l8 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. Ill 



with such added labor as was locally obtainable, at several of the more 

 promising sites on the left bank of the stream. These included loca- 

 tions in the vicinity of Pease Creek and Wheeler Bridge, and above 

 the mouth of Platte Creek, all in Charles Mix County. The rugged 

 and roadless nature of much of the area, more than 200 miles long, 

 was a serious obstacle, further complicated during the early stages of 

 reconnaissance by a period of excessive rainfall. 



Fort Randall Reservoir. — The reservoir under construction here is 

 one of five large multiple-purpose projects planned by the Corps of 

 Engineers for the mainstem in South and North Dakota. The dam 

 site is located in Charles Mix and Gregory Counties, some 5 or 6 miles 

 north of the Nebraska State line, 7 miles south of Lake Andes, and 

 about 60 miles by river above Yankton, S. Dak. An earth-fill structure, 

 it will have a crest length of nearly 2 miles and a maximum height 

 of 160 feet above stream bed. At the planned maximum pool elevation 

 of 1,375 f^st (mean sea level), the impounded waters will back up 

 approximately 100 miles to a point beyond the Big Bend, and will 

 inundate 108,000 acres in Charles Alix, Gregory, Brule, Lyman, and 

 Buffalo Counties. 



The Missouri River here flows in a flat-floored trench from i to 2 

 miles wide, bordered by high bluffs which have been moderately to 

 extensively dissected. Alluvial terraces are less common, especially 

 along the right bank, than they are above Chamberlain. White River, 

 entering from the west approximately ii miles below Chamberlain, 

 is the only major perennial tributary entering the reservoir area. 

 Deciduous timber, chiefly cottonwood and willow, occurs on the main 

 stream flood plain and on tributary valley floors. The bluffs and 

 uplands, where not under cultivation, consist of prairie grasses. 

 Small game is still moderately plentiful, but such once-abundant 

 larger forms as bison, antelope, and elk are now extinct, and deer 

 are nearly so. 



The Fort Randall Reservoir area is surprisingly little known, 

 archeologically speaking. Prior to the survey work summarized herein, 

 the University of South Dakota Museum provided the River Basin 

 Surveys with a location list of 27 known sites between Fort Randall 

 and Fort Thompson. There appears, however, to be not one extant 

 report of archeological investigations here, although the University 

 of South Dakota Museum conducted important excavations in 1941 

 at Scalp Creek and at Ellis Creek, on the west bank of the river. 

 This dearth of well-authenticated field data is the more remarkable in 

 view of the strategic location of the district on the natural line of 

 Indian travel between the Arikara-Mandan habitat on the upper 



