Archaeological Salvage of the Joso Trestle Construction Camp, 45-FR-51 Lower Monumental Project.

A major Pacific Northwest transportation camp, the Joso Bridge site was occupied from about 1913 until completion of the trestle in 1914. A notable engineering feat of its time, Joso Bridge is even now in daily use by the Union Pacific Railroad. Salvage excavations were made necessary by proposed fish hatchery construction, which will obliterate the greater portion of the camp area. Interpretation of the site is complicated by the fact that the camp buildings were dismantled and removed following completion of the trestle however, early photographs do exist and it has been possible to make some correlation with what little structural evidence remains below ground. Because the Northern Pacifics Perry Station section house was also located nearby, the opportunity exists to make comparisons between the consumption and disposal habits of a more settled section foreman with those of the itinerant ironworkers. Additionally, the artifact analysis has provided a great deal of specific information about the camp and its workers, especially their leisure-time activities, among which were drinking and poker-playing. While it was hoped that some evidence of the crews ethnic makeup might emerge, a few sherds of Chinese ceramics were the only archaeological clues to the possible ethnic origin of perhaps one camp member, although documentary research has provided us with the name of an Irish workman.