Class III Cultural Resource Inventory for the Cucharas Dam Wetland Assessment Project, Huerfano County, Colorado

Class III Cultural Resource Inventory for the Cucharas Dam Wetland Assessment Project, Huerfano County, Colorado

Prepared for Wenck Associates

Prepared by SWCA Environmental Consultants

October 2016

Contains Privileged Information – Do Not Release

Class III Cultural Resource Inventory for the Cucharas Dam Wetland Assessment Project, Huerfano County, Colorado

Prepared for: Wenck Associates 1904 East 15th Street Cheyenne, Wyoming 82001

Prepared by: Melanie A. Medeiros and Vanesa Zietz

Principal Investigator: Scott Phillips

SWCA Environmental Consultants 295 Interlocken Boulevard, Suite 300 Broomfield, Colorado 80021 Phone: 303-487-1183 or Fax: 303-487-1245 www.swca.com

State of Colorado Archaeological Permit 2016-47 SWCA Cultural Resource Report No. 16-567 SWCA Project No. 40194

October 10, 2016

CONTAINS PRIVILEGED INFORMATION—DO NOT RELEASE

Class III Cultural Resource Inventory for the Cucharas Dam Wetland Assessment Project, Huerfano County, Colorado

ABSTRACT

Wenck Associates contracted SWCA Environmental Consultants (SWCA) to conduct a cultural resource inventory for the Cucharas Dam No. 5 wetland assessment project in Huerfano County, Colorado. Per the requirements outlined in a Consent Decree dated April 28, 2016, issued by the Colorado District Court, Water Division 2, in regards to Cucharas Dam No. 5, and on behalf of Two Rivers Water & Farming Company (project proponent), Cucharas Dam No. 5 is proposed for breaching and for a channel to be cut through the existing pool sediments to allow water to pass through the Cucharas Reservoir while plans to construct a new dam downstream of the existing dam are completed. The cultural resource inventory was conducted to ensure project compliance regarding historic properties under Title 54 United States Code § 300101 et seq., National Park Service and Related Programs (formerly known as the National Historic Preservation Act [16 United States Code 470]) and its implementing regulations (Title 36 Code of Federal Regulations Part 800), in support of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Section 404 permitting under Nationwide Permit 27.

The Cucharas Dam and Reservoir (5HF726) is the only cultural resource identified in the project area. The importance of the dam and reservoir site lies in its water rights and unrealized supply capacity. The value of the water rights, the lands and purposes for which the water is appropriated, and the decreed storage allowance of the reservoir were largely the impetus for the persistence of Cucharas Dam and Reservoir and for the current investments in rehabilitating the dam and its pool. Otherwise history shows that the dam and reservoir never reached their promise of either water storage and delivery or supplying irrigated agricultural lands and industry.

Previously, in 1982, the Huerfano County Historical Society recommended collecting additional data to determine the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) eligibility of 5HF726. More in-depth historical research by SWCA demonstrates that, while attempted, the development and operation of the Cucharas Dam and Reservoir ultimately did not achieve the contributions to events in history that even its builders and promoters intended, namely importance in the establishment and growth of the agricultural industry and settlement around Pueblo, Colorado. Overall 5HF726, while presenting an intriguing backstory of grand plans not met, does not rise to any level of historical significance. The Cucharas Dam and Reservoir site (5HF726) is recommended not eligible for NRHP listing under any criteria.

5HF726 is recommended not eligible for NRHP inclusion. No other cultural resources are identified in the area of potential effects for the current project. As a result, it is SWCA’s professional recommendation that a finding of No Historic Properties Affected can be concluded. No further work is advised prior to the proposed project being permitted to proceed as planned.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT ...... II CULTURAL RESOURCE SURVEY MANAGEMENT INFORMATION FORM ...... VI UNDERTAKING / PROJECT DESCRIPTION ...... 1 ENVIRONMENTAL SETTING ...... 2 Hydrology ...... 3 Climate ...... 3 Flora and Fauna ...... 4 Geology ...... 4 Soils ...... 4 Land Use Patterns ...... 5 CULTURE HISTORY ...... 5 Prehistoric Overview ...... 5 Historic Overview ...... 6 PREVIOUS WORK ...... 8 Literature Review ...... 8 Land Patent Search ...... 9 Historic Map Review ...... 9 STATEMENT OF OBJECTIVES/RESEARCH DESIGN ...... 10 Objectives ...... 10 Expected Results ...... 10 FIELD METHODS ...... 10 Site and Isolated Find Recording ...... 11 Artifact Description ...... 11 Resource Evaluation...... 12 RESULTS ...... 13 5HF726: Cucharas Dam and Reservoir...... 13 CONCLUSION, EVALUATION OF EFFECTS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS ...... 29 REFERENCES CITED ...... 30

LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1 Previous Inventories ...... 8 2 Previously Recorded Sites ...... 9

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TABLE OF CONTENTS (continued) LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1 Project location...... vii 2 Aerial overview of project location...... viii 3 Overview of the environmental setting from the top of Cucharas Dam, upstream towards Cucharas Reservoir, facing south...... 2 4 Overview of the environmental setting from the top of Cucharas Dam, downstream, facing north-northeast...... 3 5 5HF726 sketch map...... 14 6 5HF726 site overview, facing east-northeast...... 15 7 5HF726 stairs associated with Feature 1 with Feature 3 in background, facing northwest...... 16 8 5HF726 Feature 1, Cucharas Dam, facing east-southeast...... 17 9 5HF726 Feature 2, emergency spillway and rubble masonry wall, facing northeast...... 18 10 5HF726 Feature 3, gaging station, facing south...... 19 11 5HF726 Feature 4, outbuilding with generator, facing southwest...... 20 12 5HF726 Feature 4, machinery next to outbuilding (Feature 3), facing west-northwest. .. 21 13 5HF726 Feature 5, apparent collapsed structure, facing east-southeast...... 21 14 5HF726 Feature 6, concrete outlet, facing south-southeast...... 22 15 1906 engineer’s drawing of the Cucharas Valley Reservoir (from Doe 1960)...... 23 16 Engineer’s drawing of the Cucharas Dam planning repairs in 1949 (from Doe 1960). ... 26

LIST OF APPENDICES Appendix A Colorado Cultural Resource Site Form (Detached) B Resource Location Map

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OAHP1421 History Colorado-Office of Archaeology and Historic Preservation COLORADO CULTURAL RESOURCE SURVEY CULTURAL RESOURCE SURVEY MANAGEMENT INFORMATION FORM

I. PROJECT SIZE Total federal acres in project 0.0 Total federal acres surveyed 0.0 Total state acres in project 0.0 Total state acres surveyed 0.0 Total private acres in project 10 Total private acres surveyed 10 Total other acres in project 10 Total other acres surveyed 10* *2 acres intensive, Class III survey and 8 acres in expanded site investigation II. PROJECT LOCATION County: Huerfano USGS Quad Map: Cucharas Reservoir (1974) Principal Meridian: 6th

Township 26S Range 64W Section 30 SE 1/4 SW 1/4 SW 1/4

III. SITES Resource Type Eligibility Management Recommendations

Smithsonian

Number known Test Work Other Avoid Historic District Eligible Monitor Un Archival Archival Prehistoric Excavate Research Preserve / Need Data Need No Further Further No Not Eligible Not Paleontological Contributes to a 5HR726 X X X

IV. ISOLATED FINDS Resource Type Resource Type

Smithsonian Smithsonian Number Number Historic Historic Unknown Unknown Prehistoric Prehistoric Paleontological Paleontological

None

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Figure 1. Project location.

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Figure 2. Aerial overview of project location.

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UNDERTAKING / PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Wenck Associates contracted SWCA Environmental Consultants (SWCA) to conduct a cultural resource inventory for the Cucharas Dam No. 5 wetland assessment project in Huerfano County, Colorado. Cucharas Dam No. 5 is considered a high hazard dam and, due to deteriorating conditions and aspects of dam failure in May 1987, the Colorado Safety of Dams Branch has determined that the dam does not meet required safety standards and must either be demolished or rehabilitated. Per the requirements outlined in a Consent Decree dated April 28, 2016, issued by the Colorado District Court, Water Division 2, in regards to Cucharas Dam No. 5, and on behalf of Two Rivers Water & Farming Company, the project proponent, the Cucharas Dam No. 5 is proposed for breaching and for a channel to be cut through the existing pool sediments to allow water to pass through the Cucharas Reservoir while plans to construct a new dam downstream of the existing dam are completed (the project). Because the Cucharas River is a potential water of the United States and is under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), the project will be authorized under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act and a Nationwide Permit (NWP) 27, with a Pre- Construction Notification (PCN). The cultural resource inventory was completed to ensure project compliance regarding historic properties under Title 54 United States Code (USC) § 300101 et seq., National Park Service and Related Programs (formerly known as the National Historic Preservation Act [16 USC 470]) and its implementing regulations (Title 36 Code of Federal Regulations [CFR] Part 800), in support of USACE Section 404 permitting under NWP 27.

The project is located on private land approximately 13 miles northeast of Walsenburg, Colorado, in the southeast quarter of Section 30, Township (T) 26 South (S), Range (R) 64 West (W) (see Figure 1). The project area is situated on the Cucharas Reservoir, Colorado (1974), 7.5-minute U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) topographic quadrangle. The area of cultural resources inventory focuses on the work area at the dam, which is considered the area of potential effects (APE) to historic properties for the project. The project will include channelization of in-fill sediments in the reservoir behind the dam; however, because this channelization is designed to intrude only on recent reservoir sediments, no potential for historic/archaeological properties occurs there and no intensive field survey was conducted within the former reservoir pool beyond the dam area. Overall, the intensive cultural resources field inventory covered 2 acres (see Figures 1 and 2). Additional reconnaissance was performed over greater than 10 acres of the dam site in recording that historic structure (5HF726).

An official Office of Archaeology and Historic Preservation (OAHP)/State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) COMPASS file search was conducted by Melanie Medeiros on September 21, 2016. Fieldwork was performed on September 22, 2016, by Melanie Medeiros, who also served as the cultural resource project manager; Scott Phillips served as Principal Investigator. Copies of field notes and photographs are on file at SWCA’s Denver office under project number 40194.

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ENVIRONMENTAL SETTING

The project area is located in the Chaquaqua Plateau subsection of the Raton Basin section of the Great Plains physiographic province. The Raton Basin, which forms the eastern foothills of the Rocky Mountains at the base of the Sangre de Cristo Range, is characterized as a topographic high plains dissected by eastward-flowing stream networks eroding and cutting into Tertiary- and Cretaceous-period rocks (Fenneman 1928). The Chaquaqua Plateau is characterized by mesas, steppes, canyons, and rivers/plains, and while lower than either of its neighboring plateaus (Park Plateau or the Las Vegas Plateau), is still elevated above the Colorado Piedmont to the north. The project area itself is located at an elevation of 5,571 feet above mean sea level in a canyon with steep escarpments and large outcrops of sandstone and shale at the northeastern end of Cucharas Reservoir (Figures 3 and 4).

Figure 3. Overview of the environmental setting from the top of Cucharas Dam, upstream towards Cucharas Reservoir, facing south.

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Figure 4. Overview of the environmental setting from the top of Cucharas Dam, downstream, facing north-northeast.

HYDROLOGY The project is located at Cucharas Dam No. 5, about 3.5 miles northeast of the mouth of the Cucharas River, where it drains into Cucharas Reservoir. The Cucharas River is a 75-mile- long tributary of the Huerfano River that generally flows northeast to southwest through the Raton Basin. The river begins in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, near the town of Cuchara, and drains into the Huerfano River approximately 12 miles northeast of the project area; the Huerfano River eventually drains into the Arkansas River. Numerous named and unnamed ephemeral drainages are present in the canyons surrounding the project area; most of these drainages feed the Cucharas River. Several springs are also present in the broader vicinity.

CLIMATE Inventory of the project area was conducted in September and the weather conditions were dry and warm, with clear to partly cloudy skies. The general climate in the project vicinity is described as relatively dry year-round, with cold winters and hot summers. Three factors that contribute to the region’s climate are elevation, latitude, and continental position. Combined with the topography of the region, these factors produce variable precipitation, temperature, solar radiation, evaporation, and airflow patterns, all of which affect vegetation, soil deposition, hydrology, and fauna (Zier and Kalasz 1999).

Annual precipitation averages for the project vicinity are relatively low. The city of Walsenburg, located 13 miles to the southwest of the project area, receives an average of 18.04 inches of precipitation annually, most of which falls between March and August

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(Western Regional Climate Center 2016). The average annual high temperature in Walsenburg is 65.8 degrees Fahrenheit with an average annual low temperature of 36.5 Fahrenheit degrees (Western Regional Climate Center 2016). In Huerfano County, the average number of frost-free days ranges from 120 to 150 days per year (U.S. Department of Agriculture [USDA], Natural Resources Conservation Service [NRCS] 2008).

FLORA AND FAUNA The project area is within the Southern Rocky Mountain Piñon-Juniper Woodland ecological system, which extends across south-central Colorado, particularly within the Raton Basin (Zier and Kalasz 1999; Colorado Natural Heritage Program 2005). Southern Rocky Mountain Piñon-Juniper Woodland primarily occurs on dry mountains and foothills in south-central Colorado, extending east onto breaks in the Western Great Plains, and is characterized by piñon-juniper woodland, shrubs, and graminoids (Colorado Natural Heritage Program 2005). Typical species characterizing this ecological system and observed within the project area include two-needle piñon, one-seed juniper, big sagebrush, blue grama, mountain bunchgrass (Arizona fescue), Scribner needlegrass, alderleaf mountain mahogany, James’ galletta, and a few scattered cholla plants. Wildlife is relatively varied and includes such mammalian populations as cottontail and jackrabbit, squirrel, chipmunk, mouse, Mexican woodrat, various bats, porcupine, coyote, gray fox, weasel, badger, skunk, mountain lion, bobcat, mule deer, elk, and pronghorn (Zier and Kalasz 1999). Several unidentified raptors were observed circling in the project vicinity during the survey.

GEOLOGY The underlying geology in the project area consists of Lower Units of Cretaceous period Dakota Sandstone and Purgatoire Formation sandstone and shales, with Upper Units of Cretaceous period Carlile shale, Greenhorn limestone, and Graneros shale present in the broader region surrounding the project area (Tweto 1979).

SOILS Soils within the project area are principally shallow, well-drained sandy loams that formed from slope alluvium and residuum weathered from sandstone and are commonly found on escarpments. Within the project area, soils are characterized as sandy loams above bedrock; large sandstone rock outcrops are also present. This soil type is present all along the Cucharas Reservoir bed south of the project area, the incised river northeast of the project area, and on the adjacent escarpment. In the general vicinity of the project area, dominant soils consist of Travessilla-Rock outcrop complex, 25 to 60 percent slopes, and Travessilla sandy loam, 1 to 9 percent slopes (USDA, NRCS 2016). Towards the top of the canyon, soils consist of Almagre-Villedry complex, 1 to 4 percent slopes, which are characterized as moderate-depth to deep, well-drained loess over residuum weathered from sandstone present on interfluves. The soils in the project vicinity are derived from Dakota Sandstone and Purgatoire Formation alluvial and residual parent materials. Soils within the project area and the broader region are moderately to highly susceptible to wind erosion (USDA, NRCS 2008).

Unlike many areas on the eastern Colorado plains, within the project area, natural soil formation has not been strongly disrupted by agricultural activities. The project area is in

Contains Privileged Information—Do Not Release 4 Class III Cultural Resource Inventory for the Cucharas Dam Wetland Assessment Project, Huerfano County, Colorado undeveloped rangeland/grassland, with scattered ranches in the vicinity. Soil formation more likely has been impacted by wind erosion and by alluvial erosion associated with the Cucharas Reservoir and the Cucharas River and other natural drainages in the immediate area. Since the creation of Cucharas Reservoir in 1911, and particularly in recent times, alluvial sediments have filled in the effective reservoir pool. Some irrigation and field drainage systems have been implemented along major waterways in the broader region surrounding the project area, allowing agriculture within the otherwise sandy arid soils.

LAND USE PATTERNS Due to the dryer conditions within the project region and the ephemeral channels crossing the landscape, land use in the broader project vicinity has been limited to rangeland, although some irrigated farming is present in flatter areas near perennial waterways. Numerous water and erosion control features dot the landscape in an effort to protect the highly erosional soils in the area, as well as to channel water into stock tanks and ponds. Other remnants of ranching activities are also common. A wind farm is visible on a mesa top southeast of the project area. Reservoir development, ranching activities, and some recreation activities have probably hastened the removal or destruction of earlier cultural remains while at the same time becoming part of the historical record. The general project area was likely used prehistorically, in part due to its location near perennial water sources (the Cucharas River and several nearby springs). Although raw materials outcropping in the project area, which consisted primarily of sandstone and shale, usually were not used for flaked stone tools in prehistoric times, these materials are sometimes suitable for use in grinding stones. In addition, the large sandstone outcrops in the immediate vicinity of the project area could support rock art or rockshelters. Very few prehistoric resources are known from the general vicinity of the project area, due in large part to the lack of previous cultural resources surveys in the area. Most known resources are of historic age.

CULTURE HISTORY

Prehistoric context for the Arkansas River Basin is presented by Zier and Kalasz (1999) in Colorado Prehistory: A Context for the Arkansas River Basin. Regional historic context for the Colorado plains is presented by Mehls (1984) in Colorado Plains Historic Context and for southeast Colorado by Athearn (1985) in Land of Contrast: A History of Southeast Colorado. These documents should be referred to for detailed summaries of the cultural history of the project region. Major themes in Colorado history include exploration and settlement; mining; ranching, farming, and homesteading; irrigation; and urbanization, and are discussed by Church et al. (2007) in Colorado History: A Context for Historical Archaeology.

PREHISTORIC OVERVIEW Prehistory as it pertains to the project area can be divided into three major stages of cultural development or change and their major subperiods, dated from radiocarbon years before present (B.P.), back from 1950 A.D. Divisions are the Paleoindian stage (11,500–7,800 B.P.), including the Clovis (11,500–10,950 B.P.), Folsom (10,950–10,250 B.P.), and Plano (10,250– 7,800) periods; the Archaic stage (7800–1850 B.P.), including the Early Archaic (7800–5000 B.P.), Middle Archaic (5000–3000 B.P.), and Late Archaic (3000–1850 B.P.) periods; and the Late Prehistoric stage (1850–225 B.P.), including the Developmental (1850–900 B.P.),

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Diversification (900–500 B.P.), and Protohistoric (500–225 B.P.) periods. A pre-Clovis period may exist, but it is not yet clearly defined.

The Paleoindian stage is not well represented in the Arkansas River Basin. It is mainly differentiated by large, often finely made, spear points and cultural activities oriented around hunting of now-extinct megafauna, like mammoths. It is unlikely that sites associated with this stage will be located in the project area, unless in the form of isolated projectile points.

The Archaic stage is mainly differentiated by diversification of resource utilization, largely thought to be influenced by climatic changes. A series of dry and wet climatic shifts, some extreme, is thought to characterize the Archaic environmental changes. From that environment, more plant materials were apparently incorporated and smaller game increasingly sought than in earlier times. Projectile point types—still including spear point varieties, but also using dart points as thrown with an atlatl—also often differentiate periods of the Archaic stage. Archaic occupation of the Colorado Front Range transition area (between montane/piedmont/high plains landscapes) seems to intensify through time. Archaic sites are frequently dominated by lithic (chipped stone) scatters; however, hearth remains are not uncommon and the potential for stone structural features also exists.

The Late Prehistoric stage is differentiated by the development of technologies like cultivation, pottery, and the bow and arrow. The stage culminates with the arrival of European goods, including horses. Arrowheads and pottery types are used archaeologically to distinguish temporality of cultures within the Late Prehistoric stage. Pottery types further distinguish cultural diversification within the region, including the Apishapa phase and the Sopris phase. Rock alignments from habitation sites are most likely to be found from this stage, although the Archaic stage may also result in some habitation sites. As within the other stages, lithic scatters will dominate sites from this stage in the project area, with some occurrence of hearth remains to suggest the presence of former camp sites. Faunal remains— bone—from kill sites is more likely to endure from the Late Prehistoric stage than earlier stage, if preserved in such deposits as cut banks or within buried hearth fill.

HISTORIC OVERVIEW History as it pertains to the project area may be roughly divided into eras of Pre-territorialism (1541–1859 A.D.), Territorialism (1859–1876 A.D.), Expansion of Settlement (1876–1900 A.D.), and post-1900 Development (1900–1953 A.D.). During the Pre-territorial era, the project region fell under the Spanish Colonial rule and cities like Santa Fe, New Mexico, were founded (circa 1609). Spanish explorers ventured into what is now Colorado, followed by French explorers and traders from New Orleans and then, after the United States’ Louisiana Purchase in 1803, U.S. explorers and traders. At that time, the first routing of the Santa Fe Trail was established, leaving the Arkansas River well south of the current project area. Some of the trail followed prehistoric Native American trails and river routes. The trail eventually came to tie trade between the Missouri River in the United States and Santa Fe in independent Mexico, from 1821 to 1846. After the Mexican-American War in 1848, the city of Santa Fe and the trail route became part of the United States. In 1849, trail traffic boomed due to the California Gold Rush. Military forts abounded on the U.S.-occupied Santa Fe Trail, as much due to the previous war with Mexico as due to hostilities between Euro-Americans and Native

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Americans. The “Mountain” route of the trail was fully developed during the 1840s to reduce such conflicts, as enabled by the Bent brothers’ opening of Raton Pass to traffic through Colorado in 1832 (Hill 1992). Colorado settlement and related trail use boomed beginning in 1859 because of the Pike’s Peak Gold Rush, marking the beginning of the Territorial era. The establishment of the Homestead Act of 1863 aided settlement in Colorado and along major transportation routes, while the construction of inter-regional railroads greatly diminished use of the Santa Fe Trail system.

Railroad transportation and the Homestead Acts (with their agrarian objectives) helped expand Colorado population centers from mining towns and military and trade forts to new developments of agricultural centers. By 1876, these developments had gained Colorado enough population to propose statehood. Early Plains communities had begun principally in satellite to forts and as waypoints along trail corridors. Mountains and foothills communities next developed, especially to supply local mining centers and mining camps. The railroad provided access to markets and land, which in the last half of the nineteenth century encouraged farming and ranching commerce to spread farther out across the Colorado plains. Farm communities grew along the railroads with simplified access to markets. The prime, watered lands were homesteaded first and increasingly the range was fenced. Surface water rights were quickly decreed to full capacity and irrigation systems built to supply arid prairie lands. Many homesteaders went bust due to the harshness of the land. Those that were more successful often consolidated the failed farms, creating larger, more resilient farms and ranches.

After the beginning of the twentieth century, a second phase of homestead grant legislation was enacted, with the Dry Farming Homestead Act of 1910 encouraging development or “reclamation” of arid land soils. This ultimately included the further enlargement of homestead blocks for stock raising in 1916. Agricultural machinery use also expanded in the early 1900s, with common use of trucks, tractors, and automobiles. By the 1920s, the national highway system, including U.S. 50 across Colorado, was spreading. Old dirt tracks, like the Santa Fe Trail, became obsolete for extensive, inter-regional overland travel.

In the early twentieth century, an effort was made by farmers and soil scientists to find ways to put the vast expanses of lands across the Great Plains into agricultural production. New farming techniques, new crops better suited to dry environments, and an increased demand for crops during World War I made expansion into eastern Colorado enticing to farmers from across the country. New dry-land farming techniques required larger acreages, and farmers demanded a loosening of laws to allow for larger acreages of land to be homesteaded. The farmers had their demand answered with the Enlarged Homestead Act of 1909, which expanded the acreage that farmers could homestead up to 320 acres, and the Stock Raising Homestead Act of 1916, which expanded it again to 640 acres (Carter and Mehls 1984; West 1990).

High crop prices and wet weather from 1910 to 1920 encouraged farmers to expand their dry- land farming activities, leaving fewer fields fallow, and going into debt to expand operations. Drought and depression in the late 1920s caused overextended farmers to either continue to expand operations further to keep up with falling prices or lose their farms to creditors. The over-farming of arid soils, combined with Dust Bowl conditions in the 1920s and 1930s,

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Some small rural communities were diminished or disappeared as a result of the Depression- era decline of agricultural industry. Others became obsolete with the shortening of distances to markets given the continuing development of the highway system, which culminated after World War II, when “truck farming” became common and reliance on railroad freighting was reduced. Central and key communities consolidated and grew with the post-war economic boom. The processes of expansion and contraction, growth and loss of rural Colorado communities continue today.

PREVIOUS WORK

LITERATURE REVIEW SWCA conducted a file search through the Colorado OAHP COMPASS database on September 19, 2016. The study area included a 1-mile buffer around the defined project area. One previous inventory has been conducted within the files search area and is listed in the OAHP database (Table 1). This inventory, which was conducted by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Royal Gorge Field Office in 2003 for the Cucharas Haul Road (HF.LM.NR63), does not cross the current project area.

Four cultural resources have been identified within the file search area and are listed in the OAHP database (Table 2). These resources include two prehistoric architectural sites consisting of stone circles/tipi rings (5HF193 and 5HF197), one historic site representing the Cucharas Reservoir and Dam (5HF726), and one site of unknown class and type (5HF216). No National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) eligibility information is listed for three of the sites (5HF193, 5HF197, and 5HF219); and more data are needed before the NRHP eligibility of the Cucharas Reservoir and Dam (5HF726) can be determined. Only the Cucharas Reservoir and Dam (5HF726) is located in the current project area.

Table 1. Previous Inventories

OAHP ID Year Title Author Contractor HF.LM.NR63 2003 Cucharas Haul Road Right-of- Weimer, Martin Bureau of Land Way, Huerfano County Management, Royal Gorge Field Office

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Table 2. Previously Recorded Sites

Site NRHP In Project Site Name Class Site Type Number Eligibility Area? 5HF193 -- Prehistoric Sheltered architectural None provided No 5HF197 -- Prehistoric Open architectural None provided No 5HF219 -- Unknown Unknown None provided No 5HF726 Cucharas Historic Reservoir, dam Needs data Yes Reservoir NRHP = National Register of Historic Places

LAND PATENT SEARCH The BLM General Land Office (GLO) records database was also searched for the project area. The records indicate that three patents were granted in the section containing the project area between 1929 and 1939. The three patents were granted to three private individuals under two different legal acts: two were granted under the Homestead Act of 1862 and one was granted under the Stock Raising Act of 1916. All of the land within the survey area is currently privately owned. One patent, granted to James Ford under the Stock Raising Act of 1916 (Accession Number 1104288) includes the entire project area. The Cucharas Reservoir system, established in 1911, is privately owned and would have been excluded from that patent. According to the census records, James Ford was born around 1880 in Kentucky and by 1920 was living in Las Animas, Colorado, working in a coal mine as an explosive specialist (U.S. Bureau of the Census 1920:Roll 625_166, Page 6A). He lived in Las Animas until his death in 1968 (Social Security Administration 2011).

HISTORIC MAP REVIEW SWCA also conducted an examination of the historic GLO plats and historic USGS topographic maps in order to evaluate the potential for the presence of historic features within the project area (BLM 2016). The GLO plats examined include T3S, R64W, with exterior boundary and survey plats dated to 1869. The plats do not depict any historic features in the project area, although the Cucharas River (spelled Cocharas) is shown in roughly the same alignment as seen today.

A review of available historic USGS topographic quadrangles covering the project area include the USGS Cucharas Reservoir 1:24,000-scale quadrangle (1970), the USGS Trindad 1:250,000-scale quadrangle (1954), and the USGS Walsenburg 1:125,000-scale quadrangle (1900). On these maps, the Cucharas Reservoir and Dam first appear on the USGS Trindad 1:250,000-scale quadrangle (1954). No other historic features are depicted in the immediate vicinity of the project area, although by 1970, an unnamed, unimproved road is shown crossing Cucharas Dam, generally trending from the northwest to the southeast. The 1970 quadrangle also shows a network of mostly unnamed, unimproved roads to the west and east of Cucharas Reservoir as well as two structures to the southwest of the dam, along the reservoir shore.

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STATEMENT OF OBJECTIVES/RESEARCH DESIGN

OBJECTIVES The overall goal of the cultural resource inventory is to assist the USACE, the lead federal agency for the project, in identifying, evaluating, managing, and treating significant cultural resources (historic properties) located within the APE for the proposed project and to provide recommendations to the USACE for meeting their obligations to consider impacts to historic properties under Title 54 USC § 300101 et seq., National Park Service and Related Programs (formerly known as the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966). Specifically, the objectives of the inventory were to 1) identify all cultural and historic resources within the inventoried area; 2) make recommendations regarding identified resources’ eligibility for inclusion in the NRHP; and 3) make the appropriate management recommendations regarding the treatment of all identified resources.

EXPECTED RESULTS Few surveys have been conducted in the region thereby limiting predictions on site type and frequency in the project area. The project area is dominated by the 1911 development of Cucharas Reservoir and Cucharas Dam No. 5. Given the relatively short distances to a reliable water source throughout the broader project vicinity and the proximity of part of the project area to the Cucharas River, the project area is presumed to retain some limited potential for cultural materials from any of the prehistoric temporal units discussed in the Culture History section above. Possible sites primarily include lithic scatters and isolated finds, or those associated with rock outcrops. Euro-American resources, for which the greatest potential in the surveyed area was anticipated, include structural remains and general debris associated with reservoir development. Soils in the area are alluvial in nature and have depth; however, these soils are primarily associated with reservoir fill after the damming of the Cucharas River and have significant archaeological potential. Otherwise, archaeological data that might be recovered during the current survey could be useful in elucidating general patterns of prehistoric settlement and subsistence as well as historic land use in and around the upper Arkansas River Basin, and might also provide chronological information leading to the establishment of absolute date/artifact associations in this region.

FIELD METHODS

The field methods used in this survey followed Colorado OAHP guidelines for conducting cultural resource inventories in Colorado. Field personnel inspected the inventory area using a series of parallel, 20-meter (m)-wide transects across the inventory area; however, survey transects were adjusted when necessary to ensure full coverage of the inventory areas. Further reconnaissance was performed around the dam area to ensure that additional features associated with the dam or archaeological materials from any period were identified. Archaeologists examined the ground surface for artifacts, features, and other prehistoric or historic material evidence such as charcoal-stained sediments, as well as aboveground features and structures. Special attention was paid to animal burrows to assess the potential for subsurface archeological deposits. Landscape features such as depressions, ditches, mounds, rock outcrops, and areas of differential vegetation were also examined in particular

Contains Privileged Information—Do Not Release 10 Class III Cultural Resource Inventory for the Cucharas Dam Wetland Assessment Project, Huerfano County, Colorado for evidence of the exposure of archaeological materials. Surface visibility overall was between 50 and 80 percent, with weeds, medium to tall grasses, and the remnants of crops present in the western portion of the survey area. Weather was favorable for the field survey, with mostly sunny skies and warm temperatures. No artifacts were collected during the course of this inventory.

Site and isolated find definitions are based on guidelines provided in the Colorado Cultural Resource Survey Manual (Colorado Historical Society 1998). For the purposes of this survey, a site is defined as a discrete locus of purposeful prehistoric or historic human activity, generally containing 15 or more artifacts. An activity is considered to have been purposeful if it resulted in a deposit of cultural material beyond the level of one or a few random artifacts or features. A site can consist of an artifact scatter, and/or a building or structure, whether standing, ruined, or vanished, where the location itself possesses historic, cultural, or archaeological value regardless of the value of any existing structure (Colorado Historical Society 1998:8). Cultural resources that do not fit the definition of a site are considered isolated finds. Typically, isolated finds are transportable artifacts representing a single activity, lack features, and contain fewer than 15 artifacts.

SITE AND ISOLATED FIND RECORDING In the event that cultural resources are encountered, the following field methods are used. The project archaeologists first establish the extent and boundaries of a site by flagging any artifacts in a 30-m radius from the find. Appropriate data are collected for all sites and isolated finds to allow for laboratory completion of the Colorado Cultural Resource Survey Forms. Sites are mapped with a Trimble GEO-XT global positioning system (GPS) unit with sub-meter accuracy. When detailed mapping or remapping is required, all pertinent linear site features such as site boundaries, roads, fence lines, and vegetation communities, as well as point features such as the site datum, features, and tools, are mapped with the Trimble GPS unit. Resulting GPS data are processed using Trimble Pathfinder software and projected into Universal Transverse Mercator, Zone 13 North, North American Datum 1983. All GPS data are exported into ArcMap 10.3 shapefiles and plotted onto the associated geo-referenced USGS 7.5-minute quadrangle to ensure accuracy and produce location maps of all resources. In addition to site mapping, sites are photographed in overview. Associated features and diagnostic artifacts are described, measured, recorded with GPS units, and photographed (where photography is illustrative), as appropriate. Environmental setting, depositional context, topography, and geographical location are also recorded for each site.

ARTIFACT DESCRIPTION An inventory of associated artifacts is completed for each site and isolated find. Recorded artifacts are labeled either Prehistoric (P) or Historic (H) and succeeded by the number of the artifact (example: P1, H1). Historic archaeological artifacts are recorded by material type, (e.g., glass, ceramic, or metal), and object class (e.g., bottle, crockery, or can). Measurements and diagnostic attributes, especially maker’s marks, are described where identifiable. Both historic and prehistoric sites, if densely covered with artifacts, may have artifact density sampled and total populations projected within ranges.

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RESOURCE EVALUATION Following identification of cultural resources, evaluation of all resources in the survey area will be conducted by the proponent/contractor. Cultural resources are evaluated for significance based on eligibility for NRHP nomination. Cultural resources determined to be isolated finds typically do not meet NRHP standards.

Site significance is evaluated with regard to the criteria in Title 36 CFR 60.4 as follows. The quality of significance in America history, architecture, archeology, engineering, and culture is present in districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects that possess integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association, and: A) That are associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history; or B) That are associated with the lives of persons significant in our past; or C) That embody the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction, or that represent the work of a master, or that possess high artistic values, or that represent a significant and distinguishable entity whose components may lack individual distinction; or D) That have yielded or may be likely to yield information important in prehistory or history.

Historic sites containing or consisting of preserved features or structures are evaluated under all criteria; however, historic homestead ruins are treated as archaeological. Individual portions of historic sites, namely linear site segments, evaluated as significant are evaluated as contributing or non-contributing in terms of the guidelines concerning physical and environmental integrity outlined in the OAHP Colorado Cultural Resource Survey Manual (Colorado Historical Society 1998) under evaluating resources. Basic historical research will be conducted for all historic archaeological sites in order to aid in NRHP eligibility determination.

Historic debris scatters lacking associated features or structures are primarily evaluated under Criterion D. In general, these types of sites represent ephemeral prospecting or stock management activities, they lack identifiable or important association with specific persons or events of regional or national history (Criteria A and B), and they lack the formal and structural attributes necessary to qualify as eligible under Criterion C.

Prehistoric sites are primarily evaluated under Criterion D. Most archaeological sites are lacking identifiable or important association with specific persons or events of regional or national history (Criteria A and B), or lacking the formal and structural attributes necessary to qualify as eligible under Criterion C.

Considerations in assessment of prehistoric or historic archaeological site significance include whether the site is effectively dateable, is stratified, or has sufficiently intact primary deposition. Other attributes that may contribute to a site’s significance include the presence of functionally diagnostic artifacts, definable activity areas, multiple components, faunal and

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RESULTS

The Class III, intensive cultural resource inventory was completed on September 22, 2016. Within the current inventory area, SWCA revisited and documented one previously recorded site, 5HF726, the Cucharas Dam and Reservoir. Reconnaissance inspection was performed around this area to ensure that all structures and features were recorded and that no additional archaeological materials occur; this included inspecting downstream bottomlands and rock outcrops as well as other areas around the dam, but was restricted on the downstream locations by steeper canyon slopes and cliffs. The cultural property form documenting the site is provided in Appendix A (detached) and a resource location map is provided in Appendix B.

5HF726: CUCHARAS DAM AND RESERVOIR Site Type: Historic Dam and Reservoir Association: 1906 to present Site Size: 775 by 525 feet (405,600 feet2) at dam NRHP Recommendation Not Eligible Project Effect/Management Recommendation No Effect/No Further Work Site Description and Previous Recording SWCA revisited previously recorded 5HF726, the Cucharas Dam No. 5 and portions of the reservoir, documenting features in an approximately 9-acre area surrounding the dam structure (Figures 5 and 6). 5HF726 is located on County Road 121.2, 13.2 miles northeast of Walsenburg, Colorado. State Highway 10 trends northeast–southwest, approximately 3 miles to the southeast of the dam. Large ranches are scattered across the landscape and a few oil and gas developments appear in the surrounding area. A barbed wire fence prevents access to the reservoir basin. The Cucharas River is part of the greater Arkansas River basin. Outside of the deeply incised Cucharas River and Reservoir basin, the surrounding landscape consists of semi-arid mesas and canyons. Vegetation around the reservoir area includes piñon-juniper woodland and various forbs and weeds. Within the reservoir, which is sediment-filled and dry, vegetation includes short to medium grasses. Ground surface visibility is good along the top of the canyon and poor within the former reservoir pool and along the stream channel. Surface sediments are alluvial: reddish brown coarse silty sand with dense inclusions of angular gravel and rock fragments. The dam site retains fair appearance despite impacts from structural compromise which have closed operations of the dam and reservoir. The reservoir is no longer functioning and is sediment filled, without a pool; its current appearance is more like a floodplain than a lake.

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Figure 5. 5HF726 sketch map.

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Figure 6. 5HF726 site overview, facing east-northeast.

5HF726 was originally recorded in 1982 by the Huerfano County Historical Society. The site consisted of the dam, a house, and several maintenance buildings. According to the site form, the house was built by a previous manager, George Neihbur, and was occupied by a subsequent manager in 1982. 5HF726 required additional data/further evaluation before an NRHP eligibility could be made. However, it was also noted that the site may represent a type, period, or method of construction of interest or be associated with significant events or patterns in history.

Survey Results SWCA revisited 5HF726 on September 22, 2016. During the current recording, SWCA noted several features associated with the rock-filled dam (Feature 1). These additional features include one emergency spillway (Feature 2), two outbuildings (Features 3 and 4), one collapsed structure (Feature 5), and one concrete outlet (Feature 6). Also noted were two metal and plastic pumps protruding from the ground. No structures were noted that appeared to have definitively functioned as a house, as mentioned in the 1982 recording. Artifacts were sparse at the site, consisting of a few indeterminate metal objects northwest and southeast of the dam. The location appeared to have potential for prehistoric artifacts and nearby rock overhangs, which were surveyed for the possibility of use as rockshelters; however, no prehistoric artifacts or evidence of short-term occupation were identified.

Feature 1 is the Cucharas Dam No. 5 that measures approximately 415 long and 13 feet wide at base of the masonry top (Figures 7 and 8). The top of the concrete dam is constructed from cobbles and is approximately 10 feet tall; this masonry top was added in 1965 (Pearson 2002). The visible reinforced-concrete facing of the dam, with expansion joints every 25 feet, was

Contains Privileged Information—Do Not Release 15 Class III Cultural Resource Inventory for the Cucharas Dam Wetland Assessment Project, Huerfano County, Colorado added to increase dam capacity in 1949, resolving subsidence issues (Doe 1960). The rubble fill at the base of that concrete face was also added to the dam in 1949 to reinforce the downstream side (Doe 1960). Either during the 1949 or later base reinforcement work, the downstream fill was extended to cover the original central outlet tubes and a seep pond; the circa 1910 outlet tubes had been concrete-filled prior to 1949 (having leaked from the beginning) and a new outlet tube was built on the east side of the dam sometime between 1913 and 1949 (Doe 1960). The 1910 engineering drawings also had planned a power house below the dam, which was not present in 1949 (Doe 1960). An east–west-trending two-track road (County Road 121.2) crosses over the dam. Also associated with the dam are a set of concrete stairs and several high-water markings on the south face/upstream side of the dam, circa 1949. Most of the concrete spillway extended northeast from the original dam and over the then outlet tunnel (see Feature 6); the northeast spillway extenstion was removed in non- historic dam safety work prior to 2011 (Two Rivers Water Company 2011:photograph attachments).

Figure 7. 5HF726 stairs associated with Feature 1 with Feature 3 in background, facing northwest.

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Figure 8. 5HF726 Feature 1, Cucharas Dam, facing east-southeast.

Feature 2 is the emergency spillway located to the northwest of Cucharas Dam No. 5 (Figure 9). The rubble masonry wall is associated with a steep slope that forces the overflow north, back into the Cucharas River Valley. Feature 2 was installed before 1949 (cf. Doe 1960).

Feature 3 is the steam gaging station that measures approximately 5 by 5 feet and is approximately 8 feet tall (Figure 10). The wooden-frame building is located at the top of the stairs southwest of the dam’s western wall and, therefore, circa 1949 (cf. Doe 1960).

Feature 4 is a small outbuilding that measures 6 by 6 feet and is 8 feet 6 inches tall (Figure 11). The outbuilding is located northeast of the dam. Inside the structure appears to be a generator, and additional pieces of machinery are outside of Feature 4 as well (Figure 12). The machinery is older than the building and appears to have formerly operated outlet gates. This power building is of recent materials and construction, and is not historic.

Feature 5 is an apparent collapsed structure that measures 13 by 10 feet (Figure 13). The pile of corrugated metal and wood planks appears to have been dumped in the current location. It is unlikely to represent the former house mentioned in the 1982 recording of the site given its limited sheet metal and frame fabric and its position below the dam. No non-structural artifacts are associated with Feature 5.

Feature 6 is a concrete water outlet on the north side of the dam through which the Cucharas Reservoir drains into the Cucharas River channel (Figure 14). According to the current project’s blue prints, this outlet has been abandoned. It was in place before 1949 (Doe 1960).

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Figure 9. 5HF726 Feature 2, emergency spillway and rubble masonry wall, facing northeast.

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Figure 10. 5HF726 Feature 3, gaging station, facing south.

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Figure 11. 5HF726 Feature 4, outbuilding with generator, facing southwest.

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Figure 12. 5HF726 Feature 4, machinery next to outbuilding (Feature 3), facing west- northwest.

Figure 13. 5HF726 Feature 5, apparent collapsed structure, facing east-southeast.

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Figure 14. 5HF726 Feature 6, concrete outlet, facing south-southeast.

Historic artifacts at the site consisted of sparse miscellaneous rusted metal fragments to the northwest and a possible metal and wood scaffolding set to the southeast.

The reservoir pool behind the dam no longer stores water and is represented by a sediment- filled floodplain. The former outlet gate house and structure behind the dam to the southeast, pedestaled in the reservoir pool in 1949 engineering plans (Doe 1960), is no longer apparent and has been removed or silted in.

Historical Background The original water decree for the Cucharas Valley Reservoir No. 5 (also known as the Orlando Reservoir No. 5) was in 1906 for 31,958 acre-feet (Reservoir Priority No. 66). An earlier, original dam (not the 1910 base of the current dam) was begun in 1906 by the Orlando Canal and Reservoir Company, which established the reservoir’s water right claim and priority (Huerfano County District Court n.d.). That dam was indicated to be planned at 137 feet high to support a depth of up to 125 feet of water behind it, according to the 1906 engineering map by George Wise (Figure 15).

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Figure 15. 1906 engineer’s drawing of the Cucharas Valley Reservoir (from Doe 1960).

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The 1906 dam was assumedly either replaced or rebuilt with the construction of the now extant base of the Cucharas Dam No. 5 that began in 1910, conducted by the Phillips Construction Company & O’Gara, of Denver, Colorado (Gillette 1912; Mehren et al. 1911). The engineering drawings filed in 1910 by engineer J. E. Shoemaker are the same as those of 1906, but with the dam height planned at 150 feet to support a 137-foot maximum depth of water (Doe 1960).

The Orlando Canal and Reservoir Company was replaced at Cucharas Reservoir in 1909 by the Pueblo-Rocky Ford Irrigation Company. What remained of the Orlando Canal and Reservoir Company was in receivership by 1910, retaining primarily the Orlando Reservoir No. 2, Orlando Canal No. 3, and Greasewood and School House Arroyo Canals, which were purchased in 1915 by the Butte Valley Ditch and Reservoir Company (Hilliard 1935; Walsenburg World 1915a). Apparently, the Ambursen Hydraulic Construction Company of Boston, or investors from that major dam engineering company, purchased the primary reservoirs and facilities of the Orlando Canal and Reservoir Company reservoirs in 1909 and had plans for expansion (Los Angeles Herald 1909; Irrigation Age 1909). This group controlled the Pueblo-Rocky Ford Irrigation and Land Companies (Irrigation Age 1909).

The Pueblo-Rocky Ford Irrigation Company was founded in 1909 by P. J. Dugan, W. J. Lester, and J. E. Shoemaker. Their connected Pueblo-Rocky Ford Land Company was established to sell 30,000 acres of land between Pueblo and Rocky Ford. The company was placing ads in journals for 40-, 60-, or 80-acre tracts with the promise of irrigation water in the spring of 1911 from the Cucharas Dam (Irrigation Age 1909).

The 1910 Cucharas Dam construction plans were prepared under the supervision of W. J. Lester, chief engineer, and William H. Rosecrans, consulting engineer, from the W.H. Rosecrans Engineering Company of Chicago and New York (Comstock 1911). William M. Strong from the Phillips Construction Company & O’Gara was the engineer in charge of constructing the dam; Strong resigned in April 1911 and was succeeded by Julius Hornbein (Comstock 1911; Mehren et al. 1911). The dam was contracted for the Pueblo-Rocky Ford Irrigation Company to bring water 35 miles to the fields near Pueblo, Colorado, and was completed in 1912 (Gillette 1912). The reservoir was redesigned to store 50,000 acre-feet of water in 1910 (Mehren et al. 1911). The dam subsided and leaked from the beginning. Construction of the original dam was completed in 1911 to a crest height of 100 feet above canyon floor, and had the spillway crest at 85 feet. In 1912 the rock filled dam settled several feet and the central portion moved downstream several feet. At the same time impounded water began escaping along the surface of the outlet tubes through the base. The dam was repaired in 1913 and raised to a crest height of 125 feet and the spillway crest was raised to 105 feet. In 1949 the dam crest, the central portion of which had further subsided, was restored to 125 feet and repaired, and the spillway crest was raised to 110.5 feet. The dam is fully faced with heavy reinforced concrete and has a top width of 13 feet. As originally constructed the reservoir had a capacity of 36,274 acre feet at gage height 105 feet… However, heavy silt intake occurs during the storage of

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flood flows, and by 1925 the capacity had been reduced to 35,861 acre feet, by 1939 to 23,040 acre feet, and would have been further reduced to 14,683 acre feet by 1954 had not the reservoir been enlarged. As stated, in 1949 the dam and spillway crests were raised 5.0 feet, thus increasing the storage capacity by 7,837 acre feet. Based on silt accumulation surveys made by the U. S. Bureau of Reclamation, and by Mr. James H. Fisk, Consulting Engineer, of Walsenburg, the average annual depletion of this reservoir's capacity has amounted to 730 acre feet for the period 1925 through 1954. By 1954, even though it had been enlarged in 1949, the capacity of this reservoir had been reduced to 22,520 acre feet. Based on the average annual silt depletion figure of 730 acre feet the reservoir as of January 1, 1960, had an estimated capacity of 18,140 acre feet. The expectancy is that, unless further enlargement takes place, the storage space in this reservoir will have been completely replaced by silt deposition in 1985. The reservoir, when filled to present maximum capacity, has a water surface area of 1,600 acres, and averages about 1/2 mile in width and 4.0 miles in length. (Doe 1960)

Figure 16 depicts the 1910 dam structure after 1913 improvements and with the 1949 repairs planned. The Pueblo-Rocky Ford Irrigation Company was in receivership by 1912 (Irrigation Age 1912). A bondholders committee bought the former company’s properties in 1915, with the intent of reincorporating and completing the irrigation and land project (Walsenburg World 1915b). The new company was presumably the Cucharas Irrigation Company, the mutual irrigation company listed as owner for the 1921 adjudication of water rights (Huerfano County District Court n.d.). By 1927, the Cucharas Irrigation Company had 8,630 acres of land under irrigation and continued to have the original 40,000 acres of land apportioned for irrigation between its Cucharas and Bradford Reservoirs and Orlando Canal No. 5 (Huerfano County District Court n.d.). The Bradford Reservoir (Orlando Reservoir No. 1) is a few miles due west of Cucharas Reservoir; it ceased operation in 1923 (Doe 1960).

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Figure 16. Engineer’s drawing of the Cucharas Dam planning repairs in 1949 (from Doe 1960).

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The Huerfano Valley Ditch and Reservoir Company acquired the struggling Cucharas Irrigation Company in 1943. Waters from the Bradford and Cucharas Reservoir rights were then allowed to flow to the Huerfano River to feed the Huerfano Valley Ditch and Huerfano Valley Reservoir (Doe 1960). The company reformed its combined holdings as the Huerfano- Cucharas Irrigation Company, also a mutual ditch company (Doe 1960). At the time the Mutual Ditch Company [Huerfano-Cucharas Irrigation Company] was formed in 1944, the water in the two rivers was continuously augmented by groundwater pumped from coal mines that operated in the watershed. The augmented and natural flow of the rivers, along with the water rights and facilities of the Mutual Ditch Company were sufficient to provide reliable irrigation water for the Mutual Ditch Company shareholders and their expanding farm enterprises. However, in the years following World War II, the mines began to cease production and, therefore, stopped pumping groundwater out of the mine shafts and into the river channels. As a result of the reduction in downstream flow in the rivers, the extent of farming in the watershed could no longer be reliably irrigated. In some years, crops failed for lack of late summer irrigation water and, over time, once thriving farms withered. Because of such failures and the reduced flow in the rivers, the shareholders of the Mutual Ditch Company were unable or unwilling to adequately maintain the water diversion, conveyance and storage facilities. Therefore… the shares in the Mutual Ditch Company had become less valuable and the residual farming in the area had reverted primarily to pasture and dry grazing. (Two Rivers Water Company 2011:66).

The Huerfano-Cucharas Irrigation Company still holds the Cucharas Reservoir. In 2009, Two Rivers Water Company began purchasing shares and by 2010 acquired 91 percent of the Huerfano-Cucharas Irrigation Company, giving it majority ownership of the Cucharas Valley, Huerfano Valley, and Bradford Reservoirs and the Huerfano Valley Ditch (Two Rivers Water Company 2011). The company also purchased Orlando Reservoir and Butte Valley Ditch water rights in 2011 (Two Rivers Water Company 2011).

Through the years, the Cucharas Dam (also referred to as Cucharas Dam No. 5) has been altered, partly due to lack of structural soundness and partly due to needed maintenance and upgrades. Beyond the repairs and alterations noted above, in 1916 a timber facing was added over the concrete but was removed and replaced in 1965 with a rubble masonry wall (still present), which served to enlarge the dam (Pearson 2002). In the 1970s and 1980s, water storage restrictions were placed on the dam due to structural instability. These restrictions were removed in 1986; unfortunately, in May 1987, while filled to capacity, the dam failed underneath the masonry work completed in 1965 (Pearson 2002). In 1988 further repairs were made to the dam, removing portions of the spillway, adding rubble to stabilize the dam base, and notching the dam. A permanent restriction limiting the water storage capacity was also implemented. The reservoir has a normal storage of 28,000 acre-feet. The dam is a rockfill structure with an upstream impermeable barrier provided by a concrete lining. A timber facing was placed over the concrete in 1916, but apparently removed during the last enlargement in 1965. A rubble masonry wall was used for the

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enlargement. The reservoir had been restricted in storage for several years during the late 1970s and early 1980s due to deteriorating conditions. Based on engineering studies in 1986 that indicated the dam would perform adequately, the restriction was removed in December 1986. Unfortunately, in May 1987, while the reservoir was full to the spillway, the dam's concrete facing failed at the middle third of the dam just below the new masonry installed in 1965. About 100 cfs of leakage went through the rockfill, emerging at the downstream toe. Emergency measures were taken to lower the reservoir by cutting out a portion of the spillway. The dam did not breach. The concrete facing was patched and the voids in the dam grouted in 1988 to enable partial storage, but the reservoir is restricted to Gage height 100 feet, 20 feet below the emergency spillway. (Pearson 2002)

In 1993, the State Dam Safety Engineer essentially condemned the dam, finding it unrepairable (Harris Water Engineering 1994). In 2015, the State Engineer ordered the dam be breached. The current project is to accomplish that breaching process and related permitting and regulatory compliance. More of the rubble masonry wall installed between 1949 and 1965 will be removed and used to reinforce the base of the dam and the central portion of the dam will be further notched with a flow channel excavated into the extensive sediments behind the dam. The dam will be fully displaced as future work proceeds to build a new dam downstream and reestablish functioning reservoir storage.

NRHP Eligibility Recommendation 5HF726 represents the historic Cucharas Dam and Reservoir, initiated in 1906 and fully established between 1910 and 1912, with episodic repairs and modifications continuing thereafter through 1965 in historic times and remedial and emergency work continuing through recent times. The importance of the dam and reservoir site lies in its water rights and unrealized supply capacity. The value of the water rights, the lands and purposes for which the water is appropriated, and the decreed storage allowance of the reservoir were largely the impetus for the persistence of Cucharas Dam and Reservoir and for the current investments in rehabilitating the dam and its pool. Otherwise history shows that the dam and reservoir never reached their promise of either water storage and delivery or supplying irrigated agricultural lands and industry. The companies that formed to build the reservoir/dam and promote the vast lands identified for its irrigation supply all failed in fairly quick succession. Some waters were supplied, generally irrigating less than 25 percent of the 40,000 acres of land originally envisioned; however, the company that appeared to historically do best with Cucharas Reservoir ownership, but still not well, was the Huerfano-Cucharas Irrigation Company, which used the largely reduced water supply to supplement other water rights and merged irrigation systems. The dam was instable from the beginning and was not a crowning achievement of either the engineering companies or the individual engineers who originally supported it, or representative of the achievements of some of those better known who were involved, such as the Ambursen Hydraulic Construction Company or W. J. Lester of the W.H. Rosecrans Engineering Company. Ultimately the Cucharas Dam and Reservoir site (5HF726) was originally part of an investment effort, engaged in land and water speculation, that was much promoted during is development but that resulted in losses rather than returns. This facility did not result in the contributions to agricultural development and industry that its

Contains Privileged Information—Do Not Release 28 Class III Cultural Resource Inventory for the Cucharas Dam Wetland Assessment Project, Huerfano County, Colorado developers much hyped in the boostering of early twentieth century agricultural expansion and settlement. Rather, the Cucharas Dam and Reservoir historically became a rather mundane smaller-scale supplier of far lesser agricultural lands (currently Two Rivers Water Company is attempting to revitalize the use of this water storage and irrigation system in a manner and at a capacity closer to that originally conceived).

During its 1982 site recording the Huerfano County Historical Society recommended collecting additional data to determine the NRHP eligibility of 5HF726, and considered that the dam could represent a significant type, period, or method of construction or be associated with significant events or patterns in history. More in-depth historical research demonstrates that, while attempted, the development and operation of the Cucharas Dam and Reservoir ultimately did not achieve the contributions to events in history that even its builders and promoters intended, namely importance in the establishment and growth of the agricultural industry and settlement around Pueblo, Colorado; it does not meet Criterion A for NRHP eligibility. Although the Cucharas Dam facility was a substantial engineered feature, it was not fully sound structurally from the beginning, circa 1910. It required extensive rework, stabilization, repair, and remediation throughout its life to the extent that what is now visible of the dam above stone rubble fill are portions of 1949 and 1965 structural elements. The reservoir also almost immediately had problems with sedimentation, becoming noteworthy by 1925 and risking zero pool capacity by the end of the century (Doe 1960). The site is not representative of a distinguished or masterfully engineered design and does not meet Criterion C for NRHP eligibility. Similarly and for connected reasons, the Cucharas Reservoir is not connected to any historical importance of any of the engineers or engineering companies or other developers or promoters associated with it; therefore, it does not meet Criterion B for NRHP eligibility. Likewise, the structural and material remains of the Cucharas Reservoir and Dam site have nothing important to impart to knowledge of dam and reservoir construction or other aspects of history that is not sufficiently available in existing records; therefore, the site does not meet Criterion D for NRHP eligibility. Overall 5HF726, while presenting an intriguing backstory of grand plans not met, does not rise to any level of historical significance. The Cucharas Dam and Reservoir site (5HF726) is recommended not eligible for NRHP listing under any criteria.

CONCLUSION, EVALUATION OF EFFECTS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5HF726 is recommended not eligible for NRHP inclusion. No other cultural resources are identified in the APE. As a result, it is SWCA’s professional recommendation that a finding of No Historic Properties Affected can be concluded. No further work is advised prior to the proposed project being permitted to proceed as planned.

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REFERENCES CITED

Athearn, Frederic J. 1985 Land of Contrast: A History of Southeast Colorado. Bureau of Land Management, Denver, Colorado.

Bureau of Land Management (BLM) 2016 Land Patent Search. Available at: http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/PatentSearch. Accessed September 21, 2016.

Carter, Carol Joe, and Steven F. Mehls 1984 Colorado Southern Frontier Historic Context. Colorado Historical Society.

Church, Minette C., Steven G. Baker, Bonnie J. Clark, Richard F. Carrillo, Jonathon C. Horn, Carl D. Spath, David R. Guilfoyle, and E. Steven Cassells 2007 Colorado History: A Context for Historical Archaeology. Colorado Council of Professional Archaeologists, Denver, Colorado.

Colorado Historical Society 1998 Colorado Cultural Resource Survey Manual. Available at: http://www.historycolorado.org/sites/default/files/files/OAHP/crforms_edumat/p dfs/1527.pdf. Accessed November 12, 2013.

Colorado Natural Heritage Program 2005 Southern Rocky Mountain Pinyon-Juniper Woodland. Ecological System Descriptions and Viability Guidelines for Colorado. Colorado Natural Heritage Program, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado.

Comstock, Charles W. 1911 Fifteenth Biennial Report of the State Engineer to the Governor of Colorado for the Years 1909-10. The Smith-Brooks Printing Company, Denver, Colorado.

Doe, Wallace 1960 Evaluation Study of Huerfano-Cucharas Irrigation Company's System and Other Area Development. Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District and Colorado Water Conservation Board. Available at: https://dspace.library.colostate.edu/bitstream/10217/41415/1/WGDC01532.pdf. Accessed October 9, 2016.

Fenneman, Nevin M. 1928 Physiographic Divisions of the United States. In Annals of the Association of American Geographers 18(4):261–353 (December 1928).

Gillette, Halbert Powers 1912 Engineering & Contracting, Devoted to the Economics of Civil Engineering Design and to Methods and Costs of Construction. Volume XXXVII January- June 1912. The Myron C. Clark Publishing Company, Chicago, Illinois.

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Harris Water Engineering 1994 Colorado Water Conservation Board Small Dam Site Reconnaissance and Study Final Report of Findings. Document on file at the Colorado Water Conservation Board, Denver.

Hill, William E. 1992 The Santa Fe Trail Yesterday and Today. The Caxton Printers Ltd., Caldwell, Idaho.

Hilliard, Justice 1935 Youngberg v. Orlando Co. (Opinion of the Court). Available at: https://casetext.com/case/youngberg-v-orlando-co. Accessed October 9, 2016.

Huerfano County District Court n.d. In the Matter of the Adjudication of Priorities of Right to the Use Water in Water District No 16, State of Colorado (No. 1414). Division of Water Resources files 2722443 available online from the CDSS database at http://cdss.state.co.us/onlineTools/Pages/StructuresDiversions.aspx. Accessed October 7, 2016.

Irrigation Age 1909 Colorado. Volume XXV, No. 1, November. The Irrigation Age Company, Publishers, Chicago, Illinois.

1912 Colorado. Volume XXVIII, No. 1, November. The Irrigation Age Company, Publishers, Chicago, Illinois.

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Mehls, Steven F. 1984 Colorado Plains Historic Context. Prepared for the Colorado Historical Society, Denver.

Mehren, Edward J., Henry C. Meyer, Charles F. Wingate, and John M. Goodell (editors) 1911 Engineering Record, Building Record and Sanitary Engineer. Volume 64; July- December 1911. McGraw Publishing Company, New York.

Pearson, Alan 2002 National Dam Safety Program: Colorado. Available at: http://damsafety.org/media/Documents/PDF/Colorado.pdf. Accessed October 5, 2016.

Social Security Administration 2011 Social Security Death Index, Master File, Before 1951. Available online from Ancestry.com, Accessed October 5, 2016.

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Tweto, Ogden 1979 Geologic Map of Colorado. Available at: http://ngmdb.usgs.gov/Prodesc/proddesc_68589.htm. Accessed October 4, 2016.

Two Rivers Water Company 2011 Colorado Water Conservation Board Water Project Loan Application. Document on file with Two Rivers Water Company, Denver, Colorado.

U.S. Bureau of the Census 1920 Fourteenth Census of the United States, 1920, T625, 2,076 rolls. National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C.

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) 2008 Huerfano Watershed. Available at: http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/nrcs144p2_061955.pdf. Accessed October 4, 2016.

2016 Web Soil Survey. Soil Survey Geographic (SSURGO) database for Huerfano County, Colorado. Available at: http://websoilsurvey.nrcs.usda.gov/. Accessed October 4, 2016. Walsenburg World 1915a Notice of Sale. Walsenburg World, August 5 edition (p. 4). Available at: https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi- bin/colorado?a:d&d:WWW19150805-01.2.18. Accessed October 9, 2016. 1915b Irrigation Project to be Completed. Walsenburg World, March 11 edition (p. 1). Available at: https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/ colorado?a:d&d:WWW19150311-01.2.16. Accessed October 9, 2016. West, Terry 1990 USDA Forest Service Management of the National Grasslands. In Agricultural History 64(2):86–98. The United States Department of Agriculture in Historical Perspective.

Western Regional Climate Center 2016 Walsenburg 1 NW, Colorado (058781): Period of Record Monthly Climate Summary. Available at: http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/cgi-bin/cliMAIN.pl?co8781. Accessed October 4, 2016.

Worster, Donald E. 1979 Dust Bowl: The Southern Plains in the 1930s. Oxford University Press. Wyckoff, William 1999 Creating Colorado: The Making of a Western American Landscape 1860-1940, pp. 275–278. Yale University Press, New Haven, Connecticut. Zier, Christian J., and Steven M. Kalasz 1999 Colorado Prehistory: A Context for the Arkansas River Basin. Colorado Council of Professional Archaeologists, Denver.

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APPENDIX A (Detached) Colorado Cultural Resource Site Form

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Class III Cultural Resource Inventory for the Cucharas Dam Wetland Assessment Project, Huerfano County, Colorado

APPENDIX B Resource Location Map

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Class III Cultural Resource Inventory for the Cucharas Dam Wetland Assessment Project, Huerfano County, Colorado

Resource location map at 1:24,000-scale.

Contains Privileged Information—Do Not Release B-1 Class III Cultural Resource Inventory for the Cucharas Dam Wetland Assessment Project, Huerfano County, Colorado

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Contains Privileged Information—Do Not Release B-2