Medicine Mounds fueled centuries of speculation

Medicine Mounds, a geologic formation south of U.S. 287 near Chillicothe, have fueled centuries of speculation as to their origin and the source of their name.

No, they are not extinct volcanoes, although their conic shape does call them to mind. They are dolomite hills that represent masses of harder rock left when erosion claimed surrounding soil.

Legend has it that the hills provided herbs and medicinal plants favored by the Native Americans, leading to their name, although modern visitors claim the hills are distinctly lacking in anything they would call herbs.

The four Medicine Mounds once had a namesake town, complete with doctors, dry goods stores, barber shops, grocery stores and churches that sprang up in 1907 as railroad construction boomed. Most of the town was destroyed by fire in 1933 or 1934, although its school survived until 1954, when it faded into dust as part of a wave of consolidation.

Even with little in the way of population, Medicine Mound - the town - continued to proclaim its existence with events like an annual Medicine Mound Chili Cookoff, although by 1980, the popular culinary competition had been renamed the Chillicothe Chili Cookoff at Medicine Mound.

Today, Medicine Mounds are surrounded by private farms where some evidence of the town and its Indian inhabitants can still be found by those who receive permission to climb the hillsides.