2002-06-05_PERMIT FILE - M2002004 (3)

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Proposed Limestone Quarry Access Road and Overview Cultural Resources Inventory in 1845 at Greenhorn, and in 1846 and 1847 along the St. Charles River(Atheam 1985; Mehls and Carter 1984). A post office was located at St. Charles from 1866 to 1881, and Blecha (1987) writes that this site may be the same location as the location of the San Carlos station of the then-to-come Denver and Rio Grande Railroad. Based on historic railroad maps, the location of the San Carlos station is also the same as Lime and is to the west of the project area, but within the lease area (DR&G 1771, 1773, 1888; D&RGW 1933, 1940). Ormes states that San Carlos was " ... a settlement by 1897, then Lime from 1900 on. The limestone quarry there was a handy source for the CF&I [Colorado Fuel and Iron Company], starting in 1888" (Ormes 1975:34). The various Mexican land grants in southeastern Colorado were turned over to the U.S. government in 1848 and claims were settled in Claims Court in 1853. As result, the size of the Nolan Grant was reduced. The GLO Patent records show the adjudicated size of the Nolan Grant to be 42,418 acres. Lime was a small mining community owned and operated by the CF&I until 1965. The CF&I- owned limestone quarry, directly adjacent to Lime, shipped an average of 600 pounds of fluxing material daily to the Minnequa Steel Plant located six miles to the north, near Pueblo. At the quarry, the limestone was blasted from the walls, broken down with sledges, transported to the crusher, and shipped to Minnequa in the two-inch diameter standard size. A smaller amount of limestone was shipped to local smelters of precious metals (CF&I 1902; Chmel 1989; Scamehron 1976, 1999). The town and the quarry existed in two stages. From 1880 to 1897, CF&I contracted the land out to the Colorado Coal and Iron Company, who built the initial buildings at Lime. In 1898, CF&I took control of the land and the town, and upgraded the town by adding a school, post office, and store, and provided company built houses at affordable rents for the miners to live in. The quarry closed during the great depression, but there is no evidence that the citizens of Lime left their homes,. At the onset of World War II, the mine reopened because, "business really picked up" (Chmel 1989). The quarry and town finally closed in 1965 because CF&I claimed that the cost to maintain the land was too high. Right before the quarry was .closed, the residents of Lime rented their houses from CF&I for only eight dollars a month. Some of the houses from Lime have been moved to Pueblo, some have been torn down. The school was standing as late as 1970, but is no longer present (CF&I 1902; Chmel 1989; Scamehron 1976, 1999). The vast majority of people who lived in Lime (the population is estimated between 120 and 250 people through the years) worked in the CF&I Limestone quarry. The only exceptions to this rule were the shopkeepers, doctors, teachers, and other occupations needed to keep the town running. The Colorado Supply Company ran the general store in Lime from 1898 to 1902. In 1902, the store was bought by Jachetta and Nigro of Pueblo, and managed by Frank Giardine in Lime. Jachetta and Nigro also owned the boarding house for unmarried miners, and W. H. Gift managed this establishment. CF&I established a school in 1898, which consisted of one room and thirty students in about ten grades. From 1900 to 1902, Miss Jennings (first name unknown) taught the school. Since the town was located about six miles from the main CF&I hospital, there was no regular doctor in town. However, in the early 1900s a surgeon by the name of A. W. Scarlett made regular visits to Lime. A Post Office was in operation from 1898 to 1943 (CF&I 1902; Chmel 1989; Scamehron 1976, 1999). Most of the workers that lived in Lime were not native to the area. The mineworkers were about half Italian and half Austrian. Every publication in the area was printed in English, Italian and U 11