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"The first settlement was made by Otho Williams, who
came from Michigan in the autumn of 1854, with his family, and took
up a claim in the timber near Grant City, in the southeastern part
of the county. He and his family were the first white inhabitants of
Sac county, but during the two succeeding years quite a number of
settlers made their homes either in the same neighborhood or in the
vicinity of Sac City, and Otho Williams, at the end of about two
years, complained that 'folds are gittin' to
thick 'round yer,' and he and his family 'folded their tent like the
Arab, and silently stole away.' In other words, they sold their
claim and disappeared in the direction of the setting sun. No one
knows where they went. If they still live and preserve their
aversion to near neighbors, they must be somewhere in the Rocky
Mountain region. In the spring of 1855, Leonard Austin, F. M. Cory,
Wm. Wine and David Metcalf, with their families, W. M. Montgomery,
with his mother and sister, and S.W. Wagoner and Henry A. Evans,
single men, took up claims in the county. On the 5th of August
Eugene Criss and family arrived in the county, and located near Sac
City. A few days later William H. Hobbs located in the same
neighborhood. During the fall the population of Sac County was
augmented by the arrival and settlement of John Condron, Joseph
Lane, Joseph Williams and S. L. Watt, with their respective families.
This, so far as we can learn, is a complete list of the population
of the county up to the close of 1855.
"In the spring of 1858, the settlers in
congressional townships 87, 88 and 89, in range 36, now forming the
townships of Wall Lake, Jackson and Delaware, thought that there was
good reason to fear that all vacant land in those townships would be
bid in by speculators at the annual land sale at Sioux City, thus
preventing its immediate settlement. Nearly all the settlers, though
not ready at that time to buy, wanted some of this land for their
own use. They therefore met together and arranged matters, and when
the day of sale came, the room in which the sale was held was packed
full of settlers, and no others could make their way in. No bids
were made, and the land was kept open for preemption.
"The first mill in, the county was built
by Wm. Lane, on the Coon river, near Grant City, late in the fall of
1856. That winter was so very severe that it has ever since been
known as the 'hard winter,' but nevertheless, com was hauled to the
mill from Sac City and vicinity on hand-sleds. Many families ground
their own corn in coffee mills. Provisions, flour, etc., were
generally brought from Des Moines.
"In 1856, Sac County, which had previously
been attached to Greene County for all administrative purposes, was
granted a separate jurisdiction. S. L. Watt was the first County
Judge, and the County Judge of those days was an autocrat,
performing the functions of the present Board of Supervisors and
County Auditor, and also, in part, those of the Judge of the Circuit
Court. H. C. Crawford was first County Clerk, and F. M. Cory was
first Treasurer and Recorder." |
