The site, excavated in the 1930s, is theorized to represent a rare instance of a settlement from early in the period in which the Crow and Hidatsa Native American tribes separated from one another.

[4] The site was discovered in 1936 by Oscar Lewis, an area resident and amateur archaeologist, and is named for the landowner.

It underwent more substantive excavations in the following two years, by teams organized by the state and funded by the Works Progress Administration.

These excavations recorded the locations of artifacts in a horizontal but not vertical orientation, a deficiency that has caused later difficulties in using the collection for analysis and comparison.

Despite this problem, the site has been recognized as of unquestioned importance in the region since early analyses were published.