Man Mound, Famous Archeological Wonder--Why Indian Earthworks Were
Built
The famous man mound, a few miles northeast of Baraboo, is the most
interesting archeological feature of the region. This earthwork is
shaped like a giant human figure and is the only known Indian monument
of this nature in the world.
A Deer Mound
On the way to the site of the man mound, a deer mound may be visited at
727 Eighth Street, Baraboo, (on Trunk Line 33, Baraboo to Portage) in
an oak grove, on land owned by Mrs. Catherine Crandall Train. The rear
portion of this mound, a rare effigy, was destroyed a number of years
ago. A linear mound may be seen just back of the effigy.
Continuing on the trunk line two miles, a turn is made to the left, the
highway approaching a rugged elevation on the left side of the road.
This outcrop of sandstone is known locally as Rocky Point or Violet
Hill, from the abundance of violets which carpet its slopes in the
spring. Violent Hill would perhaps be a better appellation as the point
has been responsible for a number of serious accidents. Early in the
history of this region a bold frontiersman made the wrong turn, because
of a maudlin mind acquired in the village by overindulgence in rum, and
his wagon, tipping over, his life was snuffed out on the rocks.
About the year 1870 another devotee of Bacchus became a sacrifice.
Before his team had reached the top of the hill this confused
husbandman, thinking he was at the turn in the road, directed his
horses into the rocks and by the overturning of his wagon-box, was
killed.
Another victim was an employee of a hop yard located near the man
mound. One night this individual walked down the slope north of the
hill but instead of following the highway skirting the rocks, he walked
directly over the crest. Stepping into the darkness, he fell headlong
down the declivity barely escaping death.
Only a few years since, a driver and team came down this same north
slope in a snow storm. The snowdrifts were deep and the driver finally
abandoned his conveyance, walking behind his horses in an endeavor to
follow the road. Blinded by the falling snow and confused by the
drifts, man and team plunged over the cliff and were only saved from
destruction by the abundance of snow. So deep were the drifts that
little could be seen of the horses after the tumble, except their ears.
The Man Mound.
The journey now leads a fraction of a mile farther up the north range
of the Baraboo Bluffs, then a mile to the east to Man Mound Park, the
central object of which is the famous man mound.
The length of the mound is 214 feet and width at the shoulder 48 feet.
In order to assemble this large amount of earth the Indians, having
neither shovels nor iron tools of any kind, used bark or other baskets,
scrapers of wood or stone, and their hands. The observer will realize
with what labor and under what difficulties the workers accomplished
their task. When the Indians were gathered here, in camp they, with
their activity and fantastic dress, must have presented an unusual
picture in the boundless wilderness.
[Illustration]
The man mound was located and platted by W. H. Canfield, local
surveyor, historian, and archeologist, July 23, 1859. The original
survey is now in the possession of the Sauk County Historical Society.
The name of the discoverer of this earthwork has been lost in the
dimness of time. When the highway was graded a number of years ago the
lower part of the legs were destroyed and subsequently the feet, for
years beneath a board fence on the north side of the road, were
leveled. Why the mound was built is explained near the close of this
article.
On August 7, 1908, the Man Mound Park was formally dedicated at a joint
state assembly of the Wisconsin Archeological Society and Sauk County
Historical Society, the bronze tablet, a gift by J. Van Orden of
Baraboo, being unveiled at that time. Previously the land had been
purchased by the two societies and the Landmarks Committee of the
Wisconsin Federation of Women's Clubs.
Region Rich in Indian Mounds.
In primeval times the Baraboo region was rich in Indian mounds and,
although the plow has been active since the 40's and 50's of the last
century, many of the aboriginal earthworks still remain. They were
erected by the savages on hillside and on plain, by lake, stream, and
on the upland, in the deep forest and on the open prairie. They are the
relics of a people now disappearing and are of ever increasing interest
to the investigating archeologist.
The theory was at one time advanced that a pre-Indian race, the Mound
Builders, constructed the earthworks, but modern archeologists have
disproved the idea of the existence of any such a pre-historic people,
holding the builders of the mounds were none other than the Indians. It
is believed the Winnebago are the authors of the majority of the
earthworks found in Wisconsin. The great number of these heaps of earth
scattered over the country indicate a considerable Indian population
extending over no small period of time.
Indian mounds or tumuli are of various forms and, with few exceptions,
may be classed as round or conical, elongate or wall-like pyramidal,
and effigy or emblematic mounds. The conical mounds in the United
States vary in height from scarcely a perceptible swell to elevation of
80 and sometimes 100 feet. Ours are smaller the highest not over 25
feet. Those in the Baraboo region seldom exceed in height of 2, 3, or 4
feet. In the conical mounds the Indians often buried their dead and
sometimes one, two, or three layers of charcoal are found above the
remains, indicating that fires, probably of a ceremonial nature, had
burned over the dead.
The long or wall-like mounds are earthworks of a usual length of 30 to
300 feet, in extreme cases the wall having a maximum extension of 800
or 900 feet. Linear mounds are found in the effigy mound region.
Pyramidal mounds are not found in the Baraboo country.
The effigy mounds represent animal forms, and, with few exceptions, are
confined to Wisconsin and contiguous portions of neighboring states.
The famous serpent mound and several other animal-shaped earthworks are
located in Ohio and two bird mounds are in Georgia. Effigy mounds vary
from 3 to 4 to 500 feet in length and in height from a few inches to 5
or 6 feet. Burials were rarely made in these mounds which have the
outline of the deer, bear, lizard, turtle, eagle, swallow, frog, or
other forms of animal life. Indians are divided into clans and most
effigy mounds are believed by archeologists to be the emblems of these.
In order to perpetuate the clan idea, the Indians constructed about
their places of residence the mounds symbolic of their clans, thousands
of these earthen elevations being scattered over southern Wisconsin.
The deer mound at the home of Mrs. Train is a clan emblem but
archeologists believe the effigy in Man Mound Park an Indian deity.
Mounds of all types, in the eastern part of Sauk County, numbered over
600, according to a survey made by Dr. A. B. Stout about 1905. Many of
the mounds have been leveled by the plow and cultivator.