Blue Goose ~ Day 145

October 21, 2014 ~ Stuart, IA to Omaha, NE

I woke early so sat in McDonalds for a couple of hours, which my second choice venue for WiFi, but it's hard to find a menu item not loaded with salt and fat.

The sun rose in the east but I was driving west. There isn't much better than being on the prairies in the early morning. I did pull into a scenic overlook near the Missouri River and changed into jeans and took photos of a impressively large Eastern Cottonwood.

Eastern Cottonwood in October in Iowa

I got to DeSoto NWR by 9:00. This a Missouri River refuge consisting of a 7-mile oxbow lake created by the ACE (Army Corps of Engineers) in what is called a "channelization" project. The western boundary of the refuge is the Missouri River; the rest of the boundary is C-shaped Lake DeSoto. The Missouri often rampages in the aftermath of spring melt, especially in years when snow piles up in the Rockies and eventually finds its way into the Missouri. Existing channels disappear; new ones are formed. Oxbows are created; flooding happen; roads close; land is inundated. The big river are the playgrounds of the ACE. I drove from west to east in the spring of 2011, spent hours trying to find an open bridge across the flooded Missouri and was finally was directed to an old rickety steel bridge in a town whose name I've forgotten. On the Iowa side, I drove on a two-lane just inches above flooded fields...thousands and thousands of acres. Interstate 29 was closed for a long time due to water.

Today was a real wild goose chase as the Snow Geese had not yet arrived from the north. It has just been too warm for them to leave, although they often here in the thousands by mid-October. But I did see several handsome Harris's Sparrows. These are a rarity in Michigan, only one or two showing up every year in the southwest counties. (And actually, there is one hanging around in Berrien County right now.)

Harris's Sparrow at DeSoto NWR - IA

Another surprise was the beautiful steamboat museum in the Visitor Center, a tribute to the many steamboat catastrophes in general and the Bertrand in particular with thousands of artifacts, all presented artistically with meticulous care. So, next time you visit western Iowa, DeSoto is worth a stop. It is exceptional in the same way I felt the New Bedford Whaling Museum was - a fascinating glimpse into the history and culture of those times. The Bertrand was headed up the Missouri with destination the newly discovered gold fields in Montana.

WWW.FWS.GOV

DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge, located near Missouri Valley, Iowa, is home to a premier archeological collection of over 250,000 artifacts excavated from the buried wreck of the Steamboat Bertrand. On April 1, 1865, the sternwheeler hit a submerged log, thirty miles north of Omaha, Nebraska. Bound for the newly discovered goldfields of Montana from St. Louis, Missouri, the Bertrand sank into the depths of the Missouri River; and after initial salvage efforts, her cargo was written off as complete loss. 

Using historical documents and a flux gate magnetometer, modern treasurer hunters, Sam Corbino and Jesse Pursell located the wreck on DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge in 1968. As the boat was on federal property, the salvors agreed under the requirements of the American Antiquities Preservation Act of 1906, to turn over all recovered artifacts to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for permanent exhibition and preservation in a public museum. 
By 1969, the vessel's cargo was completely excavated from its thirty feet deep, mud tomb. Unfortunately for the salvors, the treasure they sought had eluded them. Insurance company divers had apparently removed most of the mercury and other valuables soon after the ship sank. However, what had been left was a diversity of tools, clothing, and food items. The Bertrand's cargo was remarkably well preserved and the refuge's collection is a unique time capsule for researchers and visitors interested in America's 19th century material culture.

While driving in the refuge, one can actually see the excavation site, now a mile from the Missouri. While the work was in progress, water pumps ran 24/7 to keep the site from flooding. All very interesting and the type of unexpected exhibit one finds on some of the refuges.

DeSoto NWR - IA

The land is flat with fields, wetlands, riparian woods, DeSoto Lake and, of course, many cottonwoods which are actually a "soft hardwood." It was another mellow day. I walked around the Bertrand site, watched a hawk or two overhead and a few distant geese and ducks and busy sparrows. I intended to stop along the road at a birdy site for an hour, but the biting flies moved me along.

And I crossed the river to Boyer Chute NWR in Nebraska:

 EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG

Boyer Chute National Wildlife Refuge, created in 1992, is a National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) located along the banks of the Missouri River in the U.S. state of Nebraska.^[2][3] The 4,040-acre (1,630 ha) refuge preserves an area that had been cultivated and neglected before the early 1990s.^[4]  

Channelizationprojects along the Missouri River to improve flood control and navigation resulted in the closing off a side branch of the river, known since the early 19th century as Boyer Chute. Between 1820 and 1937 the Missouri River had migrated 3 mi (4.8 km) eastward and the area of the chute had originally been on the east bank of the river; today, the chute is west of the main channel of the Missouri.^[4] In 1937, the Army Corps of Engineers began to rechannel portions of the Missouri River, cutting off the chute to flowing water. Overgrowth and cultivation took over the lands now preserved in the refuge. Restoration of the area commenced in 1993; this included planting 9,100 native plants and trees and restoring the inflow to the chute from the main channel of the Missouri River.
Today, the refuge is home to dozens of mammal species, including White-tailed deer, beavers, opossum,raccoon, bobcat, fox and coyote. Bald eagle, heron, duck, Belted Kingfisher and hawks are known to inhabit the refuge.^[4] Restoration projects also improved sport fishing opportunities by providing better breeding habitat. The refuge is along one of the primary bird migration routes in North America; the population of migratory birds increases substantially during spring and fall months...During low water flow levels along the Missouri River in the late fall and winter months, the chute may have little or no water in it. Hunting is allowed in season with a permit and there are several fishing piers. No pets are allowed in the refuge.^[4] 

The refuge sustained extensive damage during the 2011 Missouri River floods. As of Spring 2012, the refuge roads remained closed and no date had been determined for when they would be reopened. 300,000 dollars has been requested to remove six flood damaged structures in an effort to get the refuge reopened. Planners indicated that structures may not be rebuilt since there is no method to protect them from future flooding events.^[

I googled a Starbucks south of Omaha and found one which happened to be right across the street from an Applebee's and a Walmart. I had intended to continue south for awhile but didn't and opted for the easy plan of stopping for the day, an advantage of traveling with a loose agenda. I bought sweat pants and sweatshirt in Walmart for sleeping for $7 each….and a new memory card since I couldn’t find my other one after I had uploaded the days’ photos in Starbucks. I had eaten at Applebees so the card was somewhere in the vicinity of south Omaha…in my van, in Starbucks, in the restaurant, on the sidewalk….

Lake DeSoto NWR - IA