Near Here Was A Quarry Of Red Pipestone,
Dear To The Indian Fancy As A Mine Of Material For Their Pipes;
Traces Of This Deposit Still Remain.
So fond of this red rock were
the Indians that when they went there to get the stuff, even lifelong
and vindictive enemies declared a truce while they gathered the material,
and savage hostile tribes suspended their wars for a time.
On the north side of the Missouri, at a point in what is now known
as Clay County, South Dakota, Captains Lewis and Clark, with ten men,
turned aside to see a great natural curiosity, known to the Indians
as the Hill of Little Devils. The hill is a singular mound in the midst
of a flat prairie, three hundred yards long, sixty or seventy yards wide,
and about seventy feet high. The top is a smooth level plain.
The journal says: -
"The Indians have made it a great article of their superstition:
it is called the Mountain of Little People, or Little Spirits;
and they believe that it is the abode of little devils, in the human form,
of about eighteen inches high, and with remarkably large heads;
they are armed with sharp arrows, with which they are very skilful,
and are always on the watch to kill those who should have the hardihood
to approach their residence. The tradition is, that many have
suffered from these little evil spirits, and, among others,
three Maha Indians fell a sacrifice to them a few years since.
This has inspired all the neighboring nations, Sioux, Mahas, and Ottoes,
with such terror, that no consideration could tempt them to visit the hill.
We saw none of these wicked little spirits, nor any place for them,
except some small holes scattered over the top; we were happy enough
to escape their vengeance, though we remained some time on the mound
to enjoy the delightful prospect of the plain, which spreads itself
out till the eye rests upon the northwest hills at a great distance,
and those of the northeast, still farther off, enlivened by large
herds of buffalo feeding at a distance."
The present residents of the region, South Dakota, have preserved
the Indian tradition, and Spirit Mound may be seen on modern maps
of that country.
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