Every Lake
Iowa
The only state with a navigable river on each side — Mississippi east, Missouri west.
Iowa in relief
The land itself, cut in six steps of birch from the lowlands to the high ground — the cities starred, the summit and rise on the title block. No counties, no roads: just the shape of Iowa.
About Iowa
Iowa is bounded on both flanks by great rivers, the Mississippi on the east and the Missouri and Big Sioux on the west, which makes it the only state framed by navigable water on two opposite sides. Between them the land is a gently rolling till plain, the deepest belt of prairie soil on earth, with the Driftless Area in the northeast corner where the glaciers never came and the bluffs stand tall over the river. On the west edge the Loess Hills rise in wind-piled ridges. Ninety-nine counties, nearly all of them rectangles on the survey grid.
Iowa entered on December 28, 1846 as the 29th state. Des Moines, at the meeting of the Des Moines and Raccoon rivers, took the capital from Iowa City in 1857 as settlement moved west. The map is a study in order: the county grid, the section roads on the mile, and the small county-seat towns spaced a wagon ride apart. I-80 crosses the middle and I-35 crosses it at Des Moines, meeting almost exactly at the center of the board.
- Six layers of birch — the land in elevation steps
- The summit and total rise on the title block
- The major cities, starred and named
- Title block with the admission date and capital
- A double rule engraved around the edge
- Every county line and the state border
- The interstates with their shields — 7 on this board
- The major cities, starred and named
- Title block with the admission date and capital
- A mile ruler engraved around the frame
