IOWA STATE PARKS 



Brief Description of Areas in Iowa Which Have Been Ac- 

 quired or Are in Course of Acquisition for 

 Public State Parks. 



BONEYARD HOLLOW AND WOODMAN'S HOLLOW, WEBSTER 



COUNTY. 



About ten miles southeast of Fort Dodge on the west bank of the 

 Des Moines river; wild and beautiful scenery; rare plants and forestry; 

 adapted to summer and winter sports; interesting historic associations 

 and unusual pre-historic works and discoveries. Four hundred and fifty- 

 seven acres purchased for thirty-eight thousand, five hundred dollars, 

 toward which the local citizens paid ten thousand dollars in cash and pro- 

 vided, cost free to the state, two appropriate roadways. 



THE DEVIL'S BACKBONE, DELAWARE COUNTY. 



Twelve miles northwest of Manchester, four miles northeast from La- 

 mont, four miles southeast of Strawberry Point; good roads. Pur- 

 chased .almost entirely from funds derived from half the hunting license 

 proceeds, under Chapter 236, Acts of the Thirty-seventh General Assem- 

 bly, therefore by the State Board of Conservation characterized as "The 

 Gift of the Iowa Sportsmen to the People of the State." First public state 

 park acquired; most wild and wonderful scenic area in interior Iowa; 

 great bend of Maquoketa river; immense spring is a constant supply for 

 fine trout brook; Maquoketa river to and including an ancient mill em- 

 braced ; rare plants and forestry including best typical growth of- native 

 white pines ; grotesque weathering of ancient limestone ; unusual and rare 

 glacial and erosive effects displayed; ideal camping place when facilities 

 are provided. All lands purchased; total area, 1,400 acres. 



NEAR FARMINGTON, VAN BUREN COUNTY. 



One-half mile south of Farmington near Des Moines river, and state 

 roads, unique geology; scenic gem; original timber undisturbed; natural 

 lake and marsh of forty acres proposed to be improved so as to cover 

 sixty acres; perfect for stocking with bullheads and other fish; rare 

 field of lotus or chinquapin; throngs of the cardinal and other birds 

 winter and summer; muskrat and other fur bearers numerous. One hun- 

 dred acres purchased by local citizens for seventy-five hundred dollars and 

 presented cost free to the state which has engaged to purchase two 



