Bell-Gisler Farmstead Consensus Determination of Eligibility, Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument

Regions 8, 9, 10, & 12 Park Cultural Landscapes Program

Inventory Unit Description: The Bell-Gisler Farmstead is located southwest of Hagerman, Idaho. The property is bounded to the west/southwest by the Snake River and is surrounded by agricultural fields along the north, east, and south. The property is composed of a farmstead core developed area that is characterized by the presence of historic buildings and structures as well as new development associated with National Park Service activities. Gold placer mine tailings are located southwest of the farmstead, while a ditch bisects the property from northeast to southwest and empties into the Snake River. Documentation prepared for the property in 1994 found the farmstead to be a cultural landscape that was eligible for listing in the National Register under Criterion A for its association with broad patterns in history, serving as a good example of changing local land use patterns that reflected the historic transition from mining to agriculture and from agriculture to tourism. Under Criterion B, the property was found to be eligible for its association with I.B. Perrine who played an important role in hydropower development along the Snake River and the subsequent settlement of southern Idaho. The property was also found to be eligible under Criterion C as a result of its composition of buildings and structures that reflected the infrastructure requirements necessary to operate a small family farm during the first half of the twentieth century. The Bell-Gisler Farmstead no longer retains integrity and appears ineligible for listing to the National Register of Historic Places under Criteria A, B, and C. While the farmstead retains its original location and setting, only a few of the original features remain. Nineteen resources were identified as contributing in the 1994 DOE, and of those, eleven resources are non-extant in 2017. Of the eight contributing resources that remain, the house retains insufficient integrity to convey the significance of the historic district, while the other seven contributing resources retain high integrity. The one non-contributing resource identified in the 1994 DOE is non-extant. There are four undetermined resources that were identified in the 1994 DOE. These resources were associated with historic gold placer mining in the area and require additional historical research to document the historic context of these activities. Ultimately, three of the four undetermined resources were relocated. There are fourteen non-contributing buildings and structures that have been added since 1994 that have changed the spatial organization of the farmstead.

Bell-Gisler Farmstead Consensus Determination of Eligibility, Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument

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