SW Rides VIII

So far I have given the reader a taste of what Gibson Park has to offer. There is more, much more! It’s a rich area with lots of wildlife. This area was flooded when the Illinois lobe of the Wisconsin Glacier pushed across the Mississippi from about where Clinton is now down to near Ft. Madison.

A large lake formed and it drained right over the top of this area and then southeast near where Salem, Iowa, is now, to the bed of the Mississippi River. Some say that lasted as many as a hundred thousand years. Others say maybe only about ten thousand years. Either way it was about twelve thousand years ago and it lasted a long time by human measures.

A lot of water for a long time meant many things were picked up and then buried some place along the way. Dad knew about this so when the Big Cedar was re-channeled here he walked up and down the banks looking for anything interesting. Just below the bridge on the west side is where he found the single vertebra of a mammoth elephant. We found several other smaller bones and tusk splinters in that general area.

In time the bank was covered with eroded dirt from above and became overgrown. One family who lived nearby did find several bones and mammoth teeth right in that area, too. Dad and I, eventually, had to settle for looking at the riffle down stream from the bridge if the water was low enough and hoped we might find something that washed out of the bank.

We turn around at the bridge and go back to the dirt road that leads to the place where bugs walk on water. The road is called Clayton Avenue and we are careful not to go that way if we have had a lot of rain recently. It quickly becomes impassable and isn’t maintained by the county.

Down the road a quarter of a mile is an old bridge that crosses the little stream where the bugs walk on water. If the conditions are right we might get out and look for fossils. Other times we keep on going. In a short time the road turns left and starts a slow right turn climb up the hill. It’s steep and rocky. Sometimes we have to stop and get out to move a rock or tree limb out of the way.

On top of sand hill we come to a spot that is special to me. This is the place where I found my first whole arrowhead. I have written about that in another piece. The soil is very sandy here and my piece is really the only good one we have found here. Some of Dad’s friends, though, have told us they had success here.

We move on down the road and around the corner to Kirk’s pond. We have fished it a few times with success, although once Dad caught a big snake on his fishing line here. We didn’t fish there much after that. Kirk’s pond was a place of legends when I was in high school. There were all sorts of stories of beer drinking and skinny dipping parties there. I don’t know if the stories were true and never attended one myself.