9 Jan 2024

Cartographic Comparative Analysis of Undocumented Farmsteads at Fort McCoy, Wisconsin

Abstract: Government acquisition of farmland within the present-day boundaries of Fort McCoy is defined by two consequential events: the founding of the installation in 1909, and its expansion in the early 1940s to provide training lands during World War II. Since the 1990s, Fort McCoy’s cultural resources manager (CRM) has sponsored archaeological investigations to determine the eligibility of former farmstead sites for the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). Using geographic information systems (GISs) to compare historic cartographic sources, this project attempts to ascertain whether there are additional farmstead sites at Fort McCoy that may have been overlooked in existing archaeological investigations. Additionally, it provides a short summary of farmstead archaeological activity at Fort McCoy over the past 20 years, a brief historic context highlighting characteristics of farmsteads in the Upper Midwest, and a brief explanation of enhanced lidar techniques that personnel at Fort McCoy can explore for future use. Finally, an appendix provides a list of questions that may be used to conduct oral interviews with descendants of families who farmed within the present-day boundaries of Fort McCoy.