pIpI^o/iq?" investigations at fort STEVENSON — SMITH 165 



32MN8, 32MN9, and 32MZ1). The work of Montana State Uni- 

 versity and that of the State Historical Society of North Dakota 

 in 1951 and 1952 were carried out under cooperative agreements with 

 the National Park Service. 



Owing to sharp curtailment of funds there was only one small 

 project in the Garrison Reservoir area in 1953. That was the con- 

 tinuation of work at the Grandmother's Lodge site (32ME59) by a 

 small party from the State Historical Society of North Dakota under 

 the direction of Alan R. Wool worth. 



During the several years of accelerated field activity, brought about 

 by the emergency situation of dam construction, the Garrison Reser- 

 voir area provided much important information on American fron- 

 tier history, American Indian prehistory, and paleontological distri- 

 bution of fossil animals. Of these, not the least important is the 

 period of American frontier history. The application of archeological 

 field methods to the study of sites of Wliite provenience such as that 

 of Fort Stevenson is not new in American studies. It has long been 

 realized that broader bases of White history in the New World can 

 often be supplied through site excavations. Notable examples are 

 Jamestown, Va., and Grand Portage, Minn. In one sense, though, the 

 work at Fort Stevenson was a pioneer effort in historical studies on 

 the upper Missouri. 



It may, at first consideration, seem a waste of time and money to 

 excavate a site about which contemporary records tell so much. Yet 

 verification of those records for a military post of as much importance 

 as Fort Stevenson is significant, especially when the documentary 

 evidence is materially supplemented by the findings in the excavations, 

 as was the case here. Fort Stevenson had its very reason for exist- 

 ence in the native history of the frontier. Throughout its military 

 use, and its later service as an Indian school, Fort Stevenson continued 

 to reflect some of the effects of groups of cultures in contact. The 

 contact here between Indian cultures — Mandan, Arikara, Hidatsa, 

 Sioux, Cheyenne, and others — and White cultures — traders, explorers, 

 settlers, and military personnel — had begun nearly two centuries 

 before. The last third of the 19th century, when Fort Stevenson was 

 in use, was the climax of this contact period. It is worthy of note 

 that at such a time few artifacts of native origin were in use at this 

 post. It is not without interest, furthermore, that the history of Fort 

 Stevenson is directly connected with the history of the region today, 

 more than half a century after the abandonment of the frontier post. 

 For instance, it was because infantry companies of the United States 

 Army were garrisoned at this place that a nearby stream received 

 the name of Garrison Creek. Subsequently a village established near 

 the headwaters of this creek was also named Garrison. From this 



