Think of Iowa.

The first image that probably comes to mind is farmland, fields, corn, soybeans, huge

rolling fields, you know, field of dreams, something like that.

And that is not really wrong.

Around 90% of Iowa's land is exactly that.

But it wasn't always this way.

In fact, Iowa is now known as America's most biologically altered state.

And hidden around Iowa, covering just one fraction of 1% of all of its land is a very

rare and disappearing landscape.

A tall grass prairie, the original Iowa, visiting one of these places is like stepping

back in time.

But we see the grass is swaying in the wind.

You see the wildflowers in their incredible color diversity.

And you hear the birds singing around you and above you.

And just to hear the insects as well, it's just incredible.

You can, you know, smell that lush vegetation.

You can feel that fertile soil underneath your feet.

And the life within a tall grass prairie remnant is pretty special to be a part of.

I'm Dylan Thurus and this is Atlas Obscura, celebration of the world's strange, incredible

and wondrous places.

And today we are going to do a little bit of time travel.

We're going to travel back in time to these elusive patches of land in the American Midwest,

...