Mornin' and Happy New Year to everyone who has a love affair with Wisconsin. This is the Wiscampsin Weekly - the email that gets you in the know on the Wisconsin outdoors in 5 minutes or less. New reader? Subscribe here.

This week’s weekly:

• The most effigy mounds in the world 🙌 

• Man rescued from falling tree 🌲 

• Kletzch Dam Project helps fish 🐟

Wisconsin: Land Of The Effigy Mounds

Before the European settlers arrived in Wisconsin with their cheese curds, German-style beers, and sunburn-prone skin, the land looked quite a bit different.

Birds. Bears. Turtles. Humanoid figures. Abstract shapes.

A walk among the land would be a walk among formed earth in these and other shapes.

But who performed this earthwork, and why? And can we still see these fascinating structures?

Wisconsin’s effigy mounds:

• Burial mounds made by Native Americans to form an animal or spirit

• May have been as many as 15,000 statewide at one point

• Today, 4,000 effigy mounds remain

“A sculpted land”

During the so-called “Woodland” period sometime between 2,500 and 900 years ago, Native Americans located along the Upper Mississippi River and east to Lake Michigan began the perplexing work of effigy building.

Typically used to bury the dead, these monuments would be built from the earth around a body laid in the soil or in a shallow pit. They took many different shapes.

Birds, bear, deer, bison, lynx, and other more abstract shapes, like linear-shapes and mounds, represented the spirit of the earth, sky, and water.

Occasionally, a cooking pot or arrow would be placed upon the mound, but often times no grave markers were left.

The builders often grouped the mounds by the handful up to the hundreds, creating such striking appearances that an early settler called Wisconsin a “sculpted land.”

This practice became a regional phenomenon, with effigy mounds being found in Minnesota, Iowa, and Illinois, though Wisconsin by and far had the most in the Midwest.

Stumping settlers

Experts predict that long ago, there could have been close to 15,000 effigy mounds in Wisconsin!

But that all changed when European settlers arrived, as these effigy mounds, located primarily in the southern part of the state, resided in desirable places to build and cultivate.

Many effigy mounds became casualties of farming, quarrying, and housing development, leaving just 4,000 effigy mounds left today.

Who was actually responsible for these effigy mounds stumped early Europeans for years, as they couldn’t fathom that Native Americans were the creator of such earthworks.

It wasn’t until the Smithsonian Institution chartered a study in the 1840’s, and another exhaustive study took place in 1894, that the Native Americans were credited as the builders of the mounds.

Effigy mounds today

Today, effigy mounds are protected in the state under State law (section 157.70, Wis. Stats. [exit DNR]), both on private and public land.

Wisconsin remains the heart of the mound-building phenomenon, with more located here than anywhere else in the world.

Ready to dive in? First, get all sentimental with this map of effigy mound locations from 1916.

Then, take a gander at the mounds locatons today. Many state parks house effigy mounds for you to experience, like Devil’s Lake State Park.

But perhaps none is more visit-worthy than Aztalan State Park. This 1,000 year-old aboriginal village is a National Landmark and probably the state’s most important archeological destination.

Now get out ‘der!

Other great Wiscampsin reads…

Wisconsin's must-see frozen waterfalls

How Lake Michigan's Thermocline Works

The American Birkeibiner and Cross Country Skiing in Wisconsin

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Wiscampsin Weekly Poll

We got some smart readers as Wisconsin tied for 19th on Outdoor Recreation as a % of GDP by State, and the answer: 10-19th won with 42% of the votes from the last email.

Well it will be pretty easy to eliminate one response from the question below…

Nuts and Seeds 🌰 

🐟 Kletzsch Dam Project helps fish: Lake sturgeon, northern pike, smallmouth bass, and other fish traditionally were unable to jump over the Kletzsch Dam, the largest remaining barrier for fish swimming upstream from Lake Michigan on the Milwaukee River. But thanks to a new project underway, a ‘bypass’ will make it possible for these game fish to get around the dam, providing access to 54 miles of waterway and 2,400 acres of wetlands to reproduce in.

🌲 Man saved from treefall: A group of Wisconsin men (one from Colorado) were deer hunting in the UP when one hunter, 81 year-old Ed Mongin, didn’t respond on his two-way radio. The men went to his location to find him pinned under a tree that had fallen on his heads during high-winds. Mongin believed he was paralyzed, but after a coordinated rescue effort and several days in the hospital, he “miraculously” regained limb and speech ability.

🎣 Inland Trout Fishing Opens Soon: Hey anglers, gettin’ the itch? The Inland Trout Early Catch and Release Season opens Jan. 6th. On select waters, fishermen can target 4 fish species for catch and release only. Interested? Check out the requirements at GoWild and purchase your license.

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*And as always, 1% of profits will go to the Friends of Wisconsin State Parks.

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