Recollections of a Missouri Valley Salvage Archaeologist

Abstract

found ourselves in a fierce blizzard before we got there. We were forced to spend the night in the only hotel in that town, along with many others who were caught by the blizzard. The hotel rooms were all full, and some people had to sleep in the lobby. Our infant son had to sleep in a dresser drawer. We spent eight weeks that summer partially excavating the Swanson site. We had a total of $6,000, half from the South Dakota Archaeological Commission and the same from the National Park Service. This amount was barely sufficient to hire 15 college students and to purchase surplus army tents, other salvage military equipment, and an old Chevrolet pickup. In the contract with the NPS, the museum agreed to excavate one house completely and as many others as time would permit and to cut at least one trench across the entire site to find the features between the houses. We accomplished the excavations agreed upon and did some lab work in the field. However, we decided that eight weeks was too long to spend in the field and thereafter spent only six weeks. It was always difficult to find a satisfactory location for a camp in the Missouri valley. At the Swanson site we had to haul water for drinking and other camp uses. There and at other campsites the water was distinctly unpleasant, and we used a lot of Kool-Aid. We rigged up a shower with a barrel and canvas, but most crew members used the nearby Missouri River for bathing. We selected the campsite on the recommendation of the landowner, who told us that, because of the wind, we should be down in the bottoms (Figures 1 and 2). There was always a lot of wind in the Missouri valley, but in addition that summer there was a lot of rain. One day after a cloudburst, a flash flood