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1 <br />4 <br />SLA7186 is located within and immediately south of the northern boundary of the Beaubien and <br />Miranda Grant. "He [Charles Beaubien] and Guadalupe Miranda received more than a million acres <br />' in 1841 from Governor Armijo--land extending from just below Trinidad to Taos, and adjoining the <br />Sangre de Cristo Grant" (Taylor 1964:55). The petition was granted on February 22, 1843. <br />' Congress confirmed this grant in its entirety in 1860 (Taylor 1964:55-56). <br />The site is situated a few hundred feet northeast of the proposed coal load out facility. A rail <br />' spur will cross the eastern part of the site, connecting the load out with existing Colorado and <br />Wyoming Railroad tracks. An extensive cut will be necessary to accommodate the rail grade, <br />estimated to be at least 20 feet below the present ground surface of the eastern part of the site. When <br />the road bed width, drainage, and side slopes are considered, surface impacts will result to a corridor <br />estimated to be at least 100 feet wide for the rail spur alone. In addition, the present Lorencito <br />Canyon road will be realigned through the site since its present course will be superseded by the rail <br />' spur. Further, the P3 haul road is planned to make a 180° turn on the central and western parts of <br />the site as it descends from the surface mine area and enters the load out. All of these proposals will <br />result in impacts to or the removal of neazly all of the site. <br />' SLA7186 is a large scatter of historic, lithic and ceramic artifacts, historic structural remains, <br />' and other historic features, located on a terrace rerrutant on the west side of Lorencito Canyon Creek, <br />and on the southern edge of Picketwire (Purgo~oire) Valley. The site was originally recorded in <br />1996 during the survey of a 40-acre block for the proposed load out facility. <br />N The Lithic Component <br />' The surface lithic component artifacts include chipped stone debitage, chipped stone tools <br />including three projectile points, ground stone tools, and cores. Chipped stone debitage represents <br />all stages of lithic reduction and materials aze overwhelmingly dominated by gray felsite, a locally <br />' available raw material. Chipped stone tools include, in addition to the projectile points, a drill <br />fragment, and amid-stage biface fragment. Material types among the tools are tnuch more diverse <br />and include several cherts and quartzite, in addition to felsite. The projectile points are styles <br />' associated with Archaic and Ceramic Period occupations. Ground stone items include several <br />manos. Also included in this component, though technically not "lithic," are two grayware sherds. <br />' No features have been found at the site that could be associated with a Native American or <br />prehistoric occupation, though burned, oxidized, and fire-cracked rock has been observed. This <br />surface assemblage represents a combination of materials observed at the site during its original <br />' recording, along with additional materials found during the 1997 testing effort. <br />The Historic Component <br />' The historic component consists of a partially collapsed and eroded adobe brick structure, <br />Structure 1, that was built ca. 1870s, and burned ca. late 1920s or early 1930s. The structure appears <br />' to have been a single room. The bricks, measuring 13" x 7" x 4", are laid two rows deep, forming <br />an eight-inch-thick wall. Only the south comer and southwestern wall remain standing. Sandstone <br />• foundation slabs are visible along the southeastern wall and eastern corner, as well as under the <br />' renmant adobe wall in the southern comer. Otherwise, the perimeter of the feature is defined largely <br />1 <br />