In Niles, Michigan William Cremin Western Michigan University
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Western Michigan University ScholarWorks at WMU Archaeological Reports Anthropology 1999 22-An Archaeological Reconnaissance Survey to Locate Remains of Fort St. Joseph (20BE23) in Niles, Michigan William Cremin Western Michigan University Renee Lutes-Kurtzweil Christine McMillan Michael S. Nassaney Western Michigan University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/archaeological_reports Part of the Archaeological Anthropology Commons Report Number: 22 WMU ScholarWorks Citation Cremin, William; Lutes-Kurtzweil, Renee; McMillan, Christine; and Nassaney, Michael S., "22-An Archaeological Reconnaissance Survey to Locate Remains of Fort St. Joseph (20BE23) in Niles, Michigan" (1999). Archaeological Reports. 23. https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/archaeological_reports/23 This Report is brought to you for free and open access by the Anthropology at ScholarWorks at WMU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Archaeological Reports by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at WMU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. An Archaeological Reconnaissance Survey to Locate Remains of Fort St. Joseph (20BE23) in Niles, Michigan edited by Michael S. N assaney •, ', Contributions by: William Cremin, Renee Lutes-Kurtzweil, Christine McMillan, and Michael S. Nassaney Archaeological Report No. 22 Department of Anthropology WESTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSl AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECONNAISSANCE SURVEY TO LOCATE REMAINS OF FORT ST. JOSEPH (20BE23) IN NILES, MICHIGAN edited by: Michael S. N assaney With contributionsby: William Cremin, Renee Lutes-Kurtzweil, rhristineMcMi llan, and Michael S. Nassaney Presented to: Mr. Hal E. Springer, President Support the Fort, Inc. 1011 Broadway Niles, MI49120 Archaeological Report No. 22 Presented by: Department of Anthropology Western Michigan University Kalamazoo, MI49008-5032 April, 1999 Cover illustration: A pair of cuff links, a lead cloth seal, and a Micmac pipe are among the 18th century objects recovered from the project area in Niles, Michigan. © 1999 Department of Anthropology Western Michigan University Kalamazoo, MI49008-5032 All rights reserved This study was conducted through funding provided by Support the Fort, Inc., with the assistance of the MichiganHumanities Council. ii ;.,, ; : ABSTRACT An archaeological reconnaissance survey was conducted in search of material remains of Fort St. Joseph in a 15-acre parcel owned by the City of Niles, Michigan. The French established the settlement in 1691 for religious, military, and commercial purposes and it served as an important frontier outpost for nearly a century. The British came to control the fort in 1761 until the Spanish briefly captured it two decades later. The site, which was nominated to the NationalRegister of Historic Places in the 1970s, has local, regional, national, and global significance. Its changing fortunes have given Niles the nickname, "The City of Four Flags." The use of the parcel as a landfill in the 20th century has obscured the exact locationof the fort. Documentary evidence suggested that the fort was indeed located within the project area. A walkover survey, subsurface testing, backhoe trenching, informant interviews, and geophysical applications were employed to locate physical evidence of past land-use practices in the parcel. Evidence of Native American (pre-Contact?) through 20th century activities was identified. Native American remains consist of chippingdebris, two projectilepoints, a few ceramic sherds, and three stone pipe fragments on the terraces overlooking the floodplain. Their distribution suggests limited use of the area, perhaps into the historic period. A light scatter of 18th and 19th century objects was also identified on these terraces. Bricks, nails, and ceramics were probably associated with the farmstead and barn that occupied the site when intensive collector activity took place prior to the 1920s. Other temporally diagnostic artifacts (a hand wrought nail, window and bottle glass, a musket ball) likely derive from colonial activity in the vicinity. Much of the area is now covered by a 20th century landfill. Testing of the landfill was limited to the placement of three backhoe trenches that were dug through the fill to examine the old ground surface for historic remains with equivocal results. The most significant findings of the survey are the materials that were brought to our attention by a local amateur collector who had used a metal detector to identify and recover a collection of predominantly metal colonial artifacts from the edge of the river in the project area. Subsequent subsurface testing located a smaller, but complementary assemblage of objects that include gun flints, gun parts, brass kettle fragments, lead waste, seed beads, and European earthenware ceramics. In addition, possible architectural remains were noted and a well-preserved assemblage of animal bones that probably derives from subsistence remains was collected. These materials appear to be associated with the colonial occupation of Fort St. Joseph. Further investigation is strongly recommended to determine the spatial extent of the deposits and assess their depositional context. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS A number of individuals and institutions have shown interest in, and provided support for, this research project. First of all, I would like to thank Mr. Hal Springer and other members of Support the Fort, Inc. for inviting me to conduct this study. Their support has underwritten much of the background research, field work, data analysis, and report preparation. Most of the fieldwork was conducted by a small paid crew fromWestern Michigan University (WMU) assisted by a larger group of enthusiastic volunteers affiliated with WMU and Support the Fort. I appreciate all of their help. Others who aided our search for documentary information include the office staff of the Soil Conservation Service in Berrien Springs, Carol Bainbridge, Michael Smith, and Joseph Peyser. The field crew was treated to lunch, refreshments, and the hospitality of Donna and Mary Ellen Drolet through the durationof field work. This fostered a sense of camaraderie among all involved that even further enhanced the pleasure of surveying on those sunny October days. I am also thankful for the facilities,equipment, and supplies provided to the project by the Anthropology and Geosciences departments of WMU. Severalindividuals read and commented on an earlier draft of this report which has greatly improved its readability and historical accuracy. For taking time out of their busy schedules, I thank Dean Anderson, Hal Springer, Joseph Peyser, and other members of Support the Fort. The artifact illustrations were drawn by Pamela Rups, Multimedia Specialist, WMU. Renee Lutes-Kurtzweil and Brian Lutes drafted several of the maps. Kanti Sandhu, WMU, photographed the artifacts illustrated in this report. My co-authors and I remain responsible for the interpretations of the findings and the contents of this report. Michael S. Nassaney, Ph.D. Principal Investigator Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ABS1RACT..................................................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS........................................................ ................................... iv LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................ vi LIST OF FIGURES........................................................................................................ vii Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION................................... :................................................... 1 Michael S. Nassaney Chapter 2. BACKGROUND RESEARCH ................................................................... 7 William Cremin and Michael S. Nassaney Chapter 3. FIELD METHODS AND RESULTS.................. ....................................... 31 Michael S. Nassaney and Renee Lutes-Kurtzweil Chapter 4. MATERIALANALYSIS ........................ .................................................... 43 Renee Lutes-Kurtzweil, Christine McMillan, and Michael S. Nassaney Chapter 5. MANAGEMENT SUMMARYAND RECOMMENDATIONS........... 87 Michael S. Nassaney REFERENCES CITED............................................. ....................................................... 99 APPENDIX A: INFORMANTSCONSULTED DURINGTHE PROJECT.......... 109 APPENDIX B: ARTIFACT INVENTORY................. ............................................... 111 APPENDIX C. FAUNAL REMAINS BY SPECIES AND PROVENIENCE ........ 133 V LIST OFTABLES Table 4.1. Number of identfiable elements and the minimum number of individuals (l) by species at the Fort St. Joseph Site (20BE23) .......................... 81 vi LIST OF FIGUES Figure 1.1. Physical and topographic features of the project area........................... 2 Figure 1.2. Topographic map of the project area (USGS 1980) ................................ 4 Figure 2.1. The St. Joseph Riverdrainage in southwest Michigan ......................... 8 Figure 2.2. Figure 2.2. An artist'sconception of Fort St. Joseph as it may have lookedin 1750......................................... �................................................. 17 Figure 2.3. Detail from a map of "La Louisiane"....................................................... 19 Figure 2.4. Detail of Hutchins's (1762) map of southwest Michigan ...................... 21 Figure 2.5. Detail of Hutchins's (1778) map of southwest Michigan....................