10 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I07 



trained scientists may hope to reconstruct the story of man's centuries- 

 long effort to dwell in the .varied and often trying environment of the 

 Missouri Basin. 



At the request of the Bureau of Reclamation and the Corps of En- 

 gineers, the National Park Service, Department of the Interior, has 

 undertaken a survey of recreation opportunities that may arise from 

 construction of multipurpose reservoirs throughout the United States. 

 Further, in recognition of the fact that numerous archeological and 

 paleontological sites will be destroyed, the National Park Service and 

 the Smithsonian Institution have entered into a memorandum of 

 understanding. In accord with this agreement 



. . . the National Park Service, in the course of its recreational studies of 

 the proposed reservoir areas will call to the attention of the Smithsonian In- 

 stitution the locations of all of the proposed dams and reservoirs ; and the Smith- 

 sonian Institution will advise the National Park Service as to the number and 

 importance of the known archeological or paleontological sites located within 

 such reservoir areas, and recommend such surveys in the field as seem indicated. 



This memorandum of understanding, signed for the National Park 

 Service on August 7, 1945, for the Smithsonian Institution on Sep- 

 tember 8, 1945, and approved by the Secretary of the Interior on 

 October 9, 1945, is the basis for archeological and paleontological 

 investigations wherever they are called for by the river development 

 program. Like the river development plans, the scientific salvage pro- 

 gram is of nation-wide scope. The Missouri River Basin project is 

 the first of the full-scale River Basin Surveys, under the over-all di- 

 rection of Dr. F. H. H. Roberts, Jr., to be undertaken by the Smith- 

 sonian Institution under this cooperative arrangement. 



The program envisioned by the Smithsonian Institution for the 

 Missouri River Basin has for its primary objective the fullest possible 

 recording and salvaging of archeological and paleontological remains 

 located within, and immediately adjacent to, the boundaries of author- 

 ized and proposed reservoir sites. Such a program must provide for 

 (i) establishment of field office and laboratory facilities where speci- 

 mens can be processed, maps, field notes, and other records held on 

 file, and analytical work carried out for the preparation of full tech- 

 nical reports for publication; (2) preliminary surveys to locate all 

 possible antiquities within specific reservoir units; (3) limited test- 

 excavations to determine which sites appear to be of primary impor- 

 tance ; (4) a more intensive follow-up scheme of extended excavation 

 at those sites whose size, comparative richness or uniqueness, depth 

 of overburden, historical position, representativeness of a locality, or 

 other characteristics promise particularly informative results in rela- 



