BOULDER COUNTY DIRECTORY.                       123
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    The first newspaper of the town was called the Valley News, the first number dated April 3, 1867, W. C. Chamberlain, proprietor. It had previously been issued at Valmont, then a rival town, but an offer of $35 made by a few Boulder men, cash in hand, if the newspaper outfit was removed to their town that night was a temptation that Mr. Chamberlain could not resist, and during the night Valmont lost a newspaper and Boulder gained one, which was the beginning of Boulder journalism. The enterprising proprietor kept the Valley News running until the fall of 1868, when it gave place to the Boulder Pioneer, a more ambitious paper, in charge of Dr. J. E. Wharton, who came down from Georgetown and enlisted a large number of Boulder citizens in his enterprise, to their sorrow it proved, for the paper was turned against them, and against the interests of the town, and soon found itself in the sheriff's hands. The stockholders having gained possession of their own, leased it to Robert H. Tilney, who changed the name to the Boulder County News. Mr. Tilney remained in charge until April, 1870, when the paper passed into the hands of D. A. Robinson and D. G. Scouten, who held possession until May, 1871, and were succeeded by Henry M. Cort, who sold out in the August following to Wynkoop and Scouten's interest and kept it nearly a year, when Mr. Wynkoop became the sole proprietor. In May, 1874, Mr. Wynkoop sold to Amos Bixby and Eugene Wilder, under whose administration it was enlarged to an eight column paper and obtained an extensive circulation. In November, 1878, Mr. Bixby disposed of his interest to Wm. G. Shedd, the proprietor of the Boulder Courier, recently established by the removal of the Sunshine Courier to this town, and the two papers were united under the name of the Boulder News and Courier, Shedd & Wilder, proprietors.

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Source:

Hamm, J. Wilhelm, Boulder County Directory: Issued September, 1896: Containing the Names and Vocations of the Citizens of Every City, Town, Village and Hamlet in Boulder County, With a Consolidated Business Directory (Including Special Alphabetical Directories) of the Farmers, Mineral Properties, Coal Mines, Water Ditches and Reservoirs, With Records of City, County and State Officials, and the Social, Fraternal, Religious and Educational Institutions, Boulder, Colo., Boulder Pub. Co., printers, c1896, p. 123.

    The Wynkoop who owned the Boulder County News from August of 1871 to May of 1874 was William Conklin Wynkoop, the proprietor and editor of a handful of newspapers in Colorado and Nevada over the next 30 years. William Conklin became sole owner of the Boulder County News in 1872, and in all probability this newspaper marked his maiden attempt in the newspaper business.

    William's interests were in mining and he spent a great deal of time prospecting the Colorado Mountains during the 1870s. He was invited on inspection tours of Mexican Mines after the Civil War, which resulted in a book on the Old Mines of Mexico. He also spent time in the mountains of New Mexico and Nevada, becoming such a well respected authority on mining that an English syndicate approached him, in September of 1891, to investigate a possible site for King Solomon's mines in Africa. I have yet to read any reports on the results of the expedition, but I'm looking forward to stumbling on them some day soon.

    Richard Wynkoop, in the 1904 edition of the Wynkoop Genealogy in the United States of America, has this to say about William Conklin Wynkoop and his family, on pages 157-159:

    790. Legrand Wynkoop, (John 445, Benjamin 178, Benjamin 53, Benjamin 8, Cornelius 1,) born September 15, 1809: married, 1st, January 4, 1830, Lucretia T. Conklin, of Chemung, N. Y., who died November 26, 1853, aged 41 years; married 2d, June 20, 1854, Maria Darker, born September 23, 1827, in Quorndon, Leicestershire, England.
    Legrand removed, in 1837, to Dixon, Lee County, Ill. His second wife is mentioned as an easy and graceful writer for the magazines.
    Children of Legrand and Lucretia T. Wynkoop:
1344. Adelaide: b. May 18, 1831: d. Dec. 21, 1832.
1345. Helen: b. Aug. 24, 1833: m., 1st, Samuel H. Leidy; m., 2d, John Van Ornam.
1346. Orpah: b. May 26, 1835: d. July 8, 1835.
1347. Alasco: b. Aug. 21, 1837: d. Sept. 1, 1838.
1348. Arthur: b. Aug. 27, 1839: d. Dec. 16, 1841.
1349. Cecilia: b. Apl. 11, 1843: m. Robert E. Bailey. He enlisted as a private in the 2d Reg. Minn. Vol. Inf. He re-enlisted, with nearly all the regiment, and served, as hospital steward, until the close of the war.
1350. William Conklin: b. Aug. 6, 1845: m., Apl. 26, 1874, Johanna Caroline Van der Leeuw, b. Dec. 25, 1851, d. Aug. 28, 1887, daughter of Rev. J. W. Van der Leeuw, of Amsterdam, Holland.
    He served in the 2d Reg. Minn. Vol. Inf., and was wounded, in July, 1862, at Corinth, and was sent home. While he was on a furlough, the Indian war broke out, and he served six weeks against the Indians, in a company of independent rangers, called "Old Company," which was never mustered into the service. He was, for seven months, with the 1st Reg. Minn. Mounted Rangers, organized to fight the Indians.
    He rejoined the 2d Reg. Minn. Vol. Inf., and served until the close of the war, and was promoted to the place of Sergeant-Major, for meritorious conduct, in the charge on Kenesaw Mountain. He had a commission as First Lieut. in the engineer corps, but did not muster in on it.
    He studied mining engineering, and followed it as a profession, after 1867, in the Western States and Territories. In 1873, he studied, in Europe, mines and mining methods. He was author of Ancient and Modern Mining Methods; and of The Old Mines of Mexico.
    While he was in Holland, he was in communication with a Wynkoop, of Amsterdam, whose sister was interested in the history of the family, and who gave him information from old manuscripts and tradition, which has been used elsewhere herein.
1351. Henry Legrand: b. Jan. 8, 1850: lived in Bellevue, Iowa.
    Children of Legrand and Maria Wynkoop:
1352. Lillie May: b. Nov. 16, 1858.
1353. Mary Darker: b. Oct. 15, 1860.
1354. John Frederick: b. Jan. 15, 1869: d. Nov. 26, 1869.

    There are several other articles on William Conklin Wynkoop here on the website and I hope to find more to post in the future. I think you'll find him a very interesting member of the family.

    All my best,

    Chris