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ABSTRACT <br />Metcalf Archaeological Consultants, Inc. (MAC) conducted a Class III cultural resource <br />inventory for Twentymile Coal Company's proposed core holes, associated access, 7 -Right well <br />pad, and 6/7 -Right pipeline in Routt County, Colorado. The project consisted of 12 core holes, a <br />pipeline with an associated core hole and well pad, and 7.53 miles of access. A 200 -ft block was <br />inventoried around each of the core holes with the exception of Core Holes WC006 and WC0012, <br />which were inventoried with larger blocks to allow for construction footprint changes. A 100 -ft <br />corridor was surveyed around 1227 ft (0.23 mi) of a proposed pipeline, a 200 -ft block was <br />surveyed around the 6 -Right core hole at the west end of the pipeline, and a 200 -ft block was <br />surveyed at the existing 7 -Right well pad location at the east end. The new segments of access road <br />and two -track roads to be improved for access were surveyed to a total corridor width of 100 ft. <br />Additional maintained dirt/gravel roads will be used for access by Twentymile; these roads were <br />not inventoried for cultural resources. A total of 85 acres were inventoried for this project, <br />including 21 acres with State of Colorado surface ownership and 64 acres on privately owned <br />surface. All core holes and the well pad are on split estates. The 7 -Right well pad and Core Holes <br />WC001 and 6 -Right are located on privately owned surface lands, but the minerals have federal <br />ownership (BLM, Little Snake Field Office). The remaining 11 core holes are on privately owned <br />surfaces with state -owned minerals. Seventeen acres were surveyed for the core holes and well pad <br />and 68 acres were surveyed for the pipeline and access roads. <br />Inventory for this project resulted in the discovery and documentation of one segment <br />(5RT3259.1) of a newly recorded spur of the historic Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad <br />(5RT1396). MAC recommends 5RT3259.1 as not eligible for the National Register of Historic <br />Places. This segment is known in the historical documentation as the "Energy Spur ". Tracks <br />were laid for this spur in 1962, and it has served to transport coal to and from the mine since that <br />time; it terminates at the Twentymile mine headquarters and load -out facility. It joins the main <br />line at Milner, between Steamboat and Hayden. Although the segment is related to the larger <br />Denver and Rio Grande Railroad which is NRHP eligible, it was not in operation during that <br />railway's historic period of significance (early to mid- 1900s). Therefore, the newly recorded spur <br />is not associated with known significant historical events or persons, and it does not possess <br />additional research potential. A section of the corridor for the proposed access to Core Hole <br />WC002 crosses a portion of the site; however, a fence separates it from the proposed access, and <br />construction of the access road will not impact the site. Since no development for the current <br />project will occur within the railroad easement, the integrity of segment 5RT3259.1 will not be <br />compromised. No further work is recommended. <br />FU <br />