pIp. Naisf" FORT PIERRE U— SMITH 115 



the blading of the north half of the entire enclosed area of the stock- 

 ade, one other site was also designated as that of a building (House- 

 site C) ; on further investigation by hand this identification was, 

 however, modified as described below. 



In addition to the horizontal section of the complete outline of the 

 stockade, with a part of the interior area, obtained by means of the 

 mechanical equipment supplemented by handwork, vertical sections 

 were also obtained on faces cut by the forward edge of the blade of the 

 equipment (the forward edge being kept toward the interior of the 

 enclosure). These vertical faces were of relatively shallow height, 

 seldom exceeding li/^ feet, but they revealed additional vertical sec- 

 tions of interior details of the original post such as certain offset 

 trenches at right angles to the main stockade line, supplementing the 

 horizontal sections. 



The applicability of customary archeological field methods, with 

 hand excavation, to the study of a site of Wliite origin needs no dis- 

 cussion here, but comments may be made concerning the use of me- 

 chanical equipment such as a road patrol on such sites. In the exami- 

 nation of the site of a trading post, known from comparative data to 

 have been constructed in large part of timber materials and evidencing 

 little if any masonry to obstruct the use of such equipment, it seems 

 desirable to obtain, early in the excavation, some notion of the full scale 

 and plan of the whole, since such matters are of primary concern in 

 the study of such establishments. In the present instance, the fact 

 that overall dimensions of the whole proved to be greater than 200 feet 

 reveals something of the intended role of the post in its period and, 

 probably, something of historic change in the design of such establish- 

 ments at this relatively late period of the Indian-trade. In this in- 

 stance, the mechanical opening of large parts of the area also revealed 

 that few architectural remains meriting detailed study survived within 

 the enclosure, despite the relatively large size of the post. It would, of 

 course, have been entirely feasible to obtain this information by hand 

 methods, though many weeks of hand labor would have been required 

 for the purpose, whereas the use of mechanical equipment occupied 

 but a few hours, and at a more reasonable cost. 



In order to use the mechanical equipment available (a blade) in a 

 consistent, effective fashion, earth was bladed outward from the four 

 sides of the stockade in the process of cutting horizontal sections of 

 these lines. Since the depth reached by the inner vertical edge of the 

 blade was appreciable, averaging l^^ feet below the level of the present 

 (cultivated) surface, it was necessary to move the earth some distance 

 outward from the vertical profile left by the edge of the blade. This 

 was a distance of 15 to 20 feet, ordinarily, the resulting berm rising 

 very gradually to a crest, outward. This cutting was, of necessity, 



502328—60 9 



