Garrison Reservoir Geology, Paleontology, Archeology, History>

Even before Europeans first arrived in the New World, the twisting course of the Missouri River was the home of unnumbered generations of Indian Farmers, people who cultivated small plots of maize in the well-watered bottomlands and hunted bison in the plains beyond. With the coming of explorers and the inevitable expansion of the American frontier, the river became a focus of another sort. The Missouri served as a route of movement for fur traders, and later, for a surge of gold seekers and settlers heading for the nearer northwest. At the same time, the "mainstem," as it has come to be called, formed the backbone of a chain of military posts designed to protect and pacify the hostile frontier.

A significant portion of this long history is centered in the area that is now the Garrison Reservoir. The remains of Indian villages and camps, trading posts and military establishments were once to be found there in surprising numbers; now most are submerged, gone forever except for stray fragments exposed by the changing water level of the reservoir. Before they disappeared, a number of the prehistoric sites and places of historic significance were carefully studied and excavated by archeologists and historians representing many state and federal agencies. This was accomplished as part of a unique program, a salvage effort, carried out by the federal government, to sample, to record, and to document important parts of our national heritage before they are destroyed forever.

The construction of dams and reservoirs, the stabilizing of river banks, and a host of additional water control and hydroelectric projects are bringing great changes to many of our major river systems. Valleys have been transformed into lakes, and meandering streams brought into controlled channels, all made necessary by an expanding population and the demands of a dynamic economy. The river valleys hold a key to electric power, and disastrous floods must be prevented at all costs. But it is precisely in the affected areas, along our rivers, that much of the record of our Indian precursors and of our immediate historic past is to be found.

The Inter-Agency Archeological Salvage Program was organized to preserve and to interpret the paleontological, archeological, and historic remains threatened with destruction by ederal water control and hydroelectric projects. The program is administered by the U. S. National Park Service, with the advice of the Smithsonian Institution. Federal funds provide support for much of the work, but state, local, and even private contributions are utilized.

The excavation and recording of historic and prehistoric sites is but one aspect of the program. The material objects recovered, the artifacts, such as arrow points, pottery, military insignia, and the like, are preserved in the U. S. National Museum, in specialized museums of the National Park Service, or in the repositories of the participating states. Here they are reminders of the past—public property, equally available to all—but there is still another consideration, and in the long run a more important purpose to be served. Objects are not gathered for their own sake. True, many of them, even the commonplace of a century past, are interesting in themselves, but the archeologist and the historian look beyond. Artifacts are tools, tools which can be used to amplify the written history of books and records, and tools which can be used to write history where no written history exists. This, then, is the ultimate purpose of the program, to extend mans' knowledge of himself—to interpret the past, making it meaningful for today.

The Inter-Agency Archeological Salvage Program operates over the entire United States. The Garrison Dam and Reservoir are a part of the Missouri Basin, the largest single geographic unit within the scope of the program. The Missouri Basin includes approximately one-sixth of the land area of the United States, exclusive of Alaska. Ten states, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana, fall partially or wholly within the boundaries of the basin. Six major dams have been built or are in process of construction along the mainstem, and innumerable smaller projects have affected tributary streams.

The initial stimulus for the salvage program was provided by the Committee for the Recovery of Archeological Remains, an independent group composed of representatives from the Society for American Archeology, the American Anthropological Association, and the American Council of Learned Societies. The Committee was formed in response to the threatened destruction of important paleontological, archeological, and historic sites by public construction projects within the United States. The U. S. National Park Service, in conjunction with the Smithsonian Institution agreed to administer the program on a national scale. Actual field investigations are carried out by units of the Smithsonian Institution and by a large group of state agencies. The U. S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U. S. Bureau of Reclamation have provided support from the beginning. Their cooperation has been essential. Without their recognition of the peculiar archeological and historical problems involved, the salvage effort would have been impossible.

Despite setbacks and temporary retrenchments, the program has been highly successful. Paleontological, archeological, and historical sites have been destroyed by the construction of dams and the flooding of reservoirs but this has not been a total disaster. Archeological research, in particular, has received an important stimulus. The construction programs of federal and state agencies have made possible a comprehensive, integrated program of archeological work that would not have been practical under ordinary circumstances. No single institution or foundation could bear the burden alone.

It is true that irreparable losses have occurred, but this has been inevitable since it has never been possible to excavate every archeological site of importance. An effort has been made, however, to secure a sample from the cultures represented in each endangered area. This has resulted in the accumulation of a vast amount of information helping to clarify the story of the aboriginal peoples of North America. In this sense, the salvage program has been a particularly successful effort aimed at the reconstruction of an important part of the American past.