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Iowa has many fine, wooden, covered bridges. There are more than a dozen in Madison, Keokuk and Marion counties. The bridges were covered so that rain would not cause horses to slip on the wet surface.
Iowa
Iowa is in the central part of the Midwest. It is hounded on the west by the Missouri River and on the east by the Mississippi River. The state is named after a tribe of Sioux Indians. It is nicknamed the ‘Hawkeye state’ and is also known as the “Corn state”.
The southwestern part of Iowa is lush, fairly flat farmland. The land changes to foothills and bluffs along the Mississippi and in the north. Many of the state’s 103 lakes are in the northwest while the 91 state parks are scattered throughout the state. Iowa covers an area of 56,290 square miles.
Almost all Iowa’s 2,789,890 people were born in the United States. Ninety-five percent of the state’s area is farmed and a strong rural and small-town tradition prevails throughout the state. But the majority of the state s people live in cities, the largest of which is Des Moines, the capital.
Manufacturing is Iowa’s .greatest source of income. The slate is also important agriculturally, producing prominent percent (approx 10-15%) of the nation’s food supply. Chief food products include butter, cattle, corn, eggs, hogs, oats, popcorn, soybeans and wheat. Coal is Iowa’s most valuable mineral. Crude gypsum and cement, used for building, are also produced.
The first known Europeans to see Iowa were Louis Joliet and Jacques Marquette in 1673. In 1803 the United States bought Iowa from France as part of the Louisiana Purchase. Two years later Zebulon Pike explored the Mississippi while Lewis and Clark explored the Missouri. In 1820 Iowa became free territory under the Missouri Compromise (an Act of Congress under which some areas became free territories, while others became slave territories). Iowa became the 29th state on December 28, 1846.
