History of American Journalism/Chapter 14
CHAPTER XIV
BEGINNINGS IN STATES AND TERRITORIES
1833—1873
All the editors who had joined the Westward advance in journalism had one characteristic in common: they had the most sublime faith that the section where they settled was to become an influential part of the country at large. In the code of these pioneer editors, optimism was ever present. Such a quality was necessary, for often preparations were made to bring out a newspaper before a sufficient number of subscribers to support the enterprise had arrived on the scene. The homes of these pioneer newspapers were at the start to be found in the rude tent of the camper, the dug-out of the prairie, and the log cabin of the mountain.
Often the story of these beginnings is more interesting than the contents of the newspapers. But few copies of the earliest papers in the territory covered in this chapter have been preserved. The greatest loss, however, was not that of the printed sheets, but that of the written precursors which were sold on the mountain trails and paid for with gold taken in tin pans from the bed of a neighboring stream. In the South printing materials came by way of Mexico: in the Far West they went with the immigrant train over the desert: on the Pacific Coast they came by ship around Cape Horn.
Before making any criticism of the contents of these early papers, one must remember that the men who blazed the trail through Western wilds were not discriminating readers. They cared more for interesting subject-matter than for literary mode of treatment. Their, respect was commanded only by the editor who could fight with his gun as well as with his pen. Illustrations in proof of the assertion just made will be found in the pages which follow.
EARLY WISCONSIN WEEKLIES
The frontier printer occasionally started his paper before the arrival of other settlers. With intuitive foresight he seemed to know probable locations of settlements along rivers and at the junction of smaller streams. Typical of papers thus established was The Mirror of Newport, one of the pioneer papers of Wisconsin, but by no means the first. Its editor, Alanson Holly, very graphically mirrored the Westward movement of journalism in his salutatory greeting:—
We are doing what, perhaps, has never been done in the United States before—We are printing The Wisconsin Mirror in the woods. Not a dwelling, except our own, within half a mile of us, and only one within a mile. The forest oaks hang over our office and dwelling, the deer and rabbits shy around us, and the partridges and quails seek our acquaintance, by venturing nearer and nearer our doors. The noble Wisconsin is bearing onward its immense burdens of ice, majestically and silently, within sight of our windows; and the snow-capped hills, covered with scattering oaks and pines, peer up in the distance. There is romance and reality in all this, and we feel almost willing to publish a paper in such a location, just for the excitement of the thing. But most of the romance is soon to be spoiled. Already, several dwellings are in progress near us and before many weeks they are to be occupied by enterprising neighbors, and when spring and summer shall come, we expect such a chatter of axes and spades, and trowels, and saws, and hammers, that we shall hardly be able to write our editorials without introducing more or less confusion. The fact is, we expect a large village, yea, a city, to grow up rapidly around us; and that is why we are here—printing in the woods.
Mr. Holly was in error when he thought his paper was the first to be printed "in the woods." Other papers had been started under conditions even more primitive with the type set under the oaks themselves.
Not infrequently the paper was published to advertise the attractions of the settlement and to promote immigration. For these reasons D. H. Richards founded in July, 1836, The Milwaukee Advertiser, the first paper in the city and the third in the State. Incidentally, The Advertiser was also issued to advance the interest of the Milwaukee and Rock River Canal. In March, 1841, Richards sold the paper to Josiah A. Noolan, who changed its name to The Courier. The latter was succeeded by The Wisconsin.
Pioneer papers were invariably begun as weeklies, but even then they were often irregular in appearance. Such was the case of The Green Bay Intelligencer, the first paper in Wisconsin Territory, begun on December 11, 1833, by John V. Suydam and Albert Ellis. The following year the latter, becoming the sole proprietor, continued as publisher until. June 1, 1835, when he accepted C. P. Arndt as a partner. In August, 1836, The Intelligencer united with The Wisconsin Free Press, which had been in existence just a year and was the second paper in Wisconsin, to form The Democrat. In the spring of 1840 the paper last mentioned went to Kenosha, where it was published as The Telegraph.
GENESIS OF KANSAS JOURNALISM
Kansas ever has been, and is, a great newspaper State. Its journalism, in the strict sense of that term, dates from March 1, 1835, when there appeared at the Baptist Mission The Shawanoe Sun. Published exclusively in the Indian language, it was a small quarter-sheet edited by the Reverend Johnston Lykins and printed on the Mission press by Jotham Meeker. In the spring of 1837, when Meeker went to the Ottawa Mission in Franklin County, the paper was printed by J. G. Pratt until 1839, when it was discontinued on account of the illness of its publisher. The old-fashioned press of the Mission was later taken to Prairie City and used to print The Freeman's Champion first issued on June 25, 1857, in a home-made tent, the gift of the women of that place.
The earliest English newspaper in Kansas was The Kansas Weekly Herald, first brought out in Leavenworth on September 15, 1854, by Osborn Adams. It was started before there was a single permanent building in Leavenworth: only four temporary tents had been raised before a type-setter was at work, under an old elm tree, on the first number. An editorial remark in the first issue said: "Our editorials have been written and our proof corrected while sitting on the ground with a big shingle for a table." In 1859 it became a daily, but suspended in 1861 on the death of its owner.
The same year that The Kansas Weekly Herald was started, a second paper, The Pioneer, was begun at Kickapoo. The next year saw three established at Lawrence. The first of these, started on January 5, 1855, by John Spear, was The Kansas Tribune. In November it suspended for a few weeks and later removed to Topeka. On January 6, 1855, just one day after The Tribune was founded, The Herald of Freedom appeared at Lawrence under the direction of George W. Brown. One number of the paper, dated October 21, 1854, had been printed at Wakarusa, Pennsylvania. After publishing this issue, Brown moved to Lawrence, where, with the help of a few settlers, he set up a log printing-office. The third paper to be established at Lawrence in 1855 was The Kansas Free State. Both The Free State and The Herald of Freedom figured conspicuously in the exciting times of '55 and '56.
In striking contrast to these papers published at Lawrence was The Squatter Sovereign, started on February 3, 1855, at Atchison by John H. Stringfellow and Robert S. Kelly. In a way the paper was the successor of The Democratic Platform, which Kelly had published at Liberty, Missouri, in the interest of slavery. The Squatter Sovereign was practically the organ of the Border Ruffians and fought most bitterly the Free State papers then in existence in "bleeding Kansas." After the exciting years of '55 and '56, The Squatter Sovereign passed into the hands of other owners who gave it another name and reversed its editorial policies. One of the earliest, if not the first, daily paper published west of the Missouri River was The Daily Kansas Freeman begun at Shawnee on October 24, 1855. The times were evidently too exciting and the threats of the Border Ruffians to destroy the paper were too frequent to warrant a continuance of the sheet, for it suspended on November 7.
DAWN OF NEW MEXICO JOURNALISM
In strict accuracy the first newspaper printed in New Mexico was El Crepusculo (The Dawn) and was first published by Antonio Jose* Martinez in Taos, November 29, 1835. But four numbers of El Crepusculo were issued and these were on paper the size of foolscap. The paper failed to pay expenses and was suspended after the four issues.
The first newspaper, however, to be printed in English, either in whole or in part, was The Santa Fé Republican. This paper was a four-page weekly in two parts—two in Spanish and two in English—and made its appearance in Santa Fé on September 4, 1847. Its publishers were Hovey and Da vies and its editor, G. R. Gibson.
The New Mexican was started at Santa Fé on December 1, 1849, by Davies and Hones. This paper, however, is not to be confused with the present New Mexican, started by Charles Leiv on January 22, 1863.
INITIAL PAPERS OF IOWA
The first paper in Iowa was The Dubuque Visitor, brought out at the Dubuque Lead Mines, at that time in Wisconsin Territory, by John King on May 11, 1836. He had founded the Dubuque Lead Mine in 1834 and was satisfied that the little village would grow and become a prosperous city. Having purchased in Cincinnati a hand-press, some type, and material sufficient to issue a small weekly paper, he returned to Dubuque. William Carey Jones, a young printer from Chillicothe, accompanied King to take charge of the mechanical side of the paper. On June 3, 1837, a new owner changed the title to The Iowa News, and the name of the paper was again changed on August 1, 1841, to The Miner's Express. When on April 19, 1851, a new publication, The Dubuque Herald, appeared, The Miner's Express made preparation to bring out a daily paper. On August 19 of that year it published the first daily paper north of St. Louis or west of the Mississippi. The Herald met this move by also changing to a daily paper and the competition became so keen between the two that a merger became necessary and on October 26, 1854, the two papers united under the title, The Daily Express and Herald— later changed to The Daily Herald. On August 27, 1901, the paper absorbed The Dubuque Daily Telegraph. The paper is now continued as The Telegraph and Herald.
The second paper in Iowa was started at Mount Rose in 1836 by Dr. Isaac Glalland. He called his paper The Western Adventurer. After a struggle of two years he took it to Fort Madison, where it was purchased by James G. Edwards, who, on March 24, 1838, converted it to a Whig sheet called The Fort Madison Patriot. The paper was finally moved to Burlington where it is now known as The Hawk-Eye. On August 4, 1838, The Iowa Sun and Davenport and Rock Island News appeared simultaneously at Davenport, Iowa, and at Stephenson (now Rock Island, Illinois), and was published by Andrew Logan. The fourth paper was The Iowa Standard, first brought out at Bloomington October 23, 1840, and a year later removed to Iowa-City.
The Iowa Standard was only four days ahead of The Bloomington Herald, issued on October 27, 1840, with Thomas Hughes and John B. Russell as editors. This paper, after some changes, became The Muscatine Journal, under which name it is still published. The Courier was established at Fort Madison by R. Wilson Albright on July 24, 1841.
INDIAN PAPERS OF OKLAHOMA
To the Cherokees unquestionably belongs the honor of printing the first and many of the early papers in what was the Indian Territory but is now the State of Oklahoma. The first of these was The Cherokee Messenger, started in August, 1844, at Cherokee Baptist Mission. Edited by the Reverend Evan Jones, it was more of a religious and temperance pamphlet than a newspaper: printed at irregular intervals it might more justly be considered the precursor of journalism in the Indian Territory.
The first real newspaper was the national organ of the Cherokee Nation. Its National Council on October 25, 1843, had passed an act to establish a printing-press and to print a newspaper, and on September 26, 1844, there appeared at Tahlequah the first number of The Cherokee Advocate. Under the editorship of William P. Ross it was printed in both the English and Cherokee languages. The Cherokee Nation fixed the subscription price at three dollars per year "except to those persons who read only the Cherokee language and they shall pay two dollars." The paper was discontinued in 1853, but was revived again in 1870.
Another Indian Journal, The Vindicator, was started by J. H. Moore at New Boggy in June, 1872, in the interest of the Choctaws and Chickasaws. It afterwards united with The Oklahoma Star. Still another Indian paper was The Indian Journal, first begun in May, 1876, at Muskogee by M. P. Roberts. It was the official organ of the Creek Nation.
The Territorial Advocate, started at Beaver by E. E. Eldridge in May, 1887, was the first real English newspaper in Oklahoma and had the distinction of being probably the only newspaper ever published in the United States outside the pale of established law of any character. The pan-handle portion of the State of Oklahoma, in which Beaver is located, was prior to 1889 known as "No Man's Land." The Advocate is now published under the name of The Beaver Herald.
The first paper after the Territory was opened was one issue of The Guthrie Get-Up, on April 29, 1889. It was a small sheet folded in the center and printed only on one side. Having only one issue it is not, strictly speaking, to be classed as a newspaper. Its immediate successor was The Oklahoma State Capitol, started in Guthrie a little later. The latter paper survived until 1911 when it was taken over by The Guthrie Daily Leader.
ORIGIN OF JOURNALISM IN OREGON
Oregon City, in 1844, thought it ought to have a newspaper. Accordingly, a company was formed known as the Oregon Printing Association. According to the articles of compact, the following regulation was set down for the guidance of the editor: "The press owned by, or in connection with, this Association shall never be used by any party for the purpose of propagating sectarian principles or doctrines; nor for the discussion of exclusive party politics."
As soon as a press could be secured from New York, the organization brought out the first newspaper in Oregon on Thursday, February 5, 1846. It was called The Oregon Spectator and had for its motto, "Westward the Star of Empire takes its Way." Its first editor was Colonel William G. T'Vault, who was then Postmaster-General of the Provisional Government, and its first printer was John Fleming, who had immigrated to Oregon in 1844. T'Vault did not sit long in the editorial chair, for on April 16, 1846, the name of Henry A. G. Lee appeared as the editor. He had been the original choice of the Oregon Printing Association, but had wanted a salary of six hundred dollars, which was considered too exorbitant. Mr. Lee, a descendant of Richard Lee, of Virginia, did not preside over the editorial columns much longer than his predecessor, for he severed his relations with the issue of August 6, 1846. For two months following, John Fleming, the printer, was the editor of the paper.
Early in October, George L. Curry, who had come to the Territory of Oregon by way of the Cow Prick Canyon, took up the editorial reins and tried to direct the editorial policies with a "firm and consistent American tone." In his attempts to put his theories into practice he was severely handicapped by the seigniorship exercised by the Oregon Printing Association. So strained became the relations between the editor and publishers of the paper that Mr. Curry resigned in 1848. After leaving The Spectator, Mr. Curry decided to start a rival newspaper and accordingly bought about eighty pounds of type from the Catholic Missionaries. Having no press, and being unwilling to wait until one could be secured from the East, he constructed one of a rude sort chiefly out of wood and scrap iron. The type which he had purchased from the Catholic Missionaries, and which had been used to print religious tracts in French, had but few letter "w's." This obstacle was overcome by whittling a number out of hard wood. The typographical appearance of the paper printed with an occasional handmade "w" may well be imagined.
Curry's paper was called The Free Press and lasted until October, 1848, when it ceased publication, largely on account of the wild rush of subscribers to the mines in the Territory. Incidentally, it may be said that Curry was appointed Governor of the Territory of Oregon in 1854 and held that office until 1859. On January 1, 1861, he joined forces with S. J. McCormick, of The Portland Daily Advertiser, started on May 31, 1859. The first daily, however, was The Daily News, begun by S. A. English and W. B. Taylor, April 18, 1859, in Portland. After Curry left The Spectator, Aaron E. Wait, a native of Massachusetts, became the editor and on February 10, 1848, he enlarged the paper to twenty-four columns.
On September 7 it was necessary to suspend publication because its printer, John Fleming, had left for the mines. The paper appeared again, however, on October 12, with S. Bentley as printer and with the following note of apology:
The Spectator, after a temporary sickness, greets its patrons and hopes to serve them faithfully and, as heretofore, regularly. "That gold fever" which has swept about three thousand of the officers, lawyers, physicians, farmers, and mechanics of Oregon from the Plains of Oregon into the mines of California, took away our printer hence the temporary non-appearance of The Spectator.
Mr. Wait left The Spectator with the issue of February 22, 1849. Soon after the paper suspended publication for a time, but on October 4, 1849, the Reverend Wilson Blain, a Presbyterian clergyman, revived the paper. On April 18, 1850, Robert Moore became the owner of The Spectator, but he retained Blain as its editor.
On September 12, D. J. Schnebly became the editor and about a year later, on September 9, 1851, he became the owner. The Spectator frequently had trouble in getting a supply of white paper on which to print the news and had to change its size. In 1852 it became a distinctly political newspaper to plead the cause of the Whig Party. It failed to receive sufficient support and was compelled to suspend on March 16, 1852. Even after it was revived in August, 1853, the paper was not well supported and finally had to be sold to C. L. Goodrich in the latter part of 1854. With the permanent suspension of The Spectator in March, 1855, the history of the first paper in Oregon ends.
A month later, however, W. L. Adams, one of the pioneers of 1847, used the plant, starting The Oregon City Argus on April 21, 1855. According to the best information obtainable, this was the first real Republican paper, not only in Oregon, but also on the Pacific Coast. Mr. Adams, needing a printer, employed David W. Craig, who had been working on The Oregon Statesman. Starting in as a foreman, Mr. Craig became the owner of The Argus on April 16, 1859, but he retained his former employer as editor until October 24, 1863. On that date The Statesman and The Argus consolidated and continued publication under the name of The Statesman.
The Western Star was the fourth paper published in Oregon. This paper was first published at Milwaukie, on November 21, 1850, but in May, 1851, was moved to Portland. Here the name The Western Star was dropped and a new one, The Oregon Weekly Times, was selected for the issue of June 5, 1851.
The Weekly Oregonian, the fifth paper in Oregon, was started December 4, 1850, at Portland. Its press was purchased in 1852 by T. F. McElroy and J. W. Wiley, who took it to Olympia and on it printed The Columbian, the first paper north of the Columbia River. The first issue was dated Saturday, September 11, 1852. Six months later the editor told of his struggles as follows: "We commenced publication without a subscriber and without a dollar. Since that time we have kept 'batch,' done our own cooking and our own washing, our own mending, cut our own wood, made our own fires, washed our own dishes, swept out our own office, made up our own bed, and composed our own editorials out of the cases—writing paper being luxuries which we have been deprived of—and done our own press work. Now we have three hundred and fifty subscribers." Under such difficulties were some of the earlier papers on the Pacific Coast produced.
CATHOLIC AND MORMON PRESSES OF CALIFORNIA
Colton once asserted that the materials in his office had been used by a Roman Catholic monk in printing a few sectarian tracts; that the press was old enough to preserve as a curiosity, and that the types were all in pi and were so rusty that it was only by hard scouring that the letters could be made to show their faces. There were no rules or leads, and in their absence two or three sheets of tin were cut with the help of a jack-knife for substitutes. Fortunately, there was enough ink for the press, but unfortunately no paper. A supply of paper sent to California to be used to wrap cigars was purchased from a coaster, and on these sheets, not much larger than the commonsized foolscap, was printed the first issue of The Californian. One half of the paper was in English, the other in Spanish, and single copies sold for twelve and one half cents considered cheap at that. The first issue contained a declaration of war between the United States and Mexico with an account of a debate in the Senate.
The Californian after six months boasted that it had been able to meet expenses, but in spite of this assertion it was forced to move from Monterey to Yerba Buena, now San Francisco, where on May 22, 1847, it issued the first number of its second volume with Robert Semple as its sole publisher. Before this change of place of publication, another paper had already been started at Yerba Buena called The California Star, first issued on January 7, 1847. It was published by Samuel Brannan and edited by E. P. Jones. It was much better printed than The Californian, and in spite of the fact that its press was brought to California by the Mormons it announced that it would eschew sectarian discussions and confine itself strictly to the news. The Star was used extensively to boom California and extra editions were printed for circulation in other States.
The Star and The Californian were merged on January 4, 1849, into The Alta California.
PIONEERS OF MINNESOTA
The first newspaper in Minnesota was announced in its prospectus as The Epistle of St. Paul. When the paper appeared, however, it bore the name of The Minnesota Pioneer, and was published at St. Paul, April 28, 1849. It was a four-page, sixcolumn sheet for the first few months, but in October it was enlarged to seven columns. Its editor and owner was James M. Goodhue, a native of Hebron, New Hampshire. He has been aptly described as "the James Gordon Bennett of Minnesota."
The early issues were printed under difficulties. The only available printing-office was the basement of the only public house in St. Paul. The editor in describing his early experiences said that it was as open as a corn crib, and that the pigs in seeking shelter under the floor frequently jostled the loose boards on which rested the editorial chair of The Minnesota Pioneer.
Such editorial assertions as, "He stole into the Territory; He stole in the Territory, and then stole out of the Territory," got Goodhue into serious difficulties—difficulties out of which he escaped only with the help of his fist and a pistol. Like James Gordon Bennett, he published full accounts in The Pioneer. An editorial tribute published in The Pioneer on September 1, 1853, says of Goodhue, "Many of his editorials would have done no discredit to The New York Herald in its most palmy days." Goodhue died on August 27, 1852. His successor was Joseph R. Brown.
Other early papers of Minnesota may be briefly mentioned. The second was The Minnesota Chronicle, first published May 31, 1849, at St. Paul, with James Hughes, a former resident of Ohio, as its editor and proprietor. It was a Whig paper of the same size of The Minnesota Pioneer. The third paper, The Minnesota Register, had its first issue in St. Paul on July 14, 1849, though an earlier number had been printed in Cincinnati, Ohio, dated Saturday, April 27, 1849, and had been sent by steamboat to St. Paul for distribution. A monthly missionary sheet was the fourth paper: printed half in English and half in the Dakota language, it was called The Dakota Friend. Goodhue made an interesting comment in his paper on March 6, 1851, when he said, "The little press at The Chronicle office has been horribly twisted and distorted by printing the crooked Sioux dialect of The Friend." Colonel B. A. Robertson brought out the fifth paper, The Minnesota Democrat. In order to give the people of the other side a newspaper, Elmer Huyler, a tailor of St. Anthony,—now Minneapolis,—issued on May 31, 1851, The St. Anthony Express, the sixth newspaper. Other papers, arranged in the order of their establishment, were The Minnesotian, first published on September 17, 1851; The North Western Democrat, first published on July 13, 1853; The Minnesota Times, first published on May 15, 1854; The Minnesota Republican, first published on October 5, 1854; The St. Paul Financier and Real Estate Advertiser, first published on November 3, 1854. The papers just mentioned make the first eleven newspapers to be published in Minnesota. Of these, only The Minnesota Pioneer now survives and even that paper has undergone so many changes that it now bears the title of The Dispatch Pioneer Press.
AN OASIS OF JOUENALISM IN UTAH
When the Mormons were expelled from Nauvoo in 1846, they gathered on the banks of the Missouri River near a point where Council Bluffs now stands. From here various bands were dispatched to the Rocky Mountains; one of the earliest of these to leave had a wagon loaded with an old Ramage press, a supply of paper, and a few fonts of type. This outfit was hauled across the plains from the Missouri River to the Salt Lake Valley, a distance of over one thousand miles, by team. Upon its arrival at Salt Lake City, preparations were made for printing The Deseret News, to be the official organ of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints—familiarly known as the Mormon Church.
Brigham Young appointed William Richards as editor, Horace K. Whitney as typesetter, and his nephew, Brigham H. Young, as pressman. The first number appeared on June 15, 1850. Its motto was, "Truth and Liberty," and its price, fifteen cents per copy. Travelers and immigrants were charged twenty-five cents per copy, but this amount included the notice of their names, place of residence, and time of arrival and leaving. The setting-up of a newspaper plant in the wilds of the Rockies, nearly a thousand miles from civilization, before Denver, Omaha, or Kansas City was on the map, and when San Francisco was only a cluster of Mexican shanties, may be taken as a splendid illustration of that spirit which animated the early Mormon pioneers.
Naturally, grave difficulties were encountered in publishing a paper under the conditions just outlined. Currency was scarce, but The News accepted "flour, wheat, corn meal, butter, tea, tallow, and pork" in exchange for subscriptions. For years it made its own supply of paper from rags gathered in the early settlements of Utah. Most of its foreign news was obtained from Eastern papers brought by chance visitors on their way to the California gold fields. Not infrequently it apologized for absence of such items with a note like the following: "From all the immigrants we were not able to obtain one whole paper: they were all wet, damaged or destroyed on the way." In local news it was more fortunate, for at the same time that Brigham Young established The News he founded a university, a theatrical association, and an instrumental and vocal society which flourished and spread and from which grew the University of Utah, the famous Salt Lake Theater, and the noted Tabernacle Choir of the present time. The doings of these enterprises filled many a column of The News.
The News has been continually printed at Salt Lake City, except during "The Utah War" of 1857-58 when the Governor sent an expedition to that Territory to quell the so-called "Mormon Insurrection." The Mormons moved a second time before the advance of the army, but they always took their newspaper plant with them. The press was installed in a special wagon and wherever the company camped there appeared The News. Its longest temporary stop was at Fillmore City, where the first issue dated at that place appeared on May 5, 1858. The News was printed as a weekly and later as a semi-weekly until 1867, when it came out daily. The News to-day presents a striking contrast to the little pamphlet sheet issued in 1850.
The Daily Telegraph was started in Salt Lake City on July 4, 1864. Five years later it was moved to Ogden, but was discontinued the same year (1869).
When the Pony Express reached Salt Lake City, journalism took a jump. The Mountaineer of that city on February 2, 1861, said: "We are favored by the Pony Club of this city with a copy of their telegraphic dispatches bringing dates from New York and Washington up to the 22nd ult."
A curiosity in Utah journalism was The Manti Herald, started on January 31, 1867, at Manti, Utah, by F. C. Robinson. This paper was printed entirely by hand and with pen and ink.
WHIG PAPERS OF WASHINGTON
The old-fashioned Ramage press, which had been used to print the first number of The Oregonian in Oregon and several early papers of the Pacific Coast, was the press on which was "pulled" the first newspaper in Washington—The Columbian. This paper appeared on September 11, 1852, at Olympia, and was edited and owned by J. W. Wiley and Thornton F. McElroy. In March of 1853, Wiley retired, but he again appeared as its editor on December 3. From the start Wiley advocated a separation from Oregon. Through the columns of his paper he arranged a meeting of the more prominent settlers to arrange for the organization of Washington as a territory. (See Oregon papers.)
The Columbian later became The Washington Pioneer, and with this change was made over into a radical Democratic journal. Because of its new political affiliation it became in February, 1854, The Pioneer and Democrat. It suspended in 1861.
The second paper, a Whig sheet, was started at Steilacoom on May 19, 1855, by William B. Affleck and E. T. Gunn. Called The Puget Sound Courier, it lasted about a year, but was revived however, in January, 1871, at Olympia where it became a daily in January, 1872. About two years later, December, 1874, the paper suspended for lack of support, but was revived again as The Daily Courier early in 1877.
These pioneer sheets of Washington frequently retailed at fabulous prices especially when they contained information about the discovery of gold in new fields. Occasionally copies of The Washington Pioneer or The Puget Sound Courier sold in San Francisco at five to ten dollars a copy. Sometimes the demand for papers was so great that their printers reproduced items about the discovery of gold on thin strips of paper: these news-strips brought just as high prices as complete copies of the paper.
EARLY NEWSPAPERS OF NEBRASKA
The first five papers in Nebraska were printed in Iowa. The first of these, and incidentally, the first printed in Nebraska, was The Nebraska Palladium. Number 1 was dated July 15, 1854, and was printed at St. Mary's, a hamlet just below Bellevue on the Iowa shore of the Missouri River. The first number to be printed in Nebraska was that of November 15, 1854. For the privilege of turning off the first number, E. N. Upjohn gave one dollar. From that date on until April 11, 1855, it was a distinctly Nebraska-made publication. While Thomas Morton was its publisher, Daniel Reed & Company were set down as editors and proprietors.
The second paper in Nebraska was The Omaha Arrow, dated at Nebraska City, but printed at Council Bluffs, Iowa. It first appeared July 28, 1854, and was discontinued December 29 of that year. Its publishers were J. W. Pattison and J. E. Johnson. The former of these is credited with the honor of being the editor, and doubtless was the author of the following introductory remark in the first issue of the paper: "Well, strangers, friends, patrons, and the good people generally, wherever in the wide world your lot may be cast, and in whatever clime this Arrow may reach you, here we are, upon Nebraska soil. Seated upon the stump of an ancient oak, which serves for the editorial chair, and the top of our badly abused beaver for a table, we purpose inditing a leader for The Omaha Arrow."
In spite of the fact that The Arrow was never printed in Nebraska, it attracted much attention from a contemporary press. In its eleventh issue it published five columns of notes about itself clipped from other newspapers.
On May 5, 1858, The Nebraska Republican, dated at Omaha, but printed at Council Bluffs, Iowa, appeared with E. F. Shneider and H. J. Brown as editors and publishers. In 1859 its name was changed to The Omaha Republican and E. D. Webster became its editor. The Nebraska News was originally printed in Sydney, Iowa, by Dr. Henry Bradford, but on November 14, 1854, it was removed to Nebraska City and published in the second story of the Block House of old Port Kearny. It was owned by the Nebraska City Town Site Company. Its editor was J. S. Morton, who had formerly been connected with The Detroit Free Press.
The Omaha Nebraskan first appeared on January 17, 1855, and was the first newspaper printed at Omaha. It was established by B. B. Chapman. The last issue was on June 15, 1865. The first regular daily was The Telegraph, which appeared on December 5, 1860, published simultaneously at Omaha and Council Bluffs. Its We was short, however; it did not last more than a year. On June 19, 1871, Edward Rosewater started The Bee at Omaha, Nebraska. The Herald had been begun in Omaha, October 2, 1865: it was purchased in 1888 by Gilbert M. Hitchcock.
DÉBUT IN SOUTH DAKOTA
The first newspaper published within the present boundaries of South Dakota was The Dakota Democrat, founded at Sioux Falls City, now Sioux Falls, September 20, 1858. Its owner and publisher was Samuel J. Albright. He published the paper, which was a four-page sheet with five columns to the page, rather irregularly until July 2, 1859. After that date he rarely skipped an issue until the autumn of 1860, when he turned the paper over to Mr. Stewart, who changed its name to The Northwestern Democrat. The reason for this change was that Albright took with him the original heading of the paper—The Democrat and the new owner was forced to use one which had been previously employed in printing a paper at Sergeant Bluffs, Iowa. When the Indian war broke out in 1862, the settlement of Sioux Falls was abandoned. In sacking the town the Indians destroyed the printing-plant, but carried away most of the type. After peace was declared the type came back again to the whites in the shape of ornaments used to decorate the pipes which the Indians fashioned out of the red pipe stone and sold to the settlers. The Dakota Democrat was "the official organ" of the Legislature which first convened at Sioux Falls, 1858-59.
The second paper, The Weekly Dakotaian, the oldest continuous newspaper in South Dakota, was established in Yankton, June 6, 1861, by Frank M. Ziebach. In March, 1862, it was sold to J. C. Trask, the first Public Printer. The daily edition was started April 26, 1875. William Kiter started The Pantegraph at Sioux Falls in February, 1872. This newspaper was printed on the cooperative plan and was published at irregular intervals until October, when it went into "winter headquarters." It was revived in April, 1873, and was again published with occasional interruptions until the spring of 1877 when the plant was closed by an order of the court. Later, the material of the plant was used in starting The Roscoe Express. Of the other early editors of The Pantegraph, mention may be made of F. D. Cowles, F. E. Everett, and W. S. Guild.
Another paper in Sioux Falls was The Independent, which was first issued on May 15, 1875, by Charles W. McDonald; on January 6, 1881, it was merged with The Dakota Pantegraph. Among those who edited the newspaper before this merger were E. A. Sherman, F. E. Everett, W. A. Williams, and L. C. Hitchcock. The Dakota Pantegraph was started in Sioux Falls in the spring of 1877 by G. M. Smith and M. Grigsby. The press and type used to bring out this paper had been formerly employed to get out The Era at Swan Lake. Grigsby continued as editor until April, 1878, when The Pantegraph was sold to Caldwell & Stahl.
Other early papers in South Dakota were The Dakota Union, established at Yankton, June 21, 1864, by George W. Kings- | bury; The Press, at Yankton, August 10, 1870, by George H. Hand; The Dell City Journal, established in 1871, was an interesting innovation in the journalism of South Dakota in that this newspaper was printed at Webster City, Iowa, but was issued at Dell Rapids, South Dakota, by J. C. Ervin; The Advocate, at Canton, April 26, 1876, by Skinner & Tallman; The Times, at Sioux Falls, November 15, 1878, by E. O. Kimberly and C. M. Morse; The Exponent, at Dell Rapids, February, 1879, by E. C. Whalen; The Centinel, at Madison, April, 1879, by J. H. Zane and F. L. Fifeld; The Leader, at Herman, June, 1879, by F. C. Stowe; The Beadle County Sentinel, at Huron, March 17, 1880, by John Cain. WRITTEN NEWSPAPERS OF NEVADA
Among the prospectors who hastened to Nevada after the discovery of gold and silver in that region was Joseph Webb. He was not successful prospecting and settled for a while at the Carson River Crossing where Dayton now stands. Gold had been found there in some quantities and then it became a station for immigrants along the trail on their way to California. Webb gathered up the gossip of the trail, supplemented by what news was told him by passersby, and then with pen and ink made a written newspaper which he sold to travelers, who paid for it with gold dust taken from Carson River with milk-pans and wash-basins. He called his written newspaper The Golden Switch. Unfortunately, but few copies of this written newspaper have survived. It was started some time in 1854 and lasted not later than 1858. At about the same time that Webb was getting out his sheet, Stephen A. Kensey was issuing a rival written newspaper called The Scorpion in the little village of Genoa at the eastern foot of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
The first printed newspaper, however, in Nevada was The Territorial Enterprise, issued November 18, 1858, at Genoa by Alfred Jones and W. L. Jernegan. On November 5, 1859, it was purchased by Jonathan Williams and J. B. Woolard, who took the paper to Carson City, the Capital of the Territory, and where later it was purchased by Joseph T. Goodman and Dennis E. McCarthy and again moved to Virginia City, where it became the mouthpiece for the mines of that place. Its fortune fared in direct ratio to the prosperity of the mining camps in that vicinity. The Enterprise lasted until May 30, 1916, when it was merged with The Virginia City Chronicle.
The Enterprise is best remembered as the paper on which Mark Twain worked. In response to a request to attend a reunion at Virginia City, Mr. Clemens wrote: "Those were the days those old ones. They will come no more. Youth will come no more. They were full to the brim with the wine of life. There have been no others like them. But I cannot come out. Would you like me to come out and cry? It would not become my white head. Good-bye. I drink to you all. Have a good time, take an old man's blessing."
After The Territorial Enterprise was moved from Carson City to Virginia City its place was almost immediately taken by The Silver Age. The new venture was successful almost from the start because it was favored by the Legislature in the matter of public printing.
The third paper in Carson City was started by W. W. Ross on July 27, 1863. It was called The Daily Independent and expired on October 11, 1864.
H. W. Johnson & Company had started The Daily Evening Post of Carson City on August 27, 1864. Its appearance had undoubtedly something to do with the death of The Daily Independent, because when the latter paper suspended publication The Evening Post became a morning paper. In January, 1865, it, too, suspended publication. The following December John C. Lewis, who had been editor of the morning edition of The Post, took the plant to Wasshoe City, where he started The Eastern Slope. Unsuccessful here, he moved the plant to Reno in July, 1868, where he printed The Crescent until 1875. He then sold the paper to J. C. Dow, who commenced The Daily Nevada Democrat, which later became The Reno Daily Record.
ARRIVAL IN ARIZONA
The first paper in Arizona, The Weekly Arizonian, was started at Tubac by Sylvester Moury in all probability on or near March 3, 1859. Number 20 of Volume I, the earliest known issue of this paper, was dated July 14 of that year. The press on which the paper was printed came around the Horn in 1858 and was brought from Guaymas to Tubac by wagon. In 1860 the paper was removed to Tucson where it was published by Jack Simms and George Smithson. It suspended publication in 1861. In advertising the sale of its plant, it included among the office equipment two derringers. This mention, brief as it is, showed a necessary adjunct, along with "shooting-irons," in the office of many of the Western papers. As a matter of fact, one reason for the suspension of the paper was the fact that its publishers were charged with a stage robbery and in resisting arrest one of them was killed.
In 1867 the paper was revived under its old name by W. S. Moury. Out of this paper grew the present Citizen of Tucson. Incidentally, it may be remarked that in the fall of 1879 the old press was taken to Tombstone, where it was used to print The Nugget, the first paper in that camp.
The second paper in Arizona was called The Miner and was started in Prescott on March 9, 1864, by John H. Marion. Interested in the enterprise was R. C. McCormick, the secretary of the Territory for that year. Beginning in 1866, Marion published The Daily Arizona Miner during the session of the Legislature.
The third paper was The Sentinel, started in Yuma in 1870. Among the most interesting of the early Arizona papers was The Epitaph, started on May 1, 1880, at Tombstone. Its founders were John P. Chun, the mayor and also the postmaster at Tucson, Charles D. Reppy, and Thomas Sorin. The name of the paper was suggested by John Hayes Hammond, who later became distinguished as one of the foremost mining engineers. He was dining, with the gentlemen who were about to start the paper, at the Can Can Restaurant. When he asked what the name was to be he was informed that no title had as yet been selected. Hammond, recalling a rather exciting adventure which had recently happened, suggested that in view of the character of the news the paper would probably print, there could be no more fitting title than The Epitaph. The title was thought very appropriate and was promptly adopted.
When The Epitaph was founded there were but six counties in the Territory of Arizona and but ten newspapers printed in the English language. These included The Nugget at Tombstone, The Record, The Citizen, and The Star at Tucson, The Silver Belt at Globe, The Salt River Herald and Territorial Expositor at Phœnix, The Enterprise and The Miner at Prescott, and The Sentinel at Yuma.
ROCKY MOUNTAIN PAPERS OF COLORADO
In Denver The Rocky Mountain News has the distinction of being the oldest paper in Colorado. Its first issue was April 23, 1859, in a struggling, home-seekers' settlement which had not yet a definite name. The discovery of placer gold some months earlier had made a settlement at the junction of the Platte River and Cherry Creek. On each bank of the river there was a rival town site, so that William N. Byers very wisely dated his paper as published at Cherry Creek, Denver Territory. The first issue of The Rocky Mountain News was printed on brown wrappingpaper. At the start it was published weekly, but later it became a daily. It has been published uninterrupted since its establishment, with a single exception in the early sixties when a flood in Cherry Creek wiped its plant out of existence.
The day The Rocky Mountain News started was one of the most exciting in frontier journalism. When the news of the discovery of gold in the "Pike's Peak Region" had reached as far east as the Missouri, it promptly started two small newspaper plants which had for their motto, figuratively speaking, "A newspaper near Pike's Peak, or bust." One left Omaha and was owned by William N. Byers, Thomas Gibson, and John L. Bailey; the other set out from St. Joseph, Missouri, and consisted of the outfit which John L. Merrick had purchased from The St. Joseph Gazette. Both outfits had to cross the plains by ox teams.
Merrick was the first to arrive. Nob knowing that competitors were on the way, he leisurely commenced preparing for the first issue of The Cherry Creek Pioneer. Ten days later the Omaha plant arrived and the competition for the honor of the first paper in Colorado began. The settlement offered a suitable prize to the winner and appointed a committee of citizens to referee the contest. Both The Rocky Mountain News and The Cherry Creek Pioneer announced their date of first publication April 23, 1859. At ten-thirty o'clock, on the evening of April 23, the first copy of The News, a four-page sheet, was pulled from the old Washington hand-press. Other copies soon circulated among the pioneers surrounding the log cabin print-shop. A little later The Pioneer also appeared on the streets. The decision of the committee, however, was that The News had won by twenty minutes.
Worn out by his efforts and depressed by defeat, Merrick the next morning offered to sell his plant to his rival upon terms which were later accepted. Merrick then set off for the mountains, not to hunt for news, but for gold. As the pioneer settlement grew into a larger town, The News always led in a movement for law and regulation. In his attempts to clear the town of its rougher element, Editor Byers often wrote his editorials and news with a rifle across his knee while armed men guarded his printers. For nineteen years Byers conducted The News.
Under difficulties seldom equaled, and never surpassed, he brought out his paper. When the Indian outbreak caused an embargo on traffic over the Western plains in 1864-65, he frequently ran out of white paper, and in such emergencies he printed the news on wrapping-paper, gathered from Denver stores. That he might have the news before the mails from the East arrived in Denver, he established an overland pony express. By means of a relay of horseback riders he had brought the news from the nearest express lines with a speed which to-day almost seems incredible. Of course, it was expensive to run such a private pony express, but The News in those days cost forty-four dollars a year and single copies sold for one dollar and twenty-five cents apiece. In 1878 the paper was sold to the Rocky Mountain News Printing Company, with W. A. H. Loveland as editor and principal owner.
Two papers were established in Denver in 1867: the first of these was The Daily Argus, begun on October 25; the second, The Rocky Mountain Star, begun on December 8. A third attempt was made by N. A. Baker, who, after bringing out a few issues of The Colorado Leader, left Denver, to go to Cheyenne, where he founded the first paper in Wyoming.
INFANCY OF IDAHO JOURNALISM
While there was a paper called The Golden Age, published at Lewiston, by Frank Kenyon in 1862, the first paper to be published in Idaho after the Territory was created on March 3, 1863, was The Boise News, started on September 30, 1863, at Bannock City now called Idaho City. It was published by T. J. and J. S. Butler. J. S. Butler had left Auburn, Oregon, in the fall of 1862 to look after a band of cattle in the Powder River Valley. Later, he organized a pack-train to take goods to Walla Walla, Washington, and still later he ran a pack-train to Bannock (now Idaho City), Idaho. At Walla Walla he met Major Reese, of The Walla Walla Watchman, who had just bought out a rival newspaper. The sale gave Butler an idea: realizing that a great many people were gathering in the Boise Basin, nearly three hundred miles from any newspaper, and that a great political campaign was approaching, he conceived the idea of starting a newspaper there. Purchasing the extra outfit from Major Reese, he sold his packing business and sent for his family and also his brother, T. S. Butler, who became the editor of the new paper. The outfit sold to Butler was far from being complete. He found it necessary to make composing-sticks from the tin of an old tobacco box: he improvised an imposing-stone by using a large slab split from a pine log, which he dressed off on one side, mounted on a frame, and covered with sheet iron: he chiseled a chase out of old horseshoe iron. In spite of such handicaps, however, The Boise News was a fairly creditable production. It was continued by the Butler brothers for about thirteen months, and often sold for two dollars and fifty cents a copy.
In addition to getting out The Boise News, the plant printed a campaign paper for each of the political parties. On October 29, 1864, the paper was sold to Street & Bowman, who changed the name of the paper to The Idaho World. Before The Boise News was started, Portland papers were sold extensively in Idaho by rival express companies.
The second paper in Idaho was The Union, edited by John Charleton, first issued in Idaho City October 8, 1863.
The third paper was The Idaho Daily Statesman, established on July 26, 1864, by James S. Reynolds and his brothers, T. S. and S. W. Reynolds. It has been run continuously ever since under that title.
BEGINNINGS IN MONTANA
Journalism in Montana began in the cellar of a log cabin at Virginia City on August 27, 1864, when John Buchanan brought out The Montana Post. He had brought a press and material from St. Louis to Fort Benton, only to locate, however, at Virginia City. After two issues of The Post he sold the paper to D. W. Tilton and Benjamin R. Dittes. The latter having secured complete control of the paper, took it to Helena, where in May, 1868, he again resumed publication. The reason for the change was that Virgina City was a placer camp, and after its mineral beds were exhausted the miners left the city and there was no longer need of a newspaper. On April 23, 1869, Helena was swept by fire, and from that time until June 11 of the same year The Post continued fco appear, but was unable to make any collections either for subscriptions or advertisements on account of the paralysis of business. On the date last mentioned The Post was compelled to suspend publication.
The second paper was The Montana Democrat, established in 1865 at Virginia City by John P. Bruce. In 1857 Kirk Anderson, reporter and correspondent for The Missouri Republican, had established a "Gentile" newspaper in Salt Lake City. After running the sheet for about a year and a half he returned to St. Louis after he had sold his printing-plant to Bruce. With this material Bruce started The Democrat, which became a daily in 1868. In 1865 T. J. Favorite, having removed the worn-out type and hand-press of The Radiator from Lewiston, Idaho, started in Helena The Montana Radiator on December 17, 1865, with Bruce Smith as editor. The Radiator continued until November 15, 1866, when it was bought by The Helena Herald, the third paper in Montana. That paper continued publication until December 27, 1902, when it became The Montana Daily Record. The Rocky Mountain Gazette was first issued on August 11, 1866. It was destroyed in the conflagration of 1874 and did not resume publication.
The Independent, which had been published originally in Deer Lodge, secured John H. Rogers as editor and then moved to Helena, where it is still published.
COMMENCEMENT IN WYOMING
Wyoming Territory, organized in May, 1869, was composed of land from three other territories, namely, Idaho, Utah, and Dakota. The first newspaper published in the boundaries of Wyoming was The Cheyenne Leader. It first appeared September 19, 1867, with N. A. Baker as editor and proprietor, from a primitive printing-office on the east side of Eddy Street. In truly primitive style Baker thus reported a wedding in the winter of 1867-68. "On the east half of the northwest quarter of section twenty-two (22), township twenty-one (21), north of range eleven (11), in an open sleigh, and under an open and unclouded canopy, by the Rev. J. F. Mason, James B., only son of John Cox of Colorado, and Ellen C., eldest daughter of Major O. Harrington of Nebraska." Published tri-weekly, The Leader sold for twelve dollars a year, or fifteen cents a copy. Before coming to Cheyenne, Mr. Baker had made an unsuccessful attempt to establish The Colorado Leader at Denver in July, 1867.
In the spring of 1868 A. E. Slack started another Wyoming paper at South Pass under the name of The South Pass News, and in the fall of 1869 S. A. Bristol started The Wyoming Weekly Tribune at Cheyenne. The latter had a precarious life and only survived about five years.
In Laramie A. E. Slack brought out Volume I, Number 1, of The Independent on December 26, 1871. It continued publication in that city until March, 1876, when Mr. Slack moved his plant to Cheyenne and consolidated with The Daily News of that city under the name of The Cheyenne Sun. (The Cheyenne News had been started in 1874.) Later, The Sun united with The Leader and the union was known as The Sun-Leader. As time went on, The Sun set and left only The Leader. The paper is still published as The Leader at Cheyenne.
Two Wyoming papers of unusual importance must be noticed. The first was The Boomerang at Laramie, started on March 17, 1880, by Edgar Wilson Nye, and Bill Barrow's Budget at Douglas in 1886, by W. C. Barrow.
END OF BEGINNINGS
Colonel Clement A. Lounsberry was the founder of journalism in North Dakota, the last of the States and Territories to have a newspaper. On July 6, 1873, he established The Bismarck Tribune. His first issue was remarkable in that it contained an advertisement of every business establishment in Bismarck. In the fall of that year it was forced for a short time to print on wall-paper on account of a snow blockade. For the same reason the following winter the size was reduced from a seven to a four column sheet. The Bismarck Tribune had the usual experiences of frontier journalism, in that numerous gun and revolver shots were frequently heard in the establishment: once its local editor narrowly escaped a lynching. In 1878 Stanley Huntley and Marshall H. Jewell came from Chicago at the instance of Major Alonson W. Edwards, of The Fargo Republican, to establish an opposition paper to The Bismarck Tribune with the help of local Democrats. Dennis Hannafin, a unique local character, who was known as "the Squatter Governor," gave a bonus of one hundred dollars. Lounsberry, being financially embarrassed at the time, sold The Tribune to a syndicate headed by the men just mentioned and as part payment took their notes. These were not paid on maturity and he again assumed control of The Tribune, but sold the job office to Mr. Jewell. In 1883 he took Mr. Jewell into partnership and established The Daily Tribune.
The second newspaper was The Fargo Express, first issued on January 1, 1874. It was published by The Fargo Publishing Company, consisting of A. J. Harwood, Gordon J. Keeney, Henry S. Back, Terence Martin, Jacob Lowell, and A. H. Moore. Harwood and Keeney were the editors and managers. W. G. Fargo, of New York, for whom Fargo was named, contributed five hundred dollars toward the establishment of the paper. About 1875 The Fargo Express was consolidated with The Fargo Mirror, established by A. J. Clarke in 1874, and The Glyndon Gazette (Minnesota), established by E. B. Chambers in 1872. The consolidation under the management of Chambers became The Fargo Times. Chambers sold the paper to E. D. Barker, who consolidated it with The Fargo Republican, established by Major A. W. Edwards and Dr. J. B. Hall in 1878. Still later, the paper united with The Fargo Forum, established November 17, 1894, by Major Edwards and Horatio C. Flummery.
The third newspaper was The Grand Forks Plaindealer, established in 1875 by George H. Walsh. Later, it was merged with The Grand Forks Herald, established in 1879 by George B. Winship.
The fourth paper was The Jamestown Alert, founded July 4, 1878, by Edward H. and Clarence E. Foster. On October 17, 1879, it was sold to Marshall McClure. Under his editorship it became a daily February 14, 1881.