The South Dakota State Historical Society-State Archives has received a first edition of “The Ottumwa” newspaper, dated Oct. 25, 1906, printed on cloth. It is the only Ottumwa newspaper in the archive’s collections. Ottumwa was in “Old” Stanley County, roughly 20 miles west and north of Mi dland. It was named after Ottumwa, Iowa, as many early homesteaders in the area were from there. As declared in the first edition cloth newspaper, “Stand on any rise of ground within a radius of ten miles of Ottumwa post office and you may count the settlers’ shacks by the score. Go to them and you will find there the home beginnings of an intelligent, energetic, pushing people.” It also noted that “such people know and appreciate the value of a local newspaper.” Other news from 1906 included the recent snowstorm which “caught lots of our people wholly unprepared,” the mayor and council settling “on a list of street names,” and W.O. Morris’ plan for “cutting sod for sod walls that may be of interest to parties sodding stables or shacks.” Business advertisements included Ed Finnegan’s blacksmith and wagon repair shop, John Kiser’s general store, and for E. L. Verley, physician and surgeon. The South Dakota State Historical Society has a long tradition of collecting newspaper content. Microfilming of newspapers began in the early 1950s, and the society currently holds over 18,000 reels of newspaper on microfilm. In 2020, the State Archives began collecting and preserving newspapers digitally. To view the newspapers online, visit: https://history.sd.gov/archives/newspapersonline.aspx. ...read more read less