The Ontonagon River “Pyramid”
By Bruce H. Johanson
There have been inquiries about the so-called “pyramid” or temple mound located near the Ontonagon River.
Perhaps we should first clarify just what a pyramid is. By definition A pyramid is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge to a single step at the top, making the shape roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilateral, or of any polygon shape.
Having explained the above, we may now apply this definition to the Ontonagon pyramid. The Ontonagon pyramid mound is a three-sided hill in the shape of a pyramid with a flat place or platform-like area at the tip. It is located near a tight bend in the Ontonagon River adjacent to another mound which some would consider to be an effigy mound. Both hills almost touch each other. The pyramid-shaped hill rises roughly 70 feet above the level of the Ontonagon River. One corner of this mound lies in an almost perfect bearing with true north.
This writer was first shown the mounds by the late Rudy Saari, a local sportsman, several years ago. Saari had spotted them from the river while fishing in 1948, and later had worked out an access by ground to the site. He immediately noticed the unusual configuration of these mound-like hills. Saari was kind enough to escort this writer to the mound site on a sunny Sunday fall afternoon when most of the leaves were off the trees and the shape and character of the mounds were clearly defined. There was a shallow canal at the base of the mounds that we had to cross on a sunken log. The way to the mounds have not improved with time, however, this writer has visited the site several times by ground travel and once by boat.
Before we get ahead of ourselves, a bit of documentation is in order. In 1961, the late Roy W. Drier of Michigan Technological University, in concert with Octave J. Du Temple of Hinsdale, Illinois published a collection of reference articles on the subject of copper mining in ancient times and entitled, “Prehistoric Copper Mining in the Lake Superior Region.” The Drier-Du Temple book, which was privately published and is becoming somewhat scarce, has become the Bible for researchers into the accounts of ancient copper miners in the region. On page 45 of this little red book is an article by Charles Whittlesy (1808-1886) published in Cleveland in August of 1852. Whittlesy was a recognized geologist and historian in his time, who later produced an exhaustive paper entitled “Ancient Mining on the Shores of Lake Superior” that was published by the Smithsonian Institution in 1863. I am taking the time to site the authorities who were among the first to recognize our Ontonagon River mounds as being unusual as later archeological researchers have declared these hills as being purely natural and of no significance.
Returning to the previously mentioned 1852 Article by Whittlesy, which is found on page 45 of Drier and Du Temple’s collection, Whittlesy writes, in reference to the ancient miners, “There has not been observed on Lake Superior any remains that indicate the existence of cities, or permanent houses of earth or stone. Mr. Hill* is of the opinion that he has seen two “mounds,” or tumuli, near the Ontonagon that are artificial and ancient.
These are the only known works resembling those of Ohio, except the gravel pits around Portage Lake.
There is nothing to show that the country was permanently inhabited by the ancient miners, and as their works were open cuts and not galleries, it must have been almost, if not quite, impracticable to work them in the winters of that latitude.
No graves of human remains have been found here that can be referred to the era of the copper workings”….. “It seems most probably that the people did not reside in the country, but came in the summer, from a milder climate, bringing their provisions with them, and taking away on their return in the fall, the metal they had raised.”
* Samuel Worth Hill, early surveyor in the Keweenaw region. Mr. Hill is also known by his legendary colorful language which later led to the term “What the Sam Hill…” Hill was married to his lovely wife at the Cash Farm at Ontonagon in 1846, and later platted the original City of Hancock.
In the rest of the report, it seems that Whittlesy felt that ancient miners had come from a more southern clime and he also saw a connection between the Ontonagon River mounds and the Hopewell and Mississippian mounds further south. It has been theorized that the ancient miners who worked the pits (possibly on Isle Royale) and later in the local region carried their cold-hammered ingots of native copper up the Ontonagon River to the Lac Vieux Desert region, and then, with a short portage to the headwaters of the Wisconsin River, made their way across what is now Wisconsin to the Mississippi River and on to the ancient city of Cahokia (near present-day St. Louis). The Ontonagon County Historical Society has, in its collection, several examples of cold-hammered native copper ingots, and copper working tools used by the pre-Columbian miners. At Cahokia, Illinois, is the site of the Great Temple Mound. This theoretical account would connect the Ontonagon River mounds with the mound builders further south, and explain the existence of artifacts made of Lake Superior copper being found in several places in North America.
In fact, though these mounds have been called to the attention of recognized archeologists, no one had taken the time to do a formal study of them until about 40 years ago.
In 1980, James P. Schertz of the University of Wisconsin, following up on local legends he had heard of about a temple mound located on the Ontonagon River, set about trying to locate the mound(s) only to be frustrated by the thick woods and swampy area. Schertz finally located the hills by aerial photos. Schertz, not being a local person and evidently did not talk to the “right people” about where the so-called temple mound is, but he was finally successful in pin-pointing the correct location. He later relates that in May of 1980, after working his way through miles of brush and swamp while fighting off fierce mosquitos, he was finally able to stand upon, measure, and sketch what he ascertained to be not one, but two hillocks.
Schertz noted that the southern edges of the two hills are on a common line east-west. The eastern-most of the two hills has squared corners and is slightly elongated to the north with the northern corner being nearly true north. Schertz also noted a relationship of the hills to the rising sun at the time of the equinox.
Could the mounds be some sort of calendar site? Perhaps the pyramid mound was a sort of sun dial calendar to warn of coming winter to allow the mysterious ancient miners the time to prepare to leave for the winter. Without the tree cover, the platform at the top of the larger mound is also an ideal observation site.
Schertz also became acquainted with the late Charles Willman of the Ontonagon County Historical Society and his later research on items in the OCHS collection brought to light more evidence of the identity of the ancient miners of the Keweenaw region.
Now, to clear away some of the wild tales and “local legends” about the Ontonagon River mounds: It seems highly unlikely that they are burial or grave-sites. The location, at a very tight bend in the river, would provide an ideal observation site, if the trees were removed, and the absence of forest growth may well have been the case when the mounds were created. As far a dating the mounds, we know there were two different periods of ancient copper mining. The first goes back three to four thousand years and at that time the Ontonagon River was much different than it is today, and the ancient mining may well have consisted more of harvesting copper found near the surface. The second period of copper mining is believed, by some sources, to date from about 800 CE and lasting until 1300 CE. Our mounds may date from the latter time period.
No one can agree, or disagree on just what these hills are or what they represent, but the fact that the limited study and research that has been done has produced nothing definitive leaves the door open to wild conjecture. The Ontonagon River country holds very tightly to many of its secrets, and theories or opinions are just that and nothing more.
We are not going to provide specific directions on how to find one’s way to the mounds other than to say they are roughly 5 miles up river from the mouth and near the east bank. If these mounds are of archeological significance (and that is to be either proven or disproven) the last thing needed is to have amateur archeologists or treasure hunters poking and digging at the mounds. If anyone, ill-advisably, decides to attempt to visit the site, be prepared to wear hip boots, and bring along the most powerful mosquito repellant available. The first part of the trek is a cake-walk, but the last near-mile is not for the faint hearted. The site is on private property and parts of the route to the mounds are clearly posted against trespass. Permission should be sought beforehand.