OUR ARCHAEOLOGICAL BUSINESS

MY BOYFRIEND AND I HAD AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL BUSINESS IN SOUTH AND NORTH DAKOTA WORKING FOR SMALL AND LARGE OIL AND GAS COMPANIES AS WELL AS FOR GOLD MINERS AND OTHER LAND DEVELOPERS. I HAD WORKED IN 1983 FOR SOUTH DAKOTA STATE AS A SUPERVISOR FOR LARGE SURVEYS ON PRIVATE LANDS FOR OIL AND GAS AND OTHER DEVELOPMENT IN THE NORTH DAKOTA BADLANDS. MY HUSBAND AND I DECIDED TO WORK IN THE BLACK HILLS AND IN THE GRASSLANDS RECORDING PREHISTORIC AND HISTORIC SITES PRIOR TO LAND DEVELOPMENT AND UNDERGROUND OIL AND GAS TESTING. HAVING THIS BUSINESS HELPED DEVELOP US. WE ALSO RESEARCHED THE HISTORY OF PROPERTIES AT THE COURTHOUSE AND FOUND OUT WHO WAS DOING DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS SO THAT I COULD CONTACT THEM.

WE TOOK A TWO CYLINDAR CAR TO GO ACROSS THE ENTIRE SOUTH DAKOTA PLAINS AND UP AND DOWN DRAINAGES. THE REMAINS AND OUR INTERPRETATION OF THE ARTIFACTS WERE WRITTEN UP IN A REPORT FOR THE COMPANIES. WE DID NOT COLLECT ANYTHING BUT KEPT THE SITES PRESERVED FROM ANY DISTURBANCES. WE HAD KNOWLEDGE OF THE AREA FROM THE PREVIOUS YEAR. MOST OF THE SITES WERE SMALL LITHIC SCATTERS. WE RECORDED THE CHERT AND OBSIDIAN KNAPPING STATIONS, AS WELL AS SOME PALEONTOLOGICAL REMAINS. MANY OF THE SITES DATED TO 8 TO 10,000 YEARS AGO.

WE GOT TO KNOW THE FOREST SERVICE AND THEY GAVE US SOME BUSINESS REFERRALS FROM PEOPLE WHO WANTED TO CONDUCTED PROJECTS IN THE FOREST. HOWEVER MOST OF OUR PROJECTS WERE FROM AN OIL COMPANY. WE ROAMED MANY MILES EVEN IN THE WINTER TO DO LINEAR SURVEYS FOR THIS ONE TEXAS COMPANY. IT WAS ACROSS ROCKY SLOPES AND MOSTLY PRAIRIE LANDS WHERE ANTELOPES ROAMED AS WELL ASPRAIRIE DOGS. WE BOTH LOVED THE BLACK HILLS AND TOOK OUR SON BACK THEREWHEN HE WAS ABOUT 8 OR SO. THE LAKES ARE SO PRISTINE AND WE SHOWED HIM THE LARGE SULPHUR SWIMMING POOL WHICH WAS BUILT TO HELP PEOPLE WITH RHEUMATISM. THERE WAS A TRAIN THAT BROUGHT PEOPLE FROM NEW YORK CITY TO HOT SPRINGS TO CURE THEIR RHEUMATISM. IT IS A HUGE POOL. WE MADE A GOOD AMOUNT OF MONEY WHILE WE WERE THERE FOE THREE YEARS AND I COMPLETED MY THESIS IN HOT SPRINGS, THEN WE MOVED BACK TO PHOENIX WHERE I DEFENDED MY THESIS AND BEGAN WORKING WITH THE CITY AS AN ARCHAEOLOGIST AND THEN WITH BLM.