NO. 2 SALVAGE PROGRAM, I95Q-I95I COOPER 47 



missary storehouse, and the commanding officer's quarters were se- 

 lected for more or less complete stripping. In addition, two latrines, 

 one of the military period and one of the Indian school period, were 

 excavated. 



Excavation revealed that the walls of all the buildings had been 

 erected upon footings of masonry composed of field stone, either un- 

 altered or very roughly dressed, laid in rather shallow trenches. 

 Often, owing to subsequent activities — intentional leveling or the re- 

 moval of stones for other purposes — these footings did not extend 

 to their full original height. The walls of the larger buildings were 

 constructed mainly of adobe bricks made from local materials, 

 with some timber framework, while the officers' quarters apparently 

 were primarily of timber, with adobe-brick packing. Chimneys were 

 made of fired brick, probably all shipped in from St. Louis, if we 

 may judge by their similarity to specimens that bear inscriptions of 

 the maker. Occasionally, the remnants of sills were found lying upon 

 the footings, and additional wooden elements were found in the area 

 of the commanding officers' quarters, but details of the timber con- 

 struction of the buildings were usually absent. A few cellars were 

 found. Usually they were simple excavations, but that in the com- 

 missary storehouse was walled and floored with fired brick. The two 

 latrine sites differed. One was marked by a simple pit, while the 

 other was characterized by a pit that had been shored with planks set 

 on end. The contents indicated that the former was in use primarily, 

 or exclusively, during the time the site was used as a school, the other 

 during the military period and apparently for the most part by per- 

 sonnel and patients in the hospital. 



The objects recovered in the excavations are of great variety and 

 represent most of the activities that took place on the site, even the 

 recent agricultural activity. While many of the objects — e.g., military 

 buttons and parts of school desks — can be attributed rather surely to 

 the period of the post or to that of the Indian school, many others, 

 such as tablewares of various kinds, may derive from any phase 

 of the occupation of the site. This is true especially because of the 

 fact that a number of the buildings were utilized during both periods 

 and the commanding officer's house, furthermore, was used still later 

 as a farmhouse. Since little new was added to our knowledge of the 

 site from the architectural point of view, the major contribution of 

 the archeological investigation here is the light it casts on the every- 

 day activities at the fort, revealed by the objects recovered. This 

 information supplements the formal history of the establishment 

 recorded in the official archives. 



