For Charley Willey, editor of the Lewis Standard, things were not going well. He was sick, he was going blind, and his paper was losing money. The Iowa Highway Commission made him a promise, broke it, and forever diminished his town. The state had some making up to do. Willey, knowing his days of influence were dwindling, had a plan. To the State Board of Conservation he was willing to entrust the preservation of a southwest Iowa jewel-if they would take it. A bad situation was soon to get worse.