602 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



ONE OF IOWA'S BEAUTY SPOTS. 



Euqene Secor, Forest City. 



When the Almighty smoothed these prairies and laid the foundations 

 for Iowa's present fertility and prosperity, it was wisely planned that a 

 dead level of uniformity should not weary the eyes of generations des- 

 tined to inhabit them. 



He ground the primal rocks in the mills of the glaciers for the use of 

 man. He shoved a generous product ahead of his giant ice plows and dis- 

 turbed the material over wide areas, but beauty as well as utility was the 

 result of his handiwork. 



He made enough extra material to form the slight eminences which 

 were left here and htere over the prairies to relieve the montony by 

 glimpses of unexpected scenery. 



Rivers have cut their sinuous courses through the pulverized drift 

 of former geologic times and bluffs of rare beauty and interest are ex- 

 posed to view. 



Thus it is that go where you will in Iowa, the scenery is unlike any 

 other place you can recall. All of it useful, all of it available for agri- 

 culture, for grazing or for tree-growing, yet the ever changing landscape 

 is always interesting, always restful. 



But there are a few spots in Iowa which appeal to the artist. They 

 stand out in bold relief — prominent, beautiful, grand. One of these I will 

 try to describe. It differs from any thing else in the state, or in this 

 country, so far as I know. It is Pilot Knob, located about five miles east of 

 Forest City. It is one of the highest points of land in Iowa, its elevation 

 being fifteen hundred feet. It is supposed to be morainic in character, 

 being near the eastern edge of the last glacial drift in Iowa, called the 

 Wisconsin. Appearances indicate that one lobe of the vast ice-sheet 

 melted near the southeastern corner of Winnebago county and left its 

 debris of clay hills just as they were when moving ahead of the southbound 

 ice-scrapers of prehistoric times. Numerous clay hills of varying heights, 

 generally covered with timber and interspersed with small ponds, are 

 clustered about the "Knob" as if waiting on that queen of beauty and su- 

 premacy. It might be styled the park region of north central Iowa. 



In travelling toward that prominent elevation, one finds many sur- 

 prises. Now up a smart declivity lined on either side by over-hanging 

 branches of scarlet and bur-oak, wild cherry, linden and popular, with an 

 undergrowth of sumac, prunus pennsylvanica, hazel, wild blackberry, west- 

 ern dogwood, spiraea, New Jersey tea and all the minor beauties that 

 nestle among the sheltering growth of the northern woodland, and as one 

 looks back toward the "Hill City" he left a few moments before, so plainly 

 visible is the town and so entrancing the sight one feels sure he will see 

 nothing further or more interesting. 



But suddenly he finds himself at the top of a hill with new vistas 

 opening before him, other hills still higher with a lovely valley between. 



