of cellular masses. In some "diggings" this mineral is found in a state of carbonate, and in others as a sulphuret. Iron ore is abundant, but as yet, on account of the sparsity of population and want of capital, but little iron, either bar or cast, has been manufactured. The mineral region is principally confined to the neighborhood of Dubuque, and along the river heights of the Upper Mississippi. The population of this state in 1850 amounted to 192,214 souls, or one person to every 276 acres; and its distribution to the several counties was in the following proportions: Date of Census. 1840. 1850.. White Persons. .191,879... ......335.. Colored Persons. The number of dwelling houses in the state in 1850 was 32,962, and the number of families 33,517, or about 6 persons to each; and the number of deaths in 1849-50 amounted to 2,044, or 1 in every 94 inhabitants, somewhat less than one per centum. * Pottawattomie County, which occupied the great bulk of the western half of the state, has been divi. ded into the following counties since the above returns were made; Adair, Adams, Audubon, Bancroft, Bremer, Buena Vista, Buncombe, Butler, Carroll, Cass, Cerro Gordo, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Clay, Crawford, Dickinson, Emmett, Floyd, Fox, Franklin, Greene, Grundy, Guthrie, Hancock, Hardin, Harrison, Howard, Humboldt, Ida, Kossuth, Manona, Mills, Mitchell, Montgomery, O'Brien, Oceola, Palo Alto, Plymouth, Pocahontas, Potawattomie, Risley, Sac, Shelby, Sioux, Union, Wahkow, Winnebago, Worth, Wright, and Yell. This young state, scarcely escaped from the wilderness, has rapidly assumed an importance which augurs favorably of its future greatness. Its position in relation to the great trunk stream of the continent, and the numerous navigable waters traversing its interior, make it accessible to emigration, and form highways of an active commerce. Few districts are remote from a water course, and steamboats already penetrate to its western borders, carrying to and fro the ever-increasing commercial material of the country. As yet, however, the state is strictly an agricultural region; the trades and manufactures, indeed, are on a very small scale, and other cognate branches of industry have scarcely gained a footing; but the many facilities it enjoys in its streams and general resources, favor the opinion that a varied and prosperous industry will, at no distant period, overspread its surface. The grains and other agricultural productions are similar to those grown in the valley states generally; and the soil and climate are highly favorable for grasses of every species. On the rich alluvial borders of the Des Moines River, the cultivation of tobacco has been very successful; and in the same region, the castor bean (ricinus communis), from which the castor oil of commerce is expressed, succeeds well. Wool-growing has also become a remunerative employment; thousands of sheep, instead of being slaughtered as formerly, are now annually imported, and as fast as their increase exceeds the pasture range, are driven further into the wilderness. Nothing, indeed, pays labor so well in the great interior as does this occupation-little care is required, and it is a suitable and reliable source of profit. The raising of hogs is also largely engaged in-they find here a boundless range of forest and prairie, and feed upon the natural products of the soil. The capacities of the country for all such employments are immense, and it may be truly said of this state, that "no country in the world is more promising to the emigrant than that comprising the great valley of the Upper Mississippi, of which Iowa forms so important a part." The whole number of farms under cultivation in 1850 was 14,805. The galena country, in the north-east part of the state, has long been attractive to the miner. Mines were wrought here by the French, and to some considerable extent the present race of inhabitants continue the production of this mineral. The lead found here is similar in its origin and quality to that of Illinois and Wisconsin. Iron is also extensively deposited, and though not yet much sought after, is a valuable resource for the future. Some castings, however, are annually manufactured, but to no appreciable amount. It is needless to enumerate the other manufactures, as none further than those incidental to an agricultural country exist. In 1850 the whole number of establishments manufacturing to the value of $500 and upwards was 482. Iowa has neither canals nor railroads, but it has good turnpikes, and its common roads, easily constructed in so level a country, are numerous. Several plank-roads are also in use. The state, however, will ultimately be crossed by lines of railroad, which will form parts of the great highway from the lakes to the Pacific Ocean, and branches from these main trunks are projected to every important centre. The most important of these projected railroads will be the line continuous of the Chicago and Rock Island Railroad, now building in Illinois; it will cross the Mississippi near the mouth of Rock River, and passing almost east and west through the state, will strike the western border at Council Bluffs, and thence be carried via the South Pass of the Rocky Mountains, through the Mormon settlements in Utah Territory and along Humboldt's River to some Pacific port. The constitution of Iowa provides that every adult white male citizen, idiots, insane, and persons convicted of infamous crimes, excepted, and who has resided in the state six months, and in the county in which he offers his vote, shall enjoy suffrage. The General Assembly consists of a Senate and House of Representatives, and holds its sessions biennially, commencing on the first Monday in December. The Representatives must be at least 21 years of age, and have resided in the state one year, and in the district one month previous to election; Senators must be 25 years of age; one half their number being elected biennially. The Governor is chosen by a plurality of all the votes, for four years; he must be at least 30 years old, and have resided in the state two years next preceding his election. In case of the death or disability of the Governor, the Secretary of State is invested with his powers. A Secretary of State, Auditor and Treasurer, are chosen by the people for the term of two years; and a Superintendent of Public Instruction, for three years. The Judiciary consists of a Supreme Court and Circuit Courts. The Supreme Court consists of a Chief-Justice and two associate justices, elected by the joint vote of the General Assembly, for six years. This court has only appellate jurisdiction, and the power to correct errors in law. judges of the lower courts are elected by the voters of each district, for five years. There are also county courts and justices of the peace. The constitution makes ample provision for common schools. All lands granted by Congress, all escheats, and other specified avails, are to constitute a perpetual fund to be applied to education. A special fund is also provided for the support of a State University. The permanent school fund, in 1848, amounted to $132,908. The absolute debt of the state, in 1848, was $55,000, on which the interest was $5,500 per annum. The revenue is derived from taxes on real and personal property, the aggregate value of which was $15,471,103, and the tax $37,884. The total expenditure was $32,514, which sum includes interest, school moneys, public buildings, etc. The ordinary expense of the state government is $19,000. IOWA CITY is the capital and seat of government. It is situated on the east side of the Iowa River, which is navigable at all seasons for keel-boats. This place was the hunting-ground of the Indian until 1839. The location is beautiful, rising on a succession of plateaux, or elevated terraces, overlooking a splendid country. The capitol is in the Grecian Doric style of architecture, measuring 120 feet long and 60 feet wide, and is two stories high above the basement. It is surmounted by a dome supported by 22 Corinthian columns. The present population is about 1,600, and is daily increasing from the influx of emigrants. Dubuque, Muscatine, Burlington, Keokuk, etc., near the Mississippi, are also places of considerable population and trade. There is a Quaker settlement at Salem, in Henry county, which is said to be in a very flourishing condition. NEW-BUDA, a Hungarian settlement, recently established under General Ujhazy, is situated in Decatur county, on the Crooked Fork River, an affluent of the Missouri. The country these heroic patriots occupy is one of the finest agricultural plots in the state. lowa, formerly a portion of French Louisiana, came into the possession of the United States in 1803. It was erected into a separate territorial government in 1838, and having formed for itself a constitution, and performed all the other requirements of the national laws, was admitted as a state of the Union in December, 1816. It has of late rapidly filled up, and the stream of immigration, which is now flowing westward, will, at no distant period, if not arrested, swell the population of this state to millions. The extent, variety of soil, the treasures confined in the bowels of the earth, and its whole physical capacities, combine as many requisites for human enterprise, as are developed in any other tract of country of equal size, and invite an early development of its resources, with the promise of wealth and happiness to the necessitous people of Europe, who are daily seeking homes within the borders of this highly eligible state. THE SOUTH WESTERN STATES. UNDER this caption are included the states of Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Texas. These states are geographically situated between the latitudes of 36° 40′ and 260 north, and between the longitudes of 81° 30' and 106° west. They are bounded on the north by Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri and the Indian Territory; on the east by North-Carolina, Georgia, and Florida; on the south by the Gulf of Mexico; and on the west by the Rio Grande del Norte, which separates the United States from the Republic of Mexico. The superficial area of the territory included in these states is about 564,327 square miles, or 361,169,876 acres, of which 216,753,271 acres are yet unsurveyed, and but partially settled, the population being only six inhabitants to the square mile. The whole of this region, excepting the State of Texas, lies in the lower valley of the Mississippi, and is watered, principally, by the tributaries flowing into that nighty stream. Texas is geographically separate from the central valley, and depends on rivers entirely within itself for irrigation and conveyance. The whole section now under consideration, is much assimilated in surface and quality of soil, and all the included states are equally rich in the productions of the peculiar staples of the southern United States. The institutions of these several states are also much akin the one to the other, and slavery, in a greater or less degree, is common to all. With the exception of a few scattered settlements along the Mississippi and Gulf of Mexico, the commencement of the present century found these states a wilderness, inhabited only by the savage Indian and the wild animals of the forest. The rapid increase in their population, and the immense wealth that has been developed in these states in so short a period, has excited the wonder of the world, though in these respects they cannot compare with the progress of the new states in the north-west. The original settlers of the whole of this region, included in these states, were Frenchmen, either from Canada, or otherwise. The territory of the states east of the Mississippi was ceded by France to England in 1763, and came into the possession of the United States on the conclusion of the Revolutionary War. The Louisiana purchase, in 1803, gave to the United States all the lands west of the Mississippi to the Spanish boundary; and Texas was voluntarily annexed to the United States in 1845. There is yet an immense unoccupied territory to the west, as far as the Rocky Mountains, which also formed a part of the Louisiana purchase. This territory, however, though partly belonging to this region, will be more conveniently described in a separate section. THE STATE OF TENNESSEE. TENNESSEE, Once a part of North Carolina, is now the most populous and thickly settled of the South-Western states. It lies between the latitudes of 365 and 37° 42′ North, and between the longitudes of 81° 30′ and 90° 10' West. On the north, it is bounded by the States of Kentucky and Virginia; on the east by North Carolina, from which it is separated by the Smoky Mountains; on the south by Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi, and on the west by Arkansas and Missouri, from which it is divided by the Mississippi River. In extreme length, it is 440 miles, and in breadth, 116 miles. It has an area of 45,000 square miles, or 28,800,000 acres. This state is divided centrally from north-east to south-west, by the Cumberland Mountains, and the territories lying on the respective sides are termed East and West Tennessee. East Tennessee is intersected by several ranges of hills, and the elevated vallies between are highly fertile, and the climate congenial to the growth of the various cereal crops and fruits of more northern regions. West Tennessee is chiefly level, but towards the central range of hills, becomes first undulating, and then more abrupt and elevated. In this region, the soil, especially in parts bordering on the rivers, is deep, rich and fertile, and is well adapted for grazing and rearing cattle. Tennessee produces cotton, tobacco, hemp, and a variety of other staples, both of the north and south. The rivers of this state are, the Mississippi, which runs the whole length of its western line; the Cumberland, partly in Tennessee, but which rises in Kentucky and runs its principal course within that state; and the Tennessee, which is formed by several branches which rise in western Virginia and the Carolinas, and unite a little west of Knoxville. It runs southwest into Alabama, where it makes a circular bend, and reëntering, passes through Tennessee into Kentucky, and falls into the Ohio, 12 miles from the mouth of the Cumberland. Its course resembles the letter U. This river is navigable to Muscle Shoals, 248 miles, at all seasons of the year. Here it spreads out and becomes so shallow that it is difficult for boats to pass when the water is low. Above the shoals there is no obstruction for 250 miles, till arriving at the "Suck" or Whirl," where the river breaks through the Cumberland Mountains: here the river is compressed to a width of 70 yards. Just as it enters the mountains a large rock projects from the northern shore, which causes a sudden bend in the river, and throws the water with great violence against the southern shore, when it rebounds around the point of the rock and produces the whirl. Boats, however, ascend and descend the whirl with little danger or difficulty. The prin |