History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century/3/Counties/Harrison
HARRISON COUNTY was created in 1851, lying on the Missouri River in the fourth tier north of the Missouri State line. It contains an area of six hundred ninety-five miles and was name for General William H. Harrison, ninth President of the United States. The valley of the Missouri River on its western border spreads out in level bottom land to the width of from four to ten miles and is of unsurpassed fertility. The Boyer River runs through the county in a southwesterly direction and the Little Sioux crosses its northwest corner. On the 3d of April, 1848, Daniel Brown took a claim on Willow Creek in a grove near where the village of Calhoun stands. He was robbed by the Indians who plundered his cabin and drove away his horses and cattle. Among the earliest settlers were Silas Condit, two brothers named Chase, James Hardy, Charles Lepenta, Dr. Robert McGovern, Andrew Allen and Jacob Pattee. For several years the early settlers were annoyed by wandering bands of Indians who came through that region on hunting expeditions.
The county was organized in 1853 by the election of the following officers: Stephen King, judge; P. G. Cooper, treasurer; Chester Hamilton, sheriff; William Cooper, clerk, and John Thomson, school fund commissioner. In March, 1853, the county-seat was located by commissioners near the geographical center of the county where a town 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.