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Negative Results Report <br />Cultural Resource Survey <br />Mountain Coal's Sunset Trail Lease Modifications Permit Revision #PR -15 <br />Gunnison County, Colorado <br />and Ancestral Puebloan, and the lack of ceramic production on their own; use of masonry habitation and <br />possible pithouses over relatively short duration; the occurrence of storage features; and rock art with <br />both Ancestral Puebloan and Fremont influence. <br />The definition of the Aspen Tradition is far less robust, but was developed in response to the many <br />archaeological sites not assignable to any of the three aforementioned traditions. Reed and Metcalf do <br />not list any cultural traits specific to the Aspen Tradition other than to state that it is the "taxonomic <br />equivalent to the Gateway and Fremont traditions... and as sort of parallel construct to the Uinta phase <br />of the Wyoming Basin," with a near identical time span of 2400 to 700 B.P. (1999:141). <br />The Protohistoric stage (700 to 200 B.P.) begins with the end of horticultural subsistence practices of the <br />Formative era and ends with the expulsion of the various Ute bands to reservations. The primary group <br />to occupy western Colorado was the Numic-speaking Ute. Before contact with the Spanish in the early <br />1600s, the Ute were mobile hunters and gatherers who constructed wickiups for shelter, produced a <br />particular ceramic tradition (Uncompahgre brown -ware), and crafted small side -notched (Desert) and <br />unnotched triangular (Cottonwood) projectile points (Reed and Metcalf 1999). <br />Historic settlement of the western Colorado era occurred during the early 1800s with the arrival of <br />government survey expeditions. Fur trappers and traders entered the area shortly after 1800. The <br />Colorado Territory was established in 1861. With the relocation of the Ute to reservations in 1881 <br />through the Brunot Treaty, Euro -American settlers were free to build towns, establish mining operations <br />in the mountains, and later establish lumber extraction and mills. Land was cleared for crop cultivation, <br />cattle ranchers moved into the area, and railroads were eventually built to move goods in and out of the <br />region (Church et al. 2007). Gunnison County is named after Captain John Gunnison who led a survey <br />expedition through the region in 1853. Historically, the dominant industry in the region was mining and <br />ranching. Many towns in Gunnison County started as mining towns, including nearby Somerset, <br />Colorado. <br />Methods <br />Historic Property Identification <br />This cultural resource survey provides compliance under Section 106 of the NHPA (and its implementing <br />regulations under 36 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 800) by undertaking a "reasonable and <br />good faith effort" to identify historic properties (defined as listed in or eligible for listing in the National <br />Register of Historic Places (NRHP)) within the defined APE. Identification and documentation standards <br />conform to federal land managing agency requirements and secondly to guidelines provided by the <br />State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO). In doing so, the standards imposed by the Secretary of the <br />Interior for the Identification, Documentation, and Evaluation of Historic Properties are also met. All <br />personnel supervising survey and documentation are listed on applicable federal and state permits and <br />meet or exceed the Secretary of the Interior's Professional Qualification Standards (36 CFR 61). <br />ERO Project #10145 6 <br />