100 PUBLIC PARKS OF IOWA 



wild flowers including besides those above mentioned many milkweeds 

 and thistles, wild columbine, meadow rue, wood and Turk cap lilies, 

 spiderwort and others. The timber varies more in size but includes 

 practically the same species. 



The abundance of timber and natural bushes makes both of these 

 sites favorite haunts for many of our summer birds, while the water 

 attracts the King Fisher, an occasional woodduck and others not com- 

 monly found. 



Walnut Grove on the north shore of Clear Lake is a beauty spot note- 

 worthy and deserving of attention because of the trees which give it 

 its name. The grove itself comprises about ten acres, is accessible to 

 the lake and surrounded by a country of surpassing pdcturesqueness. It 

 is well wooded with a second growth of walnut trees, some oaks and 

 other varieties, and has the advantage of lying near the corporation line 

 with an adjoining golf course. But it is the walnut trees and their 

 preservation that appeals to the conversationist and it is in them that 

 the desirability of this tract of land lies. 



Situated on the south shore of the crystal waters of Clear Lake, is a 

 spot that thrills the spectator with its natural beauty. It is known as 

 the Oakwood Park Hotel grounds and is a point that juts into the lake 

 giving a view that includes nearly the entire shore line. To the left is 

 the beautiful island with its high banks and wooded slopes; directly 

 in front, on the north shore, is the town of Clear Lake, with its hotels 

 and summer cottages on the water's edge, while to the right, the view 

 includes a broad expanse of sparkling water with the entire heavily 

 wooded east shore. To the lovers of nature it presents a picture never 

 to be forgotten. 



The bank varying in height from ten to twenty feet, slopes to the 

 water's edge, and is covered with native vines, sumac, bittersweet, and 

 small shrubs, and in season is bright with wild honeysuckles and sweet 

 Williams. In the foreground is a picturesque thorn apple of great beauty, 

 while all about are stately trees. The elm predominates, but linden, 

 ash, oak and hackberry are all represented. This tract comprises about 

 700 feet of lake shore and with the adjoining unplatted ground contains 

 several acres. 



The largest tract of undeveloped timber bordering on the lake, is the 

 Parker property on the southwest shore. It contains about thirty acres 

 with about eighty rods of water front. All this is heavily wooded and 

 much as nature made it. The trees are large and very plentiful, includ- 

 ing nearly every variety native to this latitude. Elm, oak and linden 

 are the most numerous, though ash, butternut and black walnut, cherry 

 and hackberry are very common. Wild flowers of all kinds are abund- 

 ant, and the woods resound with the songs of native birds. This 'is one 

 tract of lake shore of surpassing beauty that has escaped so far the 

 commercialism that many of our tracts of lake shore have met. with 

 and would make a park with an abundance of shore line, clothed in the 

 beauty with which nature endowed it. 



