NO. 2 SALVAGE PROGRAM, 1950-1951 — COOPER 7I 



Both the Httoral and marine phases of the Upper Cretaceous Colo- 

 rado group in the Tiber Reservoir were explored during a period of 

 approximately two weeks, but only materials too fragmentary to be 

 of paleontological value were observed. This fact, and certain char- 

 acteristics of the sediments which would make recovery of suitable 

 materials difficult or impossible, led the paleontologist to recommend 

 that no further effort be expended there. A survey of a few days 

 in the Bonny Reservoir likewise yielded nothing but fragmentary 

 material from the exposures of the Middle Pliocene Yuma formation, 

 but periodic inspection of the shore line of the new lake to recover 

 fossils that might be exposed by wave action was recommended. 



Information relative to the paleontological potentialities of ten sites 

 suggested for possible reservoir construction in the Niobrara Basin 

 was secured by White from Morris F. Skinner of the Frick Labo- 

 ratory, American Museum of Natural History, who has carried on 

 paleontological research in that area for many years. Two of the 

 reservoirs — Thacher and Crookston — ^will, if constructed, inundate 

 three productive Pliocene localities, and it is believed, on the basis of 

 the nature of the formations and the recovery in the past of isolated 

 specimens, that construction activities and/or wave action are likely 

 to reveal significant fossils in the other reservoirs (namely, Colwell, 

 Eli, Kilgore, Long Pine, Meadville, Merritt, Ponca Creek, and 

 Sparks). 



FIELDWORK BY OTHER AGENCIES 



As in previous years, a significant part of the salvage task was 

 assumed by State-supported agencies in the Missouri Basin. This was 

 especially fortunate because of the imminent flooding dates for a 

 number of reservoirs. Participation by these agencies was facilitated 

 and rendered more effective by the implementing of a new policy, 

 that of establishing a Federal-State partnership through allocation of 

 Federal funds by the National Park Service to defray a portion of 

 the cost of excavating sites threatened by Federal water-control proj- 

 ects. Under memoranda of agreement, the State agencies undertook 

 to investigate specified sites and to provide periodic progress reports 

 and final technical reports of their investigations, in consideration of 

 which funds were made available by the National Park Service for 

 labor and other costs. One of the most satisfying results of this pol- 

 icy was the willingness of archeologists to postpone work on their 

 major research interests in their own States to assist in more urgent 

 salvage operations in other areas. During both 1950 and 1951, Mon- 

 tana State University, the University of Wyoming, the State His- 



