352 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1951 



resources of proposed reservoir areas. Since the National Park Serv- 

 ice is the Federal bureau specifically charged by law with responsi- 

 bility for the preservation of historical and archeological sites, it 

 interpreted the agreements for the study of recreational resources to 

 mean that archeological and paleontological remains should be in- 

 cluded and was making preliminary preparations for studying them. 



Late in the spring of 1945 the Smithsonian Institution and the 

 National Park Service, through the work of the Committee for the 

 Recovery of Archeological Remains, were made aware of the common 

 goal toward which both were striving. This resulted in a series of 

 conferences which made it apparent that the National Park Service 

 and the Smithsonian Institution were prepared to cooperate fully 

 in any general program for the survey and recovery of archeological 

 and paleontological remains and that the Smithsonian Institution 

 was prepared to take scientific responsibility for the work to be done. 

 Eventually a Memorandum of Understanding between the two agen- 

 cies was prepared and signed, providing in part that the National 

 Park Service would call to the attention of the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion the locations of all the proposed dams and reservoirs and that the 

 Smithsonian Institution would advise the National Park Service as to 

 the number and importance of the known archeological or paleonto- 

 logical sites located within such areas and would recommend such sur- 

 veys in the field as might be indicated. The National Park Service was 

 to inform the respective agencies responsible for the construction of 

 the proposed reservoirs as to the nature and extent of the remains 

 that would be lost if thorough investigation and excavation was not 

 undertaken sufficiently in advance of the flooding of the reservoir. 

 This was the genesis of the Inter-Agency Archeological and Paleon- 

 tological Salvage Program. 



To carry out its part of the Memorandum of Understanding, the 

 Smithsonian Institution in the fall of 1945 instituted the River Basin 

 Surveys which was organized as a unit of the Bureau of American 

 Ethnology. The National Park Service then furnished the River 

 Basin Surveys with lists of Bureau of Reclamation and Corps of 

 Engineers projects. On the basis of information available in pub- 

 lished reports, from correspondence with local societies, museums, 

 colleges, universities, and interested laymen, areas where surveys 

 should be started were determined. It was apparent that in many 

 regions the operations would be a race against time, but because of 

 its size, the fact that 105 projects had already been authorized and in 

 many cases were under construction there, because of its importance 

 to American archeology in general, and since very little was known 

 about its broader manifestations, the Missouri Basin was chosen as 

 the first scene of operations. Officials of the National Park Service 



