86 PUBLIC PARKS OF IOWA 



But that which attracts the nature lover most is the abundance of 

 ferns. Large and . thrifty, they raise their airy fronds in the coolness and 

 darkness, nodding and beckoning, living their simple sweet life all alone, 

 only for the occasional passerby, and like the sweet wood violet, modest 

 and unassuming. 



The dainty little maiden hair fern clinging to the rock or dropping 

 from some overhanging cliff, where it finds footing, is hailed with delight 

 by the fern lover. 



In the spring the little daisies, trillium, dutchman's breeches and wood 

 violets, the sweet spring beauties and jack-in-the-pulpits grow round 

 about where the sun reaches them, while below, in the fall the golden- 

 rod and other autumn flowers make the hillside bright, while the many 

 colored leaves, loosened from the trees by the fall breezes, sift down 

 into the cavern, and make the rock floor bright, and soft, and comfortable. 



As the foliage becomes thinner, the sun glints down thru the openings, 

 as tho he would warm, by his bright rays, the rocks, and earth, and tree 

 roots. 



The moss, which is also luxuriant, tries to cover any unsightly places 

 that nature has seemingly left, unfinished. 



In the winter the snow covered rocks and trees stand out as sentinels, 

 to guard the delicate ferns and flowers asleep below. 



Woodman's Hollow is not rocky its entire length. At its beginning we 

 see rocks on either side and on the bottom. 



The opening is very narrow, so sightseers must travel single file. It 

 gradually widens as it nears the river, until it measures about two hun- 

 dred feet across its mouth. Here we find a beautiful island, on which is 

 a large rock, which, because of its shape, is called Steamboat Rock. 



As the Hollow broadens into a valley about ten or twelve rods from its 

 source, the green grass and vegetation are quite rank, but there are no 

 rocks. 



Not far below Steamboat Rock is another beauty spot, called Boneyard 

 Hollow, because of the bones found in the excavations of the mounds 

 found there. But that is another story. 



About fifteen years ago Woodman's Hollow was famous for picnic 

 parties, botanists, and all sorts of nature lovers. Names innumerable are 

 carved on its walls of stone. There are picnic parties to some extent 

 now, but of late it has been allowed to grow up to weeds, and great trees 

 are blown down, lodging across the stream. But the beauties of nature 

 are still there. 



The many rains, and the water from the river, which rises every spring, 

 have washed the roots of the trees, down by the river, and they stand out, 

 all naked and bare, while their great trunks rise above them, waving their 

 long branches, inviting to the cool shade on the river bank. 



After resting, and enjoying a drink from the spring on the island, the 

 traveler starts up, and up, and up, past the little meadow valley, into the 

 coolness of the forest, between the rugged rock walls, over the bogs and 

 moss covered rocks, crawling between and under the low hanging rocks, 

 up, and up, and up to the little spring at the source, then out into the open 

 prairie, the green grass and bright sunshine. 



