The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1855-08-20

BLANKS.
a Young and Rising State.

ures the other day which illustrates this
point in a very striking manner the
amount of public land taken up in the
State during the fiscal year | 1855. ending
with June. The number Of acres pur-
chased in the State was 1928, 73o, for
which "a, o64 81 was paid into the U. S.
Treasury. There were taken up in Mi.
souri, during the same period 3,096 525
acres, for " hich only 81 ,249 .27l as paid
So 8I5 $40 less than was paid in Iowa
for nearly the same quantity Of lana
the lands sold 10 Iowa brought The maxi
mum price Of tl.2s per acre, while those
in Missouri. which had been many years
IN market. brought OH an average but 43
cents per acre. The soil is no dcub, as
COOL in Missouri as il Iowa bnt the in.
cubus which checks tie progress of the
former has made that ference in the or.
iginal value of the land in the two Sa'e..
In oil departments of industry there i, an
equal difference. Iowa. though so many
years younger as State than Mis>o lri.
is rapidly leaving her in the rear in the
march Of improvement. The time is not
so distant when the same disparity OF con-
dltion, though starting with nearly equal
advantages. will be observable between
Iowa and Missouri lhat now strikes one
so forcibly when instituiing comparison
between Ohio and Kentucky
The natural advantages Of Iowa are ex-
traordlnary. Within Ter limit, are So
900 square miles Of asrlch soil as i. any
where to be found in the same compass
There can hardly be said 10 be a waste
acre liz tie State swamp ] nds +" are
unknown rhrre. The greater par, Of it,
area Consists 81 s1cce sion OF small un-
dull ting or a,ries. well wAtete and genrr-
ally we'll supplied with groves OF timber
o. minerals il has an abundant supply 81
coal. lead AID Gypsum and IN apricultu
raj resources II Is unhoInded With an
eastern water line on the Mi,s,sippi. The
State sire ches h NJ IS vi on he ", 81,
touches Missouri Oh the South aud Min
nesota on the North. |, is inters cted by
me half dozen streams. flowing through
i, southeast ward mo the Missi>sip j. fur
nshirg grea, amount of watsr power,
ard giving pleasant diversity 10 the M,
tura feature. Of The county. The prIn
cipal Of these are the Cellar. Tie Iowa
and the Des MONIES Rivers Il Q later 81
which rise. in Minnesota and ,raverses
the State disgonaly for about lonr hun
dred miles In this euuner4tion OF natu-
raj advantages, We must not omit To sta e
that no local causes OF dis ase eNis' in the
State, ard tina, the clima'e is n.ilder than
in the States further east between he same
parallels of latitude.
In order TO afford convenient points Of
and VII, orous State, i, will be necessary 10
recur to its early history. In 1898 only
seventeen wears slnce-lows was organi-
xed under eparate territorial government,
having previous TO that time been IN err
the same government as Wisconsin. At
that time there were only about 90 900 in
habitan,s in the Territory, which in 1910
had increased to $4,000. Alter eight
years Of independent existence, lin 1916. J
Iowa was admitted into the Union AS a
State. with greatly increased population,
which in 1885, as shown by the census.
had swelled 10 1873 .00O A State census
completed in June of last year, gave
population of 326, COZ.
With such resources an such a popu
lation, both in numbers and spiri,, the pro
press is in the ratio Of geomrirical pres
sim. Up to the beginning of harvest i'm
migrsnts poured in from the East in
flood Tide. From early spring ill that
time. continual stream Of wagons went
over the Mississippi at all the crassin.
places, and the population of the State
must have been very greatly augmented
within the last six months. We believe
it is quite within bounds TO say that it
will reach half million by next January.
We do not think 1t extravagant to predict
tina, the census of 1860 will show pop
ulation Of at least three quarters Of mil
lion.
The railroad improvements in our own
State for the last four years have been o
almost as much advantage to Iowa as TO
Illinois, by furnishing easy access to is
good and cheap lands. Those designing
10 settle in the northern portion of The
State have gone over the Galena and Chi
cago Road. THIS season, multl.udes have
gore over the Rock Island Road; and
since The opening Of the Chicago and Bur
lington Rod, other multitudes have ta~en
that route to the land of promise. These
roads, with the Illinois Central. and others
yet to connect our State and City wi
Iowa. will be Of incalculable advantages
to il here ,fter. Iowa too is wide awake
10 the Importance of internal railroad COM
munica'ion, and not many months will
elape before she will have railroad run
ming her entire brS oh to Council Bluffs,
soon to be followed by one Of about equal