Dolliver Memorial State Park

Dolliver Memorial State Park
Iowa State Park
Dolliver Memorial State Park's South Lodge
Named for: Jonathan P. Dolliver

Country	United States
State	Iowa
County	Webster

Location	Lehigh
- elevation	1,005 ft (306 m)
- coordinates	42°23′13″N 94°5′1″W / 42.38694°N 94.08361°W / 42.38694; -94.08361Coordinates: 42°23′13″N 94°5′1″W / 42.38694°N 94.08361°W / 42.38694; -94.08361

Area	594 acres (240 ha) ^[1]

Founded	1925
Management	Iowa Department of Natural Resources

Location of Dolliver Memorial State Park in Iowa

Dolliver Memorial State Park is a state park of Iowa, US, featuring high bluffs and deep ravines on the Des Moines River. The park is located 10 miles (16 km) south of Fort Dodge and 3 miles (4.8 km) northwest of Lehigh.^[2] The park contains two listings on the National Register of Historic Places: Dolliver Memorial State Park, Entrance Area (Area A) and Dolliver Memorial State Park, Picnic, Hiking & Maintenance Area (Area B).

Geography

Dolliver Memorial State Park is on the west bank of the Des Moines River at the mouth of a small tributary called Prairie Creek. The creek has eroded through a 100-foot (30 m) high bluff, exposing a cross section of sandstone deposited by a Mesozoic river. Known as the Copperas Beds, these formations exhibit petrified wood and mineral deposits of calcite and sulfur left from water filtering through the rock.^[2]

History

At the north end of the park is a narrow ravine named Boneyard Hollow. Early settlers found numerous bones of bison littering the ravine. It is thought that prehistoric Native Americans either stampeded bison into the ravine from a buffalo jump or herded them into the confined space from the riverbank, where they killed and butchered the animals. There are also several Indian mounds within the park.^[2]

In 1915 eleven-year-old Ruth Peterson discovered a lead tablet at the mouth of the creek outside Boneyard Hollow. The Latin inscription stated that the tablet had been left by explorers claiming the area for France in 1750, and mentioned Father Louis Hennepin by name. With the potential to rewrite European exploration of Iowa, the "Hennepin Plate" attracted a great deal of attention. Edgar Harlan, curator of the Iowa state archives, led an investigation. However the poor Latin and the fact that Hennepin had died in 1706 cast doubt on the tablet's authenticity. Ultimately two local boys admitted to making the tablet as a prank in 1913.^[3] As a result of the hoax, though, Harlan had become interested in the scenic area and helped spark public interest in preserving it as a state park. The property was purchased for $38,500 and dedicated in 1925 as Iowa's third state park, after Backbone and Ledges.^[4] Ruth Peterson died in 2004 at the age of 100, and in 2007 her son and other relatives donated the tablet to the Webster County Historical Society.^[3]

Facilities

The campground features 33 sites, all with electrical hookups, plus 2 camper cabins, modern restrooms, showers, and a holding tank dump station. There is a separate group camp with a dining hall, restrooms, and showers. Two lodges built in the 1930s and an open picnic shelter can be rented for private events.^[2]

Recreation

The park provides a boat ramp for river access. An interpretive trail follows Prairie Creek to the Copperas Beds and then leads up to the wooded blufftops.^[2]

References

↑ Iowa Department of Natural Resources. "Dolliver Memorial State Park" (PDF). Iowa Department of Natural Resources. Retrieved January 28, 2011.
1 2 3 4 5 Iowa Department of Natural Resources. "Dolliver Memorial State Park". Iowa Department of Natural Resources. Retrieved January 28, 2011.
1 2 Helling, Jesse (9 October 2007). "‘Hennepin Plate’ returns to Webster Co.". The Messenger (Fort Dodge, Iowa).
↑ Anderson, Raymond R.; Fields, Chad L. (29 September 2007). The Natural History of Dolliver Memorial State Park, Webster County, Iowa (PDF). Geological Society of Iowa.

External links

Dolliver Memorial State Park

Protected areas of Iowa

Federal

National Monument	Effigy Mounds

National Historic Site	Herbert Hoover

National Wildlife Refuges	DeSoto Driftless Area Neal Smith Northern Tallgrass Prairie Port Louisa Union Slough Upper Mississippi River

State

State Parks	Ambrose A. Call Backbone Badger Creek Banner Lakes at Summerset Beed's Lake Bellevue Big Creek Black Hawk Brushy Creek Cedar Rock Clear Lake Dolliver Memorial Elk Rock Elinor Bedell Emerson Bay Fairport Fort Defiance Geode George Wyth Memorial Green Valley Gull Point Honey Creek Lacey-Keosauqua Lake Ahquabi Lake Anita Lake Darling Lake Keomah Lake MacBride Lake Manawa Lake of Three Fires Lake Wapello Ledges Lewis and Clark Maquoketa Caves Marble Beach McIntosh Woods Mines of Spain & E.B. Lyons Mini-Wakan Nine Eagles Okamanpedan Palisades-Kepler Pikes Peak Pikes Point Pilot Knob Pine Lake Pleasant Creek Prairie Rose Preparation Canyon Red Haw Rice Lake Rock Creek Springbrook Stone Templar Trapper's Bay Twin Lakes Union Grove Viking Lake Volga River Walnut Woods Wapsipinicon Waubonsie Wildcat Den Wilson Island

State Forests	Backbone Barkley Gifford Holst Loess Hills Pilot Mound Shimek Stephens White Pine Hollow Yellow River

State Preserves	A.F. Miller Ames High Prairie Anderson Prairie Behrens Pond and Woodlands Berry Woods Bird Hill Bixby Bluffton Fir Stand Brush Creek Canyon Brushy Creek Cameron Woods Casey's Paha Catfish Creek Cayler Prairie Cedar Bluffs Cedar Hills Sand Prairie Cheever Lake Clay Prairie Claybanks Forest Cold Water Spring Crossman Prairie Decorah Ice Cave Dinesen Prairie Doolittle Prairie Fallen Rock Fish Farm Mounds Five Ridge Prairie Fleming Woods Fort Atkinson Freda Haffner Kettlehole Gitchie Manitou Hanging Bog Hardin City Woodland Hartley Fort Hayden Prairie Hoffman Prairie Indian Bluffs Primitive Area Indian Fish Trap Iowa's State Preserves System Kalsow Kish-Ke-Kosh Prairie Lamson Woods Liska-Stanek Prairie Little Maquoketa Malanaphy Springs Malchow Mounds Manikowski Prairie Mann Wilderness Area Marietta Sand Prairie Mericle Woods Merrill A. Stainbrook Merritt Forest Montauk Mossy Glen Mount Pisgah Cemetery Mount Talbot Nestor Stiles Prairie Ocheyedan Mound Old State Quarry Palisades-Downs Pecan Grove Pellett Woods Pilot Grove Pilot Knob Retz Woods Roberts Creek Rock Creek Island Rock Island Roggman Boreal Slopes Rolling Thunder Prairie Saint James Lutheran Church Savage Woods Searryl's Cave Sheeder Prairie Silver Lake Fen Silvers-Smith Woods Slinde Mounds Starr's Cave Steele Prairie Stinson Prairie Strasser Woods Sylvan Runkel Toolesboro Mounds Turin Loess Hills Turkey River Mounds White Pine Hollow Williams Prairie Wittrock Indian Village Woodland Mounds Woodman Hollow Woodthrush

County

State Parks (Leased)	Bobwhite Cold Springs Crystal Lake Eagle Lake Echo Valley Frank A. Gotch Heery Woods Lake Cornelia Lake Icaria Kearny Margo Frankel Mill Creek Oak Grove Oakland Mills Pammel Sharon Bluffs Spring Lake Swan Lake Three Mile Lake

Iowa Department of Natural Resources

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