| Named for the winter stopover used by Mormon emigrants heading westward, Mormon Island State Recreation Area still offers comfort & conveniences to campers & other travelers on Interstate 80, as part of Nebraska's unique "Chain of Lakes."
With development of I-80 in the early 1960s, then Game & Parks Commission Director Mel Steen saw the potential to create recreation & beauty out of the "borrow pits" left as fill material was removed for construction. These pits would quickly fill with H2O because of the high H2O table in the Platte Valley. Why not use this "Chain of Lakes" to beautify the roadway & at the same time create some model recreation areas, Steen reasoned.
The first of these areas developed was Mormon Island. This area & companion Windmill SRA near Gibbon are the most intensely developed, because of their ready access to travelers. Similar less developed areas also serve campers & picnickers, while many less accessible sites are set aside as state wildlife areas for fishermen & hunters.
Stretching for 160 miles between Grand Island & Hershey, these little lakes range from six acres to Mormon Island's 46 acres ... the fulfillment of a vision brought to reality. |
Campground: Mormon Island State Recreation Area in Doniphan Nebraska *