Experience Summer: Council Bluffs & Walnut

Where It All Began: The Impetus

West Central Iowa

In the last few years, I have been to Council Bluffs, Iowa a handful of times for one reason or another. The last three times I have heard about the historic Squirrel Cage Jail and each time I thought, boy - I should stop there and see it on my way home, but each time I decided against it and just headed straight back to Ames. When I decided to Experience Summer, the Squirrel Cage Jail was foremost in my plans. In diving in to these summer experience adventures, I hope I become better from now on about making the most of opportunities like these, and never miss out on a Squirrel Cage Jail (metaphorically, anyway), so, of course, Council Bluffs made the schedule for this summer.

Saturday, June 20

COUNCIL BLUFFS

Historic Squirrel Cage Jail

No, it's no longer in operation. Yes, my 'record' is still clean and I have never been in jail for actual criminal reasons. :)

The "Squirrel Cage" was and is the largest rotary jail in this country. There were a handful across the U.S., but only 3 are standing today, and the one in Council Bluffs is three stories (the other two are only 1-story or 2-story facilities). It was the county jail for Pottawattamie from 1885 - 1969.

So "rotary" means that the whole jail is built as a cylinder, and each cell is a pie-shaped piece arranged a central column. Then it actually rotated (simple gears and handle operation) so all cells could be viewed from a single vantage point. It was produced to "provide maximum security with minum jailer attention" (http://www.thehistoricalsociety.org/Jail%20extended.htm).

I know it's not just me. Both criminal behavior and death are intriguing subjects, I don't care who you are. The Squirrel Cage was fascinating in the same way you slow down to see a terrible car wreck; it's so awful you can't take your eyes off it. Those pie-shaped cells - there are 10 on each level - were amazingly small, especially when they were built for 2 prisoners, but often had up to 5 in each cell. I have visited the new Story County jail and I've even been to Fort Madison prison, and both are luxury living compared to the Squirrel Cage. But just when you think the cells are small, we were shown the "solitary confinement" cell. I kid you not - I could barely turn around in there. There's no way a grown man could. I'm not making a statement about prison reform, but, honestly, I'm not sure if that's actually an effective way of heightened discipline, or if you would make the prisoner even more violent/angry. There was a shower with two knobs for cold water and cold water. Not sure why there were two knobs. Prisoners usually showered with their clothes as a means of laundering.

There was also a section of the jail that was reserved for women and children. The children's area was reserved for kids guilty of stealing something like a candy bar or for children of prisoners who were left alone. There wasn't another social service agency available to take in the kids, so they stayed at the jail, too. That couldn't have been good.

The jail was home to several prisoners over the year, including their most notorious, Jake Bird, who was an axe murderer convicted of killing dozens of women. There were a couple reports of some escape attempts, and one of the prison guards died from a stroke on the fourth floor. In fact, a "paranormal" investigation crew came out to investigate and they report seeing - and recording - a ghost. The 15-year-old tour guide I had was apparently convinced it was true.

Admission to the Squirrel Cage Jail is $7. Apparently there are "haunted" tours in the Halloween season which I imagine could be pretty entertaining. Even though the jail wasn't my best experience to date, I'm glad I finally got to see it, and even more glad it got me to schedule this summer.

Union Pacific Railroad Days

My intent was to leave the Squirrel Cage and go to the recommended General Dodge House, but right next to the Jail was some kind of event going on so I decided to take a look. It just so happened that I arrived in town during the Union Pacific Railroad Days, which allowed families to see 5 sites/museums in Council Bluffs and Omaha all for $10. Included in the 5 was the General Dodge House, since General Dodge was largely responsible for the Union Pacific headquarters landing in the area, and he was the one who surveyed the route west of the Missouri River. I knew I wouldn't take the time to go to Omaha, but I decided to see at least one of the museums and the price was right.

Union Pacific Railroad Museum

So, as soon as I bought my ticket package at the Union Pacific Railroad Museum ... I realized I had been there before during a Leadership Iowa session a couple years prior. But since I didn't take much time learning anything there the first time, I made more of an effort to look around. The museum was crowded with especially a lot of kids and a lot of older gentlemen who seemed to have had a history with the U.P. What was interesting to me, specifically, was seeing how my experiences are all connecting with each other.

• First, there was quite a bit about President Lincoln in the museum, including a new exhibit detailing his encounters with General Dodge and in Council Bluffs. Not only was Lincoln remembered for uniting the North and the South, he was instrumental in bringing the East to the West with his support of the railroad. Last week when I saw Mt. Rushmore, I learned that Lincoln was selected for representing "unity."
• Second, there was a write-up on the U.P. timetable of the Ames brothers who also contributed to the development of the Union Pacific. Oakes Ames is, yes, one of the founders of Ames, Iowa.
• Third, a friend of General Dodge and an ongoing supporter of the railroad was President U.S. Grant (ref. Galena trip 2 weeks ago!)

General Dodge House
The trolley took me from the U.P. Museum to the General Dodge House. Because of the Railroad weekend, there was a LOT of activity going on at the house. My recommendation is to go see the house when it's NOT so busy. There were way too many people being herded through each room, and if you dared stray out of order, not-so-friendly 'hosts' would shoo you back with the other cattle-like-tourists. The General Dodge House was recommended to me by a couple people, and when I was in Cedar Rapids at the Brucemore Mansion, I learned that the General Dodge house was also on the National Historic Registry. All that said, it was another old house. My view was definitely tainted by the chaos of the day, but I knew I'd need to limit my trips to "old houses" this summer and I probably should have stopped before this one. I didn't find it to be as interesting as the ones I've already seen this summer (Brucemore, General/President Grant Home, Dowling House), but it was still a nice house with several original remnants of the Dodge family. One thing this house did have that was interesting was a 3rd floor ballroom.

Western Historic Trails Center
The surprise of this weekend was the Western Historic Trails Center. It also serves as a welcome center for Iowa, but contains several displays detailing the western expansion of the Lewis & Clark, Mormon, Oregon and California Trails. I had no idea they all went through Council Bluffs, and today's highways and interstates still follow these original trails with some acccuracy. There were fantastic sculpture displays that told the story of the trails that made it a lot more engaging for people like me who usually like to wait for the movie rather than reading the book. :) There was a great Iowa gift shop inside and if I hadn't left my wallet in the car, I probably would have gone home with a few goodies. The center grounds were also a link to several bike/walking trails. Even though I'm not a cyclist, I'd like to bike some of the nearby trails there.

BUT WAIT! There's more!

WALNUT, IOWA - Antique City
I've known for a while that there was this town off of I-80 where there were lots of antique stores, and while I'm not at a point where I'm buying stuff for my house anymore, I do enjoy an occasional stroll through an antique store and it's one of Iowa's travel/tourist detsinations. Hence, the stop in Walnut - Iowa's Antique City.

Well, I either picked the perfect weekend or the worst time to come to Walnut, depending on your thoughts on antiques. Just last week I heard there was a big "Antique Walk" going on with hundreds of dealers. Apparently I didn't grasp the enormity of this event, but I am not exaggerating when I say THE ENTIRE TOWN was COVERED with antique dealers; residential streets, church lawns/parking lots, the business district, ball fields .... It was antique-palooza craziness.

If you've ever gone for a run and realized you've just made your "half-way point" way too far because now you're stuck crawling back home, you know how I felt in Walnut, Iowa on Saturday. At first it was kind of exciting to see all the booths ... until I realized it was like an antique purgatory with no definitive ending point. I eventually started cruising pretty quickly past the vendor booths and headed for the main street where the actual antique stores were. The stores ranged from the quaint/cute to the complete dump. There is that slight nudge that tells you to look through because there may be that one can't-find-unique item there that you can't live without, but I was feeling so smothered and suffocated by musty smells and complete chaos that I didn't spend much time in any of the stores. The only thing I was tempted by was a pair of old, joined folding theater seats that I thought would be cute on the back porch I'll soon have, but the thought of shlepping it back to my car made it quickly unattractive.

Don't get me wrong - if you love antiques, you'd love this place, especially during the AmVets Antique Walk weekend (which apparently happens every year on Father's Day Weekend). but I reached my limit quickly. One bonus: while there weren't many food vendors, there was one that made home made ice cream and I did make that purchase. Hands down it was the best home made ice cream I've ever had.

Up next? Not sure. My original plans called for a weekend trip to Davenport, but that may be moved back to August with a pending trip to Chicago, but have no fear - I won't be grounded for long!