DISCOVERY BAY – Work on a nearly $3 million Jefferson County Public Utility District community septic system at Beckett Point, which stalled in late May after prehistoric Native American remains and artifacts were uncovered, has been cleared to resume after Sept. 3, state officials said on Wednesday.
“We’re letting them go forward,” said Allyson Brooks, state historic preservation officer. “We just have to amend the permit.”
Work on the $2.8 million project will resume after Labor Day, said Jim Parker, PUD manager.
Brooks said the project could resume because no more significant cultural resources were found after 91 six-foot-deep test holes were dug where septic system “grinder pumps” and other system infrastructure would installed for Beckett Point residents, who have each paid $28,000 as their share of replacing failing septic system along there shores of shellfish-rich Discovery Bay.
Recovered sediments have been screened at each location to find any cultural materials present.
Results will be recorded, but no cultural samples will be collected, archaeologists have said.
Although shell middens were found in two locations at the Beckett Point project, Brooks said, “They should be able to move the project around the cultural resources found.”
Pape and Sons was trenching for the project in late May when 58 bone and bone fragments were discovered, shutting down the project under federal laws protecting antiquities.
In mid-July, the chief archaeologist on the site, Gary Wessen, said a single partially intact human grave was found along with concentration of other disturbed bones, stone tools and shell middens.
Shell middens are the remains of ancient beach campfires.
The late prehistoric remains were between a few hundred and a few thousand years old, Wessen reported.
In recovering remains and artifacts, Wessen and another archaeologist have been joined at the site by Jamestown S’Klallam, Port Gamble S’Klallam and Skokomish tribe representatives.
Attempts to contact Kathy Duncan, cultural resources manager for the Jamestown S’Klallam tribe, were unsuccessful on Wednesday.
Wessen, with Wessen and Associates, has submitted “An Archaeological Survey and Evaluation of the Beckett Point Study Area” to PUD, the state archaeology office and the tribes, Parker said.
Parker said he hopes that contractor Pape and Sons can complete the project before winter’s high tides hit and flood the lagoon at Beckett Point.
“The contractor can start digging holes and put in grinder pumps and start connecting them,” Parker said on Wednesday.
Grinder pumps will move wastewater from individual Beckett Point homes into the already-installed sewer line. From there, wastewater will be pumped to a drain field that is uphill of the Beckett Point village, away from Discovery Bay.
The upper drain-field portion of the project was cleared earlier for continued drain-field work, and has been monitored by an archaeologist.
Archaeological work for the site study has come to $30,000 so far, with Jefferson County paying $18,000, Parker said.
Officials with the state Department of Archeology and Historic Preservation came up with a $10,000 grant for early work.
Additional costs caused by construction delays and additional engineering work have not yet been calculated, Parker said.
PUD commissioners agreed to work with the Jamestown, Port Gamble and Skokomish tribes, as well as the state archeology office to ensure that remains or artifacts will be uncovered and properly handled.
Septic system work has yet to be extended to homes along Beckett Point’s Viewpoint Lane because work stopped short of that link in the project.
Three North Olympic Peninsula lawmakers sent a letter of support to the state Department of Ecology water quality division in support of a $250,000 grant to aid the project, but the application was rejected because Ecology said it did not fit the criteria of a pilot project.
Describing the cultural setting in his report, Wessen said Beckett Point was occupied by S’Klallam and Chimera Indian Peoples during the early historic period.
Report
Wessen and Associates’ study researched the history of Beckett Point, conducted a surface survey and investigated buried deposits from the test holes and two backhoe-dug trenches, the report states.
“This work has identified four areas of potentially intact shell midden deposits and five additional areas where clearly disturbed shell midden materials are present,” the report said.
“The potentially intact shell midden deposits are yet to be investigated in detail, but the currently available information suggests that they represent relatively recent late prehistoric Native American use of this area. Both occupation areas and a cemetery appear to be represented.”
The study proposed modifying the project’s existing engineering plans to move some project infrastructure, including one grinder pump and some release valves, to avoid disturbing shell midden areas.
The possible presence of additional graves and/or disturbed human bones remains a concern throughout the study area, Wessen reported.
“While this possibility may seem relatively small in some portions of the area, we believe that it must be respected,” Wessen said, recommending that an archaeologist continue to monitor the project until it is complete.
________
Port Townsend-Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
