Buck Creek Campground, Rathbun Lake, Centerville IA
Camped at Buck Creek Campground, Centerville IA, May 11, 2011
Buck Creek is located at beautiful Rathbun Lake, also known as Iowa's Ocean. Just 4.5 miles southwest of Moravia and 9 miles northwest of Centerville, the campground offers 42 electric campsites, 1 group picnic shelter, showers, restrooms, and dump stations located in the park. Activities include camping, fishing, boating, and swimming. A marina and a bait shop are located nearby.
Buck Creek Campground, Rathbun Lake, Centerville IA
- Verizon cell phone and EVDO service - good signal & a fast connection
- Buck Creek (Rathbun Lake, IA) COE Campground Reservations
- Locate Buck Creek Campground on my Night Camps map
- Check the weather here
Nights I've camped here
Heliograph routes of the 1890 Practice
The date was May 15th, 1890, and the Army's Department of Arizona had just completed a major heliograph practice; it was, in fact, the largest the world had ever seen. I call it the "Volkmar Practice", after the man responsible for it, Col. Wm. J. Volkmar, the Assistant Adjutant General and Chief Signal Officer for the Department of Arizona. Although the practice lasted only sixteen days, preparations for it took months of reconnaissance and preparation. Involved in the long range signaling maneuvers were twenty-five heliograph stations stretching from Whipple Barracks near Prescott to Fort Stanton near Ruidoso, New Mexico. My guess is that close to two hundred men were involved, both cavalry and infantry.