PAP.Na'll"^' HISTORIC SITES ARCHEOLOGY — MILLS 45 



it may be doubted that this was locally produced. The Herald for August 27, 

 howiever, states that the steamboat Omaha, recently arrived from St. Louis, 

 upon her return down river the following day took with her a large quantity of 

 stoneware — about ten thousand gallons — from Ziegler and Eckhart's pottery. 

 (The production of earthenware at this period was frequently given in terms 

 of total capacity of pieces.) 



Miscellaneous items include a three-tined iron fork, small three- 

 cornered file, ax (pi. 8, s) , and portions of a large corkscrew. Wagon 

 part remains were the rub bar off a wagon box, the clevis (pi. 8, a) 

 which couples the wagon tongue and doubletrees, iron hoop and 

 bracing at the distal end of a wagon tongue, scrap iron from a single- 

 tree, strap iron and bolt combination to hold the sides of a wagon 

 to the bottom, and chain links. 



The ice gliders were found below the 15-foot depth of the well. 

 They were made from deer, elk, or cow rib, and range from 11 cm. 

 to 20 cm. in length. The whole specimens are blunted at one end and 

 the butts are hollowed to allow the insertion of two thin-feathered 

 sticks. Forty-five of the specimens lack any decoration but the others 

 evidence incising of various forms. The predominant pattern, found 

 on three and incipient on a fourth, is a series of diamonds placed end 

 to end (pi. 7, a, h, e) . On one specimen (pi. 7, &) the diamond pattern 

 is cross-hatched. Another design is a series of incised triangles 

 along one edge (pi. 7, /). The remaining geometric designs are a 

 series of dots forming a triangle (pi. 7, 7t), or straight lines. One 

 piece is notched along both lateral edges (pi. 7, c) . Two and possibly 

 a third specimen have more or less realistic representations. One of 

 these pictures an actual ice glider, complete with feathers (pi. 7, d). 

 Another represents a bird (pi, 7, g). One specimen has an hourglass 

 design formed of a number of crossed lines with a featherlike repre- 

 sentation on the rear of the design (pi. 7, i). The ice gliders were 

 thrown with an overhand motion at a target. Their presence in the 

 well may be due to this latter object's use as a target, and the gliders 

 were lugged across the snow to its edges (Culin, 1907, pp. 399-420). 



SUMMARY STATEMENT 



A site of white provenience situated in one of the suggested loca- 

 tions of the site of Fort Lower Brule Avas investigated. It yielded a 

 rather large artifact inventory and considerable data concerning 

 architectural details of a military post of the last third of the 19th 

 century. A well in the yard also yielded a large and interesting series 

 of a specialized type of Indian artifact — ice gliders. Proof is ^'■et 

 lacking that this is actually the site of Fort Lower Brule astablished 

 in 1870. However, on the basis of general location, general architec- 

 tural features, and quantity of artif actual materials of the appropriate 

 time period, it seems highly probable that this is the actual site of 

 Fort Lower Brule. 



