What is Urban Archaeology?

What is Urban Archaeology?. . ,

The history of the city and events in our past have determined how we arrived at this point in time, as well as how we make decisions and view the world today.

Mill Ruins Park Public Archaeology Program, Summit Envirosolutions, Inc., 2003, Exposed mill ruins adjacent to the main tailrace provide a look at the historic tunnels, tailraces, and construction details as well as the natural limestone ledge of the river's edge., What Lies Beneath... , Above ground, the west-side riverbank landscape reveals only a small portion of its former dense collection of mills and factories. But below or just at the surface, along the bluff between the west-side power canal and the river, are historic stone foundations, machinery fragments, and other artifacts which attest to a dynamic period of the city's development., Fires and explosions, construction and reconstruction, and railroad and public works projects between 185[?] and 1930 constantly reshaped the noisy, dusty area where flour, textiles, and other products were manufactured and shipped. After 1920, as the flour industry moved to other cities, demolition of portions of the old mills further reshaped the landscape. The last working mill on the south side of the waterpower canal burned in 1969. The recent transformation of the area into Mill Ruins Park has again brought to light and preserved as much as possible of the historic building materials and artifacts that lie beneath the surface., Most of the mills on the north side of the waterpower canal were down by the mid-1940s, but the canal and tailrace system remained intact. The gatehouse was still at the head of the canal. The view at the top shows Mill Ruins Park in 2004., Why Preserve? , Photographs, maps, drawings, newspaper articles, and other materials document the long history of the west-side milling district, but the potential to discover more about the area and its historical context remains. A program of industrial archaeology provides many kinds of experiences, from exploring the inside of a millrace tunnel to learning about the purpose of the old tools and other finds on the site. Each artifact might only provide a sliver of information from the complete picture, but the collective results of an archaeological investigation can bring to life some aspects of the city experienced by Minneapolis residents of a century ago., In the 1960s, the turbines were still used to generate electricity by Northern States Power. The sign in this photo from the early 1950s says "Consolidated Hydro Station – Northern States Power Co.", Archaeologists on site, 2000., Industrial Archaeology , While prehistoric archaeology is the study of the evidence of communities prior to permanent white settlement at the Falls of St. Anthony, industrial archaeology is the study of sites created by industrial activities such as extracting, processing, transporting, communicating, producing, and powering on a large scale. The historical contexts in which these activities took place include the stories of the people who built and worked in the mills. Industrial archaeologists examine a site's physical remains above and below the surface. They also use many kinds of published and unpublished materials to study the area, including social and business histories, photographs, and oral histories., Archaeologists also investigated the ruins of small structures that were part of the flour manufacturing process., Minneapolis City Directory, 1867, Washburn Crosby mechanical trade card, ca. 1910, closed at left and open at right., Drawings and photographs are used by archaeologists to record and analyze finds. This 1986 drawing of the canal gates shows three of the eight granite gate openings that could be excavated (Tordoff and Clouse)., Northwestern Miller cross section, 1894., The Archaeologist's Notebook , The following descriptions were written by Minnesota Historical Society archaeologists in the 1980s and were the foundation for subsequent Mill Ruins Park planning., South of the limestone trestle supports and east of the Empire Mill/King Midas Elevator an excavation unit was opened in an attempt to expose a portion of the tailrace outlets. This area was covered with a find sand which made backhoe excavations very difficult as the walls were continually collapsing. Only a small portion of the tailrace could be exposed. The top of the tailrace wall was encountered at 754 feet above sea level; this was 18 feet below the surface. The wall was built of small chunks of mortared limestone. The lower three to four feet of the wall was covered with a concrete facing. The bottom of the tailrace was covered with water, but appeared to be at about 746 feet above sea level thus making the tailrace eight feet deep. The excavation not only exposed a small edge of the tailrace wall, but the base of a railway trestle support column resting on the wall. This allowed for exact provenance control as the support column appears on ca. 1890 photographs and maps. The interior of the northern part of the tailrace system was also explored in 1989. Access was gained by means of a spiral staircase beneath a trapdoor near the outlet excavation area. The staircase drops 40 feet to a concrete tunnel partially filled with water. A wooden catwalk just above water level in the tunnel allows crawlspace access to the tailrace system. The tailrace system itself is partially flooded by storm drains and sanitary sewer breaks. At least half of the system is flooded to a depth of eight feet. Portions of the system could only be reached by rubber raft. The difficult access to the tailraces and transportation problems within the system made detailed surveying and high quality photography almost impossible. The tailraces were excavated into the soft sandstone using the limestone as a natural ceiling. The walls were then lined with masonry to prevent erosion The oldest tunnels were those to the Cataract and Holly mills dating to 1859. These tunnels are lined with worked limestone set in a good quality mortar. Rounded alcoves in the tunnel contain four-foot diameter iron draft tubes which led to turbines above. The mouth of the Cataract-Holly tunnel is formed by a yellow brick arch. The exit has been sealed by cinder blocks pierced with a 36-inch concrete pipe., Published in Scott Anfinson, Archaeology of the Central Minneapolis Riverfront, vol. 2, 1990., Views from the Bridge , Many kinds of sources can be used to study the past industrial landscape. This chronology of views shows not only the development and demise of the bridge but also the changing landscape of the west side mills. The pedestrian and wagon bridge at 10th Avenue S. (shown above), was constructed in 1874 and stood until it was recycled as scrap metal in 1943; a stone pier from this bridge still stands like a sentinel in the river., Our Guide to the Falls ,

The thrift of the village that has sprung up here within one year can only be appreciated by those who see it. A yearling now numbering about 500 inhabitants, the very freshest importation from Yankeedom and when the thermometer is down to ten below zero, they can be see with their coats off and sleeves rolled up and hard at work.

William G. LeDuc, ca. 1851, Mill Studies ,

The existence of the water power canal, waste water tunnels and tail races provides an unprecedented array of resources with which to demonstrate the complexity, scale and comprehensiveness of the control of water for power....

Mill Ruins Park Public Archaeology Program, Summit Envirosolutions, Inc., 2003, Planning for West River Parkway began in the 1970s and included historical research and excavation of former mill sites. In the 1980s, archaeologists determined that much of the historic waterpower canal, tailrace, and tunnel system and the eight arched granite gatehouse openings were intact, as well as many mill foundations. Some showed good potential for archaeological investigation. Intact equipment such as turbines was also identified, as well as a variety of other artifacts including architectural hardware, nails, shoes, and glass., West-side mills from the Stone Arch Bridge, ca. 1925., A series of maps, 1873-1912, shows the evolution of the milling district:, Cataract Mill , 1859-1928 , Adjacent to the upstream end of the main canal was a row of early mills constructed before 1870 and rebuilt after fires and as manufacturing needs changed. The Cataract Flour Mill was the first built on the west side of the river following completion of the power canal. The building was razed in 1928. Its foundation walls are visible at the corner of Portland and West River Parkway, where a millstone also rests on a salvaged lintel. Archaeologists have not explored the interior of the Cataract. Future study offers great potential for information about early milling and its adaptations., Archaeological evidence confirms the continual development of milling technology, which meant that mills were constantly refitted with new machinery and water wheels., Builders and Workers , Well-known engineers such as William de la Barre designed the mills using the cutting-edge technology of the day and supervised building construction. Much less is known about those who did the hard, dangerous work of supplying materials and constructing the mills, waterpower canals, tailraces, and bridges. Many skilled and unskilled workers were employed in building the aprons and other modifications to the Falls. Teams of mules and horses supplied much of the early horsepower for excavation, transport, and hoisting heavy timber and iron. Larger numbers of men were likely involved in these construction projects than in actual operation of many of the mills, which were increasingly machinery-operated., The houses, apartments, and boarding houses of the nearby Cedar-Riverside, Southeast, and Northeast Minneapolis neighborhoods were home for many mill laborers, masons, carpenters, and machinists. Beginning in the 1870s, Swedish immigrants played a growing role in the workforce, and the Washington Avenue and Cedar-Riverside area was a center of that community., The Cedar-Riverside community included a diverse group of mill and railroad employees. African-Americans and natives of Maine, Bohemia, and Sweden occupied a single block of Washington Avenue., The west-side canal construction, 1980., Cedar Avenue, ca. 1890., The Cedar-Riverside area in 1928., Scandinavian and Bohemian immigrants shared the river flats neighborhood below the Washington Avenue Bridge. Shown is the Immanuel Evangelical Slovak Lutheran Church, Bohemian Flats, ca. 1900.,

My first duty was to act as "handy man" to a group of men who were placing the new machine in the Pillsbury plants... it was my job to aid in whatever job presented itself...

Franklin Martin, recollections of his work in a flour mill in the 1870s, The young Franklin Martin later became a doctor, but other laborers toiled for years in the dusty and dangerous flour mills, in the hazardous sawmills, and in other industries., There was fluctuating demand for jobs such as loaders and packers in flour mills and the offshoot industries of cooperages (barrel manufacture), bag manufacture, and iron foundries. Some people had steady jobs, while others were seasonal employees. The first flour-mill labor strike was in 1879, and it began decades of negotiation for better pay and working conditions, especially for unskilled workers., City directories provide a sketch of mill and factory occupations, as well as the many other jobs held by city residents., Skilled millers advertised their services in the Northwestern Miller, March 29, 1916