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Show October 30, J 979 Page 6 Signpost Archaeological dig uncovers memories of nostalgic past Y x v 5 Photos by Michael Schoenfeld and Rod Boam Story by Michael Reberg A small group of anthropologists from the Forest Service and Weber State College recently uncovered the remains of an old fort which proved history books can be wrong. The group, working with funds from a state grant, dug up what was left of Fort Buenaventura on Ogden's west side. The fort was built in 1846 by mountain man, Miles Goodyear and was reported to be 80 feet square, built with cottonwood pickets. But after working for three days at the site, the group determined the size of the fort to be much smaller than the 80 feet recorded. They found Fort Buenaventura to be only 60 by 55 feet They also questioned the way it was built. The group consisted of Evan DeBloois, Forest Service anthropologist, his wife Jan, assistant, Tom Scott, and Don McCormick, professor of anthropology at WSC. According to DeBloois, it was their job to "see if any of the remains of the fort existed out there." He said the state also wanted an exact location because it is going to develop the area into a state park and rebuild the fort. DeBloois believed the fort had been constructed by burying cottonwood pickets into the ground side by side. He said he chose the method of excavating because he thought he would find a trench where the posts had been. r'"w" ' j f -x T ' 1 " 1 pi- -SiMwxj' FORT BUENAVENTURA was not the only thing uncovered at the dig. Many bottles and artifacts were left by the Union Pacific Railroad, who used the spot as a dumping ground. By checking the trademarks of the bottles with reference books, it was determined that the dump was used between 1910-1925. The group later found out the posts were not buriedside-by-side but rather at invervals of eight-to-nine feet, and that smaller posts were either just slightly buried or not buried at all between the others. The fact that there were individual posts and not a trench made the digging procedure a more hit-and-miss affair. And, if not for the luck they had of hitting a cross section of a post on the first trench they dug, they might have spent a lot more time at the site. Joked McCormick, "We could have still been out there looking." They began digging at the site on Sept. 19 said DeBloois, the area had been Union Pacific Railroad land until they recently donated it to the state. J.P. had used it as a dump in the early 1900's. He said they had to determine how deep the fort was buried under the dump and undergrowth. They did that by digging with a power auger, a series of holes throughout the area. By this means they determined the fort level to be about a foot-and-a-half, to two feet under the surface. Then, with the use of a backhoe, they dug a trench running north and south through the area in which they believed the fort to be located. It was in the first trench they split the post and got a perfect cross section. The posts are eight inches in diameter, and with a backhoe, the chances of splitting a post in half were slim, believes DeBloois. "It's unusual to dig with a backhoe," said DeBloois." But we were just trying to find the location of the fort." He said if they had been looking for artifacts they would have been much more careful. In the first trench, they also came up with what they believe now to be a flag pole in the center of the fort. With two posts uncovered, they then dug a trench from the middle of the two posts, running east. There they found another post, totaling three. The three posts gave the archaeologists a triangle which enabled them to be more precise with their trenches. This sped up the digging, and quickly they had uncovered several posts from the south and east walls. Digging north along the east wall they unearthed posts only to the 60-foot mark. They did not find any posts beyond that mark, so they went back to the south wall and dug west. It was there, when they found no post after the 60-foot mark, they determined the fort was not as big as originally believed. With the east and south walls uncovered, they ran the backhoe north along the west wall. They then ran into a small problem. Past the 60-foot mark, they uncovered what was thought to be another posthole. "We panicked a little bit," admitted DeBloois. The fact that there was a post beyond 60 feet on one wall and not on the others had them confused until they discovered the hole had been made by the power auger earlier. With that small crisis over, they had uncovered three of the four walls, and according to DeBloois, their work was completed. They had found Fort Buenaventura, and proved that recollections can be wrong. ALL THAT remains of the fort is the rotted cottonwood posts below the surface of the ground. , xnt FOREST SERVICE anthropologist, Evan DeBloois, explains the procedure used to uncover Fort Buenaventura. The fort was built in 1846 by mountain man, Miles Goodyear. Said DeBloois about the inacuracy of the old accounts of the size of the fort, "Why describe the fort?, It was already there." It took the group three field days and about 200 man hours to find and uncover the remains of Fort Buenaventura. All that's left is the rotted wood of the posts that were left behind when the fort was abandoned five years after it was built. The only artifacts found at the site from that period were a piece of Indian pottery and an orange trade bead. They were found in one of the four corners of the fort, where cabins had been, said DeBloois. But because the fort was buried below a Union Pacific Railroad --4 ft dump, they were actually uncovering two periods of time. And the more recent contained many interesting artifacts. "It was an interesting site," said McCormick. "We were finding things every four or five minutes." What they found was fancy china, cut crystal, and many types of bottles that they figured were used on the Pullman cars. "You can just imagine what the Pullman was like back then," McCormick added. DeBloois said historical archaeology is more interesting than pre-historical archaeology because "there is a direct tie. It triggers those fond memories of the past." i that were found about two feet |
