The Saylorville Lake Flood Control Project, from Cold War to Environmentalism: How Iowans Acted Locally and Reflected Nationally

Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Graduate Theses and Dissertations Dissertations

2021

The Saylorville Lake Flood Control Project, from Cold War to environmentalism: How Iowans acted locally and reflected nationally

Elizabeth Thalacker Iowa State University

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Recommended Citation Thalacker, Elizabeth, "The Saylorville Lake Flood Control Project, from Cold War to environmentalism: How Iowans acted locally and reflected nationally" (2021). Graduate Theses and Dissertations. 18625. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/etd/18625

This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Dissertations at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Saylorville Lake Flood Control Project, from Cold War to environmentalism: How Iowans acted locally and reflected nationally

Elizabeth M. Thalacker

A thesis submitted to the graduate faculty

in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

MASTER OF ARTS

Major: History

Program of Study Committee: Julie Courtwright, Major Professor Kathleen Hillard Margaret LaWare

The student author, whose presentation of the scholarship herein was approved by the program of study committee, is solely responsible for the content of this thesis. The Graduate College will ensure this thesis is globally accessible and will not permit alterations after a degree is conferred.

Iowa State University

Ames, Iowa

2021

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...... iii

ABSTRACT ...... iv

CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ...... 1

. TAKING LAND THROUGH EMINENT DOMAIN ...... 21

. THE POLK CITY PROBLEM ...... 39

. NEW LAWS BENEFIT LEDGES STATE PARK ...... 54

. CONCLUSION ...... 82

BIBLIOGRAPHY ...... 90

iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thank-you to my committee chair, Dr. Courtwright, and my committee members, Dr.

Hilliard, and Dr. LaWare, for their guidance and support throughout the course of this research.

A special thanks to Dr. Courtwright for spurring me into action, untangling my chaotic first draft, and helping me to produce a project that I am truly proud of.

In addition, thank-you Mickey Belding for suggesting the Cold War angle after reviewing my first paper on Saylorville and telling me that if I didn’t write that story he would. Thank-you to the graduate students in my seminars that treated me as an equal when I felt out of place.

Thanks to Dr. McDonnell for a simple moment of praise that bolstered my confidence. I also offer my appreciation to all the professors who shared their passion for history with me. My graduate school experience at Iowa State University was wonderful and I miss it already.

Lastly, none of this would have been possible without the support and encouragement of my family. Thank-you to my husband Dr. David Thalacker for his immeasurable support, and my kids, Jack, Luke, Hank, Kate, and Addy, for believing I would complete this goal, even when

I didn’t. I want to acknowledge that my boys have amazing partners that supported them when I was occupied with research and writing. Thank-you Merritt, Sydney, and Ev for being there.

Thanks to my friend Stephanie for acting as interested in the history of Saylorville as me. I have been dragging everyone to lake for several years now with offers of coffee, ice cream, and car picnics. We have watched sunsets, done Instagram photo shoots, walked on the beach, viewed eagles, watched racoons dig in trash cans, spotted deer, measured high water, treasure hunted at low water, star gazed, listened to crashing waves, waited for the ice to break, and laid in the sun.

You are all part of this project and I appreciate your unwavering faith in me. iv

ABSTRACT

Meltwater from a receding glacier created the Des Moines River in central Iowa 12,000-

14,000 years ago. Over the ensuing centuries the river overflowed its banks, flooding the plains then receding, meandering across the landscape. During the first century of statehood Iowa river towns experienced loss of life and property damage from repeated flooding. Federal officials determined that a dam was needed on the Des Moines River. The United States Army Corps of

Engineers (USACE) began construction in 1965 and completed the project in 1977. Although the

USACE carefully planned and evaluated every aspect of the project, significant obstacles arose, and community opposition highlighted the plan’s shortcomings. Nevertheless, the project went forward at least in part because ordinary Iowans believed they could not effectively fight the government. During the first phases of the plan local citizens with Cold War concerns yielded to federal officials and their use of eminent domain regulations. As the project neared completion in the 1970s, the treasured Ledges State Park faced the threat of sustained flooding due to the future

Saylorville Dam. While the federally staffed Corps of Engineers led the earth moving project, the federal government also enacted environmental protection laws that activists used to force negotiations and alter the parameters of the original master plan. Environmental activists in Iowa used provisions from the legislation that required the USACE to complete an Environmental

Impact Statement about the Saylorville Reservoir project. The time required to draft the statement paused construction and afforded activists more time to negotiate with officials about issues of concern. From Cold War convictions to expressions of environmentalism, the people of

Iowa moved through the decades of the mid-twentieth century, both reacting to local pressures and reflecting national concerns.

CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION

My family’s roots run deep in eastern Iowa along the Mississippi, but in 1972 my dad got a job in Des Moines and we moved to central Iowa, leaving the mighty river behind. My parents purchased a newly constructed ranch style house in Ankeny. During that first year construction crews outnumbered residents in our part of town and concrete basements multiplied seemingly overnight along the recently paved streets. Acres of freshly scraped earth surrounded our house and stark straight lines of new sod defined front yards while out back blue grass sprouted in the rocky dirt. With no good place to play outside my dad took us out driving in the evenings; we spent time exploring the countryside that surrounded our town. He may have been escaping the chaos of the new development but as a child I viewed our outings as an adventure. We discovered the enormous Saylorville dam construction site on the Des Moines river during one of our drives. Most of the work had been completed before we moved to the area, but we monitored the progress as they built the last section of the earthen dam. I was nine years old and did not comprehend the magnitude and scope of the project; I just wanted the lake done so we could swim. The United States Army Corps of Engineers completed the dam in 1975, but legal negotiations over environmental concerns prevented the immediate impounding of the river.1

Two years later, with agreements reached, officials closed the dam’s gate and water gradually crept over the riverbank, across the flats, and up the hillsides of the valley.2

1 Bonnie Wittenburg, “Plan to finish work on Saylorville Dam July 1,” Des Moines Register, July 12, 1975, Newspapers.com. 2 Otto Knauth, “A few words, shovel of dirt and 12 years later, a dam,” Des Moines Register, April 13, 1977, Newspapers.com. 2

Figure 1.1. The photograph by George J. Ceolla, was taken looking north from the dam. The control tower would be located to the left where the wider span of water appears in this picture. There are a few trees and islands of higher ground visible. “Finally – a lake evident at Saylorville Reservoir,” Des Moines Register, May 10, 1977, Newspapers.com.

Grass and scrub brush disappeared quickly under the rising pool of water, but it took several months to reach the desired lake level due to a multiyear drought in the area.3 As the lake filled, numerous treetops stuck out of the water, their branches full of leaves, now swaying in the current instead of the breeze. I imagined the trees waiting to recover; waiting for the flood waters to subside, as it always had in the past, but eventually they gave up. The roots rotted and loosened from the earth and the trunks and branches floated and drifted toward the whirlpool by

3 Knauth, “A few words.” 3 the dam’s control tower. Some made it through the gate in smaller pieces and floated down the river while others piled up on the rocks to be gathered and burned.

Submerged trees remained hazards, however, so recreational boating on the lake during the first years was limited; probably not much of an issue as few people in the area had recreational boats or house boats to run on the lake.4 Prior to 1977, Ankeny had been a few miles from a river and “suddenly” we were lakeside. While some residents likely owned small boats to navigate the nearby Des Moines river, most just fished from the banks.5 My family never owned any watercraft, but I did get to enjoy cruising around the lake with friends on their boats a few times each summer. As teens we also spent our free time driving out to the lake, parking on the dam, listening to music on eight-tracks and drinking ice-cold bottles of Mountain Dew.

Saylorville Lake would eventually become a beautiful multiuse site for campers, boaters, and nature lovers, but as I graduated high school and moved away from Iowa, the lake seemed unremarkable. I lived in a few states and traveled around the country over the next decade, happily exploring oceans, deserts, mountains, and canyons. I only planned on returning to the supposedly uninspiring landscape of Iowa to briefly visit family during the holidays.

The future I imagined inevitably changed when I married, had children and found myself once again living in central Iowa. I took my kids on sporadic forays to a few of the most popular parks in the Saylorville Lake Recreational area, now 20 years old, and further upriver, to Ledges

State Park. Our outings focused on playgrounds, snacks, and bug repellant. We lived by a lake,

4 Otto Knauth, “Corps prepares to start filling Saylorville Lake,” The Des Moines Register, March 5, 1977, Newspapers.com. 5 Robert Kolarik, “Boating goes boom in central Iowa,” The Des Moines Tribune, May 3, 1977, Newspapers.com. 4 but our lifestyle was very suburban. Then I took a job traveling the state that changed my perception of the landscape and inspired my research.

For five years I worked as a market research analyst and drove all over Iowa, visiting energy drink retailers in every city and small town. Driving through the state on one of the major thruways can reinforce the commonly held belief that Iowa is flat and unremarkable but moving between small towns on simple two-lane roads reveals a more interesting landscape. As I logged mile after mile and hundreds of hours driving, I developed an appreciation of the diverse horizons and varied landforms between the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, and an interest in the history of Iowa’s environment. The repeated travel across the state gave me time to notice the differences in the shape of the hills and the texture of the soil. Farms and flood plains, wide rivers and innumerable streams, towering limestone bluffs and rocky surfaces that looked nearly as ancient as the planet rolled past my car windows. I have heard many people complain that

Iowa is boring, that it lacks anything worth admiring. The landscape here is not awe-inspiring in the traditional sense. There are no granite cliffs, dense forests, Rocky Mountains, unending oceans, or even massive city skylines. Iowa’s beauty is more subtle; gently rolling hills covered in varied shades of green, a wooded river valley, a creek winding through a hoof-pocked acre of eroded till, or a stone canyon cutting the vista ahead of you on a county line road. Jean C. Prior expressed a similar opinion about Iowa’s land in her book, Landforms of Iowa and cited Walt

Whitman; “Then as to scenery (giving my own thought and feeling), while I know the standard claim is that Yosemite, Niagara Falls, and the upper Yellowstone and the like, afford the greatest shows, I am not sure but the Prairies and Planes, while less stunning at first sight, last longer, fill the aesthetic sense fuller, precede all the rest, and make North America’s characteristic 5 landscape.”6 Iowa’s landscape has been dramatically altered since Whitman recorded his sentiments, but the aesthetic remains.

Figure 1.2. This painting of Iowa’s subtly varied landscape is stylized but also representative of the Iowan Surface. Stone city, Iowa. Oil on wood painting by Grant Wood, 1930. Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, NE., https://www.wikiart.org/en/grant-wood/stone-city-iowa-1930.

While Iowa’s landscape is beautiful it is also the product of many decades of manipulation by humans. Construction workers built the roads and bridges that cut through the hills and pass over rivers. Farmers managed the livestock that grazed the pastures and trampled the hills. Early settlers broke sod, installed drainage tiles, and created the patchwork of farmland that symbolizes the state today. Engineers dammed up the rivers and created lakes to control the flow of water through the state. People shaped the land to support agricultural activities and create sustainable and livable environments. The capital city of Des Moines, established in 1857

6 Jean C. Prior, Landforms of Iowa. (Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1991), 2. 6 and located at the confluence of the Des Moines and Raccoon rivers, experienced frequent and devastating floods for a century. Discussions and research on options for controlling the river began in earnest in the early 1900’s. Engineers and surveyors gathered geographic data from river valleys around central Iowa and concluded that a dam on the Des Moines river would offer water flow regulation and reduce the damage caused by flooding in Iowa’s largest city. After securing federal funding, officials launched the Saylorville Dam project. Between government approval in 1958 and completion in 1977, public concerns regarding the dam shifted, in part, due to changing federal policies over the nearly twenty-year period. In this way, federal politics altered the relationship that central Iowans had with the environment and its manipulation in the name of flood control.

Altering the environment to accommodate mankind was not a new concept in the mid- twentieth century and experts had a wealth of information to aid them in their flood control plans. Early explorers and cartographers not only created maps but also recorded their observations about the landforms and water sources they discovered. These first surveys along with all subsequent evidence contributed to the record of Iowa’s geological evolution. That record was essential to engineers as they drafted the original master plan for Saylorville Dam. In the early 1900s, a report on the geology of Iowa included the extraordinary statement that, “Iowa has passed more time under water than as dry land.”7 As a landlocked state hundreds of miles from any coastline, the presence of abundant fossilized marine life gave early geologists an unexpected picture of Iowa’s aquatic past. Fossils and mineral products are evidence of varied watery habitats; coal beds are derived from coastal swamps and deltas, and fossils of 340-

7 Wayne I. Anderson, Iowa’s Geological Past. (Iowa City, IA, University of Iowa Press, 1998), 1. The author of report is assumed to be Samuel Calvin. 7 million-year-old amphibians are indicative of freshwater habitats.8 In 1984, floodwaters rushed over the emergency spillway of the Saylorville Dam creating a gorge and exposing

Pennsylvanian rock and layers of fossils. The gorge deepened when water again flowed over the spillway in 1993 and 2008. After the 2008 event, the Geological Society of Iowa published a guidebook with in-depth analysis of the area’s geology.9 While flooding is most often viewed as destructive, water repeatedly rushing over the Saylorville outlet consistently revealed new information about central Iowa’s geologic past. In addition, engineers researched Iowa’s topography and origins, placing significant emphasis on the Des Moines River watershed and the capital city of Des Moines.

Figure 1.3. Landform regions of Iowa. For a full explanation of the features and development of each of the seven topographical areas see, Jean C. Prior, Landforms of Iowa. (Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1991), 31.

8 Anderson, Iowa’s past, Chapter 6. 9 Raymond R. Anderson and Chad Fields, eds., Geology of the Saylorville Spillway; After the Flood of 2008 Guidebook 84 (Iowa City, Geological Society of Iowa, 2009) 14. 8

The capital city is centrally located on the southern border of the topographical area known as the Des Moines Lobe. The map in figure 1.3 illustrates the seven different topographies and their geographic ranges. These regions run nearly parallel to each other from the Northeast corner of the state to the Southwest; the Paleozoic Plateau, the Iowan Surface, the

Des Moines Lobe, Northwest Iowa Plains, Southern Iowa Drift Plain, the Loess Hills, and the

Alluvial Plains.

Figure 1.4. Topographic Relief of Iowa, Jean C. Prior, Landforms of Iowa, (Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1991), 33.

The topographical relief map of Iowa in figure 1.4 offers visual evidence of the last glacial advances into the state. Glaciers advanced and receded over the entire state of Iowa and into Northern Missouri 500,000 to 2,500,000 years ago. Today, only the north central region 9 retains a landscape clearly created by glacial activity, 12,000 to 14,000 years ago.10 The last glacier advanced southward through North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota to the present- day city of Des Moines. Depressions created by the great weight of the glaciers are visible on the relief map. This period of glaciation included three major surges followed by significant stagnation of the ice sheet. Decay and disintegration caused by warming temperatures contributed to the glacier’s eventual retreat out of Iowa. This form of slow retreat created many of the landforms found in the area of the Des Moines Lobe, the most prominent of which are the three curved concentric ridges, shown in figure 1.5, that indicate the maximum extent of each advance; the Algona, Altamont, and Bemis Moraines formed from debris pushed ahead by the glacier and left stranded at the ice’s melting edge.11

Figure 1.5. Glacial Advances of the Des Moines Lobe, Jean C. Prior, Landforms of Iowa, (Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1991), 38.

10 Jean C. Prior, Landforms of Iowa, (Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1991), 20. 11 Ibid., 36-47. 10

Geologists have identified glacial debris in exposed sediments of the Saylorville Gorge.12

Other landforms created by the glaciers include north central Iowa’s natural lakes (Okoboji,

Spirit, and Storm), prairie potholes, kames, kettle depressions, and hundreds of large glacial erratics.13 As the thick ice stagnated, melted, and receded, varied crevices and tunnels developed in the glacier. The passages carried great torrents of melt water down through the glacier to the surface, causing dramatic erosion and establishing the routes of many rivers. The Cedar, Skunk,

Des Moines, Raccoon and Little Sioux rivers all follow these ancient courses. The Des Moines

River valley is the largest and runs closely down the axis of the Des Moines Lobe region (figure

1.6). The deep and narrow valley is evidence of rapid creation by fast flowing waters that cut into the Pennsylvanian bedrock. As the water flowed it carried rocky debris that deposited along the sides of the valley. Today, these debris terraces are mined commercially for sand and gravel.14

12 Raymond Anderson, Geology of Saylorville, 18. 13 Kames are isolated roughly conical hills created as sand and gravel deposited out of the crevice of a melting glacier. Kettle depressions are steep sided bowl-shaped ponds that formed as large isolated blocks of clean glacial ice slowly melted. Prairie potholes are numerous smaller depressions in marshy wetlands formed as glaciers melted. Glacial erratics are large to huge rocks and boulders pushed and carried with the glaciers and deposited across the landscape. Examples with photos and locations are included in Landforms. Prior, Landforms, 41-43. 14 Ibid., 44. 11

Figure 1.6. Major waterways in the varied landform regions of Iowa. Prior, Landforms, 32.

It is difficult to comprehend the magnitude of the torrential flow of water released by the glacier as it stagnated and melted in Iowa 12,000 years ago. A similar process occurs every spring, although on a much smaller scale. As winter ends, large piles of plowed snow settle, compact, harden, and turn to ice. When the sun shines and warm spring breezes blow, the snow cover on lawns and streets disappears, leaving behind the solitary dirty mounds of ice. For days or weeks, the ice appears unchanged on the surface, but the interior degrades and melt water pools at the edges and trickles away to streams. Eventually the ice breaks down and disappears, leaving small piles of rocky debris and garbage behind. Imagine this happening on a glacial scale, with ice that is half a mile thick, and one can begin to understand how a river and its valley 12 formed in Iowa thousands of years ago. Rushing melt water from a stagnating glacier carved a steep-sided valley and established the course of the Des Moines River down to its juncture with the Mississippi.

Early French explorers traveled up the Mississippi and followed a branching river northwest into what would become the state of Iowa. Guillaume de L’Isle’s 1718 map, figure

1.7, of “La Louisiane” has the river labeled as “le Moingona R.”; possibly based on the

Moingona people that French trappers encountered in the area. The “Moingona River” was eventually renamed the Des Moines River and the U.S. Army adopted the name for their fort in

1843.15 This is just one of several name origin theories for the city of Des Moines. The map also notes “grandes prairies,” large meadows, and “mine de plomb,” lead mines. When the French

“discovered” and mapped the area, the Ioway and Otoe tribes dominated the whole of Iowa. On the western border the Omaha and Ponca shared some territory and the Huron, Ottawa and

Winnebago interacted in the northeast.16 These tribes occupied the land as they had for thousands of years after the retreat of the glaciers. It was widely noted that Iowa’s natural vegetation was tallgrass prairie, as well as oak savanna in upland areas, dense forests and wetlands in the flood plains, protected river valleys, and pothole wetlands in the northern prairie areas.17 The first

European settlers encountered this landscape, sculpted by glaciers.

15 William E Whittaker, Ed. Frontier Forts of Iowa: Indians, Traders, and Soldiers, 1682-186. (Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2009), 39. 16 Lance M. Foster, The Indians of Iowa (Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2009), 4. 17 Prior, Landforms, 4. 13

Figure 1.7. One of the first maps drawn that included the Des Moines River. Guillaume De L’Isle, Carte de la Louisiane et du cours du Mississippi, Paris, France, 1718. Retrieved from the Library of Congress. https://lccn.loc.gov/2001624908.

In 1843 the United States military built a fort at the intersection of the Des Moines and

Raccoon rivers to control the Sauk and Meskwaki. Pioneers moving into the area occupied the fort after it was abandoned by the military in 1846. As settlement continued, traffic on the Des

Moines River increased but dramatically fluctuating water levels caused problems for just about any size of watercraft. The United States Army Corps of Engineers even developed plans for a lock and dam system to accommodate steamboats traveling upstream from the Mississippi. 14

Figure 1.8. An isolation from De L’Isle’s 1718 map with the Moingona river labeled. Le Moingona R, Ibid.

However, river transportation in central Iowa lasted only a few years. Reliable railroads spread across the country and plans for locks quickly disappeared, as river travel in the area was now increasingly irrelevant due to new technology.18

The settlement at Fort Des Moines was destroyed by floods in 1851 and quickly rebuilt, beginning the residents near continuous battle with the river.19 River flooding was an early and frequent concern for settlers in Iowa during the 1850s. For centuries before settlement, rivers meandered through the plains, naturally overflowing their banks and establishing new courses.20

18 Dave Hubler, "Des Moines River Navigation; Great Expectations Unfulfilled." The Annals of Iowa 39, no. 4 (April 1968): 287-306. https://doi.org/10.17077/0003-4827.7881. 19 Tacitus Hussey, "The Flood of 1851." The Annals of Iowa 5, no. 6 (July 1902): 401-424. https://doi.org/10.17077/0003-4827.2797. 20 Prior, Landforms, 101. 15

But as towns grew up in the area, the need to control waterways became a priority. Why would early settlers choose to live at the convergence of two rivers when flooding repeatedly inundated the city? Why didn’t people move to higher ground? This is not an uncommon phenomenon as many cities exist in flood plains all over the country. For thousands of years successive groups of people settled in the area currently occupied by Iowa’s capital. In 2010, workers discovered human remains while excavating land for a new water treatment plant in Des Moines.

Ultimately, the find was carbon dated to nearly 7,000 years ago and named the “Palace” site due to the size and quality of the find.21 Access to water is a primary concern for human civilization and the convenience of living near a waterway is undeniable. For early settlers,’ proximity to a river provided easier transportation and travel, until the expansion of the railroad and later, automobiles. Of course, the river provided the growing population with fish and waterfowl, but water was also needed for consumption, sanitation, agriculture, and manufacturing. Early indigenous groups shifted their villages to avoid overflowing waterways, but successful early

Euro-American settlements and cities had no ability to adjust to the seasonal variations of the river. This necessitated the manipulation of the environment. To avoid frequent flooding and the accompanying loss of life and property in Des Moines, residents would need to build a dam on the Des Moines River.

Dam building dominated the federal government’s response to flood control in the twentieth century. The United States completed 40,000 dams between 1950 and 1980.22 In 1936, the United States Congress assigned the responsibility of eliminating flood hazards throughout

21 William E. Whittaker, “The Palace site and the appearance of house basins in the Middle Archaic.” Plains Anthropologist 61, no. 239 (2016): 250- 272. https://doi.org/10.1080/00320447.2016.1153218. 22 Anna Lieb, “The Undamming of America,” NOVA, August 12, 2015, pbs.org. 16 the country to the United States Army Corps of Engineers. With authority granted by the Flood

Control Act of 1938 the Corps began investigating possible dam sites on the Des Moines River the following year, officially beginning the story of the Saylorville Dam.23 Official surveys had barely begun, however, when World War II interrupted and the project was shelved for several years. Then, major flooding in 1947 reignited the drive to build a dam in central Iowa.24 “The principal purpose of the Saylorville Lake Project is to furnish needed storage to supplement the flood control capacity of the downstream Red Rock Dam and to provide flood protection to the

City of Des Moines.” While this purpose statement from the United States Army Corps of

Engineers (USACE) highlighted the local and state level goals of the Saylorville Dam the project was also a “unit of the comprehensive plan for flood risk management in the upper Mississippi

River Basin.”25 That is to say, that although the dam protects Iowa’s capital city it is also just one piece of the USACE’s larger water management plan for the Mississippi River and the goal of protecting cities and property all the way downstream to the Gulf of Mexico. Saylorville Lake, just one piece of the federal government’s overall flood management program, was a massive undertaking that took nearly four decades (1939-1977) from initial surveys to operational lake.

Construction began on the Saylorville Dam in 1965 and was completed in 1977. It is located eleven miles north of Iowa’s capital city of Des Moines. The project design consisted of three stages completed by three different construction companies. The first stage created two-

23 Rebecca Conard, Places of Quiet Beauty: Parks, Preserves, and Environmentalism (Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1997), 257, EBSCOhost. 24 Conard, Places, 258. 25 United States Army Corps of Engineers Rock Island District. Saylorville Lake Master Plan, Des Moines River Watershed Johnston, Iowa. (2015), https://www.mvr.usace.army.mil/Portals/48/docs/Recreation/ODS/Master%20Plan/2014%20Fin al%20Master%20Plan/Saylorville%20MP%20Main%20ReportFinal.pdf. 17 thirds of the length of the dam, built to half its final height. The second stage featured concrete works and included the outlet, the spillway, and 800 additional linear feet of the earthen dam. In the final stage workers raised the dam to its finished height of 105 feet, with the addition of four million cubic yards of dirt.26 The completed earthen dam is 6,750 feet long and 105 feet high with a top width of 44 feet. While impressive, Saylorville is nowhere near the tallest dam in the

United States. California’s Oroville Dam, on the Feather River 70 miles north of Sacramento, is

770 feet tall.27 Saylorville dam created a reservoir that is 24 miles long and covers 5,520 acres at normal pool levels but expands to 54 miles long and 16,100 acres at full flood capacity. The normal pool contains approximately 23.9 billion gallons of water and the reservoir can hold up to

184.7 billion gallons when needed. Water surface elevation ranges from 836 to 884 feet at the top of the concrete spillway and can be held at 890 feet when the pneumatic crest gates are raised. According to the USACE Rock Island District, the federal cost for the project was over

$130 million dollars. The Corps also notes that from 1975-2010 an estimated $183,665,200 in flood damage has been prevented. While the flood of 1993 caused extensive destruction and hardship in the Des Moines metro area, it is estimated that the flood control project still prevented over $113 million dollars in damages. The record high pool elevation of 892.03 feet occurred during the 1993 event when water flowed over the (pre-pneumatic crest gate) spillway for 42 days. While the average outflow from a normal pool level at Saylorville is 6,000-7,000

26 Otto Knauth, “$80 Million Saylorville Dam Finished,” Des Moines Sunday Register, October 12, 1975, Newspapers.com. 27 Tim Newcomb, “The 8 Most Awe-Inspiring Dams in America,” Popular Mechanics, October 9, 2020, https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/infrastructure/g2837/7-most-serious- dams-us. 18 cubic feet per second (cfs) during the 1993 flood the outflow measured at a record 44,500 cfs.28

The United States Army Corps of Engineers operates the dam and reservoir. Their primary imperative is to balance lake levels while maintaining minimum and maximum flows downstream. USACE park rangers also oversee the recreational opportunities for millions of visitors each year, most of whom are unaware of the reservoir’s agonizing evolution.

It took twelve years for the USACE to build the Saylorville Dam, two and a half times more than the original timeline projection. The project was not only an enormous earth moving, environment altering venture, it also represented a threat to certain people and places in central

Iowa. The reservoir first threatened individuals living on land slated for the future lakebed.

Federal officials acquired property from dozens of landowners along the river and the uplands through eminent domain statutes. While state and federal laws required that owners receive fair compensation for their land, families viewed the forced transactions negatively. A second threat resulted from the short-sighted original master plan that seemingly ignored the extent of the lake’s pool and would have stranded the town of Polk City on a newly formed eastern peninsula.

The USACE worked with state officials to resolve the problem relatively quickly with additional funding that also added another recreation area to the reservoir. These first problems resolved fairly easily but the most notorious threat from the Saylorville project was aimed at Iowa’s beloved Ledges State Park. Iowans valued the sandstone ledges, canyon, and heavily forested hills at the park. Again, as with the threat to Polk City, it appeared that the Corps initial design for the reservoir ignored the obviously damaging encroachment of the new lake. The plans

28 United States Army Corps of Engineers Rock Island District. “Saylorville Fact Sheet,” (2011) https://www.mvr.usace.army.mil/Portals/48/docs/Recreation/ODS/Master%20Plan/SaylorvilleLa ke-FactSheet-updatedNov2011_000.pdf. Cubic feet per second (cfs) is the rate of flow past a given point and measured in feet per second. One cubic foot of water equals about 7.5 gallons. 19 clearly showed that the flood pool maximum limit would allow water to reach deep into the lower Ledges and possibly remain for weeks at a time, destroying plant life and trees and leaving a silted mess in the park when flood waters receded. However, this time the solution to fix the

Corps’ plans did not come easily, as the USACE refused to fund another barrier dam and opponents filed lawsuits that blocked the project’s completion. Environmental activists utilized newly penned federal legislation, namely the National Environmental Policy Act, to demand a comprehensive assessment of the Saylorville project. While the legal blockade significantly delayed the project, negotiations never yielded options acceptable to environmentalists. The federal government remained steadfast in their refusal to contribute any significant funding to protect the Ledges and in the end, they outlasted the underfunded Ledges supporters. Ultimately, the environmentalists were forced to compromise, thus allowing for the completion of the dam.

Because the Saylorville Reservoir Project was so large, ran into multiple roadblocks, and required massive federal funding and legislation, its construction spanned several decades of the twentieth century. During that time, the United States changed in several dramatic ways. When construction started, the U.S. had just become embroiled in a Cold War with Russia, which dominated American consciousness and frequent headlines. The prevailing political and social climate in the United States at that time affected how Iowans responded to the master plan for

Saylorville. As the project dragged on, however, the U.S. entered the era of Vietnam, Civil

Rights, and the EPA. Just as the Cold War had affected the first phases of Saylorville planning and construction, so too did the emergence of the environmental movement and the social justice movement impact Iowans’ attitudes toward Saylorville in the 1960s and 70s. The federal government’s efforts to achieve flood control on the Des Moines river required the movement of 20 massive amounts of earth and water. The most difficult part of the project, however, was not complex environmental engineering. Negotiating with people was far more challenging.

. TAKING LAND THROUGH EMINENT DOMAIN

On a hill just southeast of the Saylorville Dam, Viz Schmitt lives on land her parents purchased over sixty years ago. “We owned everything from the road to the river,” she noted.

The family lived in a simple basement house on the hilltop clearing.29 Over time her dad

“completed” the house. She chuckled slightly and pointed out a few areas that did not get

“finished quite right.” Today, Schmitt’s daughter also lives on the land with her family, down the hill, closer to the road. Trees and brush cover the steep acreage and a gravel road winds up the incline between the two houses. A tire swing sways in a huge cottonwood tree and a hay field stretches from the gravel to the creek. The homestead includes an empty horse corral and numerous sheds in various states of disrepair. Schmitt looked through her large south facing window at the panoramic view of the river valley and the city of Des Moines, and in a reflective tone said, “It hasn’t changed much. Oh, a few of the sycamore trees have grown too tall and they block the view of the downtown buildings when they leaf out in the summer. But I’m glad we got to keep the high ground when ‘they’ came to buy up land in the sixties.”30

About fifty years ago and ten miles upriver from the Schmitt’s hill, a government man knocked on the Miller’s door too.31 Thelma and Bill Miller lived in the house they built in 1949

29 “Basement House,” History Colorado, accessed March 4, 2021. https://www.historycolorado.org/basement-house. Basement houses, popular after WWII, offered an affordable option for returning veterans according to the History Colorado website. The cement enclosure was built below grade with roof supports designed as sub floors; then as funds became available a one- or two-story house could be added. 30 Viz Schmitt, interview by author, March 5, 2015. 31 References to “men in suits”, “the feds”, and “government men” are included in many of the histories of families from this time period. Officials from the United States Army Corps of Engineers wore suits or uniforms as they interacted with the public.

22 by Big Creek just north of Polk City. Their backyard extended from the house to the creek and the wooded property offered their son Bob a wonderful place to play with his friends. Mrs.

Miller recalled the day a man came to appraise her house. She had heard rumors about the land buy out but had not received any official notice or information yet. She allowed him in, and he walked through the house taking notes. Then he asked if she would like to “reserve” anything.

Though unexpected, Miller took the option and chose to keep a new light fixture that had been a gift. The man informed her that this was her only opportunity to “obtain permission to remove any other items other than furniture, etc.” Afterwards, she worried that she missed the opportunity for her husband to keep his collection of “things” from the yard. Mr. Miller called a few days later and asked her to come to the bank where he worked. After she arrived the couple spoke with two uniformed men from the United States Army Corps of Engineers. Mrs. Miller recalled that they spoke in hushed tones as they explained that the Millers’ land would be needed for the dam project that was already underway. “What could be our response to that?” she mused.32

Dorothy Mae Williams Barton lived in the same area as the Miller family. She grew up on a farmstead established in 1906 by her grandfather, John Williams. Her father, Ralph

Williams, and husband, Duane Barton, ran the farm until 1974 when the State of Iowa purchased

196 acres for the Big Creek recreation area. Mrs. Barton’s “wonderful, rich memories” of her home farm included the house and many farm buildings built by her grandfather. She recalled that they owned one of the largest barns in Polk County. The structure had two levels: the upper used for hay and straw storage and the lower housed livestock (mainly feeder cattle) and

32 Thelma Miller, The Dam Story, Big Creek Historical Society, (2011). Mrs. Miller gave her remembrance of the dam years shortly before she died in 2011. 23 machinery. Barton remembered the year that the annual “last day of school picnic” nearly got rained out, but with a little work the “Big Barn rescued the event.” She fondly remembered her childhood, rounding up cows in the pasture and enjoying picnics on the well-groomed lawn. For nearly thirty years the Barton’s farmed and raised their three children on the family land. Ralph

Williams died in his sleep in 1973. He did not want to sell his land to the government and tense negotiations with state officials filled the months leading up to his death. Barton always felt “that he died of a broken heart over the sale of his beloved farm.”33

Figure 2.1. A crowd looks over the flooded river in Des Moines. George Mills, “The flood of 1892,” Looking in Windows: Surprising Stories of Old Des Moines, (Ames: Iowa State University Press, 1991). These stories are representative of the hundreds of families displaced by the Saylorville

Dam project. Residents in nearby areas experienced varying degrees of disruption. Roads and rail lines were moved or eliminated, river recreation (like kayaking or canoeing) virtually

33 Dorothy Williams Barton, One of Many Stories from the ‘building of the Dams’, Big Creek Historical Society, summer, 2001. 24 disappeared, and a beloved state park faced permanent destruction. The federal government even used the right of eminent domain to force some Iowans, like the Schmitt, Miller, and Williams families, to sell their land, which was required to complete the large-scale flood control project.

Major flooding occurred on the Des Moines River in 1851, 1892, 1903, 1935, 1938, and

1944, causing millions of dollars of property damage and the tragic loss of many lives. As the population increased in Iowa, particularly in the Des Moines area, the push for flood control grew. In 1944, the United States Senate authorized funds to search for a dam site somewhere in

Polk County. After studying nine sites over the span of a decade, the United States Army Corps of Engineers recommended a location on the Des Moines River and the Flood Control Act of

1958 authorized the Saylorville Dam project.34 Under the appropriations for the upper

Mississippi River basin, along with projects for Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota, the act states:

The project for the Saylorville Reservoir on the Des Moines River- Iowa, is hereby

authorized substantially as recommended by the Chief of Engineers in Senate Document

Numbered 9, Eighty-fifth Congress, at an estimated cost of $44,500,000: provided, That,

if the reservoir is used for water conservation, such use shall be in accord with title III of

this Act.35

34 United States Army Corps of Engineers – Rock Island District, History of Saylorville Lake, accessed March 4, 2021. http://www.mvr.usace.army.mil/Missions/Recreation/SaylorvilleLake/AboutUs.aspx. The investigation into nine sites was authorized by the Flood Control Act of 1944 by congress. 35 Ibid. Title III gives permission for state use of federal reservoirs for the purpose of water conservation, as long as the cost is absorbed by the state. 25

Figure 2.2. The original Des Moines river channel is visible along tree line with first stage of construction started on the dam in distance. Note the placement of the control tower, seen completed in figure 2.3. Source - Saylorville Visitors Center History Display.

Figure 2.3. When the dam was completed (and all problems mitigated) the river channel was rerouted through the floodgates of the control tower. Carl Voss, “The Des Moines River flows through,” Des Moines Register, April 9, 1977, Newspapers.com. 26

Originally slated for completion in five years, the project took twelve.36 Construction on the earthen structure began in 1965 and the dam’s gates closed in 1977. Although the USACE carefully planned and evaluated every aspect of the project, significant obstacles arose, and community opposition highlighted the plan’s shortcomings. Nevertheless, the project went forward at least in part because ordinary Iowans believed they could not effectively fight the government.

Mrs. Miller recalled that she felt too stressed to attend the many meetings with government representatives after her initial encounter. Her husband handled the situation while she remained “in charge of the Worry Department!” Her concerns centered around their child.

Would her son miss his childhood home? When he was grown and married and had children of his own, would he feel the pull of the family homestead? She wondered, “Would he ever feel that the new house was really his home?” Despite her concerns and with no choice available, the couple moved their family to another property. Miller concluded that over time she forgot the heartaches they experienced when she, “along with so many others in the Big Creek area, learned the meaning of eminent domain.”37

Mrs. Schmitt felt “pretty lucky” when her family “only had to sell a bit of land by the creek and the land along the river.” Today, the Neal Smith Trail winds up the southern side of the Saylorville dam through the land they once owned. Congressman Neal Smith represented the central Iowa district from 1959 to 1973 and influenced many aspects of the Saylorville Dam project. “Yeah, that Neal Smith guy, I was invited to meet him one time when they were

36 Otto Knauth, “A few words, shovel of dirt and 12 years later, a dam,” Des Moines Register, April 13, 1977, Newspapers.com. 37 Thelma Miller, The Dam Story. 27 breaking ground on something, maybe the bike trail, I don’t know. But I didn’t go. What do I need to shake his hand for?” She chuckled and shook her head at the absurdity of the invitation.

“We used to be able to ride our horses down to the river and all over the valley. I don’t need to shake his hand.” She remembered the day official looking men wearing suits knocked on their door and explained to her parents what property the government would take and how much they would pay for it. Schmitt said her dad grumbled a bit under his breath at the offering price “but that’s about all.” Was her dad upset? Did he complain about the loss of land in the ensuing years? “No. I don’t remember there being any real hard feelings over the deal.” She continued,

“After all, you can put off the state, negotiate a few more dollars per acre, but when ‘The Feds’ want your land there’s not much to be done about it.”38

The emotional stories recounted by Schmitt, Miller and Barton contain a persistent sense of powerlessness. That shared feeling is unsurprising given the federal government’s confiscation of their land. Eminent domain is the - “right of a government to take private property for public use by virtue of the superior dominion of the sovereign power over all lands within its jurisdiction.”39 In other words, the government can appropriate privately owned lands for the public good. Governments do have the right to expropriate land, but private owners are protected by the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution. This amendment provides

“basic constitutional limits on police procedure” including the “guarantee that government cannot seize private property without making a due compensation at the market value of the

38 Viz Schmitt, interview by author, March 5, 2015. 39 Merriam-Webster Dictionary, s.v. “eminent domain,” accessed March 5, 2021, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/eminent%20domain. 28 property.”40 The U.S. government could seize Iowans’ land to build the dam and gain flood control, as it served the public good, but they had to pay for it.

Governments seizing land to construct a dam for flood protection seems justifiable, but as the definition of public benefit broadens, individual rights are degraded. Historically, authorities used eminent domain to construct dams, power lines and railroads; today officials are challenged in courts over acquisitions for economic benefit, such as retail spaces and health clubs.41 The future seems destined to be filled with disputes over climate change mitigation strategies as the

Army Corps negotiates contracts with local officials requiring mandatory land sales in exchange for federal funds.42 In the 1960s, however, as construction progressed on the Saylorville Dam, few property owners challenged the Corps on the taking of land.

Colonel Daniel L. Lycan of the USACE explained the process of federal government land acquisition to a group of concerned citizens gathered at Saydel High School in Des Moines. At this meeting the Corps also distributed a booklet titled, Questions and Answers Concerning the

Acquisition of Your Real Estate by the Government. The process began with an appraisal that established the fair market value. A competent appraiser calculated the property’s worth and determined the offering price from the government. After receiving an offer, the property owner and a government negotiator made contact and negotiations proceeded on the same basis as any

40 “Fifth Amendment: An Overview,” Cornell Law School - Legal Information Institute, accessed March 5, 2021, https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/fifth_amendment. 41 Errol E. Meidinger, “The “Public Uses” of Eminent Domain: History and Policy,” Environmental Law 11, no. 1 (Fall 1980): 1-66, https://heinonline.org/HOL/P?h=hein.journals/envlnw11&i=9. See article by Meidinger for a more comprehensive look at eminent domain history and legal challenges. 42 Christopher Flavell, “Trump Administration Presses Cities to Evict Homeowners from Flood Zones,” New York Times, March 11, 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/11/climate/government-land-eviction-floods.html. 29 other real estate sale. The government delivered a check within 60 days of receiving the accepted and signed “offer to sell real property” document. If this process broke down in the negotiations phase and the two parties did not agree upon a price, the matter transferred to the United States

District Court at Des Moines for a price determination that the government must pay. The legal action called a “condemnation proceeding”, noted Col. Lycan, happened in only a small percentage of cases.43

In February of 1965 the Des Moines Register published the results of the first action in which the federal government acquired six tracts needed for the Saylorville Dam project. A Des

Moines Register article stated that properties owned by the state of Iowa (Camp Dodge), Mr. and

Mrs. Joseph M. Coppola (two tracts), Mr. And Mrs. Thad L. Taylor, Mr. and Mrs. Walter F.

Eichhorn, and the mineral rights held by the estate of George C. Tidrick be awarded to the government on the possession dates requested. The article reported no further details other than the government had given permission to the Eichhorns to “remove a fence from their property before the government takes it from them.”44 Negotiations between this group of property owners and the government had broken down and the district court established the final price per acre. It is noteworthy that the State of Iowa, which owned the Camp Dodge property, had not been able to agree with the federal government on a price, and had, along with other property

43 Col. Daniel L. Lycan’s address to the public at Saydel High School, Des Moines, Iowa, (January 1977). From, The Iowa Citizens to Save the Ledges State Park (CSL) Records, MS 97, Special Collections Department, Iowa State University Library. While this meeting was held in 1977 the procedures for government land acquisition through eminent domain laws remained the same throughout the process. 44 “Possession Dates Upheld,” Des Moines Register, February 27, 1965, Newspapers.com. 30 owners allowed the court to set the amount.45 Despite the acknowledged need for flood control in central Iowa, this was only the first of several clashes between various government entities that dominated the narrative of the Saylorville dam project.

Eminent domain laws required the government to pay a fair price for the land they purchased, but some owners argued about the definition of a “fair price.” Area landowners worked to get the highest price per acre from the federal government even as construction proceeded on the main dam at Saylorville and on the mitigation efforts at Polk City. Arguing about price was one small way that property owners exerted some influence in a situation largely out of their control. In June of 1965 the Des Moines Register carried an ironic article about land valuation. Area resident Ralf Darr had protested the valuation of his property numerous times over the years. The county’s assessment of a property’s value determines the owner’s tax bill.

So, higher land values resulted in a higher tax bill. It comes as no surprise then that most requests for re-valuation by the Polk County Board appealed for reduced appraisals. Records showed that in 1949 the Board cut the taxable value on 55.7 acres of Darr’s land from $3,383 to $2,580, lowering his tax debt. It was therefore a shock to the vice-chairman of the board, William

Flemming, when Darr protested the “low” valuation on his land in 1965. “What’s he want?

What’s his idea in wanting it (the value) raised?” queried the incredulous Flemming. The board members surmised that Darr wanted “the government to pay more when they take the land” for the Saylorville dam. Darr argued that, “Land is worth more than shown by fair market value.”

45 Rebecca Conard, Places of Quiet Beauty: Parks, Preserves, and Environmentalism, (Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1997), 256. Conard examines the government control issue in her book, Places of Quiet Beauty. She states that “Saylorville Dam is important because it represents both sides of the federal flood control controversy and because it reflects the continuing duality of conservatism as it merged with postwar environmentalism.” 31

The board denied his request and stated that “no one else along in there is complaining.” They also noted that Darr owned two other parcels of farmland that he did not protest the valuation on that year.46 Apparently these parcels were not included in the government buy out.

Darr tried to affect the valuation of his land by appealing to the county board, but even if they had raised the value it would have had no effect on the government’s offering price. The

USACE completed their own appraisal and listed the results in Memorandum No. 7A. They noted that assessed values at the time varied “from 5 to 50 percent of the current market price” and property in the area sold for more than the assessed value in nearly every case. The Corps based valuations on recent sales of comparable property with adjustments for differing land classifications and market trends in the area. The engineers defined the final land requirements for the reservoir by their own established criteria. The full pool had an elevation of 884 feet and the USACE established the upper taking line at 890 feet. To provide for service buildings and access areas for the public an additional 300 feet, horizontal from the pool line established the

“real property taking line.” This line, recorded on the land acquisition map, determined the acres needed for the project. The government purchased any property located between the taking line and the river. In the project’s memorandum No. 7A, the Corps appraiser placed a value for budgetary purposes of $526,000 on the 2,146 acres needed for the dam site.47

46 “Asks Increase in Valuation,” Des Moines Register, June 10, 1965, Newspapers.com. 47 United States Army Corps of Engineers Rock Island District, Real Estate Memorandum No. 7A, Dam Site, (December 1962). The USACE issued numerous memorandums on the Saylorville project. They reflect the original plans and cost estimates through current day master plans for the area. No. 7A deals specifically with the appraisal and sites for acquisition for the dam site alone. 32

On the Schmitts’ land, the taking line fell halfway up the hill east of the river. North of

Polk City, the Millers’ homestead ended up in the middle of the future Big Creek Lake. In the end, over three hundred individual property owners in the region sold their land to the federal government’s agent, the USACE. The engineers noted the eminent domain action in the

“Cultural Impact” section of the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS), and stated that

“no evidence indicating whether the long-term impact is adverse or beneficial, although it can be assumed that the short-run impact on many families may be somewhat adverse.”48 The final statement also acknowledged that Public Law 91-646 mitigated “hardships” to displaced persons and included relocation advisory assistance, moving expenses, search expenses for replacement property and replacement housing payment. While all the assistance and reimbursement seemed equitable, the stated limit of $15,000 did little to replace the sense of “home” that property owners truly valued. As private owners lamented the loss of their homes and land, many established organizations along the river experienced disruptions and loss too.

The FEIS listed the names and projected effects of the flood pool at each site in the valley. Some sites sold and relocated, others remained and operated with less land. A few establishments continued to operate with the knowledge that a portion of their land would be flooded during above average precipitation years. Jester County Park’s new golf course remained dry, but the engineers projected that the remaining half of the property would be inundated. They estimated that the playground and campground would experience flooding every other year.

48 United States Army Corps of Engineers Rock Island District, IL, Final Environmental Impact Statement Saylorville Lake Flood Control Project, Des Moines River, Iowa, (March 1974). 33

During major flood events figures predicted that flood waters would be present three to five months thus “severely or completely limiting the present-day use.”49

Many non-profit organizations located in the Des Moines river valley sold entire campgrounds or greatly reduced their size due to dam construction. The Camp Fire Girls

Campsite, Lark Ranch, YMCA Camp, Moingona Girl Scout Camp, YWCA Camp, Salvation

Army Camp Laurie, 4-H Camp and Camp Mitigwa Boy Scout Camp all experienced the negative effects of the USACE project. The banks of the Des Moines River hosted thousands of children for decades through camping, fishing, boating, hiking and games. Now the flooding of several hundred acres of campgrounds reduced the opportunity for urban families and children to experience those outdoor activities. Searching for a resolution to the problem, the Polk County

Board of Supervisors and Polk County Conservation Board commissioned a landscape architectural firm to create a plan for “the orderly development of a conservation system with compatible recreation uses.”50 The architects of the plan acknowledged in the opening paragraphs that acquisition of all lands needed for the system had not yet been completed. The simple statement hinted at the growing scope of the flood control project, the un-resolved conflicts, and the consequences of damming a major river.

Although there were few instances of serious protests from Iowans over land sales, it does not mean that hardship and loss did not happen. Homes and farms disappeared, and family

49 Ibid. 50 Jon Crose & Associates, A Conservation – Recreation Plan for Polk County, (July 1968). See this work for a detailed plan of several areas in Polk County slated for recreation. Includes plans for the greenbelt area along the Des Moines River that Neal Smith strongly supported, and the trail bears his name today. The consequences of replacing camps on the riverbanks with “orderly” systems for recreation is a large topic worthy of study. 34 histories and camp stories ended as water pooled behind the new dam. The land that the

Williams family farmed, and the barn Grandpa John constructed did not pass on to their descendants. The Miller family moved to another property and the original homestead is unknown to their heirs. Viz Schmitt’s family can still enjoy wonderful views of the valley from her home but the joy of riding horses down the hill and along the river is lost. Clearly the families treasured their land. Why didn’t they fight to keep it? What caused them to accept the situation without protest? What influenced their reactions? The presence of uniformed military and Cold War fears may have influenced people to respond with less opposition than one would expect.

The United States Army Corps of Engineers owns and operates over 3,800 dams in the

United States with twenty-nine in the state of Iowa. The Corps built Saylorville Dam and over

40,000 other dams throughout the United States during the heyday of dam building that lasted from 1950-1980.51 While there are no doubt interesting stories surrounding the construction of many of these dams a review of the conversations and controversies that occurred as construction proceeded on the Saylorville Dam sheds light on how the federal government reshaped the landscape of central Iowa. The USACE completed the dam despite many obstacles. People sold their beloved homesteads and city officials conceded to the federal government’s demands.

The negotiations concerning land sales and construction of Saylorville dam in central

Iowa began during some of the most tension-filled years of the Cold War between the United

States and the Soviet Union. Iowans read about events such as the Berlin Wall (1961), the Cuban

Missile crisis (1962), and Saylorville funding and early construction (1958-1965) in the same

51 “Overview,” National Inventory of Dams accessed March 5, 2021, https://nid.sec.usace.army.mil/ords/f?p=105:22:8428480. 35 newspapers within the same general time period. Local and national headlines often even shared the same page. On September 26, 1959, for example, page one of the Ames Daily Tribune (figure

2.4) carried an article, “President, Soviet Premier Hold Cold War ‘Discussions,” and a piece that explained Neal Smith’s views on the budget and plans for Redrock and Saylorville dams on the

Des Moines River. The page featured pictures of Premier Nikita Khrushchev, one with a “gold- toothed” smile - the other “deadly serious.” The other front-page photo showed Neal Smith at a meeting in Ames, smiling and shaking hands with another official.52 It is natural that the feelings that the social/political Cold War climate incited in Iowans might transfer to local events.

As the Saylorville project proceeded, it began to share news space with the controversial war in Vietnam. For example, The Des Moines Register’s headline on May 22, 1967, “Marines

Overrun Viet Reds” shared space that day with an article ominously titled “The Threat to Polk

City.” The report from Saigon, South Vietnam carried news of fighting in the demilitarized zone between a thousand Marines and the North Vietnamese troops. The threat to the citizens of Polk

City was the potential flooding of their community as a part of Saylorville construction.

However, in the spirit of the times, newspaper writers discussed both events in Vietnam and central Iowa with similar tone and language. Polk City residents were in peril from communist troops in addition to the flooding of their community.53 Fear of communism permeated society.

52 Ames Daily Tribune, September 26, 1959, Newspapers.com. 53 Des Moines Register, May 22, 1967, Newspapers.com. 36

Figure 2.4. Ames Daily Tribune, September 26, 1959.

The pervasive sense that communists threatened the American way of life defined the

Cold War era. Near daily exposure to stories of bombs and missiles, threatening “Red” troops and escalating conflict with the Soviet Union saturated the population’s psyche. Everyone waited for the next World War. It is no surprise, then, that a local writer in an opinion editorial expressed concern about the building of a large dam above Des Moines that would be susceptible to breach by the dropping of a hydrogen bomb. After all, during WWII, the Royal Air Force bombed dams in Germany and the resulting floods killed thousands of people living and working 37 downstream. Why would the city of Des Moines promote such a deadly peril? According to the author – “There can be no excuse for failure to recognize a threat so plainly apparent.”54

Figure 2.5. The Des Moines Register, May 22, 1967.

As the residents of central Iowa woke up day after day to news of military discussions and perceived threats from around the world, they also woke up to uniformed members of the

United States Army Corps of Engineers in their neighborhoods. The Schmitt, Miller, and

54 “Sitting Ducks,” The Logan Daily News, May 15, 1956, Newspapers.com. 38

Williams families, along with many others, offered little pushback when the Corps took their property. Thelma Miller respectfully noted the hushed conversation with the uniformed Army agent and Viz Schmitt related with a sigh of acceptance that the federal government gets what it wants. These owners reacted respectfully and somewhat fearfully when confronted with the authority held by the United States Army Corps of Engineers. Dutiful flag flying citizens would not, in the end, block what the federal government wanted. It would be un-American. The rule held that a true American would do whatever the federal government needed to protect its vital interests, especially in such perilous times. The citizens of Iowa would not shirk their duty to their country by making problems for the uniformed military on their doorsteps. The rhetoric of the times and the pervasive Cold War fears imbued the land transactions and dam building project with a sense of urgency and importance.

But that urgency and focus weren’t enough to maintain the USACE’s five-year timeline.

Almost immediately after breaking ground the first (of many) problems stalled the project.

Local leaders and citizens from Polk City objected to the anticipated reach of the lake’s flood pool. The Saylorville master plan illustrated the extent of the new lake and indicated that Polk

City, after the dam’s completion, would be isolated on a narrow peninsula, cut off from convenient routes out of the area. In addition, as officials worked to find an acceptable resolution for this primary challenge, disputes with the city of Des Moines threatened to delay the dam even more.

. THE POLK CITY PROBLEM

Polk City, originally known as Big Creek Settlement, occupies the mile-wide ridge that separates the Big Creek valley from the Des Moines River valley. When settlers arrived in the area in 1846, they found the abandoned native village of Wahkonsa. The Sac and Fox tribes held most of the land in Iowa until their removal through numerous treaties with the United States government from 1776-1886, and Wahkonsa likely belonged to one of these nations.55 The rural settlement was officially recorded as a town in 1850 and within five years boasted a flour mill, five shoe shops, three general stores and five saloons. In 1857, the town lost out to Fort Des

Moines in a battle for the Polk county seat despite its strong economic foundation. In 1875 the town incorporated as Polk City with a population of 630.56 By the 1960’s the community remained a charming part of Polk county “nestled in the trees” with a “little park and a 102-year- old city hall” that had been “lovingly restored by the community.”57 Many of the town’s 600 inhabitants worked in Des Moines and commuted 30 miles south each day.58 While flooding from the Des Moines River caused major damage downstream in Iowa’s capitol, Polk City sat safely dry, high up on its wooded ridge. As state and federal officials developed plans to control the river, they jeopardized Polk City’s secure location. The town faced an uncertain future in

55 Bill Sherman, “Tracing the treaties: How they affected American Indians and Iowa,” Iowa History Journal 7, no. 5 (September/October 2015), http://iowahistoryjournal.com/tracing- treaties-affected-american-indians-iowa. 56 “Polk City History,” Big Creek Historical Society, http://www.polkcityhistory.org/PCHistory/index.htm. 57 Lillian McLaughlin, “A Boom for Polk City?,” Des Moines Tribune, July 27, 1966, Newspapers.com. 58 James Beaumont, “The Threat to Polk City,” Des Moines Register, May 22, 1967, Newspapers.com. 40

July of 1966 as construction of a dam on the Des Moines river left them “like a pawn poised in a critical spot on a chessboard.”59

When the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) released the Saylorville master plan in 1962, the included map, figure 3.1, depicted the limits of the future lake. The anticipated conservation pool inundated the valley of Big Creek and the shoreline surrounded

Polk City on three sides, leaving them stranded on a peninsula jutting southward into the “5,500- acre lake.” Furthermore, the projected changes to area roads would cause inconvenient routes for commuting and no doubt a loss of residents. A reduced population often precipitated a town’s demise. Would anyone really care if the town disappeared? Many of Iowa’s earliest settlements failed and faded from maps with little fanfare. Polk City seemed destined to join those ghost towns. However, the extensive environmental disruption caused by the Saylorville Dam project garnered a great deal of media attention in Iowa, and Polk City benefited from the exposure.

News stories informed the public of anticipated problems with the project and spurred discussion and altered plans that ultimately preserved Polk City.60 The author of a Des Moines Tribune article expressed concern that Polk City would struggle to preserve its charming small town aesthetic if projections held that the lake would draw 800,000 visitors a year.61 Concerns about the loss of charm ignored the larger complication imposed on commuters (who would lose convenient access to southbound roads and their jobs in Des Moines) but the quaint town perspective probably served Polk City better in the press and with regard to public opinion. In its quest to build big and provide flood protection downstream, the USACE focused on the larger

59 Lillian McLaughlin, “A Boom.” 60 A simple search for “Saylorville Dam,” in Iowa, from 1965-1970, yielded over 600 matches from Newspapers.com. 61 Lillian McLaughlin, “A Boom.” 41 aspects of the changed landscape and missed the specific, more detailed needs of the local people.

Figure 3.1. On this map from the initial Saylorville master plan, the pool line (lake shoreline) is illustrated. In the upper right quarter of the map, the line forms a peninsula with Polk City at its center. United States Army Corps of Engineers, Saylorville Reservoir Des Moines River, Iowa. Rock Island, September 1962. 42

In their master plan, Corps engineers acknowledged that Saylorville Lake would encroach on Polk City. While the city sat high enough on a ridge that it had not experienced flooding previously, now, with the construction of Saylorville Dam, ironically, the nearby valleys would fill with water. During flood events, when the pool reached its maximum level, the possibility existed that the city would be surrounded and become an island, temporarily cut off from Des Moines and the rest of the state. The USACE planned to build an extensive high-level levee along the entire north side of Polk City. The levee would restrict the water encroachment, especially in times of flooding. In addition, the project budget included the cost of moving water treatment facilities, cemeteries, roads and other Polk City holdings.62 From an engineering standpoint these measures mitigated most of the issues created by the new flood control lake.

Maybe the USACE counted on public complacency in response to their plan, but it was unlikely that area residents would accept the dramatic changes to surrounding landscapes and reduced access to roads. The stage appeared set for protests and legal battles instigated by Polk City residents. Before any controversy or construction began, however, state officials presented an alternative plan to Corps engineers, effectively stopping the battles before they began. The

Advisory Committee on Conservation of Outdoor Resources proposed a plan that created even more outdoor recreational space for central Iowa and at the same time saved Polk City from its future near-island status.

Iowa Governor G. Harold Hughes established the Conservation of Outdoor Resources

Committee in January of 1964. He named wildlife artist Maynard Reece as chairman and

Professor Arnold Haugen, head of Iowa State University’s wildlife research unit, as co-chair.

62 “Recreational Lake Project,” Des Moines Register, March 20, 1967, Newspapers.com. 43

The Governor tasked the committee with developing a plan to engage all Iowans in outdoor activities. “We should be mindful of the wealthy sportsmen with money to spend,” a spokesman said of the committee’s agenda, “but we should be more concerned with the kid with a fishing pole and the family which can spare a few dollars for a weekend outing. The outdoors remains a challenge to Iowa. It is no longer a wilderness to conquer. Today it is a treasure to preserve.”63

Governor Hughes gave the committee a deadline of October, 1964, to present a progress report on the “outdoor recreation needs of Iowa to the year 2000.”64 Despite the large amount of data and analysis required to complete the assignment, the committee delivered their recommendations on time.

The task force proposed a 5,000 to 6,000-acre outdoor recreation and education area. The

Hawkeye Naturama “would be an entirely new concept in providing Iowans of all ages with opportunities for outdoor experiences.”65 Necessary conditions for the site included a neighboring river, proximity to a high-density population center, and easy access to an Interstate

Highway System. The planners presented a wonderland full of outdoor features with an estimated construction cost of $10 million. In addition to traditional park activities like camping and hiking, the attraction featured snow making equipment for skiing and ice skating, a gun range with trapshooting, courses for hunting dogs, an outdoor amphitheater, a nature museum with an Iowa history diorama, and much more. Several areas for outdoor education, with an emphasis on teaching urban children, rounded out the menu. Federal money was available to

63 “Jarvis on Long Range Conservation Committee,” Muscatine Journal, January 14, 1964, Newspapers.com. 64 “Outdoor recreation Committee,” Des Moines Register, January 17, 1964, Newspapers.com. 65 “Ries Tuttle, Iowa Plan: 5,000-Acre Playground,” Des Moines Tribune, October 12, 1964, Newspapers.com. 44 finance half of cost and the state would need to fund the balance. Projected entrance fees would cover operating costs.66 While the committee’s first report included an ambitious list of aspirations, the park’s location was yet to be determined.

In March of 1965, Congressman John Schmidhauser from the 1st congressional district in

Northeastern Iowa suggested locating the Naturama near the lower Cedar River.67 No action was taken on his suggestion, however, and it was less than a year later when state officials announced their joint venture with the USACE and plans to locate the recreation center near Saylorville

Lake. The Iowa Conservation Commission, State Natural Resources Council, Governor’s

Citizens’ Recreation Committee and the USACE pushed plans for a 7,000-acre recreation area north of Polk City.68 The “Hawkeye Naturama Area” replaced the Corps initial plan for mitigating damage to Polk City.

The advisory committee’s proposal for the Hawkeye Naturama consisted of a 450-acre lake and 700 acres of park lands located north of Polk City. To accomplish this, crews would construct a dam to impound the runoff from the Big Creek Watershed, a diversion channel from the (Big Creek) lake to the main (Saylorville) reservoir to carry the surplus water, and a barrier dam to keep reservoir waters out of the valley located south of town.69 While the protection of

Polk City and roads to access Des Moines required a major change to the original USACE plans, the bonus lake development garnered much local enthusiasm. Les Holland, an aide to Governor

66 “Ries Tuttle, Iowa Plan: 5,000-Acre Playground.” 67 “Public Works Committee Reports Water Pollution Control Measure,” Muscatine Journal and News, March 22, 1965, Newspapers.com. 68 “Recreational Area Sought near Dam,” Estherville Daily News, February 22, 1966, Newspapers.com. 69 “Recreational Lake Project.” 45

Harold Hughes, declared that “the selling point of the project is that it will give Iowa a large body of water with potential for further development in a high-population area of the state.”70

Darrell M. Hill, an official of the State Conservation Commission, explained that this would be some of the least expensive recreational water ever acquired by the state. He felt that the area promised to be “the most highly used area in the State of Iowa.”71 Holland and Hill both expressed excitement at the prospect of the state acquiring a large lake at a great price. However,

The Des Moines Register calculated the price of the recreational water at $3,300 per acre and reported the last major artificial lake created by the Iowa Conservation Commission, Lake Anita in southwest Iowa, cost little more than $2,000 per acre.72 The Register failed to acknowledge that Lake Anita was constructed for recreational purposes only and that the Hawkeye Naturama

(Big Creek), was part of the larger Saylorville flood control project and its solution for the problems with Polk City. Nevertheless, the high price tag for the additional project contributed to a funding debate in the State Legislature.

State and federal officials agreed to work together on the project in 1966, but “the small town of Polk City was (still) fighting for its life” in May of 1967, largely due to arguments over funding.73 In a meeting with city officials, Col. Howard B. Coffman, chief of the Rock Island district engineers’ office, explained that the Naturama plan cost $1.5 million more than the

70 “Lake Seen as Boon to D.M. Area,” Des Moines Register, March 20, 1967, Newspapers.com. 71 James Beaumont, “The Threat to Polk City,” Des Moines Register, May 22, 1967, Newspapers.com. 72 “Lake Seen as Boon to D.M. Area.” 73 Beaumont, “The Threat.” 46 original levee proposal and that the State of Iowa needed to come up with the additional money before construction continued on the Saylorville dam. 74

A bill to fund the “city saving” project stalled in the Senate, however, “so the city invited the senators up to see the area and tried a little soft sell.” Two senators, Charles F. Balloun and

Charles S. Van Eaton, accepted the offer, and toured the area. Polk City’s attorney Mike Forrest explained the urgency of the situation, noting that city officials mistakenly thought that legislation passed the previous fall included funding for the proposed project.75 While all parties, from state agencies to the federal engineers, supported the plan none of them had money in their budgets to complete the additional dams. Negotiations dragged on and the federal government halted construction and waited. Without the 1.5-million-dollar commitment from local officials the USACE would proceed with the original Saylorville reservoir plan and sacrifice Polk City.

After months of delay, the Iowa Legislature authorized $1,000,000 in appropriations for a recreation area near Polk City in 1967. Two years later, the Corps of Engineers began acquiring land for the project with a goal of 2,000 acres. The proposed plan for the Hawkeye Naturama now included a 900-acre lake formally called Big Creek Lake. The lake would be the nucleus of the 5,000-acre area devoted to “every conceivable kind of outdoor recreation” and “the

Governor’s Committee on Preservation of Outdoor Resources (still) envisioned outdoor recreation, sports activities, outdoor living, a nature museum, outdoor education and tourist attractions.”

74 “Recreational Lake Project.” 75 Beaumont, “The Threat.” 47

Figure 3.2. The final plan to protect Polk City included numerous elements, including a diversion dam and barrier dam. Otto Knauth, “Progress on Saylorville Lake Area,” Des Moines Register, April 30, 1969, Newspapers.com.

Through a cost sharing plan the state substantially reduced its portion of the funding from $1.5 million to $550,000. In the final agreement the USACE handled the bulk of the construction and land acquisition and the projected completion date changed from 1970 to 1973.76 Although

76 Otto Knauth, “Progress on Saylorville Lake Area,” Des Moines Register. April 30, 1969, Newspapers.com. 48 negotiations to protect Polk City eventually yielded a large park and recreational lake, the process significantly delayed the original flood control project at Saylorville.77

Designing mitigation strategies for the protection of Polk City curtailed construction at

Saylorville but problems also occurred downstream at Iowa’s capital. The USACE flood control proposal presented to officials in Des Moines originally picked up overwhelming support as it protected businesses downtown and residences along the river. The master plan called for levees to run along both sides of the river for seven or eight miles and stand eight feet high and fifty feet wide at the base. The levee system affected Riverside Park and Sec Taylor Stadium along with several other park plans that included viewing points, stairs leading down to the water, a boat basin, and a picnic area.78 But when chief engineer Col. Howard B. Coffman reminded city officials that the large levees needed to be constructed at Des Moines (as a part of the overall flood protection plan) members of the Des Moines Park Board reacted with dismay. The Park

Board had already developed plans for the riverfront and those would be unattainable with the levee design. Representatives of the board complained that the required levee system “has upset the apple cart on a lot of plans” and “future recreational plans have been jeopardized.” “The

77 The FEIS confirmed the destructive effects of the Saylorville Dam at Polk City. Sixteen blocks of the town fell below 890 feet in elevation. This included most of the business district, numerous residences, a lumber company, grain elevator, the town mill and five historical grave markers in one cemetery. While the 890-foot line marked the maximum flood stage, at which time the emergency spillway would be activated, the USACE used the line for acquisition purposes and noted that falling in the flood area would make the land unusable. Other affected areas listed in the report included major sites like a 3,000-grave cemetery, the town sewage lagoon, a nursing home, the county garage and maintenance building, a state highway and two county roads. Final Environmental Impact Statement Saylorville Lake Flood Control Project, Des Moines river, Iowa. March 1974. Published by the US Army Engineer District, Rock Island. 78 Riverside Park and Sec Taylor Stadium combined to form Principal Park in 2004 all located at the confluence of the Des Moines and Racoon rivers. Principal Park History, City of Des Moines, Dsm.city/parksandrecreation/history. 49 board’s reaction is one of shock and protest that another government agency (the Corps of

Engineers) should come in here and create such a problem,” the Des Moines Register reported.79

City Engineer Leo Johnson called a meeting with Park Board Superintendent Joe Turner and

City Manager Tom Chenoweth. He explained the specifics of the levee and discussed alternate city designs for parks along the river. The immutable plans of the USACE meant that city officials must change their strategy. In addition to complicating the park board’s future vision of the riverfront, several city officials expressed their apprehension at the cost of the levees. The total cost of $2,750,000 included a $905,000 contribution from the city. When the Parks, Public

Services, Engineering, Urban Renewal and Riverfront departments met with Col. Coffman he informed them that the Saylorville Dam project and the levee “were tied together by law.”

Coffman asserted, “until the City of Des Moines goes along, the Saylorville Dam can’t go.” He also pointed out that the dam alone could not protect the city from future flooding.80 The

Saylorville project once again stalled while the city debated levee funding.

Congressman Neal Smith spoke out a few days later about the positive attributes of levees. He called statements by the Parks board claiming the levees would be unsightly,

“ridiculous.” Smith expounded on the beauty of a grass covered and landscaped levee system, referencing similar structures in Galena, Illinois. He also pointed out that the cost to the city would be offset by the credit for the cost of the land involved. This brought the city’s portion down to only $480,000. Smith reminded officials that the levee should be considered a benefit to the city and that the city would need to share in the cost. The congressman noted that legislation

79 Jack Gillard, “Levee Design Upsets Park Board Plans,” Des Moines Register, November 11, 1964, Newspapers.com. 80 Gillard, “Levee Design.” 50 from 1944 contained the law binding the dam and levee together and that Des Moines leaders (in

1944) pushed for the language because they feared the city would miss out on federal funding for flood protection if the two projects got separated.81

Figure 3.3. Harold Hughes, General Governor Roy T. Dodge, Colonel Howard B. Coffman, and Neal Smith at groundbreaking ceremony for Saylorville Dam and Reservoir Project in July of 1965. United States Army Corps of Engineers, “Saylorville Lake,” Throwback Thursday Photos, Facebook, February 11, 2016.

Lack of funding threatened the larger flood control project from its inception, but Neal

Smith held a key position on the house appropriations committee in the United States Senate and that proved financially beneficial to the State of Iowa. One of the earliest and biggest proponents of the dams on the Des Moines River, Smith pushed through legislation that funded the beginnings of the Saylorville Dam. He continually lobbied for financing and improvements in

81 Jack Gillard, “Levee Takes Valued Land in River Hills,” Des Moines Register, November 13, 1964, Newspapers.com. 51 the flood prone basin. In his autobiography, Smith said that a devastating flood that swept through the town of Ottumwa in 1947 compelled him to search for solutions.82 Saylorville Dam offered protection for the city of Des Moines and the “two dam solution” contributed to protecting the entire Des Moines River valley. Controlling water levels on the Des Moines river also contributed to flood control on the Mississippi downstream.83 After he helped to secure the initial funding for Saylorville Dam Smith worked to establish the Des Moines River Greenbelt and further authorized the USACE as caretakers of the park lands. Because the greenbelt is located on federal land the funding for the trails and other features are partially covered by federal dollars. One of the most popular features of the greenbelt is the Neal Smith Trail that runs twenty-eight miles from Des Moines to Big Creek State Park. As the trail winds its way north along the river it climbs a hill that belonged to the Schmitt family. Mrs. Schmitt declined the invitation to meet Smith decades ago. Today she lives with his namesake trail a few hundred feet from her backdoor and her son-in-law and grandson are avid bikers.84

Nearly a year after the debate over levee funding started, Congress approved legislation that officially reduced Des Moines’s share of the funding for the flood control levees. Smith introduced the legislation and pushed it through the appropriations committee. Part of a larger public works bill, Smith’s legislation reduced the city’s liability in flood control projects. The

82 In his biography Smith says that he started writing notes to his grandchildren to explain the choices he made during his service in the U.S. Senate. When others got wind of his writing, they encouraged him to publish. Neal Smith, Mr. Smith Went to Washington (Ames: Iowa State University Press, 1996), 92-94. 83 The two-dam solution includes Saylorville dam, north of Des Moines, and Red Rock dam located 45 miles south, both on the Des Moines river. Red Rock dam was constructed from 1960-1969 and is named for the town of Red Rock that is now beneath the waters of the lake. United States Army Corps of Engineers, “Red Rock,” History, accessed March 6, 2021, https://www.mvr.usace.army.mil/Missions/Recreation/Lake-Red-Rock/About-Us/. 84 Viz Schmitt interview. 52 federal backing allowed the USACE to proceed with construction of the needed levees and local parks officials redesigned their projects to accommodate the new barriers. The Des Moines City

Council purposefully delayed the levee project to take advantage of the expected legislation.

Chenoweth acknowledged that the council risked “alienating” the Corps with the move but noted that the yearlong delay on the levee didn’t really hold up the project.85 Smith supported and championed the flood control project and other improvements along the Des Moines river throughout his years in office. He also noted that the bill included funding for a future dam on the Skunk River near Ames. The proliferation of flood control projects assured the influence and presence of the United States Army Corps of Engineers in Iowa for years to come.86

The menacing posture of the federal government during negotiations with state and city officials is evident in newspaper reports covering protection for Polk City and Des Moines levee project funding. Coffman consistently appeared in uniform as he attended meetings with local officials, reinforcing his position and federal authority. He also repeatedly stated that the vital

Saylorville Dam project would not be completed without funding commitments and cooperation.

His authoritative posture and threatening declarations implied that the USACE could abandon the project at any point in the process, leaving the capital city and its residents prone to future destructive floods. Regional authorities met the requirements and demands of the “feds” just as

85 “Cost of D.M. Levees cut by $537,000,” Des Moines Register, October 21, 1965, Newspapers.com. 86 The Skunk River Reservoir was studied and debated throughout the 1960’s. Neal Smith advocated for it and acquired funding. An article in 1971 from the Ames Daily Tribune called for an Environmental Study to be conducted as negotiations with the USACE continued. Though the city of Ames has experienced major flooding in the ensuing years, no dam has been built on the Skunk River. “Expect environmental study of Skunk River Dam project,” Ames Daily Tribune, November 29, 1971, Newspapers.com. 53 private landowners had been compelled to do. Coffman and the federal government that he represented maintained authority over the project and all changes to the master plan.

However, Cold War tensions eased during the late sixties as the United States entered a period of détente. Citizens lost their fearful preoccupation with communism and many focused instead on the environment. Rachel Carson’s book, Silent Spring, had been percolating in the minds of the nation since its publication in 1962 and as the decade ended it became more apparent that an environmental movement had begun. Television programs and other media questioned human survival in a world where, “overpopulation and industrialization had left mankind trapped in a deteriorating environment. The damage was not just aesthetically displeasing but threatening to the very survival of man.” Then, President Nixon, in his 1970 State of the Union Address, proposed making the decade ‘a historic period when, by conscious choice,

[we] transform our land into what we want it to become.” 87 By 1970, the USACE’s Saylorville

Reservoir, a major environmental project, was in high gear, moving steadily toward completion.

The project that had started during the Cold War now would finish during the environmental movement. Iowans who joined the movement used newly enacted laws, as well as their own changing perspective, to challenge the USACE and protect their beloved Ledges State Park.

Public response to Saylorville had changed with the times.

87 Jack Lewis, "The Birth of EPA," EPA Journal, vol. 11, no. 9 (November 1985): 6- 11. HeinOnline, https://heinonline.org/HOL/P?h=hein.journals/epajrnl11&i=276. 54

. NEW LAWS BENEFIT LEDGES STATE PARK

As the last phases of construction on the Saylorville Dam neared completion in 1972, public concern regarding the reservoir’s flood pool line grew. The line indicated the water level of the reservoir during a flood event with a predicted frequency of every eight years. The United

States Army Corps of Engineers projected a flood pool line that reached deep into Ledges State

Park.88 The forecasted flooding would submerge the lower park and the distinctive sandstone ledges for weeks, depositing silt and debris as it receded and dramatically altering the ecology of the park. The Des Moines river often overflowed its banks and inundated the lowlands of Ledges park, so flooding was not new to the area. Park rangers marked the high-water level during major floods on a large cottonwood tree near the end of the canyon drive. The potential for more substantial and sustained flooding post-Saylorville, however, was concerning. In 1973 activists demonstrated where the predicted maximum flood level would reach on the same cottonwood tree. At 25 feet deep, the projection was more than twice the depth of the record 1954 flood. The

USACE considered occasional flooding of the state park an inconsequential side effect of the flood control project and noted that the public complaint came too late, as the Saylorville Dam neared its anticipated completion in 1975.89

88 United State Army Corps of Engineers, Final Environmental Impact Statement: Saylorville Lake Flood Control Project, Des Moines River, Iowa (Rock Island, March 1974). 89 “Iowa Student Public Interest Research Group v. Callaway,” Environmental Law Reporter No. 74-8-2 (February 1974). https://elr.info/litigation/4/20360/iowa-student-pirg-v-callaway. 55

Figure 4.1. Hans Goeppinger holds a ladder for David McGinnis and Sheila Kennelly as they mark 25 feet (the depth of predicted floodwater from Saylorville dam) on a cotton wood tree in the Ledges lowlands. Today levels are marked on a flood pole located not far from the where the old cotton wood tree once stood. Otto Knauth, “Saylorville Dam Could Cause 25-Foot Flood at Ledges Park,” Des Moines Register, April 1, 1973, Newspapers.com. 56

Saylorville Dam was not the first project to threaten the Ledges, as several groups had proposed dams on the Des Moines river over the years. One plan in 1922 came from the Iowa

Traction Company of Cedar Rapids, who sought permission to overflow 150 acres of the park.

They proposed erecting a series of hydroelectric dams on the Des Moines River, with one in

Boone county, near the Ledges. The Iowa Board of Conservation studied the proposal and surveyed locals’ feelings regarding the park. Sentiments were very divided, as just a few years earlier, in 1919, a citizen led campaign had contributed $16,000 to acquire more land and ensure protection for the park’s sandstone features. Then, as the Traction Company promised a large recreational lake and cheap power, some people favored sacrificing the Ledges despite their recent investment. Others in the community firmly supported protections for the park and the

Conservation board sought a compromise with the power company that would satisfy all parties.

With no agreement reached, the board denied the Iowa Traction Company’s request and Ledges avoided certain ruin.90

Ledges State Park is located in central Iowa just four miles south of the city of Boone, along the east bank of the Des Moines River. The exposed ridges that inspired the park’s name are Pennsylvanian sandstone sculpted by the Peas and Davis creeks that wind through the area.91

The creeks formed as small meltwater channels from the glacier that stagnated in Iowa 11,000-

12,000 years ago, as did the Des Moines River.92 Evidence of human activity in the park dates to

4,000 years ago and Native American mounds indicate the persistent appeal of the area. When

90 Rebecca Conard, Places of Quiet Beauty: Parks, Preserves, and Environmentalism (Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1997), 105-109. 91 Wayne I. Anderson, Iowa’s Geological Past (Iowa City, University of Iowa Press, 1998), 379. 92 Geological Society of Iowa, Natural History of Ledges State Park and the Des Moines Valley in Boone County, Guidebook 48, April 1988, Iowa Geological Survey, The University of Iowa, https://www.iihr.uiowa.edu/igs/guidebooks-to-state-parks. 57

Europeans arrived in the 1800s, the Sauk, Fox and Lakota tribes inhabited the region. The extraordinary beauty of the Ledges attracted growing numbers of visitors over the decades and in

1924 Iowa dedicated it as one of the first state parks.93

Figure 4.2. Example of sandstone in Ledges State Park with Peas creek in foreground. Photo from authors collection, 2018.

The dedication secured “permanently for the enjoyment of the people of Iowa that beautiful piece of rugged country” because “in a state that is mostly prairie it is important that the few rough spots be conserved.”94 In the 1930s the Civilian Conservation Corps installed numerous

93 “Ledges State Park,” Places to Go, Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Iowa.gov., https://www.iowadnr.gov/Places-to-Go/State-Parks/Iowa-State-Parks/Ledges-State-Park. 94 B.T.B., “In the Spotlight of Today’s News,” The Courier, November 10, 1924, Newspapers.com. 58 stone and native timber structures that enhanced the usability of the park.95 CCC workers constructed the stone arch bridge over Peas creek, miles of trails with timber steps, and stone and wood shelters that visitors continue to enjoy today. Farmland dominates the landscape surrounding the park and driving the two-lane road past acres of corn and soybeans offers a pleasant visual contrast to the aesthetic of the canyon. After passing the park entrance, a one-way road curves through dense woodlands and descends quickly into the canyon. The sandstone walls are alternately shaded and illuminated, rising nearly 100 feet above the creeks snaking through the bottom of the sandy chasm. On warm summer days, visitors wade in the stream and enjoy the splash of water as vehicles ford the creek crossings. Breezes filter through trees on the ridge then swoop down through the canyon while trails winding through the wooded bluffs and shady streambeds offer enchanting vistas during every season.

Figure 4.3. Civilian Conservation Corps workers constructing a stone bridge over Peas Creek in Ledges State Park in the 1930’s. “Eight Historical CCC Parks in Iowa,” Iowa.gov.

95 “Ledges State Park.” 59

Figure 4.4. The stone foot bridge built by the CCC remains in Ledges State Park today. McGhiever, “Ledges State Park Bridge” Wikimedia Commons, accessed March 7, 2021. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ledges_State_Park#/media/File:LedgesStateParkBridge.jpg.

Hans and Wanda Goeppinger live on an acreage just outside the city of Boone. Hans grew up in the area and knows Ledges State Park “like the back of his hand.” As a child, he spent time in the park with his father, Walter Goeppinger. The two hiked through the woodlands and creeks and Walter shared stories with Hans about the park and its custodian, Carl Fritz Henning.

Henning was a self-taught naturalist who held the post of park custodian at Ledges for 20 years beginning in 1921. He also helped to document the various species of animals inhabiting Iowa and often voiced concern over their destruction. While Bison were not found in the Ledges,

Henning’s discovery of bones in central Iowa bogs confirmed that they did once roam the area.

In the Department of Natural Resources field book on the Ledges Henning wrote, “If it were in my power to describe to you the feeling of sadness as I realized that same utter disregard for life

– that had exterminated the buffalo – had already caused the prairie chicken to vanish from our stubble fields and meadow-lands and would ere long hush the bob-white’s note along the 60 roadside – if I could paint this to you in colors true to the real conditions, then never again would one the these noble game birds be destroyed by the hand of man without a just cause.”96

Walter Goeppinger spoke with great admiration and respect for his friend, the custodian, who led the campaign to dedicate the Ledges as a state park. The next generation, Hans and

Wanda, attended Iowa State University, located less than twenty miles east of the park, and they visited the area often during their college days. The two attended picnics and parties and rafted on the Des Moines River with friends. They married, settled in Boone county, and over the years enjoyed time with their own children in the park. But, in 1972 as construction progressed on the

United States Army Corps of Engineers Saylorville Dam project, Goeppinger discerned a threat to Ledges State Park; the dam’s projected flood pool would encroach on the canyon and destroy a large part of the park. He decided to get involved and fight for park protections. “It seemed like it was the right thing to do,” he said more than forty years later. But why dedicate so much of his time to protect a park? Goeppinger thoughtfully considered for a moment and continued, struggling a bit to put his feelings into words, “Because I was raised with that respect for

Henning. He was a great man. I felt like everything that he’d worked for was being threatened and it wasn’t right. It just wasn’t right.”97

In 1972, the Goeppingers felt a sense of stewardship over the land (as they still do today) and believed that it was an intrinsic part of being farmers and landowners. Hans and Wanda both recalled reading scientist and environmental activist Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring,

96 Carl Fritz Henning authored a poetic chapter about the plants and animals located in the park. Department of Natural Resources, Iowa State Conservation Board, Ledges State Park (Ames: The Powers Press, 1925), 11. State Library of Iowa, accessed March 7, 2021, http://publications.iowa.gov/20162/1/Ledges%20State%20Park.pdf. 97 Hans Goeppinger and Wanda Goeppinger interviewed by author, October 30, 2015. 61 published in 1962, and from that they developed an interest in environmentalism in college.

While the book dealt specifically with pesticides poisoning wildlife, Wanda Goeppinger watched the environmental movement develop out of that work and it ignited her desire to protect and preserve the land. “It’s about quality of life and we’re realizing you can’t keep building. You have to preserve that which you have. There’s no more land to be had.” She viewed the Ledges not only as a beloved park but also as a remarkable geological feature; part of an environment in need of protection.98 In her chapter titled “Nature Fights Back” Carson lamented the shortsightedness of humankind, “To have risked so much in our efforts to mold nature to our satisfaction and yet to have failed in achieving our goal would indeed be the final irony. Yet this, it seems, is our situation.”99 The Goeppingers expressed the same concern for an environment incapable of fighting back. The damage forecasted for the Ledges compelled them to organize and defend the park. When Carson testified before a Senate subcommittee investigating pesticides, she cautioned that “our heedless and destructive acts enter into the vast cycles of the earth and in time return to bring hazard to ourselves.”100 The Goeppingers joined the swell of citizens that rose across the country and demanded protections for the environment. Their inspiration and actions are evidence that Silent Spring ignited the modern environmental movement in the 1960s.

Hans and Wanda Goeppinger witnessed the beginning of the environmental movement and the decline of Cold War rhetoric during their university years. While the previous generation concerned themselves with conservationist and protectionist practices, students in the sixties

98 Ibid. 99 Rachel Carson, Silent Spring (Boston: Mariner Books, 2002), 245, ProQuest Ebook Central. 100 Eliza Griswold, “How ‘Silent Spring’ Ignited the Environmental Movement,” New York Times Magazine, nytimes.com, September 2012. 62 experienced the dramatic and often turbulent turn toward civil rights and environmentalism. The

Saylorville Dam, first proposed in the 1930s and funded during the 1950s Cold War, was constructed in the 1960s and ‘70s. A study of the project offers an opportunity to consider how changing legislation and rules governing the environment conflicted with and changed the original construction plan. “Saylorville Dam is important,” noted historian Rebecca Conrad,

“because it represents both sides of the federal flood control controversy and because it reflects the continuing duality of conservationism, as it merged with postwar environmentalism.”101 The project and its stated goal of flood control also provided the opportunity for an outdoor recreation area in close proximity to the capital city of Des Moines, but at the same time risked the loss of scenic areas along the Des Moines River and in Ledges State Park.

The devastation caused by floods from the Des Moines river remained a problem from the earliest days of settlement and as development continued the demand for a solution increased. The Flood Control Act of 1938 approved funds for the USACE to investigate dam sites on the Des Moines river.102 An initial site near Madrid, projected to permanently flood the

Ledges valley garnered a great deal of opposition and the USACE abandoned the plan. The

Second World War interrupted progress on the project but in 1947 another major flood prompted the USACE to proceed with their survey. At that time, they identified Saylorville and Red Rock as viable dam sites. In 1948 the State of Iowa Conservation Commission and other concerned parties joined in opposition to the proposal citing damage to the landscape at Ledges State Park.

But soon thereafter, their opposition didn’t matter as the legislature “muzzled the Commission”

101 Rebecca Conard, Places of Quiet Beauty – Parks, Preserves and Environmentalism (Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1997), 256. 102 Conard, Places, 257. 63 by placing flood control in the hands of the Natural Resources Council. After flooding in 1951,

1952 and 1954 the NRC said, “impairment to the Ledges was unavoidable” and voted in favor of the dam at Saylorville.103 The Flood Control Act of 1958 funded the dam and construction began in 1965 with a projected completion in five years. However, disputes and problems hampered the plan and it was already two years past its target completion date when actions taken by Hans

Goeppinger and others to protect the Ledges delayed the project once again.

Goeppinger filed articles of incorporation to form Iowa Citizens to Save the Ledges

(CSL) on December 1, 1972. The incorporation paperwork required a statement of the group’s purpose, the “stated character of affairs.” Goeppinger declared that the group would work “to prevent as much damage as possible to Ledges State Park from the flood pool of Saylorville

Dam.”104 Shortly after organizing, Goeppinger’s group joined with a collective called the Iowa

Ledges Alliance. The alliance included CSL and all other groups that had the same goal. The document established financial guidelines and membership levels with general members at $1.00 or more, supporting members at $100.00, sponsors at $250.00 and lifetime members at $1000.00.

Goeppinger acted as president of the CSL. Vice President Robert Moorman of Ames, Secretary

Lotus Miller of Ames and Treasurer Dwain K Betten of Boone. Directors Philip Cox, Roger

Landers, Marianne McManus, Richard Martin, James O’Toole, Lester Sturtz, Jack Nystrom, and

Elmer Dobson completed the governing body.105 While no specific plans or methods were included in the group’s constitution it did include spending checks and balances, appointment of

103 For a detailed description on the politics of Ledges State Park see Rebecca Conard’s chapter, “The Lightening Rod Decades.” Conard, Places, 258. 104 Hans Goeppinger, Articles of Incorporation, December 1, 1972. MS97 Iowa Citizens to Save the Ledges, Iowa State University, Parks Library - Special Collections. 105 Goeppinger, Articles. 64 officers and directors and the establishment of committees. Other organizations that formed against the Saylorville Dam included the Ames Reservoir Environmental Study, Citizens United to Save the Valley, the Environmental Council, the Governors Inter Agency Resource Council,

Iowa Citizens for Environmental Quality, the Iowa Conservation Commission (who later supported the dam), the Iowa Student Public Interest Research Group, the Iowa Wildlife Society and Keep Earth’s Environment Pure. Forming the Iowa Ledges Alliance gave Goeppinger and likeminded citizens credibility in the fight against the United States Army Corps of Engineers and its plans that allowed for repeated flooding of the park.

Goeppinger said that he wanted to save the Ledges because “it seemed like the right thing to do.” That noble, straight-forward answer reduces and conceals the amount of knowledge, passion, and commitment he contributed to resolving the conflict. From the beginning of the

Saylorville Dam proposal Goeppinger questioned the stated objective of “flood control” for the city of Des Moines. He asserted that “the true purpose of damming the Des Moines River is to protect the nine-foot shipping channel in the Mississippi River and the larger cities downstream like St. Louis and New Orleans and it was sold to the people of Iowa as a recreation area.” Flood control could be achieved with an alternative plan that included state of the art conservation structures above the dam covering the entire Des Moines river watershed. Using the funds from the dam project the USACE could build terraces, buffers on creeks and grassed terraces that would hold back water and help conservation efforts. Goeppinger felt that the Des Moines

Register and city officials only supported economic development in the Des Moines area and thus represented the “mortal enemy” of his alliance. He also contended that the Register “came out against all suggestions” to protect the Ledges. Goeppinger delivered his deposition to the

Iowa Conservation Commission but they dismissed his recommendations. The ICC officially 65 conducted their own study of the area and Goeppinger skeptically conceded that they

“considered” all the options to reduce damage in the park. “Sure, they did their study, but they had no intention of changing a dang thing!” In the end, by minimizing the effect of future flooding and using the lowest damage estimates, the Commission sided with the city and concluded that Ledges wasn’t worth the trouble.106

Undeterred, Citizens to Save the Ledges retained Robert B. Scism of the Law offices of

Scalise, Scism, Gentry, Brick and Brick from Des Moines. On the same day in 1972 that

Goeppinger incorporated his group, Scism filed a civil suit in U.S. District Court. The plaintiffs,

Iowa Citizens to Save the Ledges, Iowa Citizens for Environmental Quality Inc., and the Sierra

Club, sought an injunction against the defendants, Robert F. Froehlke, Secretary of the Army, Lt.

Gen Frederick J. Clarke, Chief of Engineers, Corps of Engineers of the United States Army, Maj.

Gen. Ernest Graves, Division Engineer, Corps of Engineers North Central Division, and Col.

Walter H. Johnson, District Engineer, Corps of Engineers Rock Island District.107 The environmental groups filed their lawsuit just as workers completed the first two stages of the

Saylorville project and Scism warned his clients that the USACE would never abandon a project so close to completion. Goeppinger and his allies understood the futility of demanding that the

Corps pull out of the project, so they sought defined mitigation strategies established through a comprehensive assessment of the Ledges environment.

CSL’s lawsuit referenced the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969 and the Environmental Quality Act of 1970. The newly enacted NEPA specified that an

106 Hans Goeppinger and Wanda Goeppinger interviewed by author, October 30, 2015. 107 US Army Engineer District- Rock Island, IL, Final Environmental Impact Statement Saylorville Lake Flood Control Project, Des Moines River, Iowa (March 1974). 66

Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) be completed “for a proposed major Federal action significantly affecting the quality of the human environment.”108 While the Flood Control Act of

1958 funded the Saylorville project, the Citizens to Save the Ledges and members of their

Alliance used directives from the more recent 1969 legislation to seek an injunction against the

United States Army Corps of Engineers, thus restraining them from processing jobs bids for the project and pausing construction on the dam.

On December 4, 1972, Judge William C. Smart issued a temporary restraining order against the USACE. This order prevented the Corps from finalizing ancillary contracts, necessary for the dam’s completion, until the lawsuit was settled.109 On December 29, less than a month later, Scism sent Goeppinger a copy of an agreement reached between the USACE and the CSL. This avoided an actual court confrontation and allowed the construction project to continue. Scism said that he was “convinced that we got the best possible result in the briefest period of time.” He noted that the United States Attorney said that the commitment made by the

Corps of Engineers was “unprecedented”. Scism also wrote that it was “rewarding to serve in this cause.”110 The unusual agreement with the USACE signaled a change in the longstanding

“no negotiating” position of the Corps. With the adoption of the NEPA, environmental groups gained new negotiating strength. While the project could continue, the agreement laid out a timetable for meetings between the parties and a deadline of July 1, 1973 for the completion of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). The statement would include a comprehensive

108 The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, Energy.gov. https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/nepapub/nepa_documents/RedDont/Req-NEPA.pdf. 109 Joel Benson, “Ledges Controversy Settled out-of-court,” Iowa State Daily, January 3, 1973, Newspapers.com. 110 Robert B. Scism, Letter to Hans Goeppinger, December 29, 1972, MS97, Iowa Citizens to Save the Ledges, Iowa State University, Parks Library - Special Collections. 67 assessment of the damage expected to occur at the park and options to mitigate those damages.

The Corps also agreed to meetings with all parties in March and May to discuss progress and to receive input from environmentalists and concerned citizens. Leaders of the Alliance cautioned that while the precedent setting agreement gave environmentalists input, the Corps retained the final decision on how to protect the park. Finally, the three organizations could seek legal relief if they did not agree with the engineers’ plans or if they perceived a lack of good effort to fulfill the agreement.111

Goeppinger acted as the representative for the Citizens to Save the Ledges at the first

Inter-Agency Resource Council meeting on February 23, 1973. Others in attendance included:

Jerry Schnepf of the Iowa Conservation Commission, Corps specialists in hydraulics and relocations, representatives from the Iowa Natural Resources Council, Jean Prior of the Iowa

Geological Survey, Wendell Beardsley of the Forestry Department at Iowa State University and

Merwin D. Dougal representing the Iowa State University Environtology Council.112 ISU

President William Robert Parks formed the Environtology Council in 1970. The Council served as an advisory group on environmental issues to the university’s administration, faculty and students.113 Attendees of the Inter-Agency meeting received a timeline for completion of the EIS.

The schedule specified a due date of March 10 for the rough draft and July 1 for the final report.

The rough draft would be distributed to all interested parties for review. Although the requested

111 Benson, “Ledges Controversy.” 112 Minutes of Inter-Agency Resource Council, February 23, 1973. MS97 Iowa Citizens to Save the Ledges Box 3, Iowa State University, Parks Library - Special Collections. 113 The Enviontology Council changed their name to the Environmental Studies Council in 1974, with a goal of creating an interdisciplinary environmental studies program at ISU and appears to have been disbanded in the early 1980’s. Iowa State University Environtology Council, RS 8/5/3, Special Collections Department, Iowa State University Library. 68

EIS came out of arbitration regarding Ledges State Park specifically, it encompassed much of the

Saylorville Lake area. Many experts worked on the comprehensive document that assessed the environmental consequences of damming the Des Moines River. While Frank Collins of the

Army Corps acted as the lead on the EIS and presented the areas identified for study to the council, Merwin Dougal composed the strategy.

Dougal had directed the study of a proposed reservoir on the Skunk River, in Ames, less than a year earlier. The USACE funded that research and enlisted specialists with the University of Iowa and Iowa State’s Environtology Council. The U of I team was especially qualified as they maintained studies of the Coralville Reservoir (operational since 1958) near Iowa City.114

Dougal’s unique experience with reservoir assessment in Iowa surely led to his position as chairman of the Technical Task Force and planner of the environmental impact investigation for

Saylorville.

The first area for study, Ledges State Park, required alternative protection and development plans for the lower park in coordination with the upper Ledges and other recreation areas around the reservoir. Experts sought to identify and preserve ecological interpretative study sites in the park while also restructuring intensively used outdoor recreation areas. The second directive assessed the 4-H Camp and Iowa Arboretum and the impact on their education programs that used the valley’s vegetation, timber and geological resources. What effect would the reservoir have on recreation programs at both locations? Would they be able to continue operating? Farmland surrounded much of the project area, but the valley contained thousands of trees, which Dougal labeled as the third area for study. He divided the reservoir into three

114 “ISU, U of I to Study Impact of Skunk River Reservoir,” Des Moines Register, March 12, 1972, Newspapers.com. 69 regions, and each would be evaluated for varied levels of timber clearing corresponding to the flood pool reach. As the fourth area, and part of the reservoir’s operational plan, researchers evaluated the type and extent of vegetation to form a management program. The program defined the mitigation strategy for vegetation after flood events. The fifth directive investigated sand and gravel deposits in the upper flood pool area. Users, both county and local, public and private, required an evaluation of the possible continued processing of materials. One of the most important topics identified for study was the proposal to increase the operating flood pool level.

Investigators surveyed the impact of a higher pool level on the perimeter environment and reviewed the need to raise the level as high as 890 feet. The new level would increase cleanup costs after a high-water event and threaten relocations that had already been completed like the route of Highway 30. The higher level also caused additional environmental impact that necessitated more study at The Ledges, 4-H Camp, Iowa Arboretum, and other summer camps in the valley. The last region designated for study included the land between the dam site and the levee system for Des Moines. Officials studied the need for flood plain zoning and other control measures along with the proposal for a green belt program along the river.115 With the plan established, experts worked to complete the studies and surveys for inclusion in the EIS.

The Technical Task Force invited representatives of the environmental groups to a meeting on March 15 to observe the open planning process. Chairman Dougal presented a review of the general objectives of the studies being conducted by the USACE and other professionals. While the various experts worked on their assigned areas of study, Goeppinger

115 M. Dougal, “Saylorville Lake Environmental Impact Study, Seven principal environmental study areas.” January 1973. MS97 Iowa Citizens to Save the Ledges, Iowa State University, Parks Library - Special Collections. 70 and his environmental activist allies mobilized public support. After newspapers published notification of the lawsuit filed by Goeppinger’s group, people sent letters and postcards with donations and words of encouragement to the Citizens to Save Ledges. Sentiments such as “We love the park” and “contact me if I can help” were often accompanied by donations of $2.00 to as much as $100.00, all supported Goeppinger in his fight.116

More support appeared in March when the Iowa Student Public Interest Research Group

(ISPIRG) joined the protest. The student group belonged to the larger coalition of Public Interest

Research Groups in the United States. PIRGs advocated for the public interest in matters pertaining to consumer rights, threatened natural environments, and the rights of citizens challenged by special interest lobbyists. Their stated mission is “to deliver persistent, result- oriented public interest activism.”117 Student activists on campuses worked with the professional staff of their colleges and universities to maximize opportunities and training for their peers.118

ISPIRG created a flyer that encouraged citizens to get involved and send letters in support of the

Ledges to Governor Robert Ray and state representative William Scherle. Students handed out the flyers on the campus of Iowa State University and at Ledges State Park although the Iowa

Conservation Commission forbid distribution of the flyers and threatened to evict the students

116 Correspondence with contributions, December 1972. MS97 Iowa Citizens to Save the Ledges, Iowa State University, Parks Library - Special Collections. 117 Iowa Public Interest Research Group Records, 1957-1979. MS 543, Iowa State University, Parks Library – Special Collections. 118 In the 1970’s many college campuses had PIRGs, in 2020 their site lists 35 colleges in the United States. Student PIRGs, “Who We Are”, accessed December 21, 2020, www.Studentpirgs.org. 71 from park lands. When the two parties clashed, ISPIRG threatened the Commission with a lawsuit, the ICC reconsidered and withdrew their orders, and the leafleting continued.119

The Environtology Council conducted a survey and presented the information in the

“Report of Public Opinion on the Saylorville Reservoir and Ledges State Park.” The results showed that the public overwhelmingly desired that Ledges be saved by alteration to the

Saylorville plan. The survey confirmed the popularity of the park, with 88% of respondents having visited the park at some time and 75% within the last year. Most (71%) spent their time in the lower ledges (threatened area) and only 7% said nothing should be done. As only 15% of respondents were unaware of the options to save the park, it appeared the environmentalists’ campaign to raise awareness had been successful.120

The United States Army Corps of Engineers released a draft of the Environmental Impact

Statement in June of 1973 and sent copies for review and comment to all interested parties. Ten local and university libraries also received copies for public inspection. Citizens to Save the

Ledges noted a lack of attention to the park in the report and the Environtology Council at Iowa

State University stated that they “found many scientific mistakes and unprofessional remarks.”121

The mistakes and remarks were not specifically identified, however during a public hearing on the draft, held at Kildee auditorium in Ames, council members voiced a few of their concerns.

While a barrier dam could prevent flooding in the lower ledges and was favored by activists, sufficient data to fully assess the plan was not included in the EIS. In addition, they questioned

119 Iowa Student Public Interest Research Group document. March 1973. MS97 Box 3, Iowa Citizens to Save the Ledges, Iowa State University, Parks Library - Special Collections. 120 Save the Ledges Coalition News Release. June 1973. MS97 Box 3, Iowa Citizens to Save the Ledges, Iowa State University, Parks Library - Special Collections. 121 Ibid. Box 1. 72 whether the completed dam would fully control flooding and further noted that the recreational benefits were exaggerated.122 After a careful review of the EIS, Professor Merwin Dougal proposed three options for saving the Ledges. Assessing the viability and cost of the options fell to Gerry Schnepf as head of the Iowa Conservation Commission. In time Schnepf and

Goeppinger became the point men for the opposing sides in the conflict.

While Goeppinger came to the battleground as a local landowner and passionate environmentalist, Schnepf said he was “just doing his job”. He came to Iowa and the job at the

Iowa Conservation Commission from Canada where he recently completed the planning for a large outdoor recreation area. Schnepf described himself as a conservationist working for the government as a planner, not a “bureaucrat.” He spoke with grudging admiration of Goeppinger and their discussions during the conflict over the Ledges and smiled as he remembered various altercations with “Hans.” Schnepf and Goeppinger met during one of the first EIS meetings with all the environmental groups and the USACE. Schnepf says he shook hands with Goeppinger and told him that when all was said and done, they would have to agree to walk away without any hard feelings. Continuing with a grin and shaking his head, “That’s not how it went though.

Hans didn’t let it go. He didn’t like the way it all worked out.”123 During the author’s interview with Goeppinger he suggested that Schnepf be interviewed for the “other side of the story.” It was obvious that the two men developed a mutual respect over the years. Although Schnepf knew that Goeppinger disagreed with the final agreement, he maintained that he got the best deal

122 “Pledge continued efforts to save the Ledges,” Ames Daily Tribune, July 19, 1973, Newspapers.com. 123 Gerry Schnepf interviewed by Author, April 27, 2016. 73 for the state and he was proud of his negotiations with the United States Army Corps of

Engineers.

The Iowa Conservation Commission, led by Gerry Schnepf, delivered a statement about the project to Iowa Governor Robert Ray in early August. The report laid out the “facts about the protective measures proposed to protect the lower portion of the Ledges State park.”124 Schnepf presented the three alternatives recommended by Merwin Dougal and the task force for

“mitigating the reservoir flooding.” The first option was to construct a barrier dam in the Des

Moines River flood plain. The second was to introduce enlarged scope management and mitigation programs for coping with the aftermath of flooding in the park. The third option recommended changes in the flood control storage allocation and associated release rates.125 The

Commission’s report included each option’s associated costs, anticipated completion times, and a review of the beneficial and adverse effects.

The barrier dam option carried with it a huge amount of construction time and cost.

Estimated at $5.4 -7 million, the proposed dam measured 7,000 feet long, 32 feet high, 10 feet wide at the top and 320 feet wide at the base. The 55-acre foundation required 1.3 million cubic yards of fill that was unavailable locally. Fill material for an earthen dam must meet specific size and moisture parameters to create a sound impermeable structure. The area around Ledges was unacceptable for fill as it contained alluvial soils. These soils are deposited by surface water and are found along rivers, streams and in floodplains. This meant that all the fill material would

124 Fred A. Priewert, Director Iowa Conservation Commission. “Statement to Governor Ray”. August 2. 1973. MS97 Correspondence, Iowa Citizens to Save the Ledges, Iowa State University, Parks Library - Special Collections. 125 Ibid. 74 have to be brought in by truck from other regions at great expense. The barrier dam design also required a channel change of the river. Engineers would excavate a new channel, the river would be rerouted and the old channel - cut off from the flow, would create an oxbow lake. An estimated annual maintenance fee of $12,000 covered the outflow structure and a pumping plant.

The required sub impoundments (smaller lakes) of Peas and Davis Creeks had a projected cost of one million dollars. Finally, the state would have to acquire 600 additional acres of land to complete this most expensive option to protect the park.

The Commission acknowledged the benefits of a barrier dam but effectively negated the option with a long list of adverse impacts. The biggest benefit recognized by the study was that the dam effectively separated the Ledges from the flood pool and reduced the flooding impact at an 890-foot elevation (the elevation projected to “occur once in 76 years”).126 Secondly, the vulnerable Peas Creek area and sandstone gorge would be protected. In addition, the new sub impoundments created wildlife habitat and recreation areas. The short list of positives preceded a page of adverse impacts. The negative effects of the barrier dam are notably familiar because the building of a barrier dam simply shifted the projected flooding damage from the Ledges lowlands to the new river channel area. The project reduced the natural river floodplain from 207 acres to 152. Ponding waters would kill vegetation, and as those waters receded mud flats would develop. Recreation in the lower Ledges would still need to be relocated to accommodate the oxbow lake and maintenance problems caused by siltation in the area would be an additional expense to be covered by the USACE over the lifetime of the park. Silt would also be a problem in the Peas and Davis creeks requiring dredging in the future. The alluvial soils that were

126 Ibid. 75 unsuitable for fill of the barrier dam also required additional engineering. The 15-foot-deep concrete footings would obstruct the natural underground infiltration to the river causing a rise in the water table and creating marsh areas unsuitable for park use. The dam would obstruct the scenic views from Camp Hantessa, the Camp Fire Girls camp, located north of the park. The

Saylorville dam project had already displaced similar camps, so Camp Hantessa garnered attention from officials. The proposed channel change triggered concerns about disrupting fish habitats and increased cost of debris cleanup caused by the increased water velocity. One of the more interesting negatives listed for the barrier dam proposal was the additional fuel use. In

1973, gasoline shortages plagued the country and citizens experienced long lines and “out of gas” signs when trying to refuel their vehicles. Experts noted that construction would use

740,000 gallons of diesel fuel and 8,000 gallons of gasoline.127 All things considered, the long list of costs and future blights paled in comparison to the last adverse effect on the list, and that was the delayed completion of the Saylorville Dam. Engineers projected at least one year to complete the barrier dam and given the time already expended on the current dam that estimate seemed overly optimistic. Adding another year to the already significantly delayed dam project would mean another year without flood protection for the city of Des Moines. The possibility of another catastrophic flood could not be ignored; the barrier dam option never really had a chance.

The second option enlarged the scope of management and mitigation by the State of Iowa and required several actions to achieve the desired outcome. This “desired outcome” was not

127 Fred A. Priewert, Director Iowa Conservation Commission. “Statement to Governor Ray”. August 2. 1973. MS97 Correspondence, Iowa Citizens to Save the Ledges, Iowa State University, Parks Library - Special Collections.

76 acceptable to environmental groups. Planners proposed a re-designed park that worked around the expected flooding from Saylorville Dam. The plan maintained the original reservoir flood operation schedule, maximized flood protection benefits, and secured the primary objective

(protecting the City of Des Moines) of Saylorville. To accomplish this the state would obtain lands in Peas and Davis creek valleys to supplant the lower Ledges flooded area, replace and relocate existing facilities from the lowlands, secure a settlement with the United States Army

Corps of Engineers to offset the costs of clearing, renovation and replanting, and gain an equivalent sum for maintenance and the required clean up, rehabilitation and weed control once waters receded. The option also required an inventory of ecological, geological and recreational features of the streams to determine areas for acquisition. This was essentially a plan by the state to secure money from the federal government for cleaning up the park after future flooding. Final figures were not calculated but officials assumed the cost to be less than that of the barrier dam.128

Several features made this the most attractive option for all government officials. It helped maintain the natural phenomenon of the river, lower Ledges, Peas and Davis Creeks and conserved the natural environmental qualities of the area. The flood plain remained, and marshes would be fewer than with the barrier dam option. The state of Iowa would increase their land holdings to effectively manage recreation and wildlife and fisheries’ interests. Negligible adverse effects existed with this option according to the planners. They asserted that while standing water would affect native vegetation, they would simply establish water tolerant plant species. The cost of silt removal from recreational areas after a flood event would be covered by funds from the

128 Ibid. 77

USACE. Finally, the slightly changed vista maintained most of the open river views. This plan simply confirmed the commitment of officials to obtain flood protection for Des Moines with little regard for the Ledges.

The third and last option under consideration required changes to the original Saylorville dam master plan. Adjustments to release rates and changes to operation implementation would lower the flood pool and reduce damage upstream. Reservoir levels are managed by regulating the rate that water is released through the dam’s gate and those rates are measured in cubic feet per second. A faster rate releases water quickly, holding less water behind the dam and dropping water levels in the lake thus reducing the extent of the pool into the valley. The Conservation

Commission offered no benefits for this option but noted the potential impact on various aspects of the Saylorville Dam and its flood protection capabilities. Increased release rates reduce the storage capacity of a reservoir thus reducing overall flood protection downstream. In times of heavy inflows to the lake, if Saylorville’s maximum flood pool level of 890 feet was maintained, damage downstream was reduced from $4,000,000 to an estimated $234,000 (in 1973). If the level was reduced to 884 feet, the damage downstream increased by $1,000,000 or more and further reductions increased downstream flood damage. To eliminate flooding at the Ledges the pool level would need to be reduced to 860 feet; over two-thirds of the storage would be lost and

“the flood control project would lose its utility and original purpose to a great extent.”129

As the various groups and government officials evaluated the options it was quickly apparent that Corps engineers opposed the barrier dam solution, but the most vocal

129 Fred A. Priewert, Director Iowa Conservation Commission. “Statement to Governor Ray”. August 2. 1973. MS97 Correspondence, Iowa Citizens to Save the Ledges, Iowa State University, Parks Library - Special Collections. 78 environmental representatives and students felt strongly that the dam provided the ideal protection for the park. The two sides faced off in September of 1973 at a public hearing in Des

Moines. Between 700 and 1000 people attended, including 100 students from Iowa State

University. Residents from Story and Polk county joined the students to protest the USACE and their plans to flood the Des Moines Valley and Ledges State Park. Representatives from several environmental groups, including Hans Goeppinger from the Citizens to Save the Ledges, attended. Col. Walter Johnson, head of the Rock Island Corps office and other engineers joined officials from Polk City, Johnston, Des Moines, Keokuk and Quincy, Illinois. The engineers maintained that the project must be completed as planned to prevent future flooding in south central and southeastern Iowa. They also reiterated that developed areas long the Des Moines and Racoon rivers would incur millions of dollars of damage due to future floods without the dam. City officials claimed they would have to spend millions of dollars shoring up their local flood control projects without the Saylorville Dam.130

Corps engineers explained that nearly $10 million had already been spent completing sixty per cent of the project and to abandon it now would be a significant waste of money. They also shut down any consideration of the barrier dam option stating that the plan was economically infeasible. Officials described the barrier dam as an eyesore and emphasized that the proposal also required rechanneling the river. The explanations against the favored option drew angry speeches from Ledges supporters. “Worship of the almighty inflated dollar should not be a factor in the preservation of one of Iowa’s most unique natural regions,” objected Rep.

130 Des Moines (UPI), “Ledges project angrily debated,” Ames Daily Tribune, September 27, 1973, Newspapers.com. 79

Sonja Egenes from Story City.131 Clark Bowen, President of the local Sierra Club, shouted at

Corps representatives, “you people don’t know what you have there. During the flood season, we’ll have a swamp, and during the dry season we’ll have a visual blight. Nothing will grow but ragweed and marijuana.” A statement from Sen. Jack Nystrom was shared with attendees. He lamented that the apparent solution to overuse at the park was to destroy it and have no visitors.

He compared the predicted flooding of the park to turning Yellowstone National Park over to the logging industry.132

Professor Dougal acknowledged that the dam must be completed for the necessary flood control but added that damage to Ledges could be reduced by adopting any of the three options, options that most of the protestors supported. Hans Goeppinger felt that limiting the amount of water stored in the reservoir protected much of the lower Ledges and still offered adequate flood protection downstream. Goeppinger’s support of limited reservoir levels, as suggested by

Dougal, became the focus of negotiations moving forward.

For the next eighteen months negotiations continued as did the final phase of construction on the Saylorville Dam. A press conference held by ISPIRG and CSL on July 21, 1975, announced their support for the Governor’s proposal to increase the release rate at Saylorville.

The protest groups changed their position because of their inability to obtain an endorsement for the barrier dam. The Iowa Sierra Club and Iowa Wildlife Federation concurred. A statement from the groups noted that the policy change “should not be considered a victory for the

131 Ibid. 132 Ibid. 80 governor or a defeat for the citizens.”133 The campaign achieved protection for Ledges State Park with increased release rates at Saylorville. USACE original planned release rates of 8,000 cubic feet per second changed to the new rate of 16,000 cubic feet per second during the non-growing season and 12,000 cubic feet per second in the growing season. The new rate kept the pool at a lower level so that during a flood event the park would be inundated for less time. Congress authorized the changes to the release rate and the additional land acquisition below the dam.

More land would be needed for the flood plain downstream with increased release rates.134

For three years Hans Goeppinger campaigned to save Ledges State Park from the destructive forces of increased flooding in the Des Moines River valley. As 1975 ended, his group, Citizens to Save the Ledges, with no available funding, ceased official operations.

Goeppinger continued his watch over the Ledges and kept his eyes and ears open for any moves by the Corps that violated their agreement. “Sure enough, after the first high water events at the dam they reduced the release rates without notifying the public.” Hans recalls that the USACE told him that the agreement was “like the tablets of Moses, not to messed with.”135 But they did mess with it and the reduced rates led to longer flood events in the lower Ledges just as he feared. Without the higher release rates, the water level rises more quickly into the park and remains longer. As the water slowly recedes it leaves mud and refuse destroying the parks native plants. Several years later the USACE added more height to the emergency spillway at

Saylorville, thereby increasing the flood pool beyond even the original plans. Goeppinger feels that the Corps knew that small environmental groups would not be able to raise the money to

133 Press Conference Statement. MS97 Box 3, Iowa Citizens to Save the Ledges, Iowa State University, Parks Library - Special Collections. 134 Ibid. 135 Hans Goeppinger and Wanda Goeppinger interviewed by author, October 30, 2015. 81 fight them in court, so “they did what they wanted.”136 Goeppinger walked away from environmental protest and political activism after the Saylorville conflict. He claims that he’s not an “activist,” but just does what he thinks is right. Now, forty years later a company is trying to lay a pipeline across his property and Goeppinger doesn’t think that’s right.

The sandstone ledges in central Iowa formed simultaneously with the Des Moines River and no doubt survived thousands of floods before human manipulation of the environment on such a large scale began. When explorers moved west across the United States, they discovered numerous “natural wonders” and many, like Yellowstone and Yosemite, gained protection as national parks in the subsequent years. Iowa did not gain any nationally recognized parks, however, a few singular landforms in the state drew settlers’ admiration and those areas became state parks. In the 1970s, Ledges State Park faced the threat of sustained flooding due to the future Saylorville Dam. While the federally staffed United States Army Corps of Engineers led the project, the federal government also enacted environmental protection laws that activists used to force negotiations and alter the parameters of the original master plan.

136 Hans Goeppinger and Wanda Goeppinger interviewed by author, October 30, 2015.

. CONCLUSION

Well over a million visitors a year enjoy Saylorville Lake and the surrounding recreation areas in central Iowa. They utilize campgrounds and park shelters, trails and beaches, wildlife and watersports – all with little acknowledgement of the time and effort required to plan, negotiate and build the reservoir between 1939 and 1977. When the floodgates of Saylorville

Dam closed in 1977 one long process of environmental manipulation ended, but another began.

The new phase promised flood control and outdoor fun, and came as a reward for Iowans’ money, work, and sacrifice on the decades long dam project.

I certainly enjoyed part of the Saylorville area in 2008 when our family attended my son’s team party one evening in June. We gathered at a home located just downhill and southeast of the dam. While the boys threw the ball around the parents sat and chatted under the branches of a giant cottonwood tree. A pretty Iowa vista stretched out in front of us. Looking south over the hilly gravel drive was a freshly mowed hay field and beyond that a stream (Rock Creek) with more big trees and tangled underbrush. I asked where the property line fell, knowing that many tracts in the area bordered federal and state preserves. The family owned the parcel at the bottom of the hill and the adjacent field, ending at the creek, while the property at the top of the hill and north belonged to their children’s grandma, Viz Schmitt. My conversation with Schmitt that night centered around her family’s experience during the construction of the Saylorville Dam and her story indelibly changed the way I perceived the lake and recreation areas in the Des

Moines river valley. With research, my understanding of the evolution of this central Iowa environment has deepened even further. 83

The Des Moines river formed from a melt water channel as the last glaciers that advanced into the United States retreated. As human settlement grew along the river in the late 1800s, frequent flooding caused death and destruction, necessitating flood control by way of a dam and reservoir north of Iowa’s capital city. Saylorville lake covers land that was once platted and owned by families and farmers - people who cared for the land and loved their homes. Today, however, that property is owned by the United States or the State of Iowa and was taken by the federal government through eminent domain statutes. Former homesteads were inundated by the waters of Saylorville when the dam was completed in 1977. Eminent domain and the fifth amendment gave the government rights to secure private land for projects that benefited the public as long as they fairly compensated property owners. Although some owners wanted to maintain their homesteads and to live, work and die on their land and hand it down to future generations, people living in the path of the Saylorville Reservoir had no choice but to sacrifice their lands for the greater good and move on.

Families who sold their land to the federal government re-established their lives elsewhere but when the future reservoir threatened Polk City the solution was not as easily realized. The original master plan issued by the United States Army Corps of Engineers created a hypothetical shoreline that encroached on three sides of the small town of Polk City, leaving the residents stranded on a peninsula with one north bound road. Responding to the potential isolation of the town, federal and state officials considered a few options, then announced the creation of a second recreation area. Big Creek State Park fulfilled the state initiative and solved the federal project’s shortsightedness. While saving Polk City was seen as a win for all parties the expense caused friction between the government officials. The USACE demanded that local officials secure funding for levees in Des Moines that were needed to complete the flood control 84 project. City leaders were shocked at the cost and changes to their own riverfront plans but when the Corps threatened to halt construction on Saylorville Dam, they found a way to proceed. In the end all three parties benefitted from the completed projects. The large federal dam regulates downstream river levels, the levees protect the city of Des Moines, and Polk City gained additional revenue from visitors and increased property values. It seemed that at last all the problems had been solved and the project could roll to completion. However, several miles upriver, the northern edge of the future reservoir threatened a prized park and provoked citizens to block the final stage of construction at Saylorville.

Ledges State Park is one of the most loved outdoor destinations in Iowa. People wade in the shallow clear stream waters and picnic in the shade of the canyon walls during the summer.

They hike the trails and photograph foliage in the fall and drive down into the canyon to ford the creeks until winter weather ices them over. While the park was used extensively over the years it was also closed frequently because of flooding when the Des Moines river backed up into the lower Ledges. The 1970 plans to dam the river, however, increased the frequency and duration of projected floodwaters in the park. Citizens and students rallied, formed new activist groups, and joined with established national organizations. Most of the groups initially favored the building of an additional barrier dam north of the Ledges, but they settled for securing mitigation strategies that would protect the park from undesirable environmental changes. The USACE agreed to alter their operating procedures and implemented an increased release rate, which reduced the water level in the reservoir and shortened the length of time flood zones were inundated. It was a weak concession by the Corps that did not please park supporters. Federal officials finished the dam and proceeded with their mission of flood control. 85

The federal government built Saylorville to alleviate flooding in the city of Des Moines and downstream on the Mississippi. central Iowans, however, also worked to ensure that the mammoth project was beneficial to the entire area. Local entities demanded that the USACE rework their master plan to accommodate their needs. Those adjustments and negotiations delayed the project and the original completion date of 1970 was pushed to 1977, almost two full decades after the dam’s initial authorization in the Flood Control Act of 1958. Saylorville got its start during the Cold War, when the fear of communism permeated the United States population.

In 1965, when the first shovel broke ground at the dam site, the citizens of central Iowa came face to face with the United States military. As uniformed officers from the Army Corps of

Engineers informed landowners that their property would be seized for the flood control project, patriotic sensibilities, a remnant of WWII, compelled them to comply. However, as the project sputtered toward the finish line years later the public embraced a new response to authority - activism.

The environmental movement in the United States quickly gained prominence in the late

1960s. In 1965 only one third of Americans surveyed felt that pollution was a serious problem where they lived, but in 1967 it was 50% and by 1970 nearly 70% were concerned about their environment. Between 1965 and 1970, Sierra Club memberships tripled to more than 100,000.

Richard Nixon became president just as environmental concerns peaked and, following his advisors’ recommendations, he proposed “an ambitious and expensive pollution-fighting agenda to Congress,” and went on to “create the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other key 86 elements of the nation’s modern environmental regime.”137 Nixon signed the National

Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) into law in January of 1969. Environmental activists in Iowa then used provisions from the legislation that required the USACE to complete an Environmental

Iowa moved through the decades of the mid-twentieth century, both reacting to local pressures and reflecting national concerns.

In the years after the dam’s completion there have been many high-water events and a couple of historic floods, in 1993 and 2008. Only a few years after completing the dam the

USACE added pneumatic crest gates to the emergency spillway. When deployed these gates increase the pool elevation to 890 feet, but if the water level is projected to rise higher the gates are lowered and water is allowed to overtop the emergency spillway. This occurred as recently as

2010. Of course, the increased level at the spillway leads to higher water upstream. The pole at

Ledges records the water depth during flood events and is now marked with the years 1993,

2008, 1991, 1984, 1983, 1979, 1954, and 1965.138 The park has recorded six record-breaking floods since the dam was completed. The USACE reports millions of dollars saved by their flood control, but it is obviously imperfect and as silt fills the lake and its capacity is reduced the effectiveness of the dam is reduced also. Recreational areas are often flooded out for long

137 Meir Rinde, “Richard Nixon and the Rise of American Environmentalism,” Distillations, Science History Institute, June 2, 2017, https://www.sciencehistory.org/distillations/richard- nixon-and-the-rise-of-american-environmentalism. 138 The years are listed in descending order on the pole. The deepest flood waters in 1993 and the lowest recorded in 1965, (before completion of the dam). 87 periods of the summer season and while state parks are open year-round, the Corps closes shelter and camping areas from October to April.

Even a dam project as large as Saylorville is not necessarily permanent. There are rivers in the U.S. that have been undammed. As the benefits of reservoirs are diminished by age and silting and the maintenance costs or the costs to install fish runs increase, many states are returning rivers to their original courses.139 This is not likely to happen at Saylorville soon, but it is possible for the future. When that time comes, central Iowans might have to prepare for another decades long project. Removing a dam requires nearly the same amount of environmental manipulation as building one.

139 Anna Lieb, “The Undamming of America,” NOVA, August 12, 2015, pbs.org.

Figure 5.1. Aerial photo of the area in 1960. The Des Moines River meanders through the left half of photo. Viz Schmitt’s property is located at the intersection of Rock Creek and the river. “Iowa Geographic Map Server,” Iowa State University GIS Facility. https://isugisf.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=47acfd9d3b6548d498b0ad26 04252a5c.

Figure 5.2. Same image as figure 5.1 with current hydrography of area. “Iowa Geographic Map Server,” Iowa State University GIS Facility. https://isugisf.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=47acfd9d3b6548d498b0ad26 04252a5c. 90

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