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7.2 Cultural Resource Description <br />The initial recording of site 5MF.5138 was by Deborah Dobson-Brown and Robert <br />Autobee of Associated Cultural Resource Experts (ACRE) in 2002. From that recording, <br />and subsequent segment recordings, the site is described as follows: <br />State Highway 13 is 204. 4 km (127 mi) long, from the Wyoming <br />state line south to the Interstate 70 intersection at Rifle. Segment 5MF5138.1 <br />is the northern 27.5 km (17 mi) of SH 13 (mileposts 111-128.1), immediately <br />south of the Wyoming state line. Research indicates that the initial roadway <br />was developed by the US Army between 1880 and 1884. Known as the <br />“Government Road,” it ran from Fort Steele, Wyoming, which was near <br />present-day Sinclair, Wyoming, southward into Colorado’s San Juan <br />Mountains. The road north of Rifle was later referred to as the “Meeker <br />Trail” and was traveled primarily by wagon and stage until ca. 1918. The <br />earliest automobile traffic was in 1906, and the State Highway Commission <br />designated the roadway north of Rifle as SH 42 in 1912; the State Highway <br />13 designation was probably adopted during the 1920s. Upgrades to the <br />roadway began in 1917, but it wasn’t until the early 1930s that SH 13 north <br />of Craig to the Wyoming state line was graded. CDOT archives indicated <br />that construction of the current alignment of SH 13 began in 1936 and 1937. <br />Segments of the old wagon road were abandoned as the new highway <br />alignment was straightened, although the corridor was in the same general <br />area. The work was completed as part of four highway department projects <br />(Project No. 6005 and Project No. 6005-B, Units 1-3). This was during the <br />Depression (1930-1941) and part of the federal New Deal programs, where <br />money was supplied to hire and pay the necessary labor. The construction of <br />SH 13 was completed as part of a Public Works Administration (PWA) <br />project. The 1930s highway alignment remains intact, although regular <br />maintenance, minor widening, and bridge replacements have occurred. For <br />additional information concerning SH 13, see Dobson-Brown and Autobee’s <br />(2002) 5MF5138 site recording and ACRE’s (2002) Highways to the Sky: A <br />Context and History of Colorado’s Highway System. <br />Segment 5MF.5138.10 is a 300 meter long section of the old highway alignment that <br />is within the present inventory area for a proposed mining tract. The roadway in this area <br />has been abandoned as a State highway, which has been realigned to the west. The north 75 <br />meters of the segment recorded is now a portion of a County road that ends at a modern <br />metal gate. The County road is only extant north of the gate and has been graveled. South <br />of the gate a new east-west mining road crosses the segment alignment. From this new road, <br />and headed south, the historic highway has been reclaimed. Additionally, approximately <br />45m south of this modern road lies an old galvanized 2-foot diameter culvert with concrete <br />abutments, a remnant feature of the old highway (Plate 3). The 48 feet of corrugated pipe <br />extends 4-feet to either side of the old road base (40' wide). <br />8