270 PUBLIC PARKS OF IOWA 



sought refuge on the higher hills. The old road that bordered the 

 river was inundated. 



We will follow this good road into Keokuk, register at the Hotel Iowa 

 one of the best hostelries in the state and call this the end of two real 

 days of war-time vacation Iowa Magazine, June, -1918. 



SOME GEOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF CONSERVATION. 

 By James H. Lees, Geologist. 



Iowa is usually considered as primarily a prairie state, one whose chief 

 aesthetic attraction lies in the satisfaction that accompanies the outlook 

 over wide-spreading grain field or level plain stretching away beyond 

 the farthest ken. In a general way this is true and it is the fundamental 

 factor in Iowa's agricultural supremacy. But it is equally true that within 

 the limits of the state there are many spots and localities which for 

 unique interest or quiet beauty or stately grandeur can scarcely be ex- 

 celled within the Mississippi valley. Since these are essentially geologic 

 phenomena it is my purpose to discuss a few of them from the stand- 

 point of the geologist. 



Unquestionably the most attractive region in this state is "The Swit- 

 zerland of Iowa," so named by the late Professor Calvin, formerly state 

 geologist of Iowa, because its picturesque hills and deep cut valleys with 

 their winding streams make of it a land comparable with the "Playground 

 of Europe." No one can traverse this region or view its bold front from 

 the surface of the great river which flows along its eastern margin with- 

 out being impressed first of all with its ever varying charm and then 

 if he will but pause and consider with the marvelous history which has 

 made possible such a beauty spot in the midst of the boundless plains 

 of the Mississippi valley. 



The Switzerland of Iowa includes Allamakee county and portions of 

 Winneshiek, Clayton, Fayette, Dubuque and Delaware counties, while 

 similar phenomena, though on a diminishing scale, may be found to the 

 south along the Mississippi and its tributaries. Geologically, it is the 

 oldest part of Iowa, if we make exception of a very small area in the 

 northwestern corner of the state, where the rock is older, though the final 

 emergency from the sea may have been much more recent. Therefore, 

 the series of events which is recorded in the rocks exposed in this region 

 is longer and more varied than that comprised in any other area of 

 similar size in the state. It extends from the deposition of the later Cam- 

 brian sandstones through the varying conditions of the Ordovician, the 

 Silurian and the Devonian periods with their alternating limestones, 

 sandstones and shales which bespeak changing relations of sea and land, 

 or possibly arid climate, as is thought by some to be represented by the 

 St. Peter sandstone. But what has given to this region its rugged charm 

 is the erosion which has been ceaselessly at work for ages carving deep 

 valleys into the once level plains, sculpturing the massive rocks into bold 

 cliffs and battlemented towers, slowly, unobtrusively, irresistibly wearing 



