The Route No. 1 Overton-Lake Mead Road contributed significantly to National Park Service development of the Lake Mead National Recreation Area beginning in Stone masomy gutters along the road exemplify rustic style qualities specified by the National Park Service and adopted by the Bureau of Public Roads in the late for road features in national parks. Report Prepared By: Kurt Schweigert and Peggy Beedle Associated Cultural Resource Experts (ACRE) Littleton, Colorado Date: September ROUTE NO. 1 OVERTON-LAKE MEAD ROAD, GUTTERS (Northshore Road, Overton Beach Access Road) HAER No. Page2 I. Description Route No. 1 Overton-Lake Mead Road (Route No.
1) was constructed in to provide access to Overton Beach, a recreation facility within the Boulder Dam Recreation Area (now the Lake Mead National Recreation Area). The documented portion of Route No. 1 extends from Overton Beach southwestward and then northwestward about 6.2 miles to the boundary of the Lake Mead National Recreation Area. The documented road segment was constructed with stone and concrete masonry culvert headwalls, gutters, and two low-water crossings. Of the 33 masonry gutters known to have been constructed, 17 gutters retain sufficient integrity and are sufficiently exposed to exhibit original dimensions. Gutters were constructed in widths of three, four, and five feet, and substantially intact gutters range from six feet to 50 feet in length.
Most gutters are straight or have a crook at the upper end, but at least three gutters have curved alignments (Gutters 45, 47, and The length, width, and alignment of the gutters corresponded to the immediate drainage conditions and road embankment height. The gutters vary from four to six inches deep in three-foot wide gutters to nearly one foot deep in five-foot wide gutters. Stones embedded in the concrete range from a few inches in diameter in many gutters to more than one foot wide and long in blocks embedded in Gutter 88. Nearly all stone embedded in the gutters is red sandstone, similar to stone quarried in the Valley of Fire and used in many culvert headwalls on Route No. 1. Many of the masonry gutters on Route No.
1 have been partly or completely destroyed by erosional under-cutting and/or by disintegration of the concrete and stone matrix, so that 11 of the recorded gutters exist as small remnants of intact structure or as scattered pieces of stone and concrete. Three additional gutters are partly or substantially buried, and two additional gutter remnants may be entirely buried. Two additional gutters are currently asphalt and gravel; these structures very likely are replacements for earlier stone and concrete masonry gutters. All of the recorded gutters within the recorded segment of Route No. 1 are presented in Table 1 below. II. Architectural and Engineering Information Gutters provide channels for draining water from roadways, usually toward culverts or holding ponds.
At least 33 stone and concrete masonry gutters were constructed in as elements of the recorded segment of Route No. 1. Each of these gutters was constructed primarily by pouring a strip of concrete within an excavated U-shaped trench, and then placing flat rocks in the wet concrete. Evidence of forms was not observed at any of the recorded gutters. The top or intake end of each gutter was located at the level of the highway driving surface or in a ditch adjacent the driving surface, and the gutter then extended down slope on the highway embankment toward a culvert or natural drainage leading to a culvert. At least three of the gutters on Route No.
1 had a small concrete toe or splash at the lower end to retard ground erosion at that point (Gutters 45, 72 and see attached map for locations). ROUTE NO. I OVERTON-LAKE MEAD ROAD, GUTTERS (N orthshore Road, Overton Beach Access Road) HAER No. Page 3 Table 1: Gutters on Route No. 1 Overton-Lake Mead Road Feature UTM UTM Condition Length Width Other Information # Easting Northing Material 16 CSM Poor 3' 24A CSM Unknown NIA NIA Observed in Nov.
not refound in March possibly buried by recent flooding 27 CSM Fair NIA 3' Mostly buried; remnant 3' long observed 37 CSM Poor NIA NIA Pieces only 45 CSM Fair 4' Curves and angles downslope; 16" concrete toe at bottom 47 CSM Good 4' Curved 53 CSM Good 4' 54 CSM Good 4' 55 CSM Poor NIA 4' Mostly buried; visible portion 6' long 57 CSM Poor NIA 4' Mostly destroyed by erosion; 72" long segment observed 61 CSM Fair 4' Dark red sandstone and concrete 62 CSM Fair 5' 68 CSM Fair NIA 4' Part near highway destroyed; remaining segment long 71 CSM Fair 4' 72 CSM Fair 4' Concrete-capped splash at bottom 75 CSM Poor 5' Middle section eroded and broken 80 CSM Poor 46' 4' 81 NIA NIA CSM Poor NIA NIA Remant observed in not refound in possibly buried 84 Poor NIA 4' Small remnant, upper portion buried 85 CSM Poor NIA NIA Pieces only 88 CSM Poor 5' Relatively large sandstone blocks and concrete 89 NIA NIA Asphalt Unknown NIA NIA Gutter observed in possible remnant of asphalt gutter observed ROUTE NO.
1 OVERTON-LAKE MEAD ROAD, GUTTERS (Northshore Road, Overton Beach Access Road) HAER No. Page4 Table 1: Gutters on Route No.
1 Overton-Lake Mead Road Feature UTM UTM Condition Length Width Other Information # Easting Northing Material 90 CSM Poor N/A N/A Pieces only 93 CSM Poor N/A N/A Pieces only 94 CSM Poor N/A N/A Pieces only 95 CSM Poor N/A N/A Pieces only 98 Asphalt Good 36' 4' Relatively recent asphalt and gravel gutter; no masonry observed 101 CSM Poor 5' Partly covered with asphalt 103 CSM Poor N/A N/A Pieces only 104 CSM Very 5' Curved, very good condition Good 119 CSM Fair 4' 130 CSM Fair N/A 4' Partly buried; observed segment 17' long 138 Poor N/A N/A Pieces Only 139 Poor N/A 3' Remnant Only 140 Good 4' Straight, small pieces of concrete at bottom may be remnants of a toe * CSM is concrete stone masomy ROUTE NO. I OVERTON-LAKE MEAD ROAD, GUTTERS (Northshore Road, Overton Beach Access Road) HAER No.
Page 5 III. History All of the stone masonry gutters were constructed in by a contractor for the Bureau of Public Roads. Construction of Route No. 1 is extensively discussed in the Historical Data section ofHAER-NV-40. Please also see written and historical data for HAER-NV-40-A (Route No. 1 Culverts and Headwalls), HAER-NV-40-C (Route No. 1 Diversion Ditches and Dikes), HAER-NV-40-D (Route No. I Low Water Crossings), and HAER NV-40-E (Route No. 1 Station Markers). IV. Sources Blalack, JoAnn Overton Beach Road Survey of Route 1 Overton-Lake Mead Highway Station Markers. National Park Service, Western Archeological and Conservation Center, Tucson, Arizona. Cassell, J. T.
Final Construction Report, Grading and Bituminous Treated Surfacing on Section A of Route 1 Overton-Lake Mead Boulder Dam Recreational Area Clark County, Nevada. Daron, Steven E. Relacement of a Culvert Along Overton Beach Access Road, Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Clark County, Nevada. Submitted to Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Boulder City, Nevada. WACC Project# LAME Federal Highway Administration Report on Existing Headwalls Built by the Civilian Conservation Corps circa Northshore Road and Overton Beach Road. Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Nevada Projects PRA- LAME & PRA-LAME Prepared by the Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, Central Federal Lands Highway Division, Denver, Colorado.
National Park Service Project 1-A, Grading and Bituminous Treated Surfacing Route No. 1- Overton-Lake Mead, Boulder Dam Recreational Area Highway System, Arizona & Nevada. On file at National Park Service, Lake Mead National Recreation Headquarters, Boulder City, Nevada. V. Project Information This documentation has been prepared at the request of the National Park Service, Lake Mead National Recreation Area. In NPS and the Nevada State Historic Preservation Office (NV-SHPO) agreed that repair or maintenance could adversely affect historic drainage structures along Route No. I. A Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between NPS and NV-SHPO stipulated that HAER documentation would be accomplished for features along Route No. 1 prior to reconstruction of the road.
This HAER documentation partially fulfills requirements of the MOA. This documentation was accomplished by Associated Cultural Resource Experts (ACRE) under provisions of a task order issued by the National Park Service to Scientific Applications International Corporation (SAIC). Kurt P. Schweigert of ACRE was Principal Investigator and prepared the second draft and final documentation packages. Douglas M. Edwards and Kurt P. Schweigert of ACRE were the photographers, and Peggy Beedle of ACRE accomplished most of the research and initial field documentation. Melissa Johnson of ACRE assisted in field ROUTE NO. 1 OVERTON-LAKE MEAD ROAD, GUTTERS (Northshore Road, Overton Beach Access Road) HAER No. Page 6 documentation and photography.
Field documentation and photography were accomplished in February and February This documentation was based in part on three previous field surveys of drainage features and survey monuments along Route No. 1 (Daron Blalack Federal Highway Administration Lake Mead National Recreation Area staff provided copies of plans for Route 1 and other materials. Additional information was obtained from the National Park Service Technical Information Center in Denver, Colorado; Special Collections at the Lied Library at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas; and the National Archives in College Park, Maryland. Boulder City, Nevada historian Dennis McBride provided a newspaper index on road articles from local newspapers. !~ z ,-. 0 0 ;ii:::0 0 (1) z I or i:,, > ~~ ~ S;: tr:I 0 > ~ ~ tJ tr:I i:,, 0 g.
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