the Pomona to the north and the Rattlesnake Ferry to the south, cross the area. History Indigenous peoples Native Americans of the Mississippian culture inhabited the area between 850–1500 AD. Archaeologists believe that petroglyphs found at Fountain Bluff were carved sometime between 1000 and 1250 AD. Rock carvings at Fountain Bluff were mentioned as early as the late 19th century, though they did not come to widespread public attention until 1953, when a group of volunteers led by local archaeologist Irvin Peithmann trespassed on private property and cleared a trail to a rock shelter on the north end of Fountain Bluff where over 40 carvings were publicly discovered without the owner's knowledge or permission. It is believed that these carvings are related to ceremonial activities around the time of the spring equinox. Known as Painted Rock, the site has been damaged by Peithmann and vandalism since its discovery; however, most of the petroglyphs remain intact. These petroglyphs are on private property and are not open to the public. Another "solstitial observatory" petroglyph site has been found in Trestle Hollow on the west side of Fountain Bluff. After 1800 The Kaskaskia people lived in the area during the initial period of European settlement. On August 13, 1803 the Kaskaskia officially ceded their traditional lands to the US government and received a reservation at Sand Ridge, about northeast of Fountain Bluff. They lived here until 1832 when the federal government relocated them to reservations in Kansas. In the 1830s, white immigrants (many of German origin) began to settle in the Fountain Bluff area. During the 1870s, Fountain Bluff was considered as a site for a Mississippi River bridge due to the narrowness of the river channel in this area. In 1917 the Illinois Rivers and Lakes Commission proposed the construction of a canal, lock and dam connecting the Mississippi and Big Muddy Rivers at Fountain Bluff, mainly for the purpose of transporting coal from the Southern Illinois coal fields. The project would have cost $1 million ($ in dollars). Fountain Bluff forms a natural barrier to floodwaters of the Mississippi River and is part of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Degognia and Fountain Bluff Levee and Drainage District, which protects about of farmland from flooding. In the early 1900s, Fountain Bluff was a popular recreation area, "the best known and most visited picnic area in southern Illinois." The now defunct Illinois