Spirit Mound

     Lewis and Clark visited Spirit Mound on their trip upriver in 1804. The mound is a high point in the middle of the prairie near Vermillion. Local Indians claimed that 18-inch tall spirits would kill anyone that tried to climb the mound. The idea of tiny devils made Lewis and Clark very curious. They spent a hot August day hiking to the top of Spirit Mound. They found no sign of little men, but they could see for miles.

  "From the top of this mound we beheld a most beautiful landscape. Numerous herds of buffalo were seen feeding . . . the plain to the north, northwest and northeast extends without interruption as far as can be seen."—Clark’s journal, August 25, 1804