In December 1941, the National Park Service sent an archaeologist, Jerome W. Hendron, from Fort Laramie, Wyoming, to direct the excavation of Fort Osage. Hendron continued to supervise excavation on the site until mid-1942 when he was inducted into the Army and support was redirected towards the war effort.
Hendron’s primary goal was to discover foundation remnants of various structures to correlate with original maps of the fort layout by William Clark and Captain Eli Clemson, drawn in 1808 and 1811 respectively.
Hendron and crew located the limestone fireplace of Blockhouse #1, remnants of the foundation of the officer’s quarters, postmolds from the stockade wall, and most importantly the foundation of the sub-cellar of the Factory building. The results of the archaeological work were later used by the Native Sons of Kansas City and Jackson County to guide the placement of structures during reconstruction.
Visitors today can see some of the results of this excavation in the sub-cellar of the Factory building. The original foundation remnants exposed in 1942 are marked by a red line on the sub-cellar wall. Below, is Hendron’s detailed report of the excavation.
June of 1942
It is with much displeasure that I, at this time, attempt to present an archaeological report on the Fort Osage Site. The work has scarcely begun, if I may say so, let alone any theory that its completion is within sight. For this reason the only type of a report which I care to submit at this time is a running account of the work showing what has been accomplished.
Some preliminary trenching and digging at random was carried on by the Jackson County Highway Department during the month of August 1941, but nothing which could be identified was located except for a few stones in place which seemed to indicated walls or fireplace bases.
In October of 1941 the writer arrived on the scene and introduced a little more formal and systematic form of procedure. It was my intent to remain about a month and make an attempt to help spot the outlines of the site. This proved to be an utter impossibility and there was not time to introduce any formal method of attack. Some surface cleaning was done at a point on the east side of the hill in about the location shown at (2) on General William Clark’s drawing of 1808. Some clearance work was done at the point of the large blockhouse (1) at the northeast corner of the fort sector projected over the brink of the hill at the east. At the point shown as (5) on Clark’s map a considerable amount of investigation was done in what was then thought to be the bottom cellar under the factory building. It was erected in 1810.
On November 19, 1941 the work was discontinued by the County and a project was launched under the Federal Works Agency, sponsored by the Missouri Resources Museum and co-sponsored by the Jackson County Highway Department. Actual work was resumed on December 15, 1941.
The exact location of Fort Osage had been long forgotten though the general supposition was that it was somewhere in the locality. The buildings of old Sibley presented much confusion. Long gone, their presence still remained in the minds of the old timers who handed down legends which tended to establish the location of the Fort three hundred feet to the south.
Cleaning up the site was a big job in itself. Every inch of ground was literally covered with dense growths of brush, weeds, and small trees. Until this was removed it was impossible to even dimly visualize the land points which had been set down by William Clark in his Journal and in his ground plan of 1808.
The site of the big blockhouse at the northeast corner of the fort sector was the first point where we actually made contact with the ground. Little more than clearance was done here. The fill was a hard packed mixture of clay and sand which had apparently washed in and built itself up at the brink of the hill with considerable more rapidity than the hill was cutting down at the sides. The fill was almost entirely free of artifactual material. An occasional cut nail came to light and numerous food bones were found through the deposit which probably were washed or deposited on the point at some date later than that of the fort occupation.
The fill was hard and was packed, so hard in fact that it had to be picked away. On several occasions we resolved to abandon this location because of its sterility. At the last minute a clunk of limestone was seen and troweling around this we found other stones belonging to some structural feature so we continued to pick away at the clay until we reached the bottom four feet below the surface. Our rock structure turned out to be the remains of a fireplace and was in correct position of the blockhouse. This was difficult to understand—a fireplace in a blockhouse.
We knew that the bottom of the fireplace would reflect the hearth level and also a floor level. We spread out and continued picking away the clay and brushing the bottom as we went. On the west side of the fireplace we located a dark stain which feathered out at its edges and tracing this we found it to be 18 feet long. We traced it to the east from the northwest corner but the hillside was cut down so completely that it was impossible to follow it out. At any rate this stain would likely reflect the inside or outside line of a room of approximately the same size as the blockhouses. This was more or less testing or confirmation procedure which was expected of me rather than a complete and detailed excavation at the time. The indications are that this is the site of the northeast corner blockhouse of the fort sector proper.
The excavated dirt from this corner site was run through a quarter mesh screen but artifactual material was scant. A few food bones, bits of china and a few square nails are all worth mentioning. The sacks of artifactual materials have not been studied as yet.
Due south of this corner point William Clark sketched in his ground plan at (2) officers’ quarters 2 stories high. Our job was not complete excavation but only clearance work to establish locations. Approximately six inches of soil was scooped from the surface revealing a maze of limestone blocks, some regularly placed and others seemed to have been thrown in at random. It was finally decided that chimneys had fallen down and rocks had been kicked from foundations to cause such a deposition as this.
Early plans seem to indicate that the old town of Sibley extended down this far and we were somewhat confused as to the identification of this structure or structures. The plan of Sibley shows streets oriented more to the northeast and southwest tending to discount the possibility of these foundations as having been a part of the town. They were built more in a north and south line but swung slightly to the northeast.
Bases of double fireplaces were seen which most likely indicated a division of two rooms and profusions of scattered and broken limestone extended from the fireboxes outward to some 20 feet.
Charcoal appeared in quantity suggesting that the buildings may have been fired at one time. Broken bits of thin window glass were bent and fused as a result of intense heat.
This set of structures on the Clark plan from the south end of the northeast corner blockhouse appear to be about 60 feet long including the blockhouse at the south end. They measure about 10 or 12 feet wide. In reality, though we cannot establish measurements from wall to wall, they appear more like 90 ft. in length and 17 ft. wide in places. It will be impossible to give exact measurements however, until the site has been completely excavated.
The dirt removed from this series of limestone foundations has all been screened. It produced a tremendous amount of artifactual material. Military buttons characteristic of the early Fort Osage period tend to confirm the idea that these were the remains of the Officers’ Quarters. It is likely that the town of old Sibley never extended this far north even though its lots and streets were surveyed out to the brink of the hill. We may have here the remains of the four blockhouses and as a matter of fact the entire fort sector undisturbed exclusive of a reasonable amount of vandalism and the use of building materials for later structures.
Another discovery which would add weight to the possibility that the limestone remains were at one time Officers’ Quarters was the presence of post moulds a few feet east of the supposed Officers’ Quarters site. The moulds were from six to eight inches in diameter. Some had been replaced with silt while others still retained part of the original wood structure of the oak posts. They were spaced at intervals of eight or ten feet and likely were the key posts for the palisade which may have been put together in sections and then tilted upright into a trench and fastened to the key posts. The remains of this line of oak posts were found all along the east side of the bluff from the northeast blockhouse of the fort sector to the end of the site of the southeast blockhouse of the fort sector.
The one feature which definitely establishes this site as the location of Fort Osage is the bottom cellar under the factory building which was built in 1810. The measurements are so closely in accord with a photostatic copy of a survey and examination dated January 10, 1811. The part corresponding with remains we located is the lower cellar. The survey reads:
“a room……40 feet by 16 proper for storing peltry etc.
a room…..in the North end 16 feet by 8 fitted up properly for storing Gun powder.”
As yet we have been unable to locate the partition line which would divide the cellar in two. According to the above quotation the length of the entire cellar (inside measurement) is 48 feet. The width as shown is 16 feet. Both of these measurements tally with our findings. In connection with the upper cellars, I quote:
“a room……19 ½ feet by 17 ½ proper for a kitchen.
a room……29 ½ feet by 17 ½ (under the Trading room with presses, Frames, benches, etc., proper for packing Furs and peltries.”
The upper cellar was probably expanded in both length and width by a decrease in wall thickness, that is, by forming a shelf several inches in width over which to lay the ends of girders which would act as stringers for the support of the floor of the second story cellar. Such a shelf was discovered in the north west corner. Its width was nine inches. Double this width and add to the width of the first or lower cellar and the answer is seventeen and one half feet. This corresponds with the measurement shown in the survey.
Sometime after the abandonment of the cellar in 1827, the wood structure burned and in the course of time and probably as a result of vandalism the stone chimney in the south end toppled to the inside. The walls fell to the inside and the cellar structure accumulated debris and rubbish from the adjoining small settlement of Sibley. In time there was nothing but a dip in the side of the hill which was to be completely forgotten.
Over 300 cubic yards of dirt and limestone blocks were removed from this site. We worked down to the bottom of the fallen rock and are leaving the soft accumulation on the floor for future investigation.
The dirt was run through a quarter mesh screen producing a variety of artifacts; burned wood, twisted window glass, bottles, nails both cut and hand wrought, cupboard locks, door locks, hooks, garden tools, china, Willow ware, Ironstone, novelties, costume jewelry, military buttons dating from Revolutionary times until after the War of 1812.
Pipes of all types and varieties were found broken. A few buckles and ornaments were recovered. Many beads which were used as early trade objects found their way to Fort Osage during this early period. Tiny earbobs made of silver were recovered after their clasps bent in two and were dropped from the ears of some Osage Indians.
What a conglomeration of artifactual material! But it will spell out, word for word, the history of the early happenings. Without a doubt this material dates from Fort Osage times up until a fairly recent period because of the close proximity of the town of Sibley.
There remains the question in some minds as to the original location of Fort Osage but there is not the slightest doubt in my mind that this is the site of that early frontier outpost. The sway-back on the brink of the hill still remains as shown in William Clark’s plan at (5). The point of the north blockhouse is still intact. The landing to the northeast is still rocked up with the old original limestone blocks which were put there by the earliest of the occupants.
One can still see the remains or the flattened places on the side of the hill where wagon roads once led up to the entrance gate and to the rear of the factory building. A fireplace still remains at the location of the northeast blockhouse in the fort sector and a few feet to the south are the limestone foundations which yielded soldiers buttons in numbers sufficient to strongly suggest the presence of some sort of soldiers’ or officers’ quarters. And to the east a few feet are the postmoulds of what probably was the palisade of oak logs.
As indefinite as the features are at present, there is no doubt that this marks the spot of the old military outpost and government trading houses which stood as a gateway to the western country. The importance of Fort Osage has been forgotten. It must be revived. I need not go into detail as to the extent of the work only to say that it is a major operation which would require months of excavation, screening, mapping, engineering, and documentary research.
L.S./J.W. Hendron, Supervisor