World United States Iowa Storm Lake

Tripping Across the U.S.A.

Storm Lake, IA, Finding Roots May 21, 2010

We crossed the border into Minnesota, today, to visit the pipestone Quarry National Monument. For generations the Sioux and other indians have quarried a vein of soft red stone here to carve into their ceremonial pipes. It is a site of great significance to the indians, and it was a most interesting and educational stop. We continued on across Southern Minnesota driving through enormous fields of rich, black earth, last years corn stalks and spring wheat, where once vast prairie stretched from horizon to horizon. The stretch of fields is only broken by an ocassional silo and large green windbreaks that shelter the scattered farmhouses and out buildings. It is not difficult to determine from which direction the wind blows. One only has to look at which side of the house the windbreak is on. Every house has one. There is a row of shrubs, usually lilacs, then one to four rows of diciduous trees followed by another row of shrubs. Sometimes a row of evergreens if thrown in. Uuslly they are just on one side, but sometimes two or three sides are surrounded. Since nature doesn't make things in stright lines or squares, their appearance in the fields seems odd, to say the least. When we discovered that Storm Lake,Iowa was just across the border from our route, I just had to divert to see that town, for that was where My father was born in 1897, and when he was a year old, his family moved to Spencer just 37 miles away. Both of the towns are small, so we drove through both, looking at the old parts. I found the street where my father had lived in Spencer, but I didn't have the exact address, unfortunately. It was interesting to see the area, never the less. Tomorrow we are off in search of Frank Lloyd Wright in Spring Hill, Wisconsin. It is a long drive, so I hope we make it.

Advertisement