by Janice Gammon | Jun 8, 2015
Summer is here! Let the festivals begin. My first taste of a Lincoln Highway festival was at the Tama-Toledo Lincoln Highway Bridge Park Festival on May 15th. The park is really looking nice with the plantings and the City of Tama having repaved part of the driveway. The festival program included children singing, the Mayor of Tama and other dignitaries speaking, and Abe Lincoln reciting his Gettysburg Address. The highlight of the night was getting a photo op with Abe Lincoln!
This past weekend I learned more about the history of the Meskwaki Nation at an event held in Ames in the North River Valley Park. The Meskwaki settled in Iowa around 1650 and their primary settlements were along the Mississippi River and rivers in Eastern Iowa, but the land they utilized ranged across the state. It was a hands-on event with a chance to grind corn and play with Native American toys and games.
In the 1830’s, under the Indian Removal Act, many Meskwaki were moved to Kansas. Some were able to hide in Iowa and never left and many others kept returning to Iowa from Kansas. Eventually the Meskwaki petitioned the young State of Iowa to allow them to purchase land. The nearby residents were asked their opinions and said it was OK with them. The Meskwaki are the only Indians to have purchased land and are not on a government reservation. Through my initial research, I knew this already. But I didn’t think about how the Amana Colony residents were part of the Iowans who were surveyed. These German people also had communal living and had no problem with the Meskwaki or their type of life. The road from the Meskwaki settlement to the Amana Colonies is now my sister Byway- The Iowa Valley Scenic Byway. (The Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway shares the Tama, Chelsea, and Belle Plaine communities with Iowa Valley.) I now have a greater appreciation for the connection between the Meskwaki, the Iowa River Valley and the Amanas!
Next weekend is the Bell Tower festival in Jefferson, Iowa. I have not been there before, but hope to get to the top of the tower and see the awesome Iowa landscape from a great height.
In my spare time, I have been reading Greg Franzwa’s book, “Alice’s Drive”. The contents of the book are a republishing of Alice Ramsey’s “Veil, Duster, and Tire Iron”, annotations, and Franzwa’s “Chasing Alice”. Alice was the first WOMAN to drive a car the entire route of the Lincoln Highway. She started her journey on June 9, 1909 in New York and took along her husband’s two sisters (Nettie and Margaret) and a “younger unattached friend” (Hermine). On August 7th, they made it to San Francisco. The car of choice was a Maxwell- a gift to Alice from her husband. The advance agent, the automobile editor of the Boston Herald, traveled by train and met them at certain locations to help get axles and other parts to the women as many repairs were required during the journey.
It interesting what they took with them. They replaced the 14 gallon fuel tank with a 20 gallon, brought 2 extra tires, spare tubes and a tire kit, had much needed tire chains for traction in mud, and supplies including matches to light acetylene lamps for head lights. Each woman was allowed one suitcase. Dresses then were floor length and bulky- not the light weight fabrics we have now. So clothes needed to be functional, not fancy, as not much could fit into one suitcase. Automobiles were not designed to bring luggage along. Most people did not go far enough in a car to require spending the night some where.
One funny story was that Nettie and Maggie brought very fancy luggage, complete with fancy “cutglass holders with sterling silver tops, for toothbrushes and other toilet articles”. The holders were small, but came in handy outside Cedar Rapids when trying to get through mud and the water in the radiator got low. Maggie suggested using the holders and she and Nettie used them as a pail to get water out of the ditches to fill the radiator. It took many trips back and forth to the ditch before they had enough water. They had to stop and do this 3 times before the women reached the next town and could get clean water for the radiator!
That is just one of the stories of early traveling in Iowa. I’ll share more next time. But for now, I better get traveling.
I’ll see you on the Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway!
by Janice Gammon | May 5, 2015
The past two weeks have been a whirlwind of getting to know the Byway. John Mazzello, the Corridor Management Plan project coordinator, and I have been traveling the across the state holding public meetings. The input from individuals and professionals has been stellar! It has been fun getting to know the communities and see what they have to offer to residents and Byway travelers.
Where do I start with the scenery I have seen? The first day of traveling, everything looked all brown and yucky from winter’s cold. Then a good rain happened in the night and the next day it seemed all the buds on trees and bushes had sprung to life. The grass started greening too. For so many past springs, I have worked in an office and not really been able to witness the “Spring has Sprung” phenomenon!
I have seen many wetland restoration projects along the Byway. I especially like the one to the west of Tama near the Otter Creek Marsh and in the Iowa River Corridor Bird Conservation Area. This area is rich in Meskwaki Nation history and their love of this land. It has an interpretive site detailing the Meskwaki story. A mounted binocular allows you to see the birds and wildlife that inhabit the area up close without disturbing them.
Nearby in Toledo is a cow and calf sculpture high on a hillside that honors Norma “Duffy” Lyon, the lady who for years sculpted the Butter Cow at the Iowa State Fair. (Although Toledo is NOT on the Byway- it’s close enough and I just have loved the Butter Cow at the Iowa Sate Fair for years!)
The trip to Clinton was fun because we traveled across a bridge to Illinois and came back across it to see what people’s first impressions would be of Iowa. I liked that Clinton incorporated the “L” in the Lincoln Highway logo with the “L” in their town name. It is such a great river town and has a long lumber industry history. Many historic mansions are still intact from its heyday when Clinton had the most millionaires per capita due to the lumber industry.
In Western Iowa, we learned that Jesse James was rumored to have hid out in the hills recuperating after a shootout. Carroll County has a history of bootlegging operations tied to Al Capone. And Abraham Lincoln once owned land in Iowa. There are so many more stories that came to light during these meetings. I can’t wait for us to compile them and share them in a more formal way!
And every trip needs to include food. We ate at Sister’s Country Kitchen in Logan. My chef salad at lunch was so huge, that I had the rest for supper! I also had a sandwich at the Lincoln Cafe in Belle Plaine that was very tasty. Wished I’d taken a picture of it, but I guess that means I’ll have to go back!
This is just a sampling of our experiences and I can’t wait to add to them. Tourist season and festivals are right around the corner! Let’s go explore the Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway!
by Janice Gammon | Apr 20, 2015
John M. presenting in Grand Junction.
This spring, the Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway’s Corridor Management Planning process moves forward into the Lincoln Highway’s many communities. We are holding a series of public meetings to introduce the Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway, and the concept of a Corridor Management Plan, to residents around the state.
You may recall that a Corridor Management Plan (CMP) is a written document setting out a long-term plan for a byway and its important resources. The Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway’s original CMP was created before the Lincoln Highway was designated as an Iowa Byway, so it no longer reflects needs of Lincoln Highway communities and residents. The new revision of the CMP will reflect the Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway as an active and thriving part of Iowa’s past and present heritage.
Upcoming public meetings are April 22 in Ames, April 23 in Toledo, April 25 in Marion, April 27 in Missouri Valley and Denison, April 28 in Carroll, and May 5 in Nevada. Please visit www.prrcd.org/cmp to find out details about the meeting time and location in your area.
State Center CMP meeting.
Previous meetings have already been held in State Center, Jefferson, Lowden, and Clinton. Local residents, Lincoln Highway Association members, elected officials, business owners, and others came out to share their ideas on the Lincoln Highway’s important assets and their dreams for what the Lincoln Highway could be in the future. Each meeting featured great discussions and we are very appreciative for the time and energy of all attendees. We will be taking all these ideas and developing priorities for the whole byway and for future activities in each community.
As always, to stay informed about the latest CMP activities in your community, sign up for our email list (visit www.prrcd.org/cmp and click the blue “sign up” button), email me at lincolncmp@prrcd.org, or call me at 515-216-4005. Looking forward to seeing you at a community meeting soon!
by Janice Gammon | Apr 17, 2015
The Iowa League of RC&DS received a Conservation Innovation Grant (CIG) and a REAP Conservation Education Grant to create two interpretive panels for each Iowa Byway describing an employed conservation method. “The CIG program is a voluntary program intended to stimulate the development and adoption of innovative conservation approaches and technologies while leveraging Federal investment in environmental enhancement and protection, in conjunction with agricultural production”, according to the program’s website. “CIG enables the Natural Resources Conservation Service to work with other public and private entities to accelerate technology transfer and adoption of promising technologies and approaches to address some of the Nation’s most pressing natural resource concerns.”
Some of the sites that were considered for these interpretive panels along the Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway were bogs, wetlands, prairies, and high tunnel towers. The location needed to be where travelers could pull safely off the road and visibly see the sign. It needed to be on or near a conservation practice site.
The two site selected along the Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway were the Lincoln Prairie Park in Ogden and the West Beaver Creek, outside of Grand Junction, at the Lion’s Tree Park. The sign In Ogden educates the reader about the functions of a prairie and the importance of prairie plant root systems in filtering water. The sign at West Beaver Creek describes the effects buffers have on streams and the natural and man-made drains used to move water across (and under) the rolling landscape.
Both signs were tied to the Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway through the use of the Byway logo, photo of a Lincoln Highway concrete marker at the Lincoln Prairie Park, and a photo of the many generations of bridges located near the Lion’s Tree Park outside of Grand Junction.
Signs will soon be in the fabrication phase and installed mid-to-late summer. The panels will be installed on a weathered steel base with cutouts of prairie grass or wild flowers. This is in keeping with the Interpretive Plan design created by Schmeekle Reserve from Stephens Point, Wi. The company is creating an Interpretive Plan for each byway.
An event will be held at each location after installation and we will unveil the signs. Thanks to Kevin Griggs for writing the text and Jessica Johnson for her design work on the panels.
by Janice Gammon | Mar 31, 2015
The Lincoln Highway Byway is just a part of the Iowa Byway program (www.iowabyways.org). There are eleven in total. Two are National Byways and nine are state Byways. The two National ones are the Loess Hills (along the Missouri River) and the Great River Road (along the Mississippi River). The Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway connects with the two National Byways at Clinton (on the Mississippi River side) and in Missouri Valley to Council Bluffs (on the Missouri River side).
Two other byways connect to the Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway. The Iowa Scenic Valley shares LeGrand, Montour, Tama, Chelsea, and Belle Plaine with the Lincoln. Our road heads back north to Marion and Cedar Rapids and theirs heads south to Marengo and the Amanas.
Western Skies Scenic Byway also connects with the Lincoln in Missouri Valley and they both head north to Logan and Woodbine. The Lincoln keeps going north to Dunlap, but the Western Skies heads east to Harlan , Kimballton, a side trip to Elk Horn, then to Guthrie Center, Panora and south to Stuart.
The other byways are Historic Hills Scenic Byway in southeast Iowa, Glacial Trail Scenic Byway in northwest Iowa, Driftless Area Scenic Byway and River Bluffs Scenic Byway in northeast Iowa, and Delaware Crossing Scenic Byway and Grant Wood Scenic Byway in east central Iowa.
That makes eleven! Did you notice something about the names of the other byways? Yes, they all contain the word scenic. The Lincoln Highway is the only Heritage (historical) Byway. Our main importance is the road itself.
Now that’s not to say there isn’t anything scenic along the Lincoln Highway (there is!). But the Lincoln Highway was created as the first transcontinental road from TImes Square to San Francisco, thus making it a very historic road. Originally the road was marked with red/white/blue signs and a large “L” in the middle. The Department of Transportation has used that same design and added the Iowa Byway logo for the modern signage. Just hop on the route anywhere and follow the signs. Some places you might be on pavement and in other places you might be on gravel for a bit. (Like between Ames and Boone.)
I am learning about the Byway and all there is to do and see. We are currently conducting public meetings in communities along the byway and will create a new corridor management plan. It is really fascinating to meet and work with the people in these communities.
So far, some of my favorite places to see are the Des Moines River Valley between Boone and Ogden, the footprints left in the 1929 pavement in Ogden, the Meskwaki settlement near Tama, the Lincoln Bridge on E 5th St in Tama that has the words “Lincoln Highway” in the concrete side panels, the Reed/Niland Cafe in Colo, and old gas stations in Jefferson.
Travelers need to eat. Recently, I have eaten at the Reed/Niland cafe and explored the interpretive panels inside the cafe, eaten Iowa’s best tenderloin at the Lucky Pig in Ogden, had a King Club at King Tower in Tama, and tried the Lincoln Highway red wine at the Santa Maria Vineyard and Winery in Carroll . The newest edition of Edible Iowa has an article about food along the Lincoln Highway. I am sure I will be taste testing more along the Byway in the coming months.
Iowa’s festivals and fairs will begin in the next few months. Just to name a few I hope to attend are Tama’s Lincoln Bridge Festival, the Bell Tower Festival in Jefferson, and the Meskwaki Pow Wow near Tama. Let’s go explore and celebrate along the Lincoln Highway!
by Janice Gammon | Feb 4, 2015
I live just off the Lincoln Highway Byway and travel on it daily. But how well do I know this important piece of history?
There was this new invention- the automobile- being produced and auto makers really wanted to sell their inventions. They needed roads for traveling and thought it would be pretty neat for cars to travel east and west across the entire nation. The Lincoln Highway began in 1913 as an assortment of existing wagon roads, turnpikes, and trails. The road started in Times Square in New York and ended in San Francisco, California.
The Iowa portion was dictated in part by how to cross two rivers- the Missouri on the west and the Mighty Mississippi on the east. Good bridges were identified in Clinton and Council Bluffs and “good roads” were sought to connect these two points. This often proved to be a challenge, because much of Iowa was boggy, spongy soil and roads often turned to mud. Iowa has many creeks and rivers to cross. But roads did exist as farmers needed to not only get supplies to their farms but their produce to market. These farm to market roads often led to railroad stations.
The original national plan for the Lincoln Highway was to create a “seedling” mile in each state. A mile stretch would be paved to show citizens and travelers how traveling could be improved with paved roads. Iowa’s “seedling” mile is just east of Cedar Rapids. Greene County also applied for federal aid to pave 6 1/2 miles extending equal distances from the county seat of Jefferson. These were the only paved portions in Iowa until 1924. As neighboring roads were improved, the alignment (route) changed. Maybe a mile or two north or south was in better shape or a better bridge was built. In 1920, a red, white, and blue band was painted on poles, fence posts, and rocks to show the traveler which way to go. On September 1, 1928, Boy Scout troops installed 3,000 concrete markers with bronze medallions at planned locations about one mile apart. Many of these markers no longer exist due to road construction, theft, and vandalism.
As Lincoln Highway travelers increased, many gas stations, eateries, and motels sprung up. It winds through many Main Streets. In a display I saw a long time ago, The Lincoln Highway was attributed to the birth of the family vacation.
Today, The Lincoln Highway today travels through 13 states. In Iowa, it travels through 13 counties. It crisscrosses Highway 30- the “new” road that mirrors the Lincoln Highway for the most part, but Highway 30 avoids many of the main streets that the Lincoln Highway connected. It is used for those interested in efficient travel time. I do use this road too. But for the most part, I like my “old” road, It has been designated a State of Iowa Byway- The Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway- and has great things happening across the state. I hope to share more about this great road in the future and as you travel it- look for the red, white, and blue signs with the big “L” on the white background. Travel it. Enjoy it. Be a part of history!
