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ti• ~ . INTRODUCTION Metcalf Archaeological Consultants, Inc. (MAC) of Eagle, Colorado was contracted by Cyprus Empire Corporation of Craig, Colorado to perform a Class III cultural resource inventory of seven solid core drill hole locations and associated accesses. The drill hole locations are all located in Moffat County southwest of Craig, Colorado in sections 12, 13, 14, 15 & 23 of Township 6 North, Range 92 West off the 6th Principal Meridian (Figure 1). The drilling program is being conducted as part of Cyprus Empire Corporation's exploration of a proposed expansion to its permit area. As the mineral rights in the expansion area belong to the federal government, a Class III cultural resource inventory of the drill hole locations and associated access roads was mandated by various federal laws governing federally licensed undertakings, the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (NRHP) among them. The objectives of the inventory were to locate, record and evaluate with respect to the NRHP any cultural resources within the project area. A combination of block of the drill hole locations and linear survey of the access roads were used in the conduct of this investigation. The size of the blocks surveyed around the drill holes was dictated by the anticipated size of the impacted area with a suitable buffer around it. Block size varied from 2.3 acres to 1.4 acres, with most being 2.0 acres in size. Linear surveys were conducted along access roads in areas where new road construction, road improvements, or blading were anticipated before, during, or after drilling operations. A corridor 100 feet wide was surveyed for the access roads which varied in length from 2.5 miles to 300 feet. A total of 57.75 acres was surveyed for this project, of which 14.45 acres was surveyed as a block and 43.30 acres was surveyed linearly. The investigation was conducted on October 12-13, 1994 by MAC archaeologist Dulaney Barclay. The project area is located on lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management, Craig District. It was performed under BLM Permit ilC39290 which expires 9/22/95. All field notes, photographs and maps are filed at the MAC office in Eagle, Colorado. ENVIRONMENT The project is located in a broad area of rolling, dissected uplands adjacent to the Yampa River Valley and northwest of the Williams Fork Mountains. This is an area of sandstone and shale ridges and separated by numerous small, shallow gulches bordering the Yampa River on the west. The terrain around the project area is an area of broad gently sloping ridges bounded by shallow gulches and draws containing intermittent drainages. The drill hole locations are on the tops and gentle slopes of ridges, and in gently sloping drainage bottoms. The Terrain becomes steeper to the east toward the Yampa River and Williams Fork Mountains. Local vegetation is predominantly sagebrush (tall and low), rabbitbrush, some cactus, and grasses. The. drill hole locations were however mainly located in cultivation fields where the vegetation is composed of grasses (wheatgrass) and thistles. Ground surface visibility was highly variable from 10Y, to 20Y. in freshly disced fields and on ridgetops to 95-100Y. in overgrown cultivation fields and drainage bottoms containing tall sagebrush. The soils are tan to brown, fine sandy looms with varying amounts of clay.