When a new high school in St. Louis County, Minnesota, opened in 2023, it brought welcome growth—and unexpected traffic congestion. To improve safety and traffic flow, the county planned to construct a roundabout and extend a nearby road across land owned by both public and private parties. Because the work required review under the Minnesota Field Archaeology Act and Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, the county turned to Barr for archaeological support.
We began with background research using Minnesota’s Statewide Historic Inventory Portal and the Office of the State Archaeologist’s online records. Focusing on a one-mile study area around the project footprint, we reviewed known cultural resources and environmental and cultural context to evaluate the likelihood of undocumented archaeological sites. Early on, we notified the county of the former Eveleth City Dump site near the proposed roundabout so the county could anticipate additional work to assess project impacts to cultural resources.
After securing a license from the Office of the State Archaeologist, Barr completed Phase I shovel testing near the roundabout. We documented a portion of the Eveleth City Dump, active from the 1920s through the early 1970s, as an archaeological site and recovered nearly 3,500 artifacts—far more than originally estimated. To help control costs while still meeting curation requirements, Barr worked with the Minnesota Historical Society to develop a sampling strategy that fully analyzed and documented every artifact while retaining only a representative subset of non-diagnostic materials for long-term curation.
Based on the results of our research into the dump’s history and the nature of the recovered artifacts, we recommended that the site not be deemed eligible for the National Register of Historic Places and received the State Historic Preservation Office’s concurrence, allowing the county to proceed with the roundabout as designed, without mitigation measures to avoid cultural resources.
Another shovel test survey for the planned road extension yielded no additional cultural resources. We prepared separate reports for each survey to support agency consultation and regulatory compliance. Close, frequent communication with St. Louis County and our strong relationships with reviewing agencies helped keep the project on schedule and within budget while fully complying with the Minnesota Field Archaeology Act and Section 106.
