PALEONTOLOGY

36

SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS

COLLECTIONS VOL. Ill or partial enclosures. Extensive pitting has been done by relic col- lectors. In these pits and in test excavations by the River Basin Surveys party, the soil contains partly burnt and

decomposed

bison hair, hooves, and bones, charcoal, ash, and fire-broken stones.

The

tests also shovi^edthatthismaterial occursintwo,three,or

more

levels separated and capped by ^{thin strata} of culturally barren soil.

The

observed thickness of deposit varies

from

i foot upward, with the deepest bone ^layernoted atapproximately 30inches;greaterdepths have been reported by local collectors.

Numerous

small projectile points, mostlytriangularin

form

with a singlepairof sidenotches, were recovered.

There

is

some

evidence that significant type differ- ences

may

existbetweenthe points

from

various parts of thekillarea and also between those

from

different levels. Local reports that

"post holes" have been noted from timeto time, if correct, suggest theuse of corrals or barricades.

NO. 2 MISSOURI

VALLEY DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM — ^WEDEL

37

From May

2to

May 8

Dr.

White

visitedsevenproposed reservoir areasinthe

Lower

^PlatteBasinin north-central Nebraska,including Amherst, Brewster, Buffalo Creek, Cairo, Ericson, Mullen, and Rockville. Fossil remainswere foundonlyinMullen,andthesewere reworked material of

no

scientific interest.

On May

13, a recon- naissance of the

Smoky

Hilland Republican Basinsin southwestern Nebraska, northern Kansas,and northeastern Colorado

was

begun

;

by June 6, 19 reservoirs had been visited. These included Beaver City, Buffalo Creek, Culbertson, Enders, Harlan County, Medicine Creek,

Rock

Creek,

and Red Willow

Nos. i

and

2, in Nebraska;

Cedar Bluff, Glen Elder, Kanopolis, Kirwin, Norton, Pioneer, Webster,and Wilson,in

Kansas

;and

Bonny and Wray,

inColorado.

On

the basis of material seen and theexposures available,

more

ex- tended investigations were

recommended

for Beaver City, Bonny, Cedar Bluff, Enders, Harlan County, Medicine Creek, and

Red Willow

Nos. I and2.

From

June13 toJune 28 Dr.

White

examinedtheproposedGlendo Reservoir areain the

North

Platte Basin in

Wyoming

; Angostura andDeerfieldin South Dakota, and

Edgemont

and Keyholein

Wyo-

ming, allin the

Cheyenne

River Basin; Bixby and Green Grass, in the

Moreau

RiverBasin,and Blue

Horse

andShadehill,inthe

Grand

River Basin, all in South Dakota; Dickinson and Heart Butte, in the Heart River Basin,

Cannon

Ball in the Cannonball Basin, and Broncho, on the Knife River, all in North Dakota. Further

work was recommended

at

Edgemont

and Blue Plorse.

For

most of the others, suitable geologic exposures were lacking, or the formations involved are

much

betterexposedoutside theproposedreservoirareas.

Between

July 12and 31 the followingproposed reservoir projects in

Wyoming

and

Montana

were visited: Kortes,

Onion

Flat, Soral Creek,

Du

Noir, Boysen, Anchor, Badwater,

Oregon

Basin, Kane,

Red

Gulch, South Fork, Bull Creek, Triangle Park,

Lake

Solitude, Smith,

Willow

Park, and Middle Fork, in

Wyoming;

Little Horn, in

Montana

;andYellowtailand Moorhead,eachofwhichliespartially inboth States. Anchor, Badwater, Boysen, Middle Fork, and

Moor-

headshouldberevisitedfor

more

intensiveinvestigation.

From August

₉ to September 25 the paleontological survey

was

extendedto the following localities: Crosby, Jamestown, Sheyenne, andSouris,in

North Dakota

;Medicine Lake,Sunlight, ThiefCreek,

Hunter

Mountain, Taylor, Bridger, Mission, Sweetgrass, Antelope, Newland, Stanford, Hobson, Ross,

Snowy,

Tiber, Wilson, Nilan, Wells,

Canyon

Ferry, Terry, Whitetail,Apex,Kelley, Clark Canyon, Brenner, and Landon, in Montana.

Of

these. Medicine Lake, Sun-

38

SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS

COLLECTIONS VOL. Ill light, Mission, Brenner,

Canyon

Ferry, Tiber, Ross,

Hobson,

and

Snowy

appearedsufficientlypromisingtobe

recommended

forfurther attention.

Tliis trip

was

interrupted between

August

20 and September 11, during whichperiodDr.

White

andhis assistantexcavated the skull and other skeletalparts of a dinosaurat Middle

Fork

Reservoir in Johnson County,

Wyo. The

dinosaur is

from

the

Upper

Jurassic Morrisonformation,andhasbeenidentifiedas Diplodocus.

On

October 7, Dr.

White

left Lincoln againto conductintensive survey andfossil-collecting atBoysen. Enroute he examinedpaleonto- logicalcollections attheZeitner

Museum,

Mission,S.Dak.,and

made

preHminary inspections of the proposed Philip and

Rocky Ford

Reservoirareas,respectivelylocatedon

Bad

Riverin

Haakon

County, S. Dak.,

and

onthe

White

Riverin

Washington

County,S.Dak.

The

field

work

at

Boysen

terminatedon

November

7.

Most

ofthe collectingduring this period

was

in the

Eocene Wind

River forma- tion inthe

Cottonwood

Creekdrainageonthewestsideof Big

Horn

River.

Among

the specimens obtained the following

may

be noted, all represented by incomplete remains: a lemuroid (Pelycodus), a primitivetapir (Heptodon), anextinct

mammal (Coryphodon)

,

and

thecarapace (pi. 6, fig.2) of a soft-shelled^turtle

(Amyda).

Prospects in this locality are believed to be very promising, and plans are for further

work

next spring. This

would

involve a

more

intensive reexamination of the

Cottonwood

Creek locale, as well as investigationof other

known

fossil localities inthebasinarea.

In

summary,

paleontological reconnaissance

was

carried out at 94 proposed reservoir areas between

May

2

and November

7, 1947.

Twelve

ofthese areinintrusivegraniteandcontainnothingof interest to paleontology. Sevenarein geologicstrata

from

whichvertebrate fossils are at present

unknown. At

25, the reconnaissance

showed

thatfossildepositswillbedirectlyaffectedand recommendations have been

made

forfurther studiesifand

when

construction

work

isiniti- ated.

At

the remaining areas, the vegetation cover precludedprofit- ablesearch forfossilsonthe existingland surface,thoughthepossi- bilityremainsthatconstructionactivities

may

in

some

placesuncover worth-whilematerials.

As

might beexpected, the preliminary nature of mostof thepale- ontological

work

todate hasresulted inacquisitionof relatively little exhibit or study material. Outstanding finds have been noted else- wherein this report.

A

highlyworth-while working knowledgeof the unitsvisited,of theirgeologicsetting,andtheirpaleontologic potenti- alities has been gained. It seems ^{certain that} intensification of this

NO. 2 MISSOURI

VALLEY DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM WEDEL

₃₉