28 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. Ill 



Systematic investigations have been made so far in only a few spots 

 throughout this vast region. They have shown, nevertheless, that the 

 archeology varies through time as well as through space ; that not all 

 the sites can be ascribed to a single period ; that sites exist, both in the 

 open and in caves, where successive occupations are represented by 

 artifact assemblages that show significant changes from level to level ; 

 that while many of the occupations are marked only by relatively thin 

 deposits, some occur under conditions suggestive of a very respectable 

 antiquity ; and that influences from several directions have been 

 operative at various times in the past. With a prehistory which 

 apparently extends backward to the time when mammals now extinct 

 roamed the area, the problem of determining the relationships of the 

 pre-horse bison hunters to those of post-Columbian times promises 

 to be intriguing and far from simple. 



The activities of the River Basin Surveys in the Wyoming-Montana 

 region during 1947 were largely confined to further survey at five 

 Bureau of Reclamation water-control projects. The party doing this 

 work consisted of Wesley L. Bliss, Jack T. Hughes, J. M. Shippee, 

 and H. G. Pierce. Departing from Lincoln on June 10, it operated 

 on the following schedule: at Glendo Reservoir, Wyo., June 11 to 

 July 2 ; at Boysen Reservoir, Wyo., July 3 to July 25 ; at Oregon 

 Basin, Wyo., July 27 to August 11 ; at Canyon Ferry, Mont., August 

 13 to August 24; at Tiber Reservoir, Mont., August 25 to September 

 9 ; and again at Boysen from September 1 1 to November 6. For these 

 units, preliminary reconnaissance has now been virtually completed, 

 and a limited amount of testing has been done. A total of 236 sites has 

 been located and recorded. In addition, one small cave site at Boysen 

 has been excavated to forestall its despoliation by relic collectors. 



Boysen Reservoir. — Boysen dam, now under construction, is on 

 Big Horn River at the head of Wind River Canyon, in Fremont 

 County, Wyo., approximately 20 miles south of Thermopolis. The 

 crest of the structure will be 140 feet above stream bed ; at normal pool, 

 elevation 4,725 feet (m.s.l.), the reservoir will extend some 20 miles 

 southward along the Big Horn River into Shoshoni Basin to cover an 

 area of nearly 20,000 acres. Excepting the river valley itself, the 

 region is mainly an arid sagebrush desert, with low rainfall, little sur- 

 face water, and few springs. Timber is restricted to stands of cotton- 

 wood along the stream banks, and coniferous trees, mainly yellow 

 pine, on the slopes of the Owl Creek Mountains. 



In and near the future reservoir area, 75 archeological sites have 

 been visited and recorded by the River Basin Surveys field parties. 

 The sites are varied in character, and, so far as may be judged from 



