2008-03-03_PERMIT FILE - C2006085 ‎(32)‎

• Permit No: C2006085
• IBM Index Class Name: Permit File
• Doc Date: 3/3/2008
• Doc Name: Metcalfe Archaeological Consultants Cultural Survey
• Section_Exhibit Name: Exhibit AF
• Media Type: D
• Archive: No

• Results
9
As a result of this survey, three new sites and two new isolated finds were discovered and
recorded. The sites are all historic in age and include one abandoned railroad grade
(SFN2217.1), one historic rock inscription (SFN2220), and one historic sheltered camp
(SFN2221). All three are recommended to be not eligible for inclusion on the NRHP. The
isolated finds include one historic artifact (SFN2218), and one prehistoric isolate (SFN2219).
Isolated finds are by definition not eligible for inclusion on the NRHP.
Sites
SFN2217.1. This site is an abandoned railroad grade located along the south edge of
Chandler Creek in the bottom of a small canyon south of the Arkansas River and southeast of
Canon City. It lies midway between Canon City and Williamsburg in Fremont County. The soil
in the surrounding floodplain is a medium brown medium grained loamy sand with gravels and
cobbles on the surface, mantled with an apron of colluvial sands closer to the base of the ridges.
The cutbank of Chandler Creek indicates episodes ofhigh-energy sediment transport in the form
of flash floods, evidenced by an unsorted mix of gravels, cobbles, and occasional boulders.
Vegetation in the area is sparse junipers and some pinyon pines, native bunch grasses, sagebrush,
rabbitbrush, cholla and prickly pear cacti, and numerous forbs in the floodplain. The surrounding
slopes are covered in an open pinyon/juniper woodland. Ground visibility is about 30%. The
• area is largely undisturbed by modern intrusions, with acrowned-and-ditched county road
running parallel to the creek closer to the base of the southern ridge. The abandoned railroad
grade itself has been impacted by erosion from the creek. Some areas, such as at the crossing of
the proposed access road, are in good condition, with the grade still intact and identifiable.
Further southwest, the grade has been impacted by the creek, with portions mostly to completely
eroded. The grade is within the viewshed of the surface facility throughout the recorded length,
although it is directly impacted by the proposed access road in only one spot.
The Denver & Rio Grande (D&RG) Railroad Company had developed lines from Denver
to Pueblo using narrow gauge lines in the early 1870s, the first in the U.S. This technology
reduced building costs and allowed for greater climbing ability, important assets when building
in mountainous Colorado. Additionally, the D&RG installed the first air brakes onto their
locomotives in 1872 in anticipation of mountain lines. Later that year, the D&RG built a line
from Pueblo to the coal fields just west of Florence and further up the Arkansas River Valley.
This line fed the smelting and steel industries in Pueblo. Because the company could no longer
fund construction efforts, one of its construction subsidiaries took over the line for two years
(Fraser and Strand 1997). In 1884, the line from Florence to Canon City was completed by the
D&RG Railroad. This railroad grade is a spur leading from a small coal mine (SFN1810) further
up the canyon reach to the main line, creating a transportation corridor for the materials from this
area to Canon City and Pueblo.