Man Mound Park

Man Mound Park, about four miles NW of Baraboo on Man Mound Road, was dedicated by the Sauk County Historical Society, the Wisconsin Archeological Society, and the Wis. Federation of Women's Clubs in 1908. The park encompasses a mound of earth in the form of a man, measuring 214 feet by 48 feet.

Long before the white man came to the Midwest, indeed, long before Columbus discovered America, these Effigy Mound Builders were creating their ceremonial and burial mounds in southern Wisconsin and nearby states. At one time over 900 mounds existed in Sauk County alone. Most, over 75%, have subsequently been plowed under, erased by floods and destroyed by looters or construction. One early Honey Creek farmer noted that, "we were rather irked by the large number of Indian mounds we had to plow down. There must have been at least 25 on our land….Some were shaped like animals and some like birds, and all were from three to five feet high...I suppose we should not have destroyed them. But they were then regarded merely as obstacles to cultivation, and everybody plowed them down."

There are three basic forms of mounds: Conical, usually incorporating family burials; flat-topped or platform-shaped, constructed for chiefly homes or ceremonial purposes; and effigy mounds in the form of animals, which may represented various clans and lineages. Others have speculated that they may also have had religious significance or acted as guardians of the village.

The Effigy Mound Builders began plying their skills as early as 300 AD, and continued the practice until around 1400 AD when they either abandoned the practice or were assimilated into other Native American cultures. They subsisted primarily by hunting, fishing, and gathering wild vegetables and berries. Few of these early cultures farmed.

William H. Canfield first surveyed the Man Mound in 1859. At the time, it was one of only two man-shaped mounds in the state.

In 1905, H.E. Cole, local historian and photographer, and A.B. Stout, science teacher at Baraboo High School, were conducting an archeological survey of area mounds, and the Man Mound in particular. They soon learned that the owner of the property was about to commit the property to the plow! The two men launched an immediate appeal to the Wisconsin Archaeological Society and the Sauk County Historical Society in an effort to obtain the grounds upon which the mound was situated. A committee was formed and a movement organized to raise $225 to purchase the property. Among those on the committee, were H.E. Cole and Jacob Van Orden (banker and owner of the home where the SCHS museum is now located).

Donations of small amounts between $1 and $15 were suggested so that many more people could participate in the acquisition. The Wis. Federation of Women's Clubs and the Wis. Archeological Society also helped procure funds. By the end of 1907, the money had been raised and the property purchased.

Cole immediately began clearing the land of vines and brush, seeding grass, setting boundaries and installing hitching posts. Jacob Van Orden donated a plaque (designed by Ferry & Clas of Milwaukee) commemorating the mound's discovery and preservation.

On Aug. 8, 1908, a group of 200 assembled at the Warren Hotel, and proceeded to the site of Man Mound Park to dedicate the land and the marker. "...Vehicles of every description being in waiting and the trip through the picturesque county began", noted a reporter. "A cloud of choking dust enveloped the queue of travelers as they traveled to the site over the dirt roads in their open-air autos and horse-drawn carriages."

John M. True, of Baraboo, spoke to those assembled. "We are pleased to note the increasing interest that is being manifested in the discovery and preservation of this class of relics of a people long since forgotten, of which the Man Mound is considered of the greatest interest and importance of all of Wisconsin's celebrated emblematic earthworks."

Man Mound was partially destroyed in the early part of the last century when the lower parts of its legs were excised during road construction.

The Sauk County Historical Society is the current owner of Man Mound Park and the County maintains the property.

Yellow Thunder Monument

If you've driven County Trunk A, you have undoubtedly seen a small monument off to the side of the road, surrounded by bushes. This stone memorial was erected by the Sauk County Historical Society and the Twentieth Century Club of Baraboo in 1909 to honor the Chief.

Yellow Thunder was born in 1774. He was described by a contemporary as a "..tall, stately man of much dignity, respected by all, a zealous Catholic and a generous friend. Brave, honest, faithful, though unlettered, he was one of Nature's noblemen."

He wed the daughter of a neighboring Menominee leader around 1827, and they made their home near the Wisconsin River in Delton Township.

As white settlers moved into southern Wisconsin, they began occupying land that had previously been owned by the Native Americans.

More pioneers arrived and land became increasingly scarce, depriving the Ho Chunk of their hunting grounds. In 1829, and again in 1832, the Ho Chunk were compelled to sell large amounts of land in Southern and central Wisconsin.

As settlers became more wary of the perceived threat of attack, they petitioned Washington to remove the Ho Chunk. In 1837, after five years of pressuring by government officials, the Ho Chunk were coerced into selling all of their remaining lands in Wisconsin. Delegations of armed soldiers were dispatched and in 1840 the Indians were rounded up and unceremoniously shipped off to a reservation in Iowa. Yellow Thunder and his tribe were among the displaced. Many, however, became homesick for their native homelands, so the following year, Yellow Thunder, his family and others, returned to Sauk County.

After having been removed again in 1848, Yellow Thunder decided that he might be able to prevent another forced exodus by becoming a landowner. Taxpayers could not be forcibly removed from their land. In 1849 he went to the Mineral Point land office and claimed a 40 acre homestead in Delton Township (Section 39, SE corner) where he lived with his wife for a number of years.

Yellow Thunder's wife died during the winter of 1868 in their wigwam. She was buried in a grave, 4 feet by 2 feet, and 4 feet deep. 'She was removed from the tent on a sled and laid beside the grave in her blanket," wrote a witness. "She was then placed in the grave in a sitting posture, with her blanket wrapped around her and her face to the west. Then the Indians danced around the grave chanting their death song according to custom."

In 1874, Yellow Thunder moved back to his home near the Wisconsin River and resided in a tent. He died shortly thereafter having contracted blood poisoning from a knee injury. His final request was that he be buried in a wooden box, and that his body be taken back to his home and that it remain there for three days. After the third day, his spirit would ascend to the "Happy Hunting Ground".

His wishes were carried out and he was interred alongside his wife.

The site of the burial was about a half mile from the main road on his property, making it difficult to visit the site. Unfortunately, it was not far enough off the beaten path to prevent relic hunters from desecrating the grave.

Guy Glasier, a writer of local history, recalled in a 1958 letter to a friend, that as a teenager he and a buddy had dug up Yellow Thunder "to see what was buried with him." He noted that, "We found he was buried sitting up, facing the east." They also uncovered "The remains of his medicine pouch, bracelets of German Silver and earrings in dried ears, [and] a common old clay pipe...." Glasier wrote that they replaced the bones in the grave site.

In 1893, William Calvert visited the site, and found bones strewn about the ground. He re-buried them and there the Yellow Thunders rested in peace until 1909.

That year, the SCHS decided to erect a marker for the Chief and his wife as a permanent memorial. Joseph Johnson, chairman of the curator committee of the Sauk County Historical Society, and President, H.E. Cole, exhumed the remains. They were able to recover most of the bones, and discovered that Yellow Thunder had, indeed, been buried in a wooden box.

The marker was erected in Fairfield Township, Section 2, along County Highway A, just south of Shady Lane Rd. H.E. Cole, in his 1918, Standard History of Sauk County, recounts those efforts: "On Thursday, August 19th [1909], a pillar was erected by City Engineer, H.E. French, Edmund Calvert, Charles Goette and H.E. Cole. Field stones were used and they were supplied by Mr. Calvert. A hole two feet deep was dug for the base and the whole laid up with cement. The remains of Yellow Thunder and his [wife] were placed in the structure and became a portion of the pillar. It stands about 4 feet high and 3 feet square. A framework was made and the pillar laid up inside of that. Afterwards the boards were removed."

In 1965 the marker was moved just north of Shady Lane Rd., where it exists today, to accommodate the widening of Hwy A.

The SCHS is the owner of the Yellow Thunder monument grounds.