Red River Wreck Field School

From July 21 to August 11, 2001, the PAST Foundation and Indiana University Bloomington sponsored a field school as part of the Red River Wreck Project. The wreck is an unidentified steamboat, believed to date from about 1840, that was lost in the Red River near Fort Towson in southeastern Oklahoma. The field school offered a unique opportunity for undergraduates, graduate students and volunteers to work on an unusual wreck that may reshape our understanding of the development of transportation in the American West.

The field school was under the overall direction of PAST Foundation executive director Dr. Annalies Corbin, who also led one of the two project teams in documenting the wreck. The other team was led by Dr. Laurel Breece of Long Beach City College. Additional valuable support was provided by Dr. Sheli O. Smith, an experienced nautical archaeologist who served both as project facilitator and dive safety officer. The majority of students were undergraduates, with no prior experience working in underwater archaeology. In addition, while most were divers, several had learned to dive specifically to work on this project, and had little or no other diving experience before arriving in Oklahoma.

The diving conditions were difficult by any standard, and daunting for inexperienced divers. Nevertheless, each one succeeded in adapting to the strong current and poor visibility, and completed valuable work that contributed significantly to our understanding of the boat, its design and construction.