Appendix A Historic Property Survey Report

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ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY REPORT FAIRVIEW STREET IMPROVEMENTS FROM 9TH STREET TO 16TH STREET AND JUNE 2019 BRIDGE REPLACEMENT PROJECT SANTA ANA, CALIFORNIA SURVEY RESULTS GENERAL OBSERVATIONS The survey resulted in finding one isolated fragment of Chione californiensis (California Venus clam) in an open area along the west side of Fairview Street just south of the bridge (P-30-100233; Appendix C). No other cultural material was observed anywhere else in the APE. Across the majority of the survey area along both sides of Fairview Street, there are small open rectangular areas in the sidewalk that exist for trees. Some of these open areas still contain trees, some are open with no trees, and a few have been cemented closed to form solid sidewalk. These rectangular areas measure approximately 3x3 ft. Sediment in these open areas shows that substrate throughout the APE is alluvial sand with some small pieces of rounded to sub -rounded gravel. The largest open area of exposed sediment in the APE occurs along the south bank of the Santa Ana River. Here, the Santa Ana River bike trail exists. The concrete sidewalk ends a short distance south of the riverbank and exposed sediment exists on both the east and the west sides of Fairview Street. On the east side of Fairview Street, almost no vegetation exists in a small area of sandy alluvial sediment that was deposited here during flood episodes. Along the bike trail, the trail is concrete near the bridge and a paved asphalt access road leads from the road to the trail. Several hundred granitic rocks abut the bridge footing, and several trees are growing in open areas. On the west side of Fairview Street, a mirror image of the east side exists with an asphalt access road, granitic rocks, and trees growing in open areas. South of the trail is a small undeveloped triangular area of about 1-1.5 acres that is a rest area for those using the bike trail along the south side of the river. Most of this triangular area is west and outside of the current APE, but the eastern edge of the triangular area, approximately 280 ft long (north -south) by 22 ft wide (east -west) is open. The paths through this area are introduced decomposing granitic (DG) sediment that is yellow in color. When compacted, the DIG holds its shape extremely well and does not erode. Non -trail areas here have been vegetated from seed with native plant species. Areas between plants are covered with a thin layer of bark, but the bark does not always cover the ground, and there are open areas of native sand with 100 percent ground visibility. In one of the open areas of the bike trail rest area with 100 percent ground visibility, a small fragment of Chione californiensis shell was found on the surface. The shell was found at the outer west edge of the APE, approximately 38 ft north of the brick wall forming the southern boundary of the undeveloped triangular bike trail rest area. It is not clear if the lone shell piece was left here prehistorically or was washed here from a deposit upstream during a flood episode. The shell originally inhabited a bay or estuarine environment (Morris 1966:27; McLean 1978:78) and could have been collected in the tidal flats near the mouth of the Santa Ana River or in Newport Bay. Both of these bay areas are less than 8 miles from the location where this shell was found. The area in the vicinity of the find was intensively surveyed for additional material but nothing was found. Areas in the APE contained large amounts of trash, including plastic, rubber, and metal car parts, styrofoam pieces, paper, and plastic rubbish, as well as other items tossed out of vehicles. The Q:\WKE1702\Cultural\ASR\ASR 2019 OS-21.docx (06/03/19) 20