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Blue Mounds State Park

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Color image of a Bison jump site at Blue Mounds State Park, 1995.

Bison jump site at Blue Mounds State Park, 1995.

Blue Mounds State Park, named for a long, high Sioux quartzite cliff, is located in southwestern Minnesota on the Iowa and South Dakota borders. The cliff, one and one-half miles long and up to ninety feet high, appeared to be blue in color to the early Euro-American immigrants who saw it from a distance. A unique herd of bison, the largest North American mammal, makes its home in the park on 533 acres of native tall grass prairie, which escaped plowing due to poor soil quality.

Located on 1,830 acres, the park is in an area known as Coteau des Prairies (in English, a hilly prairie upland). As high as 2,000 feet above sea level, the plateau runs from southeast North Dakota, through southwest Minnesota, and into northwestern Iowa. Dating to 1,700 million years ago, numerous Sioux quartzite outcrops and boulders, colored pink, red, white, and purple, can be seen in the fields.

The old quartzite quarries in the park were owned and operated by the Luverne Granite Company. The stone was used to construct many local buildings, such as the Rock County Courthouse (1882), the old city hall (ca. 1890s), Trinity Episcopal Church (1891), and the Hinkly House in Luverne (1892).

Before white immigrants came, the eastern cougar, elk, pronghorn antelope, grizzly bear, bison, prairie dog, and prairie chicken all inhabited the southwestern Minnesota prairie. Because of habitat changes caused by settlement, only bison, commonly known as buffalo, now live in the park.

In 1961, the current herd of North American plains bison (scientific name Bison bison) began when three bison were relocated from the Fort Niobrara Wildlife Refuge near Valentine, Nebraska, to the park. Many of the bison in commercial herds in the United States carry cattle genes; however, DNA testing, using blood and tail hair, shows that the Blue Mounds herd is among the most genetically pure in the country. To promote healthy herds, increase genetic diversity, and prevent inbreeding, park staff participate in a national conservation program that exchanges bison among pure herds. The pasture in the park can sustain about seventy-five mature animals, and park visitors can view them from an observation platform.

Running across 1,250 feet on top of the Blue Mound is a mysterious wall—as much as five feet in height in some places—composed of rocks and small-to-huge boulders. The sunrise and sunset on the spring and fall equinox closely align with the wall’s east-west orientation. Theories about the wall’s origin and purpose include that it was an early white-immigrant-constructed wall; a Minnesota equivalent of England’s Stonehenge; and a barrier to help Indians stampede bison off the cliff during hunts. Surveys and excavation of the wall in the 1980s, however, concluded that the wall was built after the mid 1800’s. In the 2010s, the issue remains unresolved.

Beginning in 1938, workers in the WPA (Works Progress Administration) built five structures in the park: a latrine and the upper and lower dams on Mound Creek, which created Upper and Lower Mound Lakes. The rustic style of the structures features native materials such as locally quarried quartzite. Rustic-style architecture, as defined by the National Park Service, is labor intensive, finely crafted, and uniquely American.

The Upper and Lower Mound Lakes were once the only lakes in Rock County. In 2014, over eleven inches of rain destroyed the lower dam. This caused Lower Mound Lake—then the only recreational lake in Rock County—to drain. In 2016, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources decided not to make repairs to the dam that would have restored Lower Mound Lake.

Visitors to the park enjoy hiking on three main trails, biking, rock climbing, spotting bison, camping, birding, and exploring for flora and fauna. Campers can spend the night in a tipi and snowmobile in the winter. Native prickly pear cactus grows in the quartzite outcrops, and birders may spot the uncommon blue grosbeak. Mound Creek is home to the Topeka Shiner (Notropis tristis), a small minnow that is on the U.S. Fish and Wild Life Service’s endangered species list. The park is the only place in Minnesota where the lined snake (Tropidoclonion lineatum) is found.

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Allen, Bill. “Bona Fide Bison.” Minnesota Conservation Volunteer no. 76 (November–December 2013): 21–31.

Barmore, Frank E. “The Blue Mounds Stone Wall: Astronomical Significance and Antiquity.” Minnesota Archaeologist 44 (Fall, Winter 1985): 41–49.

Blue Mounds State Park WPA/Rustic Style Historic Resources. Blue Mounds State Park. National Register of Historic Places Registration Form.
http://npgallery.nps.gov/nrhp/GetAsset?assetID=4b682532-8b40-4091-93b3-b98ece1c37a7

Hudson, Lew. “Blue Mounds Stone Fence.” Minnesota Archaeologist 37 (May 1978): 50–55.

Ingebretsen, Chris. Personal communication with the author, September 22, 2016.

Lothson, Gordon A. “Test Excavation at the Rock Wall Site, 21 RK 8, Blue Mounds State Park.” Minnesota Archaeologist 45 (Spring, Summer 1986): 37–47.

Meyer, Roy W. Everyone’s Country Estate: A History of Minnesota’s State Parks. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1991.

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. A Management Plan for Blue Mounds State Park, May, 1979.
https://www.leg.state.mn.us/edocs/edocs?oclcnumber=07255492

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. Blue Mounds State Park.
http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_parks/blue_mounds/index.html

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. Minneopa State Park Management Plan Amendment, Bison Reintroduction, August, 2014.
http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/input/mgmtplans/parks/minneopa_bison_amendment.pdf

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. Blue Mounds State Park Map.
http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/maps/state_parks/spk00121.pdf

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Notropis tristis, Topeka Shiner.
http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/rsg/profile.html?action=elementDetail&selectedElement=AFCJB28960

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. Tropidoclonion lineatum, Lined Snake.
http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/rsg/profile.html?action=elementDetail&selectedElement=ARADB38010

“Mound Springs State Park is Open.” Rock Country Star Herald, May 10, 1951.

Ojakangas, Richard W. Roadside Geology of Minnesota. Missoula, MT: Mountain Press Publishing Company, 2009.

Rose, Arthur P. An Illustrated History of the Counties of Rock and Pipestone Minnesota. Luverne, MN: Northern History Publishing Company, 1911.
https://archive.org/stream/illustratedhistorrpm00rose#page/236/mode/2up

175 r.6
Plat book of Rock County
Map Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul
Description: Plat book of Rock County, Mound Township, Minnesota, 1886.

U.S. Department of the Interior. 15 Facts about our National Mammal: The American Bison.
https://www.doi.gov/blog/15-facts-about-our-national-mammal-american-bison

Related Images

Color image of a Bison jump site at Blue Mounds State Park, 1995.
Color image of a Bison jump site at Blue Mounds State Park, 1995.
Black and white photograph of workers and a mule at a quarry in what now is Blue Mounds State Park, ca. 1880s.
Black and white photograph of workers and a mule at a quarry in what now is Blue Mounds State Park, ca. 1880s.
Black and white photograph of the old Luverne city hall, ca. 1890s.
Black and white photograph of the old Luverne city hall, ca. 1890s.
Color image of the Hinkly House, built in 1892 by R. B. Hinkly using Sioux quartzite mined from a quarry where the Blue Mounds State Park is located, 2007.
Color image of the Hinkly House, built in 1892 by R. B. Hinkly using Sioux quartzite mined from a quarry where the Blue Mounds State Park is located, 2007.
Color image of adult bison and calves at Blue Mounds State Park, 2007. Photograph by Wikimedia Commons user Rigadoun.
Color image of adult bison and calves at Blue Mounds State Park, 2007. Photograph by Wikimedia Commons user Rigadoun.
Color image of a Blue Mounds State Park latrine built by the Works Progress Administration, ca. 1990s.
Color image of a Blue Mounds State Park latrine built by the Works Progress Administration, ca. 1990s.
Color image of the Blue Mounds State Park, Upper Dam, ca. 1990s.
Color image of the Blue Mounds State Park, Upper Dam, ca. 1990s.
Color image of a sunrise during the autumnal equinox in Blue Mounds State Park, 1990.
Color image of a sunrise during the autumnal equinox in Blue Mounds State Park, 1990.
Color image showing shadows of visitors to Blue Mounds Quarry, 1995.
Color image showing shadows of visitors to Blue Mounds Quarry, 1995.
Color image of Bluestem (prairie grass) with a quartzite outcrop in the background inside Blue Mounds State Park, 1998.
Color image of Bluestem (prairie grass) with a quartzite outcrop in the background inside Blue Mounds State Park, 1998.
Color image of the “Three Sisters” tree in Blue Mounds State Park, 2005.
Color image of the “Three Sisters” tree in Blue Mounds State Park, 2005.
Color image of the Eagle Rock at sunset, 2014. From the photograph collection of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
Color image of the Eagle Rock at sunset, 2014. From the photograph collection of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
Color image of a Sioux quartzite cliff in Blue Mounds State Park, 2007.
Color image of a Sioux quartzite cliff in Blue Mounds State Park, 2007.
Color image of a Blue grosbeak, April 27, 2011. Photograph by Wikimedia Commons user Dan Pancamo.
Color image of a Blue grosbeak, April 27, 2011. Photograph by Wikimedia Commons user Dan Pancamo.
Color image of the Blue Mounds State Park interpretive center, formerly the home of Frederick Manfred, 2012. Photograph by Wikimedia Commons user McGhiever.
Color image of the Blue Mounds State Park interpretive center, formerly the home of Frederick Manfred, 2012. Photograph by Wikimedia Commons user McGhiever.
Color image of a frozen prairie with distant bison herd, 2014. From the photograph collection of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
Color image of a frozen prairie with distant bison herd, 2014. From the photograph collection of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
Color image of the Mound hiking trail, 2014. From the photograph collection of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
Color image of the Mound hiking trail, 2014. From the photograph collection of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
Color image of rock climbing, 2014. From the photograph collection of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
Color image of rock climbing, 2014. From the photograph collection of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
Color image of a Bison herd, 2014. From the photograph collection of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
Color image of a Bison herd, 2014. From the photograph collection of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.

Turning Point

In 1961, three bison are relocated from the Fort Niobrara Wildlife Refuge near Valentine, Nebraska to the park. The animals establish a new herd in Minnesota.

Chronology

1,700 million years ago

Sand from eroded ancient mountains, compressed by the weight of sand and river water, forms sandstone. Over time, the sandstone transforms into hard Sioux quartzite.

ca. 1870s

As Euro-American immigrants travel west through the area, they name a large rock outcrop the “Blue Mound.”

1876

On the run after the Northfield Bank Robbery, Jesse and Frank James stop at the Rolph farm near Luverne for breakfast and directions to the Blue Mound. Likely seeking a hiding place, they ask if there are large caves in the mound. Told “no,” they ride on.

1937

The park opens and is named the Mound Springs Recreation Area.

1938

The WPA (Works Projects Administration) constructs two dams on Mound Creek to form Upper Mound Lake and Lower Mound Lake. They are the only lakes in Rock County.

1939

The WPA begins to build a latrine in the park that is finished in 1942. It is unique in the state park system because of the rose-colored quartzite used in its construction.

1951

Ed P. Mohr, park caretaker, is busy repairing, painting, and cleaning to prepare for the summer season. Funds are available to construct a new tool shed.

1961

The park’s name changes from the Mound Springs Recreation Area to Blue Mounds State Park. Three bison from the Fort Niobrara Wildlife Refuge near Valentine, Nebraska, are relocated to the park to establish the herd.

1976

The park interpretive center opens in the former home of Frederick Manfred, an author of western novels. The building is unique since it is built into the side of the Blue Mound.

1985

The results of a new land survey and an analysis of an 1870 land survey indicate that the stone wall was built between 1870 and 1936, and that its alignment does not mark a specific sunrise/sunset.

1986

A report by Gordon Lothson suggests that ranchers built the stone wall before immigrants began farming in the area. Excavators failed to find evidence that American Indians constructed it, and no bison bones were found to indicate a bison jump site.

1989

The latrine, the Upper and Lower Dams, and the Upper and Lower Mound Lakes are added to the National Register of Historic Places.

2014

Record-setting rainfall destroys the Lower Dam and Lower Mound Lake.

2016

The Department of Natural Resources decides not to repair the flood-damaged dam.

2016

The National Bison Legacy Act designates the American bison as the national mammal.