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• areas and was less intensively surveyed. Most (about 80%) of Tract II is under cultivation or used <br />for grazing. Accordingly, this area was inspected by vehicular reconnaissance. The remaining <br />acreage, distributed in six discrete plots of varying sizes, is relatively pristine and was intensively <br />surveyed. <br />These inspections resulted in the location and recordation of 12 cultural resources localities, all in Tract <br />I. Two of these resources were classifed as prehistoric sites, both being small scatters of chipped <br />stone materials. Neither one of these sites contained features, nor did they have any diagnostic <br />artifacts which would permit the assignation of cultural or temporal affiliations. The remaining 10 <br />resource localities are isolated finds of one to three chipped stone artifacts, including flakes, unifaces, <br />and a core. None of these localities, sites or IFs, are considered to be significant or eligible for <br />nomination to the NRHP because of their small size, mediocre artifactual assemblage, and absence <br />of buried cultural remains. <br />All of these recorded localities lie on a narrow, flat-topped mesa between two larger drainages. An <br />abundance of floral and faunal resources, and the seasonal availability of potable water, suggested <br />that the aboriginal occupants may have been exploiting one or the other, or all, of these local <br />resources. The information contents of the sites and IFs are individually and collectively too meager <br />to allow us to confirm these interpretations or postulate more elaborate hypotheses. <br />• No significant historic Euroamerican resources were recorded in the project areas. However, in an <br />effort to provide some background on local historic settlement, the land patent records maintained by <br />Montrose County were inspected. This review discovered that nearly all of the land patents in a four <br />mile square area surrounding and incorporating the project areas were taken out during a 10 year <br />period beginning in 1904; the greatest number of claims were made in 1910 and 1911. These findings <br />are consistent with local historical records, which relate that the town of Nucla was settled in 1904. <br />Apparently, within a short time after their town was established, the Nucla inhabitants strove to <br />increase their land holdings. We cannot, however, interpret fully the patterns in these land patents <br />data without completing additional records searches or oral history interviews. <br />Tract IIA is an irregularly shaped area of 112 acres, located primarily in the SE'/< of Section 6, T.46N, <br />R.15W. It is situated immediately west of Nucla and includes almost entirely disturbed land, mostly <br />of an agricultural nature. Tract III, a rectangular area, lies northwest of the town and just south of the <br />present mining area in the SW'/. of Section 31, T.47N, R.15W and the SEY, of Section 36, T.47N, <br />R.16W. This tract is also primarily agricultural acreage;however, some smaller parcels of undisturbed <br />land occur. The six drill sites are randomly distributed to the west of Tracts I I and IIA. All of the survey <br />areas lie on private property. <br />• (REVISED 8-28-95) 2.04.4 - 4 <br />