THE COUNTIES OF IOWA
By: J. Cheston Whitney
Our home is in Iowa,
Westward toward the setting sun,
Just between two mighty rivers,
Where the flowing waters run;
It has towns and it has cities,
It has many noble streams,
It has ninety-nine counties,
And we'll join to sing their names.
Lyon, Osceola, Dickinson,
Where the Spirit Lake we see;
Emmet, Kossuth, Winnebago,
Worth, with its Lake Albert Lea;
Mitchell, Howard, Winneshiek,
And Allamakee so fine,
Make eleven northern counties
On the Minnesota line.
Clayton, Dubuque, Jackson, Clinton,
Together with Scott and Muscatine,
Lee, Louisa and Des Moines,
On the eastern line is seen;
Van Buren, Davis, Appanoose,
Decatur, Ringgold, Wayne, we spy;
Taylor, Page and Fremont, that
On Missouri's border lie.
Pottawattamie, Harrison, Mills,
Monona, Woodbury, Plymouth, Sioux,
Are all the counties that around
The border of our State we view.
Next we point you to O'Brien,
Palo Alto too, and Clay,
Hancock, Cerro Gordo, Floyd,
Now see Chickasaw, I pray.
Fayette, Bremer, Butler, Franklin,
Next upon the map we see;
Wright and Humboldt, Pocahontas,
Buena Vista, Cherokee,
Ida, Sac, Calhoun and Webster,
Hamilton, with names so rare;
Next is Hardin, Grundy, Black Hawk,
And Buchanan, Delaware.
Jones, Linn, Benton, Tama, Marshall,
Story, Crawford, Carroll, Boone,
(Let us not your patience weary,
We shall have them all told soon,)
Cedar, Greene, Johnson, Iowa,
With Powesheik by the same;
Here is Jasper, Polk and Dallas,
Names of Presidential fame.
Guthrie, Audubon and Shelby,
Cass and Madison, Adair,
Warren, Marion and Mahaska,
And Keokuk, too, is there:
Henry, Jefferson and Wapello,
Monroe, Washington we missed;
Lucas, Clarke, Union, Adams.
And Montgomery fills the list.
(Source: History of Floyd County, Iowa, 1882)
