Banner Lakes at Summerset 
13084 Elkhorn St.
Indianola, IA 50125
515-961-7101
http://www.iowadnr.gov/Destinations/StateParksRecAreas/IowasStateParks/ParkDetails.aspx?ParkID=2&idAdminBoundary=234
State Park: Bike, Birding, Fish, Hike, Picnic, Walk, Water Sports
Banner Lakes at Summerset State Park, Iowa’s newest state park, is nestled in the rolling landscape between Des Moines and Indianola on Highway 65/69, within minutes of the state’s largest metro area. Many locals remember the area as Banner Pits, when the area was mined for coal by the Banner Coal Company in the early 1930s. According to an article dated September 15, 1932 in the Des Moines Tribune, “the coal mining operation was the largest strip mining operation to take place in Iowa. The coal–an unusually good grade of Iowa product–could not be mined in the ordinary way because of the poor ‘roof’ and the proximity of the four-foot vein to the surface. It was covered by about 40 feet of earth and shale. The concerned decided to mine the coal by the open pit process and has been operating one of the largest electric drag lines in the country there since last Janaury.” The article went on to say that in order to get the coal, it was necessary to dig a “young Panama canal” 115 feet wide at the top and 80 feet wide at the bottom. The huge drag line equipment used in the operation drew hundreds of spectators to the mine.