The Price We’ve Paid: From Salvage Archaeology to Cultural Resource Management and Beyond in the Missouri River Basin

Abstract

The Missouri River basin is the largest and most managed drainage in the United States because of the seven dams on the mainstem and more than 60 dams on the tributaries. Most of these dams were authorized under the Flood Control Act of 1944. The passage of this act also resulted in one of the most massive salvage archaeology projects yet in this country:the Smithsonian Institution’s River Basin Surveys and the Interagency Archaeological and Paleontological Salvage Program. These programs marked the onset of the modern era of cultural resource management and contributed to the passage of the major cultural resource legislation that still guides federal agencies. As. such, the River Basin Surveys activities and the results of those activities continue to influence archaeology in the basin.