108 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 176 



At the close of the campaign of 1863, Sully had returned to the 

 Missouri — the only avenue of supply for military goods in quantity, 

 by steamboat — and during the winter he m,ade his base at a new post, 

 named for him, adjacent to Farm Island, in sec. 12, T. Ill N., K. 79 

 W., in present Hughes County, approximately one-quarter mile east 

 of the city limits of Pierre (DeLand, 1902, map opp. p. 281). In this 

 new area the trade was now reestablished. Fort Pierre II, one of the 

 last of the true Indian-trade stations of the region, apparently being 

 abandoned at this time (ibid., pp. 370-371). Wandel, whose recol- 

 lections of the old post were reported by DeLand, and who assisted 

 with the removal of 1863, stated that the "American Fur Company" 

 (as the traders persisted in referring to the changing commercial 

 firms) wished military protection but that this was refused by Sully 

 unless the traders would remove to the vicinity of the military post ; 

 this was accordingly done, with the use of rafts and boats made of 

 plank to carry coffee and sugar and "things we could lift," but left 

 were "thousands of dollars' worth of things we couldn't lift." 



Thus the known history of Fort Pierre II comes to a close. With 

 removal to the neighborhood of Fort Sully, the traders doubtless 

 assumed more the role of sutlers for the military, less that of Indian- 

 traders. In 1866, the military themselves removed upriver, to estab- 

 lish a permanent military post, "New Fort Sully" (39SL45), in 

 present Sully County. This post was, in the next decade, to become 

 one of the finest on the river, and it was not abandoned until 1894, 

 by which time the true Indian frontier had disappeared forever and 

 the modern history of the region had begun, with permanent 

 settlement. 



DESCEIPTION OF THE SITE 



Site 39ST217, the partial excavation of which is reported here, is 

 located in lot 4, sec. 4 (fractional), T. 5 N., R. 31 E., B.H.M. This 

 location differs from that given by Mattison (1954, p. 30) for the site 

 of Fort Pierre II; legal data are, therefore, given below, in detail. 

 This section (4) contains but four lots, and lies along the west bank 

 of the Missouri River, in Stanley County, S. Dak., approximately 4 

 miles north of the city of Fort Pierre, the county seat (U.S. Corps of 

 Engineers [maps of] Missouri River, Gavins Point near Yankton, 

 S. Dak., to Stanton, N. Dak., 1947, sheet No. 68) . The site in question 

 is opposite and somewhat downstream from Snake Butte, a prominent 

 landmark in Hughes County (pi. 23, aerial photograph by Corps of 

 Engineers, U.S. Department of the Army) . 



Lot 4, referred to, is situated near the south "taking line" of segment 

 A of the land reservation of Oahe Dam, now under construction, and 

 was acquired by the Corps of Engineers prior to July 14, 1948, from 



