...such a public man have of his career of effort in the general interest? Through the columns of his paper Mr. Young gave freely and without limit the needed initial publicity for the organization of the project, and the bright young men of the Capital were always and everywhere on the ground, recording the progress of the work as soon as it was under way and up to the hour of its completion. The other Des Moines papers and the papers of all the other cities along the line of the road and throughout the whole state, for that matter, did yeoman service in the good cause. The press, indeed, was a unit and evidence was again given that Iowa has the most intelligent and the most prosperous. An able lieutenant of Mr. Young in his campaign for the River to River Road, and one whose enthusiasm and ability were every moment effective, is Mr. J. W. Eichinger, good roads editor of the Capital. He followed carefully the demonstration of the truth of his chief’s expressed belief in what road dragging methods could do to the highways of Iowa under present legislation and levies with the existing township and county road making organizations.

Perhaps it will not seem a bit of boasting, if it is said that, just as the new highway is a step in advance, just so are the maps presented in connection with this text an improvement over others of the kind. A novelty of them, at any rate, lies in the fact that they can be fixed without reference to the descriptions accompanying them, though it is hoped to make the latter illuminating and otherwise well worth while. The noted Automobile Blue Book of the East has not this advantage for its users, and in this respect, it is submitted, Iowa map makers have set a new standard certain to be very widely appreciated and speedily accepted by their competitors in other part of the country. It is not too much to say that these are the best road maps ever published. Their accuracy is assured for the reason that the engineers of the Iowa Publishing Company, under the personal supervision of M. Huebinger, C. E., of Des Moines, have an established reputation in their profession second to none in the United States.

Acknowledgment, last but by no means least, would be made to those who, in the several communities along the route of the road, expedited matters by conveying the engineering parties, the scouting autos and the men of the press from point to point along the great highway. Their assistance was invaluable and the spirit in which they rendered it made the work one of pleasure as well as use. These men are an important part of the River to River Road Association which comprises all those who have assisted directly and indirectly in the project.

4

The bottom dropped out of Iowa roads during the fall of 1909 as every Iowan remembers, and the Glidden tour was in sight for advertisement of the state for good or ill. This is why the work was undertaken. The River to River Road Association, formed as a part of the state wide plans formulated by delegates called together officially by Governor Carroll, undertook the achievement. With an executive committeeman in each of twelve counties in charge of the work in his county, things moved quickly. Grades were built up, wet places drained and hundreds of drags put in operation. This is how the work was carried out. Moreover, the same methods and the same organization are keeping the highway in its new condition, and, in fact, bettering it, from day to day.

That apostle of Democracy, the Frenchman De Toqueville, whose visions of a century ago are still steadily coming true, and who saw as deeply and as clearly into the human heart as any man of modern times, said in his noble work, “Democracy in American,” that “the valley of the Mississippi is, upon the whole, the most magnificent dwelling place prepared by God for man’s abode.” All of the River to River Road lies in this valley, since the Missouri a tributary of the Mississippi, and the traveler along the length of the new highway, as well as along any part of it, is likely to agree with De Toqueville in the latter’s estimate of the beauty and fertility of the country through which it passes. Indeed, it is hard to determine with justice territory traversed is more attractive than any other. Each has its peculiar advantages, offsetting, as it were, those of another.

~ The Publishers

RIVER TO RIVER ROAD
ASSOCIATION 

River to River Road

 Iowa’s River to River Road is a dragged road from Davenport to Council Bluffs. It crosses Iowa in almost a straight line from river to river along the main route of all transcontinental travel. The road is 380 miles long. It passes through Des Moines, capital of the state, a dozen bright, hustling, little cities, ranging from 5,000 to 25,000 inhabitants and some thirty small towns and villages. There are over 600 farm houses fronting on the road and more than 1,500 that stand within one mile of the road.

The River to River Road has been improved and is being maintained by the River to River Association. This is an organization comprising business and professional men living along the road in each of the twelve counties through which it passes. There is an executive committeeman in each county who has full charge of everything pertaining to the road in his territory. Headquarters are maintained with the association secretary in charge in the office of The Des Moines Capital.

The River to River Road is a newspaper enterprise backed up by the co-operation of all the people living along the road. It was planned and carried to completion as an object lesson in road making and as one phase of a general good roads campaign conducted through the columns of The Capital by J. W. Eichinger, good roads editor of The Capital. Col. Lafayette Young, editor and publisher of The Capital, first broached the idea of a River to River Road. He urged it as a demonstration of what road dragging methods could do the highways of Iowa under present road legislation and levies and with the existing township and county road making organizations.

During the fall of 1909 Iowa’s highways were the worst in many years. The bottom simply dropped out all over the state. Rural routes were discontinued, some times for weeks in succession. It became apparent more than ever before that the one greatest need in Iowa was improved highways. No one in the state could realize this so well as the state news editor of a great state wide paper. It was at this time when the burden of all correspondence coming into the office of The Capital was the condition of the public highways, that a campaign for road improvement was determined upon. Through a chance...

… remark of William Wiseman, former City Editor of The Capital, the good roads editor learned of Col. Young’s suggestion of a River to River Road. This was seized upon as the concrete thing to be accomplished and to be made the basis of the entire general campaign. The River to River Road idea and the plan for having the road improved and maintained by the co-operation of the people living along the road was sprung. The plan was based on the road officers of an unbroken line of townships from one side of the state to the other, improving and maintaining the section of the road lying inside their township borders. The idea caught on. The general good roads campaign caught on also. March 8 and 9, in response to a call issued by Governor Carroll, 2,000 delegates gathered in Des Moines in a general state convention and in response to a call from the good roads editor of The Capital 200 delegates from the twelve River to River Road counties gathered in a caucus on the River to River Road. There was a hot fight over rival routes, but in the end the River to River Road Association was organized. Live men were secured in each county as executive committeemen. These men organized their counties, and finally set to work upon the actual improving of the highway. Grades were built up, wet places drained and hundreds of road drags set to work. Within a short time a large portion of the road was under road dragging contracts, in which farmers living along the road, agreed to drag the highway after every rain and receive the state drag law, the sum of fifty cents per mile traveled by the drag.  

 At Davenport, which sits so majestically upon its hills overlooking the noble stream which laves its shores, one very naturally, and very properly, goes to Rock Island arsenal on the government island opposits the great city which is spreading out over so much of the eastern part of Scott County. It is from this island that one of the most extensive of the world’s railway systems takes its name and over its tracks, crossing the island, the heavy traffic of transcontinental transport and travel is daily shunted back and forth with the speed of lightning. From car windows millions have eagerly caught glimpses of the beauties of this reservation, which, in the midst of the scenes of peace, is devoted to the purposes of war. Here is the greatest ordnance manufacturing establishment in the United States, destined, if wars shall not cease, to be one of the greatest in the world. Here, too, is one of the finest natural parks in existence, golf links that have been pronounced the peer of any in the world, and old buildings and cemeteries, Union and Confederate, which give a spot naturally charming a high historical interest. The length of this island can be traversed in an auto over a government road of macadam that gives one an idea of what the River to River road itself may be in the course of time, if the present interest is not allowed to subside and the present organization for improvement is sedulously maintained. The arsenal road is road perfection, nothing less.

Leaving the smooth going of this macadam and returning by the plank roadway of the government’s great streel bridge, erected under the engineering direction of Ralph Modjeska, son of Madame Modjeska, the noble woman and gifted actress, whose recent death in California left the world in tears, one honks down the asphalted streets of Davenport, assuredly one of the most beautiful and one of the most interesting of Midwestern American cities. Here, counting the cities of Rock Island and Moline, which find their metropolitan center on the Iowa side, is a community very compactly built, covering in fact hardly more than half of the area of the city of Des Moines, and yet possessing a population of not less than 125,000 souls. The growth of each decade of late has been about 25,000 with a decided tendency to acceleration as the aggregate increases. It is perfectly certain that there is to be at this point on the banks of the Mississippi a two-state city of not less than a quarter of a million people in the course of another generation. Always an important distributing point for eastern Iowa and western Illinois, Davenport has been growing great at the expense of its neighbors in the manufacturing and wholesaling lines and has easily been able to hold its own in all fields in …  

… the face of keen competition from Chicago, less than 200 miles away. Through the activity and well directed efforts of its business men in the associated capacity, it has cultivated a steadily enlarging field of trade, until, in these days, wherever one goes in Iowa one meets the Davenport traveling man carrying sample cases for Davenport houses and extremely proud of it. Love of his city is the striking characteristic of the Davenporter, and when one has seen his city and its surroundings as one may easily do in an auto any fine day, one does not wonder at all that he feels that way about it. Up at Bettendorf, which is an adjacent suburb, there is one of the mammoth factories of the country in process of erection and at the same time in operation day and night making steel cars for the railways. It would take a book larger than this one merely to enumerate the industries of Davenport. Besides it is more pleasant to visit the parks and traverse the boulevards. 

… Denver line at this point, with the result that, on both lines of the system there are thirty-two passenger trains daily. There is a good restaurant and an excellent hotel.

The town has a population of 2,000 and is surrounded by a thickly settled farming community.

Over ninety per cent of the people are American and the majority of the land is owned by the farmers who occupy it.

Land values have reached as high if not the highest figure of any place in the state.

The town has four churches and splendid schools, owns and operates municipal water and electric light plants, and will install a system of sewerage the present year. There are three strong banks, and all other lines of business are represented.

The section of the county in which West Liberty is situated boasts the best roads in the country, the farmers being progressive and diligent in keeping them in excellent condition.

The large milk condensing plant which is located at this place makes it one of the best locations for dairy farming in the state. 

There are cities and towns each boasting of their distinctive advantages in this and that particular line to attract the attention of those looking for what they term “a better location” - place that has the complete requisites for the home life as well as for business, whether it be mercantile, industrial of professional.

When you are looking for the “City Beautiful” possessed with the advantages of rearing the young men and the young women for the higher walks of life, you have Iowa City standing ready to serve humanity in the future as in the past. Our great State University has graduated young men and young women who have held and today hold some of the most responsible public offices in these United States. Men who have shaped and molded, and are molding the future of this nation, have gone out from the State University in Iowa City.

The opportunities for a livelihood in Iowa City are most excellent. The city shows increase and growth in population, is abreast and in many instances surpassing other cities of this country having 10,000 population, which is credited to Iowa City by a fair-sized margin, and which does not include the students and attendance at the university, numbering about 2,500.

The environments here are of the best. In this connection we take pride in our Y.M.C.A. home, costing over $25,000, our public library, the finely equipped university library and museum, our city parks, one of which covers over eighty acres and is a garden spot supplied with attractions for young people.

A fine water system, recently equipped at a great expense, with the most modern filters. The water is pumped not from the Iowa river, but from an underground supply, assuring pure, wholesome, water which is conducive to good health.+

A sewerage system, well installed, measures 25 miles in length, 25 miles of bitulithic paving adds to the appearance of the city, also 40 miles of granatoid walks. Gas mains cover an area of 25 miles. For the care of the sick and unfortunate Iowa City has three large, well equipped hospitals with 70 nurses and the best of medical science in attendance. Three daily and one tri-weekly newspapers furnish the news for Iowa City and vicinity.

A commercial club, located in quarters that would be a cred- … 

… it to any city twice the size of Iowa City and with a membership of 250 is actively engaged in promoting the interests of the city and its citizens. That Iowa City has a great future is evidenced by the activities in interurbans at this time, now having a line to Cedar Rapids on the north, two more interurbans are to be built. One to Davenport on the east and one to Otumwa on the southwest. A street car system will be built before snow flies in the autumn of 1910.

Iowa City is to be the “Interurban Hub” of the State of Iowa. The traveling salesman knows what this will mean to him as an easy point of access. He is looking for a good city in which to live to educate his family and give them the best of environment and at the same time be able to get out over his territory on an hourly service in most any direction and make connection with the steam railway trunk lines in addition to the splendid service afforded north, east, south and west over the Omaha main line of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Ry. Speaking of club advantages, this city has an Elks club building just recently completed costing over $35,000 and is complete in every particular. The Country Club and golf links along the beautiful Iowa river affords an excellent outing during the summer months.

Tourists and visitors are always welcome to all Iowa City clubs and club buildings and a card addressed to the secretary of the commercial club asking for information will bring to you more details about Iowa City, the “City Beautiful,” and its citizens.

The Iowa City Automobile Club is a strong, active organization and is doing excellent work in promoting the cause for good, well drained highways.

In short, “Know Iowa City,” the educational center of the middle west. The place for business, homes and education.

~ Robt. N. Carson.

 Homestead and South Amana are towns owned by the Amana Society, which the tourist will find well worth careful study. Strangers are kindly treated and assisted in every possible way in these communities. The Amana Society is an organization of a religious nature, but combines also methods and systems of living and conducting business in a socialistic way that reflect great credit upon the association. It is said that the society originated in Germany about the year 1714 among those who desired a peaceful life, and with less formality than was exercised by existing religious sects and denominations. They were especially opposed to wars or any participation therein, their position on this subject being summed up in the following declarations:

First. The teachings of Christ forbid war.

Second. The precepts and practice of the apostles agree with the teachings of Christ.

Third. The early Christians were firm in the belief in the unjustness of war and many suffered death in affirmation of this belief.

Fourth. War is not a necessary evil, for if the people would not fight, ambitious rulers would either have to fight themselves or dwell in peace and harmony.

Fifth. The general character of Christianity is wholly inconsistent with war and its general duties are contrary to it.

Homestead and South Amana are towns owned by the Amana Society, which the tourist will find well worth careful study. Strangers are kindly treated and assisted in every possible way in these communities. The Amana Society is an organization of a religious nature, but combines also methods and systems of living and conducting business in a socialistic way that reflect great credit upon the association. It is said that the society originated in Germany about the year 1714 among those who desired a peaceful life, and with less formality than was exercised by existing religious sects and denominations. They were especially opposed to wars or any participation therein, their position on this subject being summed up in the following declarations:

First. The teachings of Christ forbid war.

Second. The precepts and practice of the apostles agree with the teachings of Christ.

Third. The early Christians were firm in the belief in the unjustness of war and many suffered death in affirmation of this belief.

Fourth. War is not a necessary evil, for if the people would not fight, ambitious rulers would either have to fight themselves or dwell in peace and harmony.

Fifth. The general character of Christianity is wholly inconsistent with war and its general duties are contrary to it.

Growth of the Society

 The growth of the order by additions of believers and a community of though led the society to lease land and factories where they could bring their membership together, and little by little they became socialistic and in time the idea of a community of interest became a part of their faith and plan of life.

In 1842 Mons. Cabet’s book on communism, and imaginary utopian dream called “The Voyage and Adventures of Lord Carisdal in Icaria,” seemed to stimulate the society to a new movement in search of a new and broader field and greater liberty of action, with less of the antagonism experienced in the old country. So in 1842 four men were selected to visit America and look up a new location. They reached this country toward the last of October, 1842, and first examined lands near Lake Chautauqua, in western New York, but were not suited. They then examined lands near Buffalo, soon to be vacated by the Seneca Indians, and finally purchased 5,000 acres at $10.50 an acre. Members of the society to the number of fifty soon came over and in May, 1843, a village was laid out and named Ebenezer. Later two other villages were platted and called Upper and Lower Ebenezer, the first one being then called Middle Ebenezer. A large meeting house was built, also school houses, as well as dwellings and a saw mill. By the end of 1843 the community numbered 350 persons. Some trouble of an annoying nature was had with the Indians, who were slow to vacate the lands, in time. In 1844 members had come over from the old country until the membership reached 800. In February, 1845, the society was incorporated; saw mills, grist mills and woolen mills were built and additional land purchased until they were owners of 8,000 acres.

Move to Iowa

 After some years, for various reasons, the elders of the community decided to look up a new location where a larger area of cheaper land could be obtained, farther away from the unpleasant influences of a rapidly growing city like Buffalo; so in 1855 the society selected a committee to go west in search of a more satisfactory locality. The committee finally reached Davenport, Iowa, then went to Muscatine and from there up the Iowa river to Iowa City, where the state capital had been located; from Iowa City they drove westward into Iowa county, where settlement had just begun, where land was cheap, where the soil was rich and where the broad rolling prairies and clear running streams made a landscape most pleasing and attractive. Government land could be bought at $1.25 an acre and settlers’ claims at $500 to $800 a quarter section. The committee made its report and the society at once bought 18,000 acres. Then began the removal of members from near Buffalo to the new location in Iowa county, Iowa. Not all could some at once. It took nearly ten years to accomplish the sale of the eastern property and bring the last of the membership to Iowa. In the meantime, improvements were made as rapidly as circumstances would permit. On acquiring possession of the land they at once laid out a town about a mile north of the Iowa river on a beautiful sloping prairie near a lake of about 200 acres and with a small stream running through the proposed village. The name given it was Amana, found in the Songs of Solomon (Chap. IV-18). The meaning of the word is “remain true.”

Other villages were afterwards laid out, West Amana, and South Amana in 1856, High Amana in 1857, East Amana in 1860, Homestead in 1861, Middle Amana in 1862 and New South Amana in 1883. When all had reached the new home from Buffalo the membership was 1,200.

The civil war caused them some embarrassment, but they met conditions by furnishing money for the employment of an equitable number of substitutes at $300 each.

Regularly Incorporated

The Amana Society is regularly incorporated under the laws of the state. Its principal object is defined to be promotion of the temporal and spiritual welfare and happiness of its members; and its principal business to acquire real and personal property, to carry on agricultural and mechanical pursuits, to build villages, churches, schools, factories, etc. The legislative management of the society is in the hands of thirteen trustees elected annually. The executive department consists of one director, one vice-director and one secretary elected annually by the trustees.

The society makes steady improvement of its property from year to year. More and more land was placed under cultivation, a canal nine miles long was built to bring water from the Iowa river and furnish power, taking three years to construct; an artesian well was put down 1,600 feet, grist mills, saw mills, woolen mills, cotton mills, hominy mills, a starch factory, soap factory, a pepsin factory, stores, lumber and coal and cattle yards, school houses, dwellings, meeting houses, barns and out-buildings constructed and all else needed in the successful management of its affairs. The products of its mills are “made upon honor,” the best of their kind, and find a ready market. The Amana Society brand has won the implicit confidence of the public.

The society has three physicians who look after the sick or ailing.

Eighty elders look after spiritual matters, conduct Sunday and Wednesday meetings and every evening prayer meetings. They believe in the inspiration of the Bible and make it the cornerstone of their faith. They endeavor to be guided in their lives by the teachings of Christ and the Apostles.

They believe in prayer, in the resurrection, and in reward hereafter for the good and punishment for the wicked. They indulge in singing, but not instrumental music.

All property is owned by the society. If a new member comes in from outside he turns in his property and takes a receipt for it. If afterwards he wishes to withdraw it is returned to him without interest.

Each family has its own house and garden and family ties are held sacred.

They believe in education and maintain good schools.

They dress and live plainly, but their tables are supplied with an abundance of the best of meats, vegetables, fruits, etc.

The growth of the society is shown by the statement that 800 came over from the old country and settled at Buffalo; 1,200 came from Buffalo to Iowa and the membership in this year of 1910 numbers about 1,800. The society now owns 25,000 acres of choice land, thousands of head of cattle, sheep, hogs, horses and poultry, and mills and factories that turn out many thousands of dollars worth of products every year beyond the needs of the community.

The foregoing has been gleaned in part from an interesting work by Wm. R. Perkins and B. L. Wick, entitled, “History of the Amana Society or Community of True Inspiration,” published by the University press at Iowa City.

Marengo    This city is named after the plains of Marengo, where Bonaparte fought his battle of “Marengo,” June 14, 1800. The original town of Marengo was created by a commission to locate a seat of justice for Iowa county and it is said that the commission which traveled in a platform buggy, and after taking the necessary preventive against ague and other ailments, decided that this valley where Marengo now stands is pretty enough for a “Seat of Justice,” therefore Marengo has been the county seat of Iowa county ever since by legislative act.

Marengo is the center of one of the finest and best agricultural districts in Iowa. Marengo is situated about midway between Davenport and Des Moines and has in early days occupied that distinction, as being the half way stop.

She now has a good substantial business, four strong banks, twelve blocks of modern pavement, all the different churches are represented, and up-to-date and enterprising business men. Marengo has a population of 2,500 people. It has one of the best high schools in the state of Iowa and has a big bunch of men that are enthusiastic automobile men.

Grinnell

 A New England town in the heart of Iowa, the little city of Grinnell stands unique among the communities of the state. Its streets, arched over with trees, its well-kept green lawns, no less than the attitude of its people toward moral and religious questions, help to convey the impression of New England.

Grinnell was founded by J. B. Grinnell, who came to Iowa with the famous injection of Horace Greeley ringing in his ears: “Go west young man, go west.” Mr. Grinnell came west and founded the city which bears his name as a little Congregational settlement in the heart of the bare Iowa prairie. From the first, Mr. Grinnell’s personality made itself felt. During the troubled days before the Civil War Grinnell was a hotbed of abolition feeling. It was one of the stations on the famous “Underground Railroad,” which passed runaway slaves onward in their search for freedom. John Brown, of Harper’s Ferry fame, was a visitor at the Grinnell home, and many other famous men were guests there. A great tree in the yard of the Grinnell homestead is still known as the Beecher Elm.

Almost from the first Grinnell has been closely identified with Grinnell College, formerly Iowa College. Town and college have grown together. In 1882, the historic Grinnell cyclone swept them both, but both rose stronger than ever before from their ruins. The cyclone was a blessing in disguise for Grinnell as was the fire which destroyed the business section a few years later, for as a result Grinnell has more modern business blocks than are usually found in a town of this size.

Grinnell is healthfully located on one of the highest points in Iowa. It has a population of about 5,500. It is supplied with water from four artesian wells which give an abundant and pure supply. The water works are municipally owned. The city is lighted by electricity and gas, and is now being paved with bitulithic paving, the contract for which is the largest single paving contract ever let in the state of Iowa.

Grinnell is a hustling, progressive little city. It has a live Commercial Club and an Automobile Club which does things. It has a special in-…

Grinnell is located on the main lines of the Rock Island and Iowa Central railroads. It has beautiful homes, an excellent school system, in addition to college (Carnegie) library, a fine city library, and it is surrounded by the best farming country in Iowa.

It has two parks, one in the very heart of the business section, one on the outskirts surrounding a beautiful artificial body of water known as Arbor Lake.

From a physical, social, educational or religious viewpoint Grinnell is preeminently fitted and is preeminently a home city. Many move here to secure educational advantages for their children and none are disappointed.

Grinnell courts investigation. It claims to be the best city of its inches in Iowa.

 Kellogg    Is in the eastern part of Jasper county. It was laid out in 1865 before the railroad reached this point. It was the terminus of the railroad for about a year and as a consequence received considerable trade at that time, the road pushing through to Des Moines 1867. The town was incorporated in 1874 and a council organized the same year.

Automobiles will find Craven’s Garage, which is located here, one of the best equipped along the River to River road.

 Newton    The county seat of Jasper county, is located on the C., R. I. & P., the Iowa Central and Ft. D., D. M. & S. railways, 35 miles from Des Moines, 177 from Omaha, 140 from Davenport and 323 from Chicago. Newton is rapidly growing in wealth and population; new business enterprises are being established, new residences are being built, new people are coming to locate here and grow up with the increased business. Newton always extends the glad hand to anyone who desires to locate within his borders and when the newcomer has resided here long enough to turn around a few times and learn of the many advantages of living in such a city he never wants to leave. Newton feels justly proud of her schools, her churches, her own electric light plant, her own water works system, and above all Newton is proud of her people. Newton has twenty-two factories, which employ about 600 people with a monthly pay roll at about $6,000.00. There are several excellent garages here and the town is a good one to make a night stop.

Colfax

The Carlsbad of America

 Like ancient Rome is Colfax - built upon its seven hills. But unlike Rome, no Nero ever will fiddle as Colfax burns, for Colfax owns its own water works and it is one of the most up-to-date systems in the world, furnishing ample protection against disaster by fire.

Another appellation European has this noted Iowa resort gained - it is called the Carlsbad of America. Throughout the country has its mineral water brought it fame. While in a sense Colfax owes it popularity to the curative properties of its water, as a place for passing one’s vacation it has few equals, if a sojourn next to nature is desire of the visitor.

Nominally the town has 4,000 inhabitants. This must not be reckoned its actual size, for thousands upon thousands of outsiders multiply this population yearly, many times. Last year the resort entertained 25,000 guests and never was there a time when its resources were inadequate for taking care of the transients.

The city is built around a natural amphitheater. Its arrangement of streets is picturesque. Outdoor beauties, natural and built by man, combine to make the community a heaven of rest and quiet. With the abundance of water on every hand it follows that foliage and bloom are everywhere to be found.

Trees so abundant as to almost amount for forests cover the hills to the east and south. North of town runs a placid stream, which lends an added charm to the landscape. A soft south breeze prevails. The elevation is acceptable - 800 feet. The air is clear and bracing. There Is plenty of opportunity for fishing and boating, as in the case in regard to the various forms of indoor and outdoor recreation.

Colfax is twenty-three miles east of Des Moines on the Chicago-Colorado main line of the Rock Island Lines. It is on the Colfax Northern, which connects with the Great Western, and is on the Fort Dodge, Des Moines and Southern Railway.

The city has enough large and well equipped hotels and sanitariums. In keeping with the grandeur of the hills upon which it is situated are its beautiful drives and walks. It has the Chautauqua grounds of the Iowa State Epworth League Assembly, conceded to be the finest part of its kind in that section of the west.

It well may boast of its fine churches. Its schools are of the best. It is lighted by modern electric system and has excellent sewerage. There are located in the city, banks, mercantile houses, a telephone system, three express lines, electric street …

 Colfax has a public library the like of which cities several times its size would be proud to own. The city is the permanent seat of the Iowa State Epworth League Assembly. This institution in addition to its beautiful grounds, has an auditorium the second largest in the state. An electric line connects the grounds and the city.

The Chautauqua Assembly at Colfax is now in its fifteenth year. This is a considerable longer period than is usual with most of the institutions of that character. The reason for its longevity is the gradual building up plan which has been the order since the Assembly started. The management has never gone on the plan of “cheapness.” None but the best of attractions ever have been billed there. This accounts for the Assembly’s successful past and its rosy future.

But notwithstanding these advantages it undoubtedly is a fact that Colfax as a remedial center is Colfax at its best. For the value of Colfax waters is undisputed and indisputable.

There is an old expression “unstable as water,” in which some people place faith, but while, as can be seen, the fame of Colfax is founded upon water, just as easily it can be seen that the fame of Colfax is by no means unstable.

Mineral water first was discovered in Colfax in 1875 by persons prospecting for coal, which since has been found in abundance in the hills skirting the Chasaqua River.

The prospector’s drill penetrated through successive strata of late until at a depth of 315 feet, when the drill was still apparently piercing solid rock, a great gush of water came, which stopped explorations for coal in that particular spot.

Naturally there was disappointment felt at this sudden halting of the plans to get rich. One of the prospectors jokingly accepted the situation with this philosophy: “Well let’s sample what we got, anyhow.” With that he tasted the water.

Being somewhat of a chemist, at the first swallow he perceived that the fluid was not ordinary aqua pura. He and his companions continued to drink of it while they were moving their machinery and were agree- …

 He took a sample to the chemical laboratory and had a thorough analysis made of it. The test more than bore out his sanguine expectations.

The examination of the mineral waters proved that the search for coal though unsuccessful, had resulted in finding, not of Ponce de Leon’s Fountain of Youth, but as close a substitute as obtains outside the realm of fiction. The report of the chemists on the fluid was proof that it was of much more value than the fuel that had been sought.

There was a boom after that in the hunt for water. The work of piercing the earth was continued. At the present time there are nineteen artesian wells giving forth their great remedial product and the city has built up year by year, its reputation as a health restoring center.

Mitchellville  

 Des Moines, the capital of the state and the chief commercial city of central Iowa, is situated at the junction of the Des Moines and Raccoon rivers and is on the Chicago-Omaha line of the Rock Island railway, and the Chicago-Kansas City line of the Chicago Great Western railroad. Besides these two main lines of road it is the terminus of important branches of the Milwaukee, Wabash, Burlington, Northwestern and other systems. It is also the center of the only extensive system of interurban railways between the Mississippi river and the Rockies. In the last five years the city, now with a population of about 100,000, has been marvelously improved and beautified until it is now recognized as being one of the most attractive and modern of all the cities in the United States. Many large buildings of artistic design have been erected and this, with a general remodeling of interiors and exteriors in the downtown district, together with a most comprehensive scheme of lighting the streets by means of the artistic electroliers, gives the town a metropolitan aspect. The hotel accommodations are ample and good restaurants are many.

This city is especially stronger as a retail center and as the center of large publishing and insurance business. It is getting strong yearly in the field of general manufacturing and jobbing.

Governmentally, Des Moines is under what has come to be known everywhere as the Des Moines Plan. This plan is government by a commission of five members, chosen at a non-partisan election and at large, instead of from wards. The plan appears to have worked well, and the city believes itself to be getting dollar for dollar in the matter of expenditures and results.

Garages are legion and the fact that all seem to be doing a lively business indicates that this is the automobile center of the middle part of the state. There are a number of fine drives through the city, which covers over fifty square miles of area. The park system is on a magnificent scale in preparation for the needs of a city of half a million people.

In addition to the trade and farm papers that are published in Des Moines, the city has four dailies that compare favorably with publications of like nature in cities of twice the size. The Register and Leader is a morning paper with a state-wide circulation and has an evening issue called the Tribune. In the evening field, strictly, are the Capital, published by Lafayette Young, the famous orator and publicist, and the News, of the Scripps-McRae syndicate. The Capital is a political power with the conservative or standpat wing of the Republican party and is widely read by people of all shades of political opinion on account of its high quality as a newspaper and the entertaining nature of its editorial page. The News is more or less gently sensational and has screaming headlines three or four times a day. On account of the large street sales of all these papers, Des Moines is the paradise for newsboys, several of whom have amassed fortunes in their lines of business.

Organized boosting has made Des Moines what it is and the harmony existing in the general effort to promote the growth and development of the town is often the cause of remark by strangers. Many thousands of dollars are spent annually in advertising Des Moines as the “city of certainties” and such mediums as the Saturday Evening Post are freely used for full-page displays. The Greater Des Moines Committee is the organization that has this remarkable publicity campaign in charge and it is said that results of a substantial nature are already in sight.

The capitol building on the east side of the Des Moines river is well worth a visit from the tourist, as is also the state library and historical building nearby. The Melan arch bridge of concrete at the Locust street crossing of the Des Moines river is also noteworthy, as is also the new half-million dollar postoffice building, an admirable example of Uncle Sam’s new ideas of what government buildings of this sort ought to be. The Polk County court house is a magnificent pile and the more recently constructed sky-scraping office buildings are equal …

 Out Grand avenue, going west from the business district by the way, one gets a good impression of one of the most beautiful residential streets in the entire United States. Around Des Moines, indeed, is one of the most picturesque countries in Iowa. The native woods of this section help greatly to give this effect.

Waukee    a town of 400 inhabitants, is situated at the junction of the C. M. St. P., C., R. I. & P. and the M. & St. L. railroads, about fifteen miles west of the city of Des Moines on the River to River Road, and is located in one of the richest farming communities in the state of Iowa, which was formerly quite low and wet, but has recently been thoroughly tiled and is now one of the best agricultural communities of which we know.

 Land values range from $125 to $200 per acre, according to location and improvements. It is a great grain and stock center; about 300,000 bushels of grain and 150 cars of stock are shipped from here annually.

There are a first-class lumber yard, four general stores, an up-to-date restaurant, a three-story brick hotel, two banks, a blacksmith shop, a furniture store, two grain elevators, an implement store, a livery barn, a drug store, a wall paper store, a harness shop, a barber shop, a butcher shop, a feed mill, a nursery, a gasoline supply station, four churches, three lodges, a ladies’ club, an physician, a good school of twelve grades, a good ball ground and park with plenty of shade, an excellent spot for picnics. Here, also, are the offices and headquarters of the Ne Plus Ultra Generator Company, who handle the best automobile acetylene gas light on the market.

The main streets are all heavily cindered and a number of improvements are being made this year.

The Automobile Club, together with the township officers, have made arrangements, and are keeping both the Lake Road and the River to River Road to and from Waukee, dragged at all times when needed, and in the best of condition.

Among the institutions that go to make Adel up-to-date, of a more or less public nature, are the following: Unsurpassed public schools, with eleven teachers; four churches, the Methodist, Presbyterian, Christian and Adventist; two immense brick and tile factories, large flouring mill, bonnet and glove factory, Dr. Scott’s Sanitarium, printing press factory, cigar factory, elegant modern opera house. Besides the above, there is the full complement of professional and mercantile institutions, shops, etc., operated by wide-awake business men and women. The fraternal and social side is well represented by lodges of the Masons, Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, A.O.U.W. and the Daughters of Rebekah orders, the G.A.R., the W. R.C., several social and literary clubs, etc. Adel numbers among its citizens many first-class musicians, a band is maintained and gives street concerts during the summer, and in vocal music the town is in the front rank. Athletics are given proper attention, lawn tennis, baseball, football, rowing, etc., receiving a place in the program of amusements that entertain the resident and the visitor in a manner each enjoys.

The North Coon river, upon which Adel is located, is a beautiful stream which affords facilities for boating, bathing and fishing that are among the best in the state. Several nice boats and launches are on the water and more will follow, as Riverside Park is improved. This park, the property of the town, is an ideal place for recreation.

Redfield    dates its settlement from about 1853 and is, therefore, one of the oldest towns in the county. It was named after Col. James Redfield. With this town are associated the names of many of the oldest settlers of the county, and here the Dallas-Guthrie Old Settlers’ Association holds its annual picnics. The town is built at the junction of the South and Middle Raccoon rivers. It is nine miles west of Adel on the C. M. & St. P. railroad. The town site is one of more than ordinary beauty. For several years past it has probably done more in substantial improvement, in proportion to its size, than any other town in the county.

Dale City    is a beautiful town eight and nine-tenths miles west of Redfield.

Montieth    is six and half miles west of Dale City and is the market place for a most prosperous and progressive community.

Guthrie Center

 The pioneers of Iowa parted company with the railroad at Chicago, and plodded their way in prairie schooners across trackless prairies, following the line of least resistance, making first settlements by the wayside, and it is interesting to note that the tide of emigration, the great western trail of civilization, closely followed the present River to River Road across Guthrie county and through Guthrie Center. The site of the very first cabin built in Guthrie county is to be seen on the River to River Road, and is marked by an appropriate signboard. The overland stage route from Des Moines to Council Bluffs likewise followed Nature’s highway for many miles through Guthrie county, closely coinciding with the present-day River to River Road, and one of the old stage barns, with its dim and battered signboard, still adorns the wayside, a grim reminder of by-gone days. It has been said that the finger of Divine Love traced this natural highway through our rolling prairies and gently sloping valleys, and today a thorough organization of wide-awake farmers in Guthrie county is taking advantage of what Nature has done for them, and aspire to make this section of the River to River Road the best and most attractive piece of dirt highway in the entire state.

The county of Guthrie stands among the foremost in general agriculture and stock raising resources, fully meeting all expectations in those lines; but, what is more important to the casual traveler, is the scenic beauty which meets the eye at every turn of the road.

A literary man who recently passed through Guthrie Center, traversing the River to River Road, paid tribute as follows: “The road follows naturally along easy grades, and in point of upkeep rivals a race track, and it leads through a country of surpassing interest. Nowhere within the limits of the great state of Iowa is the county of Guthrie …

 Amid these beautiful scenes, in the South ‘Coon Valley, is Guthrie Center, county seat and county metropolis of Guthrie county, drawing trade from a rich and vast farming territory. Its business men are alive to the demands of the times, carrying splendid stocks of goods in all lines. It has water works, an electric light plant, two splendid parks, good hotels, creamery, flouring mills, fore company, a military band of more than statewide reputation, and no end of churches and civic societies. It is adorned with beautiful tree-embowered homes, and is graced by buildings that would do credit to a much larger place. It has a live Commercial Club and an Automobile Association affiliated with the state and national associations, which in membership is out-ranked by only two other automobile associations in Iowa. There are three garages, one of them just completed, being fire proof with machine in connection, adjoining electric light plant.

North Branch    is a town eleven and four-tenths miles east of Exira and is interesting to the tourist on account of the pastoral beauty of the scene.

Exira    is a city of 1,000 inhabitants and lies on the east bank of the Nishnabotna river in the southern part of Audubon county. It is surrounded by farms in a high state of cultivation. Its people and business men mostly got their start on the farm. Within a radius of ten miles are five of the most prosperous creameries in Iowa. Exira is situated in a natural forest and the shady streets and pleasant park are known to all that part of the state. The town has supported a fine concert band for thirty-five years, and it gives Saturday evening outdoor concerts during the summer months. Also its baseball nine is a famous one and the town has not missed having a Fourth of July celebration for the last forty-three years. The practice of the merchants and buyers to pay the highest price for produce and live stock has educated the farmers of the vicinity to make Exira their market town.

Oakfield    is the first town west of Exira and is a thriving burg and, and like nearly all the towns of this part of the state, remarkable for its beauty and prosperous air.

Lorah    is east of Atlantic and is well worth a visit by the tourist, on account of the affability of the people of the town, which is a market place of importance.

Atlantic    Is the county seat of Cass county, a beautiful city of 6,000 people in the heart of the best farming section in the country. It is situated on the main line of the Rock Island, eighty-two miles west of Des Moines and sixty miles east of Council Bluffs, and is the junction point for two branches of the Rock Island, one north to Audubon and the other south to Griswold. The other railroad connections are afforded in the Atlantic Northern and Southern, which runs to Kimballton and Elkhorn, a railroad built by popular subscription.

 Atlantic has more automobiles in the town and county than any other of its size in the country. Three garages operate here and do a thriving business. The people are happy, prosperous and contented. The town is an ideal place in which to live and one of the most delightful points on the River to River Road.

Avoca    Pottawattamie county is a long one, east and west, and for that reason it is convenient for the people to have two county seats. One of these is Avoca. This town of 2,000 people is situated thirty-eight miles east of Council Bluffs on the main line of the Rock Island railroad. It has a fine garage, 48x99 in dimensions, and a first-class hotel. There are three strong banks. Under the direction of the city council and the township trustee, the public highways leading to and from Avoca are kept in the best of condition for automobiles. Courtesy and good cheer are elements in the welcome the tourist receives at Avoca. A public band concert is held every Wednesday evening and the traveler is indeed fortunate if one is in Avoca on those occasions.

Minden    Twenty-five miles northeast from Council Bluffs, on the main line of the Rock Island and Great Western railroads, in the town of Minden, 500 population, staunch business point, in a township settled largely by Germans and displaying effect of the energy, thrift and intelligence of the farmers of that nation. There is abundant shade in the town, concrete walks, a fine park with a band stand from which, now and then, the Minden Cornet Band entertains the public. The Glidden tourists remember Minden with pleasure.

Neola    Is on the main lines of the Rock Island and Milwaukee railroads, about twenty miles east of Council Bluffs. It has a population of 1,100 souls. The town is lighted with electricity and has its own water works. Neola is noted for its volunteer fire department, which holds the world’s record for fast work. The school buildings are ample and modern and have an attendance of about 400. Two cement factories are among the local industries and there are a number of buildings of cement construction, and sidewalks of cement in all part of the town. There is a good garage that does all sorts of repairing and rents machines. Thirteen autos are owned and used in the town.

Underwood    is a small town between Council Bluffs and Neola and, like all the villages of this part of the state, is clean and progressive.

Weston    is practically a suburb of Council Bluffs, which lies to the west of the village.

Council Bluffs    is an old city and was at one time the transfer point for all travel to and from the West. It has enormous railroad yards in its limits. These yards lie chiefly between the city proper and Omaha, across the river. Council Bluffs is beautiful in its residence part, up among the hills. A magnificent view of all the surrounding country in the two states may be obtained from the heights in Fairmount park. The population of Council Bluffs is about 30,000. This city is the western terminus of the River to River Road. Here the great Missouri river separates Iowa from Nebraska.

 This beautiful city, nestled in the hills that overlook the broad bottom of the Missouri river, has long been one of the principal trading points in the West and shows no decline in its strength in this respect. In fact, it is a distributing center of first rank in many lines of trade, made so by its unparalleled shipping and trackage facilities, since all of the railroad systems of the East and West meet here, and transfer is easy and speedy. Council Bluffs holds the Iowa trade as against Omaha, its Nebraska neighbor across the river. Perhaps as many autos are to be seen in Council Bluffs as in any city of its size in the country. There are many machines owned locally and there is a constant stream of tourists starting over the River to River Road or arriving after having traversed that marvelously excellent highway.

Mr. H. A. Searie, of Counci8l Bluffs, is one of the leading movers for good roads in the state and his influence and energy, have been potent for the making of the River to River Road.

Davenport, Muscatine, West Liberty

Blue Grass is pleasantly located on the Muscatine branch of the River to River Road in the south part of the township of the same name. It is surrounded by a fine farming country and is but a short distance from a number of coal mines.

Muscatine

 Muscatine, with a population of about 20,000, is one of the leading cities of Iowa. It is situated twenty-eight miles southwest of Davenport on the Chicago-Kansas City lines of the Rock Island and Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul railroads. The town is one of the principal manufacturing points in the West and the chief seat of the button making industry. On account of the fact that the process of making buttons from clam shells, from the cutting of the shells to the sewing of the finished project on cards, requires the use of many hands, employment is furnished to all who apply, and prosperity is, therefore, very generally diffused. The booster spirit is strong and there is no question that the city’s future is to be very bright. It is said that Muscatine has more telephones for its population than any other city in the world. The tourist will find everything he can desire in the way of garage accommodations and supplies in this city, and in its surroundings will discover one of the most picturesque scenes of river and wooded hills anywhere in the West. Near Muscatine are the principal gardens of the Heinz company, the makers of so many varieties of pickles and preserves. The soil hereabouts is peculiarly adapted to the successful culture of vegetables and small fruits and the region is famous all over the country for its melons. While it is off the River to River Road, a branch runs from West Liberty to Muscatine and from Muscatine to Davenport.

The credit for the making of a branch of the River to River Road to Muscatine, by means of a detour leaving the direct route at Davenport and West Liberty, is very largely due to two Muscatine gentlemen who are leading advocates of good roads and auto enthusiasts: Mr. J. L. Geisler and Dr. F. H. Little.