PUBLIC PARKS OF IOWA ^Oj. 



SOURCE OF WATER SUPPLY OF CLEAR LAKJE. ^ / ^/ i>,\\ 

 By Samuel Calvin, Geologist. 



No surface streams flow into Clear Lake. Union and Clear Lake 

 townships are practically destitute of developed drainage courses. The 

 storm waters flow from the halls to the lower levels, but here they move 

 sluggishly along the bottoms of broad grassy swales or through sedgy 

 marshes and, before being gathered into definite streams, are largely 

 lost, partly by evaporation and partly by percolation into underground 

 channels. The popular belief among the local inhabitants that Clear 

 Lake, which receives no surface streams, must be fed by springs, is 

 doubtless true, for it would be reasonable to suppose that some of the 

 water that sinks into the ground in the hilly regions north and south 

 of the lake, would find its way along the horizons of sand and gravel 

 into the lake bed. The undrained, saucer-shaped marshes or kettle holes 

 characteristic of the morainic area were noted under the head of 

 topography, and it was also noted that the basin of Clear Lake is only 

 a large kettle hole, or depression in the drift materials of the moraine, 

 and is not necessarily connected with any special configuration of the 

 underlying indurated rocks. Iowa Geological Survey, Annual Report, 

 1896, Vol. VII, p. 142. 



CLEAR LAKE, AN IOWA PLAYGROUND. 

 By G. M. Netzer. 



To have lake breezes blow fresh and full across one's face; to drink 

 in the tonic of invigorating lake air; to see the sky other than through 

 a smoke film; to see the moon in its greatest glory and the sunsets 

 painted in multi-color; and to live real close to nature all these await 

 the visitor who makes Clear Lake, Iowa, his home for a summer season. 



It is natural, then, that men and women, and particularly the men 

 and women of Iowa, should go to Clear Lake to enjoy that sort of a va- 

 cation, which leaves them refreshed and rested in mind and body. 



The resort never has to point twice to the same endowment or to 

 play twice its themes of enjoyment. It has given vacation a new mean- 

 ing and recreation a wider range. This is pleasing to the visitor and of 

 immense satisfaction to the hospitable peo-ple of Clear Lake, who bid 

 them welcome. Clear Lake feels secure in its prestige, yet eager to 

 induce others to make the discovery for themselves. Pages might be 

 written, piling statistics of this latent power to please, yet that would 

 not suffice to give one in need of an outing the true conception of this 

 charm, so seldom found among playgrounds for grownups. 



Imagine, to begin with, a great fertile area of agricultural Iowa, 

 teeming with its fruitage of corn, kindred grains and its stock, tilled and 

 kept by a husbandry alive to every modern means of comfort and thrift. 

 Let imagination lead you through these fields traced by trunk lines of 

 the chief railroads of the middle west, which contribute their service to 



