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Show THE HISTORY BLAZER II'EM'S OF UTAH'S PAST FROAI THE Utah State Historical Society 300 Rio Grande Salt Lake City. LTT 84101 ( 801) 533- 3500 FAX ( 801) 333- 3303 The Fremont Indians' " Palm Beach" A FBW MILES WEST OF BRIGHAMC ITY the remains of Indian campsites reveal that the Great Salt Lake Fremonts timed their annual travels to take advantage of the weather and local amenities- setting a pattern that Utah's ' snowbirds" would follow centuries later as they leave northern Utah in the fall for warmer climates and activities like golf in the south. Although the Fremonts were not quite jetsetters, they " owned" several seasonal homes that they frequented according to their living requirements. Early each spring and in the late autumn, the tribe reopened its camp on the lower reaches of the Bear River. The fact that these were the best of all possible times to be on the Great Salt Lake was a minor consideration. The real attraction were ducks and geese who also arrived at these times to use the river marshes as a way station on their migratory path. During these months, too, bison were plentiful on the river. Five Lower Bear River Fremont sites have been identified and excavated by University of Utah crews. The camps stood one to two miles apart. The earliest still displays the sun- baked, saucer- shaped floors of four pit houses. Built partly underground, these dwellings were reached via crawl trenches. It is not known what their roofs were made of, but a good guess is logs and sod. These homes were eminently energy- efficient, preserving the heat that radiated from centrd fire pits. Post holes randomly distributed about this camp were obsemed, suggesting that corrals and fences once stood near the pit houses. In addition, 51 refuse pits have survived the centuries. Fragments of pottery, stone implements, mow and lance heads, and bones have been carbon dated t0 540 A. D. Several miles away from this camp is another that came into use about two hundred years later. Its initial users also built round pit houses. They returned year after year, making repairs to the structures. A later generation built square pit houses with very long ( up to 40- foot) entryways on the site. Much later- between 640 and 710 B. P.- a new tribe ( probably Shoshoni) took over the camp and built above- ground houses over the pit sites. Traces of all three groups have been found and dated. Not far from this second camp stands an 80- foot knoll. Archaeological excavation here has yielded pottery shards, projectile points, corn- grinding implements, shells, and even clay figurines. The Fremonts were prudent food storers. A fourth camp, consisting of 100 shallow storage pits, has been found. Very likely meat from a bounteous fall hunt was dried and stored here with ( more) corn for use the following spring. This and the knoll camp have been dated to about 935 A. D. U of U archaeologists describe the Fremonts' seasonal use of these river camps as ' Walized cultural adaptive strategy. " In other words, the Fremonts linked their lives to the seasons. They were not so different from today's Canadians, Montanans, and northern Utahns whose mobile homes mingle with 1- 15 traffic early each winter on the way to sunny Arizona. Swrces: Lower Bear Rivet Sites Antiquities Survey, Nomination Form, National Register of Historic Places, Preservation Office files, Utah Division of State History; Ekcavati0n. r at Snake Rod Village, University of Utah Anthropological Papers ( Salt Lake City, 1967). THI3 HISTORYB LAZERis produd by the Utah State Historical Society and funded in part by a grant from the Utah Statehood Cenkmial Commission. For more information about the Historical Society telephone 533- 3500. 960611 ( BB) |
