CAHOKIA INTERPRETIVE CENTER AREA

It seemed like a special day for observing Nature, maybe because the sky was overcast and the temperature cooler than average for this time of year. I thought of a quotation I'd read on my recent drive across the country, at the Kansas Visitor's Center on Highway 70, words attributed to Chief Luther Standing Bear of the Oglala Sioux: "We did not think of the great open plains, the beautiful rolling hills, and winding streams with tangled growth, as "wild." Only to the white man was nature a "wilderness" and only to him was the land "infested" with "wild" animals and "savage" people. To us it was tame. Earth was bountiful and we were surrounded with the blessings of the Great Mystery..."

a patch of "virgin prairie" is being developed

winged figure on a center wall

thick woods near the interpretive center

a lovely little wildflower in the field