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0 Little is known about the early history of the area in the immediate vicinity of the project area (Napton, 1994x). Of greatest note is the rise and fall of"San Joaquin City" located northeast of the project site. This early settlement gained town status in 1862, when it is reported to have had nine surveyed streets. . It peaked in the 1870's when it had twelve saloons, six stores, a stage station, three hotels, a blacksmith shop, and a barber, among other services. The town declined until 1911 when the San Joaquin River changed course, passing to the east of the town. Archaeology The majority of the proposed quarry area has not been previously surveyed for cultural resources. A small portion of the Alternative 3 Bird Access road has been studied previously (Eidsness, 1995). No ethnographic, archaeological sites or historic structures are formally recorded within that area. formally recorded site is a post-World War II ravel extraction and processing The nearest fo y p g p g plant with two loci (CA-SJO-258H) located on the south side of Hospital Creek approximately one mile southwest of Interstate 5. Based on the literature review, the potential for prehistoric sites appears to be low. The areas of highest sensitivity appear to be: 1) adjacent to major watercourses; 2) on terraces overlooking stream courses; and, 3) within exposed bedrock outcrops (bedrock milling stations). Types of prehistoric sites which might be expected include: milling stations; low density and low variability flake and tool scatters (i.e. camps, tool production sites); and, complex archaeological deposits (i.e. those containing house pits, midden, flaked and ground stone tools). Historic period sites would include; water systems; building remains; and remains associated with small scale settlement (i.e. ranching or agricultural activities). A systematic pedestrian survey of the project site and alternative access roads was conducted on Wednesday March 5 and Thursday March 6, 1997. Surface inspection of the proposed quarry operation location, common to all alternatives, was completed by two surveyors walking line-a-breast transects at 10 to 20 meter spacing following the orchard rows and along,access roads. Survey for Alternative 1 was conducted on both sides of Koster Road along the edges of the raised roadbed. The Alternative 2 roadway was also surveyed along an approximately 100 foot marked corridor. Alternative 3, the Bird Road access road was not surveyed as permission to enter the private property Ywas denied. However, a portion of the access road was surveyed for the Vernalis Interchange project with negative findings. Surface and subsurface disturbance was observed throughout the project site which may have previously affected cultural resources. In addition to unmaintained and paved road construction and maintenance, the project site was previously used as an apricot orchard. In the northern two thirds of the 142-acre parcel, the apricot trees have been removed by mechanical means resulting in large mounded holes where the trees once stood. In the southern one third of the parcel, the apricot orchard has been !eft intact. The ground in this area is covered with dense to moderately dense grasses which resulted in fair ground Draft Environmental Impact Report 4-107 ER-96-3