SEVENTY-SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT 7 



ing the fiscal year 1958-59 the work of the Eiver Basin Surveys was 

 supported by a transfer of $162,000 from the National Park Service to 

 the Smithsonian Institution. Of that sum, $137,000 was for use in 

 the Missouri Basin and $25,000 was for investigations along the 

 Chattahoochee Eiver in Alabama and Georgia. The Missouri Basin 

 Project had a carryover of $22,173 on July 1, 1958, and that, with 

 the new appropriation, provided a total of $159,173 for the program 

 in that area. The grand total of funds available for the Eiver Basin 

 Surveys for 1958-59 was $184,173. 



Field investigations throughout the year consisted mainly of exca- 

 vations, although some limited surveys were carried on. On July 1, 

 1958, 10 parties were in the field, all of them working in the Missouri 

 Basin in South Dakota. Five of the parties were doing intensive 

 digging in the Big Bend Eeservoir area near Fort Thompson, four 

 were excavating, and one was doing survey testing in the Oahe Eeser- 

 voir area north of Pierre. Most of the field parties had returned to 

 their headquarters at Lincoln, Nebr., by the end of August. Two 

 small parties made brief investigations in the Merritt and Big Bend 

 Eeservoir areas during December and January. In February three 

 parties began excavations and test excavations along the Chattahoo- 

 chee Eiver in Alabama-Georgia. The latter continued operations 

 until late in June, when work was stopped and the men returned to 

 their headquarters. Early in June a party from the Missouri Basin 

 project headquarters began excavations in several sites in the construc- 

 tion area for the Big Bend Dam in South Dakota. 



As of June 30, 1959, reservoir areas where archeological surveys 

 had been made or excavations carried on since the beginning of field- 

 work by the Eiver Basin Surveys in the summer of 1946 totaled 

 254, located in 29 States. Two lock projects and four canal areas 

 had also been examined. The survey parties have located 4,909 

 archeological sites, and of that number 1,017 have been recommended 

 for excavation or limited testing. The term "excavation" in this re- 

 spect does not imply the complete uncovering of a site, but rather 

 digging only enough of it to obtain a good sample of the materials 

 and information to be found there. While many of the locations 

 are unquestionably of sufficient importance to warrant complete exca- 

 vation, the needs of the salvage program make it impossible to con- 

 duct so extensive an investigation at any one location. 



Preliminary appraisal reports have been issued for all the reservoir 

 areas surveyed, with the exception of the three along the Chattahoo- 

 chee Eiver. The manuscripts of two of those reports have been com- 

 pleted and the third is well underway, so that all of them will be 

 processed early in the coming fiscal year. The preliminary appraisal 

 report for the Big Bend Eeservoir area in South Dakota was mime- 



533783—60 2 



