tent of near 200 miles from east to west, and 140 miles from north to south, within the former State, and occupying most of the central and southern portions. Copper has been discovered in Cedar County in considerable quantities.

RIVERS. The rolling prairies of Iowa are furrowed by several important rivers, which cross it in a south-east direction, and help to swell the volume of waters in the great Mississippi, into which they discharge themselves. The Des Moines, the most important of these, has its sources in Minnesota, and, traversing the entire State, forms near its mouth a small portion of the south-east boundary. Its length is about 450 miles, 250 of which are navigable for light steamers at high water. The other rivers which flow into the Mississippi, proceeding in order northward, are the Skunk, Iowa, (the Red Cedar, a branch of the Iowa,) Wapsipinicon, Makoqueta, Turkey, and Upper Iowa. The Skunk is about 200, the Iowa 300, and the rivers last named from 100 to 200 miles in length. The Iowa is navigable for steamboats 110, and the Cedar River 60 miles. The Makoqueta and the Wapsipinicon have rapid currents, and furnish abundant water-power. The Missouri, and its tributary, the Great Sioux, form the west boundary. The Little Sioux, the next important tributary of the Missouri from Iowa, has a course of little more than 100 miles. There are a few small lakes in the north and west parts of the State.

OBJECTS OF INTEREST TO TOURISTS.-The principal claim of this new and as yet scarcely explored State on the attention of travelers must chiefly rest upon the beauty of its undulating prairies or its picturesque landscapes. There are, however, a few objects which may be classed among natural curiosities, of which the following are the most prominent: Numerous sinks or circular depressions in the surface of the ground, from 10 to 20 feet across, are found in different places, and particularly on Turkey River, in the north part of the State. Small mounds, from three to six feet high, and sometimes 10 or 12 in a row, are found on the same stream, within 10 or 15 miles of its mouth. A cave several rods in extent exists in Jackson County, from which flows a stream large enough to turn a mill. The Upper Iowa and Makoqueta Rivers have worn their channels through magnesian limestone rocks, leaving, on the southern banks, cliffs worn by the rain, frost, and winds into resemblances of castles, forts, etc.

CLIMATE, SOIL, AND PRODUCTIONS.-According to meteorological tables kept at Muscatine in 1851, by T. S. Parvin, Esq., the maximum of January was 46°, the minimum 16°; for February, maximum 52°, minimum 0°; March, maximum 78°, minimum 12°; April, maximum 70°, minimum 24°; May, maximum 82°, minimum 23°; June, maximum 85°, minimum 44°; July, maximum 92°, minimum 44°; August, maximum 85°, minimum 52°; September, maximum 91°, minimum 30°; October, maximum 79°, minimum 18°; November, maximum 51°, minimum 14°; December, maximum 56°, minimum 18°. Greatest heat, July 27, 92°; greatest cold, December 16, 18°; range, 110°. The Mississippi closed January 30th; opened February 21st. Last frost, May 24th; first in Autumn, September 28th. Rainy days, 101 53

of which were in May, June, and July; 20 snowy days, 55 cloudy, 88 clear, and 212 variable. The amount of rain that fell during the entire year was 72.4 inches. A frost in May killed most of the fruit. The peach-tree blossoms in April, fall wheat ripens in July, spring wheat in August, and Indian corn in October. The rivers are frozen over from two to three months on an average each winter. The soil of Iowa is generally excellent and of easy cultivation, with prairie and woodland intermingled. The valleys of the Red Cedar, Iowa, and Des Moines, (we quote Owen's Geological Report,) as high as latitude 42° or 42° 31', presents a body of arable land, which, taken as a whole, for richness in organic elements, for amount of saline matter, and due admixture of earthly silicates, affords a combination that belongs only to the most fertile upland plains. After passing latitude 42° 30' north, near the confines of the Couteau des Prairies, a desolate, knobby country commences, the highlands being covered with gravel and supporting a scanty vegetation, while the low grounds are either wet or marshy, or filled with numerous ponds or lakes, and where the eye roves in vain in search of timber. North of 41° 30', and between the headwaters of the Grand, Nodaway, and Nishnabotona Rivers, the soil is inferior in quality to that south of the same parallel. The staples of this State are Indian corn, wheat, and live stock, besides considerable quantities of oats, rye, buckwheat, barley, Irish potatoes, butter, cheese, hay, wool, maple sugar, beeswax, and honey; and some rice, tobacco, beans, peas, sweet potatoes, orchard fruit, wine, grass seeds, hops, flax, and silk are produced.

FOREST TREES.-Iowa is in many places destitute of timber; along the rivers, however, it is well wooded, except near their sources. On the intervals between the rivers there are often prairies of from 15 to 20 miles, without so much as a bush higher than the wild indigo and compass-plant. The greatest scarcity of trees is north of 42°. Ash, elm, sugar, and white maple grow in alluvion belts of from one-fourth to one mile in width on the river banks. The other forest-trees are poplar, various species of oak, black and white walnut, hickory, locust, ironwood, cotton-wood, lime or basswood, and some pine on the northern parts of the State. Oak constitutes the larger part of the timber of the State. The peach grows too luxuriantly and blooms too soon to admit of its being cultivated to advantage. The grape, gooseberry, and wild plum are indigenous.

COUNTIES. We give a list of the counties in Iowa, with their county towns, and also the population of each county according to the census of 1860:

RESULTS OF THE STATE CENSUS.-The population of Iowa, accord

ing to the State Census of 1863, was as follows:

Total number of whites,.....

Total number of blacks,

Total population,

...

700,842 1,320

702,162

Total number of whites,..

Total number of blacks,...

Total population,..........................

751,125

3,607

754,732

This last report does not include returns from the county of Winneshiek. The census having been taken in the early part of the year, the emigration which set in largely after the termination of the war is necessarily excluded. The total population of the State, at the beginning of the year 1866 was estimated by Governor Stone at 775,000, an increase of 100,000, or about 14 per cent., over the United States census of 1860. The following statistics are derived from the returns of the census of 1865:

The blind number 259, the deaf and dumb, 375, and the insane, 613. The total number of dwelling-houses in the State is 114,351. The number of acres of land inclosed is 5,327,053. Number of miles of railroad finished, 793. Value of agricultural implements and machinery, $7,707,027; value of manufactures, $7,100,465. The principal agricultural products are: spring wheat, 7,175,784 bushels; winter wheat, 116.965; oats, 15,928,777; corn, 48,471,133; potatoes, 2,730,811: rye, 662,388; and barley, 950,696 bushels. The number of tons of hay from tame grasses is 225,349, and from wild grasses, 713,119 tons. The tobacco crop yielded 753,626 pounds. The women in Iowa, in 1865, made 14,538,216 pounds of butter, and 1,000,738 pounds of cheese, the yield of 310,137 milch cows.

The crops of Iowa in 1865 were generally abundant, and that of corn was so much beyond the demand for home consumption, that in those parts of the State where timber is scarce, and the facilities for conveying crops to market unfrequent, it was employed as fuel. Seventy bushels of corn in the ear, which are equivalent to a cord of wood, cost but $7, while wood, cut and sawed, was worth $9.50 a cord. Not only was the corn cheaper, but it gave, it is said, considerably more heat than the same bulk of wood or coal. This, however, can be considered only an anomalous and temporary employment of this great staple of food, which will cease whenever the country is opened to commerce.

EDUCATION.-The schools of Iowa are in a flourishing condition. Out of 324,338 enumerated school children in 1865, there was an average attendance at school of 119,593 against 117,378 in the previous year. The University of Iowa, established at Iowa City, opened in 1866, with a largely increased attendance in its several departments. Connected with it is a medical school at Keokuk, and during 1865 a normal department, for the education of teachers, was added to the University. FINANCES OF IOWA.-The assessed valuations of taxable property in the State, according to the lists for 1859 and 1865, compare as follows:

The taxes levied in 1859 averaged one mill and a half on the dollar, yielding $296,735; in 1865 they were two mills on the dollar, yielding $430,126.

The receipts from all sources, and disbursements of the Treasury for the years ending October 31, 1859, and for the two years ending Ŏctober 31, 1865, are thus stated:

In the accounts for the two years, 1864–1865, are included the expenditures of the War and Defense Fund, amounting for the term to $207,266, so that the actual expenses for State and other objects appear to have been less in the last than for the first financial period.

The indebtedness of the State is limited by the Constitution to $250,000, except in cases of rebellion or invasion. When the civil war commenced the amount outstanding was $200,000. It is now, or was recently, $622,295.75. The resources of the State for the financial period of 1866 and 1867 were stated at $1,611,002.87. Not more than one-half of this amount would be needed for ordinary expenses, so that the balance, when collected, would more than cover the State debt.

It is not necessary to enlarge on this subject, the above being suffi cient to show the status of this young and flourishing commonwealth, lightly burdened and singularly free from vexatious taxes, and which has no impediment in the way of a prosperous future.

HISTORY.-Iowa was originally a part of the vast territories included under the general name of Louisiana. The first settlement of whites within its present limits was made by John Dubuque, a Canadian Frenchman, who, in 1788, obtained the grant of a large tract of land, including the present city of Dubuque and the rich mineral lands in its vicinity. Here he built a small fort, and carried on the business of mining lead and trading with the Indians, until his death in 1810.

In 1834 Iowa was placed under the jurisdiction of Michigan, and in 1837 transferred to that of Wisconsin. No settlement of importance other than that of Dubuque was made within the limits of what is now Iowa, until the spring of 1833, when several companies of Americans from Illinois, and other States, settled in the vicinity of Burlington. At a later period, settlements were made at other points along the Mississippi.

Iowa was organized as a separate territory on the 12th of June, 1838, and on the 4th of July following, the new Territorial Government was duly installed at Burlington, the capital of the new territory. Iowa Territory included all the country north of Missouri and between the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers to the British line, and, consequently, the greater part of the present State of Minnesota and Dakota Territory. The seat of the territorial government was removed in 1839 to Iowa City. A convention was held, a State Constitution formed, and