Cultural Resources
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Environmental Impact Analysis Cultural Resources 4.5 Cultural Resources This section analyzes impacts to historical, archaeological, and paleontological resources, as well as human remains, within the SJCOG region. 4.5.1 Setting a. Background Setting Prehistoric The prehistoric populations of San Joaquin County included the Miwok in the north and Northern Valley Yokuts in the south. Miwok populations focused their settlements alongside the waterways of the Sierra Nevada north from the Cosumnes River south to the Calaveras River and in California’s central valley as far west as Mount Diablo. Miwok villages were the primary political unit and consisted of as many as two dozen to several hundred individuals. Miwok subsistence relied upon hunting, fishing, and the gathering of acorns (Levy 1978). Northern Valley Yokuts populations were concentrated along waterways in the San Joaquin River. Settlements were typically composed of single-family dwellings, sweathouses, and ceremonial structures. Subsistence revolved around water resources in the San Joaquin Valley, with a focus on salmon and acorns (Wallace 1978). Historic Early explorers visited the San Joaquin valley with some frequency, though no missions or settlements were established until relatively late after European contact. Eighteenth-century explorers included Pedro Fages in 1772, Juan Bautista de Anza in 1776, and Francisco Eliza in 1793. Mission reconnaissance expeditions were led by Gabriel Moraga in 1806 and 1808, Father Ramon Abella in 1811, Jose Antonio Sanchez in 1811, and Father Narciso Duran in 1817 though no missions were ever established in California’s central valley. Jedediah Strong Smith was most likely the first American to traverse the San Joaquin Valley when he opened the Sacramento Trail in the late 1820s. He reported back to the Hudson Bay Fur Company, who founded the settlement of French Camp south of the modern city of Stockton in 1828. Throughout the Spanish and Mexican periods, San Joaquin County remained largely unsettled. Following the gold rush, settlement of the area increased as the agricultural potential of the area was recognized and railroad development throughout the area provided direct access. When California gained statehood in 1850, San Joaquin was established as one of the original counties. The early San Joaquin Valley economy was focused on cattle-raising and dry farming. By the early 1900s, irrigation had replaced dry farming and the region emerged as a leader in the agricultural and dairy industry. Throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, San Joaquin County has remained largely agricultural. Paleontological Resources Paleontological resources, also known as fossils, are the remains, traces or imprints of once-living organisms preserved in rocks or sediment. Paleontological resources are commonly found in Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Report 157 San Joaquin Council of Governments 2018 Regional Transportation Plan/ Sustainable Communities Strategy sedimentary rock units. Paleontological sites are normally discovered in cliffs, ledges, steep gullies, or along wave-cut terraces where vertical rock sections are exposed. Fossil material may be exposed by a trench, ditch, or channel caused by construction. Paleontological sensitivity refers to the potential for a geologic unit to produce scientifically significant fossils. Direct impacts to paleontological resources occur when earthwork activities, such as grading or trenching, cut into the geologic deposits (formations) within which fossils are buried and physically destroy the fossils. Since fossils are the remains of prehistoric animal and plant life, they are considered to be nonrenewable. Paleontological sensitivity is derived from the known fossil data collected from the entire geologic unit, not just from a specific survey. Invertebrate fossils in microscopic form such as diatoms, foraminifera, and radiolarians can be so prolific as to constitute major rock material in some areas. Invertebrate fossils normally are marine in origin, widespread, abundant, fairly well preserved, and predictable as to fossil sites. Therefore, the same or similar fossils can be located at any number of sites throughout central California. Vertebrate fossil sites are usually found in non-marine or continental deposits. Vertebrate fossils of continental material are usually rare, sporadic, and localized. Scattered vertebrate remains (mammoth, mastodon, horse, ground sloth, camel, and rodents) have been identified from the Pleistocene non-marine continental terrace deposits in various locations throughout the SJCOG region. Therefore, the SJCOG region contains areas of high paleontological sensitivity. Cultural Resources Inventory To compile a listing of recognized significant historic and prehistoric resources within San Joaquin County, information was obtained from the State Office of Historic Preservation. The statewide Historical Resources Inventory (HRI) is not available for public review according to the California Historical Information System Information Center Rules of Operation Manual (Section III.A). The HRI would be consulted after the determination of an Area of Potential Effect under project-level analysis of RTP/SCS transportation projects. Table 14 presents identified cultural resources within San Joaquin County. Included in each table are sites listed online by the Office of Historic Preservation (OHP) on the National Register of Historic Places (National Register; NRHP), sites designated as a California State Landmark, sites listed in the California Register of Historical Resources (California Register, CRHR), and those that are considered California Points of Historical Interest. The NRHP, authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), lists the Nation’s significant cultural resources. Resources listed in the NRHP are protected under the NHPA. The CRHR is maintained by the State Office of Historic Preservation and lists cultural resources important to the history of California, which are protected under CEQA. California Points of Historical Interest are resources that are of local significance. This list is limited to what is presented in the OHP’s online database and is not exhaustive. 158 Environmental Impact Analysis Cultural Resources Table 14 Historical Resources in San Joaquin County Point of City or National State California Historical Community Resource Name Register Landmark Register Interest Clements Lone Star Mill X French Camp California Chicory Works X French Camp French Camp X Lathrop Eldon H. Gordon House X Lockeford Elliott Cemetery X Lockeford Harmony Grove Church X Lockeford Liberty Cemetery X Lockeford Locke House and Barn X Lockeford Locke’s Meat Market X Lockeford Locke’s Ford X Lockeford Old Lockeford School X Lodi Hotel Lodi X Lodi Lodi Arch X X Lodi Morse-Skinner Ranch House X Lodi Terminous Culling Chute X Lodi Theodore H. Beckmen Ranch House X Lodi Women’s Club of Lodi X Ripon Markham Hotel X Ripon New Hope X Stockton Hotel Stockton X Stockton Burial Place of John Brown (Juan Flaco) X Stockton Cole’s Five Cypress Farm X Stockton Commercial and Savings Bank X Stockton El Dorado Elementary X Stockton Elks Building X Stockton Farmer’s and Merchant’s Bank Stockton Fox California Theater X Stockton Benjamin Holt House X Stockton I.O.O.F. Lodge X Stockton Nippon Hospital X Stockton Oak Lawn/Shippee Home Ranch X Stockton Old Weber School X Stockton Reuel Colt Gridley Monument X Stockton Moses Rodgers House X Site of First Building in Present City of Stockton X Stockton Stockton Sperry Office Building X Stockton Sperry Union Flour Mill X Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Report 159 San Joaquin Council of Governments 2018 Regional Transportation Plan/ Sustainable Communities Strategy Point of City or National State California Historical Community Resource Name Register Landmark Register Interest Stockton Stockton Developmental Center X Stockton Stockton Savings and Loan Society Bank X Stockton Temple Israel Cemetery X Temporary Detention Camps for Japanese Stockton X Americans- Stockton Assembly Center Stockton Tretheway Block X Stockton U.S. Post Office X Stockton Weber Point X Weber School, Multi-National Multi-Lingual Stockton X Center Stockton Western Pacific Railway Depot X Thornton Benson’s Ferry X Thornton Site of Mokelumne City X Tracy Bank of Italy X Tracy Bank of Tracy X Tracy Carnegie X Tracy Corral Hollow X Tracy First Landing Place of Sailing Launch Comet X First Transcontinental Railroad- Site of Tracy X Completion of Pacific Railroad Tracy John Ohm House X Tracy Site of San Joaquin City X Tracy Tracy City Hall and Jail X Tracy Tracy Inn X Tracy West Side Bank X Site of Battle between forces under General Unincorporated Vallejo and San Joaquin Valley Native X Americans Unincorporated Trail of the John C. Fremont 1844 Expedition X Woodbridge I.O.O.F. Hall X Woodbridge San Joaquin Valley College X Woodbridge Site of Wood’s Ferry and Wood’s Bridge X Woodbridge Town of Woodbridge X Woodbridge Woodbridge Masonic Lodge No. 131 X Source: California Office of Historic Preservation, website, 2017 160 Environmental Impact Analysis Cultural Resources b. Regulatory Setting A cultural resource may be designated as significant by national, State, or local authorities. In order for a resource to qualify for listing in the NRHP or the CRHR it must meet one or more identified criteria of significance. A resource may qualify for NRHP listing if it: a. Is associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns