Archeological Monitoring During Excavation of a Fire Suppression Waterline Trench, Fort Scott National Historic Site, Bourbon County, Kansas

This document focuses on the excavation of a backhoe trench (Figures 1 and 2) from July 22 through August 6, 1996 at Fort Scott National Historic Site (FOSC). The purpose of this trench was to allow subsurface installation of a IO-in waterline, the first step in the eventual installation of a fire suppression system in all FOSC buildings. Monitoring followed the construction crew's work schedule, which utilized a work week of four lO-hour days followed by a three-day weekend. Because of FOSC's proximity to the Midwest Archeological Center (MWAC), I returned to Lincoln each weekend. During the course of this work, I was assisted by FOSC Historian Arnold Schofield and, for the week of July 29-August 1, by MWAC Archeological Technician Alan Smith. Other NPS personnel who aided in the successful completion of this monitoring effort were FOSC Superintendent Steve Miller and FOSC Head of Maintenance Mike Vachon. Vachon was the Contracting Officer's Technical Representative (COTR) for this project.