plr. m igf' INVESTIGATIONS AT FORT STEVENSON — SMITH 193 



the various object materials found was whether they were burnt or 

 damaged by fire, and hence pertained to a period preceding the fire 

 of 1894. 



On the evidence from excavation of the South Barracks, and from 

 the documentary record, the Barracks of Fort Stevenson thus dif- 

 fered in construction in no important respect from that of the Hospital, 

 previously described. Adobe-brick masonry walls resting upon stone- 

 masonry footings, timberwork (the exact design of which is not 

 known), and fired brick chimneys, were the major architectural ele- 

 ments. Only one major alteration had been accomplished at the site 

 of the South Barracks subsequent to the military period, that of the 

 addition of a cistern of brick masonry and Portland cement. 



COMMISSARY STOREHOUSE 



The Commissary Storehouse, in which were housed the subsistence 

 stores of the post, was a balloon-frame structure, built in 1873 (Matti- 

 son, 1951, p. 34). It is said to have been the only building of the 

 post built in this architectural style, which was first emj)loyed about 

 1850, and soon became the most common style for most wooden build- 

 ings, large and small, public and private. The exact date at which 

 this building was destroyed by fire is not known, but this occurred 

 at some time after 1885, in which year the former storehouse was in 

 use as a girls' dormitory of the Indian school, as is known from a 

 ground plan of the former post made at that time (Mattison, 1951, 

 p. 37, tracing of photostat or original plan in National Archives; 

 the date of the original is 1885, rather than 1863, as shown) . Though 

 not specifically mentioned in connection with the fires of the summer 

 of 1894, the building may have burned at that time. Subsequently, 

 much of the salvageable building material had been removed. 



The record of the sale of the public property, in 1897, shows the 

 sale of a commissary building, but this building can hardly have been 

 the original Commissary Storehouse of the period 1873-85, in view 

 of the archeological evidence of the destruction of this building by 

 fire (Mattison, 1951, p. 40). After the destruction of the original 

 Commissary Storehouse, perhaps in 1894, another building may 

 have been used for the purpose by the Indian school, until the removal 

 of the school, soon afterward, to the Indian agency location at Elbo- 

 woods. The original Quartermaster Storehouse, which faced the 

 Commissary Storehouse on the opposite side of the parade, survived 

 somewhat longer, and this may be the building referred to in the sale 

 record of 1897. A photograph said to have been taken "about 1895" 

 shows this quartermaster building in good repair (Mattison, 1951, 

 opp. p. 2). ^ ^ 



The site of the original Commissary Storehouse, on the south side 

 of the parade ground and near the southwest corner (fig. 15), was 



