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, %. <br />f ~. <br />j~ <br />c <br /> <br /> <br />3 <br />~~ <br />:; <br />~; <br />1 <br />r <br />`I <br /> <br />INTRODUCTION <br />Wyoming Fuel Company (WFC) of Weston, Colorado operates the <br />Golden Eagle Mine in Las Animas County, a few miles west of <br />Weston, Colorado. The mining operations are rapidly approaching <br />their revised permit area. Because such operations are licensed <br />by a federal agency - in this case, the Office of Surface Mining- <br />WFC is mandated by law (specifically, the National Historic <br />Preservation Act of 1966, as amended) and implementing <br />regulations 36 CFR 800 to determine the numbers and kinds of <br />cultural resources that may exist in the permit revision area. <br />A full determination and proper evaluation of such resources <br />requires an intensive archaeological inventory of the project <br />area, which would identify and record all extant cultural <br />resources. The eligibility of each identified resource for <br />nomination to the National Register of Historic Places is then <br />evaluated, and recommendations made to mitigate the potential <br />impact of coal mining operations upon eligible sites. The <br />realistic mitigation alternatives are avoidance or data recovery. <br />For planning purposes, WFC would like to know how many and where <br />cultural resources localities are likely to be found in the <br />permit revision area before committing themselves to expanded <br />mining operation and thereby necessitating a full-fledged <br />archaeological inventory. Thus, they require what is called in <br />cultural resources parlance a Class I overview study. This <br />report describes the purpose, methods and results of such a study <br />for the Golden Eagle Mine permit revision area. <br />The permit revision area (hereafter, the project area) is an <br />irregular block, comprising approximately 5,410.acres (8.5 sq. <br />mi.), whose eastern boundary is approximately one mile west of <br />Weston, Colorado (Figure 1). The area encompasses all or <br />portions of the following sections: <br />T.33S., R.67W., Sections 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 27 <br />28, 32, 33, 34, and 35, and <br />C~'~ T.34S., R.67W., Sections 3 and 4. <br />Colorado Highway 12 bisects the project area, the northern <br />L section approximately three times larger than the southern <br />section (Figure 2). <br />' ~ The purpose of this study is to formulate estimates of how many <br />prehistoric and historic resources are likely to be found in the <br />project area and where they might be located. These estimates <br />are constructed systematically, combining known data in a <br />methodical fashion until reliable results are achieved. The <br />natural environment is described first, this description <br />providing a better understanding of the milieu to which regional <br />populations had adapted. The next chapter summarizes the culture <br />~~ history, including the prehistory and history of the region <br />surrounding the project area, as it is presently understood. <br />From this summary, data can be extracted that describe the <br />C <br />