The BLM Prineville District hired Logan Simpson to evaluate the Pictograph Cave site for the NRHP. The site is in south-central Oregon and includes prehistoric pictographs, or painted elements, and petroglyphs (incised images). The site was discovered in 1938 by well-known archaeologist Luther Cressman and has been revisited several times—though none of these resulted in an NRHP determination. Additional tasks included updating the site record, preparing a report, and making management recommendations. Logan Simpson owns a portable x-ray fluorescence (PXRF) analyzer, which is a unique asset, and as a value-added service we used PXRF to analyze the pictographs. We teamed with Dr. Bruce Kaiser—inventor of the Bruker PXRF system and renowned researcher in nuclear physics—to conduct the PXRF studies. PXRF determined the mineral composition of pigments; helped infer pigment preparation and application techniques; and identified the work of different artists and painting events. The analysis found that the pictographs were made with berry juice; previous studies have found that pictograph pigments are often made from minerals, such as red ochre, and the use of berries at the Pictograph Cave site is unexpected.

Our use of innovative technology offered BLM an additional research avenue and added to the archaeological record of Oregon.

Logan Simpson’s historic preservation specialists completed architectural documentation on two buildings located on the Duck Valley Indian Reservation in Owyhee, Nevada. Both buildings, a former hospital and a power house, were constructed in 1937 following the unification of the Shoshone and Paiute Tribes at Duck Valley under the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934. Both the former hospital and power house are constructed of volcanic stone native to the Owyhee area and represent an important period of development in the history of the reservation. Architectural documentation was followed by NRHP eligibility recommendations for each building. Logan Simpson also conducted oral history interviews of two longtime Duck Valley residents to gain more information about each building. These interviews provided valuable material regarding the history of both the former hospital and power house and underscored each building’s significance to the history and development of the Duck Valley Reservation.

On behalf of the BIA Western Regional Office, Division of Environmental Management, Logan Simpson completed Historic American Building Survey (HABS)-level documentation for Building No. 36 (H65-01-36). The building was formerly part of the Keams Canyon Boarding School located on the Hopi Indian Reservation in Keams Canyon, Arizona. Architectural documentation included recordation of building materials and construction techniques, as well as large-format black and while film and digital photography, site mapping, and photographic reproduction of floor plans. Documentation was in compliance with federal regulations for Level II HABS documentation submissions to the Library of Congress.