PUBLIC PARKS OF IOWA 65 



sufficient reasons, will at first strike the attention of the inexperienced 

 or thoughtless as of less interest than if the same area of water were in 

 the form of a circular lake and the land were its fringed frame. On sec- 

 ond thought it will be seen that the very attenuated character of the 

 park, with its parallel roadways already in use and well maintained, 

 crossed every few miles by roads from remotest parts, affords a pe- 

 culiarly ready and pleasant access to the longest drives by a larger num- 

 ber of men, women, and children than would be true if the same features 

 were differently disposed. Instead of a center, there is an axis of interest 

 leading to many and widely scattered population groups. 



THE LOWER DES MOINES AREA. 

 By L. H. Pammel, Botanist. 



As a member of this Board, I made an* investigation in Lee, Wapello, 

 Davis and Van Buren Counties for a proposed state park. The writer 

 on previous occasions visited Van Buren County and adjacent counties 

 in pursuit of the study of the native forest trees. A detailed study of 

 these was made more than a year ago, and with Professor McDonald, a 

 paper was prepared on the foiest trees of the region. It occurred to 

 me every time I visited the region that the region between Eldon and 

 Belfast would offer a splendid site for a state park, not only for its scenic 

 beauty, but for the many scientific features of the region. The exposed 

 rock are of a particular interest to the geologist, the effect of the Kansas 

 drift and subsequent erosions into sharp valleys present a splendid illus- 

 tration of the type of topography in the Kansas drift area of Iowa, The 

 region contains a large number of interesting trees, a blending of the 

 trees of the north and the south. The following trees are abundant in 

 the region: 



White, black, shingle, bur, red, chestnut, black Jack, pin and post oak. 

 No single area in Iowa has as many species of oak. There are also 

 some magnificent specimens of sycamore, basswood, American elms, slip- 

 pery-elm, hackberry, hard and soft maple, honey locust, coffee tree, red- 

 bud, haws, wild crab, choke cherry, black cherry, cottonwood, butternut, 

 red mulberry, black walnut, two kinds of shell bark hickory, and on 

 the lower reaches of the Des Moines, some pecan, four ashes, the 

 green, red, white and square stemmed ash. I am safe in saying also that 

 no other region in the state has so many interesting shrubs. I may 

 mention the paw-paw, trumpet creeper, three sumacks, several dogwoods, 

 etc. Many southern herbaceous plants come into Iowa along the Des 

 Moines. The list is a long one and need not be enumerated. I am also 

 safe in saying that the number of species found here is larger over a 

 given area than in any other section of the state. The largest sycamores 

 and hackberries, in the state, occur in this region of Iowa. I saw a 

 hackberry at least three and one-half feet in diameter on the Des Moines 

 below Farmington. I think it was the largest hackberry that I have 

 ever seen. It is surely worth while to keep some of the trees that run 

 in age from one hundred and twenty-five to one hundred and seventy- 

 five years, trees that were good sized when Pike made his memorable 

 trip up the Mississippi. 



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