Powers Bluff
Encyclopedia
Powers Bluff is a wooded hill in central Wisconsin
near Arpin
. American Indians lived there until the 1930s, calling it Tah-qua-kik, or Skunk Hill. Because of their religious and ceremonial activities, Tah-qua-kik is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
.
Today part of the hill is occupied by Powers Bluff County Park, locally known for its inner-tube hill
on winter weekends. At 1472 feet above sea level, it is the highest point in Wood County.
with a peak of chert
. Geologists believe the quartzite to be from the Proterozoic
era, 1.6 billion years old, similar in age and composition to Rib Mountain
to the northeast and the Baraboo Hills to the south, and much older than the Himalayas
. The quartzite is pretty pink, a semi-precious stone, and very hard. The softer materials which once surrounded it have been gradually stripped away by erosion, leaving the bluff.
Most of the bluff is covered by mesic forest dominated by sugar maples - some very old and large. Beneath the trees, spring wildflowers begin to bloom around the second week of April, with mayflowers
and dutchman's breeches
plentiful, and some spring beauties
, trout lilies
, and wild oats
eventually giving way to trilliums
. During summer, ferns and blue cohosh grow in the shade. Among them, goblin moonwort is a tiny fern that is endangered in Wisconsin. The maples turn red and yellow around the start of October, and soon the forest floor is blanketed in leaves.
Gray squirrels
, chipmunks
, and white-tailed deer
are commonly seen on the bluff.
Potawatomi
s under a spiritual leader named John Young probably settled briefly at Powers Bluff in the 1870s or 1880s. Since the Indian Removal Act
of 1830, these people had been kicked around. Some were moved to reservations in Kansas, then drifted back. Other "stray bands" had stayed in Wisconsin. They called their settlement at Powers Bluff Tah-qua-kik. Tah-qua-kik was not an Indian reservation managed by the U.S. government, so the people here were less influenced by Indian schools and overt efforts to Americanize
them. Communities like this were important for preserving native culture.
At this time, the bluff was a rather secluded refuge poking up out of the forest - not hemmed in by farms and roads as it is today. But Europeans were coming into the area. In 1871 the Wisconsin Central Railway pushed its line through the woods seven miles to the north. Young and most of his people probably stayed only briefly, then moved fifteen miles north to Indian Farms near Rozellville and eventually Perkinstown, McCord
, and Forest County
.
The John Arpin Logging Company cut the timber on the bluff in the 1890s. In 1904 this lumber operation shut down.
Shortly after the logging finished, more Potawatomi from Kansas began coming back. In 1905 or 1906, their homes were described in an article in a local newspaper:
The heart of the community was at the top of the bluff, on the warm south side of the rock outcrops. Other homes were scattered below on the south slope. The Medicine Society
was housed in a canvas-covered longhouse and there was a building for the drums.
A smattering of other people settled with the Potawatomi at Tah-qua-kik, including some Chippewa
, Ho-Chunk
, Kickapoo, and later Menominee
. The 1910 census tallied 100 Indians in 21 households in Arpin township. They were led by a Ho-Chunk man named White Pigeon and a Potawatomi named John Nuwi.
In spring the people made maple sugar, to use and for trade. Throughout the year they supported themselves by hunting, gathering, gardening, trapping, working at local farms, and selling crafts.
The dance rings at that time did not have spruce trees growing on them. Instead, a wood rail circled each. Important dances were held several times a year, drawing hundreds of visitors from around Wisconsin and as far as Kansas, some riding the train into Arpin. Some visitors were from other tribes and some were non-Indian neighbors. Ceremonies ran for several days, with traditional costumes, drumming, dancing, and speaking. There was a thanksgiving dance in May, a religion or thanksgiving dance in July, and a harvest dance in late summer/early fall. The Medicine Lodge
dance was held at various times.
As years passed, some of the homes at Tah-qua-kik became more like those of neighbors in nearby Arpin - log cabins and frame houses. Some families cooked on iron stoves, lit their homes with kerosene lanterns, and ate from ceramic dishes. But numbers gradually declined and by 1930 the village center at the top of the hill was abandoned.
In 1936 the town of Arpin gave the land at the top of the bluff to Wood County, which developed it as a park. The ski runs on the north side of the bluff opened in 1948 and the warming house in 1950.
In 1999 the county planned to expand the ski hill, but Indians objected that it would mean cutting grave marker trees and disturbing burials. A compromise was reached in 2003 and little has changed since then.
and downhill skiing with tows and a warming house on weekends, and cross-country skiing throughout the week. In other seasons there's a picnic area, playground, and hiking trails.
Signs describe the geology of the bluff and the Indian history. Two ceremonial dance rings may still be seen in the mowed picnic area, and two Indian cemeteries are surrounded by boulder fences.
Seventy acres to the east of the park is a state Natural Area called Powers Bluff Maple Woods.
The park occupies an area across the top of the bluff. Parts of the bluff outside the park are privately owned, used for homes and farming.
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
near Arpin
Arpin, Wisconsin
Arpin is a village in Wood County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 337 at the 2000 census.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 0.9 square miles , all of it land....
. American Indians lived there until the 1930s, calling it Tah-qua-kik, or Skunk Hill. Because of their religious and ceremonial activities, Tah-qua-kik is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
.
Today part of the hill is occupied by Powers Bluff County Park, locally known for its inner-tube hill
Tubing (recreation)
Tubing is a recreational activity where an individual rides on top of an inner tube, either on water, snow, or through the air. The tubes themselves are also known as "donuts" or "biscuits" due to their shape.-Water:Tubing on water generally consists of two forms: towed and free-floating, also...
on winter weekends. At 1472 feet above sea level, it is the highest point in Wood County.
Natural History
The most striking geological feature at Powers Bluff is the stone outcrops poking out the top of the hill. In some places they rise 25 feet above the forest floor. The bluff is quartziteQuartzite
Quartzite is a hard metamorphic rock which was originally sandstone. Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tectonic compression within orogenic belts. Pure quartzite is usually white to gray, though quartzites often occur in various shades of pink...
with a peak of chert
Chert
Chert is a fine-grained silica-rich microcrystalline, cryptocrystalline or microfibrous sedimentary rock that may contain small fossils. It varies greatly in color , but most often manifests as gray, brown, grayish brown and light green to rusty red; its color is an expression of trace elements...
. Geologists believe the quartzite to be from the Proterozoic
Proterozoic
The Proterozoic is a geological eon representing a period before the first abundant complex life on Earth. The name Proterozoic comes from the Greek "earlier life"...
era, 1.6 billion years old, similar in age and composition to Rib Mountain
Rib Mountain
Rib Mountain is a glacially-eroded monadnock in central Wisconsin, located in the Town of Rib Mountain in Marathon County...
to the northeast and the Baraboo Hills to the south, and much older than the Himalayas
Himalayas
The Himalaya Range or Himalaya Mountains Sanskrit: Devanagari: हिमालय, literally "abode of snow"), usually called the Himalayas or Himalaya for short, is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau...
. The quartzite is pretty pink, a semi-precious stone, and very hard. The softer materials which once surrounded it have been gradually stripped away by erosion, leaving the bluff.
Most of the bluff is covered by mesic forest dominated by sugar maples - some very old and large. Beneath the trees, spring wildflowers begin to bloom around the second week of April, with mayflowers
Hepatica
Hepatica is a genus of herbaceous perennials in the buttercup family, native to central and northern Europe, Asia and eastern North America...
and dutchman's breeches
Dicentra cucullaria
Dicentra cucullaria is a perennial herbaceous plant, native to rich woods of eastern North America, with a disjunct population in the Columbia River Basin....
plentiful, and some spring beauties
Claytonia
Claytonia is a genus of 26 species of flowering plants in the family Montiaceae, primarily native to North America, with a few species extending south to Guatemala in Central America, and northwest to northeastern Asia....
, trout lilies
Erythronium americanum
Erythronium americanum is a herbaceous flowering plant in the family Liliaceae. The common name "Trout lily" arises from the appearance of its mottled, colored leaves which allegedly resemble the coloring of brook trout. It blooms in early spring with yellow flowers tinged with red...
, and wild oats
Uvularia sessilifolia
Sessile bellwort or wild oats is a species of bellwort native to Eastern North America. It grows in woodlands with wet or dry soils.The strap-like leaves are sessile on the stem...
eventually giving way to trilliums
Trillium grandiflorum
Trillium grandiflorum, commonly known as white trillium, great white trillium, white wake-robin, or in French as trille blanc, is a perennial monocotyledonous plant in the lily family...
. During summer, ferns and blue cohosh grow in the shade. Among them, goblin moonwort is a tiny fern that is endangered in Wisconsin. The maples turn red and yellow around the start of October, and soon the forest floor is blanketed in leaves.
Gray squirrels
Eastern Gray Squirrel
The eastern gray squirrel is a tree squirrel in the genus Sciurus native to the eastern and midwestern United States, and to the southerly portions of the eastern provinces of Canada...
, chipmunks
Eastern Chipmunk
The eastern chipmunk is a small squirrel-like rodent found in eastern North America, the sole living member of the chipmunk genus and subgenus Tamias....
, and white-tailed deer
White-tailed Deer
The white-tailed deer , also known as the Virginia deer or simply as the whitetail, is a medium-sized deer native to the United States , Canada, Mexico, Central America, and South America as far south as Peru...
are commonly seen on the bluff.
Human History
East of the bluff are five large man-made mounds two to three feet high and twenty-five to thirty feet in diameter. These mounds show that the bluff was visited by American Indians before recorded times, though their identity is unknown.Potawatomi
Potawatomi
The Potawatomi are a Native American people of the upper Mississippi River region. They traditionally speak the Potawatomi language, a member of the Algonquian family. In the Potawatomi language, they generally call themselves Bodéwadmi, a name that means "keepers of the fire" and that was applied...
s under a spiritual leader named John Young probably settled briefly at Powers Bluff in the 1870s or 1880s. Since the Indian Removal Act
Indian Removal Act
The Indian Removal Act was signed into law by President Andrew Jackson on May 28, 1830.The Removal Act was strongly supported in the South, where states were eager to gain access to lands inhabited by the Five Civilized Tribes. In particular, Georgia, the largest state at that time, was involved in...
of 1830, these people had been kicked around. Some were moved to reservations in Kansas, then drifted back. Other "stray bands" had stayed in Wisconsin. They called their settlement at Powers Bluff Tah-qua-kik. Tah-qua-kik was not an Indian reservation managed by the U.S. government, so the people here were less influenced by Indian schools and overt efforts to Americanize
Americanization (of Native Americans)
The Americanization of Native Americans was an assimilation effort by the United States to transform Native American culture to European-American culture between the years of 1790–1920. George Washington and Henry Knox were first to propose, in an American context, the cultural transformation of...
them. Communities like this were important for preserving native culture.
At this time, the bluff was a rather secluded refuge poking up out of the forest - not hemmed in by farms and roads as it is today. But Europeans were coming into the area. In 1871 the Wisconsin Central Railway pushed its line through the woods seven miles to the north. Young and most of his people probably stayed only briefly, then moved fifteen miles north to Indian Farms near Rozellville and eventually Perkinstown, McCord
McCord Village
McCord Village, also known as 47ON221, is an archeological site near Lynne, Wisconsin, in Oneida County, Wisconsin. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001 and its boundaries were increased in 2005.- External links :...
, and Forest County
Forest County Potawatomi Community
The Forest County Potawatomi Community is a band of the Potawatomi, many of whom live on the Forest County Potawatomi Indian Reservation, most of which lies on numerous non-contiguous plots of land in southern Forest County and northern Oconto County, Wisconsin, USA. There is also a small 6.95 acre...
.
The John Arpin Logging Company cut the timber on the bluff in the 1890s. In 1904 this lumber operation shut down.
Shortly after the logging finished, more Potawatomi from Kansas began coming back. In 1905 or 1906, their homes were described in an article in a local newspaper:
...In the silent, somnolent forest they formed their round bark houses, as the Hebrew of old constructed the beautiful temple 'so that there was neither hammer nor ax nor any tool of iron heard while it was building.' A frame work of poles and branches was made and bound together. Then this frame work was entirely covered with large pieces of bark, firmly held in place by the tough, pliable, rope-like strips of dogwood bark.... Around the inner wall of this house is a platform 30 inches high and seven and eight feet wide. This is used for a lounging place by day and a bed by night. Their blankets were neatly folded up against the wall. In the center was an open place with a dirty floor and a pile of ashes where they had cooked their meals on rainy days. On the bough rafters were hung roots of various kinds....
The heart of the community was at the top of the bluff, on the warm south side of the rock outcrops. Other homes were scattered below on the south slope. The Medicine Society
Midewiwin
The Midewiwin or the Grand Medicine Society is a secretive religion of the aboriginal groups of the Maritimes, New England and Great Lakes regions in North America. Its practitioners are called Midew and the practices of Midewiwin referred to as Mide...
was housed in a canvas-covered longhouse and there was a building for the drums.
A smattering of other people settled with the Potawatomi at Tah-qua-kik, including some Chippewa
Ojibwa
The Ojibwe or Chippewa are among the largest groups of Native Americans–First Nations north of Mexico. They are divided between Canada and the United States. In Canada, they are the third-largest population among First Nations, surpassed only by Cree and Inuit...
, Ho-Chunk
Ho-Chunk
The Ho-Chunk, also known as Winnebago, are a tribe of Native Americans, native to what is now Wisconsin and Illinois. There are two federally recognized Ho-Chunk tribes, the Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin and Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska....
, Kickapoo, and later Menominee
Menominee
Some placenames use other spellings, see also Menomonee and Menomonie.The Menominee are a nation of Native Americans living in Wisconsin. The Menominee, along with the Ho-Chunk, are the only tribes that are indigenous to what is now Wisconsin...
. The 1910 census tallied 100 Indians in 21 households in Arpin township. They were led by a Ho-Chunk man named White Pigeon and a Potawatomi named John Nuwi.
In spring the people made maple sugar, to use and for trade. Throughout the year they supported themselves by hunting, gathering, gardening, trapping, working at local farms, and selling crafts.
The dance rings at that time did not have spruce trees growing on them. Instead, a wood rail circled each. Important dances were held several times a year, drawing hundreds of visitors from around Wisconsin and as far as Kansas, some riding the train into Arpin. Some visitors were from other tribes and some were non-Indian neighbors. Ceremonies ran for several days, with traditional costumes, drumming, dancing, and speaking. There was a thanksgiving dance in May, a religion or thanksgiving dance in July, and a harvest dance in late summer/early fall. The Medicine Lodge
Midewiwin
The Midewiwin or the Grand Medicine Society is a secretive religion of the aboriginal groups of the Maritimes, New England and Great Lakes regions in North America. Its practitioners are called Midew and the practices of Midewiwin referred to as Mide...
dance was held at various times.
As years passed, some of the homes at Tah-qua-kik became more like those of neighbors in nearby Arpin - log cabins and frame houses. Some families cooked on iron stoves, lit their homes with kerosene lanterns, and ate from ceramic dishes. But numbers gradually declined and by 1930 the village center at the top of the hill was abandoned.
In 1936 the town of Arpin gave the land at the top of the bluff to Wood County, which developed it as a park. The ski runs on the north side of the bluff opened in 1948 and the warming house in 1950.
In 1999 the county planned to expand the ski hill, but Indians objected that it would mean cutting grave marker trees and disturbing burials. A compromise was reached in 2003 and little has changed since then.
Powers Bluff County Park
Powers Bluff County Park occupies part of the hill. In winter it offers inner-tubingTubing (recreation)
Tubing is a recreational activity where an individual rides on top of an inner tube, either on water, snow, or through the air. The tubes themselves are also known as "donuts" or "biscuits" due to their shape.-Water:Tubing on water generally consists of two forms: towed and free-floating, also...
and downhill skiing with tows and a warming house on weekends, and cross-country skiing throughout the week. In other seasons there's a picnic area, playground, and hiking trails.
Signs describe the geology of the bluff and the Indian history. Two ceremonial dance rings may still be seen in the mowed picnic area, and two Indian cemeteries are surrounded by boulder fences.
Seventy acres to the east of the park is a state Natural Area called Powers Bluff Maple Woods.
The park occupies an area across the top of the bluff. Parts of the bluff outside the park are privately owned, used for homes and farming.
Further reading
- "Powers Bluff Native American Pictures," State Historical Society of Wisconsin, accession number M95-186, is a compilation of scrapbooks compiled by Dr. Alphonse Gerend around 1920. It contains old photos of people, homes and the dance rings on the bluff. A copy is in the Lester Public Library in Arpin.
- The "Tah-qua-kik" article among the references above also contains some old photos and is available online.