Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 3.djvu/432

 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