Spirit Mound

From Lewis and Clark to the Future (first marker)&nbsp;<br>Change came slowly to Spirit Mound after 1804. For 55 years the area remained the land of the Yankton Sioux, with fur traders conducting business from posts on the Missouri. The tallgrass prairie continued to thrive as it had for thousands of years before. In 1859 the Yankton moved to a reservation 70 miles upriver, and Congress created Dakota Territory in 1861.<br><br>The first homestead was filed on Spirit Mound in 1868. A pioneer recalled that looking north from the top of the mound, he could see only one tree. But the mound changed tremendously during the next 100 years. Settlers established two farmsteads, planted groves and divided fields with barbed wire. Land along the creek was pastured and a feedlot operated on the eastern slope. The prairie habitat disappeared, except for a five-acre remnant on the western side.<br><br>Preservation and restoration also came slowly. In 1986 a local group incorporated the Spirit Mound Trust, dedicated to saving the mound as a public resource.<br><br><span>The Trust's determined pursuit of this vision, under its long-term president, Larry Monfore, along with the Lewis and Clark<br></span>Expedition&nbsp;bicentennial, led to the current project. Spirit Mound Historic Prairie results from a unique partnership among the Trust, the South Dakota Division of Parks &amp; Recreation, and the National Park Service.<br><br>Spirit Mound Historic Prairie will be a permanent resource for those who wish to honor our history and to enjoy the biological richness of the tallgrass prairie. Recreating the prairie primeval may be impossible, but will always be the project partnership's goal.<br><br>INSET - Larry Monfore 1939-2003<br><br>Lewis and Clark Were Here...and Here... (second marker)<br>The Missouri National Recreational River preserves two splendid segments of the free-flowing, once unpredictable "Big Muddy." These natural-appearing reaches are reminiscent of the river as reported in the journal pages of captains Lewis and Clark and four other members of the Corps of Discovery.<br><br>Change is a constant. And much has changed along the Corps of Discovery's route since "Mr. Lewis' Tour" first traveled through the middle Missouri region two centuries ago. Both human and natural forces have contributed to alter or obliterate many historic and natural features that the expedition members saw and described. Though the faces of the land and its inhabitants and the flow of the river are different today, a good amount remains that is suggestive of that 1804-06 landscape.<br><br>Lewis and Clark sites along this stretch of the middle Missouri River vary. They range from the Sgt. Floyd Monument in Sioux City, Iowa, to the river and its sandbars and snags as seen from various scenic overlooks, to "The Tower" (Old Baldy) near where the expedition first encountered prairie dogs.<br><br>We invite you to visit these and other&nbsp;sites associated with the "corps of volunteers for North Western Discovery."<br><br>PICTURE CAPTIONS (top photo then from left to right): 1) "The Wind blew hard and raised the Sands off the bar..."<br>2) "this Bluff Contained Alum, Cooperas,..."<br>3) "We buried him on the top of the bluff 1/2 Miles below a Small river..."<br>4) "...and Camped below the Calumet Bluff in a Plain on the L{arbord} S{ide}..."<br>5) "...they informed me that they were Shooting...at an old Keg..we had thrown out..."<br>6) "this River is...Throwing out Sands like the Platt, (only Corser) forming bars in its mouth."<br><span>7) "...in descending this Cupola discovered a Village of Small animals that burrow in the grown..."<br></span><br><div>Lewis and Clark Visit Spirit Mound August 25, 1804 (Third marker)&nbsp;<br>On the hot day of August 25, 1804, captains Lewis and Clark and several of their men walked from the river to explore Spirit Mound. They had heard that little people with deadly arrows inhabited the mound. Although they did not find little people, they saw their big herds of buffalo as well as elk, burrows of either badgers or "Prairie Wolves" (coyotes), meadowlarks, swallows, and the first bat they had seen on the expedition. Suffering from heat and thirst, they walked back to the river.<br><br>"From the top of this Mound we beheld a most beautiful landscape; Numerous herds of buffaloes were seen feeding in various directions." Wm. Clark<br><br><span>"25th Augt George Shannon Killed an Elk Buck" Wm. Clark<br></span><br>Credit to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=194632" target="" rel="">https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=194632</a>&nbsp;,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=194634" target="" rel="">https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=194634</a>&nbsp;,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=194633">https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=194633</a></div>

This trail leads to the summit of Spirit Mound, a sacred site for several Plains Indian tribes. Some tribal members make pilgrimages to Spirit Mound, say prayers on top, and leave offerings. As you approach and walk to the top, please do so respectfully.On clear days, the summit offers views as far away as the Big Sioux River to the southeast, the James River to the west, and the Nebraska Bluffs to the south. Before starting out on this 0.8-mile trail to the summit, be aware that there is neither water nor shade between here and the top.INSET - Taking Measure: In his journal, William Clark described the mound as a "regular parallelagram...300 yards in length...[by] 60 or 70 yards...leaveing a leavel Plain on the top of 12 feet in width &amp; 90 in length."<span>TRAIL MAP - Indicates that the sign is situated at 1200' elevation and the Spirit Mound Summit is at 1300' elevation. The trail crosses Spirit Mound Creek.<br><br>Credit to:&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=39700">https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=39700</a>

On August 25, 1804,<span>&nbsp;several members of the Lewis and Clark Expedition left the river "</span><i>to visit a High Hill...Supposed to be a place of Deavels...with remarkable large heads...[that] kill all persons who...attemp to approach the hill...."</i><br><br>They apparently did not see any evidence of "little spirits," but from the hilltop they did see large herds of bison and elk on the surrounding plains and large flocks of birds feeding on insects blown up the slopes.<br><br><i>Captions:</i><br><span>The weather was hot and humid. The nine-mile walk was too much for Seaman, Lewis's Newfoundland dog. Before reaching the mound, he had to be taken back to the campsite near the Vermillion River.<br><br>August 21-26, 1804<br>On his map, William Clark labeled the "Hill of little Devils," which is known today as Spirit Mound.<br><br>credit to:&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=222050">https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=222050</a>

Spirit Mound was a sacred place to area tribes long before the first settlers arrived here from the east. To the Yankton Sioux, Omaha, Otoes, and other tribes, this was the "mountain of little people."<br><br><span>Indians believed it was "bad medicine" to see the&nbsp;</span><i>Can O' ti la</i><span>, or "little people." A person who encountered one of them or was wounded by their arrows necessarily consulted a spiritual healer. If the person ignored this warning, he or she would face a serious problem or even death.<br><br>Credit to:&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=222055">https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=222055</a>

When William Clark climbed this "conical hill" in 1804, he concluded, correctly, that it was a natural form, not a human-created mound. Its central core is a bedrock of Niobrara chalk that the continental ice sheet did not erode away. The chalk—consisting of fossil shells deposited in an ancient sea—is evident on the north side of the hill.<br><br><i>Captions:</i><br><span>Spirit Mound's core, Niobrara chalk—a remnant of eroded bedrock highlands—predates the last glacial advance here 13,000 years ago.<br>When the glacier advanced from the north over the highland, it removed some of the sediment.<br>As the glacier melted, it left behind glacial till—a mix of clay, silt, sand, and other materials it was carrying.<br>This view shows the profile of Spirit Mound in the early 1900s.<br><br>credit to:&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=222056">https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=222056</a>