Archeological Survey of the Ola to Ingram 115 kV Transmission Line and Associated Substations, Henry and Butts Counties, Georgia

In September 2004 and January 2005, Southeastern Archeological Services, Inc. (SAS) conducted a Phase I archeological survey of approximately 21.44 km (13.3 mi) of proposed 115 kV transmission line corridor and 9.1 ha (22.5 ac) of substation development. The proposed line is composed of two principal segments. The first, at 8.69 km (5.4 mi), extends from the proposed Ola Substation to the proposed Island Shoals Substation in eastern Henry County. The second segment extends from the Island Shoals Substation to the proposed Ingram Substation in northwestern Butts County, a distance of 12.76 km (7.9 mi). The Georgia Transmission Corporation (GTC) wishes to construct this new line within a generally 23 m (75 ft) wide corridor. Most of the Ola to Island Shoals segment follows roads or an existing transmission line, while most of the Island Shoals to Ingram segment runs cross country on new location. The sizes of the three substations are approximately: Ola, 6.0 ha (14.9 ac); Island Shoals, 2.5 ha (6.2 ac) and Ingram, .6 ha (1.4 ac).Based on surface inspection and the excavation of shovel tests, we discovered and recorded 19 archeological sites (Table 1). Prehistoric lithic scatters are the most common type of site (n=7, 37 percent of all sites), followed closely by late nineteenth to mid-twentieth century house/farmsteads (n=6, 32 percent of sites). Three prehistoric pottery scatters (16 percent of sites) were recorded, along with two sites (11 percent of sites) that were both an historic period house and prehistoric lithic scatter and a single (5 percent of sites) twentieth century still. We found just under one site per kilometer of line, or one site per 0.7 mile of line.We recommend that none of the historic period sites are eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places.