Researching a tale in Iowa. Does this look anything like a skeleton or no?

BeauS

Jr. Member
Mar 6, 2015
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mine tailings?
 

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A forest with a 1/4 acre bare spot (except a few trees and a little grass) and a dirt road leading to it from the south. On the 7/2011 Google Earth image there appears to be a lot of erosion in this area. The bare spot has been there since 10/2004. Strange not more trees have taken hold there in the last 15 years. Decimal degrees: 41.17916667°, -92.625°.
 

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A forest with a 1/4 acre bare spot (except a few trees and a little grass) and a dirt road leading to it from the south. On the 7/2011 Google Earth image there appears to be a lot of erosion in this area. The bare spot has been there since 10/2004. Strange not more trees have taken hold there in the last 15 years. Decimal degrees: 41.17916667°, -92.625°.

what would cause that?
 

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Possibly pine trees or something similar. From a distance you can see maybe a skull, but when you zoom in, it is vegetation of some sort is my guess.
Body buried and jars of gold, this the Eddyville, Iowa story ?
 

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Looks like an area of clay on the surface, hence why no trees have taken root there. :icon_scratch:
As nagant already suggested, at some point it might have been 'mined' possibly by Native Americans or early settlers for clay for pottery.

But I'd still head up there, with the landowners permission to investigate, this way you'll know for sure. :thumbsup:
Dave
 

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pretty rough ground, maybe it's a long term fill operation. Screenshot_2019-05-19 Iowa Geographic Map Server.png
 

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I see that skull!!!, could it be Skeltors layer?? wheres Heman when you need him!!!
 

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Go to the website Historic Aerials and enter the geocoordinates 41.17916667°, -92.625°. The bare spot was forested on both the 1951 & 1964 aerial photos. The bare spot appears before 1994. Switching to the 2015 topo map, that is the highest elevation overlooking a creek to the north. It is almost as if someone cleared some land to build a home then changed their mind. Between 1964 & 1994, the Eddyville Raceway Park was built just to the NW. Don't know if the 2 are related.
 

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Possibly pine trees or something similar. From a distance you can see maybe a skull, but when you zoom in, it is vegetation of some sort is my guess.
Body buried and jars of gold, this the Eddyville, Iowa story ?

Yep it sure is.
 

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Surface strip mine started in 1965 ... pic as it looked in 1994 ... and more recent pic in color

Coal2.jpg

Coal3.jpg
 

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Go to the website Historic Aerials and enter the geocoordinates 41.17916667°, -92.625°. The bare spot was forested on both the 1951 & 1964 aerial photos. The bare spot appears before 1994. Switching to the 2015 topo map, that is the highest elevation overlooking a creek to the north. It is almost as if someone cleared some land to build a home then changed their mind. Between 1964 & 1994, the Eddyville Raceway Park was built just to the NW. Don't know if the 2 are related.

Note: 1937 is fairly early for aerial photos on-line. You may want to check with the county engineer or auditor to see if they have any earlier paper copies. While you're there you can examine deeds to see who owned the land when and based on value, if any buildings were on there. Another possibility is to look at old (i.e. 1800s) atlases of the area. They may show land parcels, owners, roads, and perhaps the general location of where buildings were.
 

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I think it was an off shoot of other companies. Lots of Lannings in coal mining. From the DNR..Iowa has 300+ Abandoned Mind Land (AML) sites, 13,000+ acres of abandoned coal mines that affect the landscape primarily in SE Iowa. AML sites typically include dangerous piles and embankments, highwalls, subsidence, pit ponds, polluted water used for agriculture and human consumption, and bare acidic soils that pollute water through erosion, sedimentation and AMD.
 

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anyone know where an old wagon trail might have been located? I'll see if I can find some old maps of the land. 2019-05-20 09_00_07-Activity - Discord.png
 

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