Native Stonework

Here are the dairy and horse barns located on the grounds of the Stewart Indian School (SIS). The barns are at the southern edge of the campus. They are absolutely gorgeous and our favorite buildings. We think all of the buildings created by the Native American stonemasons are gorgeous, however, there is something about these two barns, sitting by themselves in a field that catches our heart.

As best we can determine, these barns were built in the mid 1920s by the masonry staff and students at the SIS. The horse barn has some sort of entry way, which we think was used to have the horses enter and leave the barn.

The south side of the entry way is comprised of carved granite blocks, plus, the first three feet of construction from the ground up is comprised of carved granite blocks.

We believe those blocks came from Benton Stables in Carson City. The stables were torn down after the death of the proprietor, James M. Benton in 1925. The use of stones from the stables in other buildings on the SIS campus has been documented.

Other than the granite blocks, the stones used in the barns are not dressed like the stones used in other buildings on the Stewart Campus. That is, they are not in block form, instead, the stones were used as they were found and almost resemble river rock in the construction technique. Also, note the tin shingle roofs on both barns. We think that the age and patina of the shingles perfectly complements the stones used in both barns.

Update: We found these pictures of the two stone barns plus a wood barn in the 1946 Stewart Indian School year book. What we thought was a entry way on the horse barn appears to be a connecting passage between the horse and dairy barns. The wood barn is no longer standing, however, portions of its foundation and floor remain.

It appears that that after the agricultural programs at Stewart were discontinued, the barns were used for storage by the General Services Administration (GSA) or the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) or some other alphabet agency. We base this on the faded signage affixed to the front of the building.

In the building inventory of the National Register of Historic Places – Application , the barns are classified as significant. The National Register of Historic Places defines significant as “The property must embody the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction, represent the work of a master, possess high artistic values, or represent a significant and distinguishable entity whose components may lack individual distinction.”

We feel that the barns more than meet that definition. (https://publicworks.nv.gov/uploadedFiles/publicworksnvgov/content/Documents/03_Historic_Resources_Inventory_1982_Page_141.pdf)

These are not the only examples of barns built by the Native American stonemasons. We found a barn on the Duck Valley Indian Reservation in Owyhee, Nevada. This barn resembles the dairy farm found at SIS. We think that stonemasons who built the Owyhee barn were trained at Stewart, which accounts for the resemblance.

According to the Society of Architectural Historians, “One of the tallest buildings in Owyhee, this large barn has stone walls rising one story to meet the flared edges of a steep, shingled gambrel roof. The faces of the gable ends are sheathed with short horizontal wood boards. Above the south door in the gable is a closed up opening for a hay door, flanked by two small square windows. Above the hay door, the gambrel roof projects to a point at which a pulley could be attached to hoist hay.” (see https://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/NV-01-NO67)

Horse Barn, Side