172                 HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY

rel, L. G. West, John F. Donham, Charles Wyatt. Cory was made a
money-order office July 1, 1892.
    The practicing physicians of the town have been: Oliver James,
James A. Modesitt, Robert C. Black, Dr. Schluss, Dr. Hiatt, M. A. Boor,
L. C. Griffith, C. A. Ray.
    The merchants of the place have been: Hiram R. Wyatt, Oscar
Rankin, James & Modesitt, E. J. Mewhinney, Jacob E. Phillips, James &
Foulke, Rudolph Stuckwisch, Lucas & Son, David Hatfield, John F. Don-
ham, Andrew S. Decker, Butt & Zenor, Henry Haas, Leberer Brothers,
Charles L. Cox, Barber & Gard, Edgar Staggs.
    The first mechanic -was Philip Hutchison, the blacksmith.
    The Elkhorn flouring-mill was built in 1876 by O’Brien & Jeffers,
costing $12,000, with the daily capacity of one hundred barrels. The pro-
prietors succeeding the founders have been Moorhart, Ferrel & James,
Butt & James, Lawell & James, Ross Holler, Gruber & Son, Henry Moyer.
    The M. E, church was built in 1879, dedicated May 30, 1880, by
Elder John Poucher. G. W. Asbury was the first pastor. The first Sun-
day school was organized and taught in the original frame school-house,
William P. Foulke, first superintendent.
    The present two-story brick school-house, built in 1898, by Trustee
Sargent Staggs, was at that time pronounced the best township school
building in the county. Cory high school was preliminarily commissioned
in February, 1909.
    Clear Creek Lodge, I. 0. 0. F., No. 449, instituted April 17, 1874,
with charter membership of 11, now numbers 134.
    Martha Lodge, Rebekahs, No. 155, instituted in 1875, with charter
membership of 12, now numbers 50.
    Pehaska Tribe, No. 435, 1. 0. R. M., instituted in with charter
membership of 58, now numbers 80.
    Arrah Wanna Council, No. 271, Pocahontas, has a membership of 70.
    Cory Encampment of Odd Fellows, No. 326, has a membership of 35.
    There is also a Grand Army Post. Population, 300.

                            PERTH.

    Perth, a town and postoffice in the extreme north part of the county,
near the Parke county line, in Dick Johnson township, on the I. & S. L.
R.  R., from five to six miles north of Brazil, laid out by Michael McMil-
lan, in 1870, and so named, presumably, from Perth, Scotland, birthplace
of the proprietor’s ancestry. This town was founded prospectively, as a
shipping point and speculative venture. The plat comprised, originally,
twenty lots, 60 x 120 feet, with four cross streets. A postoffice was estab-
lished within the year of the founding of the town. The population of
this town has all along been largely of the mining element. The depart-
ment frame school-house here was built by Trustee Granville C. Brown, in
1892. Population, 250.

                            PONTIAC.

    Pontiac, a hamlet in Van Buren township, one mile south of Car-
bon, founded by Aaron Lovall, in 1871, and given the historic name of
the Ottawa Indian chief slain at Cahokia, Illinois, in 1769. At the time
of surveying this town site and placing it on the map the proprietor
intended it as a station on the North & South Railroad. The school-
house at this place was built in 1891, by Trustee John Marks.