Section 12. Counties are the creatures of the legislative will and are vested with certain corporate powers, in order to enable them to perform the duties required of them as part of the machinery of the State. As a general rule, the power of the legislature, in the division of the State into counties, is absolute, and it may alter, modify, or destroy them, as the public good may require.5

4 State vs. Leffingwell, 54 Mo.. 458, 475.

5 92 U. S., 307. As a general rule, as counties are the creatures of the State, and as the power of the legislature over them is absolute, save by constitutional limitation, their status will be found laid down in the Constitutions, codes and acts of the various states.