, rehabili- tation and return to civil employment of disabled persons discharged from

the military or naval forces of the United States; And whereas, the President, at the request of the Director of the Veterans' Bureau and upon the recommendation of the Secretary of War, as- signed to the Veterans' Bureau, for use in carrying out the provisions of the

said Act of Congress, the United States Military Reservation known as Camp Sherman, in the State of Ohio; And whereas, that part of the said Reservation upon which is situated the famous prehistoric group of mounds known as the "Mound City Group"

is no longer required for the use of the Veterans' Bureau ; And whereas, by section 2 of the Act of Congress approved June 8, 1906 (34 Stat. 225), the President is authorized "in his discretion, to de- clare by public proclamation historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric

structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest that are situated upon the lands owned or controlled by the Government of the United States

to be national monuments, and may reserve as a part thereof parcels of land, the limits of which in all cases shall be confined to the smallest area compatible with the proper care and management of the objects to be protected"; And whereas, the said "Mound City Group" of prehistoric mounds lo- cated within the Camp Sherman Military Reservation, Ohio, is an object

of great historic and scientific interest and should be permanently preserved and protected from all depredations and from all changes that will to any

extent mar or jeopardize their historic value; Now therefore, I, Warren G. Harding, President of the United States

of America, under authority of the said Act of Congress of August 9, 1921, do hereby return to the custody and control of the War Department the lands upon which are located the "Mound City Group" of prehistoric mounds situated within the Camp Sherman Military Reservation at Chilli- cothe, Ohio, and under the authority of the said Act of June 8, 1906, do

hereby reserve the lands so returned as a national monument site and de- clare and proclaim the said group of prehistoric mounds to be a national monument, the lands so returned to the War Department and reserved for said national monument site being more fully described as follows, viz: All of Sections N and O, bounded on the north by East Liverpool

Street, on the east by the Scioto River, on the west by Columbus Avenue, and on the south by Portsmouth Street, containing fifty-seven (57)

acres, more or less. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
351

Done at the City of Washington this second day of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and twenty-three, and of [seal] the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and forty-seventh. Warren G. Harding. By the President: Charles E. Hughes,

Secretary of State.
352

PUBLIC LAW 102-294—MAY 27, 1992 106 STAT. 185 Public Law 102-294 102d Congress

An Act

To rename and expand the boundaries of the Mound City Group National Monument May 27, 1992

in Ohio. (S. 749] Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of

the United States ofAmerica in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. RENAMING. 16 USC 410uu. The Mound City Group National Monument established by

proclamation of the President (Proclamation No. 1653, 42 Stat. 2298) and expanded by section 701 of Public Law 96-607 (94

Stat. 3540), shall, on and after the date of enactment of this Act, be known as the "Hopewell Culture National Historical Park". Any reference to the Mound City Group National Monument in any law, regulation, map, document, record, or other paper of the United States shall be considered to be a reference to the Hopewell

Culture National Historical Park. SEC. 1 EXPANSION OP BOUNDARIES. 16 USC 410uu-l.

(a) In General.—The boundaries of the Hopewell Culture

National Historical Park (referred to as the "park") are revised

to include the lands within '.he areas marked for inclusion in the monument as generally depicted on

(1) the map entitled "Hopeton Earthworks" numbered 353-

80025 and dated July 1987;

(2) the map entitled "High Banks Works" numbered 353-

80027 and dated July 1987;

(3) the map entitled "Hopewell Mound Group" numbered

353-80029 and dated July 1987; and

(4) the map entitled "Seip Earthworks" numbered 353-80033 and dated July 1987.

(b) Public Inspection of Maps.—Each map described in subsection (a) shall be on file and available for public inspection in the office of the Director of the National Park Service, Department

of the Interior.

(c) Adjustment of Boundaries.—The Secretary of the Interior

(referred to as the "Secretary") may, by notice in the Federal Register after receipt of public comment, make minor adjustments

in the boundaries of areas added to the park by subsection (a) and other areas of the park: Provided, That any such minor boundary adjustments cumulatively shall not cause the total acreage

of the park to increase more than 10 per centum above the existing acreage of Mound City Group National Monument, plus the acreage

of the inclusions authorized under section 2(a).

(d) Acquisition of Lands.—(1) Subject to paragraph (2), the Secretary may acquire lands and interests in land within the areas added to the park by subsection (a) by donation, purchase with donated or appropriated funds, or exchange.
353

106 STAT. 186 PUBLIC LAW 102-294—MAY 27, 1992

(2XA) Lands and interests in land owned by the State of Ohio

or a political subdivision thereof may be acquired only by donation

or exchange.

(B) Lands and interests in land may be acquired by purchase

at a price based on the fair market value thereof as determined by independent appraisal, consistent with the Uniform Relocation

Assistance and Real Property Acquisition Policies Act of 1970 (42

U.S.C. 4601 et seq.).

16 USC 410uu-2. SEC. S. COOPERATIVE AGREEMENTS.

The Secretary may enter into a cooperative agreement with the Ohio Historical Society, the Archeological Conservancy, and other

public and private entities for consultation and assistance in the

interpretation and management of the park.

16 USC 410uu-3. SEC. 4. STUDIES.

(a) Areas Added By This Act.—The Secretary shall conduct

archeological studies of the areas added to the park by section

2(a) and adjacent areas to ensure that the boundaries of those

areas encompass the lands that are needed to provide adequate

protection of the significant archeological resources of those areas.

(b) Other Areas.—The Secretary shall conduct archeological

studies of the areas described as the "Spruce Hill Works", the "Harness Group", and the "Cedar Bank Works", and may conduct

archeological studies of other areas significant to Hopewellian cul- ture, to evaluate the desirability of adding them to the park, and

shall report to Congress on any such areas that are recommended

for addition to the park.

16 USC 4 lOuu-4. SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

There are authorized to be appropriated such sums as are nec- essary for the acquisition of lands and interests in land within

the park, the conduct of archeological studies on lands within and

adjacent to the park, and the development of facilities for interpretation of the park. Approved May 27, 1992.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY—S. 749: HOUSE REPORTS: No. 102-483 (Comm. on Interior and Insular Affairs). SENATE REPORTS: No. 102-108 (Comm. on Energy and Natural Resource*). CONGRESSIONAL RECORD:

Vol. 137 (1991): Sept. 23. considered and passed Senate.

Vol. 138 (1992): May 12. considered and passed House.
354

APPENDIX D: CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF SIGNIFICANT EVENTS

Date Event

1796 Nathaniel Massie lays out Chillicothe

1798 William Davies purchases a 1300-tract area containing

mounds but title soon passes to Massie

1812-14 Camp Bull operates in the area during the War of 1812

18 3 2 George Shriver purchases tract containing mounds from

Massie's heirs; farming intensifies

1846 Ephraim George Squier and Edwin Hamilton Davis explore

"Mound City"

1848 Squier and Davis publish Ancient Monuments of the

Mississippi Valley to initiate the Smithsonian's

"Contributions to Knowledge" series

1850 Davis takes the Mound City artifact collection and

leaves Chillicothe for New York.

1858 While attempting to sell the collection, Davis assigns

it to the New York Historical Society for safe-keeping

1861-65 During Civil War, area is used as drill ground called

Camp Logan

1864 Davis sells the collection to William Blackmore and it

is removed to England

1867 Squier and Davis collection is exhibited at the

Blackmore Museum in Salisbury

1888 Both Squier and Davis die in the spring

1890 Cyrus Thomas begins debunking the "Myth of the

Moundbuilders"

1893 Chicago's Columbian Exposition features artifacts

excavated from Capt. Mordecai C. Hopewell's farm.

1902 Archeologists begin adopting "Hopewell" nomenclature

and William C. Mills of Ohio State Archaeological and

Historical Society defines "Hopewell culture" and

"Adena culture"

1917-20 World War I cantonment "Camp Sherman" operates; first

draftees arrive September 5, 1917. Albert Spetnagel et

al convinces Army to accommodate mounds within camp's

layout design

1920-21 OSA&HS William C. Mills and Henry C. Shetrone conduct

field investigations at Mound City Group; findings spur

preservation movement

1921 William C. Mills proposes "national park" for Mound

City (July 29)

1923 President Warren G. Harding signs proclamation 1653

under the 1906 Antiquities Act designating "Mound City

Group National Monument" (March 2) 1923 Secretary of War Dwight F. Davis executes revocable

license with OSA&HS to operate Mound City Group NM

1925 State appropriates funds to demolish Camp Sherman

structures and restore mounds roughly based on Squier
355

Date Event

and Davis' map; work continues through 1927

1929 "Mound City State Park" opens to visitors with stone

gateway, picnic grounds, and observation platform atop

Mound 7; residents hold a summer dedication ceremony

193 3 State finance subcommittee visits Mound City in April

to hear local demands for recreational park development

1934 CWA/FERA funding yields massive two-story

maintenance/utility building and masonry comfort

station

1937 WPA workers construct park residence with small

administration room and 2,640 square foot picnic

shelter house

1937 Mound City becomes administrative headquarters for

OSA&HS' Seip Mound

1937 Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes approves Mound

City's transfer to state ownership (March 6); local

opposition mobilizes to block the transfer

1940 NPS Chief Historian Ronald F. Lee recommends Mound City

Group be "dis-established" as a national monument

1942 Shelter house's kitchen room is remodeled into "Mound

City Museum" (May 26)

1945 In the face of strong political pressure, Ohio Governor

Frank Lausche calls for federal government to operate

Mound City Group NM (August 1) 194 6 Regional Archeologist J. C. Harrington accepts transfer

from state for NPS; William W. Luckett serves as interim custodian (August 1) ; Custodian Clyde King

enters on duty (November 2) 1950 W. F. Libby discovers radiocarbon dating; Ohio Hopewell

are roughly categorized at 1500 to 2000 years ago

1954 Public learns of "Area Management Study" recommendation

to disestablish Mound City Group NM (February) ; effort

stalls because of Gov. Lausche 's opposition

1956 NPS directorate excludes Mound City Group NM from

MISSION 66 development program; Archeologist John

Corbett argues for the park's retention in national

park system (February)

1957 Mound City Group NM is added to MISSION 66 program;

prospectus amended to provide bare-bones visitor center

(November)

1959 Area residents fume at NPS plans to remove picnic

shelter house; compromise reached to retain it for a few more years.

1959 Construction begins on visitor center (September 21)

1960 NPS razes abandoned VA incinerator building

(September) ; Eastern National Park and Monument

Association establishes cooperative association

(November 4) 1961 Regional Archeologist John L. Cotter serves as keynote

speaker at visitor center dedication
356

Date Event

1962 Second superintendent, John C. W. ("Bill") Riddle

arrives (September 7)

1963 Last remnants of shelter house removed (April 17)

reforestation, boundary fencing, ethnobotanical trail,

and earthworks restoration projects undertaken; a decade of archeological investigation and restoration

commences under contract with Ohio Historical Society

1964 Olaf Prufer's work reenergizes Hopewellian studies;

using the Hopewell, Joseph Caldwell defines

"interaction spheres"

1965 Third superintendent, James W. Coleman, Jr. , arrives

(July 19) ; Mica grave exhibit completed

1966 Master plan assigns archeological storage and workshop

space to Southeast Archeological Center, thus crippling

visitor center expansion plans for three decades

1967 Fourth superintendent, George F. Schesventer, arrives

(July 30)

1970 Director George B. Hartzog, Jr., declares establishment

of the "Ohio National Park Service Group" (December 4)

1971 Fifth superintendent, William C. Birdsell, arrives

(March 7) ; becomes first and last Ohio Group "general

superintendent" with oversight of William Howard Taft

NHS and Perry's Victory and International Peace

Memorial

1971 B & O Railroad spur line removed from monument land

1973 First interpretive specialist, Robert F. Holmes,

arrives (January)

1975 Ohio NPS Group dissolves (July 1) ; sixth

superintendent, Fred J. Fagergren, arrives (October 26)

1978 Suitability/feasibility study recommends addition of

Hopeton Earthworks NHL to Mound City Group NM

1979 NPS helps organize the Chillicothe Conference and

publishing of Hopewell Archaeology provides first

modern synthesis for scholars

1979 Completion of exhibit upgrade in visitor center museum

1979 NPS demands return of 1920-21 Mound City Groupexcavated collection from Ohio Historical Society;

collection receives emergency conservation treatment at

Harpers Ferry Center

1980 HUD ignores Interior/NPS and proceeds with North River

Place complex construction adjacent to Hopeton

1980 Public Law 96-607 provided for acguisition of 150-acre

Hopeton Earthworks NHL (December 28)

1981 Seventh superintendent, Kenneth Apschnikat, arrives

(March 7) 1982 Mound City Group NM shows up on Interior Secretary

James Watt's "hit list" for disestablishment

1983 Hopewell Sites Study begins
357

Date Event

1984 Chief Cornstalk Sand and Gravel Company begins

excavating gravel at Hopeton (June) ; NHL is listed as threatened.

1985 Hopeton Sites Study identifies almost one hundred

significant Hopewellian sites; work begins within

archeological circles to narrow list

1986 British Museum loans Ohio Historical Society 2 6 Sguier

and Davis collection artifacts for temporary display

1988 Regional Director Don Castleberry approves final

Hopeton Sites Study; recommends inclusion of four sites

1988 Residence/quarters is rehabilitated into administrative

headquarters (fall)

1988 Eighth superintendent, William Gibson, arrives

(December 4) 1990 Acquisition of Hopeton Earthworks Unit completed

(January 9) and Vaughn interests added (September)

Shelly Gravel Company acquires bankrupt Cornstalk

operations and sets up new Chillicothe Sand and Gravel

Company crusher plant (May)

1990 Mound City Group NM becomes last park to remove human

remains from public display; cremated ashes were

replaced with clean sand

1991 Failed flat visitor center roof replaced by red metal

pitched roof

1992 Public Law 102-294 makes Mound City Group a unit of a larger Hopewell Culture National Historical Park,

including a larger Hopeton Earthworks, Hopewell Mound

Group, Seip Earthworks, and High Bank Works (May 27)

1993 Ninth superintendent, John Neal, arrives (June 27)

1993 Chillicothe again hosts second Hopewell scholars

conference; yields 1996 publication A View from the

Core

1994 New maintenance building constructed; visitor center

expansion includes 50-seat auditorium and more exhibit

space

1995 Declaration of taking at Hopeton yields settlement

agreement

199 6 Mica grave exhibit removed and Mound 13 restored

1997 General management plan approved; provides blueprint

for 10-15 year park development
358

BIBLIOGRAPHY

While a plethora of primary documentation exists in

Chillicothe pertaining to Mound City Group National Monument,

gaps in government files do occur in the 1960s, and more noticeably during the 1970s. The author subsequently searched

for official correspondence exchanged between the national

monument and its regional headquarters offices. Records of the

Region Five/Northeast Regional Office and Midwest Regional Office

proved invaluable. Respositories for those records are the

federal records centers of the National Archives and Records

Administration in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Kansas City,

Missouri, respectively.

Future researchers will find the holdings of the Midwest

Archeological Center to be invaluable in understanding how

federal archeologists viewed the significance of Mound City Group

within the context of Hopewell culture. Also, these records

reflect concern over the course of each excavation there.

Because of time and fiscal constraints, only a select few

oral history interviews were conducted. Historians will want to

consult other administrators and professionals connected to Mound

City Group and related Hopewell sites. For the same reasons, the

author did not conduct a search of Washington Office records in

the Washington, D.C., National Archives. Although Washington

officials intervened a number of times in Mound City Group

issues, regional and park files appeared to cover those instances

surprisingly well.

UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS

National Park Service

Hopewell Culture National Historical Park

(formerly Mound City Group National Monument)

Chillicothe, Ohio

Mound City Group Unit Files (Active and Inactive)

A—Administration and Management: A2 2, A2 6, A3 4, A3 6, A3 8, A4 0, A42, A44, A64, A70, A76, A90, A98, A2621, A2623, A3615, A3815,

A4031, A5427, A5431, A6419, A6423, A6437, A7021, A7615, A7619,

A7623, and A8215.

D—Development and Maintenance: D18, D22, D24, D32, D50, D52,

D62, D66, D270, D1815, D2215, D2217, D2219, D3415, D5027, D5039,

D6215, and D6223.

F—Fiscal: F22, F34, and F74. H—History and Archeology: H20, H22, H24, H30, H34, H2017,

H2215, and H3417.

K—Interpretation and Information: K14, K18, K1415, K1815,

K3415, and K3417.

L—Lands, Water and Recreation Planning: L14, L24, L34, L1415,
359

L1417, L1427, L7019, L7617, and L7619.

N—Natural and Social Sciences: N16, N22, N42, N50, and N1427.

P—Personnel: P4019.

S —Supplies, Procurement and Property: S38, S42, S4219, S7215,

S7219, and S7421.

W~Laws and Legal Matters: W3 0, W34, W38, and W4 6. Y—Forestry: Y18 and Y46.

"Administrative History of Mound City Group National Monument."

Unpublished typewritten manuscript. 1980.

Apschnikat, Ken. "Mound City Group National Monument Management

Briefing Paper, 1987." Typewritten manuscript.

Barnhart, Terry A. "An American Menagerie: The Cabinet of

Squier and Davis." Timeline: Ohio Historical Society

(December 1985-January 1986), 2-9.

. "The Journalist and The Physician: Inquiry Into the

Career Association of Ephraim George Squier and Edwin

Hamilton Davis, Pioneer American Archaeologists."

Unpublished Master's thesis, Miami University, 1980.

Brose, David S. An Archaeological Testing Beyond the Walls of

the Mound City Group. Ross County. Ohio . Cleveland:

performed under contract for National Park Service, 1976.

Brose, David S., and N'omi Greber. Editors. "Preface."

Hopewell Archaeology: The Chillicothe Conference . Kent,

Ohio: Kent State University Press, 1979.

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Studies . Illinois State Museum Scientific Papers,

Volume 12. Springfield: State of Illinois, 1964.

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360

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. "The Hopewellian Community." Hopewellian

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State Museum Scientific Papers Vol. V, Paper 6. Springfield: State of Illinois, 1952.

Dragoo, Don W. "The Development of Adena Culture and its Role in

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Gleasner, Diana C. "The Native Americans: Moundbuilders of the

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361

Interpretation Spring/ Summer 1991.

King, Clyde B. "History of the Mound City Group National

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. "Museum Prospectus, Mound City Group National

Monument, Ohio." Draft document dated October 1957.

Lepper, Bradley T. , and Richard W. Yerkes. "Hopewellian

Occupations at the Northern Periphery of the Newark

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University Press, 1997.

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the Hopewellian Climax," Paper 5, in Hopewellian Studies , Joseph R. Caldwell and Robert L. Hall, Editors. Illinois

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State of Illinois, 1964.

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"Mound City Group National Monument Briefing Book." Typewritten

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December 1961." Informally bound collection of typewritten

carbon-copied monthly reports prepared by the

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363

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Omaha, Nebraska

Arbogast, David. "Mound City Group National Monument" National

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Park Service, 1979?

Hopaton Earthworks. Ohio. Feasibility Study . National Park
364

Service, 1978.

Lepper, Bradley T. People of the Mounds: Ohio's Hopewell

Culture . Pamphlet published by Hopewell Culture National

Historical Park and Eastern National Park and Monument

Association, 1995.

Lynott, Mark J. , and Susan M. Monk. Mound City. Ohio:

Archeolocrical Investigations . Lincoln, Nebraska: Midwest

Archeological Center, National Park Service, 1985.

Morgan, Richard G. Mound City: A Prehistoric Indian Shrine . National Park Service, 1946.

. "Outline of Cultures in the Ohio Region," in

Archeology of Eastern United States , James B. Griffin,

Editor. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1952.

Renfrew, Colin, and Paul Bahn. Archaeology: Theories, Methods,

and Practice . Second Edition. New York: Thames and

Hudson, 1996.

Resources Management Plan and Environmental Assessment, Mound

City Group National Monument . National Park Service, 1982.

Rogers, E. B. History of Legislation Relating to the National

Park System Through the 82nd Congress , three-ring binder for

"Mound City Group." Washington, D.C. : National Park

Service, 1958.

Sullivan, Thomas Alan, compiler. Proclamations and Orders

Relating to the National Park Service Up to January 1. 1945 . Washington, D.C: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1947.

United States Congress. Proposed Addition of Hopeton Earthworks

to the Mound City Group National Monument . Washington,

D.C: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1979.

Whitehead, Dororthy J., compiler. "Compilation of National Park

Service Laws of 102d Congress." Typewritten manuscript.

Washington, D.C: National Park Service, 1993.

National Park Service

Midwest Archeological Center

Lincoln, Nebraska

Baby, Raymond S. Mound City Group National Monument Assorted

Archeological Reports Conducted under Contract, 1960s.

Bender, Barbara. "Prehistoric Developments in the American

Midcontinent and in Brittany, Northwest France," in

Prehistoric Hunter-Gatherers: The Emergence of Cultural
365

Complexity , T. Douglas Price and James A. Brown, Editors.

Orlando, Florida: Academic Press, 1985.

Files Pertaining to Mound City Group National Monument and

Hopeton Earthworks National Historic Landmark, Ohio. (Note:

Includes Division of Archeology files from the Northeast

Regional Office titled "Mound City Archeology through

1973") . Microfilm of Edwin H. Davis Letters to the American Antiquarian

Society, Worster, Massachusetts.

Monk, Susan A. A Summary of Identified Vertebrate Remains

Recovered from Mound City Group National Monument, Ross

County, Ohio . Lincoln, Nebraska: Midwest Archeological

Center, National Park Service, 1985.

Orr, David K. "Arlington Mallery's Mixed Legacy." ArcheoPyrogenics Journal (July 1992)

Price, T. Douglas, and James A. Brown. Editors. Prehistoric

Hunter-Gatherers: The Emergence of Cultural Complexity . Orlando, Florida: Academic Press, 1985.

Smith, Bruce D. "Hopewellian Farmers of Eastern North America."

Chapter 9 in Rivers of Change: Essays on Early

Agriculture in Eastern North America , Bruce D. Smith,

Editor. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution

Press, 1992.

Trigger, Bruce G. A History of Archaeological Thought . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989.

Willey, Gordon R. , and Jeremy A. Sabloff. A History of American

Archaeology . Second Edition. San Francisco: W. H. Freeman

and Company, 198 0. Willey, Gordon R. , and Philip Phillips. Method and Theory in

American Archaeology . Chicago: University of Chicago

Press, 1958.

National Park Service

Washington Office, History Division

Office of the Chief Historian

Washington, D.C.

Files Pertaining to Mound City Group National Monument and

Hopeton Earthworks National Historic Landmark, Ohio.
366

National Archives and Records Administration

Federal Records Center

Kansas City, Missouri

Record Group 79. Records of the National Park Service, Midwest

Regional Office, Omaha, Nebraska, pertaining to Mound City

Group National Monument, Ohio.

National Archives and Records Administration

Federal Records Center

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Record Group 79. Records of the National Park Service, Northeast

Regional Office, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, pertaining to

Mound City Group National Monument, Ohio.

National Archives and Records Administration

Dwight D. Eisenhower Library

Abilene, Kansas

Seaton, Fred A. Papers of the Secretary of the Interior, 1956-

1961.

Herter, Christian A. Papers of the Secretary of State, 1959-

1961.

United States Government Publications

Art and Burials in Ancient Ohio: A Tour of the Mound City

Necropolis . Pamphlet published by Eastern National Park and

Monument Association, no date.

Beattie, Hugh P. , and Thomas L. Weeks, Operations Evaluation

Report. Mound City Group National Monument . Omaha: Midwest

Regional Office, National Park Service, 1976.

Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-1989 . One Hundredth Congress, Second Session. Senate Document No. 100-34. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office,

1989.

Cockrell, Ron. A Green Shrouded Miracle: The Administrative

History of Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area, Ohio . Omaha: Midwest Regional Office, National Park Service,

1992.

Cotter, John L. Historic Structures and Grounds Report. Part I on Mound City Group National Monument, Chillicothe. Ohio . Philadelphia: Northeast Regional Office, 1963.

Danz, Harold P., compiler. Historic Listing of National Park

Service Officials . Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government
367

Printing Office, 1991.

Interpretive Operations Plan, Resources Information . Chillicothe, Ohio: National Park Service, no date.

Mackintosh, Barry. National Park Service Administrative History:

A Guide . Washington, D.C.: National Park Service, 1991.

Works Progress Administration, Federal Writers' Project of Ohio.

Ohio: American Guide Series . Washington, D.C.: U.S.

Government Printing Office, 1938.

Oral History Interviews Conducted by Ron Cockrell; Transcripts

Prepared in 1994

Apschnikat, Ken. Former Superintendent, Mound City Group

National Monument/ Superintendent, Manassas National

Battlefield Park, National Park Service. 19 August 1993.

Manassas, Virginia.

Egan, Phillip. Maintenance Worker, Hopewell Culture National

Historical Park, National Park Service. 25 August 1993.

Chillicothe, Ohio.

Gibson, William. Former Superintendent, Mound City Group

National Monument/Hopewell Culture National Historical Park;

Superintendent, Dayton Aviation National Historical Park,

National Park Service. 24 August 1993. Dayton, Ohio.

Kawamoto, John. Retired/ former Associate Regional Director,

Planning and Resource Preservation, Midwest Regional Office,

National Park Service. 21 December 1993. Omaha, Nebraska.

Lynott, Mark J. Regional Archeologist, Midwest Archeological

Center, National Park Service. 20 January 1994. Lincoln,

Nebraska.

Murray, Bonnie. Administrative Officer, Hopewell Culture

National Historical Park, National Park Service. 26 August

1993. Chillicothe, Ohio.

Oral History Interviews Conducted by Naomi L. Hunt

Acton, Vernon J. Retired/ former Chief of Maintenance, Mound City

Group National Monument, National Park Service. 3 March

1985. Chillicothe, Ohio.

Hanson, Lee. Letter. 15 March 1986.
368

State of Ohio Archives

Ohio Historical Society

The Ohio Historical Center

Columbus, Ohio

Galbreath, Charles B. State Librarian and Secretary of the Ohio

State Archaeological and Historical Society (1920s)

Manuscript Papers Collection 256.

Glimpses of Our National Monuments . Pamphlet. Washington, D.C.:

National Park Service, 1930.

"Mound City Returned to the United States." Museum Echoes [of

the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society], Vol.

19, No. 10 (August 1946).

Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society, Division of

State Memorials. Annual Report, 194 0.

. "About People, January 13, 1946-December 28, 1947."

Scrapbook, Volume 4.

. "Memorials and Miscellaneous Clippings Book, 1944- 1947."

"Miscellaneous Clippings Book, September 7, 1944-

December 26, 1946.

. "Parks Clippings Scrapbook, 1945-1949.

The Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society at the New

York World's Fair. 1939 . Pamphlet. Columbus, Ohio: Ohio

State Archaeological and Historical Society, 1939.

"Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society Newspaper Items

Relating to the Society, Its Activities, Parks, Monuments, & Etc." Official Scrapbook, September 20-December 1921.

Proceedings of the Ohio State Archeologist and Historical

Society . Annual publications, 1920s to 1946.

Wirth, Conrad L. Annual Report of the Director, National Park

Service, to the Secretary of the Interior, Fiscal Year 1956 . Washington, D.C.: National Park Service, 1956.

Ross County Historical Society Archives

Ross County Historical Society Museum

Chillicothe, Ohio

Clippings from the Chillicothe News Advertiser and Chillicothe

Gazette.
369

Collections pertaining to Mound City Group National Monument.

Mills, William C. "Exploration of the Mound City Group, Volume

3, Part 4," Certain Mounds and Village Sites in Ohio . Columbus, Ohio: F. J. Heer Printing Company, 1922.

Spetnagel, Albert C. Papers Collection.

Squier, Ephraim George, and Edwin Hamilton Davis. Ancient

Monuments of the Mississippi Valley: Comprising the Results

of Extensive Original Surveys and Explorations . Washington,

D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Series, "Smithsonian

Contributions to Knowledge," 1848.

Books

Brose, David S. and N'omi Greber. Editors. Hopewell

Archaeology: The Chillicothe Conference . Kent, Ohio: Kent

State University Press, 1979.

Hurt, R. Douglas Hurt. The Dust Bowl: An Agricultural and

Social History . Chicago: Nelson-Hall, 1981.

Ise, John. Our National Park Policy: A Critical History . Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1961.

Peck, G. Richard. The Rise and Fall of Camp Sherman: "Ohio's

World War One Soldier Factory" . Pamphlet, second edition.

Chillicothe, Ohio: privately published, 1972.

Potter, Martha A. Ohio's Prehistoric Peoples . Columbus: Ohio

Historical Society, 1968.

Rothman, Hal K. America's National Monument: The Politics of

Preservation . Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas,

1994.

Silverberg, Robert. The Mound Builders . Athens, Ohio: Ohio

University Press, 1986.

Worster, Donald E. Dust Bowl: The Southern Plains in the 193 0s . New York: Oxford University Press, 1979.
370

INDEX

A-A-A

Acton, J. Vernon 75, 88, 107, 109, 239, 241, 243-45, 247n, 266,

268, 274

Adena 1, 3, 19, 21, 84, 288

Adena State Memorial 78, 87-88, 186, 239

Advisory Board on National Parks... 80-81, 99n, 310

Advisory Council on Historic Preservation 133, 152, 321-24, 334,

336, 337n

Allen, Thomas J. 67

American Indians 5, 16-17, 116, 119, 163, 201, 222, 229, 234-37,

288-90

Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley 10-13, 15, 82, 197,

300

Andrus, Cecil B. 3 20

Antiquities Act of 1906 38-39, 130, 201, 320

Apschnikat, Ken 115-17, 119, 121, 162, 175-76, 185, 190-92, 195,

219, 235, 251-52, 255, 260, 269, 276-77, 291, 293-94, 302,

326, 329

Archaeological Conservancy 329-30, 333, 335-36, 340

Archaeological Society of Ohio 158

Archeological Resources Protection Act of 1979 2 35, 282

artifact collections 68-69, 99, lOln, 121, 148, 155, 159-60,

164, 197, 206-07, 209-11, 229-30, 232-35

asbestos 252, 254, 260, 262

B-B-B

Baby, Raymond S. 101, 135-36, 145, 149-52, 156, 198-201, 204,

229, 312, 312n, 314

Barnhart tract 313n, 314-15, 325n, 327, 329-30

basic operations plan 116, 118

Beal, Merrill D. 318

Birdsell, William C. 110-13, 130, 150-51, 161-62, 181, 187, 189,

200, 214, 228n, 247, 257, 266-67, 286, 314-15, 320

Blackmore Museum 13, 197-98

Blackmore, William 13, 197

Blank, John 327-29

boundary expansion 54, 125-34, 169-70, 324-25, 330, 333

Brehm, Walter E. 65, 67

British Museum 66, 197-204

Brose, David S. 24, 153, 315, 318n

Brown, James A. 135, 155, 205, 211

Bureau of Prisons (Federal Reformatory) 178-80, 184

Bush, George 123, 332, 334, 336-37 c-c-c

Calabrese, Francis A. ("Cal") 151-52, 209, 315, 334
371

Camp Bull 6, 29

Camp Logan 2 9 Camp Sherman 28-36, 38, 40, 42, 44, 47, 98, 126, 128-30, 135,

137, 142, 145, 151, 154, 169, 185-87, 222, 249, 280, 288-89

Camp Sherman Memorial Highway 185, 249

Carter, Jimmy 134, 320, 325

Casson, Jon 250, 275

Castleberry, Don H. 193-94, 330, 334

Cedar Bank Group 3, 10, 330, 335, 337

charnel house 4, 135, 139, 142, 144-45, 149-52, 222, 225

Chief Cornstalk Sand and Gravel Company 327, 329, 332

Chillicothe Correctional Institute 33, 44, 126-27, 130-34, 174-

76, 180-84, 192, 250, 270, 276, 279, 282

Chillicothe, Ohio 5-6, 9-10, 17, 26, 29, 36, 40, 47, 50, 63, 68,

75, 78, 82, 86, 90, 95-96, 107, 153, 157, 163, 169, 180,

187, 189, 192, 206, 211, 229, 231, 267, 275, 292, 320

Chillicothe Sand and Gravel Company 332, 335, 338-40

Chillicothe VA Hospital/Medical Center 30, 33, 44, 74, 77-78,

119, 125-27, 131, 169-70, 172, 175-78, 184, 192, 239, 243,

250-51, 282

Cinnamon, Steve 278, 307

Civil Works Administration 50

Clinton, Bill 125

Coleman, James W. , Jr. 108, 115, 159, 185-87, 213, 228, 241, 274

comfort station 53, 71, 97

Comprehensive Employment and Training Act 268-69

computers 118-19, 121, 252

Corbett, John M. 83-85, 97-98, 101, 200, 311n

Cotter, John L. 91-92, 101-02, 126-27, 129, 135, 139, 160, 161,

198, 207, 230-31, 310, 312n, 313

cultural landscape/ "prehistoric scene" 77, 98, 106, 116, 178,

239, 295-96, 298, 301-04, 307

cultural landscape report 166, 307

Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area, Ohio 113, 124-25, 189,

281-82

D-D-D

Davis Collection 10, 13-15, 66, 196, 198-205, 207

Davis, Edwin Hamilton 6-7, 9-10, 13, 15-17, 20, 44, 63, 67, 85,

135, 139, 145, 149, 151, 155, 158, 197, 205, 309

Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park, Ohio 123-24,

193-94

Dean, Bill 316, 318

Death Mask Mound 41, 45, 222, 268, 300

deauthorization ("disestablishment") 61, 63, 78, 80-85, 97-98,

116, 309

Demaray, Arthur B. 61, 77 Denver Service Center 131, 151, 161, 163, 256-57, 281, 315

Dill, Garrett S. 90, 92, 96

donation box 120

Drury, Newton B. 77
372

Dunning, J. L. 203, 322-24

E-E-E

Eastern National Park and Monument Association 148n, 216, 284,

285n, 291-95

Effigy Mounds National Monument, Iowa 83, 216, 255, 300

Egan, Phil 113, 246

endangered species 277

entrance fee 85, 120

environmental education 286, 290

environmental study area 290-91

Everhardt, Gary E. 202-03

F-F-F

Fagergren, Fred, Jr. 113-15, 131, 133, 152-53, 168, 189, 191,

201, 203-05, 209-11, 216, 231-32, 234, 256-57, 280-81, 288,

300-01, 315-16, 319, 321-25

Faust, Richard D. 135, 142, 285, 312, 313n

Federal Emergency Relief Administration 50

Federal Reformatory (see Bureau of Prisons)

Fowke, Gerard 3 G-G-G

Galbreath, C. B. 38

Garrison, Lemuel A. 128-29, 159-60

general management plan (see also master plan) 162-67, 219

General Services Administration 126-27, 132-34

Gibson, William 121-23, 183, 192-95, 233, 236, 249, 262, 303,

306-07, 332, 336, 339

grass mowing 74, 239, 244-49, 275, 295, 298, 301-05

Greber, N'omi 24, 318n

Griffin, James B. 25-26, 198, 318n

ground squirrels 272-75, 304

gypsy moths 2 75

H-H-H

handbook 284-85

Hanson, Lee 96n, 142, 145, 230, 244, 274

Harding, Warren G. 38-39

Harness Group (Liberty Works) 3, 10, 328, 330, 335, 337

Harness, Robert 233

Harpers Ferry Center 201-02, 209, 214, 216, 218, 222, 229, 289

Harrington, J. C. 69, 204n

Harsha, William H. 130-31, 161, 320, 324-25, 327

Hartzog, George B. , Jr. 108, 110, 112, 148, 188, 280

High Banks Works 3, 10, 158, 163, 167, 328-30, 335-37

Historic Sites Act of 1935 80, 310

Holmes, Robert F. 222, 286, 288, 290
373

Hopeton Earthworks 3-4, 10, 119, 127n, 130-31, 134, 157-58, 162-

63, 166-67, 178, 184, 270, 275, 281, 303, 306, 308-19, 321,

323-40

Hopewell, Capt. Mordecai C. 17-18

Hopewell Mound Group 3, 17, 157, 159, 163, 167, 230, 328-30,

333, 335, 337, 340

Hopewell Sites Study 326-30, 332, 335

Hughes, Mary V. 278, 307

human remains 139, 150, 172, 214, 225, 228, 234-37, 286, 328,

332-34, 336

Hunter, John 210

I-I-I

incinerator 93, 125, 169-71, 243

integrated pest management 275

interpretation/education 74-75, 77, 79, 81, 85-86, 92, 98-99,

106, 112, 115, 120, 123, 129, 139, 148, 152, 157, 160, 186,

192, 213, 218, 222, 235, 238, 271, 283-90, 293-94, 300, 306

J-J-J

Johnson, H. Reed 236-37, 307

Junior Ranger Program 290

jurisdiction 280-81

K-K-K

Kahler, Herbert E. 67, 83

King, Clyde B. 71, 74-77, 79, 81-82, 85, 88, 90-96, 98-99, 101,

103, 106-07, 123, 126-27, 156, 169-70, 177-78, 180, 184,

195, 206, 229, 239-40, 242, 265-66, 271, 277-79, 283-84,

295, 310, 312

L-L-L

land protection plan 326

Lausche, Frank J. 63, 67, 78, 82-83

law enforcement 177, 179-82, 184n, 271, 278-82

Lee, Ronald F. 61, 92-93, 284, 312

Loope, Walter 3 03

Luckett, William W. 69, 71, 74 Lynott, Mark J. 154-55, 205, 278, 316, 318, 334, 337n

M—M—M

McEwen, Bob 327-28, 334-35, 337

Mann Site, Indiana 337

maintenance 112-13, 118, 129, 134, 145, 154, 225, 229, 239-70,

283

maintenance management system 252

Mallery, Arlington 156-57
374

Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky 74 master plan (see also general management plan) 86, 129-30, 159-

63, 170, 187, 230, 295, 300

Marshall, James A. 26

Massie, Nathaniel 6 Metzenbaum, Howard 325, 328, 333-3 5 Meyer, Bonnie (see also Murray, Bonnie) 112, 113n

mica grave 139, 142-43, 225-29, 235, 237

Mid-Atlantic Region (Office) 206, 303

Midwest Archeological Center 151-52, 154-55, 157-58, 176, 209,

211, 233, 237, 300, 315-16, 334

Midwest Field Area 124

Midwest Region (Office)

162, 176, 189, 203,

318, 320, 326, 330,

Mills, William C. 19-20, 30, 33, 35-36, 43-44, 57, 135, 145,

149, 209, 211, 225

Mining in the National Parks Act of 1976 334, 336

MISSION 66 83, 85, 90, 92, 96-101, 104-06, 159, 170, 180, 195

198, 211, 219, 244, 265, 295, 309

107, 113, 115, 119, 121, 124, 131, 152

210, 216, 228, 254, 277, 281, 315-16,

335

Mound 1 135, 149, 152, 300n

Mound 2 300n

Mound 3 148, 150, 155, 300n

Mound 4 135, 142, 300n

Mound 5 135, 142, 144, 300n

Mound 6 135, 149

Mound 7 32, 34, 47, 148n, 154

Mound 8 9, 151-52, 300n

Mound 9 151-52, 154

Mound 10 135, 137, 139, 152, 2 Mound 11 135, 150

Mound 12 149

Mound 13 139-41, 143, 225, 228

Mound 14 135, 150, 152

Mound 15 135, 150, 222

Mound 16 135, 150

Mound 17 135, 145-48, 152

Mound 18 31, 148n, 155, 300n

Mound 19 135, 149, 152

Mound 20 149

Mound 21 135, 150-51

Mound 22 135, 150, 152

Mound 23 135, 145, 148, 152

Mound 24 135, 149

300, 300n

222

235

moundbuilders 4, 15, 17, 26, 61, 304

Mound City (Park) Committee 43-44, 63-65

Monk, Susan 3 02n

Mott, William Penn, Jr. 119, 162, 328, 330

Murray, Bonnie (see also Meyer, Bonnie) 121, 123, 289

museum/exhibits 61-62, 76-77, 83, 90-91, 93-94, 97-98, 101, 106,

160, 167, 206, 208, 213-14, 216-17, 219, 235-36, 283, 288
375

N-N-N

name change 98, 318, 329-30, 330n, 337n

National Afro-American Museum and Cultural Center 189-90

National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 125, 133, 151-52,

176, 315, 321-22, 324

National Park and Recreation Act of 1980 325

National Parks and Conservation Association 326, 327n, 328-29,

335n

National Register of Historic Places 133, 152, 176, 269-70, 315,

321

National Trust for Historic Preservation 312

Native American Grave Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990

236-37

Native American Religious Freedom Act of 1978 234

Neal, John 123-24, 195, 278

Neighborhood Youth Corps 2 68 Nichols, Teresa 288-89

North River Place 316, 319, 321-23

Northeast Region (Office) 77, 107, 112-13, 130-31, 148, 159,

170, 214n, 271 o-o-o Ocmulgee National Monument, Georgia 69, 83, 148, 159-60, 207

Odegaard, Charles H. 251

Ohio & Erie Canal 129, 156, 222, 270, 288

Ohio Highway Department/Department of Transportation 184-85

Ohio Historical Society 22, 99, 103, 106, 135, 142, 145, 147-52,

155, 159, 167, 184, 186, 189, 198, 201, 202, 205-07, 210,

214, 225, 228, 230, 232, 285, 288, 314-15, 332-33, 335

Ohio National Park Service Group 107, 110, 112-13, 115, 131,

150, 161, 189, 292n

Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society 19, 33, 38-40,

43, 53-54, 63, 65, 67-70, 78, 82, 86, 98, 206, 311

Ohio State Museum 30, 66, 99, 101, 186, 199, 206-07, 211

OMB Circular A-76 118, 251-52

Otto, Martha (see also Potter, Martha) 205, 209-11, 214, 285n,

294, 315, 318n

P-P-P

Pacheco, Paul J. 25-26

Palmer, George A. 91-94, 96, 98-99, 148, 170, 199, 206-07, 271-

72 parking lot 218, 247, 251, 258

Parks as Classrooms 289-90

Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial, Ohio 80n, 110,

112, 113n, 124

Petersen, Robert 157, 233

Pfanz, Harry W. 201

Philadelphia Planning and Service Center 207, 230, 265
376

picnic shelterhouse 47, 49, 53, 55-56, 59, 61-62, 71, 75, 88-97,

279, 283, 285

Pipestone National Monument, Minnesota 83, 293

Polk, James G. 82

Portsmouth Road 126, 128, 180, 183, 247, 256

Potter, Martha (see also Otto, Martha) 147, 149, 198-99, 204

prairie voles 272

prehistory 1, 16-17, 19, 21, 24, 156, 313

proton magnetometer 154

Prufer, Olaf H. 22-23, 25-26

R-R-R

radio system 118, 177, 281-82

radon gas 232, 253-56

railroad spur 30, 47, 59, 77, 94, 139, 150, 170, 172-73, 174n,

300

Reagan, Ronald W. 115, 118, 134, 251, 325-26, 332

reconstruction 222, 225, 301

recreation (including picniking) 74, 77-78, 81-82, 85, 88-89,

92-97, 106, 119, 130, 131n, 186-87, 279, 283, 301

recycling 250

reforestation 106, 126n, 128, 178, 239-40, 242-43, 247, 295,

297-98, 300, 302, 304

Region One (Office) 67, 74, 113, 125, 229, 239, 265, 271, 283

Region Five (Office) 77, 86, 93-94, 97-98, 113

residence/quarters 51, 75, 97, 101, 118, 120, 128-29, 132, 168,

240, 244, 253-54, 266-67, 283 resource management plan 271, 278

Riddle, John C. W. ("Bill") 107, 139, 159, 172, 179-80, 186-87,

256, 272, 274, 312-13

Ridenour, James 12 3, 333, 336, 339

Rigney, Eugene D. 65, 77-78, 92, 96, 103, 186

roof (leaking and replacement) 218-19, 252, 254, 256, 258-62

Rogers, Jerry L. 236

Ross Correctional Center 183-84, 192, 251, 303

Ross County 10, 57, 61, 68, 82, 169, 231, 283, 309, 318-21, 328,

332, 340

Ross County Historical Society 63, 68, 77-78, 92, 103, 186, 207

Ruby, Bret J. 157-58 s-s-s

Sampson, James 47n, 52, 74, 239

Schenk, William W. 162-63

Schesventer, George F. 108-10, 128-29, 172, 188, 214, 245, 290,

314

Scioto River 1, 5-6, 10, 20, 39-40, 44, 71, 95, 105, 116, 129,

156, 166, 174, 179, 187, 222, 239, 249, 268, 270, 275-77,

310

Seip Mound/ Earthworks 3, 53, 159, 163, 167, 282, 314, 328, 330,

335, 337
377

Shawnee tribe 237

Shelly Gravel Company 332, 334

Shetrone, Henry C. 20, 30, 33, 35, 44, 67, 69, 78, 85, 135, 145,

149, 198, 204n, 209

Shriver, George 6 Silverberg, Robert 2 6 Smith, Bruce 24 Smithsonian Institution 13, 15-17, 38, 82, 156, 190, 197, 200

Southeast Archeological Center 159-60, 207

Southern Ohio Group 124-25

Spetnagel, Albert C. 30, 36, 38-39, 43-44, 47, 57, 61, 66, 70

Spruce Hill Works 157-58, 328-30, 335, 337

Squier and Davis Collection 197

Squier, Ephraim George 6, 8-10, 15-17, 20, 44, 63, 67, 85, 135,

139, 145, 149, 151, 155, 158, 197, 309

staffing 101, 107-08, 120-21, 123-24, 155, 170, 231, 238, 269,

271, 278, 283, 340

state coordinator program 108, 113, 188-95

State Historic Preservation Office 133, 152, 162, 321, 326-28,

334, 337n

State Route 104 96-98, 101, 104, 125-26, 128-30, 132, 134, 170,

178, 180, 182, 185, 187, 247, 249, 256, 269, 303

Summer Youth Employment Program 2 69-7

T-T-T

Tallige Cherokee Nation 334

telephones 118-19, 134, 262, 264, 267, 282

Tobin, Daniel J. 86, 90-91, 127, 229, 265, 310-11

trails 86, 105-06, 118, 145, 166, 192-93, 222, 247, 249, 268,

270, 284, 288, 290, 292, 294, 300

Truman, Harry S 12 5 Trust for Public Land 335, 339

U-U-U

utility/maintenance building 50, 52-53, 121, 129, 159-60, 232,

234, 255, 263-66, 268, 270

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) 316, 321-

24 U.S. Weather Bureau 187 v-v-v

Vaughn tract 312, 315, 325n, 328-30, 332-33, 333n

Veloz, Nicholas F. 149

visitor center 82, 90-92, 94-95, 97-98, 100-03, 118, 120-21,

127-28, 159-61, 164, 166, 168, 211-12, 216-19, 230-31, 256,

265, 285, 295

Volunteers In Parks 269-70

Volz, J. Leonard 113-14
378 w-w-w

Watt, James G. 115-16, 118, 134, 326

"Wilberforce National Historic Site" (proposed) 190

William Howard Taft National Historic Site, Ohio 110, 112, 113n,

124

Wirth, Conrad 50, 54, 63, 77-78, 80, 82-83, 91, 93, 99-100, 126,

295, 310, 312

Works Progress Administration 53, 73, 269

Y-Y-Y

Young, Stephen 91

Youth Conservation Corps 231-32, 268-69 z-z-z

Zepp, Erwin C. 57, 78, 83, 99, 103, 198, 311, 312n

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Senior historian in the Midwest Support Office of the National

Park Service, Ron Cockrell has been in the Omaha office for

seventeen years and has produced six park administrative

histories as well as numerous other cultural resources management

documents. He currently is program leader for History and

Cultural Partnerships. Ron Cockrell holds a Bachelor of Arts

degree in history from The College of the Ozarks, Point Lookout,

Missouri (summa cum laude 1979), a Master of Arts degree in U.S.

history from Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska (1982) , and is

completing reguirements for a doctorate in the American West at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. In 1979-80, Mr. Cockrell

was a reporter-clerk for The Kansas City Star/Times newspapers.

He is a native of Independence, Missouri.

United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service

As the Nation's principal conservation agency, the United States

Department of the Interior has basic responsibilities to protect

and conserve our land and water, energy and minerals, fish and

wildlife, parks and recreation areas, and to ensure the wise use

of all these resources. The department also has major

responsibility for American Indian reservation communities and

for people who live in island territories under United States

administration

The document was prepared by the author for reproduction in the

Division of Cultural Resources Management, Midwest Support

Office, Midwest Region, National Park Service.

AUS GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1999-757-364

DATE DUE - JAN 8 2003 —

-dec o ware

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