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G <br />Summary Comments and National Register Consideration <br />6ri11 sites A, B, C, and D and their access roads will impact no <br />cultural resources located on lands within the Jurisdiction of the U.S. <br />Forest Service. There are no known cultural resources within Sections <br />22 and 27 which involve the public lands which will be impacted. There <br />are, therefore, no known sites which may be eligible for the National <br />Register of Historic Places within the project area. <br />The land immediately east of Sections 22 and 27 is owned by the North <br />Thompson Cattlemen's Association and does contain significant historical <br />sites which are probably eligible for the National Register of Historic <br />Places. These resources consist of a number of coal mines and associated <br />industrial and domestic facilities such as log cabins. These sites ~~ar <br />to this writer, to relate to a substantial coa4 mining operation from <br />c. 1900 to 1920. A brief survey of secondary historic source materials <br />failed to reveal the name or other information relative to this mining <br />operation. These resources appear to be in relatively good shape and are <br />worthy of a substantial recording and conservation effort. Although L'hese <br />resources are probably eligible for the National Register, it is to be <br />stressed that they are situated outside of the project limits and the <br />boundaries of the White River National Forest. These resources will not <br />be impacted by the proposed core drilling operation, and they are privately <br />owned. Centuries Research, Inc. was retained only for study in Sections <br />22 and 27 and did not have permission to investigate the historic sites. <br />No elements of this historic mining operation could be found to extend <br />onto Forest Service land, and personnel in the Forest Service further <br />indicated that these remains were exclusively located outside the National <br />Forest [Mangan 1977]. A well established dirt road leads by these ruins <br />to the Forest Service boundary at the head of Spring Gulch. The new <br />access road to the drill sites starts at this point on the Forest boun- <br />dary [Fig. 2]. Although these resources bear no legal or other associa- <br />Lion to the proposed drilling project, they are worthy of considerable <br />archaeological/historical attention, and it is hoped that some organiza- <br />tion, such as Anschutz Coal Corporation, will sponsor such efforts. The <br />North Thompson Cattlemen's Association should adopt a protective stance <br />toward these historical resources. <br />