River Basin Surveys Papers, No. 28: The Dance Hall of the Santee Bottoms On the Fort Berthold Reservation, Garrison Reservoir, North Dakota

A unique structure remaining on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation is an old dance hall, a ceremonial building which in some respects appears to have been an outgrowth of the old Mandan and Hidatsa earthlodges (pl. 18, a). The dance hall (32MIA1) is located in sec. 30, T. 149 N., R. 90 W., McLean County, North Dakota. Prior to cultivation, the bottom land surrounding the dance hall was covered with the typical flora of the area, mainly cottonwood and willow. In the summer of 1954, however, the immediate area was under cultivation. George Metcalf, at that time assistant archeologist of the Smithsonian
Institution Missouri Basin Project staff, now a member of the Division of Archeology, United States National Museum, recorded this site in 1950 while making a reconnaissance of the area to be inundated by the Garrison Reservoir. It was later decided that since the site was one of the many that would be flooded by the Garrison Reservoir in the near future, a complete record of the structure should he made. During the summer of 1952 the writer, archeologist of the Smithsonian Institution River Basin Surveys staff, assisted by Charles Proctor and Robert Williams, students at the University of Oklahoma, temporarily employed by the Missouri Basin Project, visited the site. This party obtained precise measurements and a description of the dance hall. Presumably the structure will be demolished and the timbers salvaged for various purposes prior to inundation.