People have long been drawn to the Loess Hills for their rich natural resources and beautiful landscape, from Native peoples and explorers to early settlers and later residents. After Iowa statehood in 1846, pioneers poured into western Iowa by covered wagon, horseback, and on foot, and many settled in these hills. In the late 1800s, as small settlements grew into urban centers, Daniel H. Talbot made a fortune in Sioux City and invested in land that included most of what is now Stone State Park. Interested in science, he created an experimental cross-breeding farm there, producing solid-footed hogs, breeding cattle with buffalo, and keeping unusual animals, while also assembling a large library and a bird-skin collection now at the University of Iowa. Talbot lost his fortune in the Panic of 1893, and the First National Bank took over the farm, which became Minnewauseka Park and a social center in the 1890s for dances, picnics, swimming, and fishing. After another depression led to the bank's failure, the land was acquired by bank president Thomas Jefferson Stone, who hosted elaborate parties and sold water from Melhurst Springs. When Stone and his wife Emma died in 1905, the land passed to their children, and their son Edgar Stone developed it as a private recreational park. After Edgar's death, his wife Lucia donated the property to Sioux City in 1912 on the condition that it be called Stone Park. Roads were developed to and through the park and are still used today. In 1918, Stone City Park and Zoo opened with five buffalos, three cows, and two bulls, later adding ostriches, wild cats, and other animals from a bankrupt circus. In 1935, the park was deeded to the state and officially became Stone State Park. Parts of the zoo were transferred elsewhere, though black bears remained until 1940, and groups such as the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, and Salvation Army operated camps there for generations of young people. During the Depression, President Roosevelt's work programs reshaped Iowa's state parks through the Civilian Conservation Corps, formed in March 1933; by July, 275,000 young men were working in 1,300 camps nationwide, and more than 1,000 structures were built across 39 Iowa parks. At Stone State Park, Company VCCC 2725 at Camp SP23/DSP3 served from 1935 to 1939, building hiking trails, overlooks, roads, a water system, park residences, Stone Lodge, two shelters, stone erosion-control dams, and two entrance portals, all now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.