Secrets of the Bluffs

Guide to the Roadside: Secrets of the Bluffs 

(Used with permission from Dr. Susan Barker)

The Mississippi River Bluffs in Illinois are full of secrets.

According to an Audubon Magazine article in about 1976, the bluffs were sacred places. American Indians buried their dead on the top edge of the Illinois bluffs. They believed the the spirit of the loved one would travel on the last rays of the setting sun, the sky bridge, into the next world.
Mary Gail LePere Ketten's father, Clifford, told me he remembered when trees were cleared for a quarry near Falling Springs. As the earth was shoved off the rock, he said the bones literally tumbled off the edge.

Years later I was part of a field trip with Immaculate Conception School from Columbia. As we stopped below the Miles Cemetery mausoleum (on top the bluff) I told the story of the Sky Bridge to eighth graders and explained how some ladies hunting mushrooms had found a skull along the cliffs. They called the sheriff. It was determined to be an ancient skull. When I finished talking, the bus driver turned around and said "One of those ladies was my mother!"

You don't have travel far to find amazing things. They are right here in your backyard. Enjoy!

 (From Louann Brown: If you live near Illinois river bluffs, keep your eye out for petroglyphs and pictographs. American Indians created rock art near these types of sacred places.