COUNCIL BLUFFS. A city and the county scat of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, five miles east of oma ha. Neb.; near the Missouri River, and on the Union Pacific, the Chicago and North western, the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy, the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific, the Illinois Central, and other railroads (Map: Iowa, B 3). The city is well laid out, and lies to a great extent on a plain underlying high bluffs. It has a public library, one of the first established in the State, and beauti ful parks. notably Fairmont and Bayliss, and is the seat of the Iowa School for the Deaf. Railroad and wagon bridges over the Missouri afford communication with Omaha. Good transportation facilities have made Coun cil Bluffs a commercial point of great impor tance; it has an extensive trade in agricultural implements, live stock, fruit, and produce, and manufactures of machinery, engines, lumber, paper, carriages, agricultural implements, and many other articles. The city government is
conducted under a general State incorporation law, revised in 1 S97. The Mayor holds office for two years, and the city council is composed of representatives from the six wards of the city and two members at large. The council elects the city clerk. street supervisor, city physician, pound-keeper. chief of fire department, and elec trician: the marshal and police are nominated by the executive and confirmed by the council; all other offices are filled by popular election. In 1504, on the site of Council Bluffs, Lewis and Clark held a council with the Indians—hence the name. Here, in 1846, the Mormons established a settlement, called Kanesville, which, however, they soon abandoned for Salt Lake City. The city was chartered in 1850. Population, in 1890, 21.474; in 1900, 25,802.