Emergency Repairs: Ruin Walls
1972. Emergency Repairs: Ruin Walls. Historic Structure Report. U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service
Stabilization and preservation of adobe or earthen structures are existing problems even while such structures are being occupied. Once abandoned and without regular maintenance these structures will rapidly deteriorate into ruined condition. Such is the case with Fort Bowie National Historic Site. During military occupation the buildings were kept in good condition, but a few weeks after the military marched out of Apache Pass in October, 1894, local citizens began to strip the Fort's buildings of roofs, flooring, doors, windows, bricks, etc. The looting of timbers and lumber left the adobe walls exposed to the elements and greatly hastened the deterioration that was to follow. When President Johnson signed the bill authorizing the establishment of Fort Bowie as a National Historic Site in August, 1964, only a portion of the Fort's structures remained, and that portion was only eroded walls, foundations and traces of buildings. Sixty years of unchecked erosion left deteriorating fragile walls, greatly in need of a comprehensive program of preservation and stabilization.
- Type
- Published Report
- Date of Issue
- 1972
- Publisher
- U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service
- Units
- FOBO , IMR
- Keywords
- adobe, earthen structures, preservation, ruins, stabilization