Pilot Rock
Posted by: 
MNSearchers
N 42° 41.900 W 095° 33.244
15T E 290801 N 4730479
High on a ridge at the south end of Cherokee, Iowa, Pilot Rock, an enormous glacial boulder, overlooks the Little Sioux River Valley
Waymark Code: WM1GXJ
Location: Iowa, United States
Date Posted: 05/07/2007
Views: 88
The rock is composed of Sioux Quartzite, and was carried to its current resting place by the most recent continental glacier, over 20,000 years ago. The rock is approximately 20’ high by 40’ wide and 61’ long. Long before white settlers used this marker to find the fertile valley where Cherokee was founded, ancient trails led Native American travelers to the massive landmark, which they called “Woven Stone.”
According to historical records, American novelist James Fenimore Cooper of New Jersey described Pilot Rock, though not by name, in Chapter 8 of his 1827 novel The Prairie, one of the frontier tales of Natty Bumppo, or Leatherstockings. During the Civil War, the land surrounding the stone was lost to its owner due to non-payment of taxes, and Albert Riggs, a Fenimore Cooper fan from New Jersey, bought the land to protect the rock from settlers who were blasting chunks of the quartzite to build their foundations. The Riggs family owned the parcel for many years, and it remains in private ownership at the present time.
The lookout area includes a parking lot, picnic shelter with two tables, a charcoal grill, and a historical marker placed on the site by the Pilot Rock Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
Visit Instructions:
Must state something other than
Yep!" or "Been Here" give some insight.
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