EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the second of a three-part series on the 75 acres owned by Rayonier Inc. on the Port Angeles waterfront — describes what archaeologists think lies beneath the surface.
PORT ANGELES — A 1997 archaeological survey provides a glimpse of what lies beneath the surface of the former Rayonier mill site on the Port Angeles waterfront.
The 50-page cultural resource assessment by Larson Anthropological/Archeological Services of Seattle is the most detailed study to date of potential archaeological deposits — all that remain of the once bustling Klallam village of I’e’nis, said Rob Whitlam, state archaeologist.
On the surface, few signs remain of human habitation on the 75 acres owned by Rayonier Inc.
A water tank, a dock and concrete slabs are the few visual reminders of the huge pulp mill that operated for 68 years on the protected harbor 3 miles east of downtown Port Angeles. When it closed on March 1, 1997, 365 people lost their jobs.
But dig down 10 feet at the quiet spot at 700 S. Ennis St. — which is the largest private undeveloped waterfront parcel on the North Olympic Peninsula — and you may find the remnants of an ancient culture that once thrived there.
The land’s Native American history is why the Lower Elwha Kallam tribe is partners with Rayonier and the state Department of Ecology in the cleanup, which began in 2000, of the property that was contaminated with toxic chemicals by mill operation.
Archaeological discoveries there could dwarf those found at the graving yard construction site on Marine Drive in 2003-’04, state archaeologist Rob Whitlam said.
The discoveries at Tse-whit-zen — more than 300 grave sites and thousands of artifacts — eventually stopped the development of the graving yard.
At the time of the 1997 archaeological survey — which was required of Rayonier before it began dismantling the mill — the property was already on the state Register of Historic Places.
Description
The 1969 nomination form for the state register, cited in the survey, included the following description — and the misspelling of Klallam:
” . . . the mouth of Ennis Creek was the location of one of the Clallam Indian villages on Port Angeles Harbor. The Clallam Indian village burial ground was located near the mouth of Ennis creek . . . the Indian burial ground disappeared completely when the area was covered with 10 feet of earth to build an area for parking cars.”
Ennis Creek begins 9 miles away at Mount Angeles and meanders a half-mile through the Rayonier property before emptying into Port Angeles Harbor.
According to the survey, artist Paul Kane — in an 1847 visit that included traveling to Vancouver, British Columbia, as well as to the San Juan Islands — also depicted a cemetery next to the shoreline in a sketch of the Battle of I’e’nis between the Klallam and Makah tribes.
Also, during construction work on the site in 1976, a worker discovered human remains and such artifacts as blue trade beads, circular coins and one projectile point.
They were found at two locations west of Ennis Creek, near the mill’s primary clarifier building.
The Larson report says Kane described I’e’nis as “an important and upper class village,” based upon its fortifications and elaborate gravehouses.
“The village probably also had slaves and other lower-class inhabitants who lived either inside or outside the fortifications and may have been buried in a separate cemetery.”
An outbreak of smallpox in the 1850s killed many Klallam, who were hastily buried.
“Burials in active shoreline areas may be from rapid interment of victims of smallpox and other diseases,” the report says.
Klallam families continued to live on Port Angeles Harbor as late as 1933.
In 1937, 14 Klallam families were moved to 372 acres of land at the mouth of the Elwha River — the present Lower Elwha reservation — at the request of Port Angeles city officials, the report said.
That was the year that Rayonier Inc. was formed in a merger of Olympic Forest Products, Rainier Pulp and Paper Company and the Grays Harbor Pulp and Paper Company.
Rayonier modified the mill between 1950 and 1996 and further developed the site along the east edge of Ennis Creek, near where the village once stood.
Walked the site
In compiling their report, Larson archeologist Jeff Robbins and Rayonier environmental manager Paul Perlwitz walked the entire industrial site before conducting two days of “field reconnaissance” along Ennis Creek in July 1997.
“Ennis Creek exposures, and areas adjacent to the creek south of the railroad bridge, were determined to hold the highest probability for cultural resources,” the report says.
Robbins and Perlwitz conducted shovel probes every 10 meters along Ennis Creek.
In a naturally vegetated area west of twin Rayonier wastewater treatment plants, they found “a small amount of culturally deposited shell fragments, a piece of cryptocrystalline [crystallized] silica chunk/shatter, one piece of fire modified rock and one piece of flat, clear glass.”
They also found shell midden (refuse) deposits “on the ground in a thickly vegetated wooded area that forms an eastern border along Ennis Creek . . . “
Mussel and shell fragments also were visible along a game trail just east of the creek.
“The village probably extended south along Ennis Creek and also east of the mouth of the creek along the beach,” the report concludes.
“Because the site may be eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places, we recommend that the site is evaluated through test excavation prior to any subsurface disturbance.”
The site never was put on the national register.
Present site
The former mill site covers 75 acres, with about 25 acres of unpaved dirt or grass, 25 acres of paved asphalt or concrete and 25 acres of broken concrete from building demolitions, company site manager Warren Snyder said Friday.
An archaeological survey done on the site is, by law, limited to probing through concrete only for core samples of soil beneath.
More comprehensive digging can occur beneath non-impervious surfaces of dirt and grass.
Whitlam said he suspects artifacts and human remains are present under a broader area of the site than that identified by Robbins and Perlwitz.
The shovel probes they conducted “probably do not represent the true extent of the village, given its large extent and the history of industrial development there,” Whitlam said.
“The site is much like Tse-whit-zen,” he added.
“There’s not a lot of near-surface manifestations (of artifacts) because of filling and industrial infrastructure.”
On Tuesday: The date that the Rayonier site cleanup will be finished depends upon what is left to be done.
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Staff writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-417-3536 or paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
