This once-rowdy railroad town completed its metamorphosis into a real city--with paved streets, lights, and a firm foothold on law and order--only after decades of struggle and tumultuous, sweeping social change. In the middle of the fray were three distinctly different newspapers, which often took opposing sides, acting as both contestants and self-appointed referees. The Register, with its dapper editor, William Wheeler, at the helm, was an upright...