Tag Archives: ruins
Kolomoki Mounds
Temple Mound
I stopped to camp at Kolomoki Mounds State Historic Park, where an ancient community once thrived. The height of it’s development was between 350-750 AD, and it’s population may have been the largest north of what is now Mexico.
Kolomoki stands near a tributary of the Chatahoochee River, and contains eight still visible mounds that were used for ceremonies and burials.
Walking around Temple Mound
Mound A, which is also known as “Temple Mound” is the largest. It stands 56′ tall, and measured 325′ by 200′ at its base. It is believed that the mound was built by hauling basket loads of dirt and clay. It would have taken over two million basket-loads of earth to build the mound.
Looking out over The Plaza from Temple Mound
There have been several excavations of the mounds of Kolomoki. The Smithsonian Institution, conducted excavations between 1894 and 1897, and the best known were done by archaeologist William Sears from 1948 until 1953.
Another view from atop Temple Mound
Mound D
Mound D stands 20 feet high and lies out in what was “The Plaza”. This was a burial mound, and archaeologists have found the remains of 77 burials. With each burial, the mound would grow in size.
One of the ceremonial mounds
Mound G
Mound G, or the Mercier Family Mound, is not a part of the park. The Mercier family owned a plantation that contained this land, and their family graveyard is atop this small mound. It has never been excavated, and it is not know if it was a mound from Kolomoki or just a rise in the Earth.
Mound E
The visitor center and its museum was built in the space that was excavated from Mound E. This was also a burial mound, which was the resting place for four people. Radiocarbon dating places this mound around 170 BC.
A small theater overlooks the excavated work under the roof of the museum. A visit to the museum is worth the $5 fee. In 1974, the museum was broken into, and all of it’s artifacts were stolen. Over the years, many have been recovered mostly from Florida, but some 70 pieces remain lost, and are thought to be in the hands of private collectors.
On the Sioux Trail: Joseph R. Brown
U.S. – Dakota War of 1862, Part IX
Joseph R. Brown circa 1853
Joseph Renshaw Brown was a politician, trader, businessman and Indian Agent. Born in Pennsylvania in 1805, Brown would marry Susan Freniere, a member of the Sisseton tribe of the Dakota.
The Joseph R. Brown Wayside Park near Sacred Heart, MN
Joseph Brown had built a mansion of a home after losing his post as Indian Agent in 1861. The three story, pink granite structure overlooked the Minnesota River Valley, near what is now Sacred Heart.
Brown was away from Minnesota on business when the Dakota warriors raided his home early in the War of 1862. Brown’s wife and 11 children were taken captive, but were not harmed due to her Dakota heritage. The Brown’s three-story home was then set ablaze and the mansion was gutted by the fire.
Brown’s family was later released with the rest of the captives at Camp Release.
The granite ruins of the impressive home still possess a beautiful view of the Minnesota River Valley. The site is now a state wayside park along Renville County Road 15 near Sacred Heart.
The Joseph R. Brown monument in Brown Cemetery near Henderson, MN
Joseph Brown died in New York in 1870, and was buried in Henderson, MN.
On the Sioux Trail: Battle of Birch Coulee
U.S. – Dakota War of 1862, Part V
“The Battle of Birch Coulee”, by Dorothea Paul, circa 1975
Colonel Henry Sibley sent out a burial party of 170 men from Fort Ridgely on 31 August 1862 in search of dead settlers. Captain Hiram Grant led the party, which buried 54 bodies by the end of the day of 1 September. At that time, Chief Little Crow was leading 110 warriors from New Ulm, and Gray Bird was coming down the south side of the Minnesota River with 350 warriors. The burial party was unaware of the Dakota warriors, but the Dakota were well aware of the soldiers.
The Birch Coulee Battle site today: Prairie
During the night, Gray Bird’s force crossed the Minnesota River and surrounded the soldiers’ camp. On the morning of 2 September, the Dakota attacked, wounding over 30 soldiers and killing almost all of the horses within minutes. Colonel Sibley could hear sounds of the battle from Fort Ridgely, which is 16 miles away. He sent a relief party of over 240 men and an artillery brigade immediately. The shelling from the artillery ended the attack, although the siege had lasted 31 hours.
U.S. forces saw their worst defeat of the US-Dakota War at Birch Coulee, 22 men were killed and 47 severely wounded. Over 90 horses were also dead.
On The Sioux Trail: New Ulm & Fort Ridgely
U.S. – Dakota War of 1862, Part IV
The First battle of New Ulm, painting by Michael Eischen
On 19 August 1962, 100 Dakota warriors attacked the town of New Ulm, which lies at the confluence of the Minnesota and Cottonwood Rivers. Six settlers were killed, and five wounded from the gunfire unleashed from the bluffs behind the town. The residents had been warned of a potential attack, and had barricaded the town’s center.
Fort Ridgely in 1862
On 20 August, 400 Dakota warriors attacked Fort Ridgely and its 210 soldiers. Private Mark Greer, Co.C, was the first casualty. By the end of the day, five soldiers were killed and fifteen wounded.
Fort Ridgely ammunition storage hut
The next day, thunderstorms swept through the Minnesota River Valley, and the Dakota did not attack, although they did ambush a relief party that was sent from the Fort to New Ulm. When the rains subsided on the 22 August, the Dakota ranks had swelled to 800 warriors. The first attack was repelled, and several smaller attacks on the fort continued throughout the day. Another all out attack came in the evening hours, which was eventually repelled by setting the outer buildings on fire keep the Dakotas from making their way through the defenses.
Fort Ridgely today
Fort Ridgely remained in siege until the 27th, when Colonel Henry Sibley arrived with 1400 militia.
A remaining foundation at Ft Ridgely
On 23 August Dakota warriors once again attacked New Ulm, this time in enough numbers to surround the town. By now over 1000 residents were barricaded in the town center, along with around 300 citizen soldiers. The defenders of the town started to burn down buildings outside of the town center. In all, 190 buildings were torched in order to create an open space without cover. By afternoon of the 24th, the Dakota had withdrawn, and on the 25th the residents of New Ulm left for Mankato under military escort.
The Frederick W. Kiesling house in New Ulm, MN. One of only three buildings to survive the Dakota attack in 1862. Today, it is the only wood-framed building of the war, to still be standing in its original location.
“It’ll be worth a fortune when restored…”
This 1953 Ford F3, which was FoMoCo’s heavy duty 3/4 ton truck, is now sitting under a foot of fresh snow, since I really doubt anyone coughed up the three grand the guy was asking for it. It’s in rough shape, missing quite a bit of glass, but it does have its Flathead V8 under the hood. No word on whether it turns or not.
Stone Workers
Photo credit: Eliot Porter
“The finest workers in stone are not copper or steel tools,
but the gentle touches of air and
water working at their leisure
with a liberal allowance of time.”
— Henry David Thoreau
Glide
Photo credit: Dungeon Canyon by Eliot Porter
“Past these towering monuments, past these mounded billows of orange sandstone, past these oak-set glens, past these fern-decked alcoves, past these mural curves, we glide hour after hour, stopping now and then, as out attention is arrested by some new wonder.”
— John Wesley Powell, 1869
Mounds & Monuments
Photo credit: Rainbow Bridge, by Eliot Porter
“On the walls, and back many miles into the country, numbers of monument-shaped buttes are observed. So we have a curious ensemble of wonderful features — carved walls, royal arches, glens, alcove gulches, mounds and monuments. From which of these features shall we select a name? We decided to call it Glen Canyon.
—John Wesley Powell, 1869
Scotch Cap Lighthouse
The Scotch Cap Light in 1903.
The Scotch Cap Light was the first lighthouse on the outer coast of Alaska. It was built on Unimak Island in the Aleutian Chain in 1903.
Scotch Cap Light in 1940
In 1940, a new Scotch Cap Light was built out of reenforced concrete and a fog signal was added. From the beginning, the lighthouse was the scene of several shipwrecks, including the Columbia in 1909, which forced the crew of 194 to spend two weeks on Unimak as guests of the lighthouse keepers until they could be rescued. And in 1930, a Japanese freighter became lost in a snowstorm and beached in front of the light.
The 1946 Aleutian Islands Earthquake hit the chain of islands on April 1 of 1946. The 8.1 magnitude quake generated a Pacific wide tsunami. The massive wave wiped Scotch Cap Light right off the face of Unimak Island. Anthony Petit, the lighthouse keeper, and his five man crew were killed by the wave that is estimated to have been at 130 feet high.
Unimak Island after the 1946 tsunami.
The tsunami that resulted from the Aleutian Earthquake killed 165 people: 159 in Hawaii and six in Alaska. It took the tsunami 4.5 hours after the quake to hit Kauai and 4.9 to strike Hilo, causing over $26 million in damage. After the destructive tsunami, the Seismic Sea Wave Warning System was established in 1949, eventually becoming the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.
Residents of Hilo, Hawaii fleeing the 1946 tsunami.
Photos of Unimak and Scotch Cap courtesy of USCG. Hawaii photo courtesy of NOAA
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