CORRESPONDENCE - 75A SEXLINGER FARMHOUSE

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town that grew to support those operations. The district is additionally significant under Criterion C for its intact examples of architecture typical of Arizona's mining towns. Two sites within the district, the smelter ruins and a commercial building ruin, are significant under Criterion D as above - ground remnants which reveal important information about signifi- cant aspects of the district. The district's period of significance begins with the construction of the earliest remaining structure in 1874 and ends when the copper smelter moved to Morenci in 1937. The National . Register boundaries are defined on a map; natural and cultural features were used to define the property. Verbal boundary description: The boundary of Clifton Townsite Historic District is shown as the dashed line on the accompanying map entitled "Clifton Townsite Historic District." Boundary justification: The bound- ary includes the properties within an area in central Clifton that retain integrity and are associated with the functioning of Clifton as a major copper smelting center. The boundary excludes, where possible, properties that have lost integrity and /or have no significance. Beginning at the northwest boundary of the district, the cliffs form a natural and well- defined limit encompassing the visible rem- nants of the smelter and associated structures. Proceeding clockwise, the northern limit of the district is marked by the transition from industrial uses to a residential area that contains modern and historic houses of poor integrity. At the point at which the floodwalls appear at the east bank of the San Francisco River, the boundary includes the riverbed and floodwall. The northeast boundary may be divided into two parts: at the north end, geographic limits of the cliffside define the boundary, no further structures being visible uphill; to the south, the slope becomes less steep and additional structures, either modern or of poor integrity, appear uphill from Park Avenue. Properties one - lot -width uphill from Park Avenue are included within the district, because all properties, even noncontributors, are an important part of the Park Avenue Steetscape. At the southernmost end of Park Avenue, no structures exist at the northeast side of the street and the boundary is drawn to exclude this open land. The boundary continues Clifton Townsite Historic District, Clifton, Greenlee County, Arizona. Map showing the National Register boundaries. south, excluding open land, but including the east floodwall south to its end. The southern boundary is defined by a line connecting the southernmost ends of the formally constructed floodwalls at both sides of the San Francisco River (slag - rubble walls continue to the south through much of the town). This location coincides with a construction in the width of the canyon, a bend in the river, and a break in continuity of development from the remainder of the town to the south. The boundary continues northwest along the west- ern floodwall, excluding the site of the former freight depot (now demol- ished). The boundary then is drawn to include the passenger depot, following the geographic boundary of the cliffside, which firmly delineates the boundary at this location. At the point where the canyon of Chase Creek and the San Francisco River meet, the boundary is drawn at the edge of U.S. Route 666 to exclude an area of intruded properties that step up the cliffside, which is not as steep at this point. At the south side of the Chase Creek commercial area, the property line or street curbline and the cliffside largely coincide to define the edge of development in Clifton. The westernmost termination of the district at Chase Creek is drawn at the end of the area of dense commercial character of Chase Creek and at the westernmost extant of the stone retaining wall at the cliffs north of Chase Creek. This location coincides with a restriction in the width of the canyon and a corresponding pause in the continuity of development sites from development further west. 15