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Survey of Historic Sites and Buildings
The recent surge of popular interest in the West,
inspired by television, motion pictures, books, and magazine articles,
has heightened the attraction of historic sites and buildings associated
with the Indian and the Army. As a result, they are prominent in the
itineraries of vacationing Americans and foreign visitors. A profusion
of such places exists. In fact, among the various phases of western
history, only the miner's frontier has bequeathed more tangible
remains.
Army forts predominate. Of the hundreds that once
speckled the landscape west of the Mississippi River, the remains of
scores have survived. Because the Plains Indians posed one of the
greatest barriers to the westward movement in the 19th century, most of
the forts are in the Plains region. Logically, they are also
concentrated along historic routes of transportation and communication
such as the Missouri, Yellowstone, Platte, Arkansas, Columbia, and Gila
Rivers, and the Rio Grande; the Oregon-California, Santa Fe, Southern
Overland, Smoky Hill, and Bozeman Trails; and the Northern Pacific,
Union Pacific, Kansas Pacific, Santa Fe, and Southern Pacific
Railroads.
Only mounds of earth or foundations mark some fort
sites. In other cases the remains are extensive and well preserved.
Between these extremes are scores of adobe, frame, and stone ruins in
varying stages of disintegration, as well as numerous reconstructions.
But even the best preserved fort is a far cry from the Hollywood and
literary protoypepalisaded log fortresses with corner block houses
and massive gates. The real forts were another matter. Few had
stockades. Utilitarian, often simple or even crude in construction, and
sometimes only tent cities or a motley collection of sod huts or
dugouts, the posts were usually constructed of more durable materials.
But, to facilitate Army mobility, they were often semipermanent.
Battlefields where Indians and soldiers clashed are
also numerous. The sites of almost 50 major engagements, mostly in the
Plains States, may be identified. At many the natural setting remains
unscarred, facilitating visualization. Farming and ranching operations
have destroyed a few sites, but most have been marked by Federal, State,
and local agencies, or private individuals. Many have been set aside as
historical monuments.
Exemplifying other aspects of Indian affairs than the
military are agencies, missions, reservation trading posts, and fur
posts. Scattered about the West are the remains of numerous agencies,
most dating from the late 19th century; some of the best examples are in
Oklahoma, the Dakotas, and Montana. Fine Indian missions may be seen in
Kansas, Idaho, Montana, and the Pacific Northwest. A superb example of a
reservation trading post, where the ritual of Indian trading is
displayed, is Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site, Ariz. Time
has ravaged most fur posts, but the National Park Service plans to
reconstruct Bent's Old Fort, Colo., and is exploring the feasibility of
reconstructing part of Fort Union, N. Dak., two outstanding posts.
Many factors have hampered historic preservation in
the West. Foremost is the damage done by flood control and irrigation
programs. In most of these instances the National Park Service and the
Smithsonian Institution initiated advance historical and archeological
studies and salvaged the maximum possible data and artifacts from
inundated areas. Other adverse considerations are the increasing
westward shift of population and the activities of vandals and "pot
hunters." Weathering and aging processes have taken their toll,
especially on log and frame structures.
Particularly destructive to forts was the dismantling
done by settlers seeking building materials after the Army moved out.
Adobe walls, deprived of roofs, doors, and windows, were left exposed
to the elements. Today, as a result, at many sites adobe ruins are
rapidly melting away. Stone forts are less vulnerable to the eroding
influences of wind and rain, but they too provided ranchers and farmers
with building materialsstone blocks already quarried and shaped.
Nevertheless, the ruins of stone forts are usually more imposing than
those of adobe.
Among the conditions tending to protect western sites
from man and nature have been aridity and, until recently, sparsity of
population. Continuous use by the Army or Bureau of Indian Affairs and
the establishment of Veterans' Administration or State hospitals and
institutions have also saved many forts and Indian agencies from
destruction. Cities have sometimes grown up around forts, and the
buildings have become private residences or business establishments.
But the most effective antidote to the loss of sites
has been the vigilance of Federal, State, and local preservationists.
The National Park Service preserves and interprets many of the most
significant places. The U.S. Army commemorates the history of active
forts. Most Western States maintain historical societies or other
agencies that have taken a leading role in protecting, maintaining,
surveying, and marking sites. Tribal councils, corporations, and
private individuals have also done much commendable work.
Described in the following pages are some of the more
significant sites and buildings illustrating Indian affairs and the
Indian wars in the 19th century. They are divided into three categories:
National Park Service Areas, National Historic Landmarks, and Other
Sites Considered.
The principal aim of the National Survey of Historic
Sites and Buildings is to identify nationally important sites that are
not National Park Service Areas, but no survey of historic places
would be complete without including them. Further information about a
particular area may be obtained by writing directly to the park
superintendent at the address listed immediately following the
location.
National Historic Landmarks are those sites
judged by the Advisory Board on National Parks, Historic Sites,
Buildings, and Monuments to meet the criteria of national significance
in commemorating the history of the United States (pp. 395-397). As
historic sites of national significance, they have been declared by the
Secretary of the Interior to be eligible for designation as National
Historic Landmarks. Some have already been so designated and others will
be when the owners apply.
Other Sites Considered consist of those sites
deemed by the Advisory Board to possess noteworthy historical value but
not national significance. The list of sites treated in this category
does not purport to be exhaustive; it is merely a representative
sampling, all that is possible because of space limitations.
As time goes on, many sites in the Other Sites
Considered category in all phases of history will be listed on the
National Register of Historic Places, maintained by the National Park
Service's Office of Archeology and Historic Preservation. This register
consists not only of sites in the National Park System and National
Historic Landmarks but also those of State and local significance
nominated through appropriate channels by the various States.
http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/soldier-brave/site.htm
Last Updated: 19-Aug-2005
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