In its proposal to the United States Forest Service to conduct this survey, TIGHAR offered the opinion that the Gillam crash site is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. We believe such eligibility is appropriate under National Register criteria “a” for association with aviation (particularly Alaska aviation) history and “d” as a source of useful historical information including, but not limited to, the information that TIGHAR seeks in connection with testing the Nikumaroro Hypothesis for Amelia Earhart’s disappearance.

Archaeologists John Autrey and Martin Stanford of the Ketchikan/Misty Fjords Ranger District, Tongass National Forest, submitted a determination of eligibility report (CRM Report 20041005520008) to the State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO) of Alaska. Within this report Autrey and Stanford asserted that the Gillam crash site, 49-KET-00910, was eligible for the National Register of Historic Places under criteria “b” for its association with Harold Gillam, and under criteria “d” as a source for information that may answer research questions from the Nikumaroro Hypothesis for Amelia Earhart’s disappearance. Unfortunately, the Alaska SHPO disagreed with TIGHAR and the NFS, asserting that the Gillam crash site is not worthy of protection under the National Register of Historic Places.