press, in at the birth of almost all the pioneer papers; a few fonts of type, and a hand-inking job press. In his opening editorial Mr. Sutton said: "Believing that there is ample room in southern Oregon for a good independent family newspaper, we have resolved to make our effort to establish such a one." The paper continued independent in politics until the late eighties, when, following the suspension of the old Jacksonville Sentinel, it became a Republican organ.
The Tidings has not been without competitors through the years. E. J. Kaiser, well-known southern Oregon newspaper man, started the Valley Record as a Thursday weekly in 1888 while Mr. Leeds was publishing the Tidings. This newspaper ran under Mr. Kaiser's direction until 1912, when he became postmaster at Ashland and Charles B. Wolf took hold of the paper. Mr. Wolf dropped the Valley from the title on taking control. The paper was suspended in 1919 by W. M. Barber, who had succeeded Mr. Wolf as owner. Mr. Kaiser was back in control during 1917, on retiring from the postmastership.
The Tribune, founded in 1896 as a weekly, ran along, part of the time as a Wednesday-Saturday semi-weekly, until 1906. A. C. Jacobsen and J. M. Potter, successively, were editors.
Town Talk, a weekly, started in 1896 and suspended in 1902, had for one of its publishers George C. Stanley, who later became interested in mining and merchandising.
POLK
Dallas.—A Baptist Democratic weekly, the Religious Expositor, was Polk County's first contribution to Oregon journalism. It was published at Eola, a little town near the Marion county line, by C. M. Mattoon, in 1856. The first number, which was closer to the last than the hopeful publisher had any inkling, appeared May 6. After a few issues the paper was moved, July 19, to Corvallis, where it died October 11, a few months before the appearance of J. C. Avery's Occidental Messenger.
The Dallas Weekly Itemizer, which survives as a part of Earle Richardson's Polk County Itemizer-Observer, published at Dallas, was the county's next newspaper, the first one of any real significance. The first number appeared in 1868.42 It was founded, like so many other newspapers, by J. H. Upton, and its first name was the Polk County Signal. The Signal was a political newspaper, Democratic, "born," Vivian Fiske says, "for the political campaign in which Joseph E. Smith defeated David Logan for congress." It was a four-page seven-column paper, issued on Mondays, and Mr. Upton was asking $3 a year.
