20 - Zebulon Pike

Birk led IMA excavations of Lieutenant Zebulon Pike's 1805 wintering fort site south of Little Falls in 1984 and 1985. These projects were made possible by scheduled maintenance on the Blanchard Dam, which dropped the Mississippi's water level and briefly exposed the normally underwater site. This was Birk's closest associated with a nationally-known historical figure, and he capitalized on the resulting publicity to promote the IMA and nearby LEHP. The end of the 1985 excavation was marked by a formal celebration of “Pike’s Fort Day” on September 26, an event proclaimed by Governor Rudy Perpich and featuring an address by Lieutenant Governor Marlene Johnson at the site.

No further site work was done, but Birk and the IMA kept up the production of Pike-related research and interpretation for the next decade. Immediately after the excavation the IMA began working on a travelling exhibit showcasing the history and archaeology of the site, a project that was finished in 1989 and renewed in 1995. In 1988 the fort site was entered on the NRHP. Finally, from 1990 to 1992 the IMA prepared a short documentary on the fort site and Pike’s travel route titled “Archaeology Beyond the Walls: Tracing Zebulon Pike’s Travels in the Mississippi Headwaters.”