Iowa, in the highly figurative and expressive language of the aborigines, is said to signify The Beautiful Land,” and was applied by them to this magnificent section of the country between the two great rivers.

      The general shape of the State is that of a rectangle, the northern and southern boundaries being due east and west lines, and its eastern and western boundaries determined by southerly flowing rivers — the Mississippi on the east and the Missouri and the Big Sioux on the west. The width of the State from north to south is over 200 miles, being from the parallel of 43- 30’ to that of 40- 36’, or merely three degrees; but this does not include the small angle at the southeast corner. The length of the State from east to west is about 265 miles. The area is 55,044 square miles, nearly all of which is readily tillable and highly fertile.

      The State lies wholly within, and comprises a part of a vast plain, and there is no mountainous or even hilly country within its borders, excepting the bluffs of the larger rivers. The highest point is near Spirit Lake, and is but 1,200 feet above the lowest, which is in the southeast corner, and is 444 feet above the level of the Gulf of Mexico. The average descent per miles between these two points is four feet, and that from Spirit Lake to the northeast corner of the State, at low-water mark of the Mississippi, is five feet five inches.

      It has been estimated that about seven-eighths of Iowa was prairie when the white race first settled here. It seems to be a settled point in science that the annual fires of the Indians, prevented this western countr y from becoming heavily timbered.

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