Holt County, one of six counties formed in the Indian Platte Purchase Territory and annexed to the state in 1837, was organized in 1841 and named for state legislator David Rice Holt. Its 456 square miles, bounded west and south by the Missouri and east by the Nodaway, include Missouri River flood plain, steep river bluffs, and high glacial prairie. The Lewis and Clark Expedition camped near the mouth of the Nodaway in 1804. Oregon, the county seat, lies 1093 feet above sea level and was laid out in 1841 by John A. Williams, Edward Smith, and Travis Finley, first under the name Finley. No railroad reached Oregon until a short line was built in 1908 and later abandoned. During the Civil War, the county was divided and suffered brutal guerrilla raids. Modern growth came with construction of what is now the C.B. and Q. Railroad through the county from north to south in 1869 and from northeast to west central in 1879, helping it grow as a livestock and grain producer while towns developed as marketing, trading, food processing, and shipping centers. The first settlers were Peter and Blank Stephenson in 1838, and pioneers came from Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana, while many Germans settled near Craig and Corning in 1839-41. In the 1840's Whig Valley near Maitland was settled, and Jackson's Point near Mound City was a stage stop on the Saint Joseph to Council Bluffs route. Mormons, immigrants, and gold seekers of 1849 trekked through the county. Mound City and Forest City were platted in 1857; Bigelow, Corning, and Craig in 1868; New Point and Forbes in 1869; Maitland in 1880; and Fortescue in 1890. Holt County state representative John W. Kelly introduced the resolution that led to the 1853 School Law providing the first state tax money for public schools and was one of the law's authors, often called the Kelly act. David Ward King, inventor of the Split-log Road Drag, lived in the county, and native Charles C. Moore served as lieutenant governor of Idaho from 1919 to 1922 and governor from 1923 to 1926. The county also includes Big Lake State Park and Squaw Creek National Wild Life Refuge.