The
Cedar River is a
river in
Minnesota and
Iowa. It is a tributary of the
Iowa River, which flows to the
Mississippi River. The Cedar River takes its name from the
red cedar (
Juniperus virginiana) trees growing there, and was originally called the
Red Cedar River by the
Meskwaki. The first Mississippi steamboat reached
Cedar Rapids, Iowa in 1844, and during the next decade, the
Red Cedar (as it was still called) was an important commercial waterway. The surrounding region is known officially as the
Cedar River Valley, though it is more commonly referred to simply as the
Cedar Valley.