Hugo Neighborhood Association & Historical Society
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Hugo Neighborhood Association & Historical Society |
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NATIONAL REGISTER ELIGIBILITY RECOMMENDATIONS ASSESSMENT Of PROPOSED PIONEER
MEADOWS SUBDIVISION
V.C. National Register Eligibility Recommendations 1. Introduction The following is a preliminary assessment of a segment of the Applegate Trail’s eligibility to be accepted as a historic site listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is not the end of the investigation, but the beginning of a process to evaluate the trail’s potential. The goal is to have provided a body of information to the local hearing bodies to consider managing the Applegate Trail with a sense of stewardship predicated upon recognition of the importance of this property in our local county’s history. The segment of the Applegate Trail being evaluated is the approximate 1.5 miles of the Hugo Tombstone Quarry Section of the Applegate Trail. This trail segment is from the East I-5 Manzanita Rest Stop in the south to the 1880s emigrant Pleasant Valley Cemetery in the north (Map 18; Map 19; Map 21). It includes two of Hugo’s Applegate Trail segments: JASec 2 and Applegate Trail JASec 3 (Section IV.F.1-6). This trail segment includes the Hugo Granite Tombstone Quarry Site and hence the name for this segment of the Applegate Trail. It is located on the land of the Proposed Pioneer Meadows Subdivision. 2. National Register Evaluation Criteria a) Applegate Trail Evaluation Criteria1 The quality of significance in American history, architecture, archeology, engineering, and culture is present in districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects that possess integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association relate to several criteria for evaluation and criteria considerations (Section V.A.; Appendix B.). Two of the four National Register evaluation criteria apply to the Applegate Trail: Criterion A and Criterion D.2
b) Historic Applegate Trail Is A Site3 The National Register includes significant properties classified as buildings, sites, districts, structures, or objects. It is oriented to recognizing physically concrete properties that are relatively fixed in location. The Applegate Trail qualifies as a "site" as it was the location of a significant historic activity recognized by the State of Oregon (Section III.B.) and the Federal government (Section III.A.). A site is the location of a significant event, a prehistoric or historic occupation or activity, or a building or structure, whether standing, ruined, or vanished, where the location itself possesses historic, cultural, or archeological value regardless of the value of any existing structure. A site can possess associative significance or information potential or both, and can be significant under any or all of the four criteria. A site need not be marked by physical remains if it is the location of a prehistoric or historic event or pattern of events and if no buildings, structures, or objects marked it at the time of the events (Section IV.F.; Section IV.H.). c) Applegate Trail Evaluation Nationally and regionally the Applegate Trail is recognized as a significant historic and archeological resource. The California National Historic Trail and its Applegate Trail branch was recognized by Congress in 1992 (National Trails System Act), section 5(a)(18) and (19)). The State of Oregon recognizes the value and significance of its historic trails, including the Applegate Trail, ORS 358.057(3) - The Applegate National Historic Trail (Section IV.F.7.a)). (1) Applegate Trail’s Historic Contexts4 To qualify for the National Register, a property must be significant; that is, it must represent a significant part of the history, architecture, archeology, engineering, or culture of an area, and it must have the characteristics that make it a good representative of properties association with that aspect of the past. In order to decide whether the Applegate Trail was significant within its historic context, the following five questions were addressed:
What is the Applegate Trail’s historic context? Historic context means information about the period, the place, and the events that created, influenced, or formed the backdrop to the historic resources. The discussion of historic context describes the history of the community where the property is located as it relates to the history of the property. A historic context can be described as a particular theme that is further delineated by a time period, and a geographic area. In this way an individual property associated with a given historic context can be compared with other properties related to that context to reach decisions about the relative significance of related properties. Historic contexts are historical patterns that can be identified through consideration of the history of the surrounding area. The Applegate Trail’s historic contexts relate to two of the four National Register evaluation criteria: Criterion A and Criterion D (see Section IV.A.; Appendix B).
In regard to historic contexts for the Applegate Trail, the theme component of the context will revolve around some aspect of emigrant trail history. In addition to trail use, research done to develop the identified theme considered exploration, settlement, memorials, and transportation as components of a more general overview of a community’s development and culture. • Use of the Applegate Trail in Northern Josephine County - Hugo Tombstone Quarry Section: 1856 - 1913 The historic context of the Applegate Trail’s use (1856 - 1913) is its connection with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history such as exploration and settlement of the West (Sections IV.F.1-6; Section IV.F.7) In the Hugo region it was about local pioneers trying to make a living from the land, mostly from the earth growing food and/or mining gold. As they pursued these endeavors they had to deal with the realities of life: how to travel, secure land, and bury their dead. The Applegate Trail was part of a settlement pattern. Six major sub-themes were part of the community’s development and culture as they were related to the Applegate Trail and the settlement pattern in northen Josephine County.
In conclusion, historic contexts allow for confident evaluations of the Applegate Trail’s significance. The imprint of the Applegate Trail is clearly visible and the historic theme for the 19th Century Use of the Applegate Trail in Northern Josephine County - Hugo Tombstone Quarry Section: 1856 - 1913 as it relates to the pioneer culture surrounding it. The 1856 - 1913 Applegate Trail as the main north-south route through Josephine County remained stable for over 60 years in the location of the Proposed Pioneer Meadow Subdivision. In 1992 Congress established the California National Historic Trail of which the Applegate Trail is a branch. The State of Oregon recognizes the value and significance of its historic trails, including the Applegate Trail - ORS 358.057(3).) The Oregon’s Historic Trails Fund evaluated the Applegate Trail as significant with a historic context of exploration, emigration, and settlement (see Section IV.F.2.). The conclusion was that the Applegate Trail contributed substantially to the development of the Northwest. Construction of the Oregon & California Railroad (O & C) enabled the first official train to arrive in Grants Pass December 2, 1883. Southern Pacific Railroad acquired control in 1884 and the "last spike" or final ceremony in that railroad was driven at Ashland, Oregon in 1887 connecting Oregon and California. The railroad received grants of land to finance the construction of the railroad of which one parcel eventually became the PVC. Local tradition is that the PVC was used early on for internment of deceased railroad workers, and also by the general public before the railroad arrived (see Section IV.F.7.c)). During the 1850s through the 1870s the Hugo region and Josephine County saw the first set of immigrants that were not passing through the area on their way to someplace else (e.g., Applegate Trail immigrants on their way to the Willamette Valley, etc.). They were coming to stay either to farm lands under the donation land claim and homestead laws and/or to seek gold in the new southern Oregon discoveries. Untimely deaths in the Hugo and Merlin areas during this time period used family lands for burial grounds or placed their loved ones in other cemeteries out of the Hugo-Merlin area. There is physical evidence that the cemetery was probably being used as a public cemetery prior to the arrival of the railroad in 1883. The O & C Railroad formally deeded 40-acres to the PVC July 5, 1899 (see Section IV.F.7.d)). The land in the Hugo region was transferred from federal administration to private ownership through several mechanisms: military warrants, cash entries, homesteads, donation land claims, and railroad grants. Homesteaders were a large emigrant population in Hugo and Josephine County that substantially contributed to the settlement of the area (see Section IV.F.7.b)). In conclusion, historic contexts allow for confident evaluations of the Applegate Trail’s significance. In general the Applegate Trail is in ruins or mere imprints on the landscape. However, the imprint of the Applegate Trail is clearly visible on the lands of the 19th Century Use of the Applegate Trail in Northern Josephine County - Hugo Tombstone Quarry Section: 1856 - 1913 as it relates to the pioneer culture surrounding it. (2) Significance Of Applegate Trail 5 The Applegate Trail is significant for two of the four Criteria of Evaluation - A and D (Section V.A.). The two criteria describe how the Applegate Trail is significant for its association with important events and for its importance in design and construction. The National Register criteria recognize different types of values embodied in the Applegate Trail . These values fall into the following two categories:
(a) Applegate Trail Evaluation Under Criterion A: Event6 To be considered for listing under Criterion A, the Applegate Trail must be associated with one or more events important in the defined historic context. Criterion A recognizes properties associated with a pattern of events, repeated activities, or historic trends (Section V.B.). Several steps are involved in determining whether the Applegate Trail is significant for its associative values.
The Applegate Trail was associated with a pattern of events or a historic trend that made a significant contribution to the development of a community, a state, or the nation (see Section IV.F.). (b) Applegate Trail Evaluation Under Criterion D: A Research Topic9 The Applegate Trail is eligible for the National Register because it has yielded or may be likely to yield, information important in history. The Applegate Trail meets the following requirements:
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© 2012 Hugo Neighborhood Association & Historical Society |
