 In 1855, the Chicago, Iowa, Nebraska Railroad announced it would cross the river at Little Rock Island adjacent to Bartlett's settlement.The Iowa Land Company was organized on May 26, 1855, and on July 4, bought Bartlett's tract and renamed it Clinton, in honor of DeWitt Clinton, two-time governor of New York and one of the driving forces behind the construction of the Erie Canal.In 1840, the County of Clinton was officially organized; the village of Camanche, just downstream from Bartlett's "New York," became the first county seat.