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388
HISTORY OF OREGON NEWSPAPERS

parted. But Toledo had been awarded the county seat, and this was enough for Stewart; he started the Leader.

The plant was rudimentary; a little old "army" press set on a dry goods box printed one page at a time after the type had been set by hand by the "kid" typesetter (147). Mr. Stewart continued with the Leader until 1898, retiring to become county judge. Later owners have been Wesley L. Davis, Charles and Ada Soule, R. E. Collins and F. N. Hayden, Hall Bros. (G. W. Hall editor), then Howell (R. H.), Cooter (J. E.), and Collins.

The Lincoln County Herald was established by R. E. Collins in 1926, when Hall Brothers were conducting the Leader, with Willoughby (G. W.) Hall editor. In 1927 a stock company took over the two papers and consolidated them as the Lincoln County Leader. J. E. Cooter, speaker of the House of Representatives in the 1935 session, became publisher with R. H. Howell editor and manager. Shortly afterward the Howells, R. H. and his wife (Edith Harrison), bought out the other stockholders. Since the death of her husband in October 1937 Mrs. Howell has been conducting the paper. Mr. Howell was active in civic affairs in Toledo, having been city superintendent of schools for several years and mayor for six years.

In the meantime several other Yaquina Bay papers have come and gone. The Reporter, an independent Republican weekly, was started in Toledo in 1902 by C. E. Hawkins and B. Crosmo, who ran it for three years. They were succeeded by Almon B. Clark, in 1906. The paper was suspended in 1908.

John Fleming Wilson, former member of the Portland Telegram staff and a well-known short-story writer, established the Yaquina Signal at Newport in 1908. The next year he sold it to H. G. Guild, Oregon newspaper veteran, who remained about a year. The paper was gone when the material for Ayer's 1910 directory was gathered.

Waldport.—Waldport journalism goes back to 1917, when the Pacific Herald was established. Among the editors up to 1926 were E. C. and A. H. Wells. A. H. Wells was directing the paper in 1926, when it was merged with the Waldport Tribune, started in 1925 by H. G. Sasse. Mr. Sasse conducted the Tribune until 1934. Present publisher is M. I. Brown.

Delake and Nelscott.—The North Lincoln Coast Guard, one of a good many beach-town papers started in recent years, was launched in 1932 and was successfully maintained for several years as a Thurs day weekly by R. E. Collins, formerly of Waldport, and Mrs. Collins. They installed a linotype in 1935. The latest change (1939) was the purchase of the Guard from Maurice Nelson, latest owner, by G. G. Sittser Jr. and C. D. Hughes, publishers of the Beach Resort News at Delake, a 13-year-old publication. The merged paper, the Coast Guard and News, will be published at the Delake plant.

Yaquina City, ambitious little railroad terminal of the 80's