ity. In the fall Silvers sold his claim to Mr. Seigler whose wife was the first woman in the county. In 1837 a company composed of James and Edwin Manning, James Hall, John J. Fairman and others purchased the Seigler land and laid out a town which was named Keosauqua, the Indian name for the Des Moines River.
Farmington had been previously laid out and was the first county-seat where Judge David Irwin held the first court in April, 1837. Many towns were platted in the early days and the rivalry for the county-seat was very sharp. An act of the Legislature of 1839 located it at Rochester but the Governor vetoed the act. Commissioners chosen the same year by the Legislature located the county-seat at Keosauqua.
Another town was laid out in 1839 by R. King just below Keosauqua which was named Des Moines City. A dam was built across the river at this place and a flouring-mill erected. In the fall of that year a small steamer, the S. B. Science, ascended the Des Moines River to this dam. It was loaded with Indian goods, provisions and whisky and was under the command of Captain Clark. In the summer of 1843 a weekly newspaper was established at Keosauqua named the Iowa Democrat; its proprietors were Jesse M. Shepherd and John T. Mitchell. One of the first railroads built in the State was the old Des Moines Valley which was projected by citizens of Keokuk to follow up the valley of the Des Moines River from that city to the Minnesota line. This was the first railroad in Van Buren County.
WAHKAW COUNTY was created in 1851 by act of the Legislature from territory originally embraced in Benton when that county extended to the Missouri River. The bill which created this county when reported to the Senate gave the name of “Floyd” in memory of Sergeant Floyd of the Lewis and Clark expedition who died in camp in 1804 and was buried on the east side of the Missouri
