2023-01-10_PERMIT FILE - M2023001 (31)

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Cultural Resource Review and Reconnaissance Survey for the Fairmeadows RV Storage and Gravel Mining Pit Project, Greeley, Weld County, Colorado The southern portion of the property,where the gravel mining operation is to be located, is an open agricultural field that is currently fallow and bare. That field is on a lowland terrace of the Cache la Poudre River,the channel of which is 0.2 mile south of the property,across East 8th Street. Soils in the project area are characterized as Aquolls and Aquents,gravelly substratum;Ellicott-Ellicott sandy- skeletal complex, 0 to 3 percent slopes,rarely flooded;and Ustic Torriorthents,moderately steep(Natural Resource Conservation Service 2019).All of these soils consist of alluvial deposits of sand overlying gravelly sand. The reconnaissance survey confirms that the field lacks topsoil and has been affected by plowing into alluvial sediments consisting of cobbles,gravels, and sand.No soil horizon remains able to support subsurface archaeological materials. A few cornfields stand on the margins of adjacent properties;however,this portion of East 8th Street,on the east exurban edge of the City of Greeley, is primarily mixed industrial. Industrial complexes, including a multi-head oil/gas well,are across East 8th Street to the immediate southwest and southeast of the project area and on its west side.An oil/gas well is located in the southeast corner of the project area at East 8th Street. One oil well was on the northwestern edge of the property until between 2006 and 2010, and another oil well was on the northeastern edge of the field until between 2016 and 2017,based on Google aerial images(Google Earth 2022);these wells have since been reclaimed. The Greeley-Weld County Airport is immediately to the east and northeast of the project area.And an existing gravel mining complex is on the immediate south side of the Cache la Poudre River, south of the project area. PREVIOUS WORK On September 29, 2022, SWCA conducted a file search and literature review through the Colorado Office of Archaeology and Historic Preservation(OAHP)online database(COMPASS)to identify all previously conducted cultural resource inventories and all previously identified cultural resources within the Public Land Survey System section containing the project area. File Search Results of the OAHP file search indicate that three cultural resource inventories have been previously conducted in Section 3,T5N,R65W(Table 1). Two of these inventories were conducted for the nearby Greeley-Weld County Airport and the third was conducted for a large-scale fiber-optic project.None of the previous inventories intersect the proposed project location, although one of the surveys conducted for the airport(WL.FA.NR5)discusses the historic buildings located in the project area(see discussion below). The closest previous inventory(MC.CH.R88), conducted in 1999, is adjacent to the southern border of the proposed project location; spatial data for this project is not available for review on COMPASS. WL.FA.NR5,conducted in 1980,identified the project area as having been previously owned by Robert Davis,with original structures dating from 1900 having been demolished. In 1980 the project area was owned by the Fair Meadows Land Company and contained several structures.According to WL.FA.NR5 report author Kathleen A. Engels, "A ranch style dwelling with wood windows and a brick exterior on a concrete foundation was built in 1900. Other structures include a grain elevator which was constructed during 1948. Sheds,a stable,and other outbuildings typically associated with a farm were built during the 1930's"(Engels 1980:13). Engels concluded the Davis Farm should not be considered eligible for the National Register of Historic Places(NRHP)because it represents a style of architecture that is common to the area,and because the buildings are not integrally associated with any defined districts and do not represent a district when grouped together(Engels 1980:15). 4