Pabst Farms and burial mounds: Holy ironic visual metaphor, Batman!

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel photo

Tire ruts on Native American burial mounds. They should encase the trampled site in Lucite as a visually poetic monument to sprawled development.

Also noted by James Rowen: Historical Site Damage At Pabst Farms Echos Earlier Destruction (where he quips, tongue firmly in cheek: "Looks like the mound-builders were bad planners, too. Imagine putting these structures where an Interstate Highway had to run.")

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Developer must repair, protect Indian mounds

Tire ruts scar ancient figures at Pabst Farms

By AMY RINARD
[email protected]

Summit - State officials have ordered Pabst Farms developers to repair and better protect American Indian effigy mounds near a large construction site after work crews damaged the panther-shaped burial sites.

Workers put up fencing Wednesday along the edges of the three earthen mounds on land that Pabst Farms Development owns east of the site of the Aurora hospital under construction at the southeast corner of I-94 and Highway 67.

Archaeologists from the Wisconsin Historical Society inspected the mounds Tuesday and ordered the fencing to prevent further damage.

"We responded immediately," Dan Warren, development manager for Pabst Farms, said Wednesday.

The mounds were damaged by crews cutting brush, Pabst Farms spokesman Thad Nation said.

A vehicle was driven over the mounds, causing deep tire ruts that are clearly visible through the snow.

The mounds are near the path of a future road that will link the Aurora site with an area to the east along county Highway DR that Pabst Farms plans for future development.

State Archaeologist John Broihahn, who was among the historical society officials to assess the damage to the mounds, said the three mounds at the site are 800 to 1,400 years old.

It is not known what tribe or nation of American Indians built the burial mounds, he said, because little is known of tribal identities during that period of Wisconsin history.

Two of the mounds are in the shape of panthers, Broihahn said. One, in the shape of a panther lying on its stomach, is 20 to 30 feet wide and about 40 feet long. The other is in the shape of a panther lying on its side and is about 12 to 15 feet wide and about 100 feet long. The third mound is linear, about 75 feet long and 10 to 15 feet wide, he said.

Few mounds remain

They are among the last remaining American Indian burial mounds in the state, and their preservation is a high priority for the historical society, Broihahn said.

"We're dealing with a small number of original mounds," he said, noting that 80% of the American Indian mounds in the state have been destroyed.

"Effigy mounds are quite unusual."

In addition to their historical significance, the mounds are human burial sites held sacred by their builders and must be treated with respect, Broihahn said.

The ruts in the mounds were "something that shouldn't happen," he said.

But, he said, he and others who inspected the site concluded that the damage was not intentional but rather a consequence of workers not being aware of the need to protect the surface of the mounds.

Pabst Farms officials were told any future brush cutting on the mounds must be done by hand, Nation said.

Historical society officials will prepare a plan for repairing and preventing future damage to the mounds, Broihahn said. The plan, to be implemented in spring, will call for filling in the ruts and planting deep-rooted prairie grasses to prevent further damage to the mound surface, he said.

Pabst Farms officials are prepared to comply fully with whatever plan the state orders, Nation said.

"We recognize what they're saying and will take whatever remedial steps they prescribe," he said.

Financial penalties possible

Under state law, financial penalties may be imposed on those responsible for damaging American Indian mounds.

Broihahn said imposition of such a penalty is a long process and no determination on it has been made yet. "It's something we'll talk about," he said.

The area of the mounds is in an environmental corridor of the Pabst Farms development that has long been identified for preservation in development plans, Summit Planner/Administrator Henry Elling said.

Historical society officials approved the plans for the road to run through the mounds area.

The road, with a 66-foot right of way, will be a town road and does not come close to the mounds, Elling said.

But Pat Manders, who lives near the mounds and who reported the damage to local and state officials, said he does not believe a road should be built though the area of the mounds because the site was special and sacred to American Indians.

"I think it's important that we show some respect for that," he said.

Comments

[bill]

Peter Bell the developer, when he first bought Wispark's (and James Klauser, aka Tommy's brain),development rights, he assured the locals that this would be a world class project and his personal philosophy was to build to the land and not on it.

Moving heavy equipment onto an environmental corridor typifies the entire Pabst Farm project-Take the TIF money and put anything on this parcel and don't bother with the particulars

[John Michlig]

Developers must swap 3X5 cards with these aphorisms ("world class project")that are routinely deployed to calm the locals.

That's certainly what we get here in Franklin.

[Native American Activist]

I think this is great news. It is not too hard to be considerate of Native American sacred sites when doing a development project - as long as the sites are identified. In fact, if incorporated properly, I think they can really add to the project's overall aesthetic appeal. Incorporating history brings the past into the present.

[John Michlig]

Great news IF they actually follow up on what they promise. Remember, it took an appeal from archaeologists to get the developer to take basic steps to protect the sites.

[Bryan Maersch]

Wow - When my son was in Scouts even walking on the mounds at Indian Mound was discouraged out of respect.

[John Michlig]

Hard to believe that there was no way to mark the borders of these mounds and work around them.

And hard to believe they CARED to do so given how easy such a step would have been.