The general history of Sac County can probably be presented in no better shape than as we give it in the following extract from a well-written article, published in the Sac Sun, of Sac City, December 24th, 1880:

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“The principal agricultural products of Sac County and this section generally are corn, wheat, oats, flax, barley, rye and grass. Timothy, clover and blue grass grow readily and will make Sac, at an early day, one of the leading stock and dairy counties of Iowa. And Iowa is, with rapid strides, coming to the head of all the States in dairy products.

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“Sac County contains sixteen congressional townships, west of the Des Moines River. It contains 369,640 acres, nearly all of which is desirable land for either grain or stock farms, and the larger part available for either or both combined. The larger part of these lands are railway property and these can be purchased by home-seekers, who will occupy them at once, on the most liberal terms.

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“Apples, grapes, plums, cherries, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, currants, gooseberries, etc., grow rapidly and yield surely and abundantly, and the quality is unsurpassed anywhere. We are informed that pears are also successfully grown in parts of the county. In the line of vegetables there is nothing usually grown in a temperate climate which will not grow here and that in extraordinary perfection. This section is the garden of Iowa, as Iowa is the Garden State of the Union. The dry, pure air of our unexcelled climate gives to trees and plants a healthy growth, and the fruits and vegetables are solid and delicately flavored and tinted, as far excelling the coarse flavor and blowzy coloring given to the same fruits by the hot and humid air of California and Oregon as the apple excels the pumpkin. You say the California fruit is larger than ours! Oh, well, the pumpkin is larger than the apple; but the pumpkin requires a good deal of cooking and spicing before it is eatable, and if you get a California apple you had better use that for cooking also. But our northern Iowa apples are of medium size, of the finest flavor and will keep longer than any apple grown in a warm climate. Therefore the Iowa apple is in the near future the apple of commerce, and it is not unlikely that the principal future industry of Iowa, may be fruit-frowing [sic]. Apples are not the only fruit which the Iowa soil and climate give a finer flavor than elsewhere. Nowhere does the Concord grape come to such perfection as in Iowa. And although our fruits and vegetables do not rival those of the Pacific coast in size, they are unsurpassed even in that minor particular by those of any other section in the Mississippi Valley or any section on the Atlantic slope.”

In 1856 Sac City was laid out on land belonging to Hon. Eugene Criss, and was selected as the seat of government for the county. It is situated on the Coon River, about five or six miles northeast of the center of the county. The business part of town lies on level ground, on the first rise from the bottom lands along the river, while the residences are principally on higher ground, overlooking the business streets.

The townsite is handsome and picturesque. In fact, it would be difficult to find in our prairie country a more beautiful location for a town. The Coon River, lined by a narrow strip of bottom land, half encircles the town. Native forest trees are scattered over the whole town site, so that even the later comers may have enough shade around their homes to take away the disagreeable bareness usually belonging to a new residence in a prairie country. It would be difficult for even the most fastidious to find fault with the appearance of Sac City, taking its age and size into consideration.

Sac City was incorporated in 1865, and Judge Criss, the founder of the town, was, quite appropriately, its first Mayor. The town is, in every respect, in a prosperous condition—growing rapidly and gaining every season in handsome and permanent buildings, and last, though not least, it is out of debt and has money in its treasury.

Judge Criss built the first house in Sac City. It was a log house and was built in 1855 and is still standing.

The Sac City Creamery was established in 1879. It was formerly situated one and one-half miles from town. The proprietor, G. M. Parker, has subsequently built a fine brick building 21x40 feet, with ice-house 20x32 feet, steam power engine and washroom 16x30 feet, erected in 1882. The creamery is to be supplied with all the modern improved machinery. The cost of construction was about $5,000. It is to be run on the cream-gathering plan. The new creamery is to be known in future as the Pearl Creamery, and will begin operations in April, 1882.

The classification of business in Sac City is as follows: General stores, three; groceries, three; dry goods, one; boots and shoes, one; clothing, one; fancy goods, one; millinery, three; hardware, two: drugs, three; meat markets, two; blacksmiths, three; wagon-makers, two; banks, two; furniture, two; photograph gallery, one; restaurant, one; hotels, two; physicians, four; attorneys, four; harness, two; livery, two; shoemakers, two; tailor, one; lumber and coal, two; elevators, three; cigar factory, one; mattress factory, one; stock dealers, three; saloons, four; iron foundry, one.

Wall Lake is situated in Sac County, on the Maple River Railroad, seventeen miles from the Junction. This town is three miles south of the Lake. It is situated on a beautiful plateau, which slopes gently from the summit of the surrounding hills, which form a part of the great watershed that passes entirely through the state. To the south and west is a beautiful sheet of water, containing a surface area of three square miles. This inland sea is frequently termed the “goose pond.”

The town of Wall Lake was laid out and platted by the Blair Town Lot and Land Company in 1877. The town plat consists of two additions containing 300 lots. […]

Wall Lake is surrounded with a splendid farming country. The [s]oil is a rich black loam. Splendid water can be easily obtained. The population of Wall Lake may be fairly estimated at 400. [Arr]angements are now being made to erect a large steam grist mill [i]n this town, which will add much to its interests.

April 1st, 1877, Mr. Donaldson erected the first building for the [p]urpose of a saloon, the building material being brought across the [c]ountry from Storm Lake. […]

The first telephone was constructed February 11th, 1878, between J. C. Fletcher’s and C. E. Wentworth’s places of business. Ehlers and Wentworth did the scientific part of the work.

Wall Lake was incorporated in March, 1881.

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The business of Wall Lake may be classified as follows: General stores, three; hardware, two; restaurants three; hotels, two; lumber yards, two; agricultural implements, four; livery stable, one; harness shops, one; elevator, one; grain dealers, three; saloons, three; furniture store, one; shoe shop, one; millinery stores, two; bank, one; barber shop, one; post-office; drug store, one; meat market, one; blacksmith shops, three; wagon shops, two; printing office, one.