Page:The Government of Iowa 1911.djvu/19

 CHAPTER I. THE LAND AND RESOURCES. The Physical Basis of Government. — Physiography has always been an important factor in moulding the character of a people and determining the nature of their political institutions. We may, therefore, better understand our own State by first considering its physical features and its material resources. Iowa is renowned as an agricultural and stock-raising Commonwealth. It lies in the very heart of the great Mississippi Valley, a region unsurpassed in the productiveness of its soil. In fact, a large part of the world looks to the Mississippi Valley for its necessary food supply. The State Boundaries. — The State of Iowa stretches from the majestic Mississippi on the east to the rapid Missouri on the west. It is bounded on the north by Minnesota, and on the south by Missouri. The exact location of the southern boundary line almost precipitated an armed conflict between Iowa, which was then a Territory, and Missouri, in 1839. Within this imperfect rectangular area lie 55,475 square miles, or 35,504,000 acres, of the most fertile land the sun has ever shone upon.

The Land. — Iowa is usually described as a rolling prairie; and such, indeed, is its general topography. One of our 1