PAP.^o.'l9f' INVESTIGATIONS AT FORT STEVENSON — SMITH 169 



neers, 1892). Inspection of an aerial photograph of that portion of 

 the river, taken April 4, 1943, suggests that the river, since 1870, had 

 retreated about one-half mile at this point, leaving new land not then 

 in existence (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, MRD-1-89, 1943 b). 

 This topographic change in the vicinity of Fort Stevenson was of 

 historical importance because of its bearing on the problem of the 

 location of the original warehouse and steamboat landing, not pre- 

 cisely recorded, so far as is known. 



The recent bottom land between the first terrace and the main chan- 

 nel of the Missouri was well timbered with cottonwood and ash, and a 

 few small open areas adjacent to the terrace were in use as hay land. 

 That this bottom land, then probably narrower than in 1951, was 

 not well timbered in 1867 is clear from the fact that it was then neces- 

 sary to obtain suitable saw logs for use at the new post from the 

 opposite (south) side of the river (Mattison, 1951, p. 27). The 

 gathering of fuel in the immediate vicinity of the post must soon have 

 stripped it of timber resources, and it is probable that still earlier 

 search for fuel and building materials, by Indians and by "wood- 

 hawks" who supplied steamboats with fuel, had begun this denuding 

 of the bottom lands. Official records show that cutting of timber on 

 the military and Indian reservations was a source of conflict between 

 the military and the Indians, as well as civilian white persons (ibid., 

 p. 27). 



Evidence of the fact that these bottom lands were largely bare of 

 timber in the late 1860's, and that a full view of the river itself could 

 be had from the post at that time, is contained in the journal of General 

 de Trobriand, then commandant, who mentions the passage on the 

 river of war parties of Indians in bullboats, and of miners from Mon- 

 tana in Mackinaw boats (de Trobriand, 1951, pp. 131-133, 150). 

 These parties were seen on the river from the temporary camp area 

 immmediately east of the site of the permanent post, whereas no part 

 of the main channel could be seen in 1951 from the site of Fort 

 Stevenson, because of the widening of the bottom land and growth of 

 new timber in recent years. 



Only one reference to extreme high water in the Missouri near Fort 

 Stevenson has been encountered, though spring flood waters frequently 

 inundated the bottom lands near the post (ibid., p. 254; account of the 

 breakup of the ice on March 25, 1868). It was recorded that in 1866 

 flood waters approached within 12 feet of the site of the future post. 

 Such a rise would mean that the level of the main channel rose approxi- 

 mately 18 feet, opposite the post. Except in periods of such extreme 

 flooding or of excessive precipitation, however, the site of the post was 

 probably a very suitable one, affording good surface and subsoil drain- 

 age. The post surgeon stated in 1875 that "the natural drainage is 

 perfectly efficient, hence there are no artificial drains, and none [are] 



