The Prehistory and Early History of the Niobrara River Basin

This report has been prepared in compliance with a letter dated February 2, 1953 from the Assistant Director, Region 7, Bureau of Reclamation, to the Acting Chief, Missouri Basin Project, Smithsonian Institution. The report is based, in part, on a previous report by the Missouri Basin project, River Basin Surveys, Smithsonian Institution, entitled “Appraisal of the Archeological and Paleontological Resources of the Niobrara River Basin, Nebraska, August 1951.” The present report, as well as the earlier one, is a project of the Inter-Agency Archeological and Paleontological Salvage Program. This program developed in accordance with a Memorandum of Understanding between the Smithsonian Institution and the National Park Service, approved on October 9, 1945. Under this program the River Basin Surveys was established as a unit of the Smithsonian Institution. Its purpose is to salvage the maximum practicable amount of archeological and paleontological materials from the areas to be inundated by reservoirs throughout the country. The River Basin Surveys, throughout, works closely in cooperation with the Bureau of Reclamation, the National Park Service, the Corps of Engineers and the several interested State agencies.