Iowa History

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History of Iowa

Volume III

EARLY HISTORY OF IOWA COUNTIES

The first legislation providing for the creation of counties within the limits of the territory which eventually became the State of Iowa, was an act of the Legislative Assembly of Michigan Territory in 1834, as follows:

An act to lay off and organize counties west of the Mississippi River.

Section 1.  Be it enacted by the Legislative Council of the Territory of Michigan - That all that district of country which was attached to the Territory of Michigan by an act of Congress entitled "An act to attach the territory of the United States west of the Mississippi River and north of the State of Missouri, to the Territory of Michigan, and to which the Indian title had been extinguished,  which is north of a line to be drawn due west from the lower end of the Rock Island to the Missouri River, shall constitute a county and be called Dubuque; said county shall constitute a township which shall be called Julien, and the seat of justice shall be at the village of Dubuque.

Section 2.  All that part of the district aforesaid which was attached to the Territory of Michigan situated south of said line to be drawn due west of the lower end of Rock Island, shall constitute a county and be called Demoine; said county shall constitute a township and be called Flint Hill; the seat of justice shall be at such place therein as shall be designated by the judge of the county court of said county.

Section 4 of the act provided "That all laws now in force in the county of Iowa* not locally inapplicable, shall be and are hereby extended to the counties of Dubuque and Demoine and shall be in force therein."

*This was the name of a county east of the Mississippi River in that portion of Michigan Territory which afterwards became the State of Wisconsin.

The Indian title was at that time extinguished to a region extending form the north line of Missouri to the mouth of the Upper Iowa River and fifty miles in width west of the Mississippi River.  It will be seen that the two new counties embraced the entire "Black Hawk Purchase," and were the only counties created within the limits of the territory embraced in Iowa, by the Legislative Assembly of Michigan, while it was a part of that Territory.  When it became a part of Wisconsin Territory twenty-two counties were created; and when Iowa Territory was created, twenty-three additional counties were established.  After it was admitted as a State many changes were made in the boundaries and names of counties and the remainder of its area was divided into counties until they numbered ninety-nine.

The organization of the older counties was provided for by special legislative acts; but the First and Fourth General Assemblies of the State provided general laws directing the method of county organization.  The Constitution of 1857 gave a measure of stability to the boundaries of the counties as they then existed and all attempts to create new counties, divide or change the limits since the adoption of that Constitution have failed.  The act expressly prohibits the creation of a county having less than four hundred and thirty-two square miles.  The counties of Mitchell, Worth, Winnebago, Emmet, Dickinson and Osceola were each found to lack sixteen square miles but, by the terms of the Constitution, their boundaries were not interfered with.

Another clause of the Constitution provides "That no law changing the boundary lines of any county shall have effect, until upon being submitted to the people of the counties affected by the change at a general election, it shall be approved by a majority of votes in each county cast for and against it."  In 1862, notwithstanding this provision, the General Assembly passed an act authorizing counties to readjust their boundaries as they might see fit.  Acting under this statute the people of Monona and Crawford counties moved the division line between them six miles west.  The Code Commissioners in 1873, regarding this action as in conflict with the Constitution, omitted the act from the code and it ceased to have effect after the 1st of September, of that year.

The Third General Assembly, in 1850, created twenty-five new counties embracing all of the territory in which counties had not been established heretofore.

A bill providing for the creation of these counties was prepared by P. M. Cassady, Senator from the Polk County district, and was referred to the committee on new counties of which Mr. Casady was a member.*  In the original bill the county now bearing the name of Union was named "Mason," for Judge Charles Mason.  The committee was opposed to discriminating among the many living men of note in the State and changed the name to Union.  Objection was also made to the name of Buncombe but when it was explained that it was in honor of a distinguished officer in the Revolutionary War from North Carolina, it was permitted to remain.  The bill also gave the name of Floyd to the one which is now Woodbury, to commemorate Sergeant Floyd of the Lewis and Clark expedition.  The House amended the bill by naming that county "Wahkaw."  The committee fixed upon a large number of the names in the following manner:  three were named in honor of colonels who fell in the War with Mexico - Hardin of Illinois, Clay of Kentucky and Yell of Arkansas.  Three more were named for battle-fields in the same war - Cerro Gordo, Buena Vista and Palo Alto.  Three for Irish patriots - Emmet, Mitchell and O'Brien.  One county was named Worth, for Major-General William J. Worth; one for General William O. Butler who was the Democratic candidate for Vice-President in 1848; one for Major Frederick Mills, a talented young lawyer from Burlington who was killed at the Battle of Cherubusco; one for Edwin Guthrie, an early pioneer of Fort Madison, who died of wounds received in battle in Mexico.  The Mexican War had closed but two years before this session, the names of its battle-fields and military officers were so fresh in the memory of the people that they were liberally drawn upon for names of the new counties.

*Many of the facts in relation to the naming of these counties were first given to the public in a paper read by Judge Cassady in 1894, at a session of the Pioneer Lawmakers' Association.

ADAIR COUNTY was created by act of the Legislature of 1851 from territory embraced in the original county of Des Moines.  It lies in the third tier north of Missouri and in the third tier east of the Missouri River.  The county is twenty-four miles square and embraces an area of five hundred seventy-six square miles.  The north tier of townships was from December 31st, 1837, to July 30, 1840, embraced in the old county of Keokuk as first established.  The county was named for General John Adair a distinguished officer of the War of 1812 and afterwards the sixth Governor of Kentucky.

Thomas N. Johnson is the first white man known to have made a home within the limits of the county.  He made a claim and built a log cabin in 1849 on section four in Washington township where, in 1850, he built a mill on a stream running through his farm.  In 1850 William Alcorn made a claim on Middle river at a point known as "the upper crossing."  During the same year a Mr. Lyon took a claim and built a cabin near a large spring in a grove in what became Jefferson township.  In 1851 J. J. Vawter purchased the claim and the grove took his name.  Among the early settlers were William McDonald, who settled at the lower crossing of Middle River, Alfred Jones in Jackson township, Robert Wilson in Grand River, George M. Holiday in Jefferson, Joshua Chapman in Richland and Jacob Bruce in Grove.

In April, 1854, the first election was held in Alfred Jones' cabin at which George M. Holiday was chosen county judge and John Gibson, clerk.  The first court was held in the cabin of the judge on the 6th of May following.  On the 24th of April, 1855, the county-seat was located at Summerset, a town laid out by G. M. Holiday, D. M. Valentine* and Abram Ruth, and six miles south of the center of the county.  In 1856 by act of the Legislature the name was changed to Fontanelle.

*D. M. Valentine moved to Kansas in 1859 where he has been a member of both branches of the Legislature, District Judge and Associate Justice of the Supreme Court.

The first house in Summerset was a double log cabin built in June, 1855, by James C. Gibbs for a tavern and post-office.  Mr. Gibbs was the first postmaster in the town and county.  A store was opened in 1856 by Calvin Ballard.

At the time the county was organized the population was about one hundred fifty.  The town of Greenfield, laid out in September, 1856, by Milton C. Munger is about six miles northeast of Fontanelle and in 1875 became the county-seat.  Matthew Clark built the first house the same year which was used as a store by A. D. Littleton as well as a station of the Western Stage Company.  The first school in the county was taught by Miss Huldah Lee in 1857 in the court-house at Fontanelle.  The Congregationalists organized the first church in 1856 at the same place.

The Chicago and Rock Island Railroad was built through the extreme northern limits of the county in 1868 upon which the towns of Adair and Casey were laid out.  The first newspaper was established by James C. Gibbs in 1863 and named the Adair County Register.  After a long and bitter contest extending from 1865 to 1875 the county-seat was removed from Fontanelle to Greenfield.

ADAMS COUNTY is the third east of the Missouri State line.  It contains twelve Congressional townships, embracing within its limits four hundred thirty-two square miles.  The county was created in 1851 from territory formerly within Des Moines County and was named for John Adams, second President of the United States.

The county-seat was located by commissioners a little north of the center of the county and named Quincy, for John Quincy Adams, the sixth President.  The land upon which the county-seat was located belonged to Jacob M. B. Miller who laid out the town and deeded to the county all even numbered lots and a public square,  J. R. Holbrook built the first house in August, 1853, in which he opened a store.  The first white man known to have settled in the county was Ilijah Walters who, in 1849, took a claim two miles south of Quincy.  Samuel Baker, Morgan Warren and Samuel Hardesty made claims and built cabins soon after.

At the election held in April of that year, Samuel Baker was chosen county judge and John H. Calvin recorder.  In 1853 a French colony composed of socialists purchased about 3,000 acres of Government land near the East Nodaway River,  The people were followers of Etineen Cabet a French philosopher.  The community located here to make the experiment of owning property in common and governing themselves in accordance with the socialistic theories of their leader,  They organized a local government consisting of a general assembly composed of the male members of the community over twenty-one years of age.  All property was owned in common and controlled by a board of directors consisting of a president, secretary, treasurer and a director of agriculture, industry and clothing.  New members were admitted upon consent of three-quarters of the male members twenty-one years of age.  All were required to surrender their property to the community, give their services in consideration of a living, sharing equally the benefits.  No money compensation was given for any kind of service.  There was no religious creed and no form of worship but the members of the colony professed the religion of the primitive Christians.  Sunday was a day of recreation and amusement and in all respects held to be no more sacred than any other day.  The membership after an existence of nearly half a century numbers about fifty.

In 1855 a town was laid out by D. N. Smith about five miles south of Quincy which was named Corning, in honor of a New York politician and capitalist, Erastus Corning.  It is on the main line of the Burlington Railroad and has become the county-seat.  The first church in the county was organized at Quincy in 1856 by the Methodists.  In 1859 they organized a seminary at Brookville and in the same year the first newspaper was established at Corning by D. N. Smith, with L. Raguet as editor, and named the Corning Sentinel.

Adams County has an undulating surface and is well watered by the East and West Nodaway rivers and their branches.  One-tenth of the county was originally covered with forests.  Coal, limestone and good building stone abound in portions of the county and it lies in the famous blue grass region.

ALLAMAKEE COUNTY was established in 1847 by act of the First General Assembly.  The name is of Indian origin says Fulton in his "Red Men of Iowa"; while other authorities claim that it took its name from "Allen Makee" a famous Indian trader and trapper who established a trading post within its limits at an early day.  The county was formerly a part of Fayette and occupies the extreme northeastern portion of the State and, geologically considered, is the oldest in formation.  The eastern boundary consists of the Mississippi River and the northern is the Minnesota line.  It embraces five townships north and south and from three to four east and west, containing six hundred fifty-eight squares miles.  Much of the county has a rough surface of hills, ravines and narrow valleys.  The bluffs along the Mississippi River are abrupt and in many places have an altitude of four hundred feet above the water, thence having a gradual ascent westward reaching a height of six hundred feet.  A large portion of the county was originally covered with a growth of hazel brush and trees of many varieties.  It is well watered by the Upper Iowa and yellow rivers and numerous rapidly flowing creeks of pure water.  A series of large sloughs extends along the Mississippi River in width of from one to three miles.  The "Iowa Slough" extends from the northern line of the county to near Lansing.

Allamakee was in the limits of the "Neutral Ground" and was long held as a peaceful hunting land over which hostile tribes of Indians pursued the chase without collisions.  It was given to the Winnebago Indians in 1833, when they were forced to surrender their Wisconsin homes.  In 1846 they exchanged the "Neutral Ground" for lands in Minnesota and two years later removed to their new homes.  There is a tradition that as early as 1818 some white trappers and Indian traders made a settlement on the west bank of the Mississippi within the limits of Allamakee County, remaining there many years.  But all traces of their cabins had disappeared before the first permanent settlers came.  It is known that traders had a station at "Old Mission," long before the Indian title was extinguished; but no record of their names had been preserved, As early as 1828 Colonel Zachary Taylor, who was in command at Fort Crawford (Prairie du Chien), sent a detail of soldiers across the Mississippi River to erect a saw mill near the mouth of Yellow River where a large amount of lumber was made for buildings at the fort.  Lieutenant Jefferson Davis was among the officers at Fort Crawford and the future President of the Southern Confederacy was a frequent visitor to the Iowa shore.  In 1835 Colonel Taylor established an Indian Mission not far from the old saw mill.  This Mission was in charge of Rev. David Lowrey, who endeavored to educate and civilize the Indians, while Colonel Thomas, in charge of the farm, gave them instruction in growing crops and raising stock.  But little success attended these efforts.  The warriors considered labor degrading and after a few years the Mission was abandoned.

In 1838 Patrick Keenan and Richard Cassiday settled in Makee township and William Gamsin and John Haney at Lansing.  In 1839 Henry Johnson, a discharged soldier, built a cabin near the mouth of Paint Creek where he lived several years with Indian wives.  Johnsonport was named for him.  A military road was opened by the Government about this time, on the west side of the Mississippi between Fort Crawford and Fort Atkinson and, in 1841, Joel Post obtained permission to keep a public house in the Government building.  Here at the "Half Way House" he and his wife often entertained Captains E. V. Summer, Nathaniel Lyon, Lieutenants Alfred Pleasanton and Jefferson Davis at that time young officers in the regular army but afterwards famous leaders in the War of the Rebellion.  The village of Postville now occupies the ground where the old public house stood and takes its name from the landlord of pioneer times.  In 1840 Jesse Danley built a dam across the Yellow River and erected a saw mill.  In 1841 Jacob Rynerson settled in the Old Mission and, after the removal of the Winnebago Indians, the property was purchased by Thomas C. Linton who was selected sheriff in 1848 to organize the county.

The first county-seat was located a mile and a half northwest of Rossville and was named Columbus.  In 1848 Archy Whaley settled east of Waukon and William C. Thompson and Professor Whaley came in 1849.  The first county officers were chosen the same year; Elias Topliff, county judge; John B. Twiford, clerk; James M. Sumner, recorder and treasurer.  In 1851 Father Thomas Hore, a Catholic missionary, settled at Wexford where he founded a colony of his countrymen from Ireland.  He there built the first church in the county.  In 1848 H. H. Houghton made a claim where Lansing stands and in 1851 he and John Hainey laid out the town of Lansing.  The first houses were rude log cabins.  The first court was held in Columbus in July, 1852, by Judge Thomas S. Wilson.  In 1851 the first newspaper was established by W. H. Sumner at Lansing and was named the Intelligencer and later becoming the Lansing Mirror.  In the fall of 1849 G. C. Shattuck made a claim where Waukon stands.  The town was laid out by Mr. Shattuck in December, 1853, and forty acres deeded to the county upon condition that it be made county-seat.  The proposition was accepted and Waukon remained the county-seat until 1861 when it was removed to Lansing by a vote of the people, but in 1867, Waukon again became the county-seat and has so remained.  It was not until 1872 that a railroad was built into the county, running along the Mississippi River from Dubuque to Lansing.

APPANOOSE COUNTY, originally a part of Demoine, was established in 1843 and temporarily attached to Van Buren.  In 1854 it was attached to Davis and fully organized in August, 1846, at an election held on the third of that month.  It was named for a noted chief of the Sac and Fox Indians.  This county is the fourth west of the Mississippi River in the tier on the Missouri State line.  In size it is twenty-four miles east and west and about twenty-one and a half north and south, containing five hundred sixteen square miles.  The principal streams are the Chariton River and its two branches running in a southeasterly direction.  The supply of timber is abundant, consisting of white, black and burr oak, hickory, black walnut, hard and soft maple, ash, elm and other varieties.  A large portion of the county is underlaid with coal and good building stone is found in many localities.

The first known white men within its limits were a company of United States Dragoons sent from Rock Island in the summer of 1832 to make an examination of the region.  One night they camped near a large spring in the south part of the county near Cincinnati.  In 1833 Joseph Shaddon from Missouri went on an excursion through Appanoose where he found an abundance of deer and wild turkeys.  He saw the trail made by the dragoons the year before near the Chariton.  Frequent trips were made by people from Missouri into Appanoose in search of game and bees but no settlements were made until the spring of 1838, when Ewing Kirby a young man from Missouri crossed into the then Indian country with his family and built a cabin near where Cincinnati now stands.  Colonel James Wells a year later made a claim and built a mill in the southern part of the county.  Others came soon after but, as the country still belonged to the Indians, complaints were made and a company of dragoons was sent from the Agency on the Des Moines River to drive the intruders out and burn their buildings.  In 1843 William Cooksey took a claim near the Chariton River, and the next year J. F. Stratton from Missouri made a claim where Cincinnati stands.  Solomon Hobbs, George Buckner, J. F. Stratton and others came during the following season.  They were mostly young men without families doing their own housework and living in the most primitive manner.  George W. Perkins was the first settler in Center township and planted the first orchard in the county.  Rev. W. S. Manson preached the first sermon in a log cabin on the west side of the river.  About this time S. F. Wadding opened a store where Centerville now stands.

The Indian title to Appanoose was not extinguished until 1843 but there was a strip of country about nine miles wide extending along its southern border which was claimed by Missouri and in this disputed territory, which was finally awarded to Iowa, settlers were not molested as they claimed to be in Missouri.  The north line of this strip ran close to where Centerville stands.

On the 1st of April, 1844, the first election was held in a log cabin built by J. F. Stratton, at which nine votes were polled.  Benjamin Spooner was chosen judge, and J. F. Stratton clerk of the District Court.  In 1846 Centerville was laid out and first named Chaldea but the citizens were not satisfied with that name and at a house raising held not long after there was a large gathering and a proposition was made to change it.  Dr. W. S. Manson, who was a great admirer of Governor Senter of Tennessee, proposed in an eloquent speech to change the name to Senterville in honor of the Governor.  A petition was signed by those present to that effect and forwarded to the Legislature.  The committee to which it was referred reported in favor of the change, but thinking to correct an error in orthography in the bill, spelled the name Centerville, and in that shape it became a law, to the great chagrin of the admirers of Governor Senter.  The first house in the town was built by S. F. Waddington who opened a store in it.  The Methodists organized the first church in the county with Rev. Hugh Gibson, pastor.  Amos Harris was the first lawyer and Dr. W. S. Manson the first physician in the new town.

In October, 1856, the first newspaper in the county was established by Fair Brothers and named the Appanoose Chief, published at Centerville.  In 1868 the town of Moulton was laid out on the line of the North Missouri Railroad, twelve miles southeast of Centerville.  This was the first railroad in the county, built in 1869.

AUBUDON COUNTY  was created by act of the Legislature of 1851 out of the then large county of Keokuk.  It was named for John J. Audubon the naturalist and in 1853 was attached to Cass and divided into civil townships.  It lies in the third tier east of the Missouri River and in the fourth north of the State of Missouri, contains twelve congressional townships and has a superficial area of four hundred forty-six square miles.

The first settlement within its limits was made in March, 1851, by Nathaniel Hamlin, John S. Jenkins and Arthur Decker, with their families, who took claims in a fine body of timber which became known as Hamlin's Grove.  In the fall of the same year Dr. S. M. Ballord and B. M. Hyatt made claims in another body of timber which was named Big Grove.  William Powell the same year took a claim where Exira stands.

The county was organized in 1855, and the seat of justice located on the 20th of June on section twenty-two, township seventy-eight, range thirty-five west.  Here a town was laid out and named Dayton.  An election was held April 2d, 1855, at the house of John S. Jenkins at which Samuel Lewis was chosen county judge.  In 1861 the county-seat was removed to a new town called Viola, laid out by D. M. Harris and David Edgerton; but the name was soon changed to Exira, in honor of a lady then living in the county.  Dayton soon after disappeared from the map and its site became a farm.  Oakfield was laid out in 1857 by E. D. Bradley who then opened the first store in the county.  Oakfield took its name from a large oak grove which originally covered the town site on the east bank of the Nishnabotna River.  The first newspaper in the county was established at Audubon City in December, 1860, and was named the Audubon Pioneer.  Its proprietor was John C. Brown, who was killed in the war of the Rebellion at the Battle of Milliken's Bend where he was serving as captain of Company I, Twenty-third Iowa Volunteers.  East Nishnabotna is the largest stream running through the county from north to south, with numerous branches which afford a good supply of water.  The surface of the county is rolling with deep ravines in places.  The soil is very fertile producing abundant crops of grass, grain, fruit and vegetables.  A branch of the Rock Island Railroad from Atlantic was the first to enter the county.

BANCROFT COUNTY was created by act of the Legislature in 1851 from a portion of old Fayette and embraced the twelve northern townships of what is now Kossuth County,  extending to the Minnesota line, making an area of four hundred four square miles.  The county was named in honor of George Bancroft, the historian.  In January, 1853, it was attached to Boone County for election, revenue and judicial purposes.  In 1855 by act of the General Assembly it was made a part of Kossuth and Bancroft County ceased to exist.  The county was one vast level prairie through which the east fork of the Des Moines River flowed and its lands in early times were considered too wet for profitable cultivation but in later years the soil has been found to be exceedingly productive and has been converted into fine farms of increasing value.  No county-seat was established during the brief period that Bancroft had an existence and no organization of a county government was perfected.

BELKNAP COUNTY was created by act of the General Assembly in 1874, embracing townships seventy-four, seventy-five, seventy-six and seventy-seven in ranges thirty-eight, thirty-nine and forty in the eastern portion of Pottawattamie County.  In compliance with the Constitution the proposition to establish this county was submitted to a vote of the electors residing in the county of Pottawattamie which it was proposed to divide and at this election was rejected so that Belknap County ceased to exist.  The name was given in honor of General William W. Belknap, a distinguished Iowa officer in the Civil War and afterwards Secretary of War in the Cabinet of President U. S. Grant.

BENTON COUNTY was created by act of the Legislature of Wisconsin Territory in 1837 and embraced at that time all of the territory between its northern and southern lines west to the Missouri River and was attached to Jackson County temporarily.  It was named for Thomas H. Benton who was for thirty years United States Senator from Missouri.  In November, 1840, Benton County was attached to Linn and in February, 1843, was reduced in size to its present limits, containing twenty congressional townships, making seven hundred twenty square miles.

The first pioneers who made homes in the county were James Scott and Samuel Lockhart who, in the spring of 1839, took claims near where the village of Marysville stands.  Several families from Indiana soon settled in that vicinity and the place was known as "Hoosier Point."  The same year Samuel Parker made a claim embracing a body of timber which was called "Parker's Grove."  Gilman Clark located a mile east of where Shellsburg stands and L. F. North, John Smith and George Wright settled in the vicinity during the year, opening farms.

The county was organized in May, 1846, and the county-seat located where a new town named Fremont was laid out.  A log court-house was erected two stories in height.  The name of the town was afterwards changed to Vinton, in honor of Plynn Vinton, a member of Congress from Ohio, who paid fifty dollars for the honor.  A portion of the county on the east side was embraced in the "Black Hawk Purchase" and was therefore opened to settlement several years before the remainder.  The early settlements were made on this strip, which was on the extreme frontier, by a band of desperadoes who found shelter in the Indian country beyond, and preyed upon the property of the pioneers for several years.  It was impossible to arrest and punish these thieves and murderers and finally the settlers organized a "vigilance committee," hunted them down and by lynch law rid the county of them.

The first election was held in August, 1843, when the county was attached to Linn.  The first officers were chosen at an election held at Parker's Grove in 1846, when twenty-nine votes were polled.  James Mitchell was chosen county judge, John Royal sheriff, and David Pratt clerk.  The first court was held in May, 1847, at the house of Thomas Way at which Judge J. P. Carlton presided.  Among the attorneys present were Norman W. Isbel, I. M. Preston and D. P. Palmer.  A school was opened near Marysville and a saw mill built on Mud Creek soon after the first settlers erected their log cabins.  In October, 1846, a post-office was established at Vinton with Stephen Holcomb as postmaster.  In early days a fine grove of red cedars stood on the banks of the Cedar River but a vandal squatter named Thompson cut them down and sold the logs down the river.  A few years later several similar groves were destroyed in like manner.  It was from these and other groves that the Cedar River derived its name.

The first newspaper in the county was established in January, 1855, by Frederick Lyman and S. C. Foster and named the Vinton Eagle.  The Presbyterians organized the first church at Vinton in 1852, with Rev. Hohn Summerson as pastor.  In 1858 Thomas Drummond the young editor of the Vinton Eagle was a member of the Legislature and secured the passage of an act locating the Asylum for the Blind at Vinton.  In 1861 the town of Belle Plaine was laid out on the line of the Chicago, Iowa and Nebraska Railroad which had just been extended through the southern part of the county.  Another town was also laid out on this line the same year, named Blairstown, for John I. Blair, who was the president of the construction company.

In 1854 Jacob Cantonwine laid out a town on Bear Creek which was named Shellsburg for a city in Pennsylvania.  Norway was laid out in 1863 on the line of the Northwestern Railroad and this named at the request of Osborn Tuttle who gave five acres of land to the railroad company.  Benton County is well watered by the Cedar and Iowa rivers and their tributaries which furnish water power in many places.  Native timber is found along the streams and the prairie soil is of the best quality.  Building stone is quite abundant along the Cedar River and granite boulders are found in many sections of the county. 

BLACK HAWK COUNTY, created on the 17th of February, 1847, by act of the General Assembly, lies in the third tier south of the Minnesota line and fourth west of the Mississippi River and contains sixteen congressional townships embracing an area of five hundred seventy-six square miles.  It was attached to Buchanan in 1851.

The first white settler was Paul Somaneux, a French trader who, in the summer of 1837, ascended the Cedar River to the rapids where Cedar Falls stands, there built a cabin and opened a profitable trade with the Indians in furs and skins.  Robert Stuart, another trader, reached the rapids the same season and engaged in traffic with the Indians.  In 1844 William Chambers of Louisa County came to the rapids, built a cabin and also opened trade with Indians, but none of these earliest settlers engaged in farming.  In the spring of 1845 William Sturgis and wife of Michigan and A. E. Adams and wife of Johnson County made an excursion of the Cedar River in search of good water power.  They were charmed with the beauty of the valley and finding excellent water power at the rapids, took claims on the river banks where Cedar Falls now stands.  Mr. Sturgis soon began to construct a dam across the river and for many years the settlement was known as "Sturgis Falls."  In May, John Hamilton and his sons came to the new settlement and took claims.  George Hanna and family, John Melrose and William Virden soon after took claims near Black Hawk Creek, while E. G. Young and James Newell settled in the northern part of the county.  In February, 1847, John W. Overman, D. C. Overman and J. F. Barrick came to Sturgis Falls, purchased the water power and land belonging with it, finished the dam and erected a sawmill.  In 1851 a town was laid out and named Cedar Falls.  Andrew Mularky opened a store in his log cabin, the first in the county, which was known as the "Black Hawk store."  In 1846 Mrs. J. F. Taylor opened the first school with six pupils.  For many years the site of Cedar Falls was covered with beautiful forest trees which gradually disappeared.

The county remained unorganized until the summer of 1853 when the first election was held for county officers with the following result:  J. R. Pratt was chosen county judge; Aaron Dow, treasurer; John H. Brooks, clerk, and John Virden, sheriff.  The county-seat was located at Cedar Falls.  The first term of district court was held in June, 1854, at which Judge Thomas S. Wilson presided.  On the 11th of July, 1853, W. H. McClure and S. H. Packard established the first newspaper in the county at Cedar Falls with A. F. Brown as editor.

In June, 1846, James Virden and Charles Mullan located claims on the west side of the river about seven miles below Cedar Falls at a point known as Prairie Rapids and erected a cabin.  In the fall they with G. W. Hanna and J. H. Brooks laid out a town which they named Waterloo.  The first store was opened by Nelson Francher in his log cabin and a public house by Seth Lake in another cabin.  Charles Mullan was the first postmaster and in 1853 Eliza May taught the first school.

In 1854 James Eggers built a dam across the river at Waterloo and erected a sawmill.  In 1856 George W. Couch built a flouring-mill.  The spring and summer of 1858 were noted for heavy rains which raised the streams to flood height and a small steamer at Cedar Rapids came up to Waterloo loaded with freight afterward making several trips.  In 1855 a movement was inaugurated to remove the county-seat from Cedar Falls to Waterloo.  At an election held for that purpose three hundred eighty-eight votes were cast for Waterloo and two hundred sixty for Cedar Falls.  The removal was delayed several months by legal proceedings.  A newspaper was established at Waterloo in December, 1855, by William Haddock named the Iowa State Register.  After the close of the Civil War a home for soldiers' orphans was established at Cedar Falls.

In June, 1855, Jesse Wasson laid out the town of La Porte in the southern part of the county.  The Cedar River runs diagonally through the county from north to south and the Wapsipinicon runs through the northeastern portion, both having many tributaries.  The county was named for the famous Sac chief.  In 1861 the Dubuque and Sioux City Railroad was completed to Cedar Falls.  The Burlington and Cedar Rapids road follows up the valley of the Cedar River.

BOONE COUNTY is near the geographical center of the State, lying in the fifth tier from its north line, in the eighth west of the Mississippi River and containing sixteen congressional townships with an area of five hundred seventy-six square miles.  It was created by act of the Legislature in January, 1846, and named for Captain Nathan Boone who, in 1832, commanded a company of Rangers in an expedition which explored the Des Moines and Boone River valleys.  Lysander W. Babbitt, a young man with the expedition, was so fascinated with the beauty of this region, that in the spring so 1842 he, with two companions, went into the Boone valley where they spent several months hunting and exploring.  They traveled nearly to the headwaters of the Boone, then crossed to the Des Moines and camped where Moingona stands.  There they found the ruins of an Indian village, near which they made claims.  They were at one time robbed of their furs by a band of Sioux Indians and finding it dangerous to remain so far from white settlements, surrounded by roving bands of Sioux, early in the winter of 1844 prudently abandoned their claims and returned to a settled country.  They were the first white men to select homes in Boone County.  In 1846 another member of Captain Boone's company, Charles G. Gaston, with his family ascended the Des Moines valley as far as Elk Rapids where he made a claim and built a log cabin.  Soon after John Pea, James Hull, J. M. Crooks and others built cabins in that vicinity along a creek three miles north of Boonsboro.  Benjamin Williams the same year took a claim near where Madrid stands.

The county was organized in 1849 and attached to Polk.  In 1851 commissioners were appointed to locate the county-seat and, as there was no town yet laid out, they drove a stake in the ground near where the first courthouse was afterward built and there established the county-seat.  A town was laid out and, upon the suggestion of S. B. McCall, named Boonsboro and a public sale of lots was made in October, 1851.  Samuel B. McCall was the sheriff selected to organize the county, an at the first election John M. Wayne was chosen clerk; John M. Crooks, treasurer; S. H. Bowers, sheriff, and W. C. Hull, prosecuting attorney.  The first term of court was held in Boonsboro in October, 1851, at which Judge William McKay presided.  The first building in the town was a two story log house erected by W. C. Hull on the east side of the public square.

In 1865 the Cedar Rapids and Missouri River Railroad was extended in the county to the new town of Montana which had been laid out  by John I. Blair and other builders of the railroad.  This town was a mile east of Boonsboro and the citizens of the county-seat were required to pay a large bonus to secure the road.  Feeling sure of the road, they declined to pay the amount demanded and the construction company turned the road toward the southwest following the valley of Honey Creek, leaving Boonsboro a mile or more from the line.  Then began a life and death struggle between the proprietors of Montana and the citizens of Boonsboro for supremacy which lasted for many years.  Buildings were erected in each town but in the end the citizens of Boonsboro began to move to Montana, its name was changed to Boone and the old county-seat became a suburb of the new city which had  absorbed its business and much of its population.  The first newspaper was established by Capron and Sanders in July, 1856, at Boonsboro and named the Boone County News.  Its editor, Luther C. Sanders, was one of the sharpest paragraphists in the State among the pioneer editors.

The Des Moines River flows through the county from north to south, with a heavy body of excellent timber growing along its banks, under which are found extensive deposits of coal.  The soil of the entire county is of unsurpassed fertility.

BREMER COUNTY was organized from a portion of the extensive territory at one time embraced in the original county of Fayette.  It lies in the third tier west of the Mississippi River, in the third tier south of the Minnesota line and contains but twelve townships six miles square, giving it an area of about four hundred thirty-two square miles.  In 1845 Charles McCaffrey of Scott County made a claim in the valley of the Cedar River at the "Big Woods," near where the village of Jefferson stands.  He built a cabin and opened a farm and during the year other claims were made in that vicinity by George Beeler, Andrew Sample, J. H. Messenger and others.  The early settlements were within the limits of the Winnebago reservation and the last of the Indians remained until 1851.  In 1850 Jacob Hess and Frederick Cretzmeyer settled on the west side of the Cedar River where the town of Waverly stands.

The county was established in 1851 by act of the General Assembly and at the suggestion of General A. K. Eaton, then a member from Delaware County, was named for the Swedish author Frederika Bremer.  It was first attached to Buchanan County for revenue, election and judicial purposes.  In 1853 William P. Hamon settled on the east bank of the Cedar River and laid out the town of Waverly.  A log farm was built across the river, a sawmill and log hotel erected.  The commissioners located the county-seat the same year at the new town.  John T. Barrick located six miles south of Waverly in the spring of 1853 and laid out the town of Janesville, named for his wife, Jane.  This was the first town laid out in the county and there the first newspaper was established in 1855, named the Bremer County Herald and published by Phineas V. Swan.  The county was organized in 1853 and had at that time but eighty-two voters.  The first officers were Jeremiah Ferris, county judge; Austin Ferris, sheriff; John Hunter, treasurer; and Herman A. Miles, clerk.

The first newspaper at Waverly was established on the 6th of March, 1856, by Herman A. Miles and was called the Waverly Republican.  Richard Miles taught the first school in the county in 1853 in a log house in Jefferson township.  Judge Thomas S. Wilson held the first term of court at Waverly in June, 1854.

BUCHANAN COUNTY is in the third tier west of the Mississippi River and in the third south of the Minnesota line; embraces an area of five hundred and seventy-six square miles and is divided into twenty congressional townships.  It was established in December, 1837, and at that time contained all of that portion of the original county of Dubuque lying directly west from Delaware to the Missouri River.  The county was named for James Buchanan, afterwards President of the United States.  The name was suggested by S. P. Stoughton a prominent Democrat of the new county.  In 1843 the territory was reduced to its present limits.

The first white man known to have settled in the county was William Bennett who with his family came from Delaware County in February, 1842, took a claim and built a log cabin on the east bank of the Wapsipinicon River where Quasqueton was afterwards laid out.  Soon after S. G. and S. H. Sanford and Ezra Allen took claims in the same vicinity.  Early in the spring Dr. Edward Brewer, R. B. Clarik and Frederick Kessler joined the first settlers.  In 1845 a post-office was established named Quasqueton with William Richards as postmaster.  The town was laid out by D. S. Davis in 1847, the name being of Indian origin and signifying "rapid water."  In 1847 the commissioners selected to locate a county-seat, chose the site where Independence stands.  Rufus B. Clark was the first to call attention to this spot as a beautiful location for a town and , associating himself with N. A. McClure and S. P. Stoughton, entered a quarter section of land embracing the water power and a portion of the ground upon which Independence was built.  In March, 1847, Mr. Clark built a log cabin on the land thus entered which was the first house in Independence.  A dam was built across the river, a sawmill erected, a store opened and a post-office secured by the proprietors of the new town during the year 1848.  Mr. Clark kept a hotel in his two-room log cabin while Mr. Stoughton opened a store and kept the post-office in his cabin.  Edward Brewster practiced medicine and kept a school in his house.

The county was organized in 1848 by the election of the following officers:  Elijah Beardsley, judge; E. D. Phelps, sheriff; S. P. Stoughton, clerk; and Elijah Beardsley, prosecuting attorney.  The first term of the District Court was held in April, 1849, by James Grant, judge of the Third District.  In May, 1855, B. F. Parker and James Hillery issued the first number of a newspaper named the Independence Civilian.  In December, 1856, Jacob Rich and Mr. Jordon began the publication of the Quasqueton Guardian in the rival town.  The first railroad built into the county was the Dubuque and Sioux City, which reached Independence in December, 1859.

During the session of the Legislature of 1868, Senator William G. Donnan secured the passage of an act providing for the location and building of an additional Hospital for the Insane at Independence.

BUENA VISTA COUNTY is located in the third tier from the western boundary of the State and in the third south of the Minnesota line; it contains sixteen congressional townships, making an area of five hundred seventy-six square miles.  This territory was originally a part of the counties of Dubuque and Buchanan but in 1851 was formed into a county and named to commemorate the Battle of Buena Vista.  It was first attached to the county of Wahkaw (now Woodbury) in 1853.

In May, 1856, Abner Bell of New Jersey and his brother-in law, W. K. Weaver and family, and John W. Tucker settled in the northern part of the county near the Little Sioux  River at a point called Sioux Rapids.  Soon after Arthur T. Reeves, Moses Van Kirk, James H. Gleason and Moses Lewis took claims in the vicinity.  In the spring of 1857 the settlers were plundered by a band of Sioux Indians under Inkpadutah while on their way to massacre the colony at Okoboji and Spirit lakes.  The men overpowered by the savages while the women were most brutally treated but no one was killed.

In 1859 the county government was organized by the election of the following officers:  A. T. Reeves, judge; W. K. Weaver, treasurer; J. W. Tucker, clerk; and Abner Bell, sheriff.  In 1860 the county-seat was located by commissioners in the northwest quarter of section eighteen, township ninety-three, range thirty-six on land belonging to W. S. Lee and the town named Prairieville but no buildings were erected and it never advanced beyond a paper town.

While the county was sparsely settled some of the officials entered into a conspiracy to enrich themselves by levying and collecting taxes in large amounts for building bridges, school-houses and the making of other public improvements.  Contracts were let to friends of these officials at enormous prices and the profits divided.  Schoolhouses were built on unsettled prairies, non-resident taxes appropriated and when finished the houses were occupied by favored settlers for residences.  Hundreds of thousands of dollars of county warrants were issued of which no record was kept, then sold and traded for property. County and school bonds were beautifully engraved and sold through brokers at a discount which tempted eastern buyers to invest in securities which bore ten per cent interest.  When other settlers came and saw how business had been managed, the perpetrators of the frauds fled, leaving enormous debts standing against the county and school districts.  For many years suits were pending in the courts for the collection of these fraudulent bonds and warrants and great odium was brought upon the county.  None of the perpetrators of these crimes were brought to justice.  But after the year 1865 the county government passed under the control of honest settlers and the frauds ceased.

In 1858 a Mr. Barnes laid out the town of Sioux Rapids near the Little Sioux River and, being a man of property, hoped to be able to build up an important place.  In 1859 the Sioux Indians were again threatening the frontier settlements and Mr. Barnes sent his son-in-law to Fort Dodge to procure arms for the defense of the settlers.  While traveling over the unsettled prairies he was overtaken by a blizzard and so badly frozen that both feet had to be amputated.  Mr. Barnes was so disheartened by this calamity that he abandoned his town enterprise and left the country.  "Barnes" township and "Barnes Grove" perpetuate his memory.  For many years Sioux Rapids was the county-seat.  In 1870 the town of Strom Lake was laid out on the north shore of the beautiful lake of that name.  The original proprietor was John I. Blair, the builder of the Iowa Falls and Sioux City Railroad, which was the first in the county.  The lake is about two miles wide by five miles long, having its outlet in the Boyer River.  In October, 1870, Vestal and Young established the Storm Lake Pilot, a weekly newspaper, in the new town.  The Little Sioux River runs through the north part of the county and in early days its bluffs were covered with timber.

BUNCOMBE COUNTY was established in 1851 and named for an officer in the War of the Revolution.  It was the extreme northwestern county in the State.  While bearing this name there were no permanent settlers within its limits but for eleven years it appeared on the map of Iowa as Buncombe County until at the extra session of the Ninth General Assembly in September, 1862, it was changed to Lyon.

BUTLER COUNTY is in the third tier south of the Minnesota line, in the fourth west of the Mississippi River, and contains sixteen congressional townships, making an area of five hundred seventy-six square miles.  It was taken from territory formerly embraced in the counties of Fayette and Buchanan, was established in 1851 and named for General William O. Butler, an officer in the Mexican War and Democratic candidate for Vice-President in 1848.

The first white men who settled in the county were two brothers, Harrison and Volney Carpenter who, in 1850, went from Linn County up the Cedar and Shellrock rivers hunting and trapping.  They were charmed with the country and made claims and built a log cabin in a grove where the town of Shellrock stands.  In September of the same year Henry J. Hicks and Robert T. Crowell, from Wisconsin, settled at Coon Grove near where Clarksville has since been built.  During the winter these pioneers carried on their backs supplies for their families from Cedar Falls.  They found support through hunting, trapping and fishing until land could be brought under cultivation.  In 1851 Jeremiah Perrin, M. A.. Taylor, Mahlon B. and William S. Wamsley, Seth Hilton and others came and also entered land.

In 1853 the county-seat was located at Clarksville, a town laid out by Thomas and Jeremiah Clark and D. C. Hilton, and name for the proprietors; the plat embraced forty acres.

The first county officers were:  John Palmer, judge; W. C. Burton, clerk; Abner G. Clark, treasurer; R. T. Corwell, sheriff, and Hardin Baird, prosecuting attorney.  The permanent organization of the county was made in October, 1854.  A post-office was established at Coon Grove in 1853 of which Abner G. Clark was the first postmaster; later this settlement became Clarksville.  In the spring of 1855 Miss Malinda Searls opened the first school in a log cabin at Clarksville.  J. D. Thompson, judge of the Thirteenth District held the first term of court in the county in October, 1857.  In July, 1858, Palmer and James established a newspaper at Clarksville, naming it the Butler County Transcript.  This was the first paper in the county.  The Dubuque and Sioux City Railroad was built through the south part of the county in 1865.

CALHOUN COUNTY is in the fourth tier from the north line of the State, also in the fourth east of the Missouri River and has sixteen townships, each six miles square, making a total area of five hundred seventy-six square miles.  It was originally named Fox but at the session of the Legislature of 1853 a change was made to Calhoun, in honor of the famous South Carolina Senator.  Twin Lakes, lying in the northern part of the county, cover an area of about seventeen hundred acres and vary in depth from three to twenty feet.  The northern lake is about half a mile wide and two and one-half miles in length.

Ebeneezer Comstock was the first white settler in the county.  In April, 1854, he moved with his family into the grove where Lake City has since been built and here made his log cabin.  His nearest trading point was Des Moines, eighty-five miles distant.  He was soon joined by John Condron, J. C. Smith and Peter Smith from Cass County, Michigan.

In August, 1855, the county was organized by the election of Peter Smith, judge; Christian Smith, treasurer; Joel Golden, clerk; William Oxenford, sheriff; and Ebeneezer Comstock, prosecuting attorney.  The election was held at the house of Christopher Smith and the entire population of the county was less than one hundred.  The county-seat was located by a vote of the people in April, 1856, and Charles Amy was employed to survey and plat a town which was named Lake City.  The first house on the plat was built by him in 1857 and the first store was opened the same year by Peter Smith and Daniel Reed in a log cabin.  In 1856 David Reed taught the first school near Lake City and the Methodists organized the first religious society the same year.

For many years in the early history of the county Charles Amy was its treasurer and by honest and economical management of the officials the warrants of the county were always kept at par and no debt was incurred, a condition of affairs rare among the counties of northwestern Iowa.

In June, 1859, Judge A. W. Hubbard held the first term of court in the county.  In June, 1871, B. F. Gue of Fort Dodge established the first newspaper at Lake City named the Calhoun County Pioneer of which E. W. Wood was the editor and manager.  In early days a good wagon road was graded from Lake City to Fort Dodge and the streams were bridged for a distance of about forty miles over unsettled prairies.  In 1870 the first line of railroad was built into the county, running through the northern townships.  It was the main line of the Iowa Falls and Sioux City road and the towns of Manson and Pomeroy were built upon it.  In the spring of 1876 the county-seat was relocated on land belonging to Colonel J. M. Rockwell nearer the center of the county where a town was laid out and named Rockwell City.  A court-house was built in the spring of 1877.  A railroad reached the new county-seat in 1882.

CARROLL COUNTY was at one time a part of the large territory of Benton but, in 1851, was established by act of the Legislature and named for Charles Carroll, one of t he signers of the Declaration of Independence.  It lies in the third tier east of the Missouri River, in the fifth south of the Minnesota line and contains sixteen congressional townships, making an area of five hundred and seventy-six square miles.

In 1854 Enos Buttrick of Greene County made a claim and built the first log cabin in the limits of Carroll, on section two, township eighty-two, range thirty-four.  The old Indian trail known as the "War Path," a dividing line between the Sioux and Pottawattamie hunting grounds, ran through townships eighty-two to eighty-five, range thirty-six.  It was a well beaten path visible for many years after the Indians were removed from the State.  The penalty was death for any Indian who should be found hunting on the land belonging to the other tribe.  The old battle-field where the last conflict took place between these hostile tribes was near Crescent Lake in Carroll County.

In July, 1855, the first steps were taken toward organizing a county government in Carroll and at the August election the following officers were chosen:  A. J. Cain, judge; Levi Thompson, clerk; James White, treasurer; J. Y. Anderson, sheriff, and L. M. Curdy, prosecuting attorney.  The population at that time was about one hundred.  The first school was opened by Jane L. Hill in the spring of 1856 at Carrollton, a town which was that year laid out on the middle branch of the Raccoon River in the southern part of the county.  It became the first county-seat and O. H. Manning here established a paper named the Carroll Enterprise.  The Methodists organized the first church in the county at this place.  A term of court was held here by Judge M. F. Moore in November, 1858.  The Northwestern Railroad was built in 1867 and a new town laid out on its line near the geographical center of the county named Carroll, which soon became the county-seat.  The Carroll Herald was started the following year by J. F. H. Sugg.

CASS COUNTY lies in the second tier east of the Missouri River in the third north of the south line of the State and contains sixteen townships, making an area of five hundred seventy-six squares miles.  It was within the limits of Demoine County from 1834 to 1836 and was a part of the old county of Keokuk from 1837 to 1840.  By act of the Legislature of 1851 Cass County was established with its present boundaries.  The first white settlers within its limits were Mormons who stopped there on their exodus from Nauvoo in 1845-6.  They established a station near the west bank of the Nishnabotna River, two and a half miles west of the point where Lewis stands.  It was near the old Indian village of the Pottawattamies and was named Indiantown.  For many years this was the chief trading post on that route from the Mississippi to the Missouri River.

The first permanent settlers in the county were Jeremiah Bradshaw, V. M. Conrad, Peter Hedges, David Chapman, Joseph Everly and J. M. Watson who took claims near Indiantown in 1852.  Here Bradshaw opened the first store in the county and a post-office was established called Cold Springs.  In the summer of 1852 R. D. McGeehon built a log cabin and opened a farm near Turkey Creek.  The first election was held at Uniontown in August, 1852, at which but thirteen votes were polled.  The county officers were chosen in 1853, consisting of Jeremiah Bradshaw, judge; V. M. Conrad, treasurer; C. E. Woodward, clerk; Francis E. Ball, sheriff.  Thomas G. Palmer and Milton Richards were chosen commissioners to locate the county-seat and on the 11th of March, 1853, selected the site where Lewis stands.  This town was laid out on the east side of the Nishnabotna River the next year and became the county-seat.  The first house was built by S. M. Tucker and the first newspaper was established by J. C. Brown in 1861, named the Cass County Gazette.  In 1868 the town of Atlantic was located on the line of the Rock Island Railroad which was built through the northern part of the county in that year.  After a bitter contest the county-seat was removed from Lewis to Atlantic in November, 1869.  Anita and Wiota were located on the line of the Rock Island Railroad.

CEDAR COUNTY was established from territory embraced in the original county of Dubuque and lies in the second tier west of the Mississippi River and in the fifth north of the Missouri boundary line.  It contains sixteen townships, making an area of five hundred and seventy-six square miles, and was named for the Cedar River which flows through the county in a southeasterly direction.

The first white man known to have traveled through this county was Colonel George Davenport who, in 1831, established a trading post on the west side of the Cedar River just above the mouth of Rock Creek.  Poweshiek, a chief of the Fox Indians, had a village in that vicinity where he made his headquarters and here Colonel Davenport, through his agents, carried on a profitable trade with the Fox Indians.  The first claims made in the county were taken by Colonel Davenport, Antoine LeClaire, Major William Gordon and Alexander McGregor.  These men went about twenty-five miles west of Davenport to a fine body of timber which was afterward named "Posten's Grove" and staked out claims embracing all of the timber land.  From there they passed on to Onion Grove and took possession of that timber land by the same process, all for purposes of speculation.  Neglecting to comply with the claim laws, however, by making actual settlement, they were unable to hold these valuable lands.  A few months later David W. Walton of Indiana made a claim on Sugar Creek, a name he gave to the stream owing to the sugar maples growing along its banks.  He built a cabin and early the following spring moved his family to the new home.  They were probably the first permanent settlers in the county.  In May, 1836, Enos Nye of Ohio took a claim on the bank of Cedar River four miles west of Walton's.  In June, 1836, Andrew Crawford and Robert G. Roberts made claims in the central part of the county.  In July of the same year James Posten made a claim in the eastern part of the county in the grove which bears his name.  George McCoy and Stephen Toney settled on the east bank of the Cedar River n 1836 where McCoy established a ferry.  In August McCoy and Toney laid out a town which they named Rochester, for the city of that name in New York.  Benjamin Nye opened the first store and built a mill near the mouth of Rock Creek.  Rev. Martin Baker, a Christian minister, was the pioneer preacher in the county, beginning services in 1836.  Moses B. Church taught the first school in 1837 at the house of Colonel Henry Hardman.

In 1837 Rochester was made the county-seat and there the first election was held in March, 1838, at which the following officers were elected:  Christian Holderman, treasurer; Robert G. Roberts, register, and Richard Ransford, J. M. Oaks and Joseph Wilford, commissioners.  The first court was held in May, 1838, at Rochester, Judge David Irwin presiding.  In 1839 commissioners were chosen by the Legislature to select a location for permanent county-seat.  The site was located near the geographical center of the county and named Tipton for General John Tipton, United States Senator from Indiana.  A town was platted in 1840 by John G. Tolman, the county surveyor, on a claim made in 1836 by William M. Knott, and the first sale of lots took place on the 15th of June.  A fierce contest was waged for several years between Rochester and Tipton for the county-seat which was finally settled by a vote of the people in 1852 in favor of Tipton.

On the 6th of April, 1850, the first newspaper was established in Tipton named the Tipton Times and Cedar County Conservative which was succeeded in 1853 by the Cedar County Advertiser.  In 1855 the Mississippi and Missouri Railroad was built from Davenport through the southern part of the county.  Previous to 1853 the county had voted aid to the Lyons and Iowa Central Railroad Company which proposed to build from Lyons by way of Tipton to Iowa City.  This company caused grading to be done near Tipton and secured bonds of the county for $20,000 to aid the work but never built the road.

CERRO GORDO COUNTY lies in the second tier south of the Minnesota line, in the fifth west of the Mississippi River and is twenty-four miles square embracing twenty-four congressional townships, making an area of five hundred seventy-six square miles.  It was established from the original county of Fayette in 1851 and named for battle-field of the Mexican War.

In July, 1851, Joseph Hewitt and James Dickinson, who were hunting near Clear Lake, were so delighted with the beautiful country bordering it that they built cabins on the south and west shores and, sending for their families, became the first white settlers in the new county.  They were fifty miles from the nearest neighbor and were frequently visited by parties of Winnebago Indians who came to the lake to hunt and trap.  In 1853 David and Edwin Wright made claims about three miles north of where Mason City stands.  In September of the same year Anson C. Owens settled at a grove which bears his name in the eastern part of the county.  James and Robert Serrine took claims at the east end of Clear Lake the same year.  John B. Long and John L. McMillan soon after settled on the ground where Mason City stands.  Clear Lake is a beautiful body of water about six miles long by two miles wide and its greatest depth is about twenty-five feet.  The Shellrock River flows through the northeastern portion of the county.

In 1854 the town of Mason City was laid out and the first store was opened by J. L. McMillan one of the proprietors of the new town site.  The town of Clear Lake was laid out in the fall of 1856 by James Dickinson on the east end of the lake which bears the same name.

Judge Samuel Murdock of the District Court in 1855 appointed commissioners to locate the county-seat.  They selected Mason City.  Most of the early settlers in that town were members of the Masonic order and the settlement was first called "Masonic Grove" but when the town was platted in 1854 was named Mason City, by and for that fraternity.  The first school in the county was taught by Liza Gardner, a daughter of Rowland Gardner who, with most of his family, perished in the Spirit Lake massacre in the spring of 1857.  Eliza was fortunately absent from home at the time and thus escaped the fate of her father's family.

The first newspaper in the county was established at Mason City by Datus E. Coon in 1858, and named the Cerro Gordo Press.  Its proprietor became a prominent officer in the Union army during the Civil War.  The first railroad was completed from McGregor to Clear Lake, through Mason City, in 1870 by the Milwaukee and St. Paul Company.

CHEROKEE COUNTY is in the second tier east of the west boundary of the State and in the third south of the Minnesota line, is twenty-four miles square and contains five hundred seventy-six square miles.  Its territory was at one time divided between Fayette and Dubuque counties but in 1851 it was established with the present boundaries as Cherokee County, being named for a southern tribe of Indians.  It was first attached to Wahkaw County in 1853.

In 1856 a colony from Milford, Massachusetts, selected lands near the center of Cherokee County for a settlement.  There were about fifty members of the association most of whom were mechanics.  The following named members with their families moved onto their lands the same year:  Dr. Dwight Russell, Dr. Slocum, G. W. Lebourvean, B. W. Sawtell, Lysander Sawtell, Albert Simon, Daniel Wheeler, Lemuel Parkhurst, Albert Phipps, Carlton Corbett, J. A. Brown, A. J. Slayton, Robert Hammond and Benjamin Holbrook.  Each member took about a hundred acres of the lands which had been entered.  A large body of timber was taken along the Little Sioux River which was divided among the members of the colony.  Dr. Dwight Russell built the first house, a log cabin in which nine families were sheltered until additional houses could be erected.

During the year 1856 twelve families formed another settlement in the southern part of the county near the Little Sioux River, in the vicinity of Pilot Rock.  This immense rock was in early days a well-known landmark which could be seen at a great distance over the unsettled prairies.  It was a red granite boulder about sixty feet long by forty wide rising above the surface about twenty feet, near the river on the east side of a high point of land.  Many mounds are found in this county north of the town of Cherokee which are believed to be the work of the ancient "mound builders."

The first colony laid out the town of Cherokee on the west side of the Little Sioux River in 1856 and it became the county-seat.  In the spring of 1857 Inkpaduta's band of Sioux Indians on their way to perpetrate the massacre at Okoboji, robbed many of the settlers in Cherokee County and killed many of their cattle.  Later in the season a stockade was erected at Cherokee for protection and a company of soldiers stationed to protect the settlements in that part of the State.

The county was organized in August, 1857, and at the election the following persons were chosen for the first county officials:  A. P. Thayer, judge; B. W. Sawtell, clerk; G. W. Labourvean, treasurer and recorder; S. W. Hayward, sheriff; and Carlton Corbett, prosecuting attorney.  The Iowa Falls and Sioux City Railroad was built through the county in 1870 and in January of that year J. P. Ford issued the first number of the Cherokee Chief.  The railroad was located some distance from the old town and gradually a new town grew up near the station.  One of the Hospitals for the Insane has been recently located at Cherokee.

CHICKASAW COUNTY at one time a part of Fayette, was created by act of the Legislature in 1851, and named for a southern tribe of Indians.  When first established Chickasaw extended three miles further north than its present boundary which was fixed in 1855.  It lies in the third tier west of the Mississippi River and in the second south of Minnesota with an area of five hundred four square miles.

The first settlement within its limits was made in 1848 by Truman Merritt near Greenwood.  In 1852 J. A. Bird and John Bird made claims near the junction of the Little Cedar and the Red Cedar River.  They there built a cabin and during the season several other families took claims near them.  In 1854 James Jared took a claim on the land where New Hampton now stands and before the close of the year settlements were made in other parts of the county in the vicinity of woodland.  Chickasaw was attached to Fayette until 1853 when John Bird was authorized by the judge of Fayette County to organize the county.  The first legal election was held in August at which the following officers were chosen:  James Lyon, judge; S. C. Goddard, clerk; John Campbell, treasurer and recorder; Andrew Sample, sheriff; and N. D. Babcock, prosecuting attorney.  In 1854 the county-seat was located at Bradford, a new town near the southwest corner of the county.  The first term of court was held there in June, 1854, by Judge T. S. Wilson of Dubuque.  New Hampton was laid out near the geographical center of the county and soon became a competitor for the county-seat.  The first attempt at removal was defeated but in 1858 New Hampton was successful.

The first newspaper in the county was established at Jacksonville in 1857 by Isaac Watson and was called the Chickasaw County Republican but after three years it was suspended.  In 1860 W. E. Beach started the Courier at New Hampton.  Nashua is the second town of importance and is located on the Cedar River in the southwestern corner of the county.  The first railroad to enter the county was the Milwaukee and St. Paul which runs through New Hampton.

CLARKE COUNTY lies in the second tier north of the Missouri line, in the seventh west of the Mississippi River and contains twelve congressional townships embracing an area of four hundred thirty-two square miles.  It was originally a part of Demoine County but in January, 1846, the new county was established and named for James Clarke who was then Governor of Iowa Territory.  The boundaries formerly included the east half of Union County but did not then embrace the eastern tier of townships.  In 1849 the boundaries were changed and the county assumed its present form.  In 1846, when the Mormon exodus from Nauvoo took place, John and James Longley and John Conger, with their families, became separated from one of the trains and camped six miles south of where Osceola stands.  Not being able to find the train they decided to remain where they were, open farms and make homes.  The place was long known as "Lost Camp" and became the first settlement in Clarke county.  In the spring they found other families of Mormons who had made homes but a few miles from them and all remained and became prosperous farmers.  In 1850 Robert Jamison, A. Colier, Bernard and James G. Arnold, J. Ellis, John Shearer and William Overton settled in the southern part of the county.  Soon after a colony from Van Buren County came and laid out the town of Hopeville near the west line of the county, settling in that vicinity.

In 1851 the county was organized by the election of the following officers:  John A. Lindsley, judge; Alonzo R. Williams, clerk; G. W. Glenn, treasurer, and Ivison Ellis, sheriff.  The commissioners chosen to locate the county-seat selected a farm entered by George W. Howe, which was purchased for one hundred dollars and the town of Osceola laid out upon it.  George W. Howe built the first house in Osceola in 1851 in which he opened the first store in the county.  At a sale of lots in October eighty-five were sold at an average price of twenty-two dollars each.  The first term of court was held in 1853 by Judge J. S. Townsend.  At the general election in August, 1852, but eighty-one votes were polled.  The first newspaper was established in 1858 by G. S. Pike and T. R. Oldham and named the Osceola Courier.  The Burlington and Missouri Railroad was built through the county and through the town of Osceola, and completed to the Missouri River in 1868.

CLAY COUNTY is in the second tier south of the Minnesota line, in the third east of the western boundary of the State and contains sixteen congressional townships embracing an area of five hundred seventy-six square miles.  It was created in 1851 and named for Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Clay, Jr., who was killed at the Battle of Buena Vista in the Mexican War.  In January, 1853, Clay County was attached to Wahkaw for judicial and election purposes.

In July, 1856, the first white settlers came and took claims in the woods on the south side of the Little Sioux River in the southwest corner of the county.  They were Christian Kirchner and Andrew S. Mead with their families and John J. Bicknell.  They built cabins and broke up prairie for farms.  In the fall Ezra Wilcox, James Bicknell and two brothers named Gillett brought their families and settled in the same vicinity.  A town was laid out on the river bluff and named Peterson which became the first county-seat.  In the spring of 1857 Inkpaduta's band of Sioux Indians stopped in this settlement, robbed the people, killed or drove off about fifty head of cattle and fourteen horses belonging to Kirchner, Mead and Gillett, shot their hogs and destroyed much other property.  The settlers were so few in number that they were unable to defend their homes and possessions.  A deep show covered the ground, the cold was intense and the few isolated settlers had all they could do to defend their families from the savages.

The county was organized in October, 1858, by the election of the following officers:  C. C. Smeltzer, judge; S. M. Foreman, treasurer, and E. M. Wilcox, clerk.  John A. Kirchner built a dam across the river and erected the first saw and grist mill in that part of the State.  The public business was recklessly managed for many years, fastening a heavy indebtedness upon the county which brought it into bad repute and retarded settlement.  The officials who were responsible for these disreputable transactions were, as the county settled up, dislodged from the control of the county business and the large bonded indebtedness was declared illegal by the courts.  In 1859 George E. Spencer of Jasper County made a claim on the west side of the Little Sioux River near the geographical center of the county, laid out a town giving it his own name.*  In 1869 the town of Spencer was established on the east side of the river where a flourishing town grew up which became the county-seat.  In 1878 the Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad was built through the county from east to west through the town of Spencer.  The first newspaper was the Clay County News which was established at Spencer in January, 1871.

*George E. Spencer became a distinguished officer in the Civil War, and after peace was established settled in Alabama, where he was elected to the United States Senate.

CLAYTON COUNTY is the first west of the Mississippi River in the second tier south of Minnesota and contains twenty-four townships making an area of seven hundred ninety-two square miles.  It was first created in December, 1837, and then contained a portion of the present county of Allamakee.  The county was named for John M Clayton a United States Senator from Delaware.

The first settlement (after the Spanish grant to Basil Giard in 1795) was made by Robert Hetfield, William D. Grant and William W. Wyman and families in the spring of 1832.  They made claims on the north side of the Turkey River about four miles from its mouth.  In 1836 other settlers came, among whom was Dr. Frederick Andros, who took a claim about a mile southeast of where Granavillo stands.  John W. Gillett and a Mr. Loomis took claims in the same vicinity and opened farms.  The same year Elisha Boardman settled upon the land where Elkader has been built.  Prairie La Porte was laid out in 1837 and in 1847 the name was changed to Guttenburg.  It was the first county-seat where the first term of court was held in a log cabin occupied by Herman Graybill and family.  It convened in May, 1838, and was presided over by Judge Charles Dunn.  At this time a portion of Minnesota was embraced in Wisconsin Territory and in the county of Clayton.

The county was fully organized in the fall of 1838.  In 1843 the county-seat was removed to the new town of Jacksonville and in 1846 the name was changed to Garnavillo.  In 1847 the town of Elkader was platted by Thompson, Davis and Sage who built a mill on the Turkey River at that place.  The first houses were built by Elisha Boardman and H. D. Bronson in 1836 on the land where the new town was located.  Elkader first became the county-seat in 1856, lost it for a time but permanently regained it in 1860.  In 1855 Elias H. Williams was elected first county judge.

The first newspaper published between Dubuque and St. Paul on the west side of the Mississippi River was the Clayton County Herald.  It was established in January, 1853, by H. S. Granger at Garnavillo and two years later sold to A. W. Dripps who changed the name to the Journal.  Dripps was Captain of Company A, in the ninth Iowa Infantry in the Civil War and was killed at the Battle of Pea Ridge.

McGregor, the largest town in the county, was laid out in 1847 by Alexander McGregor.  In 1836 he established a ferry across the Mississippi River at this place opposite the old French town of Prairie du Chien.  Soon after he made a claim where the town of McGregor stands and built a log cabin at the foot of Main street.  In 1847 he moved his family into it and a store and public house were soon opened.  For many years the village which grew up was called McGregor's Landing.  The ravine where the town was located was named by the early French traders "Coolie de Sioux."  The bluffs here rise to the height of nearly four hundred feet and overlook the mouth of the Wisconsin River and the adjacent country for a great distance.

The first newspaper in McGregor was established by Colonel A. P. Richardson in October, 1856.  The first railroad constructed in the county was the McGregor Western which was built west in 1857.  This company secured a large land grant but failing to comply with the requirements the lands were given to the Milwaukee and St. Paul Company which completed the road west to Sheldon in 1878.

CLINTON COUNTY was created in December, 1837, from territory embraced in the original county of Dubuque.  It was named for De Witt Clinton the illustrious Governor of New York, contains an area of seven hundred twenty square miles and lies on the Mississippi River in the fifth tier south of the Minnesota line extending farther eastward than any other county in the State.  The city of Clinton lies farther east by more than sixty miles than Keokuk, both on the Mississippi River.  Clinton and Jackson are the most easterly counties in the great bend of the Mississippi River forming the east boundary of Iowa.  The Wapsipinicon River enters the county from the northwest and forms a large portion of the boundary line separating Clinton from Scott County.

In July, 1835, Elisha Buel crossed the Mississippi and made a claim where Lyons was laid out.  In 1836 James D. Bourne who was an agent of the American Fur Company established a post and made a claim on the Wapsipinicon, becoming a permanent citizen.  He was the first postmaster in the county and kept the office named Monroe which was on the mail route from Davenport to Dubuque.  He also kept a ferry across the Wapsipinicon at that place.  During the year 1836 Dr. George Peck made a claim on the banks of the Mississippi and laid out the town of Camanche, named for an Indian tribe.  Joseph M. Bartlett made a claim two miles below Buel's the same year and built a log cabin.  He opened a store and laid out a town where Clinton stands, which he named New York.  In 1837 Mr. Buel, G. W. Harlan and Suel Foster laid out the town of Lyons.  Eli Goddard, D. C. Bourne, W. D. Follett and others settled in various parts of the county during the following year.

In February, 1838, the county-seat was established by a vote of the people at Camanche.  The county was fully organized in 1840 and the first election was held April 6th in the house of Lyman Evans at Camanche.  In 1841 three commissioners were chosen by the Legislature to relocate the county-seat.  They selected a place twenty miles west of the Mississippi and gave it the name of Vandenburg.  A log court-house and hotel were built and the court-house was used for school and church purposes.  J. Wood was the first school teacher in the county.  The name of the town was soon changed to De Witt and the county-seat remained there about thirty-five years, when it was removed to Clinton.

Clinton was laid out on the old site of New York in 1855 by the Iowa Land Company.  The Chicago, Iowa and Nebraska Railroad Company was organized in 1856 to build a railroad from Clinton to the Missouri River.  The road was pushed with energy and was the first to cross the State, reaching Council Bluffs in the fall of 1867.

The first newspaper in the county was established at Camanche in 1854 by Bates and Kanapp and named the Camanche Chief.  In June, 1860, Camanche was destroyed by the great tornado which swept through central Iowa that year.  A railroad bridge was built across the Mississippi at Clinton and in the course of years Lyons and Clinton grew together and became one city.

COOK COUNTY was established from territory originally embraced in Demoine County, on the 7th of December, 1836.  It included a portion of Scott County and other territory not clearly defined.  The county was never organized and the following year the territory was divided among other counties created by act of the Legislature of December 21, 1837.  The origin of the name given it is not known.

CRAWFORD COUNTY lies in the second tier east of the Missouri River and in the fifth south of the Minnesota line.  It has twenty-four townships containing an area of seven hundred twenty square miles and was named for William H. Crawford who was Secretary of the Treasury from 1817 to 1825 and a candidate for President in 1824.  The county was created in 1851 from territory originally embraced in Benton but at that time did not include the four western townships.  In 1853 it was attached to Shelby County and in 1855 was organized at the April election by choice of the following officers:  E. W. Fowler, judge; Thomas Dobson, clerk; A. R. Hunt, treasurer; D. J. Fowler, sheriff; and Cyrus Whitmore, prosecuting attorney.  The present boundaries were established in 1865.

The first settlers were Franklin Prentiss, Cornelius Dunham and their families, who with Reuben Blake took claims on the East Boyer River in a grove about six miles east of where Denison stands, in the year 1849.  The place was long known as Dunham Grove.  Jesse Mason, George J. and Noah V. Johnson settled the next year at Mason's Grove on the West  Boyer.  J. W. Denison came to the county in 1855 and entered a large tract of land for the Providence Western Land Company.  In 1856 he laid out the town of Denison, and with others began the erection of houses.

The first school-house was built at Mason's Grove in 1856 in which Morris McHenry taught the first school in the county.  The Methodists organized the first church at Mason's Grove in October, 1856, through the efforts of Rev. William Black who was a pioneer preacher in that part of the State.  S. J. Comfort was the first lawyer in the county in 1867, following down the Boyer valley to Council Bluffs.

CROCKER COUNTY was created by act of the Legislature of 1870, embracing the northern part of Kossuth County which had at one time made the county of Bancroft.  It was named for General M. M. Crocker of Iowa, a distinguished officer of the Civil War.  The county-seat was located at Greenwood and the organization was completed in October, 1870, by the election of the following officers:  George V. Davis, auditor; Cyrus Hawks, clerk; William Gibbon, treasurer; A. J. Garfield, recorder; J. H. Coffin, sheriff; Sarah A. Littlefield, superintendent of schools.

In December, 1871, the Supreme Court of Iowa declared the act creating this county a violation of the Constitution, which in article eleven declares that no new county shall be created which contains less than four hundred thirty-two square miles.  Crocker County thus ceased to exist from and after the rendition of that decision and its territory reverted to Kossuth.

DALLAS COUNTY lies in the fourth tier north of the Missouri State line, in the fifth east of the Missouri River and was formerly included in the county of Keokuk.  On the 17th of January, 1846, the county was created and named for George M. Dallas, then Vice-President of the United States.  It contains sixteen congressional townships with an area of five hundred eighty-eight square miles.  The Indians continued to occupy the county until the beginning of the year 1846 and soon after it was opened to settlement by whites.

On the 12th of March, 1846, Samuel Miller took a claim in the central part of the county near the Raccoon River and built a cabin.  Soon after Wilson Miller, John Wright, Levi A. Davis and others made claims in the fine groves in that vicinity.  During the year many settlers came to different parts of the county and opened farms.  Samuel Miller built the first mill in that region which was run by horse power.

The county was organized in February, 1847, and commissioners chosen to locate the county-seat.  They selected a site in May, a town was laid out and named Panouoch, a word of Indian origin.  The claim upon which the town was platted had been taken in 1846 by Elijah T. Miller of which he conveyed a part to the county.  S. K. Scovell, the clerk of the county, built the first house for an office and Benjamin Green opened the first store.  The first term of court was held by Judge Carlton in September, 1847.  In 1849 the name of the town was changed to Adel.  The first newspaper was established in 1856 by Rippey and Reed and named the Ship of State.  The Des Moines Valley Railroad was constructed through the county from the southeast during 1869-70 and several towns were laid out on its line.  Among them were Dallas Center and Perry, the latter the largest town in the county.  Redfield, laid out on the Raccoon River, was established by Colonel James Redfield who was killed in the Civil War.

Upon the organization of Dallas County the following offices were chosen:  Samuel Miller, clerk; L. A. Davis, recorder and treasurer; J. K. Miller, sheriff, and W. W. Miller, surveyor.

DAVIS COUNTY is in the third tier west of the Mississippi River on the south line of the State and embraces an area of five hundred three square miles, as the southern tier of townships is divided by the State line.  It was formerly included in the original county of Demoine and afterwards in Van Buren but was created with its present boundaries in 1844 and named for Garret Davis a Kentucky statesman.

As early as 1837 hunters and trappers built cabins in the southern part of the county long before the Sac and Fox Indians had been removed.  In 1837 James H. Jordon established a trading post among these Indians on the banks of the Des Moines River in the northeast corner of the county,  Van Caldwell and others located near him in 1839-40.  In 1842 a post-office was established in the county on the extreme western limits of the Black Hawk Purchase, at a point called Fox, with S. A. Evans as postmaster.

The county was organized in 1844 by the election of the following officers:  S. W. McAtee, W. D. Evans and Abraham Weaver, commissioners; Calvin Taylor, treasurer; Israel Kister, recorder; F. C. Humble, sheriff, and Franklin Street, clerk.  The county-seat was located at Bloomfield and the first term of court was held in September, 1844, with Judge Charles Mason presiding.  James H. Cowles had, in 1846, entered the land upon which Bloom field was located and conveyed it to the commissioners who had there established the county-seat.  The town was platted the same summer and a post-office secured.  The first merchant in the new town was John Lucas who had taken a claim adjoining it in 1844, upon which he had built a log cabin occupied by his family and used also for his store.  Hosea B. Horn built the first frame house in Bloomfield in 1849.  In 1854 the first newspaper was started by George Johnson named the Western Gazette.

DECATUR COUNTY lies on the south line of the State and in the fifth tier east of the Missouri River.  It embraces an area of five hundred thirty-four square miles, was taken from the original county of Demoine and in January, 1846, established with present boundaries.  The county was named for Commodore Stephen Decatur a distinguished naval officer in the War of 1812.

The first settlers were William Hamilton, Reuben and James Hatfield, Alfred Stanley, John McDaniel, John E. Logan and Allen Scott who came from 1838 to 1840, supposing they were settling in Missouri.  A number of them brought slaves which were held by them until it was decided that they could not hold them as such in Iowa.

The county was organized on the 1st of April, 1850, by the election of the following officers:  Josiah Morgan, William Hamilton and Asa Burrill, commissioners; Henry B. Norton, clerk; J. J. Stanley, sheriff.  On the 21st of July, 1851, the county-seat was located by commissioners chosen for that purpose at a place which was named Decatur.  W. Westcoat was employed to survey and plat the town and a sale of lots was held in August, 1851.  A log court-house was built in October.  The first session of court was held in the log cabin of Daniel Moat in May, 1851, at which Judge McKay presided.  In 1853 the county-seat was ordered by vote of the people to a more central location, where a town was laid out and named Independence.  A new court-house was built of brick; and, by act of the Legislature in 1854, the name of the new county-seat was changed to Leon.  A claim had been made by Thomas East and a log cabin built on the ground where Leon stands before it was chosen for the county-seat.  The next house was built by Judge S. C. Thompson soon after the town was platted.  I. N. Clark opened the first store in September, 1853.  The first newspaper in the county was the Leon Pioneer, established in 1855 by P. H. and George Binkley.

DELAWARE COUNTY is the second west of the Mississippi River in the third tier south of the Minnesota line and contains sixteen townships embracing an area of five hundred seventy-six squares miles.  It was named for the State of Delaware and was created on the 21st of December, 1837, and at that time attached to Dubuque.

In the summer of 1836, William Bennett, the first settler, made a claim in a grove in the limits of the county and built a log cabin. The place was afterwards known as Eagle Grove.  The next summer two brothers named Livingston, Hugh Rose and others, all Scotch, moved from the Red River country and settled in Delaware County at a place which became known as Scotch Grove.  Early in 1838 Joel Bailey and John Keeler settled on the banks of the Maquoketa River and opened farms.  The place took the name of Bailey's Ford.  The county was organized in August, 1841, by the election of the following officers:  W. H. Whiteside, Daniel Brown and William Eads, county commissioners, and Le Roy Jackson, sheriff.  The county-seat was located at this election and a town laid out by Joel Bailey on the ground chosen on the 5th of April, 1842, which was named Delhi.  The following summer Charles H. Hobbs built a log cabin on the town site and for two years he and his family were the only inhabitants of Delhi.  A post-office was established and Mrs. Hobbs was the postmistress, keeping the office at her home.  In the spring of 1845 John W. Clark, A. K. Eaton, William Phillips, Thomas Norris and Joseph Mitchell came with their families to Delhi.  In 1844 the citizens assembled from the various settlements, cut trees, hewed and drew the logs to a high point overlooking Silver Lake and built a court-house eighteen by twenty-four feet in size and two stories high.  The first term of court had been held before the court-house was built in September, 1844, at which Judge T. S. Wilson presided.  Miss Roxy Brown taught the first school in the court-house in the summer of 1846.  The first settlement in the vicinity of Manchester was made in 1850 by a Norwegian who built a cabin and opened a farm.  In 1855 the claim was purchased by Allan Love who in company with O. P. Reeves and L. Burrington projected a town.  In 1856 it was sold to the Iowa Land Company which resurveyed and platted the town of Manchester.  In 1850 the town of Hopkinton was laid out by William Nicholson, on ground which he had taken in 1838.  Lenox College was established here in the same year by the Presbyterians.  In 1853 the first newspaper was established in the county by Datus E. Coon and named the Delhi Argus.  When the Dubuque and Sioux City Railroad was extended through the county it ran three miles north of Delhi, which was a fatal blow, as Manchester secured the railroad and eventually the county-seat.

DES MOINES COUNTY as first established in 1834 embraced nearly one-half of the territory of the future State of Iowa.  But in December, 1836, the counties of Lee, Van Buren, Henry, Louisa, Muscatine and Cook were created from territory within its limits.  It was named for the Des Moines River and in January, 1838, was reduced to nearly its present boundaries, lying on the Mississippi River in the second tier north of the Missouri State line.  It has an area of but four hundred thirteen square miles.  An account of the early settlements of Burlington and this county will be found elsewhere.

DICKINSON COUNTY lies along the Minnesota line in the third tier east of the western boundary of the State.  It is one of the smallest of counties containing but four hundred five square miles, was originally a part of Fayette but in 1851 was created with its present boundaries and first attached to Polk.  The county was named for Daniel S. Dickinson, a distinguished New York statesman and contains several of the most beautiful lakes in the west, among which are East and West Okoboji, Spirit Lake, Silver Lake and Swan Lake.  It is estimated that the lakes in the county cover an area of about fifty square miles.  A history of the first settlements and their extermination by the Sioux Indians is given in another place.

In the year 1857, after the massacre, other settlers came to the county and made homes about the lakes.  Among them were R. A. Smith, Dr. J. S. Prescott, B. F. Parmenter, R. U. Wheelock, O. C. Howe, Henry Barkman, Morris Markham and George E. Spencer.  In 1857 a town was laid out on the peninsula, formed by Spirit Lake and East Okoboji, by George E. Spencer, O. C. Howe and B. F. Parmenter and named Spirit Lake; this became the county-seat.  The first officers of the county were elected in 1857, as follows:  Judge, O. C. Howe; recorder and treasurer, M. A. Blanchard; clerk of District Court, R. A. Smith; sheriff, C. F. Hill; prosecuting attorney, B. F. Parmenter.  In August, 1870, Orson Rice established the Spirit Lake Beacon, the first newspaper in the county, at the county-seat.  The editor was A. W. Osborne and the paper was printed the first year at the office of the Northern Vindicator, at Esterville in Emmet County.

The beauty of the lakes and groves of Dickinson County annually attracts thousands of tourists from a distance during the summer.  Hotels, cottages, scores of boats of all classes and other accommodations have made Okoboji and Spirit Lake most delightful summer resorts.

DUBUQUE COUNTY as originally established in 1834 embraced more than half of the future State of Iowa but was reduced to its present limits in 1837.  It lies on the Mississippi River in the third tier south of the Minnesota line and embraces an area of six hundred one square miles.  The county was named for Julien Dubuque, the first white man who made his home within the limits of Iowa.  The first election was held in October, 1836, in which the citizens voted for delegate in Congress and members of the Territorial Legislature of Michigan.  John King was the first county judge after Iowa Territory was created.  Further particulars of the early settlements of the county have been given elsewhere.