A Deer Mound
On the way to the site of the man mound, a deer mound may be visited at 727 Eighth Street, Baraboo, (on Trunk Line 33, Baraboo to Portage) in an oak grove, on land owned by Mrs. Catherine Crandall Train. The rear portion of this mound, a rare effigy, was destroyed a number of years ago. A linear mound may be seen just back of the effigy.
Continuing on the trunk line two miles, a turn is made to the left, the highway approaching a rugged elevation on the left side of the road. This outcrop of sandstone is known locally as Rocky Point or Violet Hill, from the abundance of violets which carpet its slopes in the spring. Violent Hill would perhaps be a better appellation as the point has been responsible for a number of serious accidents. Early in the history of this region a bold frontiersman made the wrong turn, because of a maudlin mind acquired in the village by overindulgence in rum, and his wagon, tipping over, his life was snuffed out on the rocks.
About the year 1870 another devotee of Bacchus became a sacrifice. Before his team had reached the top of the hill this confused husbandman, thinking he was at the turn in the road, directed his horses into the rocks and by the overturning of his wagon-box, was killed.
Another victim was an employee of a hop yard located near the man mound. One night this individual walked down the slope north of the hill but instead of following the highway skirting the rocks, he walked directly over the crest. Stepping into the darkness, he fell headlong down the declivity barely escaping death.
Only a few years since, a driver and team came down this same north slope in a snow storm. The snowdrifts were deep and the driver finally abandoned his conveyance, walking behind his horses in an endeavor to follow the road. Blinded by the falling snow and confused by the drifts, man and team plunged over the cliff and were only saved from destruction by the abundance of snow. So deep were the drifts that little could be seen of the horses after the tumble, except their ears.