36 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Boll. 176 



post'1850's. The fired clay boot model (pi. 9, a) was probably made 

 by one of the brickkiln workers. Some of the bricks that litter the 

 surface area about the ruins of the fort v/ere manufactured in St. 

 Louis, as is indicated by their trade mark. Bricks from this com- 

 mercial center were brought to Fort Randall early in its history, as 

 is evidenced by the records in the office of the Quartermaster 

 General : ^ 



Among the shipments to Fort RandaU in 1S5G-57 from the Quartermaster 

 Office at St. Louis was one of 5,000 brides. A letter of February 20, 1857, from 

 Col. Francis Lee, commanding officer at Fort Randall, to the Deputy Quarter- 

 master at St. Louis proves that no brick making was in progress at that time, 

 for Colonel Lee declared "I can't find any person in this command who under- 

 stands making brick" and added "Even if the Clay here will answer the purpose," 

 indicating uncertainty on that important point. 



The remainder of the artifacts were fragmentary bottle glass, 



chinaware, and metal pieces of indeterminate origin and date. 



SUMMARY STATEMENT 



The brickkiln excavated in 1952 at the edge of the historic military 

 post of Fort Randall probably furnished structural materials for the 

 building of parts of the original fort or for the rebuilt fort in its 

 early period of construction. The brickkiln itself may be dated in the 

 period after February 1857 but cannot be specifically restricted to 

 either of the two periods of construction (late 1850's or 1870-72) at 

 Fort Randall. 



WHETSTONE INDIAN AGENCY AND x\RMY POST (39GR4) 



INTRODUCTION 



The Whetstone Indian Agency was established in 1868 to serve 

 the Brule and Oglala bands of Sioux that had been transported to 

 Dakota Territory from the Fort Laramie region. The Brule remained 

 but a short time at the agency and finally established their main camp 

 on the White River 60 miles west of Whetstone. The Indians at the 

 agency in 1869 numbered 1,000 and were under the leadership of 

 Chiefs Swift Bear and Big Mouth. By 1870 there were 4,500 Indians 

 drawing subsistence from the agency. 



Military troops from Fort Randall were stationed at Whetstone 

 Army Post until 1872. The military post (pi. 3) was built of Cot- 

 tonwood timbers obtained from nearby Whetstone Island. Following 

 its military abandonment, this military post became a depot for 

 transportation of supplies to the Red Cloud and Rosebud Indian 

 Agencies to the southwest. 



The first reconnaissance of the site of Whetstone Indian Agency and 

 Army Post was made in 1917, by a Smithsonian Institution field 



' Personal communication from Alvln P. Stauffer, Office of the Quartermaster General, 

 Department of the Army, February 20, 1953. 



