ARCHEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS AT THE 

 HOSTERMAN SITE (39P07) IN THE OAHE RES- 

 ERVOIR AREA, POTTER COUNTY, SOUTH 

 DAKOTA, 1956^ 



By Carl F. Miller 



INTEODUCTION 



The Hosterman site, named for John B. Hosterman, owner of the 

 property, is located in sec. 36, T. 119 N., K. 79 W., Potter County, 

 S. Dak., on a high bluff on the east bank overlooking the Missouri 

 Kiver about 2% miles north of Whitlocks Crossing. It is on the 

 western margins of the Coteau du Missouri, "that part of the Missouri 

 Plateau section of the Great Plains province which lies east of the 

 Missouri Kiver." ^ The name of the Coteau dates back to the 

 days of the French fur traders. The bluff slopes gently toward the 

 Missouri River, then pitches steeply into the river valley about a mile 

 from the present stream. The former stockaded village overlooked 

 the gently sloping plain with a broad view of the valley and the high 

 tableland extending to the east, north, and south. The elevation of 

 the site, 50 or more feet above the flood plain, was advantageous in 

 the defense of the village from attack from the west because of the 

 sharp rise of the bluff on that side. 



The village site was first surveyed by Dorothy E. Fraser on August 

 7, 1949. She described it as 



residing on a high bench 75 feet, above river bottom on the north side of a 

 small creek and now a half mile or more from the present stream bed. It is a 

 beautiful specimen of what appears to be a really old site. River probably 

 swept in at the foot of bluff at time of occupation. Owner extremely interested 

 and cooperative. It was he who directed attention to this site, hitherto 

 unknown. ['] 



Paul L. Cooper revisited the site in September 1949, and he noted 

 that there were 



12-15 depressions within (the) ditch which extends from river terrace border 

 to tributary gully at south of site. Area within ditch ca. 320' by 290' (paced). 



1 Submitted February 1960. 



* An excellent study of the Pleistocene geology of eastern South Dakota, Including data 

 on the physiographic environment, climate, soils, and biogeography, was issued by the 

 U.S. Geological Survey in 1955. (See Flint, 1955.) 



Field notes In files of Missouri Basin Project. 



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