Prospecting in Iowa

On the map for Iowa

The legends of Iowa

• The Effigy Mounds — Bear- and bird-shaped burial mounds, sacred to twenty nations
• The Villisca axe murders — Eight killed in 1912, never solved; the house is preserved as it was
• Galena, the lead city — The town named after the ore that built it
• The Keokuk geode beds — Grey cannonballs that split open to crystal
• Julien Dubuque and the Iowa lead — Iowa was opened by lead, and by a Meskwaki grant

Before you dig

A marker is a public record, not permission. Check ownership, active claims and the local rules first — the map shows all three.