2018-01-03_PERMIT FILE - C1981010 (8)

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1.0 INTRODUCTION At the request of Bureau of Land Management Little Snake Field Office (BLM-LSFO), Grand River Institute (GRI) was contracted by Trapper Mining, Inc. (Trapper) to conduct evaluative testing for site 5MF7762, the Hawks A Lot Site documented during GRI's Class III Cultural Resources Inventory of a Lease Modification Area (752 acres) in Moffat County, Colorado for Trapper Mining, Inc. (Conner et al. 2013). Carl Conner served as Principal Investigator for Grand River Institute (GRI) of Grand Junction, Colorado, under BLM Antiquities Permit No. C-52775. The test excavations were carried out to meet requirements of Section 106 (54 U.S.C. § 306108) of the National Historic Preservation Act (54 U.S.0 § 300101 et seq.), the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321), Executive Order 11593 (36 F.R. 8921), the Historical and Archaeological Data -Preservation Act of 1974 (16 U.S.C. 469), the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1701), and the Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979 (16 U.S.C. 470aa et seq., as amended). A pre -field check-in was made through the BLM-LSFO on 27 July 2015. Test excavations were conducted intermittently at the site from August to October of 2015 by Curtis Martin (Project Archaeologist), Holly Shelton, Lucas Piontkowski, and Courtney Groff. This report was written and compiled by Conner, Martin, and Barbara Davenport. Site 5MF7762 proved to be productive in terms of subsurface cultural material although deflated and mixed through time. These findings are described in the following report. 2.0 LOCATION OF PROJECT AREA The study area is located within Moffat County, Colorado, approximately 7.9 miles south-southeast of downtown Craig within T. 5 N., R. 90 W., Section 4; 6`h PM. (Figure 1). The site is situated on the prominence of a low south-southwest trending ridge that extends into the valley of Jeffway Gulch, forming a small hill. It overlooks the confluence of Jeffway Gulch, a permanent stream; and an unnamed, intermittent blue -line drainage, affording views up and down both drainages. It is at an elevation of 7040 feet. 3.0 ENVIRONMENT The site lies within the Williams Fork Mountains, which form the divide between the Yampa River Valley to the north and the Williams Fork Valley to the south. Buck Peak lies to the northeast. These mountains are heavily dissected by tributary drainages that flow northeast to the Yampa River and southwest to the Williams Fork River. Permanent and intermittent drainages occurring near or within the project area include Jeffway Gulch, Deal Gulch and