Dolliver Memorial State Park is on the west bank of the Des Moines River at the mouth of a small tributary called Prairie Creek.

The creek and a smaller tributary known as Boneyard Hollow have eroded canyons through a 100-foot (30 m) high bluff, exposing a cross section of sandstone deposited by a Paleozoic river.

It is thought that prehistoric Native Americans either stampeded bison into the ravine from a buffalo jump or herded them into the confined space from the riverbank, where they killed and butchered the animals.

[3] In 1915 eleven-year-old Ruth Peterson discovered a lead tablet at the mouth of the creek outside Boneyard Hollow.

The Latin inscription stated that the tablet had been left by explorers claiming the area for France in 1750, and mentioned Father Louis Hennepin by name.

With the potential to rewrite European exploration of Iowa, the "Hennepin Plate" attracted a great deal of attention.

[6] Ruth Peterson died in 2004 at the age of 100, and in 2007 her son and other relatives donated the tablet to the Webster County Historical Society.

[7] The campground features 33 sites, all with electrical hookups, plus 2 camper cabins, modern restrooms, showers, and a holding tank dump station.