Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 3.djvu/455

 was laid out and named Magnolia. The first term court was held in May, 1855, by Judge S. H. Riddle in a log house. A newspaper was established in 1858 by Isaac Parish at the town of Calhoun, named the Harrison County Flag; it was the first in the county. The Northwestern Railroad was constructed through the county following down the Boyer valley and in a southwesterly direction reaching Council Bluffs in 1868. Dunlap and Logan are towns on this line of road which were laid out in 1867. Missouri Valley is at the junction of the Sioux City and Pacific Railroad with the Northwestern and was laid out in 1867. Many of the earliest settlers in the county were Mormons who crossed the State in 1846-7 and remained when their brethren continued their journey from Kanesville to Salt Lake. HENRY COUNTY as first established in December, 1836, from the original county of Demoine, embraced portions of the present counties of Lee, Des Moines, Van Buren, Jefferson and Washington. On the 21st of January, 1839, it was established with present boundaries. It lies in the second tier west of the Mississippi River and also in the second north of the Missouri State line, contains an area of four hundred thirty-three square miles and was named for Governor Henry Dodge of Wisconsin Territory. The Skunk River runs through the county in southwesterly direction.

In the spring of 1834 James Dawson made a claim west of Mt. Pleasant. In the fall of the same year Presley Saunders of Springfield, Illinois, made a claim where Mr. Pleasant is located and the following year made the first plat of the town. In 1837 the Legislature of Wisconsin Territory located the county-seat at Mt. Pleasant. A post-office had been opened the year previous. Among the earliest settlers were Joseph Moore, A. C. Dover, John Wilford, Aaron Street, Jesse Hancock, Rev. W. M. Mortow, Rev. Samuel Hutton and Presley Saunders.