200 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 176 



Excavation showed that the remains of this structure had been ob- 

 scured by a heavy mantle of mixed earth, containing bits of building 

 debris such as broken fired brick and fragments of lime mortar. 

 There was also a great deal of fine gravel; this was probably intro- 

 duced on the site of the South Officers' Quarters at the, time of the 

 excavation of the cellar beneath the Commanding Officer's Quarters 

 immediately to the north. (A break in the masonry footing of the 

 south wall of the Commanding Officer's Quarters, on the side toward 

 the present building, and an apparent cellar entrance depression, sug- 

 gests that the excavated material was moved directly out over the 

 site of the South Officers' Quarters.) Two small trash pits had also 

 been dug at the site, at some time after the destruction of the build- 

 ing, and these contained recent refuse. A fence running across the 

 site of the building was not removed during excavations. 



The excavated remnants of this building did not differ materially 

 from those previously found at other building sites, except that this 

 site had been more extensively altered, through the removal of almost 

 every part of the original building except for the lowermost parts of 

 the stone masonry footings (fig. 19; pi. 44, a). At no point was the 

 footing preserved to its full original height, and the midline footing 

 had been completely removed throughout a great part of its course. 

 The stone masonry here, as elsewhere about the site of the fort, con- 

 sisted of field stone, sometimes cracked to provide a face, and this 

 face placed toward the inside or outside surface of the footing. These 

 larger stones had then occasionally been chinked and fitted with 

 spalls and smaller rocks. At no point had this footing been placed 

 in lime mortar, so far as could be seen in the remaining portions. 



It became clear on excavating that the building had been completely 

 removed, probably soon after its purchase in 1897 and at a time when 

 it was in sound condition, since the only timber remains found were 

 those of three decayed sills, of heavy plank, probably native cotton- 

 wood (fig. 19). These sills were probably parts of the frames of 

 wooden ventilators that had given access to the space beneath the 

 original floors of the building. They had been placed at too low an 

 elevation to have served as the base for door sills, and the plan of 

 1879 shows the two front doors (leading to the separate parts of the 

 building) near the midline of the whole, rather than in the position 

 in which the wood was found. No other timber remains suggested 

 anything of the original architectural detail of the building, nor was 

 any common fired brick found that could be related to the original 

 chimneys. 



Adobe earth was encountered in excavation at this site, but no adobe 

 brick (fired or unfired), nor any other evidence of fire damage to the 

 building. Smaller objects found were of little assistance in tracing 



