1996-08-02_GENERAL DOCUMENTS - M1977378

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Y j Placer Gulch area, and have bearing on the Gold Prince Mine. The Colorado Historical Society records show two previous site records for the general arcs. The first of these is a cursory recording of the Gold Prince Mine(5SA37)conducted by Steven Baker of Centuries Research, Inc. in August of 1976. The records did not indicate the reason for this recording so Mr. Baker was contacted by phone on July 25, 1996. Mr. Baker indicated that he had recorded the site for purely research reasons, and had an defining the nature of the "Victorian Cultural Horizon to the artifact$project camps. This initial recording of the Gold Prince Mine is brief with deposits l c Colorado mining information, and a short description of the site. lm� y locational The second project was a survey conducted by Woods Canyon Archaeological Consultants of an access road for the Sunnysido Mine s few miles southwest of the project area(Ferman and Honeycutt 1987). This project identified the Sunnyside Mill, and various other features that together comprise the Sunnyside Mine Complex(5SA121). The site was 1ecommended as eligible for inclusion in the National Reg ister of Historic Places based on it's significant history, and this recommendation was officially agreed upon by the state of Colorado in February of 1988. Three separate research projects related to mining in the Placer Gulch area were conducted In 1990 as unpublished research reports for the BLM San Juan Resource Area were undertaken through a joint program between the BIM and the Undergraduate Terse Research ea projects Program at the University of Colorado,Boulder. The first of these projectswas surveyand assessment of the Gold Prince Aerial Tramway system that connected the Gold Prince Mine with the Gold Prince Mill in Animas Forks, and was built in 1905-1906 (Hoffman 1990). This is a detailed survey and description of the aerial tram ) projectsystem, but theme is not a Colorado State site number given for the tram. During the background research for this project the state records did not identify the tram as a previously recorded site. It is therefore not clear if this tram is in fact a Previously recorded site. Generally when such a project is conducted,the identified resources are assigned a state site number and entered into the state record, so it is not clear why this site did not show up in the background research. The tram does extend into the Gold Prince Mine site (5SA37)and those features of the tram within the site boundaries are described, A second study conducted as part of this research report series was an evaluation conducted of the Hanson Mill(Aly 1990b). This study has some problems in that it is a combination of in-field recording of a site that is actually the Sound Democrat Mill (currently owned and under restoration by the BLM), and historic research on the Hasson Mill which is located to the north at the Gold Prince Mine(5SA37). Alan Nossaman the curator for the archives oPthe San Juan County Historical Society in Silverton, noted that upon consultation following the completion of the report in 1990 he determined that the field recording the Sound Democrat Mill, while tho research had been done of another site, the Hanson Mill.ad been of Historic photographs of the Hanson Mill leave no doubt that this facility was the mill located at the Gold Prince Mine, and not the Sound Democrat, Putting aside the field recording of the Sound Democrat Mill, the report is still useful m that it does contain historic information on the Hanson Mill. The third report in this series is an assessment of the Mastadon Mill which is located aPProximately V2 mile north of the Gold Prince Mine(Aly 1990a). This report indicates the mill was constructed in 1885, was in operation until the early part of the 20th century, and was one of a number of small mill facilities for processing the rich ores of Placer(or also known as Mastadon) 4