Spirit Mound Historic Prairie Maps

Spirit Mound Historic Prairie Description

August 25, 1804, was a stiflingly hot day when members of the Lewis & Clark Corps of Discovery visited Spirit Mound. They came to the site because they had heard that little people with big heads inhabited the mound. At the mound the expedition didn't find any little people, but did find a "most beautiful landscape." Years later, the Flood Control Act of 1944, authorized the construction of six main dams in the Missouri River Basin. In addition to flood control, the intent of this act was to provide hydroelectric power. With the damming of the river, most of the sites where the Lewis and Clar