Historic wall gets makeover

Avery Chick
NLJ Correspondent 
 
Newcastle is full of rich history, but the very foundation of that history has started to crumble. According to WyoHistory.org, Newcastle was founded in 1889 as an expansion of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad. As coal was found in the northeast corner of Wyoming and in the Black Hills around the border of South Dakota, the Cambria settlement had been established in 1887. For the past 133 years, Newcastle has remained the home of more than 3,000 people. 
As Newcastle was built to accommodate its thriving population, a beautiful downtown and Main Street area was constructed, including a series of retaining walls on South Summit Avenue. While the exact date is unknown, the first structural failure of the century-old retaining wall was noticed in 2020 where East Wentworth Street meets South Summit near the residence of Curtis and Kaylee Harley. 
In order to let the city take over and fix this portion of the retaining wall, the Harleys were required to turn over ownership of that portion of the property to the city, but they are glad they did. 
“Working with the city was super simple and easy in my eyes … and John (Francis) is a seriously incredible mason. So all I can say is that I felt sweet relief when it was all said and done,” Kaylee Harley said. 
Although Francis’ work only took a couple of months, the entire process, including the land exchange and repairing of the wall, took just over two years. It was concluded this year,  just in time for Mother Nature to wreak havoc again on another portion of the wall as recent heavy rainfall in Weston County has caused severe damage to the vital piece of local infrastructure. 
“It has been apparent for quite some time that the walls have had problems,” said Mike Moore, Newcastle’s city engineer. 
At the first sign of problems, city crews fenced off the area to protect passersby from harm and were able to begin attacking the problem quickly because the Harleys played an integral part in making sure the repairs of their retaining wall went off without a hitch.
But a different portion of the wall fell on the Monday after Memorial Day weekend, and this section of the wall is on a different property owner’s land, making it difficult for Moore and the city of Newcastle to do what they need to do. 
“(There are) two property owners, and dealing with them creates limitations for the city in what we can do repair-wise.” Moore explained. Fortunately, he said the property owners were willing to work with the city, and that is allowing the city to again reach the needed agreement with the property owners in order to repair the wall. 
“Both property owners have been more than willing to come up with such agreements,” Moore said. 
Construction of the walls also comes at great expense, so Moore is seeking the assistance of the landowners in applying for grants that will help cover the costs, which could exceed $100,000. 
He explained that the city must meet certain requirements to acquire grant funding from the State Historic Preservation Office. Primarily, the land must be owned by the city and needs to be public property to ensure that safety of the public is indeed of utmost importance. 
If and when the city acquires the grants, Moore plans to enlist the help of a structural engineer to assist with the design of the new wall, and he described the process that had to be used to fix the wall near the Harley residence.
“When we repaired the first failure, John Francis removed every stone and numbered them. He then put up an additional masonry wall to ensure the wall would be sturdy and finally put the original stones back,” Moore said. 
“The historical stones are more of a facade for what’s actually holding the wall up and providing that ‘retaining wall’ purpose,” he explained. 
As part of the new construction, Moore also plans to add a way to exfiltrate any water that would have the potential to build up behind the wall in the hopes of mitigating future damage. He indicated that he expects it will be an additional two years before the recently damaged walls are restored.