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Evaluation and Management Recommendations <br />The road segment is not eligible under Criteria A and B, associated with events and <br />lives that have made a significant contribution to the broad pattern of history: or Criterion C. as <br />it has no distinct elements in the form of design, materials, and workmanship. North of the <br />recorded segment are several previously recorded historic sites. indicating that the roadway was <br />used as a transportation corridor to access those sites. As part of a road system that can be <br />considered locally significant in the development of the rural landscape and since it has not <br />been recorded in its entirety, the site. as a whole. is field evaluated as need data and may yield <br />additional information important to the history (Criterion D) of the area. Criterion 1) may best <br />be addressed if needed in the future by fully recording the structure and studying the role of <br />road construction and transportation in settlement patterns. The recorded segment lacks <br />features, artifacts. and integrity of design, materials. and workmanship. Therefore. the segment <br />does not support the site's potential eligibility under Criterion D and is found to be not eligible <br />for listing on the NRHP. No further work is recommended. <br />CULTURAL RESOURCEs D1sCUssioN <br />Despite the limitations of the steep slopes and heavy vegetation cover, as expected. the <br />survey yielded several historic cultural resources. These support historic records which <br />indicate a permanent EuroAmerican presence in the region that began as early as the 1890's. <br />Interest in the potential agricultural lands of western Colorado (namely the Uncompahgre, <br />Gunnison. Colorado. Dolores. San Miguel, White, and La Plata River valleys) had been <br />growing for some time prior to the Utes' banisluttent, and by the spring of 1881 frontier towns <br />closest to the Ute lands were "crowded with people. anxious to enter the Reservation and take <br />possession of the most desirable locations (Haskell 1886:2)." Only days after the last of the <br />Utes had been expelled. settlers began rushing onto the reservation lands. Settlement activity <br />spread quickly— during the autumn months of 1881 land claims were staked. townsites were <br />chosen, and railroad routes were surveyed ( Haskell 1886. Borland 1952, Rait 1932). However. <br />because the former reservation lands were not ofticialiv declared public lands until August <br />1882. the first year of settlement activity was marked by a degree of uncertainty regarding the <br />legality of land claims. When finally announced. the 1882 declaration did not allow homestead <br />entries on the newly opened lands, but only preemptions. or cash entries, at the rate of 51.25 <br />per acre for agricultural land. S5.00 per acre for mineral land (Borland 1952:75). The turn of <br />the century brought changes in the patenting policy, allowing Homestead and Desert Land <br />Entries as well. <br />The reevaluated site and newly recorded historic sites generally reflect a focus on cattle <br />ranching and hunting in the study area. Early land acquisition in the region appears to have <br />been by Homestead. Cash Entry or Stock Raising Patents. Many of the early ones were <br />relinquished. and thew lands were later consolidated into larger ranches. The other historic site <br />in the study area is the aqueduct constructed during the late 1940's which provides potable <br />water to the Paonia area. <br />NJ <br />