A time limit of two months was made in the contract, expiring August 20, 1891, but it was changed to four months from July 1, 1891, expiring October 31, 1891.  Before the time expired, however, Mr H. G. Rizer, then chief clerk of the Bureau of Ethnology, was ordered to proceed to Casa Grande ruin to examine the work done and, if in accord with the terms of the contract and the specifications, to certify the amount due the contractors.  He submitted a report, under date of November 24, 1891, which is appended hereto.  He also obtained six photographic negatives of the work as it stood a short time before its completion, and two of these (reproduced in plates CXX and CXXI) have been utilized in the preparation of this report.

Mr Rizer found that a considerable amount of work had been done by the contractors in excess of that authorized, and also that not sufficient work had been done to render the repairs permanently effective.  Under the terms of the contract, no amount in excess of that stated ($1,985) could be paid, and payment of this amount was made late in 1891.  On January 7, 1892, the contractors filed a claim for extra work on the ruin amounting to $600.40.  The work was actually performed, but the terms of the contract were clear, and the claim was therefore disapproved January 28, 1892.

It would have been desirable to have had a supervisor of the work, but as the contract consumed practically all of the amount appropriated no provision could be made for one.  It is fortunate, therefore, that the Reverend I. T. Whittemore, who had in the meantime been appointed honorary custodian of the ruin, generously undertook to look after the work without compensation, and on its conclusion the small sum remaining ($15) was turned over to him, thus exhausting the appropriation.  In the sundry civil appropriation act for the year ending June 30, 1893, provision was made for a salaried custodian of the ruin, and Mr Whittemore was appointed to this position.  Similar provision has been continued from year to year to the present time.

It is to be regretted that the necessities of the case, imposed by the limited amount appropriated, compelled the fixing of a maximum amount of work so far below the amount necessary that the repair of the ruin is incomplete.  Had it been possible to carry out the plans, it is believed that the ruin would have stood unchanged for many decades, if not for a century.  Should further provision be made for the continuation of the work, it should include an item for the fencing of the area covered by the ruins or of the reservation, and possibly an item for the construction of a roof.