Southwestern Archaeology, Inc. (SWA) " Got CALICHE ? " Newsletter Archaeology, Anthropology, and History of the Greater Southwest! Friday July 30, 2004 ***************************************** TEXAS http://www.banderabulletin.com/articles/2004/07/28/news/cowboy/story03.txt The American Civil War denied access to markets, and there were as many as 8 million head of surplus cattle at the end of hostilities in 1865, including five million in Texas. At the end of the war, there was a huge, pent-up market for beef. Entrepreneurial cattlemen and businessmen set about to move cattle from the open range to the kitchen range. The era of the big cattle drive was at hand. The Chisholm Trail became the longest (more than 1,000 miles) cattle-to-market trail in the world, stretching from San Antonio to Abilene and beyond. http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/2707580 http://www.khou.com/news/local/houstonmetro/stories/khou040729_jt_historichouse.2469c63a.html A group of irritated residents — some from other neighborhoods with similar preservation concerns — gathered at the site Wednesday to mourn the loss of the structure and to call for a ban on demolitions in any area with a historic designation. The city's Planning and Development Department spokeswoman, Suzy Hartgrove, admitted the city erred in issuing the demolition permit Tuesday. http://www.austinchronicle.com/issues/dispatch/2004-07-30/pols_naked.html The Austin Zoning and Platting Commission gave historic staff a thorough dressing-down last week and voted to endorse the task force's recommendations. COLORADO http://www.aspentimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040729/NEWS/107290026&rs=2 The financially struggling Aspen Historical Society is mulling a property tax measure as a last-ditch effort to keep its doors from closing this fall. ARIZONA http://www.eacourier.com/articles/2004/07/28/news/news03.txt Rain fell on the Gila Valley and destroyed a piece of the Graham County Historical Society Museum roof. http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0729nebuffalobill29.html The board of the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody, Wyo., could decide as early as September whether to add a Scottsdale branch museum, said Bob Shimp, executive director of the Western history and art museum. http://www.dailystar.com/dailystar/dailystar/32051.php Federal and county officials will propose a $150 million effort to bring back mesquite, cottonwood and willow trees -- but no water -- to stretches of the Santa Cruz and Rillito rivers that dried up more than a half-century ago. There's been no permanent water in either river since groundwater pumping expanded heavily to serve a growing population after World War II. http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/0729phxbriefs29.html The second-annual Arizona Statewide Historic Preservation Partnership Conference discusses the importance of preserving historical homes and buildings as a strategy for downtown Phoenix revitalization. The city's Historic Preservation Office supports 36 historical residential districts and 144 individual historical properties. CALIFORNIA http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/news/9271760.htm A preservationist is leading a crusade to restore a local cemetery that the city has made into a public park. The city changed the nearly 150-year-old Catholic cemetery into a public park in the 1960s. About 600 headstones were removed and dumped in a nearby canyon. www.restorestmarys.org http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-stonechurch29jul29,1,199137.story?coll=la-headlines-california After a 17-year, $9.6-million restoration project, the ruins of the Great Stone Church at Mission San Juan Capistrano reopened to the public Wednesday. The massive project was undertaken to preserve the church's crumbling stone walls and reinforce them with seismic retrofitting. Engineers anticipate their work will help the church survive 200 more years. CYBERIA http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/living/2001991441_barbieblaine29.html Material Culture: Barbie's new boy toy, Blaine, is replacing longtime boyfriend Ken after the surprise ending of Ken and Barbie's 43-year relationship in February. People theorize that Ken had latent sexual preferences. The 1993 "Earring Magic Ken" doll, gave him a pierced left ear and a lavender mesh vest... http://images.usatoday.com/news/_photos/2004/07/29/stamps-inside.jpg http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2004-07-28-stamps-artwork_x.htm A series of stamps and postal cards featuring American Indian artwork will be issued next month by the Postal Service. http://www.pahrumpvalleytimes.com/2004/07/28/opinion/myers.html Reclamation became something resembling an organized religion and was sold on the basis of a pseudoscience whose tenets (Rain Follows the Plow: When ground is plowed, rainfall will increase - and I am not making this up) rested on faith and a suspension of disbelief. Last year historian John Barry wrote that in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, "Engineers claimed [that] scientific management mean not only improved profit margins but salvation for humanity. It was a faith, a religion." Little has changed. http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20040728-101704-1290r The Bush administration last week cut the budget for the National Science Foundation. It is the smaller projects that are going to get hurt. There is a general view that tough times are ahead. ***************************************** Post letter mail and other media to: Southwestern Archaeology, Inc. P.O. Box 61203 Phoenix AZ, USA 85082-1203 602.697.5754 (cellular) Go ahead! Pick up the phone and call us! 602.372.8539 (digital fax) 603.457.7957 (digital fax) http://www.swanet.org (url) http://www.swanet.org/images/license.pdf SWA invites you to redistribute SWA's "Got CALICHE?" Newsletter. We also request your timely news articles, organizational activities and events, technical and scientific writings, and opinion pieces, to be shared with our digital community. SWA's daily newsletter deals with quotidian issues of anthropology and archaeology -- cultural survival, time and space, material culture, social organization, and commerce, to name just a few. Our electronic potlatch and digital totemic increase rites focus and multiply historic preservation activities in the Greater Southwest. SWA's newsletters are "txt" format only, contain no attachments, and are virus free. Newsletter archives and free subscription: http://www.swanet.org/news.html. For information archived on SWA's server, visit http://search.freefind.com/find.html?id=5116511 Thanks for reading today's edition! Southwestern Archaeology, Inc. (SWA) - A 501(c)(3) customer-centric corporation dedicated to the ethnographic study of the scientific practices of the American Southwest and the Mexican Northwest. Our goal is to create and promote diverse micro-environments and open systems in which archaeologists can develop their talents and take the risks from which innovation and productivity arise.