North Central Iowa Trivia

• Former Governor Terry Branstad was born on a farm near Leland.
• A century ago, John Tokheim from Humboldt County invented a pump to move kerosene from the cellar of his shop to his customer's pails because he didn't like the smell of kerosene on his hands. Standard Oil soon asked John if his pump would work for delivering gasoline to automobiles.
• The word "tractor" originated in Charles City.
• New Hartford native Charles Grassley currently represents Iowa as a U.S. Senator.
• Iowa's largest county by land area is Kossuth.
• Hart-Parr Tractor Company in Floyd County was the first successful manufacturer of gasoline tractors.
• O.H. Benson developed the 4-H emblem in Clarion.
• The National Hobo Convention is held in Britt.
• The Duesenberg brothers, who later created the automobile bearing their name, ran a bike shop in Garner.
• Union Slough in Kossuth County is the watershed for both the Blue Earth and Des Moines Rivers and has water that runs both north and south.
• The nickname of Algona's first school, a dugout in the side of a buff walled with logs and covered with sod, was Gopher College.