You can understand if the sound of rain makes people anxious in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Entire neighborhoods in the Midwestern city remain empty more than three years after record floodwaters engulfed it.

A new use for a former Company sand pit, however, is playing a role in residents' recovery.

What was known for almost a half-century as Martin Marietta's Cedar Rapids Sand Plant is now a multi-use recreational park known as the Prairie Park Fishery.

The change, says Greg Hulbert, couldn't have come at a better time.

"The fishery allows folks to get away from parts of town that were most impacted by the flood and offers them a chance to look at the river with gentle eyes again," says the plant manager of Cedar Rapids Quarry and Linn County Sand.

A Productive Past

The Cedar Rapids Sand Plant operated from 1959 until its reserves were depleted in 2004. Marjean McMahon, who served as the plant's office manager for 27 years, recalls how local residents were tempted to trespass for what they considered.....  read more