Two Lane Adventures: Day 28 of 117 on our “Go West, Young Man” Two Lane Adventure

Departed Three Fingers Campground on 359^th Street. As we drove, we passed by corn, soybeans, grain elevators, silos, and wind turbines. To me all of these, plus the farmers make up the heartbeat of America.

Thompson, Iowa has a population of just over 600, yet this little town is the home of the Winnebago County Fair held annually, in late July. Size does not always matter.

Route 9 W - Iowa Highway 9 is the most northern of Iowa's east–west highways, traversing the entire northern tier of counties. It is largely rural in character, bypassing any large city. Making a few dips north and south, the highway largely follows a very straight east–west alignment.

We have past many silos in our travels in Iowa. We know that Iowa is famous for its agriculture. There has to be some heritage of barns and silos. Around the first half of the 1900s, Iowa clay was extensively used to make brick and tile. Mason City had nine brick and tile plants. This brick and tile industry is still visible today in the old barns and silos that dot the Iowa landscape. Look at the detail on the top of this silo.

We entered the town of Buffalo Center. Why is it called Buffalo Center? Because it was midway between the north and south forks of Buffalo Creek, the town was originally built south of the present site and moved north when the Chicago and Iowa Western Railroad set up lines in northern Iowa. It was settled in 1892 on mostly swampy ground, later dredged and tiled. One of the original settlers, Howard Pomeroy, took a mower and mowed through his wheat fields to show where the streets would be, and a hardware store and a blacksmith shop were the first stores in town. Buffalo Center has survived many fires which destroyed Main Street businesses over and over, a tornado or two on the edges of town, and several blizzards like the Armistice Day storm of November 11, 1940. On August 23, 1897, Buffalo Center became the first school west of the Mississippi Rover to be consolidated, and it is believed to be the second one in the nation.

Our next town was Swea City. When it was first platted in 1892, it was then called Reynolds. In February 1893, the name was officially changed to Swea City. Swea City was petitioned for incorporation on December 11, 1894 with a population of 161. The vote was 34 in favor of incorporation and 1 against, and the city was incorporated. Swea City derives its name from “Svea,” a nickname for Swedish pioneer leader Captain RE Jensen who settled in the area in 1870.

On May 10, 1879, a 455 pound meteorite fell to the earth in Emmet County, just a few miles north of Estherville and has become known as the Estherville Meteorite. It is the largest Meteorite that has been known to have fallen in North America. When it struck it buried itself 15 feet in the ground. Portions of the meteorite are on display in the Estherville Public Library, the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History and a Museum in Vienna, Austria. In 1980 the Estherville Area Arts Council held Estherville Sculpture Competition with the theme of the Estherville Meteorite. The winner of the competition was Tom Gibbs, a Dubuque sculptor. The sculpture was titled “Estherville Meteorite” and the sculpture was placed in Library Square. When Mr. Gibb discussed the piece he said, “Although it is by no means intended as any kind of realistic representation of a meteor, it is meant to capture the spirit of the occurrence. It will have the visual impact of an exploding mass. The sculpture is appearing to be in the act of breaking into three pieces, as the meteor did, according to eyewitness accounts.

On the west side of Estherville, the West Fork of the Des Moine River was over its banks and impeding a park. They must have had some serious rain here.

On the eastern edge of Spirit Lake, we turned along Spirit Lake and headed toward our home for the night.

We arrived at Elinor Bedell State Park. Where Jan & Dean joined us, or actually we joined them, since they were here for last night too!

I really wanted to see the Dickson County Freedom Rock in Lake Park. So did Dean and Jan, so Nancy and I rode with them to see it.

When Lake Park American Legion Post #371 Commander James Kessler heard about this opportunity, he asked and received permission from the Post and the City to apply for the "Freedom Rock" in Dickinson County. After hearing Lake Park will receive the Dickinson County Freedom Rock, a committee was formed to finance the project as well as place a Veterans Memorial around it. The Memorial will honor all Veterans of the Lake Park community with the Freedom Rock honoring the Veterans of Dickinson County. The Freedom Rock/Veterans Memorial will be placed just east of the Lake Park Community Center in Veterans Park.

The layout of the memorial shows the unity between all the branches and our veterans. Each military branch is represented by field rock set in the middle of a circle signifying that branch's activity and retired service members. All those rings intersect with the center ring around the Freedom Rock showing the unity of all those who served or are serving.

The top circle, as you enter the Memorial from the south, is in honor of the families who have also sacrificed in their support of their service member. Also as you enter the Memorial you will see the flag of our country flanked by our state flag and the POW/MIA flag leading the way. You will also see the 5 service flags behind the Memorial protecting us from all those that threaten our freedoms.

The north face of the Freedom Rock centerpiece features late Dickinson County veterans Rachel Wunder, a surgical nurse from Lake Park who served in World War II; Milton Simpson of Terril, who was killed in action in Germany in 1944; Ed Gath, a soldier from tiny Montgomery, Iowa, who was killed in action in North Korea in 1951; Wilber “Bill” Ahart, a Spirit Lake, Iowa, resident who survived the Bataan Death March in World War II; and Spirit Laker Lawrence Lambert, who survived for 27 months as a prisoner of war in Germany during World War II.