166 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Boll. 176 



community, now a city, the great Garrison Dam and Reservoir take 

 their name. 



Mr. Smith's careful analysis of the results of this excavation and 

 his thoroughgoing annotation of the sources and probable develop- 

 ments of specific artifacts and site features make the present paper 

 a worthwhile contribution to the study of frontier history. His use 

 of contemporary accounts to interpret the archeological findings, 

 furthermore, provides additional basic data for the archeologist to 

 employ in interpreting materials from other sites where no contempo- 

 rary record exists. 

 January 1954, 



Robert L. Stephenson 



Chief, Missouri Basin Project, 



Lincoln, Nehr. 



INTRODUCTION 



The report that follows is a description of excavations at, and 

 object materials obtained from, the site of the late 19th-century mili- 

 tary post of Fort Stevenson, in the Garrison Reservoir area, N. Dak. 

 It is based primarily upon data collected for the Missouri Basin Proj- 

 ect, Smithsonian Institution, during the summer of 1951. Other 

 comparative data were gathered from the literature concerning the 

 period, and from excavations a^t comparable historic sites. A pre- 

 liminary account of the results of the Fort Stevenson investigations 

 appeared in 1954 (Smith, G. H.) . 



The archeological work accomplished at the site of Fort Stevenson 

 was possible only through the cooperation of a number of institutions 

 and individuals. Dr. Frank H. H. Roberts, Jr., director of the Bu- 

 reau of American Etlmology and director of the River Basin Sur- 

 veys, always in close touch with the work, provided ever helpful 

 supervision. The River Basin Surveys staff in Lincoln exerted every 

 effort, in preparation for the work beforehand and in the routine 

 cataloging, processing, and preparation of the materials after the 

 excavation was finished, as well as in facilitating the work in the field. 

 Paul L. Cooper, George Metcalf, Dean E. Clark, Evelyn B. Stewart, 

 Nathaniel Dewell, Lee G. Madison, and Clara Rehn were especially 

 helpful, Russell Reid and the staff of the State Historical Society 

 of North Dakota assisted immeasurably in providing access to his- 

 torical documents and in many other ways. The staff of the Corps of 

 Engineers, Garrison District, particularly Col. R. J. B. Page, was 

 always cooperative and provided real help and encouragement. The 

 staff of the Region Two Office of the National Park Service, especially 

 Merrill J. Mattes, Ray H. Mattison, and Gordon C. Baldwin, aided 

 in field activities and documentary research. Dr. John W. Robinson, 

 formerly State Veterinarian of North Dakota, constantly provided 



