42 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 176 



FORT LOWER BRULfi (39LM53) 



INTRODUCTION 



All army post was established in con j miction with the lower Brule 

 Indian Agency in 1870, at a location somewhere in the vicinity of that 

 agency. The exact location of this post, known as Fort Lower Brule, 

 has not been definitely determined though considerable search for it 

 has been made. 



A reconnaissance party of the Smithsonian Institution, led by 

 Thomas R. Garth, in the summer of 1950 located a site of white 

 provenience in one of several suggested localities for this site. It is 

 situated on the second terrace above the right bank of the Missouri 

 River, 4.5 miles above Oacoma, in Lyman County, S. Dak. (map 1). 

 Surface indications of the site included a series of low hummocks 

 containing burned earth, charcoal, and artifacts of white provenience. 

 It is highly probable that this is the location of Fort Lower Brule, 

 although positive identification as such is not at hand. 



EXCAVATION 



Immediately following the surface examination in 1950, Garth's 

 party proceeded with test excavations at the site. A stripping opera- 

 tion begun on the largest hummock revealed a quantity of bright 

 orange and red fragments of burned chinking. Imprints of round 

 logs were found preserved in the burned chinking. The diameter of 

 the log imprints varied from 0.58 to 0.75 feet and averaged 0.65 feet. 

 The bark pattern indicated that the wood used was eastern red cedar 

 and probably cottonwood. 



Further excavation (pi. 6, a) revealed two units or rooms built 7 

 feet apart, and the space between them covered by a wooden roof. 

 The dirt roof of the structure, after the fire had burned the rafters, 

 had fallen on the burning floors below, smothering the fire and pre- 

 serving many of the timbers in a charred state. 



The floor joists were spaced 2 feet apart. These were indicated by 

 square-cut nails that had held down the flooring and that projected 

 up through the fallen roof dirt somewhat higher than the joists them- 

 selves. The nails as well as the other iron artifacts in the building 

 ruin were badly corroded. 



In the northwest corner of one room was a chalkstone fireplace 

 (pi. 6, a). Between the back of the fireplace and the wall was a clay 

 filling, a safety feature installed to safeguard the wall from fire. 

 This living unit had been floored with oak planks that were 12 inches 

 wide and less than 1 inch thick.^ 



" Mr. Jack King, local informant, said that when he first homesteaded the site in the 

 1890's, a great many oak tree stumps covered the terrace. A sawmill is shown in this 

 location on the 1890 Missouri River Commission map. 



