line of the Northwestern, several miles west of the old town of that name.
Gilmore is a town on the line of the Des Moines and Fort Dodge Railroad which was platted by L. C. Thornton for a land company in 1884.
POLK COUNTY was established from the territory of the original county of Keokuk in January, 1846, and named for President James K. Polk. When first created it embraced a part of Jasper and Dallas but in 1853 the boundaries were fixed as they now are. It lies in the sixth tier east of the Missouri River and in the fourth north of Missouri. The Des Moines River flows through it from north to south and the Raccoon entering from the west unites with the Des Moines.
An account of its earliest settlements and the establishment of Fort Des Moines will be found elsewhere. Thomas Mitchell settled at Apple Grove in April, 1844, and in 1845 John Saylor located in a grove on the east side of the Des Moines River about six miles north of the fort. In 1846 Eli Trullinger settled in Franklin township at a grove which bears his name. Walker Corey and John Fisher with their families located in Elkhart township in 1846 near Corey’s Grove; Riley Thornton settled in Delaware township, the same year, on Little Four Mile Creek and George Bebee located in Madison township. James N. Stewart settled in Camp and James Smith in Douglass township in 1847. Dr. T. K. Brooks, in 1845, bought a claim on the east side of the Des Moines River and was the first postmaster of Fort Des Moines. A town was laid out on the east side and named Brooklyn which aspired to become the county-seat but failing disappeared from the map. James C. Jordon took a claim several miles west of the fort in 1846 on a creek which flows into the Raccoon River.
The first election in the county was held April 2, 1846, at which the following officers were chosen: John Saylor,
