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Pyramid State Park
Question: What's the name of Illinois' largest state park?
Pyramid State Park has been one of those well-kept secrets—a quiet, little state park located south of Pinckneyville in Perry County.
But that's "little" as in past tense. The 3,200-acre park got a boost in size in December when Gov. George H. Ryan announced the purchase of more than 16,000 acres of adjoining land from the Arch Coal Company to be added to the site—the largest land acquisition of its kind in state history.
The first two phases of the acquisition, totaling more than 7,200 acres, were completed in December. With that purchase, Pyramid went from having about 3,200 acres to more than 10,000 acres, easily surpassing Pere Marquette as the state's largest state park. When the remaining 8,000 acres are purchased this summer, the site's acreage will increase to 19,000-plus acres, more than double the size of Pere Marquette.
"The natural characteristics of this area will provide the public with expanded opportunities for hunting, fishing, wildlife habitat, protection of open space and general outdoor recreation," Gov. Ryan said in announcing the purchase of the land. "People from St. Louis and Paducah are only 75 miles away. Peoria, Springfield, Evansville, Ind., and Memphis, Tenn., are only a few hours drive. The close proximity to these urban areas, coupled with the size of the site and the diversity of activities that can be offered, means enhanced tourism and economic development in this area."
"This announcement is history in the making," said Natural Resources Department Director Brent Manning. "It demonstrates the Governor's strong commitment to investing in open space and in the people of southern Illinois."
Pyramid State Park gets its name from a coal company that once existed there. The original 924 acres were acquired from Southern Illinois University in 1968. The university used the land for research. Additional purchases of adjoining land from small coal companies and surrounding landowners increased the acreage to nearly 3,175 acres, which included more than 350 acres of water in small lakes and ponds.
"Most of the land making up the original part of the state park has been strip mined," said Dave Phillips, Pyramid State Park site superintendent. "This land was mined before reclamation laws were enacted, so it's pretty rough. A lot of people looked at the land and thought it wasn't good for anything anymore. But it's ideal for fish and wildlife, and that attracts a lot of anglers and hunters to this park"
The land being purchased at Pyramid State Park is being acquired through Gov. George H. Ryan's Illinois Open Land Trust, a landmark initiative that will provide $160 million over four years to acquire and protect open space for future generations. Open Land Trust is the largest open space acquisition and preservation program in Illinois history.
Because communities are impacted when the state purchases property and it comes off the tax roles, Gov. Ryan also presented Perry County officials with a check for $420,000 to help local governments defray the impact of property tax losses. The allowance represents a percentage of the property's purchase price. Another payment will be made when the final phase of the acquisition is completed.
Gov. Ryan said the dollars will offset the loss of tax dollars for schools and roads and provide some transitional funding until the economic benefits of the park are realized.
Fishing is the predominant warm-weather activity at the site, and is allowed in all of the park's 30 lakes and ponds. There are ramps at seven of the larger lakes, but boating is allowed on all the lakes. Many anglers carry in car-top boats and canoes to some of the more remote areas. This is especially nice for anglers who like to get away from crowds. There is a 10-horsepower limit on all Pyramid State Park waters.
Anglers will find good populations of largemouth bass and bluegill in most of the ponds and lakes. There also is good fishing for crappie and redear sunfish in some lakes. Boulder, the site's largest lake with about 45 acres, and Crystal Lake are stocked annually with channel catfish and have excellent populations of this species. Lost Lake, one of the hike-in lakes, is noted for its population of hybrid sunfish.
With the purchase of the new acreage, anglers at Pyramid will have lots more water to fish, including several lakes that have not yet filled. Like the lakes in the current park acreage, these lakes have been created by strip mining operations. Phillips said the largest lake will be about 275 acres—a body of water about 1 1/2 miles long and about 100 yards wide. Two other lakes will be more than a mile long.
Return To The Blind.
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If you guessed Pere Marquette or Jim Edgar Panther Creek (technically a state fish and wildlife area), you'd be wrong. That was last year. And when I tell you the correct answer is Pyramid State Park, you might have a follow-up question, such as: Where's Pyramid State Park?
