From July 19 to November 3 of 1950, a survey and excavation program (Archeological Reconnaissance of Historic Sites) was conducted in what would later become the Fort Randall Reservoir area.  The purpose was to locate and if possible determine the physical appearance of historic sites which would shortly be flooded by the Fort Randall Reservoir.

An important feature of the program was to photograph the ruins and gather representative artifacts from each site to be placed in museums.  The goal was to visually portray the history of the area and that of the Native Americans who occupied this area for hundreds of years.

This work was carried on for the National Park Service by the Smithsonian Institution as part of the Missouri River Basin Survey program.  The historical research which was a necessary prelim was performed by Regional Historian Merrill Mattes of the National Park Service Region Two Office in Omaha.

Mattes identified 115 historic sites in the future Fort Randall Reservoir area.  Ninety of these sites included historic landmarks such as islands, streams, steamboat landings, location of steamboat wrecks, and geographical landmarks.  The remaining twenty-five included 6 trading posts, 4 military posts, 3 defunct Indian Agencies, 8 abandoned towns or settlements and 4 churches and cemeteries which were considered of importance to the history of this area.

“. . . it is remarkable that a 90-mile stretch of a river,” the preliminary report revealed, “should have so many places of historic interest; eight of these were concentrated within 10 miles of Chamberlain, South Dakota.”

Those conducting the survey and excavation program “were especially interested in locating the trading posts and army posts of the pre-civil war period as they were involved in the earliest chapters of South Dakota history.

Obtaining exact knowledge of their construction and location would be an important contribution to American history.  These early 1800 posts were:

• Military Posts – Fort Randall I (1856 – 1870) and Fort Lookout (1856 – 1857)
• Trading Posts – Handy’s Trading Post (1843), BiJou’s Trading Post (1812-1813), Fort Recovery or Cedar Fort (1822-1832), Fort Lookout (1822-1851), Sublette’s House (1833), Campbell’s Trading Post (1848)

Fort Randall I was built in 1856 on the west bank of the Missouri on Handy’s Point.  The ruins were directly in line with the axis of the dam and would be obliterated by the construction program when the dam was completed.  Photographs of the area were taken and any artifacts found at the site of Fort Randall were saved.

The ruins of Fort Randall II, built from 1870 – 72 and abandoned in 1892 were well marked by the old cellars belonging to buildings in the quadrangle.  The only structure still standing was the Fort Randall church which was built in 1872 of chalkstone blocks.  The site of Fort Randall II and the church would not be disturbed by the dam construction and were preserved as part of the interpretive program.

Following the assumption from historic references that the older Fort Randall I had been built farther to the north and west in the construction area, an intensive reconnaissance of the locality was made.  Mr. William Curwin, former owner of the land was interviewed.  He had farmed the area for many years.  He denied finding the cellars or camp debris in the area and a careful reconnaissance resulted in only negative results.

Officials were forced to the conclusion that Fort Randall I had occupied much the same area as Fort Randall II, a contention that has been supported by later historical evidence.  Probably as the old log buildings were torn down, new buildings were put in much the same places.  This would have allowed the use of cellars previously dug and would have facilitated the re-use of the old foundations, etc. in the new buildings.

Merrill Mattes, writing in the Nebraska History magazine of July-September 1947 proclaimed that “At least 50 percent of the significant historic sites affected by water development in the entire Missouri River Basin lie within or on the border of Fort Randall, Big Bend, Oahe, and Garrison projects . . . .”

Undoubtedly, the most comprehensive reports on the historic sites in the Fort Randall Reservoir area is a 107 page report which appeared in the Volume 24 issue of the South Dakota Historical Collections and published by the State Historical Society (Pierre) in 1949.  “Report on Historic Sites in the Fort Randall Reservoir Area, Missouri River, South Dakota” was compiled by Merrill J. Mattes who was an historian on the staff of the Missouri River Basin Recreation Survey of the National Park Service with headquarters in Omaha, Nebraska.

Beginning with the original site of old Fort Randall, the ruins of the post chapel, steamboat landing, and  Indian mounds located below the Fort Randall dam structure, Mattes reviewed hundreds of diaries, maps, and other historical documents.  He identified and located all known historical sites before the dam was closed and water began to collect above the dam.

A copy of this publication is available at the Historical Society Museum in Dallas.

 

Author Clarence Shoemaker, originally published in the Gregory Times-Advocate on April 17, 2024