seven months of the year, and the limited land carriage by stage the remaining five. While the business upon the navigable lakes and rivers has suffered no diminution, the demands of a rapidly increasing commerce have brought into requisition 750 miles of completed railway, employing a capital of $23,500,000, transporting, in 1869, 677,684 tons of freight and carrying 478,973 passengers. The whole number of miles projected in the State is 1,550; 1,351 of which are either completed or being constructed.

There were 792 steamboat arrivals at St. Paul during the last year, carrying 450,000 tons of freight and 255,800 passengers, which only exhibits the navigating force on the Mississippi, Minnesota, and St. Croix Rivers; the Red River of the North and a considerable and rapidly increasing navigation on Lake Superior not being included.

The contemplated Northern Pacific Railroad belting the republic, of the early construction of which there is but little doubt, will have a most important bearing upon the commercial interests of Minnesota, and with the speedy completion, already assured, of the railroad to Lake Superior, thus affording facility for the transportation of her multiplying products to competitive markets, the commercial future of the State appears most promising.

The common schools of Minnesota have progressed in corresponding ratio with her material development. In 1869, and prior to that year, there were 1,929 school-houses, erected at an expense of $1,339,690. Whole number of scholars in attendance, 102,086. A land endowment of two sections in each township has been set apart for the support of common schools by the Government. It is estimated that these lands will amount to 2,900,000 acres, the interest on the sales of which, together with an annual levy of $2,000,000 tax, constitute the present common school fund of the State.

By legislative exactment, normal schools have been provided for and established at Winona, Mankato, and St. Cloud; and Congress has donated lands for the support of a State university, which is now in successful operation and growing in usefulness.

Minnesota has enacted a very liberal law for the protection of homesteads. The law provides that a homestead, not exceeding 80 acres, with the dwelling-house thereon, and its appurtenances, not included within the limits of any incorporated town, shall be exempt from liability for debt.

The local land offices in this State are situated at Taylor's Falls, St. Cloud, Jackson, New Ulm, Litchfield, Du Luth, and Alexandria. There are 33,943,500.55 acres of public land undisposed of in the State.

DAKOTA.

This Territory, in the northern tier of the political divisions of the United States, is bounded on the north by the British Possessions of North America; on the east by the States of Minnesota and Iowa; on the south by the State of Nebraska, and on the west by the Territories of Wyoming and Montana. It was organized as a Territory on the 2d of March, 1861, and, notwithstanding its original boundaries have since been much reduced, it yet extends from latitude 42° 30′ north to latitude 49° north, and from longitude 96° 25' to 104° west from Greenwich, its greatest length being 414 miles, and its greatest width 360 miles, with an area of 50,932 square miles, or 96,595,840 acres.

The Missouri River courses through the entire Territory from northwest to southeast, and with its many tributaries, of which the Big Sioux,

Vermillion, Dakota, White Earth, Big Cheyenne, and Little Missouri are the most notable, affords an unfailing steamboat navigation of over 1,000 miles.

The margins of the rivers, lakes, and brooks are generally fringed with groves of cottonwood, oak, ash, elm, and maple. The smaller streams are principally fed by springs of good, pure water, while the larger rivers take their rise among the numerous fresh-water lakes of the interior plains, and among the foot-hills of the Rocky Mountains on the western border. The Red River of the North passes northward for a distance of 200 miles along the eastern boundary of the Territory, and is bordered by a continuous line of beautiful forests, and drains an immense district, consisting, generally, of open plains, which are covered abundantly with highly nutritious grasses, affording pasturage throughout a great part of the year. The curing of ample supply of food for the keeping of live stock during the severe winters of this high latitude would require but little labor or expense, while the feasibility of devoting these lands to the culture of the more hardy cereals and vegetables is not doubted.

The settlement of this portion of the Territory has been, perhaps, retarded by the aversion of those interested in fur-trading to an influx of population, which would be subversive of their occupation, in driving to more remote points the animals upon which that industry depends. But the time is not distant when this narrow interest must give way to that spirit of progress and civilization which is so rapidly turning the wilds of Western America into comfortable homesteads, pleasant hamlets, thriving towns, and great cities.

Dakota has as great a variety of surface and as rich a soil as almost any State or Territory of the United States. The country rises gradually westward, culminating at the extreme western portion of the Territory in the Black Hills. In the southeastern part is a plateau or range of highlands, called the Coteau des Prairies, having an elevation of 1,400 feet above the level of the sea, and extending for nearly 200 miles along the eastern border of the Territory. Somewhat similar table-land, though less elevated, extends through the middle and northern portions. The general surface of Dakota may be described as a smoothly undulating prairie; the soil, a rich, deep, sandy loam, principally an accumulation of decayed vegetable matter, rendering it warm and dry for seeding in the early spring time. The mildness and geniality of the climate of Southern Dakota is fully attested by the fact that myriads of wild flowers of the most varied and beautiful colors adorn the prairies from April to October. The annual rain-fall averages 20 inches, and the fact that this is mostly precipitated during the warm and growing seasons of the year, little moisture falling in winter, secures exemption from long-continued droughts. An idea of the productive capacity of the soil may be formed, when it is known that wheat yields from 25 to 45 bushels per acre; corn, 40 to 70; oats, 60 to 100; and potatoes, 200 to 300; while all kinds of vegetables usually grown in the Middle States yield abundantly. It is said by experienced farmers that the tobacco plant and sweet potato can be raised without difficulty on the warm, quick bottom lands of the southern part. Hops, grapes, currants, plums, wild cherries, and many varieties of berries grow spontaneously, and yield in amazing profusion along all the brooks and streams.

Dakota is not yet possessed of any railways, and consequently the population, numbering from 15,000 to 20,000, is confined principally to the borders and valleys of the navigable streams, comprising

about one-third of the area of the Territory. The Big Sioux River, a clear rapid stream of pure water, with firm shores and gravelly bottom, has numerous rapid places which afford many fine waterpowers, some of which are now used, and others are being improved. Its valley and the country above it to Big Stone Lake is one of the finest bodies of agricultural land in the Territory, which, at no distant day, will be improved, and is wonderfully productive, experience showing that these lands yield better after the soil has been broken four or five years. The Brulé Creek Valley is smaller, and joins that of the Sioux near its mouth. It is a very beautiful and attractive region, being one of the most densely settled districts of the Territory. Next west of these is the Vermillion Valley, equal to any for natural beauty and fertility of soil for a distance of 30 miles from the mouth of the Vermillion River, and is likewise the center of rapidly increasing settlements. The Dakota Valley, larger but not much known beyond 75 or 100 miles from its mouth, contains large tracts of the best lands, presenting a wide field for industrial effort and achievement, immigration having only taken that direction during the past 18 months, and hence agriculture is just commenced. The Missouri Valley, from the mouth of the Sioux River to near Fort Thompson, is a broad fertile district with heavy supplies of timber and many advantages of markets, as yet inaccessible to other localities. Union County, lying between the Big Sioux and Missouri Rivers, and including part of the valley of each as well as the best of Brulé Creek Valley, is the oldest agricultural region of the Territory, and at present the most productive. The prairie lands lying between these valleys, and comprising the remaining two-thirds of the Territory, possess fine agricultural advantages, but distant alike from a market for sale or purchase. So situated, they must inevitably fill up more slowly than the favored valleys; yet, as the latter become populated, the former will create a demand for railroads, the building of which will equalize market facilities, and soon develop a rich, populous, and prosperous State.

The number of acres surveyed in the Territory from July 1, 1869, to June 30, 1870, inclusive, amounted to 1,165,316.47 acres, making the total surveyed up to the latter date 5,040,400.64 acres. The quantity of land disposed of by the Government during the last fiscal year was 129,475.92 acres, which, added to the amount previously disposed of, aggregates 5,835,603.02 acres, leaving the title still in the United States of 90,760,524.98 acres.

The land offices, established and in working order, are located at Vermillion and Pembina, where applications to obtain title to public lands of the Territory must be made. At the last session of Congress an additional district was created, and the town of Springfield has been designated as the site of the office, which will soon be ready for the transaction of public business.

IOWA.

Situated between Minnesota on the north and Missouri on the south, with the Mississippi River, on the east, dividing it from Illinois and Wisconsin, and the Missouri, on the west, separating it from Nebraska and Dakota, is the beautiful and fertile State of Iowa, extending from the parallel of 40° 30' north latitude to 43° 30', or about 208 miles, with an extreme length of 300 miles, and embracing an area of 55,045 square miles, or 35,228,800 acres.

The geographical position and character of the surface of this State

are most favorable for the rapid development of its many resources, the great natural arteries of commerce flowing past its eastern and western boundaries, offering ready and economical means of transportation for its produce, and the nearly level face of the country within its territory between the two rivers presenting extraordinary inducements for the construction of railroads through the State on the great lines of interoceanic communication, as well as between local points of growing importance consequent upon the increase of their commerce or manufactures. At the close of the year 1869 there were in Iowa 2,095 miles of railroad completed, or one mile to every 26.28 square miles of area, and one mile to every 596.60 inhabitants, the population being estimated at 1,250,000; the principal of the roads are the Chicago and Northwestern, running through the State from Clinton to Council Bluffs, and the Mississippi and Missouri, running from Davenport, through Iowa City and Des Moines, to Council Bluffs; these two roads constituting the connecting links between the Union Pacific Railroad and the network of railroads intersecting the country between the Atlantic seaboard and the Mississippi Valley. Other important roads are the Dubuque and Sioux City, McGregor Western, Burlington and Missouri River, and the Keokuk, Des Moines and Minnesota Railroads; these are nearly all completed, there being several other roads in the State projected and in course of construction, following the valleys of the principal streams, or connecting the cities and towns in these valleys and on the main lines of railroad and the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. In addition to the means of transportation mentioned, Iowa has 500 miles of internal navigation on the Des Moines, Iowa, Skunk, and other rivers, besides the best of wagon roads over the prairies, intersecting the country in all directions, with good bridges and ferries crossing the several streams.

The surface of Iowa is generally a beautiful rolling prairie, with occasional high bluffs and precipitous descents near the water-courses, and with wide stretches of bottom lands of the greatest fertility, and sometimes belts of well-grown timber skirting the streams on either side; while on the highest elevations of the plateaus, between the valleys of the several streams, are frequent expanses of magnificent level prairie, extending as far as the eye can reach, with groves of timber and small lagoons, relieving the prospect and furnishing supplies of wood and water for the purposes of agricultural economy.

The soil of the prairies, whether level or rolling, possesses the greatest fertility, and is especially adapted to the culture of cereals and the growth of fruit and forest trees, while the ordinary plants and vegetables of domestic culture are produced with the greatest success thereon, the constituent chemical principles resulting in a very desirable combination of organic with earthy and saline matter, the surface soil being underlaid by the Devonian and carboniferous formations, with a basis of calcareous and magnesian rocks. The rapid growth of trees in the State is probably attributable to the favorableness of the climate and the presence in the soil of immense accumulations of the salts of potassa, caused by the former annually recurring prairie fires, usually occasioned by the Indians for the purpose of depriving the game of their cover in the dense growth of indigenous grasses and luxuriant undergrowth of timber. Since the suppression of these fires, or their restriction to narrow limits, consequent upon the occupation of the soil by agricultural settlers and the exodus of the aborigines, the natural growth of timber in the State has more than kept pace with its consumption as fuel and for building purposes, while forest culture has engaged the attention of the farmers

to a very large extent, and with the most gratifying success; it being estimated that the planting of a portion of a farm with forest, ornamental, and fruit trees will prove a profitable employment of the land and return ample products within a reasonable time.

The climate of Iowa is of course varied by its extending from north to south through three degrees of latitude, yet nowhere within its limits are insalubrious extremes of heat or cold to be found, the heat of the summer being tempered by generally prevalent western breezes, sweeping near the surface over the level plains and gentle undulations, removing malarious exhalations and surplus moisture, while the cold of the winter months is greatly mitigated by the general dryness and rarity of the atmosphere during this season of the year. The general sanitary condition of the State is shown to be improving every year, consequent, in every probability, upon the increasing cultivation of the soil, less waste of decaying vegetation, and larger growth of fruit and forest trees. The manufacturing interests of Iowa are important, and constantly increasing in extent and value; the considerable fall of a majority of its streams, the facilities for obtaining wood and coal for fuel, the salubrity of the climate, and its adaptability to in-door occupations, presenting, in an eminent degree, the requisite conditions for the successful prosecution of several important branches of manufacturing enterprise, and these inducements are very rarely neglected by immigrants possessing the enterprise, energy, intelligence, and education so remarkably characteristic of the inhabitants of this beautiful State. The principal manufactures are at present those of flour, agricultural implements, machinery, engines and boilers, wagons, and woolen goods; but experiments are being made looking to the extensive introduction of cotton and other manufactures, which will, undoubtedly, result in the very large augmentation of the manufacturing capital of the State; the increase of the manufacturing population, and consequent greater home demand for agricultural products and larger profits for the farmer, gardener, fruit-grower, and herdsman.

The mineral resources of Iowa are very extensive and important, principally constituted of coal, iron, lead, copper, zinc, lime and building stone of different kinds; the latter chiefly comprising limestones and sandstones, although some specimens of marble from the State are remarkable for their beauty, particularly a variety known as the "birdseye marble," found in the vicinity of Iowa City, being, apparently, of coral formation, presenting, upon a polished section, annular figures in dark color upon a grayish ground, but it is quite hard and brittle in texture, and therefore difficult of manipulation. The coal-fields of the State are situated principally in the central and southern portions, forming a part of the great carboniferous region of Missouri and Iowa, covering in the fatter an estimated area of 25,000 square miles, from which there are now annually produced about 3,000,000 bushels, or 37,500 tons, of bituminous coal of excellent quality.

The lead mines are situated in the vicinity of Dubuque, which city received its first impetus from this fact, the annual product of this mineral from mines amounting in value to over $300,000 per annum, and that of zinc, copper, and silver associated with the latter mineral, from mines in the same vicinity, amounting to over $100,000 in value per

annum.

In point of facilities for education, Iowa will compare favorably with any of the older States in the Union, taking into consideration comparative populations, having, besides an excellent system of district and higher schools, over sixty academies, colleges, and universities, among