Skunk River Overlook

The river below you carries one of Iowa's most colorful names. The Skunk River got its label from the people who hunted this valley for hundreds of years before settlers arrived. They called it something like Shecaqua, which early settlers rendered as best they could, a word tied to the smell of wild onions.

Settlers pointed to the wild onions that grew along the river. People lived along this river long before Europeans arrived.