Iowa

i o-wa, a north central state of the American Union. It lies on the west bank of the Mississippi, between Missouri and Minnesota. The western boundary is formed by the Big Sioux and the Missouri which separate Iowa from South Dakota and Nebraska. The general shape of the state is rectangular, measuring 310 miles from east to west and 210 from north to south. The area is 56,025 square miles.

TOPOGRAPHY. Save where cut by streams into valleys the general surface is an undulating plain. The bluffs along some of the valleys, particularly that of the Mississippi, are bold and picturesque. The drainage is entirely into the Mississippi and the Missouri. The dividing line is hardly noticeable. There are natural forests of the common American hardwoods and softwoods and cedar, but they are confined to the valleys and bluffs. It is claimed, however, that the supply of second growth timber is increasing. There are a few lakes, near the Minnesota border. The swamps have been drained.

FERTILITY. Save bluffs and streams, there is scarce a square foot of unproductive land in the state. The soil is chiefly a deep, black, prairie loam of wondrous fertility, resting on a clay subsoil or disintegrating limestone. The valley of the Missouri and the deeper valleys of the central part of the state have a deep soil--a rich yellow clay. As might be expected Iowa is one of the great agricultural states of the Union. According to the last census 86 1/2 per cent of the entire area is improved farmland. There were 228,662 farms; 148,886 were owned and tilled by the occupants.

AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS. Iowa divides honors with Illinois in the production of oats, and ranks second to that state in corn raising. It is exceeded by New York and Pennsylvania only in the production of hay and forage, and is the ninth state in wheat raising. Though dwarfed in importance by a crop of corn reported at 260,000,000 bushels a year, the yield of rye, barley, flax, and buckwheat runs into a total of millions of bushels. All the garden and field vegetables of the north temperate zone, including sweet potatoes, do well. The watermelons of Muscatine, from islands in the river and vicinity, have a wide reputation. The average rainfall is a trifle over twenty inches, well distributed through the growing season. The thermometer drops occasionally as low as 40 deg. below zero, but sleighing is not to be relied on. A range from--20 deg. F. to 95 deg. F. is to be expected. The extremes are of short duration.

FRUIT. Iowa is coming forward rapidly as a fruit-producing state. There are nearly 7,000,000 bearing apple trees, with an average yield of half a bushel a year. Plum, apricot, cherry, peach, and pear orchards bring up the fruit production, not counting small fruits and berries, to a value estimated in the orchard at $2,000,000 a year. Grapes do well. The annual yield is over 7,000,000 pounds. The farms of Iowa lead the Union with $57,960,660 worth of machinery and implements.

LIVE STOCK. About one-third of the agricultural products is fed to live stock. The wealth of such a state mounts up into figures so large that they mean little. The live stock, for instance, was valued by the census taker at $278,830,096. Poultry and eggs alone yield $20,000,000 a year. Dairy products amount to as much more.

POPULATION. There are no very large cities. At the beginning of the decade Des Moines, the capital, had a population of 62,162. Sioux City, at the mouth of the Big Sioux, is a close second. There are a score of cities with a population of from 10,000 to 40,000.

INDUSTRIES. Iowa is primarily a food-producing state. Even the manufactures are related to the production and preparation of food. The output of agricultural implements is large. Iron is taking the place of wood for frames. Carriages and wagons are turned out to the value of $4,000,000 annually. Milling is an important industry. Cedar Rapids claims the largest oatmeal mill in the world. Canning establishments, both for fruit and vegetables, operate on a large scale. Iowa ranks third in canned corn. In 1900 the output of the meat packing houses was valued at $25,000,000. Starch factories, creameries, and cheese factories, and factories for condensed milk are multiplying. Of manufacturing interests not connected with the production of food, the manufacture of typewriters at Des Moines and the making of boots and shoes and of clothing should be mentioned. Muscatine has the largest pearl button factory in the United States. River boats are built at Dubuque.

MINERALS. As to mineral wealth it is estimated that nearly a third of the state is underlaid by measures of soft coal. There are quarries of excellent building stone at Marshalltown, Anamosa, and elsewhere. Gypsum beds are worked near Fort Dodge. They yield a valuable material for hard plaster and cement. Brick, tiles, pottery, and terra-cotta products are made.

TRANSPORTATION. Aside from the Mississippi and the Missouri, the rivers of the state are too small for boats of size. The state is supplied unusually well with railroads. Through lines from east to west and from north to south, with branches in numerable, cover the state with a network of railroads. Some ingenious mathematician has stated that there are but six spots in the state over ten miles from a railway.

HISTORY. The first white men to visit Iowa were Marquette and Joliet. The first settlement was made by Julien Dubuque in 1788 on the site of the city that bears his name. The original Indian tribes were the Illinois, the Sacs and Foxes, and the Iowas. A small band of Sacs and Foxes still live on a reservation in Iowa County at government expense. Miserable remnants of the other tribes were removed to Kansas and to Oklahoma. Iowa was a part of the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. It was included in Louisiana' territory in 1805; Missouri in 1812; Michigan, 1834; and Wisconsin, 1836. In 1838 it was organized as an independent territory, extending northward, however, to the British boundary. It was admitted to the Union with its present boundaries in 1846. The capital was removed from Iowa City to Des Moines in 1857.

EDUCATION. The system of common schools is excellent. In proportion to the population the number of people unable to read and write is smaller than in any other state of the Union, Massachusetts excepted. Higher education is divided up among forty or fifty small colleges. The cities maintain high schools. The state maintains a normal school at Cedar Falls, an agricultural college at Ames, and a university at Iowa City. It would be difficult to lay out an equal district in the world having more uniform prosperity and less pauperism.

The population in 1900 was reported at 2,231,853. In 1905 the state census reported 2,210,384.

STATISTICS. The following statistics are the latest to be had from trustworthy sources: