10 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 176 



The historical phase of the Missouri River Basin program began 

 with the employment of a full-time historian for the task in the 

 summer of 1946. The work involved intensive library and archival 

 studies at various repositories, notably the National Archives, and files 

 of the various State historical societies. This was followed by field 

 reconnaissance to identify historic sites, structures, or other features 

 to be inundated, to evaluate their sig-nificance, and to recommend 

 steps to be taken to "salvage" data or materials wherever possible. 

 Salvage alternatives included comprehensive photography, mapping, 

 measured drawings, and relocation of structures, and archeology of 

 extinct sites — that is, the recovery of surviving historical objects and 

 structural evidence underground. 



During the period 1946 to 1952 over 80 proposed reservoir areas 

 were surveyed by Service historians. Although the results of most 

 of these surveys did not appear as separate reports, but were in- 

 corporated in official reports on recreational planning, a few areas 

 contained historical values of such magnitude that separate reports 

 were deemed essential. Of these, the four principal reports are those 

 relating to the Gavins Point, Fort Randall, Oahe, and Garrison Res- 

 ervoirs, all on the "main stem" of the Missouri River in South and 

 North Dakota (Mattes, 1949 ; Mattison, 1951, 1953 a, b) . 



In addition to summary reports on reservoir areas, there has also 

 been a series of reports on individual sites, designed primarily to 

 provide orientation for archeologists and others engaged in actual 

 salvage work. Several of these have found publication (Mattes, 

 1952 b; Mattison, 1951; Hoekman, 1952). Some of these reports 

 have been contributed by graduate students of colleges or imiversities, 

 enlisted through the cooperation of the Mississippi Valley Historical 

 Association (Dick, 1950). 



The data compiled by the Missouri River Basin historical survey 

 have not been limited to those found in published material. In- 

 evitably, the broad scope of this survey has enabled the historians to 

 sweep up in their net an imposing array of new data, derived from 

 interviews and unexploited documents, which have not only expanded 

 the historical horizon but have compelled scholars to revise many long- 

 cherished misconceptions. The survey has provided fish, so to speak, 

 for many years of historical frying. Several "byproducts" of this 

 research are now in manuscript form; a few have found their way 

 into print (Mattison, 1954 a, b, and c; Mattes, 1953; Morgan, 1953, 

 pp. 376-377). 



With the assistance of a staff photographer, over 1,500 record 

 photographs have been made of historic sites and features that would 

 otherwise have gone unrecorded. These pictures are on file in the 

 Region Two Office of the National Park Service in Omaha, with 

 copies in the files of the State historical societies most directly con- 



