. The Algona Bee : a story of newspaper beginnings. alleys is purely a paper plat. Algonawas a bare prairie, lull of ponds and covered with waving grass, andthe cabins of the pioneers were scattered about, frequently withouteven well defined foot-paths from one to the other. The stage roaddown through Irvington to Fort Dod^e was well marked, althoughwanting in grades or bridges, a mere prairie trail, and the road to theeast, winding up to Forest City and so down to Clear Lake to avoijlthe wet expanse of Hancock county, was not always a well markedprairie trail. Hut this must not be set down as
. The Algona Bee : a story of newspaper beginnings. alleys is purely a paper plat. Algonawas a bare prairie, lull of ponds and covered with waving grass, andthe cabins of the pioneers were scattered about, frequently withouteven well defined foot-paths from one to the other. The stage roaddown through Irvington to Fort Dod^e was well marked, althoughwanting in grades or bridges, a mere prairie trail, and the road to theeast, winding up to Forest City and so down to Clear Lake to avoijlthe wet expanse of Hancock county, was not always a well markedprairie trail. Hut this must not be set down as a suggestion of badroads, for there never was a smoother, more reliable pavement thanthe old prairie soil, the road winding along the high places and dodgingthe ponds and sloughs. This is not the place to recount the early story of one of the pioneersettlements of the state. It is merely to get in mind the setting ofone of the most curious and unique newspaper ventures of the entireMiddle West that so much of detail needs to be given. The Algona. JUDGE ASA C. CALL Those who it strange that a man o! Judge Calls experience or. thefrontier—he 1 ad been across the plains to California and come back with$7,000 in gold—should have picked upon the heart ol the Bankroft regionfor his settlement, must remember that there were no railroads west of theMississippi, and one spot promised as favorably as another. Along bothrivers the towns had been located and in the center of the state there were DesMoines and Fort Dodge. Algona stood in the same relation to McGregor andSioux City as Hts Moines to Davenport and Council Bluffs. Why not Algonaas much as Des Moines? Mr. Call has himself told of his purpose in comng to this northern partof the state and of h:s reasons for selecting the townsite of Algona : 1 had for several years intended to found a new town, and all through myresidence on the Pacific coast I had that in view. I had explored the upperMississippi and the west end of
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjectamerica, bookyear1922
