Thank you to Jonathan Heiple of Peoria who provided this photo from an old family album as a gift to Friends of Rocky Glen.
The picture is 5″x 7 ” and of very good detail. There is a ladder leaning against the waterfall section of the Bowl with a woman seated at the ladder base. Mr Heiple wrote that the picture was taken 1908 as part of an artistic photographic collection compile by Elizabeth Van Meter Robers, a Peorian.
The carving of the hand holding the presumed union card is visible. The letters are difficult to read, but if the top three letters are AMA, then it is possibly a reference to the American Mining Association
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In about 1957 a group of Boy Scouts from St. Bernard Troop 5 followed Scoutmaster Warren Park on a ” Mystery Hike”. About 20 Scouts left the parish hall with no idea of our destination. We followed Mr. Park West on Nebraska Ave. to Bradley Park (I-74 had not been built yet), then down through the park to Farmington Rd. near Hunt’s Drive In. We were all surprised when, rather than stopping in the park, we were led off cross country toward Bartonville. We crossed the creek on one of the railroad bridges (those were different times!) and, thoroughly mystified, told to climb straight up the steep bluff at the side of Kickapoo Creek Rd. I had heard of Rocky Glen , but had never been there and now suspected that this was our destination. Everyone was quite surprised and amazed that such an impressive geological formation existed near Peoria. We spent about an hour there, then retraced our route back to St. Bernard. Quite a day! There were a bunch of boys with stiff legs the next morning. John Leyland MD
Thanks for sharing, John! We love to hear these stories! We view Rocky Glen in three ways – botany, geology and human history. These stories contribute to the human history of Rocky Glen – which is pretty fascinating!