Rathbun Lake, one of the largest man-made lakes in Iowa, was dedicated in 1971 with none other than President Richard Nixon as the keynote speaker. Located in Appanoose County, a historically coal-mining region of the state, Rathbun Lake provides drinking water for 80,000 people in south central Iowa and northern Missouri.
It’s no secret that Iowa’s overall water quality has a pretty dismal reputation, to say the least.
And yet, according to a 2017 Iowa DNR report, targeted partnerships among 600 landowners and farmers, the Rathbun Lake & Water Alliance and water treatment facilities helped to reduce the amount of sediment from 726,000 lbs/yr (2008-2013) to 172,000 lbs/yr (2017). Phosphorous TP load decreased from 1,129,000 lbs/yr (2008-2013) to 305,000 lbs/yr (2017).
To encourage and celebrate these wins, the Rathbun Lake & Water Alliance created the Rathbun Lake Protector program to recognize local residents for adopting powerful conservation practices, such as creating terraces, sediment control basins, cover crops, and buffers to prevent runoff. Shout out.
My husband Aaron agreed to be my first conversation for the What’s Good Project. His task was to take me to a place that lights him up somewhere near where we live. So on Thanksgiving, Aaron drove me to Prairie Ridge campground at Rathbun Lake in southern Iowa. After over 6 years together, he told me stories about growing up that I had never heard before - how his love of camping came from his 17-year-old need for freedom, solitude, and parental escape, and how a tent symbolized all that. And here I always thought he was just a nature guy.
Rathbun Lake is near Mystic, Iowa, a former coal-mining town with a steadily declining population. My favorite Mystic story of husband Aaron’s (other than his always funny “Mystic’s mystique” joke) is about James "Hangman" Ballagh. A retired graphic designer and a self-described beatnik, Hangman moved back to Mystic from California in the early 80's. He had a handlebar mustache, a Maserti decorated with hand-painted flames, and is most famously the founder of Hangman's Army. In order to curb juvenile crime, he wrangled up Mystic kids in 2001 and began paying them to clean the town. Active for years, kids as young as kindergarten-age moved beyond picking up trash and began to paint curbs, handicap-accessible parking spots and a park shelter. There was a Hangman’s Army Code of always obeying the law and never beating up other kids. Ballagh passed away in 2017 at age 85.
Want to visit the Rathbun region? Check out a weekend itinerary and travel suggestions.
Like what you see? Invest in a painting or limited edition print of Rathbun Lake, Iowa.