DISCOVERY AND RE-DISCOVERY IN THE WHITE RIVER BADLANDS Historic Resource Study Badlands National Park South Dakota DISCOVERY AND RE-DISCOVERY IN THE WHITE RIVER BADLANDS Historic Resource Study Badlands National Park South Dakota John Milner Associates, Inc. 239 South 5th Street, Suite 917 Louisville, Kentucky 40202 Renewable Technologies, Inc. Butte, Montana 59701 Bahr Vermeer & Haecker Architects, Ltd. Omaha, Nebraska 68508 Prepared By: J. Sanderson Stevens, Principal Investigator, JMA Jacky Taylor, Landscape Architectural Historian, JMA Mark Hufstetler, Historian, RTI Mitzi Rossillon, Historical Archeologist, RTI Recommended Superintendent, Badlands National Park Date Approved Regional Director, Midwest Region Date Notice: This manuscript has been authored by Bahr Vermeer Haecker Architects, Ltd., in association with John Milner Associates, Inc., and Renewable Technologies, Inc., under Contract Number C6000990002 with the National Park Service. The United States Government retains, and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the United States Government retains a non-exclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, world-wide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for the United States Government purposes. Badlands Historic Resource Study • July 2006 • John Milner Associates, Inc. ________________________________________________________________________ TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1: Introduction What is a Historic Resource Study?.....................................................................................1 What are “badlands”? ..........................................................................................................2 White River Badlands..........................................................................................................3 Badlands National Park........................................................................................................5 HRS Report Organization....................................................................................................5 Chapter 2: Historical Overview of Geological and Paleontological Studies within the White River Badlands Introduction..........................................................................................................................9 Summary of Previous Paleontological Investigations (1846-1950) ..................................10 University and Museum Contributions to Badlands Geology and Paleontology (ca. 1892-1950)............................................................................................16 Geological and Paleontological Studies Meet the Modern World (1950 to Present)........26 Chapter 3: Prehistoric and Protohistoric Overview of the White River Badlands White River Badlands as an Archeological Region...........................................................61 Previous Investigations in the White River Badlands........................................................61 Prehistoric Cultural Context ..............................................................................................75 Chapter 4: Siouan and Other American Indian Occupation of the White River Badlands (AD 1770-1891) Introduction......................................................................................................................107 Arrival of Siouan Tribes in South Dakota (AD 1700-1830)............................................108 ________________________________________________________________________ Table of Contents • i Badlands Historic Resource Study • July 2006 • John Milner Associates, Inc. ________________________________________________________________________ Lakota (Teton) in the White River Badlands Region (1760-1840) .................................109 Non-Siouan Tribes in the Vicinity of the Badlands (1750-1850)....................................112 American Expansionism, Broken Promises and the Beginning of Indian Wars on the Plains (1840-1864)...........................................................................................................117 Deterioration of Lakota and American Relations and War on the Plains (1864-1880)...........................................................................................................122 Failure of the Reservation System, the Ghost Dance Religion, and the End of the Indian Wars (1880-1891) ............................................................................................................127 Sacred Sites in the Vicinity of the Badlands....................................................................137 Chapter 5: Native American/Euro-American Relations on the Upper Missouri from 1744 to the 1820s and in the Badlands Area from 1822 to 1910 Initial Explorations and Trade in the Upper Missouri Region by Imperial Powers (1744-1803)......................................................................................................................143 Opening of the American Fur Trade Era on the Upper Missouri and Trading Activities in the Vicinity of the White River Badlands (1803-1866)...................................................146 Establishment of and Euro-American Expansion into the Dakota Territory (1858-1865)......................................................................................................................148 Laramie Treaty of 1868 and Its Consequences (1868-1876)...........................................150 The Great Sioux Reservation (1877-1889)......................................................................153 The Pine Ridge Reservation Sioux and Their Neighbors (1890-1910) ...........................157 Chapter 6: Development and Patterns of Euro-American Settlement in the White River Badlands (AD 1880s-1960s) Introduction......................................................................................................................165 Pre-Settlement Euro-American Activity and Interest in the White River Badlands and Western Dakota (to ca. 1885) ..........................................................................................166 Permanent European Settlement in the White River Badlands: Nineteenth Century Ranching (ca. 1885-1906)................................................................................................168 ________________________________________________________________________ Table of Contents • ii Badlands Historic Resource Study • July 2006 • John Milner Associates, Inc. ________________________________________________________________________ The Arrival and Significance of the Railroads (1885-1907) ...........................................171 The White River Badlands and the Homestead Boom (1906-1918) ...............................174 Homestead Life in the Badlands (1906-1918).................................................................177 The Badlands Homestead Towns (1906-1940)................................................................178 The End of the Homestead Era (1918-1940) ...................................................................181 World War II and Beyond (1941-2006)...........................................................................183 Postscript: Homestead-era Cultural Resources................................................................184 Chapter 7: Case Studies of Agricultural Use of the White River Badlands (AD 1900-1950s) Case Histories, Subject Selection, and Study Methodology............................................189 Far West Badlands and Cuny Table.................................................................................190 Miller Basin (Imlay Area) ...............................................................................................193 Sage Creek Basin .............................................................................................................195 Conata Basin ....................................................................................................................200 Upper Big Buffalo Creek.................................................................................................202 Chapter 8: Twentieth Century Economic Development and Tourism Introduction .....................................................................................................................215 Pioneers in the Preservation of Natural Landscapes and the Promotion of Travel (ca. 1830-1907)................................................................................................................215 Promoting Travel and Tourism (ca. 1890s-1939) ...........................................................216 Railroad Development (ca. 1889-1907)...........................................................................219 Local Recreation as Tourism (1909-1941) ......................................................................220 The Coming of the Automobile (1908-1940) ..................................................................221 ________________________________________________________________________ Table of Contents • iii Badlands Historic Resource Study • July 2006 • John Milner Associates, Inc. ________________________________________________________________________ The Role of Government in Developing Infrastructure (ca. 1910-1942) ........................222 Chapter 9: The Development of Badlands National Park Introduction .....................................................................................................................233 Early Attempts