Hancock Sentinel was published at Ellington by Datus E. Coon in 1860, with C.C. Doolittle as printer. The paper ceased publication in 1863. It had been dependent on county printing for existence, and the issues had been irregular.

Independent, a five-column sheet, was started in the village of Amsterdam in 1861 by Brainard and Noyes. Their prime object was the printing of the county tax list. It failed within a few months. The "Independent" professed to be neutral in religion and politics and succeeded in being merely negative and uninteresting.

Hancock County Sentinel was established through the efforts of Eldora citizens who bought material for an office which they leased to O.M. Holcomb early in 1856. The first number of the six-column Independent sheet bears the date March 22, 1856, with J.D. Thompson, editor. The next week it was enlarged to seven columns, and the next year James Speers became editor and proprietor. After less than a year, he sold to J.D. Hunter, who continued the paper as Republican until 1863. M.C. Woodruff was then editor and proprietor until November, 1865, when he moved the plant to Iowa Falls. His reasons, as expressed in the farewell number, were his weakness for acquiring greenbacks, his desire to locate in a market town, and his despair of the railroad ever reaching Eldora. In Iowa Falls the name was changed to the "Iowa Falls Sentinel". Woodruff published the paper until 1869, then sold to J.B. Mathews who issued it through 1870.

Eldora Ledger, also begun by interested citizens, had R.H. McBride, a prolific writer, as editor of its first issue, January 6, 1866. The National Union Party was the avowed choice of the owners of this seven-column folio, which continued for sixteen years under the same management. McBride waged continuous warfare with the "Iowa Falls Sentinel" in an effort to induce a railroad to come to Eldora. He succeeded when the line was put through in 1869. In 1870, McBride was defendant in one of the most severely contested libel cases ever tried in the state, when Judge Porter unsuccessfully asked $75,000 for alleged insult.

Ackley Guide resulted in 1869 from a bonus given by business men to one Yarram, who made a business of starting newspapers -- for a bonus. After a few months, the paper was moved over the line into Franklin county in hope of securing some of that county's patronage. When this failed, the office was moved back and bought by Lambert, who changed the name to the "Ackley Mirror". It failed to satisfy the reading public and its owner and was soon sold after 1870.

Eldora Tribune was began under favorable auspices in July, 1870; it was an eight-column folio under the editorship of James N. Miller. He continued only a few months, then sold to Isaac L. Miller, who had been indeitorial charge during a part of that time.

source: Notes on the History of Iowa Newspapers, 1836-1870; published by the University of Iowa, editor Edward H. Lauer, Ph.D.; 1927.
submitted by Sharyl Ferrall