Digging up William Palmer’s artifacts at Garden of the Gods
The adage “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure” was especially true at Garden of the Gods Thursday morning as archaeologists dug for remnants that were tossed out of the estate of Colorado Springs Founder Gen. William Jackson Palmer.
Yes, there was an archaeological dig underway inside the park for trash from more than 100 years ago.
Why?
That’s because it’s giving historians and archaeologists a look at exactly how Gen. Palmer’s family lived at the Glen Eyrie Estate from the late 1800s to the early 1900s. And judging by some of the artifacts that have been found, it’s clear that Palmer lived in opulence after amassing wealth from his work helping to establish the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad.
Diggers turned the dirt and didn’t have to go far to find items that were once in Palmer’s home. Many of the dig units only went about a foot deep, yet we saw glass bottles fully intact, dirt-encrusted shoes, remnants of plates and pottery, and even a wooden spoon. Each dig unit was about 3 feet wide by 3 feet long, and more than 100 units have been approved for digging.
(PHOTOS: Digging up Gen. Palmer’s artifacts at Garden of the Gods)
The city of Colorado Springs first found the historical items when lead archaeologist Anna Cordova discovered Palmer’s domestic trash heaps while she was monitoring the area during the Camp Creek Drainage Improvement Project. That project was started in 2015 due to rainstorm erosion after the Waldo Canyon fire.
Researchers went to the area and found items that they could specifically link to Palmer’s estate, including an enamel brick that was used to build Glen Eyrie. That’s when the idea to excavate for an exhibit of Palmer’s life started to take form.
Alpine Archaeological Consultants of Montrose is leading the dig with funding from the Colorado State Hazard Mitigation Grant Program. Jon Horn with Alpine said the items that are being found will answer many questions that historians have about the culture of the elite from the early days of mining and railroads.
One interesting aspect of Palmer’s life was his love for technology. That was evidenced in some of the items recovered, which included an early iteration of a battery that was used to power an automatic gate, according to Horn. Researchers also found incandescent light bulbs, which were on the cutting edge of technology at the time, having only been patented in 1879.
The trash sites are significant because researchers rarely have access to the refuse collected from one specific estate. Many estates on the coasts had their trash mixed in with the rest of the area’s rubbish at dumps, but Palmer had his trash removed and taken to the creek inside what’s now known as Garden of the Gods. (We’re not sure about their thought process behind that decision.)
“We don’t typically get sites like this, especially in historical archaeology,” said Mike Prouty, Alpine project archaeologist. “There have been hundreds of artifacts recovered from each of the units, so the sites are really giving a voice to Palmer and his family’s everyday life, and we’re learning a lot.”
Horn said they expect to recover more than 70,000 different items, though only a small percentage of that will be permanently curated for an upcoming exhibit about Palmer that’s scheduled to open in late 2019. The city is organizing the exhibit as part of its plan to celebrate Colorado Springs’ 150th birthday in 2021.
If you don’t want to wait until then, the city is offering guided public tours. Those tours will take place at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. from Nov. 17-20. You can meet at the Garden of the Gods Visitor & Nature Center, but be prepared for a short hike to get to the dig site.
The city and state both gave approval for the dig, along with the cooperation of FEMA, SHPO, and the Colorado Division of Homeland Security and Emergency. Officials also coordinated with local Ute tribes to approve the project.
