Kalyn Stamp, age 11, of Garwin, Iowa, for her question:

How long is the Iowa River?

All Iowa's streams flow to empty their waters into the great river system of the Mississippi Missouri. The waterways of the state are divided by a ridge higher than the surrounding hills. It swoops down from Milford in the north, curves east of Des Moines and runs on down to Bloomfield in the south. This geographical divide separates the streams and rivers that flow southeastward to join the Mississippi from those that flow in westerly directions to join the Missouri and the Big Sioux. Iowa's biggest river is the Des Moines that drains almost a quarter of the state. It is born far to the north amid the green hills of Minnesota. The city of Des Moines stands where the Des Moines River meets and merges with the Raccoon River.

Farther to the north, the Iowa River parallels the southeasterly direction of the Des Moines. But it is a smaller river. It springs from two lakes near Mason City in the north central part of the state and joins the Mississippi south of Davenport. Its wandering course through the rolling green hills covers about 240 miles. The Iowa is roughly half the length of Iowa's big Des Moines River.