"Negative Findings Cultural Resource Assessment Canyon Midstream Orange" by Billy D. Turner and Jeff Turpin

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Article Title

Negative Findings Cultural Resource Assessment Canyon Midstream Orange Pipeline Route University Lands Blocks 1 and 6 Reagan County, Texas

Authors

Billy D. Turner
Jeff Turpin

Agency

Texas Historical Commission

Abstract

In June of 2017, Turpin and Sons Inc. (TAS) archeologists assessed the cultural resource potential of a proposed pipeline right-of-way (ROW) in southern Reagan County, Texas for Canyon Midstream Partners, LLC (Canyon). The Canyon Midstream Orange pipeline project covers a 2-mile (3,220 m) long by 100-ft-wide ROW with an area of potential effect (APE) of 24.25 acres. The survey was located southwest of Big Lake, south of the abandoned community of Texon. The work was carried out under the authority of Texas Antiquities Permit 8080 with Jeff Turpin acting as Principal Investigator. The Orange pipeline survey extended through University Lands Block 1, Section 4, and Block 6, Sections 2, and 3, crossing the midslope and upper valley of a rocky plateau. Modern land use is rangeland that has been disturbed by erosion and past clearing activity. The survey found a solitary dart point and scattered fire-cracked- rock (FCR) south of the current ROW. The FCR has been scattered by past clearing which dispersed the artifacts across a 400-m E/W by 50-m N/S area. The cultural material is south of the current ROW, dispersed between it and a caliche oilfield road. The lack of intact features and the considerable dam age inflicted by modern land use has left little of the site intact. The scattered artifacts were deemed an Isolated Find (IF) and do not warrant protection. The planned construction activity should be allowed to proceed.