Side Trails

• Lorenzo Coffin, Railroad Innovator of the Air Brake

  Lorenzo Coffin, a Fort Dodge farmer, revolutionized the entire transportation industry with the air brake.

  Source: Humanities Iowa, KUNI radio, KMA radio and KWIT radio, Voices of Humanities Iowa, Lorenzo Coffin and the Air Brake, By Rudolph Daniels

  http://www.uiowa.edu/~humiowa/rd10-15.htm

• Lorenzo Coffin, Railroad Innovator of the Automatic Coupler

  Lorenzo Coffin, a Fort Dodge farmer, saved thousands of hands, fingers, and lives by inventing the automatic coupler for railroad cars.

  Source: Humanities Iowa, KUNI radio, KMA radio and KWIT radio, Voices of Humanities Iowa, Lorenzo Coffin and the Coupler, By Rudolph Daniels

  http://www.uiowa.edu/~humiowa/rd10-8.htm

• Lou Hoover

  Want to learn more about Lou Hoover? Explore the Hoover Museum Digital Archive.

  Source: Hoover Museum

  http://www.ecommcode.com/hoover/hooveronline/lhhbio/girlhood.htm

• Lumber Rafting on Wisconsin River

  In 1849 a lumber raft trip down the Wisconsin River shows how logs got to the sawmills along the Mississippi.

  Source: Explorations in Iowa History Project, University of Northern Iowa

  http://www.uni.edu/iowahist/Social_Economic/Lumber_Rafting/lumber_rafting_on_wisconsin_rive.htm

• Luther Smith, Des Moines' Tuskegee Airmen, WWII POW

  WWII Midwest POWs included Des Moines' Tuskegee Airmen Luther Smith.

  Source: Traces.org

  http://www.traces.org/buseumnarrativetexts.html#tusk

• M.A. Disbrow & Co.

  The 1904 M.A. Disbrow factory in Lyons manufactured sashes, doors, blinds, and other products.

  Source: Iowa Digital Archives

  http://cdm.lib.uiowa.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/maps&CISOPTR=180

• M.A. Disbrow & Company Catalogue

  Take a peek through a 1899 catalog of millwork with sketches and photos of doors, windows, porches and other items.

  Source: Explorations in Iowa History Project, University of Northern Iowa

  http://www.uni.edu/iowahist/Social_Economic/PDF_FILES/disbrow.pdf

• M.C. Ekstrom, Bailing Alfalfa near Overton, Nebraska

  Stopping for lunch during haying was a time to rest, eat and plan the rest of the work day.

  Source: Library of Congress, American Memory

  http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/displayPhoto.pl?path=/award/nbhips/lca/109&topImages=10903r.jpg&topLinks=10903v.jpg&displayProfile

• Maestro in the Midwest: A Look at Antonin Dvorak and His Years in America

  Take a look at some of the Midwest's Dvorak sites, a timeline of Dvorak's life, and samples of his music.

  Source: Minnesota Public Radio

  http://music.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/9909_dvorak

• Main Street Bonaparte

  Read about Bonaparte, the country's smallest Main Street community.

  Source: National Trust for Historic Preservation

  http://www.nationaltrust.org/dozen_distinctive_destinations/2001/bonaparte.htm

• Main Street Restoration

  Iowa is alive with the Main Street restoration projects. Find out if your community is involved.

  Source: Main Street Iowa, Iowa Downtown Resource Center, Iowa Department of Economic Development

  http://www.iowalifechanging.com/community/mainstreetiowa/comm.html

• Making Sense of Failed Car Technology

  Experiments, dead-ends, and temporary successes. Iowa isn't the only state to enter and exit the car manufacturing industry.

  Source: Smithsonian Collection

  http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthemove/themes/story_74_1.html

• Maps of Iowa: Topographic, Shaded Relief or Historic Vegetation

  Need a special map of Iowa? Create your own with this map viewer that adds map layers, such as topographic, shaded relief or historic vegetation.

  Source: Iowa State University, Geographic Information Systems

  http://cairo.gis.iastate.edu/map.html

• Market to Market

  Food is everybody's business. Market to Market looks at global trade, environmental controversies, changing technologies, emerging enterprises and more.

  Source: Iowa Public Television, Market to Market

  http://www.iptv.org/mtom

• Market to Market Mennonite Meat Canning

  Learn how Mennonites in Iowa today and helping fight world hunger through a canning tradition started in the 1940s.

  Source: Market to Market

  http://www.iptv.org/video/detail.cfm/836

• Martha Garcia, Mexican Food Expert

  Martha Garcia, whose family runs a Mexican restaurant in Marshalltown, uses traditional foods and festivals to re-establish her culture in Iowa.

  Source: Iowa Arts Council, Iowa Roots

  http://www.iowaartscouncil.org/programs/folk-and-traditional-arts/iowa-roots/season-one/martha-garcia.shtml

• Martha Nash, African American, Part 1

  Read a 1947 diary entry of Martha Furgerson Nash, an African-American from Waterloo as she writes about a speech she presented about race relations.

  Source: Humanities Iowa, KUNI radio, KMA radio and KWIT radio, Voices of Humanities Iowa, Diaries of Girls and Women: A Midwestern American Sampler, by Suzanne L. Bunkers, edt.

  http://www.uiowa.edu/~humiowa/diariesgw2.html

• Martha Nash, African American, Part 2

  Read a 1947 diary entry of Martha Furgerson Nash, an African American from Waterloo, as she comments about whites and blacks and dancing.

  Source: Humanities Iowa, KUNI radio, KMA radio and KWIT radio, Voices of Humanities Iowa, Diaries of Girls and Women: A Midwestern American Sampler, by Suzanne L. Bunkers, edt.

  http://www.uiowa.edu/~humiowa/diariesgw2.html

• McGregor's 19th Century Refrigerators

  Early innovative residents of the McGregor area of Clayton County used of the bedrock geology of the bluffs for refrigeration.

  Source: Iowa Department of Natural Resources

  http://www.igsb.uiowa.edu/Browse/doors/doors.htm

• Meek's Flour Mill

  This flour mill was among the many other types of Mills such as woolen, grist and lumber mills in Bonaparte.

  Source: National Register of Historic Places

  http://showcase.netins.net/web/villages/meeksmill.htm

• Meredith Corporation History

  Edwin Meredith founded the Merideth Corporation in 1902 with Successful Farming magazine.

  Source: Meredith Corp. site

  http://www.meredith.com/meredith_corporate/about_meredith.html

• Meredith Willson, Composer, 1902-1984

  Meredith Willson, Iowa's best-known Music Man wrote a Tony-winning Broadway musical that became a national favorite.

  Source: Des Moines Register Extras, Famous Iowans

  http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/99999999/FAMOUSIOWANS/41221047/1001/NEWS

• Meredith Willson: The Music Man Square

  Mason City's rich musical heritage inspired Meredith Willson's musical The Music Man.

  Source: The Music Man Square, Mason City

  http://www.themusicmansquare.org

• Meredith Willson: The Unsinkable Music Man

  Read about Meredith Willson, known as the Music Man.

  Source: Humanities Iowa, KUNI radio, KMA radio and KWIT radio, Voices of Humanities Iowa

  http://www.uiowa.edu/~humiowa/musicman.html

• Meteorites in Iowa's History

  Iowa's largest meteorite impact occurred in southern Pocahontas County 74 million years before the state was inhabited.

  Source: Iowa Department of Natural Resources

  http://www.igsb.uiowa.edu/Browse/meteor/meteor.htm

• Mid-continent Rift System in Iowa

  The Mid-continent Rift System (MRS) is a billion-year-old rip in the continental crust.

  Source: Iowa Department of Natural Resources

  http://www.igsb.uiowa.edu/Browse/rift/mrs.htm

• Mid-continent Rift System, Iowa's Almost Ocean

  One billion years ago, the Earth's crust split across part of the North American continent. This tear or rift, known as the Mid-continent Rift System.

  Source: Iowa Department of Natural Resources

  http://www.igsb.uiowa.edu/Browse/rift97/rift97.htm

• Migratory Birds of the Midwest

  Approximately 500 species of birds either nest, winter, or migrate through the Midwest region.

  Source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

  http://www.fws.gov/midwest/MidwestBird/

• Mill Creek Culture

  The Mill Creek Culture's arrival, existence, and disappearance has puzzled researchers for nearly 100 years.

  Source: Office of the State Archaeologist at the University of Iowa

  http://www.uiowa.edu/~osa/learn/prehistoric/mill.htm

• Mineral Production in Iowa

  From 1650 to present Iowa is the source of Lead, zinc, iron, clay, cement, stone, gypsum, sand and gravel.

  Source: Iowa Geological Survey, Iowa City

  http://www.igsb.uiowa.edu/browse/minerpro/minerpro.htm

• Minerals of Iowa

  Beautiful varieties of minerals can be found in Iowa's road cuts, quarries, strip mines, and along stream banks or valley sides.

  Source: Iowa Department of Natural Resources

  http://www.igsb.uiowa.edu/Browse/minerals/minerals.htm

• Mines of Spain

  The Mines of Spain are connected to the Mesquakie, Julien Dubuque, fur trade, and lead mining.

  Source: Friends of the Mines of Spain, Dubuque

  http://www.minesofspain.org

• Mines of Spain Horseshoe Bluff

  The Galena Group dolomites at the Mines of Spain provide a record of marine life from 400 million years ago.

  Source: Northern Illinois University Department of Geology and Environmental Geosciences

  http://jove.geol.niu.edu/faculty/fischer/429_info/429trips/Dubuque/Horseshoe_Bluff.htm

• Mines of Spain Wetland and Natural Area

  The vegetation of the Mines of Spain has over 400 different plant species among seven natural plant communities.

  Source: Northern Illinois University Department of Geology and Environmental Geosciences

  http://jove.geol.niu.edu/faculty/fischer/429_info/429trips/Dubuque/Wetland_and_Natural_Area.htm

• Mississippi River Bridges: The Iowa Highways Photo Gallery

  This Mississippi River Bridges photo gallery includes Lansing, Marquette, Dubuque, Sabula, Clinton, Quad Cities, Muscatine, Burlington, Fort Madison, and Keokuk.

  Source: Iowa Highways Page, www.iowahighways.org

  http://iowahwypix2.tripod.com/bridges/