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-36- <br />5.2 INDIRECT ADVERSE IMPACTS <br />Indirect adverse impacts can occur at several levels. The influx of • <br />railroad construction crews and other personnel increases the possibility <br />that sites not directly affected by the construction activities will be <br />visited by individuals interested in collecting Indian artifacts. This <br />can take the form of either surface collecting of artifacts or the potholing <br />of sites. The same indirect impact can be expected to occur during mining <br />operations and operation of the railroad. <br />It is difficult to assess the specific effects of the type of indirect <br />impact described above on the cultural resources of the study area, since <br />sites outside the railroad rights of way and the mine site were rarely <br />recorded. Those sites that were recorded include SMF402, which is just <br />outside the south boundary of the mine site, sites SMF408, and 412 through <br />422 on the colluvial ridges along the Iles Mountain escarpment just north of <br />the Route C right of way, and the previously mentioned rockshelter, 4MF435, <br />in Milk Creek Canyon. The Iles Mountain escarpment sites are important <br />because they have potential for documenting the relationships between the <br />site locations and the neighboring environmental zones. The indirect • <br />impact on the SMF435 rock shelter is of particular cause for concern, since <br />it may prove to be one of the most important sites inventoried during the <br />investigation and is easily visible from the proposed railroad route. In <br />fact, it is somewhat surprising that deposits in the rock shelter are still <br />undisturbed. Site SMF402, near the mine site boundary, is also of some <br />potential importance, since it might provide valuable information concerning <br />the nature of prehistoric occupation around the spring at the head of <br />Streeter Canyon. <br />The field investigation itself has already caused a degree of indirect <br />adverse impact. Interest among pothunters in an area is usually stimulated <br />by the activities of archeologists working in that area. Site SMF408 was <br />visited by us again several days after we recorded the site and it was <br />discovered that one of the hearths had been potted since our first visit by <br />an unknown individual. <br />• <br />