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• Lorencito Canyon is a north flowing tributary of the Purgatoire River, flowing from the <br />divide between the Purgatoire River and Canadian River drainage basins near the <br />Colorado-New Mexico state line. The headwaters of the Purgatoire River aze west of the <br />project area in the Sangre de Cristo Range. Local topography is controlled by resistant <br />Upper Cretaceous to Paleocene arkosic sandstone, siltstone, and shale of the Raton <br />Formation, and Middle Tertiary intermediate to felsic intrusives (Tweto 1979). The felsic <br />intrusives occur as a distinct sill in some of the canyon walls. Some of the local intrusive <br />materials have moderately good flaking qualities and were used for tool manufacture by <br />the prehistoric inhabitants of the area. <br />Five plant communities were identified in the earlier survey of the Lorencito Canyon <br />mine (McKibbin et al 1997). Only two of these plan[ communities, oak-pinon and <br />grassland, occur to any extent on the slopes and benches of the current project area. <br />Mountain shrub and pinon-juniper communities, not encountered in the earlier survey, <br />also occur in the area. The oak-pinon community is composed of low, brushy, clone-like <br />stands of Gantbel oak, scattered pinon, mountain mahogany, and juniper with a low <br />understory of grasses and forbs. The grassland community is interspersed among the <br />other communities, but occurs predominantly on flatter areas, such as valley floors and <br />upland benches. This community is dominated by grasses and forbs, but also includes <br />scattered brushy taxa. Some of the grassland areas have been disked, ripped, or seeded to <br />enhance their rangeland qualities. <br />• The varied terrain, forage, and cover of the project area provide favorable habitat for <br />large herbivores, carnivores, omnivores, smaller mammals, and avian fauna. Bison were <br />_ present in the area historically, and elk, mule deer, white-tailed deer, and pronghorn <br />antelope are still present. Carnivores and omnivores include beaz, bobcat, coyote, fox, <br />and puma. Avian fauna include various raptors, turkey, raven, magpies, grouse, ducks, <br />Canadian geese, and smaller songbirds. All of these taxa, as well as many smaller <br />mammals, had subsistence or ritual importance to prehistoric and early historic occupants <br />of the region. <br />CULTURE HISTORY AND PREVIOUS WORK <br />A files search (#9329) was conducted at the Colorado Office of Archaeology and Historic <br />Preservation on January 26, 2001 for the azea containing the proposed contour cuts. The <br />files search indicated that the only reported cultural resource investigations that have <br />been completed in this area are the 1996 cultural resource survey for the Lorencito <br />Canyon Mine (McKibbin et al 1997) and the testing and site discovery investigations for <br />the mine the following year (McKibbin 1997). McKibbin et al (1947) reported 26 <br />prehistoric sites and eight prehistoric isolated finds within the area containing the present <br />project area (Table 1). Three of the prehistoric sites were associated with historical <br />archaeological components. One of the sites with both prehistoric and historical <br />components (SLA7186) was evaluated as eligible for the National Register of Historic <br />Places, and four prehistoric sites (SLA6982, SLA7007, SLA7194, and SLA7196) were <br />evaluated as potentially eligible and needing additional studies to fully evaluate their <br />significance. <br />3 <br />