Effigy Mounds Administrative History

Sny Magill [42]

There seems never to have been any question about the desirability of including the Sny Magill mound group in the national monument. The Baker, Butterfield, and Hummel report of October 7, 1937, the basic document relating to the reconnaissance of northeastern Iowa to advocate areas for inclusion in a Park Service unit there, contains the following recommendation:

The Sny-Magill group and the surrounding area is at present under the protection of the Biological Survey and consequently is not recommended by then Iowa Conservation Commission for inclusion in the Effigy Mounds National Monument. Because this is one of the largest effigy mound groups in this region, and probably one of the largest extant in the United States, we believe every effort should be made to have this group included within the proposed monument. This area lies about six miles south of McGregor, on a terrace along a secondary channel of the Mississippi.

. . . To make a complete unit for administration it is recommended that we include all the Biological Survey area plus the area south to Magill Creek which we are recommending for our south boundary. [43]

In spite of agreement that the Sny Magill group belonged in the national monument, the decision to postpone the acquisition of Sny Magill came early. The addition of the area was postponed for a variety of reasons, as discussed in the previous chapter. Most important, the Service believed the mounds were being adequately protected by other federal agencies. Further, the War Department's Corps of Engineers had taken jurisdiction over some parts of the mound group in connection with its Mississippi River flood control and canalization projects. Upon inquiry, Region II Director Lawrence Merriam was informed that the lands in question were in the process of being transferred to the Department of the Interior for fish and wildlife refuge purposes, but that the Corps would retain certain rights after the transfer. These included the right to flood the area, as needed, to ensure safe navigation, and the right to remove and dispose of "all wood, timber, and other natural or artificial projections or obstructions" in or near the pool behind Lock and Dam No. 10. [44]

Still, the mound group was so outstanding that Regional Director Merriam recommended that the inclusion of Sny Magill in the national monument be discussed in the proclamation designating Effigy Mounds. Unfortunately, National Park Service Director Arno Cammerer feared the rights reserved by the War Department would be detrimental to the monument as a whole. Cammerer suggested a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Biological Survey "whereby that service would assure protection of archeological remains and grant this Service the privilege of excavating sites and approving the requests of archeologists" who wanted to study the mounds or their contents. Cammerer cited his intent to include the Sny Magill group in the monument if, at any time, the Corps released their reservations on the area. In the meantime, the Regional Director of the Biological Survey did not feel there would be any difficulty in working out a cooperative agreement to protect the archeological remains. [45]

In March 1947, the Corps of Engineers notified Region II that further investigation by the Corps' representatives had revealed that the Sny Magill mounds were all at elevations greater than 614 feet, and were not affected by the pool behind Lock and Dam No. 10. Regional Director Merriam's response to this news was immediate and clear:

Our studies for this proposed monument convinced us that the mounds in the Sny-Magill area were of sufficient interest to make it desirable to have them thus set apart. This office never abandoned hope that this unit could ultimately be included in the proposed monument. Our recommendation is that the Sny-Magill Mounds area be included in the proclamation as a part of the national monument. [46]

At a meeting of National Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, and Army Corps of Engineers representatives on April 22-23, 1947, Corps of Engineers District Engineer Col. W.K. Wilson reiterated the Corps' belief that dam operations would not affect the Sny Magill mounds. Although everything appeared to favor National Park Service acquisition of the mounds, Fish and Wildlife Service Regional Director [?] Janzen asked that the Park Service delay requesting a transfer of land from the Corps of Engineers and/or the Fish and Wildlife Service for the time being, because "negotiations for transfer of a considerable amount of War Department lands to the Fish and Wildlife Service in this general area have been in process for some time." Janzen was concerned lest a request from the National Park Service to the Corps of Engineers delay the consummation of the transfer from the War Department to the Fish and Wildlife Service. [47]

Figure 15: The Sny Magill Unit, added to Effigy Mounds National Monument in 1962.

Again, the transfer was postponed, but there was considerable discussion between the National Park Service's Washington and Region II offices, and between both of them and the appropriate Fish and Wildlife Service offices throughout the rest of 1947 to determine what the boundaries should be when the shift in ownership occurred, and to unravel who owned what land. Then, on February 16, 1948, Director Newton B. Drury notified Region II of a major problem:

The Upper Mississippi River Wildlife and Fish Refuge, which includes the southern half of the Sny-Magill unit, was established by Act of Congress and there appears no way by which a direct transfer of the lands could be made to this Service. The northern half of the unit, under the jurisdiction of the Department of the Army [the War Department, as renamed under the reorganization of 1947], as acquired from the state of Iowa through condemnation proceedings. Accordingly, an act of Congress would be necessary to obtain either or both of these tracts. Conceivably, the Sny-Magill area might be included in the monument by proclamation . . . [but] this plan would likely lead to complications. . . . Unless you have compelling reasons to the contrary, we will initiate a proclamation [establishing the north and south units as Effigy Mounds National Monument] as soon as title to the main unit has been accepted. [48]

As indicated in the closing paragraph above, the director's desire to lose no more time in obtaining President Truman's proclamation of Effigy Mounds National Monument was a major reason for his reluctance to pursue the addition of Sny Magill in 1948. Congress had already voted an appropriation to run the unit, and there was some apprehension that if it were not used, Congress might be reluctant to approve funds for the following year. Still, as Regional Director Merriam noted in a memorandum to the Director:

The scientific reasons for including the Sny-Magill group in the original proposal are still valid. It is our thought, and we believe you concur, that this group should be included in the monument eventually. We assume that your office will continue conversations with the Department of the Army and the Fish and Wildlife Service so that the necessary legislation can be prepared at the appropriate time. [49]

After President Truman proclaimed Effigy Mounds National Monument in October 1949, the National Park Service was not willing to ask Congress for a revision of the unit's boundaries for some years, lest it appear it did not know what it was doing when the original boundaries were set. Therefore, the National Park Service did not address the subject for some time. Several months later The next documentary reference to Sny Magill is in a memorandum from Superintendent Joe Kennedy at the monument, reporting to the Region II Director that some Fish and Wildlife Service [50] personnel believed the Sny Magill mound area was already part of the national monument. [51] Perhaps because of this mistaken belief, or perhaps because Fish and Wildlife Service was sure the Park Service would soon take possession of the mound group, National Park Service never had any difficulty in getting permission from other agencies for archeological work at Sny Magill. Regional Archeologist Paul Beaubien did both an archeological survey and some excavating of a few of the mounds there during the summer of 1952. In his April 1953, memorandum transmitting Beaubien's technical report, Acting Regional Director John S. McLaughlin recommended changing the monument boundaries to include the Sny Magill mounds. [52] All the early superintendents advocated including the Sny Magill mounds in the monument, but from 1954 through 1957 Effigy Mounds was operated on a maintenance-only basis. In 1958, however, legislation was submitted to Congress to add the Sny Magill group, as well as some other lands, to the monument. This authorization for changing the boundaries was not approved until mid-1961. In July 1962, the Bureau of Sports Fisheries and Wildlife transferred 69.33 acres to the National Park Service and the Department of the Army transferred 69.11 acres. With this important addition the national monument protected 1467.50 acres. [53]