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III. ENVIRONMENTAL SETTING IMPACTS AND MITIGATION MEASURES E. CULTURAL RESOURCES' SETTING REGIONAL SETTING The project site was once within the territory of the Yokut Indians, who inhabited the San Joaquin Valley for many years. It is not clear which specific band or bands of Yokuts were in the Stockton area,possibly the Chulamni (Wallace, 1978) or the Yatchicomni and Cholobones groups (Schenck, 1926). Yokut groups generally lived on high ground areas near reliable sources of water for most of the year. At the time Charles M. Weber founded Stockton in the 1840s there were no native inhabitants in the immediate Stockton vicinity (Werner, 1999). The project site is within the boundary of Weber's Rancho Campo de los Franceses,a land grant originally made by the Mexican government. The site is not within the original 1847 plat of Stockton or the official plan of Stockton filed in court in 1850. Aerial photographs at the San Joaquin County Department of Public Works and the San Joaquin Historical Museum indicate the project site was an agricultural field with no other development in 1937 and 1940. By 1952, some commercial or light industrial development had occurred in the locality, and Temple and Josephine Streets and Faye and Dorthea Courts2 were laid out sometime after 1950. By 1963 development in the project vicinity had expanded and the entire project site was in use as a corporation yard. Similar light industrial and commercial uses in the project vicinity have continued to the present. The site today is paved with asphalt or gravel,and native ground surfaces are not visible. The 1952 soil survey of San Joaquin County (Weir, 1952)3 indicates the project vicinity is characterized by Stockton adobe clay. Dark,gray, heavy-textured, alluvial deposits characterize Stockton series soils. These soils have little prehistoric archaeological significance, but small "islands"of related soils that often contain prehistoric archaeological sites occur within the Stockton series. The Piper series soils occupy mounds that project above surrounding soils and appear to represent aeolian beach deposits that have been modified by poor drainage and a high water table(Weir, 1952). The archaeological importance of Piper soils has long been recognized in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta region (Werner, 1999). The association of prehistoric sites with low mounds was noted between 1880 and 1906 by James and H.H. Barr and Philip Mills Jones(Schenck and Dawson, 1929). However,because historical and modem agricultural activities may have altered the original topography of the area,and, in the Stockton area, some I The cultural resources evaluation involved review of files of the Central California Information Center(CCIC File No.3602L);a review of data compiled by Schenck and Dawson(1929)on sites in the vicinity;a review of historic aerial photographs at the San Joaquin County Department of Public Works and the San Joaquin County Historical Museum;a review of historic maps;and field investigation(visual survey)of the project site for evidence of surface features indicating the presence of prehistoric or historic artifacts. 2 Dorthea Court,which no longer exists,extended east from Temple Street,curving east and south through the southwestem comer of the project site's container yard. 3 Modem soil nomenclature is different from that used in 1952. The changes to nomenclature were made by the Soil Conservation Service in response to alterations(both physical and chemical)to regional soil types resulting from modem agriculture after World War II. For archaeological purposes,the original soil surveys and nomenclature are far more useful for ascertaining the archaeological sensitivity of specific locations. Stockton Scavenger Transfer Station Expansion III.E.I ESA 1990190