Article Title

Cultural Resources Survey For The City Of Cleburne's Proposed Reuse Corridor Pipeline Johnson County, Texas

Authors

Garrett Wheaton

Agency

Texas Historical Commission

Abstract

In May 2020, AmaTerra Environmental, Inc. (AmaTerra) performed a cultural resources survey on behalf of The City of Cleburne Texas (City) and their engineering contractor Freese and Nichols Inc. (FNI), prior to the construction of a new reuse water line near Cleburne, Johnson County, Texas. The City is proposing to install five miles of reuse water line from the City’s wastewater treatment plant to the Nolan River at the northern end of Lake Pat Cleburne. As the City of Cleburne is a political subdivision of the State of Texas, it is subject to the Antiquities Code of Texas (ACT), requiring survey for archeological and historic resources within the project area. All work was carried out to conform to 13 TAC 26, which outlines the regulations for implementing the ACT. The project is also subject to Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, as the project will require permitting through the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE).

AmaTerra archeologists, Garrett Wheaton and Sarah Southern, conducted approximately 80 hours of archeological fieldwork from May 13 to the 17 under Antiquities Permit No. 9378. Fieldwork consisted of pedestrian survey with 100 percent surface inspection, supplemented with 136 shovel tests, none testing positive for cultural material. Total acreage surveyed for the project was 71.65 acres. Extensive disturbances observed within the central project area precluded the need for subsurface testing. No new archeological sites were encountered during the survey. Since there are no archeological resources within the project area, none can be directly or indirectly impacted. As such, AmaTerra recommends that no further work is necessary within the project area prior to construction. No artifacts were collected during the survey, and all project records will be curated at the Center for Archaeological Studies (CAS) at Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas. Should any unanticipated archeological resources be found during construction, all work will cease in that immediate area, and the Texas Historical Commission (THC) should be contacted at (512) 463-6096.

The potential for historic resources was coordinated through the THC in a letter stating that no historic resources were identified during the desktop review, and that the proposed project activities would not directly impact any historic-age resources within the project boundaries. Based on the data showing that buildings present within the project area are less than 50 years of age, additional survey was not recommended. A copy of the coordination letter and THC’s concurrence are in Appendix C.

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