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Historical aerial photographs indicate the abandoned Eloy Airfield was developed prior to 1959 and ASLD records indicate the parcel of State Trust land on which the airport was located was leased to commercial crop dusting services from 1969 to 1981. Site investigations conducted between 1993 and 2006 documented that the parcel was contaminated with organochlorine pesticides, primarily toxaphene. In 2009, State Risk Management, which provided oversight and funding for environmental remedial action at the former airfield, retained URS Corporation to excavate, transport, and dispose of pesticide contaminated soil exceeding the nonresidential soil remediation level for toxaphene (16 milligrams per kilogram). A prehistoric Hohokam archaeological site, AZ AA:6:51(ASM), overlaps the airfield parcel. ASLD, in consultation with SHPO, determined that site AZ AA:6:51(ASM) is eligible for the Arizona Register under Criterion D because it has potential to yield important information about the Hohokam occupation of the Santa Cruz Flats. ASLD in consultation with SHPO and ASM agreed that pursuant to the State Historic Preservation Act and Arizona Antiquities Act some level of archaeological study should be conducted to recover and preserve information and artifacts in areas of the site that could not be avoided by the removal of contaminated soil. Because of the contamination, both agencies recognized that normal archaeological excavation could pose a hazard to archaeologists and they agreed that data recovery could be limited to archaeological monitoring. This report documents the goals, methods, and results of the approved monitoring plan.

As authorized under the Arizona Water Settlements Act of 2004, the San Carlos and Irrigation Drainage District (SCIDD) is undertaking a 10-year rehabilitation project of its irrigation system. SCIDD is the non-Indian irrigation component of the San Carlos Irrigation Project (SCIP), which provides irrigation water to the communities of Florence, Coolidge, and Casa Grande in Pinal County, Arizona. To assist with project planning, Reclamation directed Archaeological Consulting Services, Ltd. (ACS) to conduct a Class I overview of the project area, updating previous Class I reports compiled by Doyel et al. (1995) and Woodson (2000). The Class I update revealed that 172 cultural resource investigations have been conducted within the APE and review area. Although the cultural resource surveys cover approximately 22 percent of the APE and review area, most were conducted more than 10 years ago, or are on the verge. As such, only five percent of the review area was adequately surveyed within the last 10 years. In total, 187 sites have been recorded within the APE and review area, and include a variety of site types and ages and eligible, not eligible, and unknown eligibility determinations to the National Register. The bulk of the sites are prehistoric (n = 121) and include Archaic and Hohokam artifact scatters, habitation sites, resource and procurement sites, and sites with features such as petroglyphs and rock features. At least 52 documented sites are historic, a number of which are associated with the SCIDD and Joint Works system. Other historic sites include homestead sites, structures, roads and highways, railroads and trash scatters. Another 12 sites have been characterized as multicomponent, the bulk of which comprise artifact scatters, some with features, with both prehistoric and historic components. The bulk of the sites had not been evaluated for eligibility (n = 65) or no information is available for them (n = 2). Of the remaining cultural resources that were evaluated, two archaeological districts (Blackwater and Florence) and one structure (the Arizona State Prison Captain of the Guards House) are listed on the State Inventory; 34 sites have been determined eligible for inclusion on the State and/or National Registers; 52 have been recommended eligible; one has been recommended for eligibility testing; and 27 have been recommended as not eligible. Three large prehistoric Hohokam habitation sites along the Gila River are listed on the National Register, including Adamsville Ruin (AZ U:15:1[ASM]), Grewe site (AZ AA:2:2[ASM]) and a site cluster (House Mound) within Casa Grande Ruins National Monument (AZ AA:2:16[ASM]). In addition to the projects and site record checks, historic GLO plat maps and MTP records reveal a number of potentially undocumented historic features and structures in the review area including houses, buildings, canals, ditches, fence lines, railroads, roads, utility lines, and agricultural fields. Modern urban development and expansion of agricultural activity in the area may have obscured or obliterated many of these features. This is the Class I report. A photo of a petroglyph identified during the assessment can be accessed at tDAR ID: 393776.