Dig Diary: Behind the Scenes at Fort James

by Adrien Hannus

During the summer of 2008, as we moved from one archaeological locality to the next, our producer Graham Dixon expressed the desire to identify a final site for the Time Team America series that would chronicle the American West and the expansion of the frontier. Based on those discussions, I suggested that perhaps we could arrange the investigation of a historic military fort in South Dakota. During thirty plus years of work in South Dakota, I have participated in the investigation of several fort sites, but there are a number of other localities that have never received professional investigation. When Graham asked me to research a possible location, I contacted my colleagues at the South Dakota State Historical Society, Archaeological Research Center and asked for suggestions of specific sites that might be investigated. Mike Fosha, Assistant State Archaeologist, indicated that one fort that had held his interest over the years was Fort James, located in the James River Valley on the property of the Rockport Hutterite Colony.

It was agreed that Mike would make contact with the Colony folks and ascertain whether they would be willing to receive the Time Team America (TTA) archaeologists and a TV production crew. Mike was successful in his contacts with the Colony and in July of 2008, a number of us visited Fort James to assess the situation and to verify that the logistics would allow the making of a solid TTA episode. Based on that visit and continuing communication with the colony, it was agreed that an episode could be filmed in August of 2008.

At this point, the real efforts began, in terms of assembling as much information as possible from the scant historical records in order to construct a solid "game plan" for our on-the-ground investigations at Fort James. One stroke of good luck stemmed from my long friendship with Tom Kilian, a resident of Sioux Falls. Tom is one of those rare renaissance scholars of the past. His knowledge of the region's history is encyclopedic and through his lifetime he has created a series of historic preservation organizations and publications on the history of the Northern Plains. In one of his books entitled "Tales of Old Dakota," Tom encapsulates, through oral history, interviews and documents, likely the best single record describing Fort James.

Hence it was a 'no brainer' to invite Tom to participate in an on-site interview during the Fort James filming in addition to picking his memory bank for bits and pieces of information regarding his visits over the last 60 years to the site of Fort James.

Obviously, another crucial source of information regarding Fort James was the membership of the Rockport Colony. Fortunately, several of the colony elders were anxious to share the information they possessed and to show us artifacts that had been collected over many years around the ruins of the Fort.

If you visited the site of Fort James today, you would find yourself on a grass terrace of the James River that displays significant outcroppings of Sioux quartzite. Sioux quartzite is the geological bedrock formation from which the military quarried the stone blocks that were used to construct Fort James. The fact that Fort James was constructed from stone masonry made the Fort unique on the Northern Plains, since the majority of military forts were constructed from native timber.

During our July visit, we documented the fact that nothing of the fort remained extant aboveground. A section of quartzite blocks that represented the west wall of the fort was visible at ground level. Otherwise, the only visible signs of the fort were some depressions that we believed might represent room blocks. Our hosts from the colony informed us that when their ancestors established the colony in the 1880s, the block walls of the fort were dissembled to be utilized for building structures related to the colony itself.

The role that the Rockport Colony played in making the Fort James episode a reality cannot be overstated. The welcome that the colony extended to us, including agreeing to provide daily meals in the community-dining hall, was exceptional. If a person yearns for 'home cooking' it would be difficult to experience more excellent meals. One of our hosts, Ben Wipf, asked me during lunch if I could tell which food items on the dinner table had not been produced at the colony. I indicated that I was uncertain, and he replied that only the lettuce had been purchased, adding, that it was too late in the season for lettuce from their gardens.

During one of our lunch breaks it was announced that some of the young women of the colony would like to sing a few songs for our assembled group. When the ladies began singing, I thought for a moment that I had been transported into the movie "Oh Brother Where Art Thou?" The quality and melodic harmony of their voices were beautiful.

The Fort James experience also varied from the earlier four TTA productions by virtue of being an archaeological locality where the Time Team crew was directly in charge of decision-making regarding the excavation strategy. We were joined in the investigation by Michael Fosha, Assistant State Archaeologist; Richard Fox, Professor of Anthropology at the University of South Dakota, who is an expert on military sites, participating in the excavations of the Battle of the Little Bighorn; and volunteers of the Archaeological Society of South Dakota. The previous sites featured in the 2008 season were already under investigation by other researchers and we brought our expertise and equipment to join forces with their efforts. At Fort James, we initiated the investigations and had a different role in the overall excavation strategy.

The combination of our excellent geophysics crew, avocational and professional excavation team, local informants, and historic documents allowed us to proceed very efficiently and, ultimately, to recover a valuable quantity of data to verify the importance of the Fort James site. Although the fort was operational for less than one year at the end of the Civil War, it played an important role in the expansion of the westward movement of homesteaders in the Northern Plains. Within the three-day Time Team format, we were able to clarify the historic role played by Fort James and to document a number of features at the site.

Perhaps most memorable, though, was the fulfilling, cooperative learning experience that bloomed between the entire TTA crew and the colony residents. The enthusiasm of members of the colony was infectious. Many of the children joined with us to help excavate and screen finds during our three days. The colony also invited members from several adjoining colonies to visit and were very gracious in allowing visitors from the public to visit the fort area. From my perspective as a professional archaeologist, involving the public in what we do as scientists and sharing our deep love for our work, is likely the most important aspect of being a scholar. Time Team America provides a valuable format for engaging the viewer in how scientific investigations proceed. During the first season of productions, I believe that we demonstrated how "digging" decisions are formulated and how extremely subtle the indicators in the ground, upon which we guide our understanding of the archaeological record, really are. Beyond all else, I hope that the public has felt 'engaged' in our thought processes and enjoyed our debates over the data. The team feels 'good' about our experience, and I believe that each of the episodes provided an enjoyable atmosphere for intellectual exchange.