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<br />INVENTORY RESULTS <br />The entire study area was devoid of archaeological and historical <br />remains. No rock art, lithic artifacts, lithic scatter, ar sources of <br />lithic materials were seen. There was no evidence of historic <br />occupation of the area. The F.Y. Nayden (1) survey of the area <br />(1877) shows that a Ute trail transected the canyon bottom. From a <br />topographical point of view, the suspect areas are the one rock <br />shelter lying above the mine portal, and areas with southern aspect in <br />Coal Gulch. The rock shelter above the mine portal (Plate IV.) proved <br />to be uninhabitable, as its floor was washed out because of heavy <br />drainage from above. None of the suspect areas in Coal Gulch or <br />beneath boulders along Coal Canyon Road presented any evidence of <br />human use or occupation. <br />While an the topography presents a few suspect areas, circumstances <br />militate against the survival of evidence of their use. The entire <br />area is .subject to heavy washing which leads to the burial or erosion <br />of evidence. There is a general absence of water and wild food <br />plants: Further, the area is adjacent to the old coal mining town of <br />• Cameo, fihd is near the city of Grand Junction. Coal Gulch is covered <br />with receht litter of hunters and hikers, leading to the inference <br />that it has been thoroughly scoured by artifact collectors who would <br />have removed what evidence they may have found. Their presence is <br />marked by a year inscription "1936" on a rock in the overhand above <br />the mine portal. <br />The investigation yielded a glimmer of hope that charcoal was to be <br />found under the overhangs. of boulders along the northwestern side of <br />Coal Gulch. The boulder shown-in Plate VII., where the overhang is .. <br />only 3 feet at its maximum, yielded a carboniferous substance mixed <br />with the alluvium. It proved to be coal. A further outcropping 'of <br />coal under the overhang of a small boulder was observed higher up the <br />gulch. <br />CONCLUSIONS/RECOMMENDATIONS <br />The total absence of observed paleontolgoical, archaeological and <br />historical remains in the study area leads to the conclusion that it <br />holds nothing of archaeological, historical, or cultural interest. <br />Therefore, I recommend that the application for special use permit be <br />cleared in reference to cultural aspects. <br />n <br />L`J <br />