Name & Descriptive Geography
NAME
Clinton County
was named in honor of De Witt Clinton, a most worthy namesake, a prominent
literary and public man in the State of New York, and one of the prime movers
and most efficient advocates of the scheme for building the Erie Canal. He was
twice Governor of that State, held many offices of public trust, and was a
proficient classical and belles-lettres scholar, a man of incorruptible
integrity and stainless purity of character. He died in 1828, at the age of 59
years.
DESCRIPTIVE GEOGRAPHY.
Clinton County embraces an area of about seven hundred and fifty square miles, composed of Congressional Townships 80 north, Ranges 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 east; 81 north, Ranges 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 east; 82 north, Ranges 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 east, and 83 north, Ranges 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 east, and is bounded north by Jackson County, east by the Mississippi River, south by the Wapsipinicon River and Township 80 north, Range 2 east, being the boundary line between Clinton and Scott Counties, and west by Cedar and Jones Counties.
The county is about thirty-six
miles long, east and west, by about eighteen miles north and south. Being in a
latitude where the heat of summer is modified by the cool breezes from the
north, and yet far enough south to escape the rigor of the extreme northern
winters, its location is healthful and desirable.
The Mississippi River forms the eastern boundary line, and flows in a bend sweeping around toward the east, nearly midway on the eastern boundary of the State. Being due west from Chicago, it is the nearest point in the State between that great commercial entrepot and the Mississippi. Thus, geographical position made it the gate to the interior, and the initial point for the first railroad enterprises which were projected westward to reach the Missouri River. Its western boundary is the Fifth Principal Meridian of the Survey of the State, which is 91° W. longitude, and extreme eastern point 90° 35` W. Its approximate latitude is 41° 50` to 42° 05` N. The 42nd degree of N. latitude divides the northern tier of townships from the tier to the southward.
SOURCE: Allen, L. P., History of Clinton County, Iowa, Containing A History of the County, it's Cities, Towns, Etc. and Biographical Sketches of Citizens, War Record of it's Volunteers in the late Rebellion, General and Local Statistics, Portraits of Early Settlers and Prominent Men, History of the Northwest, History of Iowa, Map of Clinton County, Constitution of the United States, Miscellaneous Matters, &c, &c., Illustrated. Chicago IL; Western Historical Company, 1879