Smart who, in 1834, established a trading post neat the mouth of Crooked Creek. In February, 1836, John Black and Adam Ritchey with two brothers and several neighbors took claims in the southern part of the county near the Henry County line. Here they built cabins and opened farms and during the following year Isaac Pence and family, Milo Holcomb and John B. Bullock took claims near them. In the fall of 1836 Richard Moore and others settled in Washington township about three miles from where the county-seat was established. Immigration increased rapidly from this time and in 1838 the county had a large number of permanent settlers. In 1837, when the county was called Slaughter, a town had been laid out in the present township of Oregon named Astoria, which became the county-seat and here a log court-house was built.
In 1839 commissioners appointed to select a site for the permanent county-seat located it at Washington. In December of the same year Joseph Adams built the first house, a double log cabin one part for a residence and the other for a blacksmith shop. The second house was built by Daniel Powers for a hotel with two rooms on the ground and a loft above. The store was opened in May, 1840, by John Daugherty. Rev. J. L. Kirkpatrick, a Methodist minister, organized a religious society in October, 1839. Thomas Baker was the first postmaster and Dr. George H. Stone the first physician at the county-seat.
A mill had been built on Crooked Creek as early as 1837 by Milo Holcomb and John B. Bullock. The first post-office in the county was Pottsville, of which David Goble was postmaster; it was supplied with mail semimonthly by M. Higbee who carried it on foot from Wapello in Louisa County. On the 17th of June, 1839, Judge Williams held the first court at the new county-seat.
About the year 1844 a newspaper was established at Washington by Lewis F. Walden and J. F. Rice called the Washington Argus and was Democratic in politics.
