Hopewell Culture Amidst Ancient Monuments The Administrative History of Mound City Group National Monument / Hopewell Culture National Historical Park, Ohio

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 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]

Figure 64: Superintendent James W. Coleman, Jr., presented jack-of-all-trades maintenance worker J. Vernon Acton with a special service award. (NPS/Lee Hanson, Jr., April 1967)

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 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 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 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]

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)

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 man-hours. 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 thirty-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]

Figure 65a: 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)

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 35 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.

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 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 state-mandated 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. [28] 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. Addressing the water problem came in a 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-quality 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-76 review began on March 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-76 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]

Thanks to two years of intensive lobbying by the National Parks and Conservation Association and other groups, the deleterious impacts of OMB Circular A-76 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 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]

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)

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.

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/l). The measurement constituted nearly ten times the safe benchmark reading of 4.0 pCi/l. 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 46.5 pCi/l in the residence's basement and 11.5 pCi/l in the first-floor bedroom. Readings in the maintenance building's basement came in at 24.0 and 25.5 pCi/l.

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 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]

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 flat-designed 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 own staff plugged the suspected entry points. [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, eight-inches 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 coffee-pot!" [41]

In 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:

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 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 twenty-four-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 sieve-like 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 30 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, 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]

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. (NPS/September 1984)

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 northeast corner. [49]

Figure 68: The pitched, red metallic roof gave a dramtic facelift to the MISSION 66-era visitor center. (NPS/Rebecca Jones, fall 1996)

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 company released the monument from its payment obligation and wanted the telephone booth to remain in place until its removal in 1993. [52]

Figure 69: The old maintenance utility building. (NPS/February 1989)

Figure 70: Modern maintenance building. (NPS/Rebecca Jones, spring 1996)

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 long-awaited 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 roofline 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 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 3,200 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]

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]

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, labor-intensive 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 thirty-eight-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. [64]

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-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. [65]

Utilizing all available options to augment its small permanent staff resulted in a slow erosion of the park's full-time 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 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 wildflowers 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 364 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.