American Indian rock carvings are found in a few other places in the state, including Thousand Hills State Park, but this one park along the Big River in northeastern Washington County contains almost two-thirds of all the petroglyphs discovered in Missouri so far.
The glyphs are carved in horizontal slabs of limestone bedrock ledges in the rocky, barren glades of this Ozark Border park. One large group of about two hundred glyphs is situated precariously close to Highway 21, which probably obliterated some others during its construction. Another group of about forty is east of the park’s entrance road at the south end of the visitor center. The third and largest group, numbering some 238, occurs on ledges overlooking Maddin Creek. The glyphs depict animals, birds—including dozens of thunderbirds—turkey tracks, snakes, human figures, footprints, hands, phallic and vulvar motifs, arrows, maces, cups, houses, geometric shapes, and other abstract symbols.
The carvings have been known since the first lead miners and farmers arrived in the area. Two groupings have been protected in the park since the first tract was donated to the state in 1932 by A. P. Greensfelder, a civic-minded St. Louis engineer and planner, and the third grouping, known as the Creswell grouping, was added in a combination purchase and donation from John and Mildred Graff of Boulder, Colorado, in 1990.
The petroglyphs have been analyzed by numerous archaeologists over the years, yet they remain something of a mystery. Although there is abundant evidence of peoples from the Woodland and even earlier traditions in the area, archaeologists believe the thunderbirds and other ceremonial symbols are the work of people of the Middle Mississippian culture during the period between AD 1000 and 1600. They seem to have been related in some way to the great center of Mississippian culture at Cahokia, Illinois, across the river at St. Louis, and to many other Mississippian settlements, such as those at Towosahgy and Lilburn in the Mississippi Lowlands. The Big River is the only other river in Missouri with large Mississippian villages along its length.
“Washington is the petroglyph park, with three different groups containing almost ve hundred carvings depicting animals, thunderbirds, humans, turkey tracks, snakes, arrows, and more.”
Archaeologists speculate that these villages in the “old lead belt” along Big River may have been part of a trade network for galena crystals, which have been found in Mississippian sites throughout the central part of the country. But because of key differences between Big River and Mississippian sites, some scholars believe that what we see at Big River is evidence not of the migration of peoples but of the diffusion of Mississippian ideas into an indigenous Woodland culture.
Whatever the connections with more distant areas, the petroglyph complexes at Washington State Park were almost certainly major ceremonial sites. Young men may have been initiated into secret societies here, the glyphs serving as memory aids for the complex sequences of songs and rites that were part of the ceremonies and the directional arrows perhaps pointing the way through the maze. Ceremonies may also have related to fertility of humans and harvests, such as the Green Corn ceremony with its rich oral tradition, carried into historic times by the Osage and eastern tribes related to Missouri. There is much we do not know about the petroglyphs here, but we can feel their power and sense that this place was sacred.
The petroglyphs are not the only examples of masterful craftsmanship in stone at Washington State Park. Not long after the land was donated to the state for a park, an all African American company of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) set up camp and began to develop the rugged tract along Big River for recreational use. Inspired by the petroglyphs in the park, the members of the company named their barracks area Camp Thunderbird and titled their camp newspaper the Thunderbird Rumblings. Between 1934 and 1939, these young men, aged eighteen to twenty five, built many rustic stone structures that blend well with both the rock carvings and the natural rock outcroppings in the park. Among the truly notable features in this park is a lodge, now a park store, constructed of rough random cut ashlar stone, with a thunderbird symbol carved in the stone facing at the gable end and repeated in interior details such as the handmade iron door hinges. The park also boasts handsome rental cabins, an octagonal lookout shelter of random cut native limestone, open on all sides to views of the campground, bluffs, and Big River, another shelter of native stone resembling a natural outcropping of rock, set into a hillside and offering a spectacular view of the river valley, and a 1,000 step trail winding up the hill behind the shelter. The highly ambitious, labor intensive construction of these structures blends beautifully into the natural park environment.
The African Americans in Company 1743 of the CCC were known for their high morale and consistently hard work, and they won an outstanding reputation. All of their work within the original 1932 boundaries of the park, including fourteen buildings and extensive stone roadside work, is now recognized as the Washington State Park Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places. But racial prejudice was never far from the surface in the 1930s. When the company completed its work at Washington and was transferred to Mark Twain State Park in northeastern Missouri, citizens in some nearby communities protested the stationing of black Americans in the park. But other citizens, both near Mark Twain and in lead belt towns such as DeSoto, Cadet, and Blackwell, countered with petitions of support for the black workers on the grounds that the company’s work and conduct at Washington were exemplary.
The landscape now at Washington State Park is not entirely the same as that which greeted the American Indian rock carvers or perhaps even the black stonemasons. The bluffs and rocky outcrops are still there, of course, but the hills have become much more densely forested so that the vistas are not as open. Here is how the naturalist Henry Rowe Schoolcraft described the country when he traveled in the vicinity of Potosi in 1818 and 1819: “The growth of prairie grass in the open post oak woods and prairies is of the most luxuriant kind.… The barrens are also covered with a profusion of wild fruits … and wild flowers.” He also noted that the “growth of grass in the woods affords ample range for cattle and horses, and they are kept constantly fat.”
Place names like Old Mines, Cannon Mines, Baryties, and Mineral Fork remind us that this was mining country. The French mined lead seasonally in this area in the eighteenth century, their shallow “diggings” dotting the landscape. In the early nineteenth century, they were joined by Anglo Americans following the lead of Moses Austin, who introduced more efficient smelting methods.
In 2001, the state acquired the ruins of a rare lead smelting furnace located on a tract of land at the west end of the park. Built in 1838, the furnace is of the “Scotch hearth” variety, of which only a few have survived, and it represents an important improvement in smelting technology. In conjunction with the twentieth century equipment and exhibits at Missouri Mines State Historic Site some twenty miles south, this furnace further illustrates the history of lead mining in Missouri.
In 2001, the state acquired the ruins of a rare lead smelting furnace located on a tract of land at the west end of the park. Built in 1838, the furnace is of the “Scotch hearth” variety, of which only a few have survived, and it represents an important improvement in smelting technology. In conjunction with the twentieth century equipment and exhibits at Missouri Mines State Historic Site some twenty miles south, this furnace further illustrates the history of lead mining in Missouri.
In some of the prominent rocky glades scattered along the park’s hill sides, naturalists found remnants of the once dominant cover of prairie grasses and wildflowers. In the late 1980s they began preliminary clearing of invading cedars on the glade located near the petroglyph parking area. Although at first the glade appeared ragged, persistence in continued brush removal and several prescribed burns paid off. In the spring of 1991 the glade erupted in a grand floral display, as if the wildflowers were rejoicing in their release from woody bondage. Such restoration has continued on this and other glades in the park and also in the woodlands where deeper soils allow the stately post, chinquapin, and white oaks to thrive. One of the park’s best and most accessible examples is the open woodland north of the park road between the visitor center and the road to the petroglyph shelter, where wild bergamot, goldenrod, and a variety of asters create a colorful mosaic beneath the oaks.
Among the many flowering species are some found in few other parks, including the thick leaved Fremont’s leather flower, the delicate blue violet nemastylis or celestial lily, and a rare primrose, Oenothera triloba. The animal life of the glades is unusual, too, with the top of the food chain represented by the coachwhip snake and the swift eastern collared lizard. The collared lizard has long been a favorite of visitors; it folds its front legs up against its chest like a little tyrannosaurus and sails along on hind legs, jumping over rocks in its path. But by the early 2000s, it was nearly extirpated from the park, a victim of poachers collecting specimens illegally for the pet trade, though it does not survive well in artificial settings. Through public education, protection, and habitat restoration, park staff hope to create conditions that will allow its recovery.
Washington Upland Hardwoods Natural Area lies along the limestone bluffs and talus slopes that face the Big River and offers a strong contrast to the drier woodlands and glades typical of most of the park. This rich, north facing slope has produced a mature stand of hardwoods with a luxuriant ground cover of ferns and wildflowers. Tall specimens—up to a hundred feet—of elm, bur oak, sugar maple, basswood, and Kentucky coffee tree are common. Mid story trees include pawpaw, Ohio buckeye, and American bladdernut.
In spring, this area hosts the park system’s showiest display of woodland wildflowers. Everywhere, just before the leaves unfold on the trees, is a carpet of green interspersed with blue eyed Marys, purple trilliums, smooth yellow violets, candle anemones, wild ginger, and bright yellow celandine poppies, among dozens of other species. The best way to view this area is to walk the trail—part of the thousand steps so carefully laid by the CCC stonemasons—down from the picnic shelter to the Thunder bird Lodge. Part way down the hillside, you will encounter the old stone CCC shelter house, where a breathtaking view of the river valley below lies just beyond the parapet wall.
At 2,158 acre Washington State Park, the landscape that inspired Native American rock carvers, African American stonemasons, and the naturalist Henry Rowe Schoolcraft still works its magic.
WASHINGTON STATE PARK • 13041 HIGHWAY 104, DE SOTO
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