PUBLIC PARKS OF IOWA 267 



TOURING IN IOWA'S NOOKS AND CORNERS. 

 (Iowa Magazine.) 



Take another look at the cover picture of this issue. Pretty, isn't it? 

 And yet when I showed that picture to several good friends who live in 

 Burlington, they admitted that they had never stood at the foot of that 

 tiny waterfalls, four miles south o> town and watched it glisten and 

 sparkle in the sunshine that filtered through the treetops. 



"Looks like a little mountain valley out west," said one. 



Oh! the magic of that word "west." We lowan's love the beautiful 

 in nature but we have acquired the habit of looking for these things 

 almost anywhere but in Iowa. When we want a little vacation we go to 

 the Rockies, the Sierras, the Adirondacks, the north woods or some 

 other equally distant playground. 



But this is war time so let us take a two-day inexpensive vacation 

 in Iowa. There are many of these two-day trips, and we will take them 

 all before we get through but as a starter we will motor down along 

 the Mississippi from Davenport to Keokuk, in June. 



One of Iowa's best trans-state roads takes us to Muscatine and offers 

 us a hundred fascinating glimpses of the broad Mississippi. Time and 

 again the gentle lapping of the waves almost reaches the roadside and, 

 if the day be warm, the shade of the bordering trees is tempting and re- 

 freshing. The kids may go wading for this is where Muscatine the 

 largest button manufacturing center 'in the world, procures most of its 

 clam shells. If it is your lucky day, you may find a pearl or two, which 

 not only would pay for your vacation, but would leave you enough to buy 

 a good sized Liberty Bond. 



Prairie roses millions of them. "What is more rare than a day in 

 June" sings the poet. There is nothing in nature more fascinating than 

 a day in June in Iowa. 



All along the roadside and pell mell following the fences across the 

 fields are the prairie roses Iowa's state flower. They seem to have 

 absorbed the pink glow of sunrise as they nod restlessly in the varying 

 breezes they beckon us to come on and on, until in the gathering shadows 

 of nightfall their colors 'merge with the golden tints of sunset and they 

 sleep until the morning. 



In no section of these United States is the wild rose more beautiful 

 or more abundant. 



We pass the U. S. Government fish hatchery at Fairport and if our 

 time permits, a. welcome awaits us here. Fish are propogated here for 

 restocking the lakes and rivers of the middle west but if you decide to 

 inspect the hatchery, you must leave your hook, line and sinker outside. 



The road passes through long lanes of oaks and elms and at times 

 skirts the higher hillsides, giving us views of thousands of acres of 

 typical Iowa farms. We may catch a glimpse of the vast tomato fields 

 where the Heinz company grows the "raw material" for one of its 

 famous "57." Possibly you did not know that much of Mr. Heinz's 

 catsup is "made-in-Iowa." Well, it is and this is a bit of free advertis- 

 ing for 'him. 



