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Site 5DT90 was originally recorded by Steve Baker and Pat Flanigan of Centuries
<br />Research in April of 1977 (Baker 1977) and also in 1978 by Jeffrey D. Wharton of
<br />Archaeological Associates (Hibbets 1979). It is the recorded location of the historic Roatcap
<br />Sawmill and prehistoric open camp, which is located on the north side of the West Fork of
<br />Terror Creek (10m south) in an open meadow at an elevation of 7640 feet. There is a gully
<br />running north -south through the meadow. Dark brown to black, light silt characterizes the soil,
<br />which has apparent depths up to 50cm as exhibited by gully erosion. Transitional Zone brush
<br />(primarily shrub oak), spruce, fir and aspen occur in the surrounding slopes, while native
<br />grasses, dandelion, aspen, narrow leaf cottonwood and chokecherry occur on -site. Ground
<br />visibility is estimated at roughly ten percent or less due to the density of grasses
<br />Previously recorded site dimensions are 40m N -S x 180m E -W. As reported by Baker
<br />and Flanigan, no standing buildings or other structures occur on the site, but scattered
<br />throughout are fragments of glass, ironstone, bone, cut nails, and pieces of leather. In addition,
<br />there is a light scatter of chipped and ground stone eroding out of the alluvial fan and gully.
<br />The research with the present project uncovered information regarding the supposed owner of
<br />the sawmill, Joseph S. Roatcap. The following historical account for Roatcap is excerpted
<br />from the book entitled, "Progressive Men of Western Colorado," (Bowen & Co. 1905:343-
<br />344).
<br />JOSEPH S. ROATCAP
<br />Among the early arrivals in the North Fork valley, Delta County, was Joseph S.
<br />Roatcap, of the vicinity of Paonia, who located there in 1883, and has been a resident of
<br />Colorado since 1878, during the whole of his life here actively engaged in useful
<br />pursuits tending to the development and improvement of the country and forming a
<br />volunteer in the great industrial army who are making the possibilities of this mighty
<br />empire known to the world and its resources ministrants to the comfort of millions of
<br />people. Mr. Roatcap was born on January 25, 1849, Illinois, and is the son of John and
<br />Rachel (Kaufman) Roatcap, natives of Page county, Virginia, the former born in 1812
<br />and the latter in 1817. They were farmers and moved to Illinois in 1843, remaining
<br />there until March, 1854, then making another flight in the wake of the setting sun,
<br />arriving in Cooper county, Missouri, on the 5th day of March of that year and
<br />remaining there until 1869, when they moved to Wilson County, Kansas. Finding the
<br />conditions of frontier life promising and not disagreeable overmuch, in 1878 they came
<br />still farther west and took up their residence at Lake City, this state. Five years later
<br />the father and his youngest son came into the North Fork valley and pre - empted one
<br />hundred and sixty acres of land, on which the parents lived until death, the father
<br />passing away on September 12, 1889, and the mother on September 26, 1898. They
<br />had a family of ten children, six of whom are living, four of them in Colorado. Their
<br />son Joseph remained with them until 1880, then started in life for himself, running a
<br />saw -mill for another man, which he did until a few years later, when he engaged in a
<br />similar enterprise for himself. In 1883 he returned to Missouri, and after a residence of
<br />six years in that state, returned to Colorado and settled in Delta county with a modern
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