The following is a resource guide for researchers about the River Basin Surveys. For stories about the River Basin Surveys, please read our other blog posts intended for the general public (see below). For additional resources, please visit our RBS page.
Archaeologists are in your trash, digging up your stories
History of Cattle Oiler and the River Basin Surveys
Objects with Many Voices; People with Two Spirits
What is Historical Archaeology?
In the Kitchen with…Middle Missouri Indians
Introducing the Arikara and Mandan Ceramic Type Collection
By: Lotte Govaerts
Results from excavations conducted during the RBS were published by various mechanisms that changed over time. The first RBS archaeology reports were published in the Bureau of American Ethnology’s Bulletin in a series called “River Basin Surveys Papers”. Bulletin number 176 (containing River Basin Surveys Papers 15 through 20) was devoted entirely to historic sites (Roberts 1960). Paper number 15 is an overview of historic site archaeology in the Upper Missouri Basin (Mattes 1960), while paper 16 discusses the historical archaeology of the Fort Randall Reservoir. This last paper includes information about Fort Randall (39GR15), Whetstone Indian Agency and Army Post (39GR4), Lower Brule Indian Agency (39LM54), Fort Lower Brule (39LM53), Fort Lookout Military and Trading Post (39LM57)[there is some debate on whether 39LM57 actually is Fort Lookout, a topic I will discuss in a future blog post], Fort Hale (39LM52), and a single paragraph on the crew’s search for the elusive Fort Recovery (Mills 1960). Papers 17 through 20 each deal with a single site: 39LM57, which Miller (1960) identified as Fort Lookout II, Fort Pierre II (39ST217) (Smith 1960a), Fort Stevenson (32ML1) (Smith 1960b), and Kipp’s Post (32MN1) (Woolworth and Wood 1960).
Locations of Historic Sites in Big Bend Reservoir - South Dakota. Source: Mattes, Merrill J., 1962. Historic Aspects of the Big Bend Reservoir Area. South Dakota Historical Collections and Report, Vol. 31, p. 243-286.
Some years later, additional work from the RBS was published in a separate series entitled “Smithsonian Institution River Basin Surveys Publications in Salvage Archaeology”. Volume 9 (Smith 1968) in that series was devoted to the historic sites in the Big Bend Reservoir area (see map pictured above). This volume describes the work at Fort George (39ST202), Red Cloud Agency III (39LM247), a site called “Medicine Creek” (32ML241) which investigators had believed might be Fort Bouis until they excavated and found it was not; and site 39HU301, which they had erroneously believed to be a fur trade establishment known as Loisel’s Post.
In addition to work published in those two series, some of the investigating archaeologists published articles about their research in scholarly journals. G. Hubert Smith (1954a) published preliminary results from his work at Like-A-Fishhook Village and Fort Berthold (the two incarnations of the fort – Fort Berthold I and II – were adjacent to the village and all three share site number 32ML2) in an article in Plains Anthropologist. Carlyle Smith (1955) later published an article in that same journal about Firearms and related artifacts from the same site. Similarly, preliminary results from work at Fort Stevenson (39ML1) were published by G. Hubert Smith in North Dakota History (1954b). Carlyle Smith (1954) published an article on the cartridges and bullets from 39ML1 in Plains Anthropologist.
The delay between the completion of field work and the publication of results – a period during which artifacts are processed and research is conducted – varies in duration, depending on the size of the project, and the researchers’ other engagements. Considering the scope of the RBS, it isn’t surprising that not all excavations carried out by RBS crews had been reported on in one of the RBS publication series when the RBS transferred to the NPS in 1969. Some of the historic sites excavated during the RBS remained largely or even wholly unpublished. With the exception of the publication of work done at 39ST217/Fort Pierre II (detailed above), the historic sites of the Oahe Reservoir were discussed only in a 1963 pamphlet about the history and archaeology of the region, which includes a brief chapter on historic sites (Caldwell and Smith 1963). The whole pamphlet can be read online.
However, after the transfer to the NPS, RBS archaeologists continued publishing their earlier work via other mechanisms. Smith (1972) followed up his Plains Anthropologist article about 32ML2 (Like-A-Fishhook Village and Fort Berthold) with a single volume published via the National Park Service. His work at Fort Manuel in the Oahe Reservoir was published posthumously in South Dakota Archaeology (Smith and Ludwickson 1981).
Some of the sites investigated or briefly visited by River Basin Surveys crews were not inundated by reservoir waters, and were later revisited and reported on by other archaeologists. These later publications fall outside the scope of this dedicated bibliography as they are not River Basin Survey publications. They will be included in the bibliographies of specific sites, as I discuss them in future blog posts.
If I missed a relevant publication in this list, please let me know!
References Cited
Caldwell, Warren W. and G. Hubert Smith 1963. Oahe Reservoir: Archeology, Geology, History. Omaha, Corps of Engineers.
Mattes, Merrill J. 1960. Historic Sites Archeology on the Upper Missouri, River Basin Surveys Papers, No. 15, Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 176, United States Printing Office, Washington D.C.
Mills John E. 1960. Historic Sites Archeology in the Fort Randall Reservoir, South Dakota, River Basin Survey Papers, No. 16, Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 176, United States Printing Office, Washington D.C.
Miller, Carl F. 1960. The Excavation and Investigation of Fort Lookout Trading Post II (Site 39LM57) in the Fort Randall Reservoir, South Dakota, River Basin Surveys Papers, No. 17, Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 176, United States Printing Office, Washington D.C.
Roberts, Frank H. H. Jr. (ed.) 1960. River Basin Surveys Papers, numbers 15-20, Smithsonian Institution Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 176, United States Printing Office, Washington D.C.
Smith Carlyle S. 1954. Cartridges and Bullets from Fort Stevenson, North Dakota, Plains Anthropologist 1, 25-29.
Smith, Carlyle S. 1955. An Analysis of the Firearms and Related Specimens from Like-A-Fishhook Village and Fort Berthold I, Plains Anthropologist, No. 4:3-12.
Smith G. Hubert 1954a. Archaeological Work at 32ML2 (Like-A-Fishhook Village and Fort Berthold), Garrison Reservoir Area, North Dakota 1950-1954. Plains Anthropologist No. 2, 27-32. 1954
Smith, Hubert G. 1954b. Excavations at Fort Stevenson, 1951, North Dakota History vol. 21, no. 3, 127-135.
Smith G. Hubert 1960a. Fort Pierre II (39ST217), a Historic Trading Post in the Oahe Dam Area, South Dakota, River Basin Surveys Papers No. 18, Smithsonian Institution Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 176.
Smith G. Hubert 1960b Archeological Investigations at the Site of Fort Stevenson (32ML1), Garrison Reservoir, North Dakota, River Basin Survey Papers, No. 19, Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 176, 1960.
Smith G. Hubert 1968. Big Bend Historic Sites, Smithsonian Institution River Basin Surveys Publications in Salvage Archaeology No. 9, Lincoln Nebraska.
Smith G. Hubert 1972. Like-a-Fishhook Village and Fort Berthold, Garrison Reservoir, North Dakota. National Park Service Anthropological Papers No. 2.
Smith G. Hubert and Jon Ludwickson 1981. Fort Manuel: The Archeology of an Upper Missouri Trading Post of 1812-1813. South Dakota Archaeological Society, Special Publication No. 7. University of South Dakota, Vermillion, SD.
Woolworth Alan R. and W. Raymond Wood 1960, The Archaeology of a Small Trading Post (Kipp's Post, 31MN1) in the Garrison Reservoir, North Dakota. River Basin Survey Papers, No. 20, Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 176, 1960.