Corps Report On Monte Ne Delayed Until October

Local Effort Moves Forward

Joseph Murphey, a historical architect with the Army Corps of Engineers, changes the dark slide while taking photographs for the Library of Congress records on Feb. 7 in Monte Ne.
Joseph Murphey, a historical architect with the Army Corps of Engineers, changes the dark slide while taking photographs for the Library of Congress records on Feb. 7 in Monte Ne.

— w/infobox, file photo

Local historians will have to wait a bit longer for an Army Corps of Engineers report on whether the ruins at Monte Ne are worth saving.

At A Glance

Agency Projects

Army Corps of Engineers representatives said the agency doesn’t have the money to raze or preserve the Monte Ne ruins. The corps has a small operating budget for salaries and maintenance of property. Projects — such as preserving Monte Ne — are paid for as line items. A project must be approved before it can be funded.

Source: Army Corps Of Engineers

Corps officials met with area museum officials and historians in February at the Monte Ne tower on Beaver Lake. At that time, Mary McCormick, a corps architectural historian from Seattle, said the group would have a report on whether to preserve or demolish what’s left of the Monte Ne resort by the end of September.

Laurie Driver, a spokeswoman from the corps’ Little Rock office, said Wednesday the report won’t be ready until the middle of October.

“The Little Rock office will get the draft report first,” Driver said. “After it’s analyzed in our office, we may have additional questions. Once we are satisfied with the report, we will meet with people in Rogers.”

Driver estimated Little Rock officials may be ready to talk with local officials by the end of the year.

“That’s not what we expected,” said Gaye Bland, director of the Rogers Historical Museum. “We thought the report would come to us this month, but I’m not surprised it’s taking longer than expected.”

Museum officials in Rogers and Springdale along with local historians commissioned their own report to determine if there is interest in preserving the structure, raise money to pay for a small park and provide maintenance for at least 10 years. The group raised $10,000 to pay for the report.

The local report is scheduled for completion late next month or in early November, Bland said.

Glenn Jones, a member of the Benton County Historical Preservation Commission, said Thursday he is disappointed the corps’ report will not be ready until late this year.

“It really frustrates me. We are on hold until the corps makes a decision,” Jones said. “I think our report will say it’s going to cost a lot of money to preserve the buildings. We are looking at $140,000 to build walking trails, remove the graffiti from the tower and put up some interpretive panels,” Jones said.

It will likely cost another $100,000 to maintain the structure and the trails for the next 10 years, Jones said.

“I know that sounds like a lot of money, and it is. Some people may think it’s not worth it, but to a historian like myself, it is worth it,” Jones said.

James Hales, a local historian, said he has been writing about and taking photos of Monte Ne in preparation for the corps’ report.

“Looks like it’s going to be bit longer wait than expected,” Hales said. “I was hoping we could move forward, but I guess the only thing we can do is wait.”

William “Coin” Harvey built the resort on 320 acres near Rogers in the early 1900s. At one time, the resort had its own railroad and two of the largest log cabin hotels in the U.S., according to historians. Most of the property was flooded when Beaver Lake was built in the mid-1960s.

The tower has been a target for vandals. A fence was built around it to preserve it until a decision can be made about its future.

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