vice for the Union, until it, in turn, died near the close of the war. I find in the issue of the Volunteer of May 6th, 1863, that the exact date when the material of the Sentinel was purchased by the Volunteer was May 3rd, 1861.

WILLIAM W. PHELPS.

W. W. Phelps was born in Oakland, Michigan, in 1822; was graduated at the 'Jniversity of Michigan, and studied law; and was admit to the bar in 1854. While a member of the Michigan legislature, he was appointed register of the United States Land Office at Red Wing, which was opened February 1st, 1855. He was elected to Congress when Minnesota became a state, and served twice as mayor of Red Wing. He was a Democrat of the old school, and did much to give an elevated tone to early journalism. He was also very useful in placing Red Wing on the solid foundations she now enjoys. He died August 3rd, 1873.

THE ROCHESTER DEMOCRAT

was the fifty-eighth newspaper established in the Territory. The St. Paul Advertiser of August 29th, 1857, says, "The Rochester Democrat and Olmsted County Journal are the only papers running in Rochester, Olmsted county." Volume 1, No. 33, of March 18th, 1858, being the first number of the Democrat that I can find, I am compelled to count back, for Volume 1, No. 1. In that way, I make the beginning August 6th, 1857. The last issue in the Historical Library bears the date of October 21st, 1858. In that number Charles W. Cotton, the owner and editor, says that he is going to Winona, where on Wednesday, November 17th, 1858, he will begin the Winona Democrat. As he took his press and material with him, the Rochester Democrat died. It was a four-page, seven-column Democratic sheet.

THE CANNON FALLS BULLETIN

was the fifty-ninth newspaper. I can find but few traces of it. The St. Paul Advertiser of August 29th, 1857, says it has re

ceived the first two numbers. It must, therefore, have been started early in August of that year. The Advertiser quotes it on December 5th of the same year, which is the last heard of it in the newspapers. No copies of it are to be found. The Bulletin was started in Cannon Falls, Goodhue county, by R. A. Hoag and Brother, with the plant of the Cannon Falls Gazette. At the close of 1857, seeing better prospects in Northfield, Rice county, they moved the press and material to that place, and started the Northfield Journal. In August, 1862, R. A. Hoag enlisted in the army, and three years later he came out a captain. In 1870 he removed to his farm near Northfield.

THE HASTINGS INDEPENDENT

was the sixtieth newspaper. The first that I find of it in the Historical Library is No. 26 of Volume 2, January 29th, 1859. Again I have to count back to get Volume 1, No. 1. Assuming no suspensions, I find the date August 6th, 1857, which must be very nearly correct. It was a four-page, seven-column, Republican paper; and Columbus Stebbins was its owner, editor, and publisher. It was the second weekly newspaper established in Dakota county. Stebbins ran it until its union with the Minnesota Conserver, November 24th, 1866. The Independent and Conserver then died, the union of the two papers producing the Gazette under the firm name of Todd and Stebbins.

COLUMBUS STEBBINS

was a native of Indiana. Though of only a common school education, he possessed such natural talent that he uplifted and bettered journalism whenever he used his pen. He was the friend and exponent of all that would best advance the interests of Minnesota. A close attendant to his editorial duties, he made a bright county and local newspaper. He laid the foundation of the Hastings Independent broad and strong, and it lasted well. He died December 21st, 1878.

The sixty-first Minnesota newspaper, the latest established prior to the bursting of the mid-fifty boom in August, 1857,

was

THE GLENCOE REGISTER, NO. I.

Number 2 of its first volume is in the Historical Library, and is dated August 15th, 1857. It began, therefore, on August 8th, 1857; and it was founded by Hon. L. L. Baxter. It was a four-page, six-column, Republican paper at the beginning. William R. Baxter, who was killed at Guntown, Mississippi, during the Rebellion, was editor, and Horace Baxter publisher. The last week of November, 1857, Colonel John H. Stevens and William S. Chapman bought the Register, and it became Democratic. The name of H. O. Hammond appeared as the first publisher under Stevens and Chapman, Colonel Stevens being the editor. May 1st, 1858, Hammond retired, and on May 15th Marshall Robinson became publisher.

In September, 1862, Robinson enlisted to help quell the Indian outbreak, and, as a measure of safety, the Register suspended publication until January, 1863, when it was printed a short time by Frank Daggett. Colonel Stevens still remained editor, however, until August, 1863, when he sold the paper to G. K. Gilbert and A. J. Snyder. They ran it about six months, when it suspended. In November, 1864, Gilbert sold his interest to Snyder. In May, 1866, Snyder leased the paper to C. A. Bennett, who published it as the Glencoe Weekly Register until February 27th, 1868. At that time he sold it to Frank Belfoy, who ran it until April 2nd, 1868, when he tried to turn it into the McLeod County Register; but at Volume 1, No. 13, of the new issue, it ran into the ground, or, as Colonel Stevens tersely phrased it, "It dried up." Belfoy afterward started the first paper ever printed in Meeker county.

February 25th, 1869, James C. Edson started the Glencoe Register, No. 2, as volume one, number one. In that issue he gave a detailed history of Glencoe Register, No. 1, of which the above account is an abstract. This number is on file in the vaults of the Historical Society.

The Register, No. 2, was continued by Edson to Volume 4, No. 12, May 16th, 1872, when he sold the plant to Liberty Hall, who conducted it to Volume 7, No. 36, November 4th, 1875. The next issue thereafter was enlarged to eight columns, and then the volume was jumped from 7 to 19, with the probable in

tention of covering the lifetime of Register No. 1. That paper, however, ran only from August 8th, 1857, to Volume 9, No. 37, making eight years and thirty-seven weeks of continuous existence, in about ten years and eight months of time, including its Indian War and other temporary suspensions meantime. Register No. 2 is still running.

COLONEL JOHN H. STEVENS.

Colonel John H. Stevens was born in Canada, June 13th, 1820; was educated in the common schools; enlisted in the United States Army during the Mexican War; served through it, and came to Minnesota in 1849; and was the first settler on the west side of the river in what is now Minneapolis. The house he built stood on part of the ground now occupied by the Union railway depot. It stands at present in Minnehaha park, belonging to the city, having been drawn there by thousands of the school children of Minneapolis, working by relays, in the spring of 1896. The excitement of the day was too much for Colonel Stevens, and he suffered a stroke of paralysis in consequence, from which he never recovered. He died May 28th, 1900.

Colonel Stevens was a born farmer. He loved the vocation as he did his life. Many a time, while editor of the Express over on the St. Anthony side of the river, I have gone to him for local items. He never failed to respond with from one to two columns; and the best stock and biggest squash, pumpkins, and watermelons of the farms around Minneapolis, were prolific subjects of his graphic sketches. Besides the Glencoe Register, he conducted the Minneapolis Chronicle, Farmer and Gardener, Farmers' Tribune, and the Farm, Stock, and Home. As president of the Minnesota State Agricultural Society, he did much to introduce superior methods of farming and stock-raising.

He was the first register of deeds of Hennepin county, and served several terms in both branches of the Legislature of Minnesota. His book of "Personal Recollections" is full of valuable chronicles of early days, and will become more and more useful as the years go by. During the Indian uprising of 1862 he served as brigadier general of the militia sent to the front to subdue the savages. Through his position as the first claimholder

where the largest part of Minneapolis now stands, Colonel Stevens had the chance of his life to die a millionaire. His unselfish efforts to foster and upbuild Minneapolis, however, prevented this. He died in comfortable circumstances, however, the same genial, free-handed, noble-hearted man that he had lived through his long life of nearly eighty years.

SUMMARY TO AUGUST 25TH, 1857.

Of the nineteen newspapers established in Minnesota between January 1st and August 25th, 1857, only one, the Mantorville Express, survives. Indeed, few of these papers survived the boom that brought them into existence.

The ballooning of the journalism of those days was very aptly burlesqued by John P. Owens, in the Daily Minnesotian of May 18th, 1857. I believe that I cannot close this part of my paper more appropriately than by quoting a portion of the article. The supposed newspaper of which he wrote was named "The Exponent of Morality, Truth, and Justice." The paper had become so popular in the new city of Olean that its publishers were compelled to issue an extra prospectus. They said:

We come before the tremendous and hourly increasing number of our readers this morning, in an enlarged form. Our advertising friends have actually compelled us to make room for them, two of our clerks having been crushed to death in the crowd of patrons who thronged the countingroom with advertisements. We have added forty-five columns to our paper. Our city circulation is immense. We employ two hundred compositors and fifty pressmen. Three editors are constantly at work, and we are in hopes, as soon as we can procure workmen, to be able to issue a semidaily the size of a bed blanket.

N. B.-Thirty carriers wanted immediately.

P. S.-Wanted, a partner with a little money.

P. P. S.-Wanted, Fifty compositors. Lots in Olean given for work!!! Great inducements to printers! ! ! !

FIFTH PAPER, AUGUST 25TH, 1857, TO MAY 11TH, 1858.

The old time editor was a thorough pioneer. He helped lay the foundations of Minnesota deep and strong, and was as honorable in his calling as the early merchant, doctor, lawyer, business man. Politically, he was a partisan, and a firm and hon

or

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