292 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 176 



Settlements. Not until the 1830's, or even later, were white women at 

 Fort Union, the successor to Kipp's Post. An Indian wife, or wives, 

 living at the site would readily account for some of the articles of 

 native manufacture found in the pits inside the enclosure. 



A more plausible explanation, however, for the presence of these 

 native artifacts is that Kipp or other employees had Indian women 

 at the post. The material traits of a culture are often surprisingly 

 tenacious, and as the post was located a long distance from the com- 

 mercial sources of supply, native artifacts would not likely suffer 

 much competition. 



COMPARISON WITH OTHER FUR TRADE POSTS 



This site was smaller than other comparable fur trade post locations 

 for which data are available, and the structures were less numerous. 

 The presence of a single bastion, rather than paired blockhouses, 

 is also at variance. Two features at Kipp's were not found at Fort 

 Berthold I or Fort Berthold II. These were : 



(1) Long shallow trenches parallel to the north and east palisade walls, for 

 which no function can be demonstrated. 



(2) Deep, subrectangular pits with steep walls and rounded or flat bottoms and 

 a low ridge of earth across their short axes. These were floored with boards, and 

 probably functioned as storage pits. 



Several features were absent that were present in the posts of Fort 

 Berthold I and Fort Berthold II, both of which were later in time 

 and occupied for a longer period. They include deep rectangular cel- 

 lars and latrine pits (Smith and Woolworth, 1954). Latrines would 

 have been convenient, particularly in winter, but if such features were 

 used they must have been located outside the palisade walls, since no 

 evidence for them was found within the enclosure. 



LITEKATURE CITED 

 Abel, A. H., Editor. 



1932. Chardon's Journal at Fort Clark, 1834-39. Pierre. 

 Bauseb, Fbiedbich. 



1938. Second journey of Prince Paul. South Dakota Hist. Coll., vol. 19, 

 pp. 472-73. Pierre. 

 Eeaubien, Paul L. 



MS. Preliminary report of the archeological investigations at Fort Laramie 

 National Monument, 1950. MS. in files (1951) of the National 

 Park Service, Region Two, Omaha, Nebr. 

 Beeeling, Lutie T. 



1954. [Newspaper article.] Mountrail County Promoter, Jan. 14, 1954, 

 Stanley, N. Dak. 

 Chittenden, H. M. 



1954. The American fur trade of the Far West. 2 vols. Academic reprints, 

 Stanford, Calif. 

 CoTJES, Elliott, Editor, see Laepenteur, Charles. 



