Plate under the intake's purpose

[1960BreadTruck]

Hey ya'll, so I'm rebuilding my grandad's old 69' 351W, and just popped the intake off. Riveted to the bottom of the intake is stamped steel plate with hole in it (for drainage I assume). As I'm trying to clean the intake out, I keep getting big chunks of carbon crap out from under that plate. Curiosity and the sake of cleanliness lead me to remove that plate, with the assumption it could be put back on with use of screws, need be. Under the plate hid a chunk of crap the size of my palm, and a plug in the bottom of the intake that I'm not about to attempt to remove. My question is: What the heck is that plate for??? Does it need to be there? Thanks in advance, I'll post up more pics of the rebuild as it comes along!