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| I don't have a hog barn, but the NADC has a bunch of animal buildings about mile 114. Then there are many hog buildings in the next county north beginning about mile 125.
You crossed the Skunk River at Colfax on I-80, then again south of Ames about 3 miles. I-35 stays within a mile of the Skunk all the way to US-20 and that causes some of the undulation and wandering. When I-35 was extended north of Ames, there were plans to build a dam on the Skunk to make a lake so the highway has a swing to the east about mile 118. There is a scenic overlook on the southbound side that would have overlooked the lake. There won't be the lake made those plans got killed. There are several glacial moraines that run east and west that add to the undulations of I-35.
The first ditch you crossed on US-20 west of I-35 is the headwater of the Skunk River.
Many of the hills in eastern Iowa on I-80 are from river crossings, the Iowa at Iowa City, the Cedar and the Wapsipinicon between Iowa City and Davenport. And then the Mississippi. A few miles away from the rivers the land is fairly level.
I used to plow in the spring and didn't have much of an erosion problem, then I went notill and my tenant is strip till. No till and strip till seems to have eliminated erosion completely. Neighbors who fall till deeply get gullies big enough to park a bus in them some springs. A 5 inch rain overnight can move a lot of soil. We could use some rain, had maybe a half inch over the weekend, an inch is in the forecast for Wednesday this week.
Going east from Webster City on US-20 you cross the Boone River first, then you don't notice crossing the Skunk, then the south fork of the Iowa River causes a dip in the road, but its not identified. Then the Iowa River SE of Iowa Falls, then the Cedar at Waterloo, and Wapsipinicon near Independence, and a couple more that I'd have to look up before getting to Dubuque and the Mississippi.
I allege that mountains in Iowa are upside down, river valleys.
Gerald J. | |
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Eagle Grove Iowa area farmers
