Stone City

    The lodge at Palisades-Kepler is a massive stone structure built in the 1930's by the Civilian Conservation Corps. A huge furnace was used to heat the lodge  and  the heat was vented by duct work under the floor and out seven of these 6" X 28" grate openings.  Our other job at Palisades was to lay a base in each opening and fill it in with limestone block.

 So our next stop was the

 Weber Stone Company in Stone City, it has one of the largest production capacities in the Midwest to pick up 7 blocks to work up to slide in to the vent openings.

 Grant Wood captured the natural splendor of Stone City, Iowa. The wondrous beauty of this painting still remains in the valley of Stone City. The monumental buildings and rolling hills are as pronounced as when Grant Wood created this painting years ago.

Over a 80 years has passed since the CCC used limestone from Stone City to building of many park facilities. The roads, hiking trails, entry portals, lodge and other timber and stone structures.

After laying our final course of stone for the day at the parks entry way.  We decided to try our hand at facing the stone.



We marked a line about 1/2" in on the stone face and struck the stone flaking off the edge to create a bull nose edge on the stone. 







 We made quick work of job and we're set to go for the next day.






The camping and the food were some of the  best things about the job.

Mart, making toads in a hole or pop eyes for breakfast.

















Oh ya... the company that stopped by the camp  was GREAT too.








Back out to the job on Monday for some log work.

Historic Reconstruction of Stone Cloumns.

 Just got back from a week on the road with Marty.  Mart bid the reconstruction job on two of  the stone/log  entry portals  just off highway 30 as you enter the state park.


 Palisades-Kepler State Park lies along the beautiful Cedar River in Linn County. The 840-acre park has dramatic river bluffs, deep ravines, majestic hardwood trees, a large variety of wildflowers and an abundance of wildlife. Palisades-Kepler State Park is also important for its prehistoric past. A molar tooth of a mammoth was once found here and the exposed rocks along the Cedar River are laden with fossils of millions of years of history. The presence of Indian mounds reminds us that this was a favorite haunt of Native Americans hundreds of years ago.





 Last spring a car entering the park crashed into one of the stone columns and knocking off the logs.


 

 In July 1934, a Civilian Conservation Corps company was established at Palisades-Kepler. Three barracks and a mess hall were built; then, work started on the building of many park facilities. The roads, hiking trails, entry portals, lodge and other timber and stone structures remain to give the park much of its rustic character. The C.C.C. camp of 200 young men closed in 1941.











 So, we got right to work salvaging stone from the columns and doing some puzzle work trying to piece it back together.  After building the stone addition with random rock pieces this project was a piece of cake.  Working with cut stone was a real pleasure and I really enjoyed it.

 The end column all blocked and ready to tuck point.

Marty looks over the final stone work.   Anchor rods installed and lined up along with all the  tuck pointing.  We'll do the log work next week as just a one day project.