A property of local significance helps us understand the history of a community, county, or small scale geographic unit through the impact of particular events or persons; architectural types or styles; or information content. Properties significant at the state level help us understand the history of events at the state level, while those of national significance aid in our understanding of the nation as a whole (National Park Service 1982, 1991c). The Criterion and level of significance employed depends on the nature of the resource and its place in history. In the absence of any associations with important individuals, decisions are often based on whether or not the historic site has standing buildings and structures. Criteria A and C are often used to evaluate sites where structures, buildings or objects are present while D is used to evaluate archaeological sites.

Criterion A

Some properties are significant due to their association with important historic events. A property may be associated with either of two types of events; a specific event marking an important moment in American history, or a series of events that made a significant contribution to the development of a community, state, or the nation (National Park Service 1982, 1991c). A site must be a good representative of the event or series of events and of the themes they represent. The correlation between the property and the event or series of events must be documented.

Criterion B

Persons significant in our past means individuals whose activities were important within significant themes in national, state, or local history. The individual must be specifically identified and their association with the property must be demonstrated. The site should be compared with other properties associated with the individual to determine if it is a good representative of the persons contribution and the themes Service 1982, 1991c).

Criterion C

Criterion C consists of four sub-Criterion (see above). In particular for Hanford, the most important sub-Criterion is the embodiment of the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction. In this limited context, the property must clearly illustrate the pattern of what was common to a class of resources, the individuality or variation that occurred within a class, the evolution of a class over time, or the transition between classes (National Park Service 1982,1991c). Most rural and many urban buildings in the Hanford Site vicinity can be categorized as vernacular architecture; few are representative of the classic styles (e.g.,Gothic Revival, Italianate). In the absence of identified styles or architectural significance Criteria, vernacular buildings are most often evaluated on the basis of their historical significance, especially as representative of a historically unique building type in a geographical region (e.g., railroad tie cabins - cf. Hardesty 1986: 60). The phrase type, period, or method of construction refers to properties related by cultural tradition, or function; by date of construction or style; or by choice or availability of materials and technology (National Park Service 1982, 1991c).

Criterion D

Criterion D is employed where resources are important if they contain information that may assist in the resolution of scientific and scholarly issues or questions. Such questions are not standardized and may vary considerably, depending on the nature of the resources found in an area. It is most often used to evaluate the importance of prehistoric archaeological sites. At the Hanford Site, where most of the pre-1943 cultural resources are archaeological in nature, Determination of National Register eligibility under Criterion D must address:

1. whether the resource contains information that can contribute to our understanding of history; and,
2. whether that information is important to the resolution of identified, significant research questions.

Evaluating Significance

Hardesty (1986: 61) noted that a major problem in the evaluation of historical sites is how to separate trivial research questions from significant scientific and scholarly questions. Trivial questions are those that are not truly related to significance issues, but rather deal with the pragmatics of site examination and interpretation (e.g., reconstruction of food practices, houses, industrial technologies, or environments) unless they are put into a much broader scientific and scholarly framework that establishes their local, state, or national significance. The absence of good regional research strategies in historical archaeology is often the reason why so many trivial questions are used in site evaluations. This results in site-specific research questions being used to evaluate the significance of historic sites. When viewed in the perspective of the National Register, few site-specific scientific questions are likely to be considered significant under Criterion D.

Another problem is vague research questions that address significant issues but are either completely implicit or unworkable when applied to archaeological data (Hardesty 1986: 62). Cultural resource overviews are often used as reference documents for assessing historic site significance. These overviews usually only provide a historical context and do not go far enough to be useful as a workable document for historic site evaluation. Identified historical themes usually suggest what kinds of resources are present and which may be important, but the leap from these implicit generalizations to specific evaluation Criteria is seldom made (Hardesty 1986: 62). Thus, vague research questions are often used to assess the significance of specific sites, buildings, and structures.

Integrity

Not only must a property be significant, but it must also have integrity. Integrity is the ability of a property to convey its significance, but the evaluation of integrity is sometimes a subjective judgment (National Park Service 1991c). Evaluation of integrity must always be grounded in an understanding of a propertys physical features and how they relate to its significance. A property that possesses integrity will possess several or all of the following aspects of integrity: location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feelings, and association.

Location is the place where the historic property was constructed or the place where the historical event occurred. Design is the combination of elements that create the form, plan, space, structure, and style of a property. Setting is the physical environment of a historic property. Materials are the physical elements that were combined or deposited during a particular period of time and in a particular pattern or configuration to form a historic property. Workmanship is the physical evidence of the crafts of a particular culture or people during any given period in history or prehistory. Feeling is a propertys expression of the aesthetic or historic sense of a particular period of time. Association is the direct link between an important historic event or person and a historic property (National Park Service 1991c: 44-45).

For properties eligible under Criterion D, including archaeological sites and standing structures studied for their information potential, less attention is given to their overall condition, than if they were being considered under Criteria A, B, or C. Archaeological sites, in particular, do not exist today exactly as they were formed since cultural and natural processes may alter the deposited materials and their spatial relationships. For properties eligible under Criterion D, integrity is based upon the propertys potential to yield specific data that address important research questions, such as those that may be identified in the historic context of a statewide preservation plan or in a research design that meets the Secretary of the Interiors Standards for Archaeological Documentation.

Since each type of property depends on certain aspects of integrity, more than others, to express its historic significance, determining which of the aspects is most important to a particular property requires an understanding of the propertys significance and its essential physical features (National Park Service 1991c: 48). Under Criteria A and B, a property important for association with an event, historical pattern, or person ideally might retain some features of all seven aspects of integrity. Integrity of design and workmanship, however, might not be as important to the significance, and would not be relevant if the property were a site. For archaeological sites that are eligible under Criteria A and B, the seven aspects of integrity can be applied in much the same way as they are to buildings, structures, or objects. The site must have demonstrated its ability to convey its significance, as opposed to sites eligible under Criterion D where only the potential to yield information is required.

A property significant under Criterion C must retain those physical features that characterize the type, period, or method of construction that the property represents. Retention of designals will usually be more important than location, setting, feeling, and association. Location and setting will be important for those properties whose design is a reflection of their immediate environment. For archaeological sites that are eligible under Criterion C, the seven aspects of integrity can be applied in the same fashion as they are to buildings, structures, or objects. The site must have demonstrated its ability to convey its significance, as opposed to sites eligible under Criterion D where only the potential to yield information is required. For properties eligible under Criterion D, setting and feeling may not have direct bearing on the propertys ability to yield important information. Evaluation of integrity probably will focus primarily on the location, design, materials, and perhaps workmanship.

Criteria Considerations

Several kinds of properties are not commonly considered eligible for listing in the National Register: religious properties, moved properties, birthplaces and graves, cemeteries, reconstructed properties, commemorative properties, and properties achieving significance within the past 50 years. However, such properties will qualify if they are integral parts of districts that do meet the criteria or if they fall within the following categories, called Criteria Considerations:

Criteria Consideration A: Ownership by a religious institution or use for religious purposes. This Criterion requires additional justification beyond religious grounds due to the necessity of the U.S. government to avoid any appearance of favoring a particular religious doctrine. A religious property deriving primary significance from architectural or artistic distinction or historical importance can qualify.

Criteria Consideration B: Relocated properties. Relocation from the traditionally important location generally disqualifies a property, unless the relocation is to an historically appropriate setting, or unless the property has retained its significance in an historic move. A building or structure removed from its original location but which is significant primarily for architectural value or which is the surviving structure most importantly associated with a historic person or event can qualify.

Criteria Consideration C: Birthplaces and graves. Such sites are eligible only if their significance is for reasons that go beyond their association with a famous person. A birthplace or grave of a historical figure of outstanding importance can qualify if there is no appropriate site or building directly associated with his productive life.

Criteria Consideration D: Cemeteries. These sites are ineligible unless they derive their primary significance from graves of persons of transcendent importance, from age, from distinctive design values, or from association with historical events. Sites that contain cemeteries are not necessarily ineligible because of their presence, and the graves may in fact be an intrinsic component of the overall cultural significance.

Criteria Consideration E: Reconstruction. A reconstructed building can qualify when accurately executed in a suitable environment and presented in a dignified manner as part of a restoration master plan, and when no other building or structure with the same association has survived.

Criteria Consideration F: Commemoration. Properties constructed to commemorate an event or person are not eligible based on association with the person or event alone. A property primarily commemorative in intent can qualify if design, age, tradition, or symbolic value has invested it with its own exceptional significance.

Criteria Consideration G: Significance achieved within the past 50 years. A property achieving significance within the past 50 years can qualify if it is of exceptional importance.

Contexts and Register Eligibility

To qualify for listing in the National Register of Historic Places, a property must be significant; that is, it must represent a significant historic context in the history, architecture, archaeology, engineering, or culture of an area, and it must have the characteristics that make it representative of properties associated with that context. For the multiple property submission, the statement of historic context is a written narrative that describes the unifying thematic framework. The historic context statement must be developed in sufficient depth to support the relevance, the relationships, and the importance of the properties to be considered.

Register eligibility criteria were used to evaluate properties in the following historic contexts of the Hanford Site:

Prehistoric Period

This prehistoric context will be used to evaluate the National Register eligibility of individual sites that are associated with the prehistoric time frame. Sites determined to be eligible will be managed and preserved for future generations, those determined to be ineligible will not (National Park Service 1991b). It is imperative that the Prehistoric Context provide appropriate standards of measure against which prehistoric archaeological sites can be compared during the National Register evaluation process. The standards of measure used to determine significance and eligibility must:

1. include involvement by traditional indigenous cultures to ensure that ancestral archaeological sites are evaluated because of their significant role in Native American history, culture, and religion,
2. recognize that the Native American way of life is intricately bound to the land and that holistic preservation of the human and natural environment is preferred over place preservation, and
3. encompass a research orientation or approach where many issues, goals and hypothesis can be addressed.

Ethnographic/Contact Period

It is essential that Indians participate in the identification and evaluation of traditional cultural properties (TCPs), and should play a major role in defining the specific eligibility criteria by which their TCPs can be evaluated for National Register eligibility. It is acknowledged that some of the four National Register eligibility criteria may not work well since the Indian cognitive approach and/or world view is so different. Thus, there is a crucial need for specific eligibility criteria that would supplement the established National Register criteria, and to demonstrate how TCP integrity can be measured. For TCPs, location, setting, feeling and association are more relevant for measuring integrity. Design, materials and workmanship have little bearing on TCPs, such as fishing sites or plant gathering areas. One possible approach to develop a supplemental criteria by which integrity and eligibility can be assessed is to follow a cultural resource study methodology shown to be sensitive to the cultural of the Indian people. This study methodology, developed by Stoffle and Evans (1990: 96-97), is described in the Ethnographic/Contact Period Context of the Hanford Site.

Euro-American Resettlement of the Hanford Site

The most critical question in evaluating archaeological remains from the pre-1943 Euro-American period for National Register eligibility is the issue of integrity. Under most circumstances, when historic period structures are demolished, they most certainly lose critical aspects of integrity (design, materials, workmanship, feeling). With the majority of the physical features associated with 19th and 20th century Euro-American resettlement activities obliterated/removed during the construction of the HEW between 1943-1945, farms, ranches, irrigation systems, and townsites became archaeological sites. Due to the unique circumstances surrounding the creation of the HEW that included the rapid evacuation of local residents, hundreds of historic period archaeological sites were created, many which retained remarkable archaeological integrity due to over 50 years of strict Site-wide security. Other sites, however, have been modified as a result of several site clean-up campaigns oriented toward elimination of health and safety risks associated with structural ruins and debris.

Since all properties change over time, it is not necessary for a property to retain all its historic physical features or characteristics. However, the property must retain the essential physical features that enable it to convey its historic identity (e.g., those features that define both why a property is significant and when it was significant). Under Criteria A and B, a property significant for its historic association is eligible if it retains the essential physical features that made up its character or appearance during the period of its association with the important event, historical pattern, or person(s). Archaeological sites eligible under Criteria A and B must be in overall good condition with excellent preservation of features, artifacts, and spatial relationships to the extent that these remains are able to convey important associations with events or persons (National Park Service 1991c: 46).

Although few pre-1943 structures still stand in the Hanford Site, a property important for illustrating architectural style or construction technique (Criterion C) must retain most of the physical features that constitute that style or technique (e.g., Bruggermans cobblestone fruit warehouse). A property that has lost some historic materials or details can be eligible if it retains the majority of the features that illustrate its style in terms of the massing, spatial relationships, proportion, pattern of windows and doors, texture of materials, and ornamentation (e.g., possibly the Allard pump station building). The property is not eligible, however, if it retains some basic features conveying massing but has lost the majority of the features that once characterized its style. Archaeological sites eligible under Criterion C must be in overall good condition with excellent preservation of features, artifacts, and spatial relationships to the extent that these remains are able to illustrate a site type, time period, method of construction, or work of a master (National Park Service 1991c: 46).

In respect to 19th and 20th century archaeological sites, National Register criteria is at times viewed as inadequate for providing a workable definition of site significance. Archaeological sites from this period are a relatively recent interest and therefore lack both a large amount of research data against which new information can be measured. In certain parts of the country, such relatively recent farmsteads are extremely plentiful, are in varying states of preservation, and may still be a functioning part of current cultural and economic systems (Lees and Noble 1990: 11). The concept of a MPD and context, thus, has proved increasingly useful in organizing data and providing a format to articulate major themes and trends, identify property types, and measure significance of important sites.

Manhattan Project/Cold War Era

Determining the historical significance of Cold War properties faces similacentury archaeological sites. The National Register criteria does not provide adequate guidance for evaluating World War II/post-World War II properties. Only recently have the Manhattan Project Era properties on the Hanford Site reached the 50 year threshold; while a fraction of Cold War properties are over 50 years of age. Nomination (or determination of eligibility) of properties under 50 years of age are determined under Criteria consideration g; A property achieving significance within the past 50 years if it is of exceptional importance. But defining exceptional importance is ambiguous at best. Fifty years is a general estimate of time needed to develop historical perspective and to evaluate significance. For facilities under 50 year of age, there is often a lack of historical perspective to determine if the property is of exceptional importance. Many properties built in the past 50 years cannot be evaluated because of the lack of scholarly research available to provide an overview of the nature of the property within the context of the particular historical period. Thus, a fully researched and developed context is all that more important for properties under 50 years of age, providing the necessary format/vehicle for scholarly research and evaluation.

Manhattan Project/Cold War Era - Architectural Supplement

The value of the architectural context is that it will serve as a basis for evaluating the National Register eligibility of related properties under criterion C. In reference to the Manhattan Project/Cold War Era built environment, criterion C applies to properties significant for their physical design and distinctive construction characteristics and applications, expressed in terms such as form, proportion, plan, stylistic qualities, or materials used.

Properties eligible under criterion C must meet a more stringent standard of physical integrity, and may require a high level of both interior and exterior integrity. Because criterion C also honors engineering significance, eligible properties at Hanford should possess all of the qualities which originally made them significant as engineering properties. Regarding additions/modifications to Hanfords buildings or structures, because of the utilitarian and technological nature of the Hanford Site, design compatibility is not as important for integrity purposes. Additions which reflect changes in technology or mission could be viewed as significant compatible accretions to the original building fabric.

It is important to set forth preservation goals in order to prioritize how the associated property types should be identified, evaluated, registered, and treated. Preservation goals should be oriented toward the greatest possible protection of historic sites and should be based on the principle that archaeological sites and standing structures should be preserved in place if possible. The Secretary of the Interiors Standards urge that the goals for a historic context should be a coherent statement of program direction covering all aspects of the context. For each goal, a statement should be prepared identifying:

• The goal, including the context and property types to which the goal applies and the geographical area in which they are located;
• The activities required to achieve the goal;
• The most appropriate methods or strategies for carrying out the activities;
• A schedule within which the activities should be completed; and
• The amount of effort required to accomplish the goal, as well as a way to evaluate progress toward its accomplishment.

Once goals have been developed they need to be ranked in importance. Ranking involves examining each goal in light of a number of factors:

• General social, economic, political and environmental conditions and trends affecting the identification, evaluation, registration and treatment of property types in the historic context. Some property types in the historic context may be more directly threatened by clean-up operations, deterioration, land development patterns, contemporary use patterns, or public perceptions of their value, and such property types should be given priority consideration.
• Major cost or technical considerations affecting the identification, evaluation and treatment of property types in the historic context. The identification or treatment of some property types may be technically possible but the cost prohibitive; or techniques may not be currently perfected (e.g., where clean-up technologies may cause more harm than good to the cultural resources).
• Identification, evaluation, registration and treatment activities previously carried out for property types in the historic context. If a number of properties representing aspect of a historic context have been recorded or preserved, treatment of additional members of that property type may receive lower priority than treatment of a property for which no examples have yet been recorded or preserved.

Hardesty (1986: 66) has observed that preservation actions by state and Federal agencies undertaken on behalf of the public and federal preservation activities are calling for ever greater levels of public involvement in the decision making process. Public attitudes are of particular importance with regard to historical sites since they often enjoy a high emotional, or community spirit or value. In most cases, public and scientific attitudes about the significance of a historic site will be similar, both groups agreeing a site is important or expendable. However, in some cases, public attitudes toward a historical resource may differ from those expressed by the scientific community. The public might express an interest in a site deemed insignificant by scholars and scholars may value a site for which the public has little use. It is not uncommon for a SHPO or the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation to use greater flexibility in the application of criteria of integrity when there is a high level of public interest in a site.