Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 3.djvu/487

 gave it the name of “Mahaska.”  The county purchased the farm upon which the town was platted by David Stump, the county surveyor. At the suggestion of M. T. Williams the commissioners changed the name of the new county-seat to Oskaloosa.

In June, 1843, a town had been laid out by William James on “Six Mile Prairie” which he named Harrisburg. George W. Jones afterwards purchased the ground and changed the name to Auburn. John W. Jones, his brother, who became State Treasurer, lived in the town and owned an interest in the plat. A strong effort was made by the proprietors to secure the county-seat.

The first mill in the county was built on Muchekinock Creek by Joseph H. and John K. Bennett in 1843. Miss Semira Hobbs taught the first school in 1844; and a church was organized the same year by the Methodists at Six Mile Prairie. The Oskaloosa Herald was established in July, 1850, by W. H. Needham and Hugh McNeeley. The Des Moines Valley Railroad was the first built into the county. MARION COUNTY was created in June, 1845, from territory embraced in the original county of Demoine. It lies in the fifth tier west of the Mississippi River and in the third north of Missouri, is twenty-four miles square and contains five hundred seventy-six square miles. The county was named for General Francis Marion of the Revolutionary War. The Des Moines River and its tributaries flow through the county in a southeasterly direction; the water courses are usually bordered with forests and the county has large deposits of coal.

The first white settlers were Indian traders who, as early as 1841, established trading posts at several points. William Phelps was the first who opened a trading house near the eastern border. John Jordon, Gaddis, Nye, Turner and Shaw established posts near Red Rock. The county was opened to white settlers May 1, 1843, when