Search

In compliance with Section 106 of the NHPA, the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation), Phoenix Area Office (PXAO) began cultural resource surveys along the Central Arizona Project (CAP) main stem alignment shortly after the CAP was authorized. For the next 25 years, various cultural resource management contractors conducted inventories of the CAP, recording several hundred archaeological sites. From the 1970s to the 1980s, some of these sites were tested and/or excavated as mitigation for the construction of the CAP main stem canal. While many sites were determined eligible or not eligible for the National Register of Historic Places (Register), some did not receive eligibility determinations and some were located outside of the construction corridor and not affected by construction activities. The legacy survey data and site records from these various investigations have a number of errors and are sometimes contradictory. In an effort to better manage cultural resources on Reclamation land, PXAO has developed an archaeological site database for the CAP canal. The database was developed using all the previous main stem survey data; however, the Register eligibility status of the majority of these sites was unknown following completion of the CAP. Additionally, an unknown number of sites were either destroyed by construction or excavation, while others are no longer within Reclamation’s CAP ROW. It is necessary that the database accurately reflects the current Register eligibility status of all archaeological sites within the CAP ROW to ensure that PXAO can effectively manage these sites. To this end, PXAO has been updating its database and conducted consultation with the Arizona State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) in 2015, seeking to resolve the eligibility status of sites within the CAP ROW. Following this consultation, the SHPO and PXAO agreed that based on the assessment data provided, further work was required on 117 sites along the Fannin-McFarland and Tucson Aqueducts. For 24 sites determined eligible for the Register, the maps from the original surveys were insufficient. For another 93 sites, the data provided was insufficient to determine whether a site was eligible or ineligible for inclusion in the Register. During ACS’ efforts to relocate 117 previously recorded sites along the Fannin-McFarland and Tucson Aqueducts, eligibility for 10 sites could not be determined and so eligibility testing was conducted at these 10 sites to determine Register eligibility or the extent to which subsurface deposits are likely present with the CAP ROW. Following this work, additional survey was conducted in selected portions of the CAP corridor to try and relocate 15 sites that could not be found due to destruction or misplotting. This file is the log of photographs taken during this project.

In compliance with Section 106 of the NHPA, the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation), Phoenix Area Office (PXAO) began cultural resource surveys along the Central Arizona Project (CAP) main stem alignment shortly after the CAP was authorized. For the next 25 years, various cultural resource management contractors conducted inventories of the CAP, recording several hundred archaeological sites. From the 1970s to the 1980s, some of these sites were tested and/or excavated as mitigation for the construction of the CAP main stem canal. While many sites were determined eligible or not eligible for the National Register of Historic Places (Register), some did not receive eligibility determinations and some were located outside of the construction corridor and not affected by construction activities. The legacy survey data and site records from these various investigations have a number of errors and are sometimes contradictory. In an effort to better manage cultural resources on Reclamation land, PXAO has developed an archaeological site database for the CAP canal. The database was developed using all the previous main stem survey data; however, the Register eligibility status of the majority of these sites was unknown following completion of the CAP. Additionally, an unknown number of sites were either destroyed by construction or excavation, while others are no longer within Reclamation’s CAP ROW. It is necessary that the database accurately reflects the current Register eligibility status of all archaeological sites within the CAP ROW to ensure that PXAO can effectively manage these sites. To this end, PXAO has been updating its database and conducted consultation with the Arizona State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) in 2015, seeking to resolve the eligibility status of sites within the CAP ROW. Following this consultation, the SHPO and PXAO agreed that based on the assessment data provided, further work was required on 117 sites along the Fannin-McFarland and Tucson Aqueducts. For 24 sites determined eligible for the Register, the maps from the original surveys were insufficient. For another 93 sites, the data provided was insufficient to determine whether a site was eligible or ineligible for inclusion in the Register.

In an effort to better manage cultural resources on Reclamation land, PXAO has developed an archaeological site database for the CAP canal. The database was developed using all the previous main stem survey data; however, the Register eligibility status of the majority of these sites was unknown following completion of the CAP. Additionally, an unknown number of sites were either destroyed by construction or excavation, while others are no longer within Reclamation’s CAP right-of-way (ROW). PXAO has been updating its database and conducted consultation with the Arizona State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) in 2015, seeking to resolve the eligibility status of sites within the CAP ROW. Following this consultation, the SHPO and PXAO agreed that based on the assessment data provided, further work was required on 117 sites along the Fannin-McFarland and Tucson Aqueducts. ACS revisited the 117 sites in 2016. Eligibility for 27 sites could not be evaluated. This group includes sites that could not be relocated within the CAP ROW due to misplotting, destruction in the ROW, or were found outside the ROW. This group also includes three sites whose components within the ROW are not contributing to the site’s eligibility. Ten of the 27 sites that could not be evaluated for eligibility based on their surface manifestations are recommended for testing. Eligibility testing is recommended for these 10 sites and this document presents a Plan for eligibility testing.

ACS conducted testing at 10 sites within Reclamation’s CAP ROW seeking to resolve the National Register of Historic Places (Register) eligibility status of sites within the CAP ROW. This document presents the results of that testing.

In February 2017, Archaeological Consulting Services, Ltd. (ACS) conducted a site relocation effort (Mitchell et al. 2017) of 117 sites that had not been evaluated for eligibility to the National Register of Historic Places (Register). Fifteen sites were not relocated at the plotted site location or within 200 meters around the site boundary within the Central Arizona Project (CAP) ROW. It was decided that additional survey would be beneficial to determine if these sites were misplotted and could be located by additional survey in their general locations. Survey was conducted around and between sites AZ U:10:5(ASM), AZ AA:3:24(ASM), AZ AA:3:47(ASM), AZ AA:3:62(ASM), AZ AA:3:63(ASM), AZ AA:11:29(ASM), AZ AA:12:125(ASM), AZ AA:12:353(ASM), AZ AA:12:354(ASM), AZ AA:12:355(ASM), AZ AA:12:453(ASM), AZ AA:12:579(ASM), AZ AA:12:624(ASM), AZ AA:16:158(ASM), and NA 18009. Additional survey was also conducted to examine other areas not surveyed since the 1960s and 1970s.

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.