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Proposed Limestone Quarry Access Road and Overview Cultural Resources Inventory <br />The entire proposed project area was probably used with varying degrees of intensity <br />throughout prehistory. The upland areas support game and vegetal resources and were <br />probably used by mobile hunting and foraging parties. This type of adaptation leaves little trace <br />in the archaeological record, and sites that do result are usually sparse and of limited value. <br />More substantial and significant sites are associated with campsites used by the mobile <br />foragers at various times, and perhaps repeatedly over time, and with early settlements <br />associated with the development of horticultural subsistence in the Late Prehistoric Stage. <br />These types of sites would be located near permanent watercourses. Sites from the <br />Paleoindian Stage will have been subjected to the greatest influence by geomorphologic <br />processes. A thin band of Pinedale and Bull Lake age gravels and alluviums within the project <br />area was deposited during this stage. <br />Consideration of these factors and the proposed project area geomorphology leads to the <br />conclusion the proposed project area can be segregated into two zones. The first consists of <br />areas that are unlikely to contain significant prehistoric archaeological resources. This includes <br />all upland areas, with underlying limestone bedrock and Manvel soil, as well as the St. Charles <br />riverbed and floodplain, which consists of shifting sands. This covers most of the proposed <br />project area. The second zone contains areas that have a potential to contain significant <br />prehistoric sites. This includes terraces along the St. Charles River and exposures of the <br />Pinedale-age alluvium. <br />8.0 Recommendations <br />Given the present interpretation of the Colorado Historical, Prehistorical and Archaeological <br />Resources Act of 1973 (CRS 24-80-401 to 410), compliance with these recommendations can <br />be viewed as being optional on the part of Rio Grande Portland Cement. It is recommended, <br />however, that concurrence from the Colorado SHPO concerning the recommended NRHP <br />evaluations for all of the sites presented herein should be sought. The SHPO should also be <br />consulted concerning the impacts to Sites 5PE1776.6 and 5PE4162.2 by the access road, and <br />any recommendations made concerning treatment of these impacts should be followed. An <br />intensive survey of the portions of the proposed project area that have a potential for containing <br />significant prehistoric sites should be performed and any sites encountered should be recorded <br />and evaluated. If the project plans change, and impacts to the Lime townsite would occur, then <br />that area should be thoroughly investigated, recorded, and evaluated for NRHP eligibility. <br />9.0 References Cited <br />' Athearn, Frederic J. <br />1985 Land of Conquest. A History of Southeast Colorado. Cultural Resource Series No. 17, <br />Bureau of Land Management, Denver. <br />Athearn, Robert G. <br />1858 The Denver and Rio Grande Railway: Colorado's 'Baby Road.' Colorado Magazine <br />' 35:35-50. <br />Baskin, O.L. and Nelson Millett <br />1881 History of the Arkansas Valley, Colorado. O.L. Baskin and Company, Chincago. <br />URS 13