New England Antiquities Research Association

 

Historical Landmark Destroyed in the Name of Progress

Reprinted from The Murray County News

by Miron Carney

 

 

 

July 10, 2003

 

As summer blankets the high prairie with heat, those who can retreat into air conditioned homes and places of work to escape the searing mid day sun. Without electricity, these daily escapes would not be possible.

It's easy to forget about how electricity quietly takes care of us except for when the monthly bill comes. Companies like Xcel Energy and EnXco have been working hard to help keep energy prices reasonable for consumers.

During the past several years, it has been difficult to not notice the hundreds of wind turbines that have become as common as cows and corn in southwestern Minnesota. With the recent transmission line approval, the door to additional pollution free wind power has been opened.

The majority of the region's wind turbines have been located along Buffalo Ridge. This geological formation that creates the divide between the Missouri River and Mississippi River watersheds is considered to be the most consistently windy location on the continent. Combine that wind with plenty of wide open spaces, and you have the ideal location for hundreds of electricity producing wind turbines.

This ridge's relative elevation has been exploited by its inhabitants for many centuries. At an altitude of 1,950 feet above sea level, the summit located in Chanarambie Township provides a vantage point over much of the surrounding landscape.

The dominance of this point was utilized by the natives for many centuries prior to the arrival of the first white men. The spot provided a site for the transmission of messages via smoke signals. Through a series of other signal points to the south, a message could be transmitted and relayed to a recipient in what is now Missouri within a day's time as long as weather was favorable.

Although thousands of buffalo once roamed the ridge, it wasn't the buffalo's direct presence that inspired the naming of the ridge.

In 1890, T. H. Lewis recorded his discovery of a buffalo petroform effigy at the summit of the ridge. The location was described as the highest knoll on the ridge. Lewis made a drawing of his find and wrote of what he observed. It is from this feature the ridge derives its name.
 

Murray County News Photo by Miron Carney

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Leon Carney stands next the some of the rocks that use to make up the buffalo petroform effigy from which the ridge gets its name. Carney points to the new road that had been the landmarks location for centuries.

Petroforms are boulder or rock outlines that are arranged on the ground's surface to resemble a variety of anthropomorphic, zoomorphic, or geometric forms. While tepee rings are geometric shapes, they are not considered to be petroforms.
 

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In 1890, T. H. Lewis recorded his discovery of a buffalo petroform effigy at the summit of the ridge. His illustration detailed the effigys orientation and position of each stone.

Recently, the fate of the ridge's name sake petroform and construction work for new wind turbines collided. Around mid day June 29, local resident Leon Carney and Dick Bryan of Pipestone decided to visit the landmark. Carney and Bryan worked together to organize the Lake Shetek Reconciliation.

Much to their disappointment, they found that a newly constructed turbine service road had replaced the centuries old effigy.

Being the local contact person regarding the historical significance of the site, Carney was shocked to see the destruction and said, "A national treasure has been destroyed!"

In order to prevent the destruction of historical and cultural landmarks and their locations, anthropological studies are done on locations where work of this scale is conducted.

The following Monday, June 30, representative for EnXco Paul White contacted Carney by telephone. EnXco is involved in the development taking place around the landmark. White stated by telephone, "We're pretty safe. We got an archeologist who we hired."

In another telephone call earlier in the day, a representative of the Minnesota Historical Society stated to Carney that they had received a study on the area in question earlier this year and found the study to be inadequate requiring further work.

White also told Carney that they were unaware that the effigy was located where it was. White also stated they didn't know who Carney was prior to that day – while a 1995 report by IMA Consulting, Inc. used by EnXco named Carney in providing location and detail information regarding the buffalo petroform.

Murray County Historical Society curator Caryl Busman stated that she had informed White of the petroform's presence, and Carney was the person to contact regarding the site.

White expressed to Carney during his telephone conversation that the company he represented had no intention in destroying the landmark and they were sensitive to the issue.

While no party or individuals have claimed responsibility for the breakdown in communication that lead to the the petroform's destruction, dialogue on how the situation may be remedied has begun.

Although the ridge's name sake is gone, the near by historically signal pit remains. Representatives of local historical and heritage organizations look to a remedy that will satisfy the parties involved while leaving some of the ridge's historical legacy for the generations to come.

 

 

 

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