PAp'.^o.l9f' INVESTIGATIONS AT FORT STEVENSON — SMITH 177 



"offset" between the south building line of the parade and the south 

 building line of the South Officers' Quarters, and that between the 

 north line of the parade and the north line of the North Officers' Quar- 

 ters, having somehow been overlooked. The narrative inspection re- 

 port of 1879, submitted separately from the plan of the same year, gives 

 these figures as 195 and 331 feet, respectively, and is therefore also 

 inaccurate (Mattison, 1951, p. 32). 



The plan of 1879 was available in photocopy during excavations, 

 and was most useful in studying the site. The plan is, in fact, basic 

 to an understanding of the whole site, and the designation of par- 

 ticular sites, areas, and details as given therein was adhered to in re- 

 cording excavations, rather than introducing arbitrary, new desig- 

 nations. Only occasionally was the term "feature," familiar in much 

 archeological field work, used ; the architectural term "detail," is more 

 apropriate. It seemed preferable to refer to room areas of various 

 buildings (e.g., of the Hospital) according to the identification given 

 in 1879 ("bake house," "kitchen," etc.), rather than to assign arbitrary 

 references without regard to probable or known functions, despite the 

 fact that these buildings are known to have been variously used at 

 different times. To have introduced new field references would have 

 been to confuse the study of the contemporary record as well as of the 

 archeological evidence. 



Some record should here be made of the fate of the remains of Fort 

 Stevenson subsequent to the abandoimient of the buildings by the Fed- 

 eral Government and their public sale in December 1897 (Matti- 

 son, 1951, p. 39). From the evidence of a few surviving photographs 

 and local tradition as well as of excavation, only the Commanding 

 Officer's Quarters remained intact for any length of time. This build- 

 ing was used by several families as a farm home and, later, as a 

 granary, and was finally demolished about 1945. At some time during 

 the use of this building as a private home, a cellar was excavated 

 beneath the structure, and large portions of the footings between the 

 north and south halves of the building, and of the south footing, were 

 completely removed. This is said to have so weakened the structure 

 that it became miinhabitable ; subsequently it was used for storage of 

 grain and this further misuse doubtless hastened its destruction. 



A large barn, standing in 1951 but subsequently demolished, im- 

 mediately west of the parade ground, was built at some time between 

 1883 and 1894, during the period of the use of the former post as an 

 Indian school (pi. 34, a). This barn was, in 1951, smaller than when 

 originally built, and parts of the footings of the larger original could 

 still be seen. Local informants stated that the barn had merely been 

 cut down in size from the original, after extensive wind damage at 

 some time in the past, and was not reconstructed. It is probable that 

 many of the large cottonwood timbers used in the original barn had 



