72 PUBLIC PARKS OF IOWA 



of solid sandstone, from fifty to a hundred feet high. This sandstone 

 rests on softer shaly beds, into which the creek has cut its valley. The 

 sandstone has been partly undermined by the stream, furthermore it 

 is cut by vertical joints; and for these causes blocks of the rock break 

 off and fall down, forming a talus below. Near the north end of the 

 escarpment some large blocks of the whole formation of the sandstone 

 have begun to creep out and down on the underlying shale and have 

 left a deep fissure ten feet wide between the detached and face of the 

 main ledge. This fissure is known as Devil's Lane. A remnant of an- 

 other block lies still farther out, having advanced farther down toward 

 the creek. This must have been detached first from the parent ledge. 

 A third block Is just in the process of being detached and is ready to 

 join the procession in the rear. On the surface of the ground above, 

 there -are three sunken pits in a row of the forming crevice. This is 

 open below at the south end, and is known as the Niche. North of the 

 lane there is a recess in the wall which has been called the Bake Oven. 

 Some distance to the north of this, close up to the brink of the wall, 

 another small recess in the sandstone has been formed. This received 

 the name of the Wild Cat Den from the nimrods among the early settlers 

 in that region. The beautiful scenery along this mural escarpment is 

 enhanced by some native pines that rise in somber grandeur from the 

 brink of the wall. During the warm season it attracts from the cities 

 and from the surrounding country, many visitors, who find comfort in 

 the cool shade of the bluff and enjoy refreshing drinks from, the Chaly- 

 beate springs that issue from under the base of the sandstone. Some 

 years ago a cast of the curving, tapering radical end of a calamites tree 

 was found in one of the blocks of the talus below this cliff. 



Northward from, the river the Des Moines rapidly thins out. Near 

 the east line of the county it is last seen in the south half of section 1 

 in Montpelier township. Along the east branch of Pine creek it disap- 

 pears in the northern portions of sections 3 and 4. Near the center of 

 the south line of the latter section there are about thirty feet of sand- 

 stone, mostly disintegrated to an incoherent sand, with here and there 

 some hard, thin, ferruginous layers. Geological Survey, Vol. IX, pp. 

 310-11. 



REPORT ON WILD CAT DEN. 

 By L. H. Pammel, Botanist. 



The Wild Cat Den in Muscatine county is situated on Pine creek, some 

 two and one-half miles from the U. S. Biological Station at Fairport, ten 

 miles from Muscatine and fifteen miles from Davenport, also about seven 

 miles from Pleasant Prairie Station on the Clinton, Davenport and Mus- 

 catine Railroad. It is easily accessible to about 150,000 people. It is 

 within half a mile of the New Era Comimunity Center, which is main- 

 tained in part by Miss Clara L. and Miss Emma C. Brandt. 



Wild Cat Den or. Wild Cat Glen is well known to the people of the 

 region and its fame as a region containing rare and interesting plants 



