The Press., 1920-06-03
BOTH CLAIM HONOR
Dispute Over Location of First
 Press in Northwest.
Mlnnesota and South Dakota Each Firm In the Belief That They Are In Possession sf Historic
 old Relic.

The location of the first printing press in the Northwest is being dis puted by two states, Minnesota and South Dakota. says q dispatch to the Minneapolis Journal.
 The historic printing press, an old Washington hand-press. which, 1t is claimed. printed the first newspaper in the Northwest. Is now in the hands of the Minnesota Historical society. The Minnesota contention as to the history of the press is substantially as fol- lows:
 "Its active career began back in 1836. when John King of Dubuque pur- chased 1t in Cincinnati. He arrived in Dubuque with the new press on May l. 1S36, after a tedious trip on a river steamboat. The first issue of this pa- per, the Dubuque Visitor, appeared on May II. It is said that the Visitor was the only paper north of St. Louis and west of the Mississippi river at that time.
 '"The press, in 1843, for some reason or other, was sold to three representa- tives of a stock concern, J. Allen Bar Der, Daniel Benfill and Nelson Derby, who latter was to become Wisconsin's first governor. These men took the press across the river to Lancaster, Wis. to print the Grant County Her aid, of which L. O. Schrader was the first editor.
 'The Herald passed finally into the hands of James M. Goodhue, a lawyer by profession and a fighting editor of the old school. Goodhue in the spring of 1849 shipped his press up the river to St. Paul, Minn., where he founded the Pioneer, which years afterward be- came the Pioneer Press.
 "In 1855 the press passed into the hands of Jeremiah Russell, who took 1t to Sauk Rapids to use in printing an- other pioneer venture, the Frontiers man. After that 1t changed hands fire quently. It printed among other pub lications the Sauk Valley Press con- ducted by Herman Muhlenberg, state adjutant general. The material of this publication was later sold to the Lind strom Citizen, a Swedish newspaper. Shortly after this old press found it's last home in the state museum in St. Paul.
 "Gov. Samuel J. Albright, associate editor of the St. Paul paper. purchased the press in 1858, carried 1t 400 miles across the prairies to Sioux Falls, Da- kota Territory, where, July 3, 1859, he established and printed the Dakota Democrat.
 During the Indian hostilities of 1862, Sioux Falls was abandoned and the Indians took possession of the place. They found the old press and broke it to pieces. The settlers found the fragments but could not put 1t to- gether again. Senator R. F. Pettigrew of Sioux Falls Is understood to have secured the plate and made from 1t doorstep.
 "The South Dakota story has been verified satisfactorily so far as the South Dakota department is con- by Governor Albright. who wrote in regard to 1t that it was SO stated, so understood and, believe, so published upon it's removal to Dakota
 "But, on the other hand, in the Min nesota museum stands a press which h claimed to be the one in dispute. This one is simply constructed and from It's appearance might have print ed every pioneer newspaper in the Whatever the true story of the identity of the press may be, it is we'll worth contention"