In the early 1930s, surveyors marked the new eastern boundary of Yellowstone National Park. They placed over sixty brass markers at high points along the hydrologic divide between the Yellowstone and Shoshone River drainages, which would serve as the new boundary line. Today, many of the markers are in remote spots along the divide, but are along prehistoric trails that were once common routes for people traveling between the Yellowstone area and the Bighorn Basin. For example, Jones Pass was once a popular route from the Lamar headwaters into the drainage of the North Fork of the Shoshone. We have been exploring the path of the original Bandy Survey, looking for the markers placed in the 1930s and for anything of prehistoric or historic significance.

Back in the 1990s, I participated in the University of Oregon’s Archaeology Field School in the Fort Rock Basin of Central Oregon. Professor Dennis Jenkins led the program where we excavated a prehistoric (pre-Mount Mazama eruption) fishing village. The ancient homes and hearths were situated on a raised knoll in the center of a late pleistocene-era lake (now a dry desert basin). We also surveyed nearby areas for evidence of fishing and other prehistoric human activities.

Central Oregon’s Fort Rock Basin