plp.^o!l9r INVESTIGATIONS AT FORT STEVENSON — SMITH 



199 



able that the other Officers' Quarters were completed about the same 

 time. From the mention of the sale of three separate officers' quar- 

 ters in December 1897, it is probable that the South Officers' Quar- 

 ters, one of the three, survived until that date. It was probably 

 demolished soon thereafter, leaving little evidence of its original con- 

 struction above the footings themselves. 



The site of the South Officers' Quarters (fig. 19; pi. 44, a) was 

 completely obscured on the surface of the ground when first ap- 

 proached, and was covered by a continuous heavy sod with few weeds. 

 Excavation was begun by trenching at the assumed location of the 

 southeast corner of the building, according to the plan of 1879. It 

 soon became apparent that an error had been made in preparing that 

 plan, since the corner sought was found approximately 14 feet north of 

 the point at which it had been shown. (The photostat of the ground 

 plan of 1879, in National Park Service Region Two and Missouri 

 Basin Project files, is reduced one-half from the original. The orig- 

 inal seems to have been somewhat unskillfully drawn, and may be 

 somewhat distorted as a result of shrinkage of the cloth ; but this does 

 not account for the error in measurement of the parade ground.) 



Field Slone Footina 



32 MLI 

 Ground Plan of The 

 South Officers^ Quarters 



Figure 19. — Ground plan of the site of the South Officers' Quarters, Fort Stevenson 



showing excavations of 1951. 



