Pathfinder #6:
Four Corners region environmental collections at the Center:

A descriptive list

In a report completed in January 2000 by the Center’s Archival Fellow Anne L. Foster turned up some surprising results.  One of the hottest research topics bringing students to the Center of Southwest Studies for research is the environment, particularly the local environment.  In fact, if you include all the various subtopics such as mining, forestry, and water, the number of researchers investigating these issues was surpassed only by those interested in Native American topics.  Furthermore, many Native American topics have environmental aspects (e.g. ethnobotany).  With so much interest — among the College’s student body, the local community, and nationally — the Center of Southwest Studies places high emphasis on acquiring, organizing, and making available environmental collections.

As the major repository on the Western Slope, the Center of Southwest Studies is the main institution actively collecting materials related to the Four Corners environment.  Northern Arizona University focuses upon the Colorado Plateau, the Denver Public Library emphasizes the national conservation movement, and the University of New Mexico is more interested in the desert southwest.  The Center is uniquely situated to fill this geographical and topical void.

Alphabetical list of Four Corners environmental collections at the Center of Southwest Studies

The Center owns the following thirty-seven collections that are useful to researchers who are studying environmental topics of the Four Corners.  The list is arranged alphabetically by collection title.

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 ·     I  094: Airborne gamma-ray spectrometer and magnetometer survey, Cortez Quad (Colo. & Utah) final report on microfiche (75 microfiche).  Report of a study conducted for the U.S. Department of Energy, Grand Junction office, under Bendix Field Engineering Corporation, Grand Junction Operations subcontract no. 78-179-L, project no. 40-78-4131, ca. 1979.

·     M 004 and I 046: American Zinc, Lead & Smelting Company records (1.5 document cases and 7 rolls of microfilm).  Records pertaining to Colorado mines and mining, 1901-1957.

·     M 092: Animas-La Plata Project collection (8 document cases).  Printed materials on the federal water development project, 1938-2000.

·     I 073: Atomic bomb development records (RG 77) on microfilm (14 rolls of microfilm).  Harrison-Bundy files relating to the development of the atomic bomb, 1942-1946 (M1108, 9 rolls), and correspondence ("Top Secret") of the Manhattan Engineer District, 1942-1946 (M1109, 5 rolls).

·     I  097: Backcountry management plan for Grand Canyon National Park (2 microfiche).  Includes map and bibliography.  Prepared by National Park Service, Department of the Interior, Western Regional Office (San Francisco, Calif.), 1988 Sept.

·     I  069: Bureau of Reclamation project records (RG 115) (165 rolls of microfilm).  Two records series.  First series is project histories and reports of Reclamation Bureau projects, 1905-1925 (M96, 141 rolls, #s 1-24, 31-44, 46-102, 115-117, 148-158, 160-161, 167-175, 177, 183-187, 206-214, 217, 223-224 and 227-229) (total of 141 rolls).  Second series is photographs of irrigation projects of the Bureau of Reclamation, 1902-1938 (M1145, 24 rolls, #s 1-21 including roll #s 18A, 20A and 21A).

·     I  051: Civil Works Administration (Denver) records (165 rolls of microfilm).  Microfilms of pamphlet numbers 362 through 367 (Vol. 18A-19A, on Roll #5) (for La Plata County, Colo.), and of pamphlet numbers 359-1 360 (Montezuma County/Dolores, Colo.) (on Roll #4).

·     M 105: Colorado Department of Fish and Game printed materials (3 document cases).  Publications, journals, legal enforcement materials, and other printed records pertaining to the Department of Fish and Game, 1958-1984.

·     P 032: Colorado mining towns slide transparencies (approximately 500 slides).  Oversize color slide transparencies of former mining scenes and towns of Colorado, especially on the Western Slope, 1960-1989.  Arranged alphabetically by place name.

·     M 022: Colorado River Basin Pilot Project records (5 boxes).  Weather records: temperature and precipitation data, 1969-1975.

·     M 091: Colorado Water Conservation Board publications (2+ document cases).  Reports, publicity, and other records and publications, 1950-1969.

·     M 024: Davies/ Miernyk weather records (1.5 document cases).  Diaries of Durango weather statistics recorded by W. W. "Billy" Davies from 1916-1969.  Davies' records are partial from 1916-1918 and continuous from 1922-1969.

·     M 008: Durango (Colo.) uranium mill tailings removal collection (5.5 document cases).  Publicity materials, engineering/environmental assessment reports, Task Force records, etc., 1960-1990, regarding the removal of radioactive tailings from the Durango mill site at the base of Smelter Mountain in the 1980s.

·     M 060: Four Corners Environmental Research Institute (FOCERI) records (6 document cases and 12 records boxes).  Minutes, correspondence and memos, financial records, maps, project records, and engineering /environmental assessment reports re: various projects in the Four Corners region, including the Durango uranium mill tailings site, La Plata County coal mining, Colorado River tributaries, electric transmission power lines in southern and southwestern Colorado, and other topics researched by FOCERI.  Historical note: On November 16, 1978, the State Board of Agriculture approved for the President of Fort Lewis College to sign an agreement allowing FOCERI to use College facilities; and again on June 11, 1986.

·     M 167: George Kelly printed materials collection (.5 document case), 1984-1991.  Mr. Kelly, who was 93 in 1987, was a distinguished horticulturalist and amateur botanist.  He wrote a dozen books about the plants and trees of the Rocky Mountain region, and raised more than 300 species of roses at his home in Cortez, Colorado.

·     P 014: George Kelly slide collection (approximately 5,000 slides).  Views of natural features and other details in various places of the Southwest.  Indexed.

·     P 047: John Funk slide collection (approximately 3,000 slides).  A Durango resident’s views of nature in the Four Corners region, 1950-1985.  Currently being inventoried at the item level.

·     U 013: Oral history interviews of the Center of Southwest Studies Vallecito Dam Oral History Project (1 document case).  Tapes, transcripts and related documentation of 9 oral history interviews done in 1993 with persons directly associated with the Vallecito Dam Project in the Pine River Valley outside Durango.

·     U 002: Oral history interviews of the U.S. Forest Service Centennial Oral History Project (2 document cases; 36 interviews).  Oral history tapes (70, with transcripts) produced during the Forest Service's 100th anniversary of former employees at Glenwood Springs in the fall of 1991 and produced in 1990-91 to commemorate the 1991 centennial of the Forest Reserves Act; and others.

·     U 010: Oral history interviews of U.S. Forest Service Mancos District Cherry Creek Thompson Park Oral History Project (1 document case; 13 interviews).   Tapes and transcripts from a 1991-93 project to study the ecological changes in an area north of U.S. Highway 160 from Mancos Hill to the edge of La Plata Canyon.

·      M 103 and I 046: Pine River Irrigation District records (12 document cases and 3 rolls of microfilm).  Water records relating to the construction and operation of Vallecito Reservoir and related irrigation in La Plata County and vicinity.  Annual reports, and operations reports and statistics, 1930-1989.

·     M 128: Roadless Area Review and Evaluation printed materials (.5 document case).  Reports on RARE II, including large fold-out maps, draft environmental statements, assessment, and a trial plan.  For Mesa Verde and Rocky Mountain national parks, 1976-1982.

·     M 150: San Juan Ecology Project collection (1 document case and 1 flat box).  Weather records, 1971-1974.

·     P 045: San Juan Ecology Project photograph collection (.5 document case).  Project photoprints, 1971-1976.

·     P 025: San Juan Mountains recordation project photographs (1,516 negatives).  Photos (archival negatives only) of the standing structures in the San Juan Mountains that are on or near BLM lands.  Includes approximately 216 images of Red Mountain structures and approximately 1,300 images of mining sites elsewhere in the San Juans, 1989-1995.

·     M 154: San Luis Valley water resources collection (.5 document case).  Printed materials compiled and produced by a student researcher regarding the use of San Luis Valley water resources, 1988-1991.

·     P 017-05: Solar energy slide transparencies collection (143 slides).  Views of solar homes from Cheyenne through Colorado and south to Santa Fe and Taos, and slides of architectural plans for solar installations, views of solar tools, and slides of posters re: energy use in the U.S., 1975-1982.

·     I 095: Southwest water resources records on microfiche (2 microfiche).  Includes reports on: Sediment discharge in the Colorado River near De Beque, Colorado, by David L. Butler, 1986 (1 fiche); Adequacy of NASQAN data to describe areal and temporal variability of water quality of the San Juan River drainage basin upstream upstream from Shiprock, New Mexico, by Carole L. Goetz, 1987 (2 fiche).

·     M 161: Southwestern Water Conservation District records (8 records boxes + 2 document cases).  Minutes, correspondence, reports, newspaper clippings, maps and other publications, legal documents and other records pertaining to water issues in the Four Corners region.  Topics include Rainbow Bridge National Monument and the Animas-La Plata project, ca. 1930-1980.

·     I 054: State water resources reports (3 rolls of microfilm).  Arizona State Water Commissioner's annual reports #s 1-11 for 1921-1940 (1 roll) and New Mexico Engineering Dept.'s biennial reports #s 1-14 of surface water supply of New Mexico, 1913-1932 (2 rolls).

·     I 093: Toxic release inventory reports for Colorado (92 microfiche).  Includes introduction, chemical substance index, facility name index and other indexes, and toxic release inventory reports for Colorado, 1987-1988.

·     M 080: U.S. Forest Service collection (3 document cases and 4 records boxes).  Various printed materials pertaining to the Forest Service and its history, especially in the Southwest U.S.  Record Group 1 (San Juan National Forest records) includes timber sale records, 1960-1990.

·     M 187: Union Carbide Western U.S. 20th century mining collection (287 linear shelf feet).  Mining company operation records regarding the mining and processing of uranium, tungsten, vanadium and other base metals in the Western U.S., esp. the Four Corners region. 1920-1990.

·     M 007: Uranium mining collection (3 document cases).  Pertains to the uranium rush on the Colorado Plateau.  Materials on various mills; articles, clippings, photos, 1940-1958.

·     M 020: Western Slope water projects reports (1 records box), 1980-1989

Chemtrails are a topic of environmental discussion and concern for some residents of southwestern Colorado and elsewhere.  Visit  http://swcenter.fortlewis.edu/Chemtrails.htm for a page related to systematic, high-altitude dumping in the skies of La Plata County of unknown substances for undisclosed purposes.

Guides to the collections at the Center of Southwest Studies

Information for doing research at the Center of Southwest Studies

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