Wyalusing State Park

Wyalusing State Park is located near Prairie du Chien on the high bluffs overlooking the confluence of the Mississippi and Wisconsin Rivers. High vistas offer spectacular views of the rivers and surrounding countryside.

More than 130 mounds were recorded within the park boundaries by various surveyors since the 1880s. Before the park was established by the state, many of the mounds were destroyed by farming or stone quarrying. However, 69 mounds survived and are carefully preserved, including the Sentinel Hill Mound Group and the Procession mound groups, which are composed of single lines of 28 mounds each that follow the crests of bluffs: small conicals, short linears, bears, and a single tailed effigy. There also examples of compound mounds at the park.

The mounds have not been professionally excavated, but at least two separate periods of mound building seem to be represented at the park. Cyrus Thomas’ crews investigated several large conical mounds in the area and found burials in stone crypts — one with shell beads, a copper celt, and a stone platform pipe characteristic of the Hopewell influences Middle Woodland stage. Most other mounds in the park, however, appear to have been built during the early part of Late Woodland stage.