Glasgow Twp, Wabasha County, Minnesota
Figure 1. T.H. Lewis' 1885 surveying map of the Hill Mounds superimposed on an aerial photo.
T.H. Lewis surveyed this site on August 10 and 13, 1885. Lewis wrote:
"This group contains 98 mounds. They are on a terrace about 55 ft. above the bottom. There are many others that are just traceable. From No. 33 to No. 46 are a number of circular excavations, some of which have embankments on the outside. In this group are 5 elongated mounds or embankments, one bird effigy and many "Mandan lodges" or circles. The elongated mounds have about the same width as the average diameter of the tumuli, many of which are 18 ft. or 20ft., the largest 45 ft. by 6 ft. Nos 47, 51, 58, and 59 have been excavated. The circular embankment illustrated has an exterior diameter of 38 ft. and interior 20 ft. The excavation within the circle is 2 1/2 ft. deep, and the embankment is 9 ft wide and 1 ft. high. The dimensions of the other circles were not taken, but they may be presumed to be similar to this circle. The bird effigy has a rounded termination of tail (or body) and the head is hardly a head, being only a low-rounded protuberance without any neck. The effigy is 4 1/2 ft. high in the center between the wings, 1 ft. at the narrowest part of the body, and 2 ft. near the end of the body. Including the head the body is 63 ft long."
Figure 2. Hill Mounds bird effigy and Circle Mound.
Lewis continues:
"There is every reason, excepting only the form of the effigy, to class it as contemporary work and part of the group. It is highly improbable that a single earthwork, such as this effigy, should be eracted at this spot by an earlier race. If it be supposed that it was formerly accompanied by others of like form, it is highly improbable that all the others should have disappeared, leaving this only intact. It appears, therfore, that the makers of the round tumuli and of the embankments were the architects of the effigy."
The direction of flight of the bird appears to be almost opposite that of the flow of the Zumbro River. However the direction does appear to match the direction of flow of the much more distant Mississippi River.