PUBLIC PARKS OF IOWA 49 



tremes. There the summit is restricted to a few yards, and the cliffs on 

 each side have a sheer descent of fifty or sixty feet. 



The part of the ridge where the stone walls are most precipitous is 

 not more than 100 feet in height, but upwards of ' another 100 feet are 

 added by a gradual rise to the northern end. There the river turns away 

 and its waters sparkle as they flow onward about two hundred feet be- 

 low the summit. 



From the crest of the ridge the ground decends abruptly on each side, 

 and where the cliffs are perpendicular, or nearly so, they are carved by 

 processes of erosion and secular decay "into picturesque columns, towers, 

 castles, battlements and flying buttresses." (See Iowa Geological Survey, 

 Vol. 8, page 132.) 



The charm of these gray stone cliffs could not be increased by an in- 

 crease in their height. Their scale is sufficiently heroic, and their de- 

 tails sufficiently bold and rugged to readily difference them from all com- 

 mon place scenery. 



The faces of the cliffs are half hidden by trees, clustering foliage and 

 creeping vines that turn to flame with the first nipping frost of the 

 autumn. 



The ridge is crowned with trees. Tall tapering pines, some of the last 

 of their species, there contending for existence with the more hardy 

 elms, oaks and maples. The southern portion of the ridge is broad and 

 comparatively level. This small plateau is covered with many varieties of 

 trees, so clustered and arranged that it would be difficult for art to equal 

 their restful charm. 



The Maquoketa in the vicinity of the "Backbone" is a spring fed 

 stream. It flows over clean washed sand and gravel and its depths af- 

 ford good trout and black bass fishing. 



But best of all are the pure waters which flow from the several springs 

 at the "Backbone." An elderly gentleman in poor health, who resided 

 near Independence was known to earnestly contend that many years had 

 been added to his life by his camping annually in the valley on the west 

 side of the "Backbone," and drinking the water from one of the springs 

 in the vicinity. There may have been some foundation for the elderly 

 gentleman's contention, for that valley is an exceptional place. The fol- 

 lowing is an extract from page 169, Vol. 8, Iowa Geological Survey: 



"In a sort of terrace at the bottom of the valley on the west side of the 

 'Backbone' in section 16, weather-stained beds of the Buchanan stage oc- 

 cur under beds of sand and gravel of more recent origin, the contrast 

 between the older and newer portions of the terrace being very striking. 

 The valley here is older than the Buchanan stage, older than the Kansan." 



It is, however, quite probable that the environment contributed more 

 largely than the water to this invalid's improvement in health. 



There are no marsh lands near the "Backbone." It is surrounded by 

 primeval forests where the thousand voices of nature soothe the senses 

 and help to restore overtaxed nerves. At night he was lulled to sleep by 

 the whisperings of the pine trees, and in the morning he doubtless forgot 

 his cares and infirmities while watching the long high ridge curve its dark 

 green back in the rising sun. 



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