Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 3.djvu/266

 ; Clerk Supreme Court, A. M. Lauren; Reporter, W. H. Luebbe; Railway Commissioner, J. S. Lorimar.

The Democrats held their State Convention at Des Moines on the 3d of September and made the following nominations: Secretary of State, Richard Bourke; Auditor, T. J. Grant; Treasurer, R. U. Chapman; Judges of Supreme Court, Thomas Stapleton for full term and J. H. Quick for the vacancy; Attorney-General, J. S. Denison; Clerk of Supreme Court, J. T. Tripp; Reporter, J. F. Dalton; Railway Commissioner, T. J. Denson.

The Republican candidates were elected by a plurality of about 79,000. In the Congressional Districts the Republicans carried all but the Second, which elected Judge M. J. Wade, Democrat, of Iowa City.

The summer of 1901 was one of the hottest ever experienced since the first settlements were made in Iowa, the mercury reaching the one hundred mark during many successive days. Early in July the heat became very oppressive with occasional hot winds from the south, unrelieved for weeks by the usual rains. Streams dried up, springs failed and thousands of wells furnished no water. The corn crop, which early in the season gave promise of an unusually large yield, was withered by the intense heat and long continued drouth which blasted the ears and greatly damaged the crop. Thousands of large forest trees died and fruit trees as well suffered severe injury.

The summer of 1902 was on the other hand one of the coolest on record. The rains began, in May, to be serious from the frequency and almost continuous moisture which rendered thousands of acres of low lands too wet for cultivation. In many portions of the State the small grain made such rank growth that it was prostrated by winds before it matured. The fields were too wet for the use of reapers, and a large portion of the oats was lost. Much hay was seriously injured for lack of sunshine to cure it, and threshing was impossible on large areas of flat land.