NO. 2 MISSOURI VALLEY DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM — WEDEL 9 



control projects in Nebraska. Preliminary reconnaissance included 

 five proposed reservoir areas in the Republican drainage in the south- 

 western part of the State, and six in the Lower Platte Basin in the 

 central portion. The Republican River locations were surveyed by 

 W. L. Bliss and J. J. Bauxar between April 24 and May 7; units 

 visited include Beaver City, Red Willow, Culbertson, Rock Creek, 

 and Buffalo Creek. Results of this work, other phases of which have 

 been noted in the section on Kansas and Colorado, are presented first 

 in the summary which follows. In the Lower Platte Basin, from 

 May 3-12, M. F. Kivett and J. T. Hughes carried on reconnaissance 

 at Amherst, Buffalo Creek, Cairo, Ericson, Mullen, and Rockville 

 units. These projects are all under the Bureau of Reclamation. 



In addition to the above, archeological excavations were begun at 

 Medicine Creek when it was learned that early construction was 

 planned by the Bureau of Reclamation. Work here was carried on 

 from September 10 until November 9 by the River Basin Surveys, 

 in continuation of previous excavations between July 25 and Sep- 

 tember 10 by the Nebraska State Historical Society, a cooperating 

 agency. In this section only the later researches will be summarized ; 

 operations of the Historical Society are noted further in another place. 



Republican River Basin 



Previous reconnaissance by the River Basin Surveys, together with 

 earlier investigations by the Nebraska State Historical Society and 

 the University of Nebraska, have shown that the Republican River 

 watershed contains abundant, varied, and important archeological 

 remains. From 1777 or before until the early 1800's, the Pawnee lived 

 in one, two, or more earth-lodge villages along the Republican, where 

 it crosses the Nebraska-Kansas State line. At one of these, in the 

 present Webster County, Nebr., Pike visited in 1806. The area to 

 the west contained no permanent settlements and was principally 

 hunting range for the Pawnee, Dakota, Cheyenne, and other tribes. 

 In earlier days, preceding arrival of white men, there were several 

 successive occupations of the valley. Remains attributable to earth- 

 lodge-using, semihorticultural Indians are widely scattered throughout 

 the area, occurring westward nearly to, or perhaps beyond, the 

 Nebraska-Colorado State line. They occur to some extent in the main 

 valley, but are more plentiful on the tributaries. Between this occu- 

 pation, estimated to have taken place during the thirteenth to fifteenth 

 centuries, and that of the historic Pawnee, there were at least two 

 others by peoples who made pottery and perhaps practiced horti- 



