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Home My WebLink AboutSL-0161304./1 LVI J vhlsPD 5 L o 6-/6/3 nefj ~+~ve. I q '3 ~.,~ Ob 14 IVI.L 1(' M~\PPED CULTURAL RESOURCE INVESTIGATION FOR IRIS STREET CONDOMINIUMS, SAN LUIS OBISPO Prepared for: Tim Woodle Steven D.Pults,A.I.A.,&Associates 1401 Higuera Street San Luis Obispo,California 93401 Prepared by: Cultural Resource Management Services 506 East Sola Street Santa Barbara,California 93103 September 15,1989 INTRODUCTION This report describes a Phase 1 cultural resources investigation of a 0.93 acre parcel in the City of San Luis Obispo,California.The proposed project is for the construction of condominiums.In accordance with the requirements of CEQA and the City of San Luis Obispo,a literature and records search and an intensive field survey of the proposed project area were conducted.The purpose of the investigation was to identify and evaluate cultural resources that would be impacted by the proposed construction. No cultural resources were encountered during the investigation and no further studies are recommended at this time. LOCATION AND DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT AREA The project area is located on a cuI de sac at the end of Iris Street on the north side of the road.It is bounded on the east by the parking lot for French Hospital and on the west by an unnamed creek.To the north is a helipad used by the hospital. The creek edge supports a riparian habitat of native (oak,Quercus agrifolia;willow,Salix sp.;poison oak,Rhus diyersilobum)and introduced species (including blue gum,Eucalyptus sp.and bamboos).At the south edge of the property,bordering Iris Street,is a small area with willows,cattails (Typhus sp.),black sage (Salyia mellifera),and amaranth.The remainder of the lot is covered with introduced annual grasses. MAP AND RECORDS SEARCH A search of maps and records was undertaken at the Central Coast Information Center,UCSB,which provides archaeological site data for San Luis Obispo County under agreement with the California Office of Historic Preservation.The San Luis Obispo County Archaeological Society was also contacted to provide supplemental data.Additional research was conducted at the San Luis County Historical Museum and the San Luis Obispo City/County Library. No National Register or National Historic Landmark sites are located wi thin or adjacent to the project property.There are three locally designated historic districts in the City of San Luis Obispo.Several historic structures are listed on or have 1 been nominated to the National Register of Historic Places.The Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa (S.LO-64)·is located 1.2 kilometers northwest of the project area.Within a block of the mission is the historic Myron Angel house (SLO-886),home of an early newspaper publisher.Another historic home,the Jack House, is located in the downtown district.The project property is not located within any of the historic districts.Sanborn insurance maps of the City do not include the immediate project area. No Native-american archaeological sites have been recorded within one kilometer of the project area,although this is probably the result of the fact that few archaeological surveys have been conducted within the City of San Luis Obispo.In 1948, four burials,associated with marine shell fragments,were discovered during construction of a building 1.2 kilometers northwest.Two kilometers to the west is a small site with midden and shell fragments. Two small cuI turalresources surveys,both with negative results,have been conducted within one kilometer of the project area (Hoover 1981,1985). CULTURE HISTORY At the time of European contact,the San Luis Obispo region was occupied by the Obispeno Chumash,of the Hokan linguistic group.This group inhabited coastal and inland areas between Malibu and the vicinity of San Simeon (Kroeber 1925;Gibson 1982). Archaeological evidence indicates that coastal San Luis Obispo County was occupied as early as 9000 years ago,as indicated by dates from excavations at Diablo Canyon (Greenwood 1972). The culture history of this region is usually placed within the sequence that was been defined for the Santa Barbara region, where far more archaeological investigations have taken place. The first chronology was proposed by Malcolm Rogers (1929)and was based on his excavation of coastal sites.Although Rogers"three part sequence is still considered generally valid,current researchers on the central coast also use a chronology that is composed of Early,Middle and Late periods,subdivided into phases.The Millingstone horizon,or Oak Grove culture,a hunting and gathering culture with emphasis on seed collecting and processing,corresponds to the first two phases of the Early period from about 6000 to 2400 BC. According to Rogers",the Hunting People followed.This cuI ture was characterized by fishing,hunting and acorn processing,lasted from 2400 to 800 BC.This corresponds roughly to the late part of the Early period and the early part of the Middle period. 2 The Canalino or Late period began about 800 to 1000 and continued until the historic period.It was at this time that the Chumash developed a complex society involving extensive economic networks throughout the region. There are few historic accounts of the Obispeno Chumash,as compared to the information available for the Chumash living on the Santa Barbara coast.European contact began with the visit of Pedro de Unamuno to Morro Bay in 1587.Gaspar de Portola's land expedition crossed the region in 1769 and Pedro Fages hunted bear in the Los Osos Valley in 1772.No large villages,such as those seen along the Santa Barbara channel,were reported by any of these early travelers.Greenwood (1978:523)suggests that the area may have once been populous,but was already declining by the time the Europeans arrived. Spanish settlement began with the founding of Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa in 1772.As elsewhere,induction into the missions had a disruptive effect on the local inhabitants, requiring them to live and work at the mission and abandon their former lifeways.By the time the missions were secularized in 1834,the Chumash population had been decimated by disease. During the Mexican period of 1821-1848 the town of San Luis Obispo began to grow up around the mission,and the surrounding region was divided into ranchos in the land grant process ..Anglo- Americans began settling in the region in the 1840s.By the 1870s there was also a sizable poulation of Chinese who were employed as miners,agricultural workers,and laborers on the Pacific Coast Railway. Wi th the coming of the Southern Pacific rai lroad in 1894, businesses that served the railroad personnel spurred development in the area around the Southern Pacific yards,one kilometer south of the project area (Krieger 1988:64). DESCRIPTION AND RESULTS OF THE FIELD SURVEY The field survey was performed by Nancy Farrell on September 8,1989.Initial inspection of the property revealed that ground visibili ty was extremely poor due to a dense cover of dried grasses.The grass cover was stripped using a small tractor mounted blade.Only the grass mat and very little surface material was removed and piled at the northeast corner of the property.The entire area was traversed at intervals of one meter,following the tractor.Further inspection was made at three meter intervals after the area was completely cleared of grass cover. 3 No historic or prehistoric archaeological resources were observed during the field survey.Some recent debris,consistent wi th a vacant lot in an urban area,was found.This includes: golf balls,a short section of a 1 x 2 piece of lumber,brown glass and crockery fragments,rubber,plastic and metal fragments, small pieces of common red brick and concrete,one small fragment of Pismo clam,and a few pockets of disintegrating asphalt. RECOMMENDATIONS No significant cultural resources were identified as a result of this investigation of the proposed Iris Street condominium project.Archaeological clearance is recommended. 4 REFERENCES Gibson, 1982 Robert O. Ethnogeography of Approach.Master's Hayward. the Salinan People:A Systems Thesis,California State University, Greenwood,R.S. 1972 9000 Years of Prehistory at Diablo Canyon,San Luis Obispo County,California.San Luis Obispo County Archaeological Society Occasional Paper 2,San Luis Obispo. 1978 Obispeno and Purismeno Chumash.In Handbook of North American Indians,Vol.8,California.Smithsonian Institution,Washington. Hoover,Robert L. 1981 Archaeological Reconnaissance of the Odom Subdivision, San Luis Obispo. 1985 Archaeological Evaluation,Toro Creek Bridge Realignment.Prepared for Engineering Department,City of San Luis Obispo. Kreiger,Daniel E. 1988 Looking Backward Obispo County. California. into the Middle Kingdom,San Luis Windsor Publications,Northridge, Kroeber,A.L. 1925 Handbook of the Indians of California.Facsimile edition,California Book Company,1953. Rogers,D.B. 1929 Prehistoric Man of the Santa Barbara Coast,California. Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History Special Publication 1,Santa Barbara. 5 i L ..._.... C? MAP 1:PROJECT VICINITY N." l··I4..-' r'''''N#, t:'-N""'tMI~;:r. l.,d • I r... T"N~i#1t A~CON"" IAN.w.,.1_.,4",.....,r .. c.I~ D.IN-/,A, P/tAA-/ JI)"""'. 6·_·-! J"~~IfA 1liMr'NMmlflf!f~RAl"r' 44.4A ",,;r44,-AAtNNN~J7~<lt6~-.A·.6#ANtII#61-i#A-' iI •••••~I I ST.~GEORGE ELLA sri MAP 2:PROJECT LOCATION PARCEL "A"\