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Cape’s Dam clears first hurdle, more ahead

Historical Landmark
Sunday, October 7, 2018

The long-contested Cape’s Dam, along with its accompanying Ditch Engineering Structure, was deemed eligible for local historical landmark status — but that does not ensure the dam’s future.

At its meeting Thursday night, the Historic Preservation Commission held a public hearing and a vote on the historical designation.

San Marcos resident Roland Saucedo said he wanted to see the dam given historical status.

“I remember when I was in Troop 116 of the Boy Scouts. That’s where I learned to canoe,” he said, noting that he would like to be able to show his nieces and nephews where that happened. “Stuff like that is important. It’s very important to citizens like me.”

Kate Johnson, chair of the Hays County Historical Commission, also spoke in favor of the dam’s recognition.

“It makes all of us proud when our local governments take steps to recognize the importance of our heritage,” she said.

Brian Olson, who has long championed Cape’s Dam, also addressed the commission. He said that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which was one of the driving forces behind efforts to remove the dam, has pulled out. Olson also said that local historical landmark designation would bolster efforts to get the dam listed in the National Register of Historic Places. It was deemed eligible for the register in 1985.

“The only reason it was not listed was because of the request of property owners at that time,” he said.

Olson continued, “To be perfectly clear, what the historical area is about is not just Cape’s Dam or the rubble, as some people may call it. It’s the engineering significance of a natural slough, which you know as the mill race, that was extended in this stretch of river.”

Dianne Wassenich, representing the San Marcos River Foundation, spoke not so much about the historical status of the dam but about other issues.

“SMRF encourages you to honor the history of the area of Thompson’s Mill,” she said, “but we feel that you also need to realize that having it designated a historical site certainly does not require that the city rebuild the dam or build a new one.”

Wassenich mentioned public safety issues, including injuries and a death that have occurred at the waterfall in the mill race, and the “critical harm” caused by the diversion of water from the river’s main channel during dry seasons.

During the public hearing, historian Lila Knight mentioned that the dam’s effects on the river and its status as an historic structure were two separate issues.

“Those are not the issues on the table for your consideration tonight,” she said.

Knight noted that as recently as 2016, representatives from the Texas Historical Commission ruled that Cape’s Dam would still be eligible for listing on the National Register.

“They did actually come to San Marcos and do a site visit,” she said.

Whether the dam should remain in the river or be removed was a concern for at least two commissioners. Alex Arlinghaus stated that if the dam impedes the river’s ability to flow, he could not support making it a landmark, even if scientific considerations were outside the commission’s purview. Commissioner Bob Holder voiced concerns about requests from members of the public to grant the dam historical status and preserve it.

“I don’t believe we’re qualified — I know I’m not — to make a decision about the effect of the dam upon the river,” he said, adding that he felt that granting historical status would then imply that the dam would be “anchored” permanently.

Holder likened the desire for preservation or restoration and its mixture with the call for historical status to peanut butter and jelly that, once mixed together, cannot be separated.

“If there’s any way to separate the peanut butter from the jelly,” he said, “it’d be fine with me.”

Commissioners Thea Dake, Ryan Perkins and commission chair Griffin Spell left scientific and hydrological questions aside.

“To me, the question that lies before us is, is it historical? Is it a landmark? It meets the criteria in every way,” Perkins said.

“This is a very complicated issue,” Spell acknowledged, mentioning that the commission’s vote had nothing to do with funding for dam repairs or anything of the sort.

Moreover, Perkins noted that the commission had designated local landmarks that ended up being torn down.

“Landmark status doesn’t solidify its existence for the rest of history,” he said.

The decision to grant Cape’s Dam and the mill race local historical landmark status passed with Arlinghaus and Holder as the sole dissenters and commission member Diana Baker absent.

San Marcos Record

(512) 392-2458
P.O. Box 1109, San Marcos, TX 78666