One question that I would ask regarding your railroad camp is whether it was associated with construction or maintenance activity. I personally have just finished field work on a Virginia and Truckee Railway section camp of Scales (maintenance camp) which is part of my ongoing research for my dissertation. Section camps are very different environments than construction camps, particularly in terms of ideological indoctrination, shifting ethnic identities over time, relative degrees of isolation, as well as the time depth associated with maintenance activity. For instance, Scales was inhabited for almost 40 years. In addition, the dominant ethnicity was Italian and families were present at the site. This presence of domesticity at section camps was very common throughout North America and complicates interpretations of ethnic identity, camp life, and gender dynamics associated with these sites. It is also important to note the degree of corporate control in the section camp environment as these camps were part of an engineered and didactic linear landscape. I have done a great deal of theoretical context building regarding these types of camps and if you would like any more information please feel free to ask. 
 
 Stathi Pappas
    ______________________________________________________
 
 Efstathios I. Pappas, MS
 Doctoral Student
 Department of Anthropology/096
 University of Nevada, Reno
 Reno, NV 89557
 (775) 323-5730   
 -----Original Message-----
 From: [log in to unmask]
 To: [log in to unmask]
 Sent: Thu, 20 Jul 2006 8:50 AM
 Subject: Re: Railroad Camps
 
  Smoke,



From some of the responses I've been getting, I'm leaning towards Italian 

immigrant railroad workers as the possible source of the oven at the site.  To 

be able to assign a structure or artifact to a particular ethnic group is very 

interesting and something that is usually difficult to do.  Perhaps this case 

will prove to be the exception.

Thanks,





Kent



Smoke <[log in to unmask]> wrote: When I worked on the Kootenai Forest, we 

had them along the Northern

Pacific railroad.  Local had called them "Chinese Ovens" for years.

Research had showed them to be along many of the railroad lines in the

western states.  They are known in the northern Mediterranean from

Spain, France, Italy, the Balkans, and Greece.



If anyone wants so see what one looks like, the Early Arkansas

Reenactors Association has built one at the Historic Site of Cadron

Settlement along the Arkansas River.  This one was built with a base

since so many of us are "getting on in years" and it is easier than

bending over.  We use it a LOT.  Mostly for Pizza but for bread, pies

and cobbler, too.



http://www.arkie.net/%7Eeara/Building%20a%20Wood%20Fired%20Oven.html

Smoke.


On 7/19/06, Kent Taylor  wrote:
> In doing an archaeological survey in Wisconsin, one our crews came upon what
> they described as a railroad camp that included the ruins of a
> beehive-shaped stone cooking oven and a great deal of faunal material,
> especially bovine.  Has anyone else come across a similar situation? And how
> was it explained.  Thanks.
>
>
> Kent Taylor
>


-- 
Smoke Pfeiffer

Absence of Evidence is NOT Evidence of Absence



Kent C. Taylor, M.A., RPA 
Project Archaeologist 
Commonwealth Cultural Resources Group, Inc. 
Phone (248) 362-3038 
Fax (248) 362-3038 
E-Mail [log in to unmask]
        
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