Spirit Mound Historic Prairie

Stories and religious beliefs about "Little People" are common to many if not most Native American tribes in the West.[https://books.google.com/books?id=TygK-g-UguQC&dq=%22Pryor%20Mountains%22%20dwarves&pg=PA480 Saindon, Robert A. "Lewis and Clark and the Legend of the 'Little People'." In Explorations Into the World of Lewis and Clark. Robert A. Saindon, ed. Great Falls, Mont.: Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation, 2003, p. 478.][https://books.google.com/books?id=B6oMQY0pS2oC&dq=%22Plenty+Coups%22+little+person&pg=PA19 Plenty Coups and Linderman, Frank Bird. Plenty-Coups, Chief of the Crows. Lincoln, Neb.: University of Nebraska Press, 2002, p. 23.][https://books.google.com/books?id=UyFKtTTr-D4C&q=Little+People&pg=PA15 Lawrence, Edward. Mysteries and Legends of Montana: True Stories of the Unsolved and Unexplained. Helena, Mont.: Twodot, 1997, p. 17.] In 1804, the Lewis and Clark Expedition stayed for a time with a band of Wičhíyena Sioux on the Vermillion River in modern-day South Dakota. On August 25, Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, and 10 other men traveled about {{convert|9|mi}} north of the river's junction with the Missouri River to see the "mountain of the Little People".[https://books.google.com/books?id=TygK-g-UguQC&dq=%22Pryor%20Mountains%22%20dwarves&pg=PA480 Saindon, "Lewis and Clark and the Legend of the 'Little People'," in Explorations Into the World of Lewis and Clark, 2003, p. 479-480.] Lewis wrote in his journal that the Little People were "deavals" (devils) with very large heads, about {{convert|18|in|cm}} high, and very alert to any intrusions into their territory.[https://books.google.com/books?id=h8Wfa-KwjX4C&q=%22little+People%22&pg=PA505 Lewis, Meriwether and Clark, William. The Journals of the Lewis & Clark Expedition, Vol. 3: August 25, 1804 – April 6, 1805. Gary E. Moulton, ed. Lincoln, Neb.: University of Nebraska Press, 1987, p. 505.] The Sioux said that the devils carried sharp arrows which could strike at a very long distance, and that they killed anyone who approached their mound.[https://books.google.com/books?id=UyFKtTTr-D4C&q=Little+People&pg=PA18 Lawrence, Mysteries and Legends of Montana: True Stories of the Unsolved and Unexplained, 1997, p. 18.] The Little People so terrified the local population, Lewis reported, that the Maha (Omaha), Ottoes (Otoe), and Sioux would not go near the place. The Lakota people who came to live near the "Spirit Mound" after the Wičhíyena Sioux have a story no more than 250 years old which describes how a band of 350 warriors came near the mound late at night and were nearly wiped out by the ferocious Little People (the survivors were crippled for life).[https://books.google.com/books?id=TygK-g-UguQC&dq=%22Pryor%20Mountains%22%20dwarves&pg=PA480 Saindon, "Lewis and Clark and the Legend of the 'Little People'," in Explorations Into the World of Lewis and Clark, 2003, p. 481.]

Due to extensive damming of the Missouri River, Spirit Mound is one of the few places which historians can identify as precisely a spot upon which Lewis and Clark stood.Fanselow, Julie. Traveling the Lewis and Clark Trail. Guilford, Conn.: Falcon Guides, 2007, p. 72.

Spirit Mound was in private hands for many decades, leading to extensive degradation of the site's original status.[http://siouxcityjournal.com/news/local/a1/article_e667ac40-d944-5df8-8f28-1d046a78bca6.html Sioux City Journal], "Is Spirit Mound shrinking?," by Michele Linck (November 7th, 2010 - retrieved on November 6th, 2013). White settlers first came to the area in 1868, and used it for grazing livestock and for farming.[http://www.spiritmound.com/Newsletters/2003.pdf Wilson, Norma C. "Grass Dance Special for Spirit Mound." Spirit Mound Trust News. 2005.] Five separate landowners owned parts of the site in the early 1980s.[http://www.spiritmound.com/Newsletters/2003.pdf "In the Footsteps of Lewis and Clark." Lewis and Clark - Spirit Mound Trust News. 2003.] More than 20 buildings, a feedlot, soybean fields, cornfields, several roads, 1,500 non-native trees, and {{convert|5|mi|km}} of fence dotted the site.

Several local citizens formed the Spirit Mound Trust in 1986 in an attempt to preserve the site.Harriman, Peter. "Federal Money Boosts Spirit Mound." Sioux Falls Argus Leader. April 22, 2001. The group received funding boosts and publicity with the 1996 publication of the book Undaunted Courage (about the Lewis and Clark Expedition) and the 1997 Ken Burns documentary Lewis & Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery.[http://www.spiritmound.com/historyofthetrust.htm "Spirit Mound Trust History." No date.] Accessed 2010-09-02. After years of lobbying, the federal government's Land and Water Conservation Fund provided $600,000 to acquire the site."Lewis and Clark Exploration Site Gets Federal Money for Restoration." Associated Press. October 21, 1998. The donation required that the State of South Dakota establish the site as a state park, while the Spirit Mound Trust would restore it, provide interpretational signage and tours, and raise $500,000 for the site's long-term preservation. The {{convert|320|acre|ha|adj=on}} site was purchased from the private landowners in 2001."Spirit Mound Land Has Been Purchased." Associated Press. April 21, 2001. On July 29, 2001, Senator Tim Johnson presented a symbolic check for $600,000 for the purchase of Spirit Mound and the surrounding land.Morast, Robert. "Ceremony Marks Purchase by State." Sioux Falls Argus Leader. July 30, 2001.

In 2004 the United States Department of the Interior designated the trail leading to the summit of Spirit Mound as a National Recreation Trail.[http://www.spiritmound.com/Newsletters/2003.pdf Heisinger, Jim. "National Designation for Spirit Mound Summit Trail." Spirit Mound Trust News. 2004.]

The Spirit Mound Creek runs right past the Mound, on its southern side.Aliens in American History: Book I - Spirit Mound, by John Clark Craig and E.J. Thornton, Phenomenon Publishing, 2011 (page 50).

Some controversy has surrounded the establishment of the state park. In 2001 a few local Native American leaders expressed dismay that a site sacred and terrifying to local tribes would be treated as a "fun" place to visit."Some American Indians Not Pleased With Plans for Spiritual Site." Associated Press. April 6, 2001.

• Missouri National Recreational River

{{reflist}}

{{commons category|Spirit Mound Historic Prairie}}

• [http://gfp.sd.gov/state-parks/directory/spirit-mound/ Spirit Mound Historic Prairie]
• [http://www.spiritmound.com Spirit Mound Trust]
• [https://www.nps.gov/mnrr/learn/historyculture/spiritmound.htm Spirit Mound - Missouri National Recreational River]
• [http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/lewisandclark/spi.htm Spirit Mound--Lewis and Clark Expedition] (National Park Service)

{{Protected areas of South Dakota|collapsed}}

{{National Register of Historic Places in South Dakota}}

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Category:2001 establishments in South Dakota

Category:Grasslands of South Dakota

Category:Grasslands of the North American Great Plains

Category:Indigenous culture of the Great Plains

Category:Hills of the United States

Category:Landforms of Clay County, South Dakota

Category:Lewis and Clark Expedition

Category:National Register of Historic Places in Clay County, South Dakota

Category:Native American history of South Dakota

Category:Natural features on the National Register of Historic Places

Category:Protected areas established in 2001

Category:Protected areas of Clay County, South Dakota

Category:Religious places of the Indigenous peoples of North America

Category:State parks of South Dakota

Category:Locations in Native American mythology

Category:Little people (mythology)