Article Title

Archeological Survey For The Temple-Belton Regional Sewer System Improvement Project, Bell County, Texas

Authors

Damonn A. Burden

Agency

Texas Historical Commission

Abstract

Prewitt and Associates, Inc., (PAI) was contracted by Kasberg, Patrick, and Associates to perform an intensive archeological survey prior to the proposed installation of new sewer lines, the expansion of one lift station, and the construction of another lift station in Bell County,Texas.This investigation was conducted in April 2013 in compliance with the Texas Antiquities Code.The Temple-Belton Regional Sewer System (TBRSS) Improvement Project will construct a new 1.7-mile-long (8,730-ft-long) Shallowford force Main sewer line from the Temple-Belton wastewater Treatment Plant on fM 93 to the Shallowford Lift Station just north of the Leon River. The project also calls for small expansions of the Shallowford Lift Station and Belton Lift Station.

The survey recorded two new archeological sites, 41BL1380 and 41BL1381, and revisited one previously recorded site, 41BL260. All three sites are recommended as not eligible for listing in the National Register or for designation as State Antiquities Landmarks.

The TBRSS project was put on hold in 2013 and 2014, and PAI archeologists did not conduct trenching in a 2,788-ft-long section of the force main alignment where the landowner denied right of entry. This segment in the Leon River valley has the potential to contain intact buried archeological remains in holocene-age alluvium. Consequently, this section of the force main alignment will need to be investigated with mechanical trenching if the TBRSS project is resurrected.

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