:Friday, April 25, 2014
INDIAN DAM
The early Native Americans who lived along the Iowa River long before the Amana Colonists arrived left a beautiful landscape element quite unique to Amana. The "Indian Dam" was a V-shaped dam (fish wier) built into the Iowa River between Amana and Homestead. It compressed the river into a narrow stream to facilitate trapping and spearing fish. A U-shaped pool was there to hold fish. How this worked we now are not quite sure as local efforts rendered no fish. This dam is seen only when the water is very low, but may be under silt and sand due to the fact the river path has moved northeast a bit.. Many locals made it a popular fishing and recreation area. I did see it in 1992 just below the nature trail near Homestead, a wonderful sight!
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Renate (Mrs. Schulte to me.),
ReplyDeleteThis is beautiful. Thank you so much for taking these photos and sharing! I have many wonderful memories of time ar the Indian Dam. I have one photofrom a fall day in 1985, spent there with Maggie Geiger. The photo is among my FB albums. I'm ecited to share your photos. So wonderdul to "see you" neighbor.
Wonderful...Thank you for viewing and enjoying...Nice to hear from you neighbor!
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