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Altura is a city in Winona County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 417 at the 2000 census.
[edit] History
Altura started out as a hunting ground for the Sioux Indians. They hunted deer, bear, wolves, quail, and other game native to the area. They also trapped mink and muskrat in the streams that now run through many of the farms. The Sioux Indians were here until 1853 when they singed the Treaty of Traverse Des Sioux, and the Treaty of Mendota, which made the territory available for settlement.
When the Sioux Indians left, the government offered the land for $1.25 an acre to the settlers for staking their claims.
Settlers started to come and stake their claims, but many didn't have the money to even buy 160 acres of land at $1.25 an acre. The settlers who could not afford to buy were allowed to come and choose what land they wanted and stake their claim. There was trouble with other settlers coming along and jumping their claims of land. Staking the land did not give them title to it, because they have not paid for it. There were groups of settlers that would form "claim clubs", which would hire a rough looking character to guard the claims of the settlers in that certain group or club. They would build a shack for him to stay in and he would patrol the land and would likely shoot any person coming in to jump a claim.
[edit] Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 3.0 square miles (7.7 km²), all of it land.
[edit] Demographics
As of the census[1] of 2000, there were 417 people, 163 households, and 117 families residing in the city. The population density was 140.5 people per square mile (54.2/km²). There were 172 housing units at an average density of 57.9/sq mi (22.4/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 97.84% White, 0.48% African American, 0.72% Asian, and 0.96% from two or more races.
There were 163 households out of which 36.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 61.3% were married couples living together, 6.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.2% were non-families. 25.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.56 and the average family size was 3.06.
In the city the population was spread out with 28.8% under the age of 18, 7.9% from 18 to 24, 32.4% from 25 to 44, 15.6% from 45 to 64, and 15.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females there were 120.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 106.3 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $38,393, and the median income for a family was $41,250. Males had a median income of $30,313 versus $23,125 for females. The per capita income for the city was $17,199. About 7.4% of families and 8.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 8.8% of those under age 18 and 10.3% of those age 65 or over.
[edit] References
Coordinates: 44°04'18?N, 91°56'23?W
(Source: Wikipedia) |