The Mountain of Little People | Spirit Mound, Marker #372

One lone hill rises out of a flat sea of grass north of Vermillion — and for as long as anyone here could remember, no one would walk up it. In August 1804, William Clark wrote down the warning before anyone climbed: beings in human form, about eighteen inches high, armed with sharp arrows. The Dakota and Lakota name for this hill is Paha Wakan, and the little people have a name of their own — the Can O'ti la. But here is the mystery: three journal keepers wrote "we are informed," and not one of them ever says who told them. South Dakota Mystery Hunters — Season 2, Episode 6. Spirit Mound Historic Prairie, Clay County. Marker #372. Tell us below: what do you think the nations of this river were protecting?