That’s the “Little Mound” on the right with the transmission antenna coming out of it; Belmont Mount is visible to the left.
Today’s article won’t be long. But for those of you who are interested in the large mounds in the area– a list across three states that includes the Platte, Belmont, Blue, Horseshoe, Charles, Sherill and Sinsinawa Mounds–you sometimes see reference to a, or the, “Little Mound.”
For instance, at the top of one of the Blue Mounds, you even can see a diagram that shows you where “Little Mound” is, about 24.5 miles southwest of the Blue Mound right between the Belmont and Platte Mounds. If you’ve been to either of the latter two places, you may have driven right by it (and if you did, did you try to read that word on the western side? What does it say?)
Helpful though slightly vandalized signage at the top of Blue Mound’s west observation tower points out some of the mounds visible from this point, the highest in the Driftless Region.
Those words on the Little Mound spell “Mootz”
“Little Mound” sits about a half-mile west of the Belmont Mound (and about a half-mile east of the Platte or “M” Mound) on County Highway B. It’s on private property, and was once part of a large farm belonging to Don Mootz… and that, plus the large “M” for “Mining” on the Platte Mound, is probably why it too sports a large “M”… in this case followed by the rest of the “Mootz” name! It was very visible even ten years ago, but has become illegible in recent days.
Below, have a look at the Little Mound in winter… and that’s it for today’s road trip!
The Little Mound in winter
Unless noted, all photos by Terry Burns
Tell us about your favorite place in the Driftless Region!
Belmont Mound, just a few miles outside of Belmont Wisconsin near the First Capitol Historic Site, rises from its base of 1,000 feet above sea level 400 feet into the air and is covered with trails used by hikers, horseback riders, and cross-country skiers alike. It’s name comes from French, belle monte or “beautiful mountain,” though most would hardly consider an elevation 1400 feet above sea level to be mountainous!
Hidden away on the eastern side near the picnic area, you can also find some abandoned lime kilns, nearly covered by the profusion of stately oak and walnut trees. More on that kiln later in this article.
Belmont Mound is one of many large “mounds” in the area that are actually worn down mountaintops capped with dolomite, like the nearby Platte, Sinsinawa, Blue, and Horseshoe Mounds (and not to be confused with the conical, linear, and effigy mounds created by the ancestors of the Ho-Chunk, Potowatomi, and other native peoples of this area.)
To get there, take either take County Road G from Platteville or take the Belmont exit from Highway 151. Then, um… look for the large mound! The Belmont Lion’s Club maintains the park and you’ll find parking and shelters at the entrance. The road after that is now blocked to cars, but you use this easy paved road as a pedestrian path to where the observation tower used to stand.
These larger mounds have served as navigation markers for humans for hundreds if not thousands of years: in fact, the reason the 1836 Wisconsin Territorial capitol was located where it was, near Belmont, is likely because it was easy to find and locate the spot in what was then the state’s most populous area, the southwest Wisconsin lead mining region. (The Territorial Legislature only met at that capitol once, in 1836, then after two sessions in Burlington, Iowa they moved to Madison, Wisconsin.)
As we’ve talked about in earlier articles on the nearby Platte or Platteville “M” Mound, the geology of these mounds is what makes them so great to hike upon. On the north side of the mound, you’ll find structures like “Devil’s Dining Table” and “Devil’s Chair” . . . and you can have some fun making up names of your own, since the trails are marked, but without names.
“But wait,” I imagine someone saying, “didn’t you say something about a great observation tower there?”
The observation tower still stands, but the Lion’s Club plans to dismantle it for liability reasons.
Yes, there is one, but not for long, and please don’t use it. The 64-foot observation tower at the Mound’s top is scheduled to be dismantled soon. Once, from the top of the tower at night, you could see the lights of Dubuque, Iowa and Galena, Illinois. During the day you could see Lancaster, Wisconsin, 20 miles away. Most prominently, you could also see the back of the Platte Mound in nearby Platteville (to the west) and the largest of the two Blue Mounds, in Blue Mound State Park, to the northeast.
You can walk up the old car road the the now-closed observation tower.
Unfortunately, three people have committed suicide at different times by jumping from the Tower. Along with those tragedies, according to Lion’s Club members, were other problems, such as people pitching everything from televisions to rotten pumpkins off of the top of the Tower and leaving it to the Lion’s Club to clean up. Because of that, even before the most recent suicide, the Lion’s Club had decided they could no longer maintain the Tower, and it is closed.
(Well, that was a major downer. Let’s shift to some of the hikes and other things you can find at the Mound!)
The author took this picture of the back of the Platte or Platteville or “M” Mound a few years back, before the observation tower was closed.
As mentioned, there are a host of hiking trails around Belmont Mound. Like the other large mounds in the Driftless area, Belmont Mound sits on a deep granite base and was likely a mountain millions of years ago. About 500 million years ago (during the Cambrian geologic period), a very thick layer of mainly sandstone with some limestone mixed in blanketed the granite, followed a few million years later (during the Ordovician Period) with additional blankets of shale, limestone and sandstone. All that was then covered by a particular kind of limestone, Niagara dolomite, in the Silurian period. Since no glacier covered this area during the last ice age, the mountain was never totally eroded… and since limestone in particular holds its form even while very, very slowly dissolving in places where there’s water, its particular chemical structure lends itself to the creation of lots of caves, gorges, and rock outcroppings.
The geology of Belmont Mound resulted in lots of rock outcroppings, like this one: the “Devil’s Dining Table,” about 100 yards downhill from the drive up to the old observation tower. To see more of this particular trail, check out this video by local hiker Harry Kies.
One of several possible cave entrances. . . but please, don’t go caving alone!
The most-noticed cave is located just a few yards north of the Devil’s Dining Table. Take a flashlight and a friend if you want to go through it… its an unlit passage of about 25 feet through a huge rock, and hard to miss. No, that picture on the left is not it. That’s just to tempt you.
The best time for hiking or horseback riding is early spring or late fall, as some trails tend to get overgrown in summer and if you’re horseback riding, your horse won’t appreciate all the thorny berry bushes. On the other hand, if what you’d prefer to do is pick gooseberries or black raspberries, you’ll find them all over the place in late summer, and morel mushrooms a month or so before that. Don’t hike during hunting season, as the area is also a favorite destination of local hunters.
The picnic shelter sits on the site of an old lime quarry. To the far right of it, you’ll see another mini-shelter. That’s the trail to the old lime kilns.
If you aren’t up for caving, berry-picking, or hunting, and you don’t want to hike too far, you might want to explore the history of the area a bit. There’s a mysterious old lime kiln that is within 100 yards of the picnic area. In fact, the picnic area itself is the site of an old lime quarry.
While I have not been able to find the name of whose lime kiln it was, I’m certain that’s what it is, and the type of construction makes it appear that it was made by early settlers from the British isles. (If I find out who operated the kilns, I’ll post that here. However, British isles settlers–Cornish miners but not only them–came with knowledge of how to make kilns to extract lime for use in agriculture and manufacturing processes, because they’d made similar ones in their native country. A similarly constructed lime kiln can be found over in Grant county near British Hollow, on Hippy Hollow Road.)
Two old lime kilns sit about 100 yards behind and uphill from the picnic area, which itself was an old lime quarry.
Inside one of the old kilns
The path to and from from the lime kilns to the picnic area. After this point, it zigs and zags a bit before arriving at the kilns.
Bald eagles flying over the Mound in mid-December
Getting to the kilns is simple: if you’re at the main picnic area facing away from the road, you should see another small shelter to the right. The trail is right behind that. You may not see the kilns until you’re almost upon them, but if you’ve gone more than a quarter-mile you’ve gone too far.
Belmont Mound is also a great spot for bird-watching, thanks to the huge old oaks that populate its sides. I’ve seen Cooper’s hawks and bald eagles there both, especially in November and December.
The park’s trails are not maintained in winter, but are nonetheless sometimes used by snowshoers. There is a 2.5 mile cross country ski trail nearby. The trail pictured below, which you’ll intersect on the way to the lime kilns, is just over a mile long and usually called “Mound Loop Trail.”
The trails aren’t maintained in winter, but most of them stay open.
One last thing… if you’re driving to the Belmont Mound from Platteville on County B, you’ll probably drive by the “Little” or “Mootz” mound. It’s on private property, but mentioned here since its yet another of the large mounds in the area: a list across three states that includes the Platte, Belmont, Blue, Horseshoe, Charles, Sherill and Sinsinawa Mounds.
The Belmont Mound in winter
Unless noted, all photos by Terry Burns
Tell us about your favorite place in the Driftless Region!
by Terry Burns, Laurie Graney and Kristal Prohaska
Welcome to our third and final article on the mystery of “Indian Park,” the not-quite-an-acre of land just off fourth street in Platteville, Wisconsin. Our first article introduced the many mysteries of this place; our second article discussed the history we know for certain, particularly its history as a cholera burial ground and the seeming legal tug-of-war that’s occurred over the property since the 1850s.
[Note : we have added new information to this article as of January 31, 2022. That new information has been obtained as research performed as part of a Wisconsin Humanities Mini-Grant entitled “Unraveling the Mysteries of Indian Park and Developing a Vision for the Future.” We have also added a more formal separate page, “The History of Indian Park,” which includes references beyond what we refer to in this article.]
Is that circle in the center an Indian Mound? It originally rose at least two feet higher off of the ground and the area under the circular sidewalk is also sloped. Some people who lived in Platteville in the late 1960s and early 1970s remember that it was once surrounded with an iron fence. In the 1950s and early 1960s, elementary students from O.E. Gray elementary school were often walked out to the park as a field trip, and told not to walk on the mound because it was sacred ground to the “Indians.” Were these elementary school teachers right?
Finally we come to the legend that gives the park its name: the alleged “Indian buried in the middle.” We’ve already speculated that if there is truth to the legend, and we think there is, that the so-called “Indian” (no one has ever attached a tribe or nation) is not a recent burial. Elementary school teachers in the 1950s used to lead their classes out to the park from O.E. Gray elementary and instruct students that there was a mound in the middle of the park, and it needed to be treated with respect. If you grew up in Platteville and remember such a field trip, we want to say that your teacher was probably exactly right: that there likely is a conical mound in the center of the park, and perhaps were other mounds there too at one time. This article will explore that possibility and talk about how we might prove it.
So, is that a conical mound in the center? Was this area home to a mound complex? Could there even be a linear mound on the south side, perhaps one shaved off when the park was leveled?
As we explored this idea, we were told more than once that the kind of area “Indian Park” sits upon was not the kind of area that mounds were built upon. (Of course, we were only told this by other white people, as the “Mound Builders” are long gone. William Quackenbush, the Tribal Preservation Officer for the Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin, kindly informed us that this was sometimes but not always the case.1)
Conical mounds do NOT need to be located near water, but even if they did, that would not be a problem. The area now known as “Indian Park” was once very near not only water, but a plethora of natural springs. In fact the whole area of what is now Platteville has been described by of the early setters as a forested area filled with gorges and springs. The area to the east, towards Darlington, was prairie, and it was easy to see what is now Platteville because it stood out both because of the large Platte Mound (the one that now has a large “M”) and because it was forested and full of water.
The last post on this blog was a 1917 article by one of the early white settlers, Mr. J.E. Evans, entitled “Platteville Ninety Years Ago, as the Site Appeared to our Pioneers / Also Some Account of the Abundance of Water that Greeted Early Settlers.” As that article showed, the area looked vastly different then. It was a land full of ravines and springs. The area around Platteville was so plush, so full of resources and places for shelter, that its hard to believe it was not a meeting ground for Native American trade and ceremony.
Writers such as Wisconsin state archaeologist Robert Birmingham (in Indian Mounds of Wisconsin, co-authored with archaeologist Amy Rosebrough, and in Spirits of Earth: the Effigy Mound Landscape of Madison and the Four Lakes) and Anishinaabe professor Patty Loew (in Indian Nations of Wisconsin: Histories of Endurance and Renewal), along with on-the-ground educators like Effigy Mounds National Monument lead ranger David Barland-Liles, have discussed at length how the mounds connect to the cosmology of those who build them. For instance, bear effigy mounds are often associated with the bear clan; mounds occurring near springs are particularly significant since they were considered by some to be the opening to the underworld.
This graphic, used by Madison public schools to teach about the mounds in Dane County, shows the general distribution of “mounds and other earthworks” in Wisconsin.
In one of the earliest histories of the area, C.W. Butterfield’s 1881 History of Grant County, Wisconsin, Butterfield introduced the area with a long discussion of the “Mound Builders” (pp. 442-449) and conveniently listed off the locations of those he was aware of.
Since then, literally hundreds more mound sites have been rediscovered and in many cases, destroyed. Sometimes the locations drift into mystery for purly financial reasons: for instance, each of us have been told stories by retired civic leaders that either one or several conical mounds once sat upon Platteville’s Legion field, but were leveled off to build the current playing fields. Is this true? We suspect it is, as those individuals had no motive to lie about such a thing, and the reason why the act allegedly occurred– wanting playing fields more than wanting to preserve an archaeological site–does not seem surprising. But the only way to prove it would be with ground-penetrating radar or to locate such mounds on in a study done before the park was built.
That’s just one of scores of examples. After our first presentation on Indian Park back in February 2020, two long-time residents shared similar stories about other places. One, a former colleague of mine from UW-Platteville, [permission needed to use name], said that as a boy the area nearby that he helped farm had what he took to be a mound, and when he returned there later, it was gone. He was sure it had been scraped off by farming equipment. This sort of story has no doubt repeated itself over and over in this area.
Therefore, we find it extremely safe to argue that although there’s no record of when the mounds in “Indian Park” were partially scraped off, it is almost certain this happened, since the area was once described as looking so different. Also, we know for certain that two or more feet of fill have been added to the park. As you can see from the photo, when the new sidewalk was put in to the park several years ago, the excavation plainly showed the older sidewalk beneath, under at least a foot and a half of fill. Additionally, if one walks along the south border of the park, you’ll find that the adjoining properties sit more than a foot lower than the park; whatever fill was used for the foundations of those houses years ago still left them sitting lower than the park. Taken together, this means that the mound in the center used to stand out much more than it did. (Indeed, the park once called “Hill Cemetery” used to be hilly, near springs, and reputedly had more than one mound.)
As the new sidewalk was put in to the park several years ago, those watching could plainly see the old sidewalk under at least a foot and a half of fill. That means the mound in the center used to stand out much more than it did. Photo by Kristal Prohaska.
If there was a mound complex in the area, it’s not inconceivable–in fact, its predictable–that there would have been native gatherings here. In fact, that makes for a much more logical reason for people calling the place “Indian Park” than the story of an “Indian buried in the middle.” If someone or some people were buried there (if the mounds were burial mounds, as is often but not always the case), we’d be talking about someone buried there more than a thousand years ago, but peoples still visiting to the area to perform ceremony as late as the beginning of the last century.
Is that possible?
Yes. We will argue that it’s not only possible but likely. It matches the practice that continues (or in some cases has restarted) in places like Effigy Mounds National Monument. If we let ourselves be guided by those most familiar with the phenomena of mound-building– Ho-Chunk elders, Wisconsin state archaeologists who write about the “Mound Builders,” and others within the intersection of peoples who have studied and lived within native traditions–it starts to look more and more likely that there may have once been not just one mound but a mound complex in what is now called “Indian Park.” Discovering whether that is true requires archaeological excavation that is not permitted in catalogued state cemeteries, and as noted in our previous article “Indian Park cemetery” was catalogued as a state cemetery in 2021.
What we do know is that both articles and memoirs have referred to Native American gatherings at Indian Park. We also know that articles from the late 1800s and early 1900s
In 1962, someone recalled enough to tell the reporter that native people from “miles around congregated there once a year for a pow-wow. They always gathered under a big oak tree for their ceremonials and it is assumed they moved the grapes [graves?!] during one of these times, since they stopped returning rather abruptly.”
The park used to contain several “big oak trees”– they have simply blown down in recent years (the last one coming down during the big storm in the summer of 2020.) But as you can see from this picture taken during the 1970s, the park once boasted several oak trees.
From “Two Tours of Historic Platteville,” compiled by Betty Burgett in 1986 from two separate guides written by Eagle Scouts James Burgette (1976) and Dvid Burgett (1984), p. 6.
In addition, some residents at the turn of the last century recalled their being a multi-day Native American gathering in that park, though no one recalled, or perhaps knew at the time, the reason for the gathering.
Hopefully at some time in the future, ground penetrating radar will solve this mystery!
Notes
Often we have been asked if there are any Ho-Chunk or Potawatomi histories about the Mounds. Yes, the Ho-Chunk in particular consider themselves the living descendants of the “Mound Builders,” and have a plethora of histories concerning this. (Uniquely, the Ho-Chunk literally bought their way back in to the land of their ancestors by repurchasing some of their ancestral ground.) Because so much has been lost, it seems unlikely to tie a specific history to this one small patch of land. We did write to the Ho-Chunk Historic Preservation Officer, Mr. William Quackenbush, about the possibility of a mound complex in the park, and he said (on September 4, 2020) that this was not hte first time he had been asked. He also commented about whether or not a mound necessarily needed to be near water or on a bluff:
“You ask an interesting question in that there is no set distance from water or to water that determines burial placements. I believe in the field of archaeology there is this misconception that burial mounds for example, are placed in close proximity to water and that there are these set rules or guidelines that govern the placement of earthworks in general. This type of ideology originates within the field of archaeology for their use and it has now become generally accepted by their community to be the case. Traditionally speaking, burials are more apt to be placed where the individual and/or family preferred them to be placed, which doesn’t always include easy or short access to water. Ask a handful of archaeologists if earthen mounds were placed on sides of hills, or are there cultural resources such as burials on steep terrain, and they will have varying and differing viewpoints on the matter yet few if any conduct archaeological shovel tests across inclines or steep terrain. In short, their average standards & best practices dictate many thoughts on matters unless critically questioned. Bottom line is, there’s always an exception to the rules that need to be considered.”
Later in the letter, he mentioned other details that we have since asked him if we could publicly share. For now, we will just note that Burns’s inquiry was not the first one he’d received, but that “[w]e have heard others in your community through the years, have considered it as such – even going as far as including the recognition of the native community within the park’s name. Where these early thoughts originate would have to be researched to determine if they warrant consideration. I do know the Ho-Chunk People have been systematically displaced from most all of our ancestral lands since the mid 1800’s through various land cession treaties and ensuing series of forced removals to no less than four different reservation sites west of the Mississippi River. Many of those families associated with the Platteville area have likely succumbed to the genocide of our People that has taken place in our recent history.”
Yes, the Driftless Region has the highest concentration of these kinds of mounds in the world. Wouldn’t you like to know more about them?
This page had that information, but I am revising it. However, the most comprehensive guide I know of, put together over many, many years, is here. On the main page, not only are you directed to many of the mound sights that have been preserved, but given a recommended reading list.
But if you enjoyed our early page on the large mounds in the area, including the Platte or “M” Mound parts one and two, you’ll also enjoy this piece. The large mounds–Platte Mound, Belmont Mound, Horseshoe Mound, Sinsinawa Mound–are not the same things as the much smaller conical, linear, and effigy mounds, those these small, and in many ways more fascinating, mounds can occur on top of the larger ones.
(Under construction– check back after the Spring Equinox!)
Last week, we looked at some of the beautiful views and took a walk down the south ridge. But the real fun lies to the north!
Caves, Crevices and Campfires
If you’ve made it to the top of the mound for a hike, the north path is a lot longer and, to me, more fun. If you go, take a compass (or make sure you know how to use the one on your cell phone!) Unlike the easier south path, this trail is one you can get lost on.
You’ll spend the first quarter-mile just walking along the ridge, but the trail is fairly well-marked for this first little bit. Eventually you’ll be under the trees… just stay on the trail!
Even once you get in the woods, the trail is fairly well marked.
“Stay on the trail.” Sounds like an easy concept to follow, right? But if you’re like most of us, pretty soon you’ll notice that more of the coller-looking things — ravines, jutted up rock formations, climbable treefall, views of “the other side of the mound” — all lie off to the right (or east), which is also where its easiest to get lost. But after all, you did bring a compass and cell phone, so…. pretty soon, in spite of yourself, you may find yourself tempted off-trail!
The trail will lead you past lots of fun hide-aways.
… and past lots of “rockfall” …
Sometimes you even find some cave-like hiding places. But that’s only if you’ve given into temptation and left the main trail.
When you get to the far north end of the trail, you’ll see how the Mound ridge has narrowed. Any time except late summer, you’ll have a view off to the north. There’s almost always some sort of campfire pit there. Recently, a local rock artist built this little pyramid!
The north end of the Platte Mound in winter.
One the other side of this particular ridge, you can see nearby Belmont Mound.
Remember how I told you in the last article how you could see Sherrill Mound from the Platte Mound? Well, you can also see the Belmont Mound, if you walk off the trail far enough to the east and find a high ridge. You just can’t get the best picture through the trees. There’s also another little mound (literally called “Little Mound”) that sits half-way between them.
Icicles on the north trail, from early November 2019
If you’re lucky enough to take your hike just after a freeze (but when things have thawed enough on the sunnier side next to the “M” that you can get up the stairs), you’ll find all sorts of cool icicles, dripping out of the limestone. That’s because 1) it stays colder up in the shade, obviously, and 2) Since limestone is very porous, water easily flows out of its crevices and makes icicles. (You’ve probably seen this same phenomenon on highways, where a road has been blasted through limestone. In winter, it seems to spew icicles faster than the surrounding area.) They’re a lot of fun to see!
Now for the anticlimax…
You can hear all sorts of local stories about different caves up on this trail. Some people swear there really aren’t any. They’re either lying to you or didn’t look very hard. I’ve been in a couple of these caves and listened to stories over beer about lots of others. True, some of the stories were crazy-sounding (like the guy who used to sit at the old Ed’s Cafe and opine that their were Egyptian hieroglyphics inside the mound somewhere). Others, like the story of a child who fell into on of the caves many years ago resulting in that cave being sealed off (either with concrete or by dynamiting it), can’t be easily proven true or false.
But there ARE many places visited not just by me but by seasoned spelunkers with hard-hats, lights and lines. I won’t be the one to tell you how to get to them. Any cave beyond the size of the one shown earlier in this article is a place you shouldn’t go into without someone who knows what she’s doing . . . and that person is not yours truly.
But I can tell you some brief stories about them,
One of the caves, reports long-time resident Garry Prohaska, is more than thirty feet long. Another has multiple rooms. How many caves does the Platte Mound house? Well, retired professor Tracy Roberts has pointed out that the Mound’s limestone ravines, and the way they were formed through stream erosion, suggests that there likely are many unseen sunken caves where water has already created a crevice. That cave-making process takes literally thousands of years: one property of limestone is its ability to maintain its structural integrity for a very long time. There’s no record anyone has made of where the caves are (though you can find Facebook discussions where some locals are telling others to keep quiet about the locations!) But chances are pretty high that, if someone was in a cave 20 years ago, it’s still there, though perhaps covered with surface debris.
Another long-time Platteville resident, now sadly deceased, once described how to get into his favorite cave. Luckily for us, he did it in general enough terms that you can get an idea of the process but not actually locate the cave.
He reported, “if you go into that crawl space [under a particular rock] you’ll get into a small room. [Shine your flashlight] to the left and look for a crack. Crawl on your belly through the tunnel, spiral down to the right, and when you are able to get off your belly, climb down and you’ll have room to stand up. Move slowly to the left, and there’s a second entire room.”
By the way… caves like this pockmark the Driftless Region, especially wherever you find ravines and limestone. But you’ll need to find someone else to show them to you. My time wriggling through rocks belonged to a younger, thinner, and slightly crazier version of myself. My advice is to just enjoy the hiking… that’s beautiful enough!
One last story though… here a (very) old road trip story from a preacher’s journal about one particularly large cave somewhere in the mound (Thanks to my friend Laurie Graney for locating this article. It’s from November 26, 1835, and the various spelling mistakes are from the original.)
A Methodist Circuit Rider’s Tour
West Platt mound. Preached at night. This mound with its mate 3 miles east of it, rises 200 feet above the common levil of the country. They are each about a mile in circumference, & mostly covered with timber. The west one has in it a cave which has been explored 1[oo] or 200 yards [in], & after winter set in a rattlesnake was found crawling about as in summer.
Wisconsin Historical Collections Volume XV. “(1835 ) A Methodist Circuit Rider’s Tour. “
Do any of the caves really go in 100 or 200 yards? I don’t know. It’s fun to think so!
All right, I guess the least we could do is show you an old hideout or two. These places, all off of the east side of the trail (the side towards Belmont Mound), are all safe and easily hiked through. Sometimes you notice that folks have been camping there. The Boy Scouts used to, but now and then older folks do, too.
Walking just below the ridge of the mound in fall, you are bound to find something.
[Editor’s note: since the Platte Mound is so heavily associated with Platteville, the most populous city in Grant County, though it’s actually across the county line in Lafayette County, we’ve tagged it for both places.]
We’ll be back with more on the Platte Mound and its history after winter comes! Now let’s head north to Vernon County, Viroqua, and a great bookstore….
Unless noted, all photos by Terry Burns
Tell us about your favorite place in the Driftless Region!
Make no mistake about it: people in tiny Platteville, Wisconsin love this Mound. It is definitely the most famous (though not the highest) of the mounds in group of mound complexes you can find in the southwest part of the Driftless Region, simply because the big “M” makes it hard to miss. In fact, the Platte Mound is featured on Platteville postcards you can buy at the Chamber of Commerce (see below). Kip Schreck took this with his Powered Parachute… now tell me that isn’t cool!
Two hundred and sixty-six of the stairs leading up to the top of the “M” have been sponsored by “M” aficionados.
But you don’t have to parachute in to get to the top of the “Big M.” Just drive to the base and walk up. Actually, it’s a great way to get in shape, and in summer, you may see the more athletic of visitors running up and down the wooden stairs: almost 300 of them, 266 of which bear the names of the sponsors that helped fund its building. From the top, there’s a spectacular view of the surrounding area.
Almost to the top of 266 stairs. (That’s counting the named ones… a few more have been added at the bottom, as some visitors tended to “slide” down the final bit of the hill if the grass was too wet!)View of the M & M farm from the top of the Mound.
So… let’s say you’ve pulled into that parking lot at the base of the “M,” and maybe you wonder why it’s there. Well, yeah, you could read the sign, but it won’t help you much… it says “the World’s Largest M” is the symbol for UW-Platteville’s College of Engineering (which would mean it should be an E, maybe?)
“The World’s Largest M,” sign at the bottom of the Platteville or Platte Mound.
But if you have someone with you who’s from around here, maybe they’ll jump in and tell you that the “M” is for “Mining,” because the part of what’s now the University of Wisconsin-Platteville that was an old mining school got into a battle with the Colorado School of Mines to see who could make the biggest “M”… back in the 1930s. But the mining engineers did build it, and current engineering students keep it whitewashed, just like it’s some alphabetic version of Tom Sawyer’s picket fence. In fact, the “M” was until recently part of UW-Platteville’s logo. But all of that is another story, one that winds back through the mining history of Platteville’s recent past. It’s a good story, though not one we’re going to hear today.
Maybe like me, you also wonder what people thought about the Mound before the miners arrived. Surely it was some sort of sacred sight. Did people live on it it? Or maybe you’ve heard stories of UFOs doing fly-bys on the mound… or maybe you just think all this storytelling is just sort of Mickey Mouse.
Guess what? You’re right (at least about the last thing)! On July 4, 1998, the big “M” lit up with Mickey between its peaks (see below). Maybe your guide was part of the Disney Hometown Parade that came to Platteville that year… or maybe they helped whitewash the Mound (especially if your guide is an engineering graduate of UW-Platteville) or danced or played with the band at the annual Miner’s Ball held at its base. Dancing in the twilight of a torch-lit giant letter may be strange, but its a lot of fun.
The Big “M” with Mickey Mouse ears, on July 4, 1998. (Why? If you’re local, probably you remember the Disney Hometown Parade. If not, come back for another article on the “M”‘s history this winter.)
But for me– not being an engineer, band member, stair runner, or even a good rock whitewasher– the real fun comes from hiking around on top of the Platte Mound and taking pictures. Since every season *but* winter is a good time for hiking, I thought I’d talk about that first, and save the history for another post this winter. So if you want to know more about the Mound’s history… I’ll get to it, but not today.
Seasons on the Mound
If you just want to see the view, summer is definitely the best time. Want to watch a beautiful sunset? The easiest direction to look from the top is west.
Sunset from the top of the M
Also, if you just want to exercise by running up and down the steps, any time where the temperature’s above freezing will do. (Trust me, you don’t want to run up those stairs when there’s any chance of ice.)
Or… if you’ve read our earlier article on the mound complexes and know how the tallest Blue Mound and Platte Mound and Sherrill Mound all line up, then maybe you want to know how to see Sherrill Mound. (After all, it doesn’t have a big letter on it to make identification easy.) Just look for the two irrigation ponds you see in the photo below, then look up to the horizon. There it is!
Here’s another view (with Sherrill Mound in the distance) except its from the base of the Platte Mound rather than the top.
That’s Sherrill Mound in the distance, on the other side of the Mississippi River.
But if you really want to explore, then take a hike on the top. The best time for that is early fall or late spring, not summer. For one thing, the foliage that grows thick during the summer months includes plenty of stickers and berry bushes–gooseberry and black raspberry, mainly–with thorns. Also, if you like the view, you won’t be able to see much through all the greenery in summer.
Once you climb the stairs to the top, you’ll be facing some ugly cell phone towers (all of the local mounds have cell phone towers on their tops, for obvious reasons–they are the highest spots in the area– though these towers really are eyesores and sometimes give off an annoying hum.)
At the top, you’ll see unlabeled yet pretty obvious paths heading right (south) or left (north). For the shortest and safest hikes, turn right. For more adventure and wilder scenery, turn left.
The Right (South) Path
From the south trail looking … of course … south. That’s West Moundview Road in the distance.
The path that heads south will give you a great view of nearby farm country, including several Amish farms which regularly advertise fresh produce through late summer and fall, and fresh eggs year-round. After you wind along the ridge for a very short while, you’ll run into various forks. Don’t worry… you can’t really get lost on this side. If you decide to go off-trail, all you need to do to find that trail again is uphill. If you stay on the gravelly top, you may actually wind up walking on to the cell phone tower service road (which used to be open, but is now locked to keep non-service-people from driving up.)
View from the south end of the Mound.
If you veer off to the right or south side (that is, if you have turned right then turn right again), and if you’re a lot taller and more athletic than I am, you’ll find several places where you can scramble up rocks that have quite an overlook, like this one to the left.
You can also get an idea of how the mounds were formed. Platteville limestone, formed by crushed invertebrates from some ancient sea, is named for this part of Wisconsin. You’ll see layers of this hard-to-erode stone that have been pushed up by even stronger geologic forces.
Some pushed-up layers of Platteville limestone on the south trail.
This limestone became the canvas for some local graffitist.
The old Nodolf residence is the subject of many excellent stories, but it is also structurally unsound. Do not go inside!
Anyway, the south ridge is the easiest to explore if you don’t have a lot of time. If you wind too far down the slope, you could actually be taking an alternate route to the bottom, but I wouldn’t. Yes, those are private residences at the bottom. But there are reasons beyond general respect for privacy that you might want to head back up rather than down.
Time for a little teaser: there’s one backyard in particular you want to be careful of not because of the owners (who are quite nice) but because the house itself is structurally unsound.
You may have heard of it, sometimes called the Platte Mound’s “Haunted House,” or written up in various accounts as the site of the “Nodolf Incident.” That’s yet another story for a different day. For now, our advice is to just stay away! Do not go inside. It isn’t safe. But it’s a fun story for some later cold, winter day… one where the mound liikes like this:
The Platte Mound in winter
We’ll leave hikers with this thought: what if, at the top of the mound, we went left or to the north instead? That’s another whole story! Be back next week with
[Editor’s note: since the Platte Mound is so heavily associated with Platteville, the most populous city in Grant County, though it’s actually across the county line in Lafayette County, we’ve tagged it for both places.]
When I moved to southwest Wisconsin 25 years ago, what first struck me were the mounds. I don’t mean the smaller conical mounds, linear mounds, or effigy mounds, though we’ll road-trip to some of those soon enough. I mean the huge hills that stand out across the landscape to such a degree that if you’re on any ridge in the Driftless Region, you likely can see one of them.
Platteville’s “M” Mound. Photo by Terry Burns.
Of course, there’s the ubiquitous Platteville Mound, above and bearing what is supposedly the world’s largest “M.” But it is only one of a huge and unexplained complex of mounds in the area. While these giant hillsides are natural formations, the “why” behind that formation– just like the “why” that this is the land the glaciers forgot– remains unknown. Most of these large mounds were sacred sites to indigenous peoples. And most obviously, they are the highest points in the area.
Charles Mound, Illinois: it may be one of the least exciting mounds in the area, but it is also the highest natural point in Illinois. Photo by Terry Burns.
For instance, Charles Mound, one of the smaller mounds but one lying in the sliver of the Driftless Region in Illinois, is the highest natural point in that state at 1,235 feet. (The highest “non-natural” point in Illinois is Chicago’s Willis Tower, at 1,450 feet.)
From almost any ridge in the Driftless area, you can see one of the larger mounds; from the top of every larger mound, you can see a smaller mound. You can actually use the mounds to navigate around the Driftless Region, if you want to. . . and pre-GPS, many people wanted to.
Belmont Mound, appropriately located in Belmont Wisconsin. Photo by Terry Burns.
Wisconsin’s first state capitol, near the Belmont Mound. Photo by Terry Burns.
For instance, the sight of one of the smaller mounds, the Belmont Mound (left), is what led settlers to create the first Wisconsin state capitol (right) almost in it’s shadow: the mound was an easy natural marker to find. Legislators actually met in one building (the one on the right) and slept in the other after they finished their business. This ended after a couple of years, when the capitol moved to Madison. Maybe legislators don’t make the best bedfellows!
If you spend as much time as we do road-tripping to different mounds, it’s hard not to start seeing connections between them, which is why I’m writing this introductory post about the “mound complex” rather than individual mounds. For instance, suppose you go to the highest spot in the Driftless Region, the top of the west end of one of the Blue Mounds.
The view north from the top of Blue Mound State Park’s west observation tower. Photo by Terry Burns.
Helpful though slightly vandalized signage at the top of Blue Mound’s west observation tower points out some of the mounds visible from this point, the highest in the Driftless Region. Photo by Terry Burns
At 1,716 feet, this gorgeous view is also the highest point in southern Wisconsin and the entire Driftless Region. From the west observation tower of Blue Mound State Park, you get quite a view of some of the other Mounds in the area (as the sign to your left shows.) You can also get an awe-inspiring view of the landscape to the north, or look east and make out the faint outlines of our current state capitol in Madison. (The isthmus upon which our state capitol sits is on yet another sacred site, but that’s a blog post for a different time!)
Some of the mounds on the borders of the Driftless Region, like Elk Mound in northern Wisconsin, actually are made by glacial debris. Many, like the Sherrill Mound over in (surprise) Sherrill, Iowa, aren’t “officially” recognized (whatever that means); others, like the previously mentioned Blue Mound and Belmont Mound (WI) are part of state parks. (Blue Mounds is plural in this sentence but not in the preceding one because only one of the blue mounds is in the state park; there’s a second “Blue Mound,” slightly shorter at 1,490 feet, in a county park nearby.)
Many of the mounds are on private property. Some owners make it clear that you’d better not trespass. Others, like the owners of Charles Mound, let people visit certain times of the year only. In some places, like in Jo Davies county Illinois, home of Horseshoe Mound, a conservation organization has collected money to protect the mound from development.
Helpful signage at Sinsinawa Mound. Photo by Terry Burns.
Sinsinawa Mound viewed from Highway 11. Don’t worry, the dinosaur in the foreground isn’t real. Welding strange monsters is just another Driftless Region hobby. Photo by Terry Burns.
The Dominican sisters at Sinsinawa Mound seem unique among mound property owners in recognizing and celebrating that these mounds likely were — or to Dominicans, are — on sacred ground. Sinsinawa’s signage points out that the native Americans who were their when Europeans arrived called it “Manitoumie,” meaning “land where the Spirit dwells,” probably a version of “Manitou.” As author Sister Mary Paynter, OP, pointed out, “It seems that manitou (or a variation) is fairly standard in the languages of native peoples who would have been in this southwest part of Wisconsin at various times– and the meaning is ‘Great Spirit’ or ‘God’ [in our Western Christian vocabulary].” Incidentally, Mary Paynter has done extensive research on the native history of the name “Sinsinawa;” we’ll look at her work more when we road-trip to the Sinsinawa Mound.
Native history in this area goes back nearly 2,000 years and involves multiple tribes, including the Fox, Sauk, Anishinaabe (Ojibwa), Ho-Chunk (Winnebago), Potowatomi, Dakota, and Mesquawki. This writer is not surprised that the lone native reference I can find to what native people called one of the mounds confirms that they saw at least one of them– and my guess would be all of them– as a sacred place.
One might easily guess that the abundance of smaller and definitely human-made mounds (the conical, linear, and effigy mounds which occur throughout Wisconsin but especially in the Wisconsin River valley in greater density than anywhere else in North America, and which make up Effigy Mounds National Monument in Iowa) might be also indirectly related to the lack of glaciers… yet almost all of those were made AFTER the surrounding ice melted. The larger mounds that are the subject of this article are much older: 10,000 years old as a minimum. Some of them, like the smaller mounds, look terraformed. Could they also have been made by native peoples? I’m no geologist, but my friend Dr. Rich Waugh is, so I decided to get the scoop from him. Did humans make these mounds?
The large mounds in southwest Wisconsin, Waugh says, were “most definitely made by natural forces, primarily erosion related to streams and slope processes.”
“None of this precludes human use of the Mound,” Waugh added. ” I would be amazed if Native Americans didn’t impart some meaning to the Mound.”
These huge hills are often pocked with caves and natural springs. They make for great hideaways, too! In my next post, I’ll show you one of my favorites, on the Platte “M” Mound.
Before I end this installment, though, I do want to suggest that these large mounds are more than haphazard markers on the landscape. They’re upwellings of geological energy and follow patterns. As my husband Alan and I road-tripped to more and more of the large mounds, we’ve noticed relations between them not often taught in local schools.
For instance, Alan noticed that the Blue Mound, Platteville Mound, and Sherrill Mound all line up exactly.
Sherrill Mound (IA), Platteville’s “M” Mound (WI) and the first Blue Mound (WI) all lie on the same ley line. Thanks to J. Alan Moore for pointing this out.
From the top of one, one a clear day, you can see the next one. That is, from the top of the Blue Mound’s west observatory tour (as noted in a graphic earlier), you can see the Platte or Platteville Mound (and know that, lined up behind it on the other side of the Mississippi River is the Sherill Mound. From the Platte Mound, you can see the Sherrill Mound. And from the Sherrill Mound (see below) you can see the Platteville Mound (and know that, lined up behind it, is the tallest of the Blue Mounds.
Platteville Wisconsin “M” Mound as seen from Sherrill Mound, Iowa (with the help of telephoto 10x!). Photo by Terry Burns.
Summer solstice marker at the top of Horseshoe Mound. The zoomed-in photo below, showing Sherrill Mound and Balltown Iowa in the distance, was taken from this location. Photo by Terry Burns.
The Blue Mound-Platte Mound-Sherrill Mound line isn’t the only one. Several years ago, conservationists in Jo Davies county Illinois opened up the Horseshoe Mound for viewing. Clearly the people who designed the new park knew the mound well, and had watched natural phenomena on it for years, because on the top they’ve created a round circle showing where on the horizon the sun rises and sets on the winter and summer solstices. Turns out, the sun sets right between Iowa’s Sherrill and Balltown mounds. To the right, you can see the view with the naked eye, but below is what it looks if you zoom in. We thought it was pretty cool how the conservationists in Jo Davies county set things up so that you have a variety of views labeled, in a sundial-like pavillion.
View from Horseshoe Mound, with Galena, Illinois in the foreground. In the distance, you can see across the Mississippi river to both Sherrill Mound (right) and Balltown, Iowa (which also sits upon a mound.) On the summer solstice, the sun sets right between those two points on the horizon. If the view extended further to the right, you’d also see Sinsinawa Mound, Wisconsin. Photo by Terry Burns.
Signage on Horseshoe Mound pointing out what you can see in the distance
You can draw similar geographic connections between some of the smaller mounds. And yes, right now I’m mainly writing about the mounds nearest to me… I haven’t moved very far north at all. For instance, so far, I’ve totally ignored the Minnesota Driftless Region, though I will get to that eventually.
But for now, let’s start day-tripping! First stop: the Platte “M” Mound.
