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In the early 1920s until around 1937, the property was leased to the Mencarini family. This family raised livestock and drained the lakes to plant grain,beans, and potatoes in the lake bottom(Figure F5). The Steffen family,now neighboring landowners,dredged a canal to drain the North Tracy Lake in 1929 (Brovelli, 1991),and South Tracy Lake was drained in the 1940s. The Brovellis sold 1800 acres to the Steffens in 1949. The Brovellis raised row crops and grain, and grazed cattle on the ranch starting in the early 1940s. Sudan grass was planted for the cattle, and milo, sunflower seeds, and beans were grown on the southern half of the property. Burials and numerous artifacts were exposed during levelling of the field for these crops. This led to the salvage excavations of Marie Moyer and of Don McGeein, who completed 15 excavations units at the river site. This is the most likely location of what was know as the Miwok village of Seuamne. RESEARCH DESIGN The goal of this study is to identify, locate or re-locate, and record all cultural resources lying on the surface of the project area; to determine the impacts; and to define mitigation measures. Previous research in the study vicinity was initiated by James Barr in 1880. P.M. Jones excavated sites in the San Joaquin area in 1900, and W.H. Holmes of the Smithsonian Institute continued studying the area in 1902. Egbert Schenck published the archaeological work of Elmer Dawson from the years 1912 to 1929,consisting of 91 sites. Sacramento Junior College conducted work in 1931,and U.C. Berkeley excavated burials and habitation sites in the 1920s,30s and 40s. The lithic material recovered from this area indicates a 10,000 to 13,000 year-old antiquity. Material from these sites were also used in developing the Central California Taxonomic System. Although dated, it is still the framework for Central California archaeology. Of the eight sites recorded previously in the project area, three are grouped in the southeast section,with the remaining five in the northwest section. Most of these sites were recorded over a 50-year period by individuals who examined only a very limited area. As indicated by the site records, none of these previously recorded sites could have held a population of several hundred people. This premise conflicts with the assertion of Dr. J.A. Bennyhoff, who postulated local populations of 300 to 400 people for Miwok primary tribelets (Bennyhoff, 1977). It was hypothesized,therefore, that these two clusters of sites are actually two sites. If a survey could show a continual deposition between the sites in each cluster, then two sites, instead of eight, could be proposed. The cultural trait of the moiety, a division in which membership is inherited from one parent, is associated with the Plains Miwok. If these eight sites are, indeed, two sites, and if they are contemporaneous,then do they represent separate clans or moieties? Research on this subject could lend information regarding the possible development of the clan system out of moieties in California, as suggested by J.A. Bennyhoff(Bennyhoff, 1977). 10