Calliope. It was in the southern part of the county and became the first county-seat, remaining such until 1872. There the first school was taught in 1867. A newspaper was established at Calliope by John R. Curry named the Sioux County Herald. In 1869 Henry Hospers and others from Pella visited the county and made arrangements to establish a colony of Hollanders. Five hundred sixty-two preëmptions were filed on Government lands in the vicinity of the Floyd River in the southeastern part of the county and in the spring of 1870 forty families from Pella settled upon them. During the summer Henry Hospers laid out the town of Orange City, which, in 1872, became the county-seat and the Sioux County Herald was moved to that place.
SLAUGHTER COUNTY was created in January, 1838, and embraced a portion of the territory now included in the counties of Louisa, Muscatine and Henry. It was named for William B. Slaughter, Secretary of the Territory of Wisconsin. The county-seat was located at Astoria where the first courts were held in 1837 by Judges Irwin and Williams. The citizens of the county were dissatisfied with the name which had been secured through the manipulations of the obscure official whose name it bore and, upon petition, the Legislature relieved them by changing the boundaries of the county and naming it Washington.
STORY COUNTY was created in January, 1846, and named for Chief Justice Joseph Story of the United States Supreme Court. It lies near the geographical center of the State, being in the fifth tier both from the north and south and in the sixth from both the east and west boundaries. It contains an area of five hundred seventy-six square miles. The Skunk River and several tributaries flow through it in a southeasterly direction, the shores of which are bordered with native woods.
