Part III:

The arrival of the following men had much to do with the future growth of Lyon County. On the first day of May of1869, 10 men set out from Olmsted County in search of new homes: C.H. Whitney, C. H. Upton, E. G. Bascomb. T. S. Eastman, V. Eastman, W. S. Eastman, O. A. Hawes, R. Waterman, Moses Fifield and Mendell Fifield. They traveled with four covered wagons and a saddle horse. They spent several weeks viewing the country around St. Cloud, Benson and Hutchinson, but did not like the looks of the country and turned to the southwest. They arrived in St. Peter and there Abner Tibbets, registrar of the United States land office, advised them to go to the country which is now Lyon County.

The party made the trip by way of Redwood Falls and arrived at the Lynd settlement on June 9, where A. W. Muzzy welcomed them. The next day was spent in rest at D. M. Tylor’s store. On the 11th three parties were formed to visit as many different parts of the surrounding country; one to the Rock Lake country, one to the head of Three-Mile Creek, west of Lynd, and the third down the Redwood. The next day other prospecting trips were made.

C.H. Whitney went out on a scout and covered the north part of the county. He followed an Indian trail down the Redwood to the point called by Indians the Big Bend — the present site of the city of Marshall. There he struck the Lac qui Parle trail and followed it to about where Minneota is now situated. There he proceeded east until he came to another trail between Minnesota Falls and the Big bend, followed that trail to the Big Bend, and then struck across country to Lake Marshall. At that point he found another Indian trail leading to the Cottonwood River and Lake Shetek.

After resting at Lynd on the 13th and canvassing the situation, all members of the party decided to take claims and made their selections in Lake Marshall, Lynd and Lyons townships. The 14th was spent in breaking land on their claims, some of the party also breaking on the northwest quarter section 4, Lake Marshall township, to hold claim for Ursula Stone, a soldier’s widow, and for the son-in-law of C. H. Upton.

The entire party set out on June 15 for the return home and made their filings at the land office on June 18. The Eastmans returned in the fall, built a log cabin, and spent the winter in their new home; the others spent the winter in their old homes and all returned in 1870. Mr. Whitney did “missionary” work in Wisconsin that winter and as a result the population of Lyon County was added to in 1870.

In a bill by Senator Charles T. Brown introduced the creation of Lyon County, embracing the present counties of Lyon and Lincoln, it passed the Legislature, and was approved by Governor William R. Marshall on March 2, 1869. The county was named in honor of General Nathaniel Lyon, of the United States army, who met death during the Civil War at the battle of Springfield in June 1861.

Governor Marshall appointed a few county officers and vested them with power to begin county government.

The first act of the board was to select a county seat – the entry in the journal reads as follows: “State of Minnesota, County of Lyon. Be it known that at a session of the Board of County Commissioners of Lyon County, held at the house of L. Ticknor, in said county, on the twelfth day of August, 1870, the seat of said county was settled and established on the southeast quarter of section thirty-three (33) in township one hundred and eleven (111) of range forty-two (42). [Signed] A. W. Muzzy, Levi S. Kiel, County Commissioners. Attest: E. Lamb Auditor.” Muzzy was chosen chairman of the board.

In October of 1870 the county board divided the county into five election precincts and designated judges of election — A.W. Muzzy was appointed judge of Lynd. The election polls were not opened in all the precincts in that first election in November. The Marshall election was held in C.H. Whitney’s sod shanty (near the present site of Liberty Park), and the Lynd election was held in the old claim shanty at Lynd. Seventy-eight votes were polled in the county at this first election. A writer in the Marshall Messenger, years later, wrote of this first election: “What a tussle we had when we held our election. We held it in an old claim shanty built by half-breeds years ago, but finding it too small to hold all of us we went out doors, the noisiest crowd that was ever out of prison. We voted as we wished, writing our own tickets.” A. W. Muzzy was elected judge of probate.

Sources: “Obituary of Amos W. Muzzy,” Fredonia Censor, Sept. 25, 1872; History of Lyon County, 1884, C.F. Case; History of Lyon County, 1884-1912, A.P. Rose.