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2023 Cultural Resource Site Assessments for Collom Expansion Project Colowyo <br />Tetra Tech June 2023 25 <br />For Official Use Only: Disclosure of Site Locations Prohibited (43 CFR 7.18) <br />5MF.6098 – Historic Homestead and Prehistoric Lithic Scatter, Needs Data <br />Site 5MF.6098 was originally recorded in 2005 by TRC as part of the Collom Mine Expansion <br />Class III Inventory project. The site is reported to have both a historic and prehistoric component. <br />The prehistoric component consists of three projectile points, nine bifaces, two retouched flakes, <br />one sidescraper, three choppers, nine pieces of groundstone, and 789 pieces of debitage. The <br />historic component consists of five features (Features 1 through 5). Feature 1 is the remains of <br />an unknown structure. Feature 2 is an east to west oriented dugout. Feature 3 is a large double <br />walled structure dug three feet into the hillside. Feature 4 is a deep depression located next to <br />Feature 2. Feature 5 is a possible mine shaft. Historic artifacts surrounding the features include <br />sanitary cans, glass bottles, glass fragments, and various metal debris. The prehistoric <br />component extends north of the historic component on the east and west banks of Collom Gulch. <br />Cultural material was observed on the upper terrace and eroding out of the cut-banks. <br />In 2015, Tetra Tech revisited the site as part of the Collom Mine Expansion Site Assessment <br />project. The site was found to be in a similar condition as when it was first recorded in 2005 with <br />no significant changes or new impacts observed. The historic component continues to deteriorate <br />as expected for an abandoned habitation location. The prehistoric portion also remained largely <br />unchanged. All six metates, two manos, and debitage were relocated. All prehistoric temporal <br />diagnostic artifacts were collected in 2005. Thick vegetation had grown in the area around the <br />stream and obscured large portions of the prehistoric component. <br />In 2019, Tetra Tech revisited the site as part of the second round of assessments. The site was <br />found to be in a similar condition as the 2015 revisit with no significant changes or mining impacts <br />noted. The prehistoric component had very dense vegetation growth in 2019 obscuring much of <br />the site. No previously recorded groundstone pieces or tools were relocated. Only a small <br />percentage of the lithic artifacts were relocated. A new tool (PP-4) was identified. PP-4 was found <br />eroding out of the western cutbank of Collom Gulch. The artifact is likely a hafted knife missing <br />the haft measuring 5.4 by 3.2 by 0.5 cm. The historic component was in similar condition to the <br />2015 revisit. All features and artifact concentrations were relocated. The features all showed an <br />expected level of deterioration for abandoned historic-era structures and do not exhibit any <br />impacts from mining activities. <br />In 2023, Tetra Tech revisited the site as part of the third round of assessments (Figure 17). The <br />site was found to be in a similar condition as the 2019 revisit with no significant changes or mining <br />impacts noted. The prehistoric component was in the same condition with no new artifacts <br />encountered during the revisit. The historic component is also in the same condition with no new <br />cultural material noted during the revisit. Tetra Tech recommends that mining activities avoid the <br />area until further assessment. <br />NRHP Status and Condition Assessment <br />In 2005 TRC recommended the prehistoric portion of Site 5MF.6098 as needing additional data <br />to determine its eligibility for inclusion on the NRHP. The historic portion of the site was <br />recommended as not eligible for inclusion on the NRHP under any criteria. Tetra Tech agrees <br />with this recommendation. No changes to the prehistoric or historic components were observed <br />during the 2023 revisit. The site should continue to be avoided pending additional subsurface <br />testing to the prehistoric component to determine whether subsurface cultural component(s) are <br />present at the site.