claims near the Iowa River in the vicinity of Belmont. In July of the same year William Gray, H. Luic and A. Overacker settled near the Iowa River in the northeast corner of the county. C. H. Martin located on the Boone River in the northwest corner in 1855.
The first meeting to organize the county was held at the cabin of S. B. Hewett in Eagle Grove in the spring of 1854. At an election held in August the following officers were chosen: David Dean, judge; C. H. Martin, clerk; Anson Brassfield, recorder and treasurer; S. Crapper, sheriff; S. B. Hewett, Jr., surveyor, and N. B. Paine, prosecuting attorney. In 1856 John Melrose built and opened the first store in the county at Liberty which was the first county-seat. A town was laid out on the Iowa River in the summer of 1856 by A. Dumont, J. Elder and E. Rogers and was first named Crown Point, afterwards changed to Belmont. A dam was constructed across the Iowa River where a saw and grist-mill was built by Dr. L. H. Cutler, who also built the first house in the new town.
Several small lakes are found in the county the largest of which is Wall Lake, in the township of that name. In early days a wall of boulders was found along its shores, crowded there by the floating ice driven by the winds for thousands of years and from this wall the lake derived its name. When the first settlers arrived a large elm tree stood upon the southeast shore of a beautiful little lake lying near the geographical center of the county. It was given the name of Elm Lake. Cornelia Lake was named for the daughter of E. K. Eastman, one of the early settlers. Twin Lakes lie about four miles north of Cornelia. The first settler at Wall Lake was E. P. Purcell who built a cabin on its northern shore in 1856. Here he lived with his family for five years before the arrival of other settlers.
The first newspaper in the county was established by George D. Ingersoll at Liberty in 1861. It was named
