NO. 2 MISSOURI VALLEY DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM — WEDEL 33 



basin are at least six shelters (pi. 6, fig. i) formerly used by Indians. 

 In one, the fill containing traces of human activity is more than lo 

 feet deep; it consists partly of occupational debris, partly of wind- 

 blown sand, and partly of material weathered from the overhanging 

 walls. Though not directly imperiled by the reservoir pool, proximity 

 of these shelters to the future reservoir makes their destruction by 

 relic hunters almost inevitable. 



Quarry workshops consist of areas littered with cores, spalls, flakes, 

 and blanks ; one was found to the north, another to the south, of the 

 proposed reservoir area. Pictographs occur on cliffs outside the basin. 



Canyon Ferry Reservoir. — Canyon Ferry Reservoir, a multiple- 

 purpose project, will be located on the Missouri River in west-central 

 Montana. The proposed dam site is in Lewis and Clark County, 

 approximately 15 miles east of Helena. From this point, the dam, 

 a concrete structure 175 feet high, will create a lake 24 miles long, 

 extending southward into Broadwater County and covering an area of 

 35,000 acres at normal pool (elevation 3,800 feet, m.s.l.). The reser- 

 voir site is a broad, fertile valley lying between the Big Belt Mountains 

 to the east and the Elkhorn Mountains to the west. There are 

 numerous sloughs marking former river channels. A wide sloping 

 tableland between river and mountains has been cut at its river front 

 into high steep bluffs. Deciduous trees occur on the valley bottom, 

 with conifers dominating the mountain slopes ; otherwise, where not 

 under cultivation, the land is in grass. 



Thirty-three sites have been located by the River Basin Surveys in 

 and near the future reservoir area. They are generally situated on 

 terraces near the streams, or on the bluffs. Seventeen are camp sites 

 or occupational areas, marked by quantities of chips, flakes, fire- 

 blackened rocks, stone hearths, and occasional stone artifacts. Some 

 lie on the present ground surface ; others occur as detritus-laden strata 

 buried by a few inches to as much as 3 feet of alluvial or wind-de- 

 posited soils. None suggest anything other than a short period of 

 occupancy. The stone-hearth camp sites tend to occur on the flats. 



Tipi rings also occur, sometimes in association with stone hearths. 

 The rings here are rather small, seldom more than 10 to 15 feet in 

 diameter. They may be closely grouped or widely scattered, but seem 

 to be rather more plentiful on the higher bluffs than on the terraces 

 or valley floors. Many of the rings have been partly destroyed or are 

 almost buried by sod and wind-blown sand. Stone hearths occur 

 sometimes within, sometimes outside, the rings. Artifacts and cultural 

 detritus are very scarce in the vicinity of the tipi rings. 



No caves, quarries, or workshops were located in the reservoir area. 



