Few of Iowa's natural features have excited so much curiosity as the Ocheyedan Mound in northwest Iowa's lakes region.
Few of Iowa's natural features have excited so much curiosity
as the Ocheyedan Mound in northwest Iowa's lakes region.
Just southeast of the town of Ocheyedan, the Mound rises an
impressive 170 feet above the surrounding flood plain. It is one
of the highest point in Iowa-1655 feet above sea level. Only two
miles south of highway nine, the Mound is reached by a concrete
and blacktop road, and is readily accessible to visitors.
The Ocheyedan Mound is one of the most beautiful hills in the
northwest part of the state and its outline can be seen for miles
in all directions. The region along the Ocheyedan river flood
plain is made up of rolling hills. Some are in groups, with a
distinctive arrangement. Others are isolated somewhat-the Mound
is the most striking example of this.
General trend of the Mound is northeast and southwest. Its
extreme length is only about one third of a mile. Portions of its
narrow summit are but a few yards wide.
It is long thought that the Mound was an Indian burying ground.
This was disproved when geologists investigated and found that it
was a kame, of glacial origin. Kames are hills and ridges of
stratified drift deposited by glaciers at the mouths of ice
tunnels or ice channels, and in angles of ice. The Mound was
formed during the recession of the Wisconsin ice sheet, the last
glacier to invade Iowa, many thousands of years ago.
The material making up the Mound is chiefly sand and gravel with
small boulders of various types, including rocks of many
different kinds. There are granites, Sioux quartzite's and
limestone's.
The esthetic value of such beautiful and interesting geological
phenomena as the Ocheyedan Mound should be appreciated by our
people, and every effort should be made to prevent their
destruction. Already the Ocheyedan Mound has been somewhat marred
by the removal from its summit sand and gravel which was used for
commercial purposes. To be sure, the Mound is valuable for the
many tons of material that might be taken from it, but far
greater value is it to the state as a beauty spot, a landmark,
which should be conserved for future generations just as
zealously as we should conserve our material resources.
Just where Ocheyedan gets its name is really not known. In the
early Dacotah (Sioux) dictionary compiled in 1852 were two names,
Acheya and Akicheya, meaning to mourn as for a dead relative. The
Indians of the area applied these to landmarks in the area to
commemorate two Indian boys who were killed here by a party of
tribal enemies. Acheya (white settlers pronounced it Ocheyedan)
is a mourning ground. Ocheyeda was the name applied to Nobles
county's (Minnesota) largest lake. An "n" was added and
the town in Osceola county was named "Ocheyedan".
There is a tradition that the Indians used the Mound as an
observation point and as a place of mourning. White men have used
it as a guide across the prairies, and it is now popular for
picnics, steak fries, fireworks displays and winter sliding,
toboggan parties and skiing.
It is assumed that the highest point yet remains in Osceola
county. Since discovering in 1971 that the Mound was no longer
the highest point, two or three points (east, north and west of
Sibley, have been brought forth as contenders for the highest
elevation above sea level. The U.S. Geodetic Survey determined
that a point on the Merrill Sterler farm north of Sibley is 1670
feet and so marked on maps the new location.
The summer of 1884 the Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Northern
Railroad, now the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific, crossed the
northern part of Osceola county. The coming of the railroad was a
great event on the prairie and in the sparsely settled region
here-one of the last in Iowa to be settled.
In the fall of 1884 building activities began and the prairie
town of Ocheyedan was a busy place with every available person at
some kind of work. The first building put up on the town site was
a shanty-more popularly called shack. The post office was moved to
the town site that year from Rush Lake where it had been located
from 1875. Rush Lake is a mile northeast of the town site and is
noted for its excellent waterfowl hunting.
Ocheyedan, like many small Iowa towns, has lost population
through the years. It now has a population of only 545 but has
been recognized by the state betterment committee for many
projects of improvement in business, housing, retirement,
recreation, churches, schools and other lines of endeavor.
-Transcribed by Roseanna Zehner