UTA will study site further

Today, the 250-acre swath of land at 13500 South between I-15 and the Jordan River lacks people, their homes and other development, except for Union Pacific railroad tracks. A group of developers wants to obtain the property and develop it, as well as give a portion of the property to the Utah Transit Authority for a future FrontRunner Commuter Rail station.

But 3,000 years ago, generations of American Indians who were hunter-gatherers spent time on the bluffs above the Jordan River every year for hundreds of years — likely every winter. The land gave them access to water, wood and wildlife for food.

Archaeologists have studied the site only three times — in the early 1990s, 1997 and 2007 — and have excavated some artifacts, fire pits, a house and part of a second house.

Assistant State Archaeologist Ron Rood says there's still work to be done, and houses and artifacts to uncover, perhaps even Indian remains, and he hopes UTA will not choose the 13500 South site for the station. UTA also is considering FrontRunner stops at 12800 South, 14000 South and 14600 South.

Friday, UTA attorney Bruce Jones said UTA will likely spend more time studying the area, which is a change from UTA's previous position of wanting to make a decision on the 13500 South site in upcoming weeks so a land swap between the state and private developers could be inked, which would begin a "transit-oriented development" of shopping and housing at the site to support the FrontRunner station.

The change, Jones said, came as UTA met with state regulatory agencies and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and learned it needed to further investigate the land.

"We will decide on the site not by a (certain) date, but after this process of investigation is completed sufficiently that we think we have — not only we, but also the state and federal agencies involved — a sufficient understanding of what we think the site is in order to make a decision," Jones said.

Jones did not say whether a full excavation of the site would take place during the study. Rood said that excavating the site will cost millions of dollars and time. The people who lived there had a diet of plants, grass seeds, cattails, rice grass, yuccas, pine nuts, rabbits, deer and big horn sheep. They did not have cattle or other domesticated animals, except possibly dogs.

The hunter-gatherers did not use pottery or make tools out of metal.