Lucas County had not yet been organized when the following description of it was published in the Iowa Ledger, at Fairfield, on Dec. 3, 1847. This was a year and nine months before the village of Chariton would be located, named and designated the county seat.
John and Hannah Ballard and their family, the county's first permanent settlers, had settled in for the winter out in English Township and William McDermott had staked his claim in Cedar. At Chariton Point, the Mormon pioneers who had overwintered there in 1846-1847 had moved on and young Thomas Brandon, who had acquired their claim, planned to stop there for the winter.
But permanent settlers were few and far between.
From Lucas County, the author of this brief piece apparently had headed on to Garden Grove, settled during the spring of 1946 by the pioneer party of Saints headed west from Nauvoo and maintained for some years as a resting place along the pioneer trail.
As a bonus, I've added an 1845 Iowa map from the Library of Congress collection. Note that Monroe County, established in 1843 and Lucas County's neighbor to the east, still was known as Kishkekosh, its original name --- given in honor of a respected leader of the Meskwaki or Sauk, and the record is a little vague on exactly which tribe he was a member of. The shift to "Monroe" was made during 1846.
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To a gentleman who has recently returned from an excursion into southwestern Iowa, we are indebted for the following information concerning a part of that valuable section of the State. Lucas county is immediately west of Monroe, and is about 16 miles southwest of the Des Moines river. The Chariton river, a tributary of the Missouri, flows in an eastward direction along the southern boundary of the county. Whitebreast, a fine stream, maintains a general northeast course, passing diagonally through the county, and empties into the Des Moines in Marion county.
On both of these streams, but especially on the latter, there are dense borders of good timber. The prairie lying between Chariton and Whitebreast is not much more than a mile in width. The northern part of Lucas county is chiefly prairie.
The geographical centre is in the timber on Whitebreast. The general surface of the county is gently rolling, and on Whitebreast, broken and uneven. The soil is excellent. Upon the whole, Lucas county may be set down as a good agricultural district. Some few settlers have migrated thither this fall.
At a place called Garden Grove, on the waters of Grand river, in Decatur county 57 miles south of Fort Des Moines, about thirty Mormon families have been living since the spring of 1846. They have 800 acres of prairie broken, and Garden Grover embraces several sections of timbered land.
Dr. Roberts, late of Quincy, Illinois, now living at the Grove, has purchased the Mormon claim to the improvements and the timber land attached. It is the intention of the Mormons there, and at some other "camps," further northwest, to go to Council Bluffs early in the spring for the purpose of accompanying their brethren there, to California.
A Salt Spring, and a section of land adjoining the Garden Grove improvement on the south, have been selected by the agent of the State, for the use and benefit of the Commonwealth of Iowa. This spring is said to be the best yet found. It is generally known that the State is authorized to select 12 salt springs and 7 sections of land contiguous to each, and that an agent is now in making the selections.
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