Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Ye old lakebed – Fort Drum, NY

Date:    Mon, 14 May 2012 07:51:16 -0700
From:    George Myers <georgejmyersjr@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Sub floor deposits - dust & taphonomy

Back in the early 80s an archaeology survey was conducted at Fort Drum, NY, about 110,000 acres many of which are areas where live fire exercises were or are conducted from stationary tanks and other materiel from outside the double-fenced acreage, east of Watertown, NY. Before WWII, it had had about 10,000 people employed, many in the dairy trade, where before bog-iron furnaces, perhaps four (4) had been around the earlier Pine Camp, and a palisaded village of the hypothesized "St. Lawrence Iroquois". One of the requirements was that we attend an EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) which we were told was based on the British UXO (Unexploded Ordnance) units which had more "experience" with those matters. Of the many problems in that underpaid branch of the US Army, the officer related that their most trouble came from barracks finds. People think in the field to bring something home and change their minds and "stash it" somewhere in the barracks, i.e., under floors, in walls, and elsewhere to escape detection. They apparently then did a lot of that screening after NY National Guard units and US Army winter training units, before the construction of facilities and the relocation of the US Army 10th Mountain Division cantonment from Colorado, for about 7,000 people it was stated in the plans as part of an economic plan for a helping that area. I'm glad we had the class, and thought to "pass it forward".

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