PERMFILE41036

• Permit No: C1980007
• IBM Index Class Name: Permit File
• Doc Date: 12/11/2001
• Section_Exhibit Name: EXHIBIT 10A CULTURAL RESOURCES STUDY JUMBO MOUNTAIN TRACT
• Media Type: D
• Archive: No

• CIILTURAL RESOURCE HACRGROUND
JUMBO MOUNTAIN TRACT, GUNNIBON AND DELTA COUNTIEB~ COLORADO
The study area contains approximately 1,000 acres. It is located
on steep north-facing slopes. The study area has been previously
described in Spath (1993:3) as follows:
The project area is located in an area of effective overlap of
the West-Central Colorado Prehistoric Context (Reed 1987) and
the Colorado Mountains Prehistoric Context (Guthrie, et al.,
1984). Neither study area has yielded evidence of frequent
prehistoric use of the scrub oak vegetation zone during any of
the prehistoric time periods. The earliest documented
historic visit to the general area was the Dominguez-Escalante
expedition of 1776 that passed along the North Fork of the
Gunnison (Warner 1976:29). The area was within the range of
Euro-American fur trapping activities in the early 1800s and
was later influenced by ranching, fruit farming and the
expansion of coal mining (Mehls 1982). Historic activities in
the area that would leave more than limited, transitory traces
have generally centered along the river valleys.
A total of fifteen cultural resource reports were identified for
the vicinity of the proposed Jumbo Mountain Tract (Table 1). The
• previous reports date from 1977 to 1993. Only three of the reports
cover field studies conducted on the Jumbo Tract property. A 1977
study (Class II and Class III) of the adjacent West Elk Mine
covered approximately 350 acres and located two historic sites.
The remainder of the studies are located within a 2-3 mile vicinity
of the study area. The most notable common characteristic of these
previous studies is the negligible amount of cultural resources
recorded. In a total of 15 projects only 2 historic sites and 1
isolated artifact have been recorded. Based upon these findings
and given the similarity of the topography and vegetation within
the Jumbo Tract, it likely that few, if any, cultural resources
will be located within the Jumbo Tract.
It is recommended that intensive cultural resource inventory be
limited to areas which: 1) will be impacted by the project, and/or,
2) are known to contain cultural resources (i.e., known
structures), and/or, 3) are likely to contain cultural resources
(springs, water courses, meadows, saddles, etc.). WORM has been
told that there will be no surface disturbance within the study
area. To date WORM has been told of the presence of four areas
(near springs) which contain structures within the study area.
These areas and an additional 4 springs identified by WESTEC will
be subject to inventory. Additional information regarding
structures may be obtained from discussions with private land
holder Mr. Larry Mautz. Additional information regarding spring
locations may be received from WESTEC. Figure 1 indicates likely
• areas for a Class II survey based upon review of topographic maps.
The areas indicated are open and located on less steep terrain.