By CLARENCE B. BAGLEY.
The trapper, the trader, the missionary, and the printer were the
pioneers of "Old Oregon," as the original territory lying between the
Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Ocean, and extending northward from
California to the British possessions may be properly called. A mere
handful of patriotic Americans founded a provisional government for
this vast wilderness in 1843, and the American Government enclosed it
safely in the national fold in 1846 by treaty with Great Britain, and
organized it into a territory August 14, 1848.
Those who are the leading spirits in the several historical societies
of the Northwest, and the writers of its history, realize the true
value to be placed upon the labors of the pioneer printers and
newspaper men of "Old Oregon." This expression is tautological. There
were no newspaper men who were not printers in the pioneer days.
It has been my good fortune, as child, boy, and man, to know nearly
all the old newspaper men of Oregon and Washington of that period by
sight, and to be on terms of friendship with most of them, as well as
most intimate with the majority. Among them were:
Ashael Bush, W. L. Adams, Thomas H. Pearne, T. J. Dryer, Harvey W.
Scott, H. L. Pittock, Beriah Brown, James O'Meara, W. Lair Hill, Wm.
G. T'Vault, Samuel A. Clarke, Mrs. Duniway, D. W. Craig, John
Atkinson, E. M. Waite, L. Samuels, John Burnett, J. M. Baltimore,
William Newell, P. B. Johnson, R. R. Rees, E. T. Gunn, Charles
Besserer, Eugene Semple, A. M. Poe, John Miller Murphy, Randall H.
Hewitt, L. G. Abbott, Thornton F. McElroy, James N. Gale, J. R.
Watson, David Higgins, Charles and Thomas W. Prosch, John F. Damon, D.
C. Ireland, Francis H. Cook, S. L. Maxwell, H. C. Patrick, R. F.
Radebaugh, and many of their contemporaries, as well as a host of
their successors.
Nearly all these were practical printers, and most of them skillful at
the case, capable of taking entire charge of the mechanical department
of the early day printing offices.
This training made them accurate in their literary work. While some of
them might not have been on intimate terms with the rules of grammar,
they made up for any such deficiency by untiring and conscientious
efforts to give their readers good newspapers, in the face of the
gravest difficulties. In the matter of politics full allowance had
ever to be made for the personal bias of the writer, but in the matter
of news, especially that of a local character, the most absolute
fidelity to the truth was ever maintained. No efforts were made for a
"good story" at the expense of truth. The head of the paper always had
a personal knowledge of the facts and usually prepared the account of
them. If he found he had made a mistake he usually corrected it in the
next issue, if it was of sufficient importance. For this reason the
writer of the present day who delves among the old newspaper files of
pioneer days, and even down to within twenty or twenty-five years ago,
can rely upon the fairness and truthfulness of their local columns.
They were all writing history but few of them realized it.
Life was too strenuous with the pioneers of the "forties" and
"fifties" for them to spend much time in keeping diaries or other
records of passing events. If they had done so, the unsettled
conditions under which they lived, the lack of substantial buildings,
the migration to new countries, and the rush to new mines, would have
resulted in the loss or destruction of most of such manuscripts.
Of the early Oregon papers, I doubt if more than two or three perfect
files exist. Of the early papers of Washington, not more than three or
four complete files remain of any of them. Of the first Seattle
papers, there is but one file. It I began collecting more than forty
years ago. How much care, then, should be exercised in gathering these
old papers from the garrets and the closets where they have lain fifty
years or more, perhaps--as well as to observe the most painstaking
care for their preservation.
When the missions among the Indians of Oregon were established by
Messrs. Whitman and Spalding in 1836, the First Native Church of
Honolulu decided to send to it a small printing press and some type
and material that had been in use for some time there in printing
spelling books and religious matter, thinking the work of the mission
in Oregon would be advanced by its aid.
Edwin O. Hall had been one of the printers of the Honolulu mission and
he was engaged to accompany the printing outfit to Oregon. With the
press, type, fixtures, a stock of paper and binding apparatus in his
charge he, accompanied by his wife, arrived at Vancouver, on the
Columbia River, early in the month of April, 1839. In a few days the
press and party started up the Columbia River in a canoe and reached
Wallula on the 30th. From there the press was sent on pack animals to
Lapwai, on the Clearwater River, not far from the present City of
Lewiston, Idaho, while the rest of the outfit and the party went on up
the river by canoe.
May 18, 1839, the first proof sheet in the original Oregon Territory
was struck off amid great rejoicing among the missionary party. A
large number of publications in the Flathead, Spokane, Cayuse, and Nez
Percé language was printed by the mission people. In fact, the press
was in use a great deal until in 1846, when Doctor Whitman sent it to
The Dalles, where it remained until after the Whitman massacre,
November 29-30, 1847.
In 1848 it was in use near Hillsboro, on Tualatin Plains, for several
months, where eight numbers of the _Oregon American and Evangelical
Unionist_ appeared, which was the third paper in chronological order.
By this time more modern presses, apparatus and types had reached
Oregon and the pioneer outfit was laid aside. Years later it came into
the possession of the Oregon Historical Society at Portland.
The _Oregon Spectator_ was the first newspaper in Old Oregon, and the
initial number appeared at Oregon City on Thursday, February 5, 1846.
A new plant had been procured for it in New York, whence it was sent
around "The Horn." Col. William G. T'Vault was its editor and John
Flemming the printer. This paper passed through many vicissitudes in
the ensuing years--numerous changes of editors and publishers with
frequent alterations in size, now larger and again smaller, until it
finally suspended in 1855.
The second paper was the _Oregon Free Press_, which appeared in March,
1848, under the control of George L. Curry, who later became Governor
of Oregon.
The fourth in order was the _Western Star_, first issued at Milwaukie
November 21, 1850, by Lot Whitcomb. At that time Milwaukie, on the
east side of the Willamette, a few miles above Portland, was a rival
of the latter place for commercial supremacy, but in May, 1851,
Milwaukie had fallen behind in the race, and the _Star_ was moved to
Portland, and its name changed to the _Oregon Weekly Times_. It lived
much longer than most of the early newspaper ventures of the
Northwest. Among its numerous editors were A. C. Gibbs, Governor of
Oregon during the Civil War period, and also W. Lair Hill, with whom
all lawyers of Oregon and Washington are familiar personally or by
reputation. He was the author of the well-known code of this state
bearing his name, and for a considerable period a resident of Seattle.
The fifth was the _Weekly Oregonian_ and the only one of all the
newspapers of Oregon and Washington appearing prior to 1860 to survive
with its original name and without periodical suspensions.
The _Oregonian_ had to struggle for existence during all its early
years. Rivals unnumbered went to the newspaper graveyard during the
succeeding quarter century. It is a conservative estimate to place the
aggregate at a $1,000,000 sunk during that period by ambitious
printers, dissatisfied politicians, and by corporations who could not
control its editorials, in the various attempts to break the
_Oregonian_ down. The most notable contest was between the _Oregonian_
and the _Bulletin_, when Ben. Holladay was the great magnate in
railroad and steamship affairs of the Northwest. He established, about
1872, a first-class newspaper and job printing office that cost not
less than $50,000. He employed the best newspaper talent he could
secure, and the _Bulletin_ at once became a dangerous rival for the
_Oregonian_, which had to depend solely on its own resources for its
support, while the weekly deficit in the _Bulletin_ office was made
good by a check from Ben. Holladay.
The _Oregonian_ had at that time about seven thousand subscribers at
$3 per year to its weekly paper, while the _Bulletin_ had only a few
hundred. The _Weekly Oregonian_ saved the day, and the _Bulletin_ died
the death. Its backer is reputed to have sunk not less than $100,000.
This left the _Oregonian_ master of the field, and it became the
overshadowing journalistic power of the Northwest until the great
dailies of Seattle forced it to the rear in the State of Washington.
Thomas J. Dryer was its first editor and A. M. Berry the first
printer. Henry L. Pittock became a printer in its office in November,
1853, and was admitted to partnership in 1856, and only four years
later became its sole owner. Mr. Harvey W. Scott went on its editorial
staff in May, 1865. In 1877 he bought an interest in the paper and
became editor-in-chief. He and Mr. Pittock still own the paper, and it
need not be added that it has made them immensely wealthy.
The _Daily Oregonian_ made its first appearance February 4, 1861. It
consisted of four pages, each page about 11½x18 inches, four columns
to the page.
March 26, 1851, the _Oregon Statesman_ was launched on the newspaper
sea at Salem, the state capital, with Joseph S. Smith at the helm. In
later years Smith went to Congress from that state and was always a
conspicuous figure in Democratic circles. In September, 1852, when we
arrived in Salem from across "the plains," Asahel Bush had become
owner and editor. He soon became public printer, then an exceedingly
profitable billet, and in six or eight years was quite wealthy. The
_Statesman_ was the leading Democratic journal for a long period and
wielded a powerful influence until Joseph Lane and the Democratic
party under him lost the state, when Abraham Lincoln was elected
President. After that its influence gradually declined. It underwent
the usual changes of ownership and temporary suspensions.
It will be difficult for the younger men in the newspaper offices of
today, with their many departments and special work, to realize the
many cares and duties devolving upon the pioneer newspaper men. The
successful one was a capable printer who could "set type," run a
press, make up the forms, make a roller, and wash it if need be. He
was editorial writer, local reporter, business manager, and mailing
clerk. A "job office" was usually a part of the printing establishment
and he, perforce, must be his own job printer and pressman as well.
During all the earlier years there were no telegraphic dispatches, the
"news" being selected from the weekly issues of the _Tribune_ or
_Herald_ of New York City, which came by mail steamer to the Isthmus
of Panama, thence across and by steamer to San Francisco, and thence
with the utmost irregularity by steamer to Portland, from there down
the Columbia and up the Cowlitz River and by pack animal or mud wagon
to Olympia.
Under all these adverse circumstances it is remarkable what good
newspapers were issued. They were usually on paper 24x36 inches in
size, which was about the limit for hand presses then in use. The
editorial matter was vigorous and able, the typography and presswork
equal to that of the present day, the selection of news and literary
matter unexceptionable. It is not a matter of surprise that men
capable of accomplishing such good work in the face of such
difficulties should have wielded a powerful influence in the pioneer
work of the territory.
Of the pioneer newspaper men of Oregon and Washington there are many
in Seattle. First in age and experience is Charles Prosch, with over
forty years to his credit. Rev. John F. Damon comes next in seniority
of service. Judge Orange Jacobs had much editorial experience in
Oregon before coming here. Henry G. Struve, Esq., was an editorial
writer for years prior to 1873, in Vancouver, Clarke County, and in
Olympia. Ex-Governor Semple spent many years in all kinds of newspaper
work in Oregon and Washington, beginning about 1870. Thomas W. Prosch
learned to be a printer as he learned to read on the _Herald_ at
Steilacoom and the _Tribune_ in Olympia. C. B. Bagley began newspaper
work in 1868 and continued it with little intermission for twenty
years. Samuel C. Crawford began as printer's devil for John Miller
Murphy on the Olympia _Standard_ thirty years or more ago. Beriah
Brown, the senior of them all, recently died here, and his son Berry
began "at the case" and other newspaper work as early as 1868.
The _Columbian_ was the "pioneer newspaper west of the mountains,
between the father of Oregon waters and Kamstkatka," as an editorial
paragraph in the first number puts it. Messrs. Wiley & McElroy
established it in Olympia September 11, 1852. Later its name was
changed to the _Pioneer_, and not long afterward it was merged with
the _Democrat_, a rival paper, under the name of _Pioneer and
Democrat_. From the above date Olympia has never been without one or
more weekly papers, and at times has enjoyed two daily papers at the
same time.
The _Puget Sound Courier_ was the pioneer paper at Steilacoom, which
was started by Affleck & Gunn, May 19, 1854. It was Whig in politics,
and as the population was overwhelmingly Democratic it soon died for
lack of sustenance.
Mr. Charles Prosch, the dean of newspaperdom on Puget Sound, whose
erect form and snow-white hair are familiar on the streets of Seattle,
published the _Puget Sound Herald_ at Steilacoom, beginning March 12,
1858, for about six years, and later other papers at Olympia.
The _Northern Light_ appeared at Whatcom in 1858, under the management
of W. Bausman & Co., during a few weeks of the height of the Fraser
River gold rush, but its light was soon snuffed out.
The _Port Townsend Register_ was started January 4, 1860, by a young
man named Travers Daniels, but the field was not an encouraging one,
and at the end of ten weeks he sold out to William T. Whitacre, who
kept it alive until August, when it suspended.
July 5 of the same year the _Northwest_ was started in Port Townsend
by E. S. Dyer, publisher, and John F. Damon, editor. Mr. Damon
continued with the paper until it suspended, before the second volume
was completed.
Rev. John F. Damon, the Congregational clergyman of Seattle, is too
widely known to require extended mention here.
The _Register_ was resuscitated late in 1860 and run a violent career
for several months, and later was followed by the _Message_, which ran
several years under different management.
In 1874 C. W. Philbrick purchased the press on which the last-named
paper was printed, changed the name to _Puget Sound Argus_, and
succeeded in placing it on a paying basis, a hitherto impossible
achievement in Port Townsend. In 1877 Philbrick, after accumulating
considerable property, sold the _Argus_ to Mr. Allen Weir.
July 29, 1861, the _Overland Press_ was started in Olympia. A short
time before the pony express had been put on the route between the
Missouri River and Sacramento, carrying the news and a few letters,
thus placing San Francisco and New York in communication with each
other in from ten to twelve days. This suggested the name of the
paper. It was enabled to give a brief summary of Eastern news only
three weeks old. Prior to this it had been from six weeks to three
months old when it reached Olympia.
The great Civil War had broken out only a few weeks earlier and the
manager of the _Press_ of Victoria, British Columbia, with commendable
business sagacity, determined to establish a paper in Olympia
containing the latest war news, and have it ready to distribute at all
Puget Sound ports and have a supply to distribute to its own readers
in Victoria and other parts of British Columbia on the arrival of the
weekly mail. The Eliza Anderson, then the crack steamer of Puget Sound
waters, made weekly trips, leaving Olympia early on Monday morning,
arriving at Seattle about 4 P. M., and at Victoria early Tuesday
morning. The paper at once became very popular and gained an immense
circulation for those days.
Early in the fourth volume its name was changed to the _Pacific
Tribune_. Randall H. Hewitt, now living in Los Angeles, owned and
published it for a time, when Charles Prosch acquired it and continued
its publication at Olympia until 1873. By this time his son, Thomas W.
Prosch, had manifested much newspaper ability and had become the owner
of the paper. He moved it to Tacoma, the new railroad town, that year
and continued there until the almost total death of the place forced
another move and he came to Seattle with it. In 1878 Thaddeus Hanford
bought it and merged it with the _Post-Intelligencer_. With but one
change of name it had lived about seventeen years, or longer than any
other of the early Washington papers, with one exception.
This exception was and is the _Washington Standard_ of Olympia, the
most notable instance of newspaper longevity, with the exception of
the _Oregonian_, in old Oregon. Its first number was largely written,
set up and printed by its founder, John Miller Murphy, and now, almost
forty-three years later, it is his proud boast that it has never
missed an issue, has never changed its name and that not a single one
of its weekly issues has failed to have more or less editorial matter
from his pen. It was "Union" in sentiment during the war of the
rebellion, but espoused the cause of Andrew Johnson in his contest
with a Republican Congress, and since then has always been
consistently Democratic. Mr. Murphy has always been too proud of his
independence to subordinate his will or the expressions of his journal
to the control of his party leaders, and has often refused preferment
at their hands on that account. He still superintends the mechanical
department of his office, as well as attending to his editorial
duties. He had achieved a competence but the panic of 1893 and the
ensuing period of financial depression made great inroads upon his
fortune, so that necessity compels him to remain in the harness,
though nearly a half century of continuous work has certainly earned
him rest.
The _Seattle Gazette_ was the name under which the first paper
published in Seattle appeared, dated December 11, 1863, nearly forty
years ago. It was edited, set up, published, and with the assistance
of an Indian for roller boy, printed by J. R. Watson. The office was
in the second story of one of Yesler's buildings, then standing near
the present north line of the Scandinavian Bank Building. The paper
consisted of four pages, the printed matter on each page measuring
9½x14½ inches. The type and other material were destroyed many years
ago, but the old Ramage[41] printing press is a relic highly prized at
the State University. The _Seattle Gazette_, _Puget Sound Gazette_,
and _Puget Sound Weekly_ continued nearly four years with frequent
changes in form and ownership.
Pioneer printers have taken a great deal of interest in regard to the
antecedents of this old press. Mr. George H. Himes was an Olympia boy,
who served his apprenticeship in the office of the _Washington
Standard_ under John Miller Murphy. From there he went to Portland and
in time "Himes the Printer" became a household word in Oregon and
Washington. He has of late years been prominent in the pioneer and
historical societies of Oregon. He has given much time to research
regarding this old press, and as a result gives it as his opinion that
it was first sent from New York to Mexico, thence to Monterey,
California, in 1834, where it was used by the Spanish governor for a
number of years in printing proclamations, etc., and on August 15,
1846, the _Californian_, the pioneer paper of California, was printed
on it. Late in 1846 it was sent from Monterey to San Francisco and
used in printing the _Star_, the first paper of that city, issued in
January, 1847. These two papers were combined at a later date, and in
the fall of 1848 the first number of the _Alta California_ was issued
from it. From San Francisco it went to Portland and the first number
of the _Oregonian_ was taken off it. In 1852 it and the old plant of
the _Oregonian_ was bought by Thornton F. McElroy and J. W. Wiley, who
brought it around on the schooner Mary Taylor to Olympia, where the
first number of the _Columbian_ was printed on it. In 1863 J. R.
Watson brought it to Seattle, and December 10th the first paper, the
Seattle _Gazette_, was printed on it. Again in 1865 S. L. Maxwell used
it to print the earlier numbers of the _Intelligencer_.
There seems to be no doubt that it was used to print the first
newspapers on the Pacific Coast, the first in Monterey, San Francisco,
Portland, Olympia, Seattle.
Although Seattle's first paper was of much more modest proportions
than any of its predecessors or contemporaries, it had the honor of
starting the first daily paper in the territory, which appeared April
23, 1866, and continued to August 11th of the same year.
The Western Union Telegraph line was completed to Seattle October 26,
1864, and at 4 P. M. of that date the _Gazette_ issued its "Citizen's
Dispatch," giving the first published dispatch coming by wire to this
place. It gave the Eastern war news to October 24th, from Kansas City
and from Chattanooga of the operations of Sherman against Hood in the
Atlanta campaign.
Occasionally telegraphic dispatches appeared in succeeding papers, but
not until about July 1, 1872, when the _Puget Sound Dispatch_ was
established by Larrabee & Co., Beriah Brown, editor, was any regular
publication of the press dispatches undertaken here.
In June, 1867, a suspension took place, and August 5th next S. L.
Maxwell sent to press the first number of the _Weekly Intelligencer_.
The plant had come into the ownership of Messrs. Daniel and C. B.
Bagley, and Mr. Maxwell was permitted to use the same and pay for it
as he could out of the earnings of the paper. The type, rules, press,
and much of the advertising matter of the older paper, still standing
in the forms, was used in the makeup of the new paper, so that it may
properly be considered a lineal successor of the _Seattle Gazette_.
Mr. Maxwell proved to be a good newspaper and business man, and as the
town and surrounding country was having a vigorous growth, it did not
take him long to pay off the small debt and to add much needed
material to the office, which was moved across Yesler Way to a small
wooden building, and, later, up Yesler Way to near the southwest
corner of Second Avenue South. It gained influence as it grew, made
money for its owner almost from the start, and had the local field to
itself until the _Dispatch_ was started.
In the latter part of 1878 some of the prominent local office-holders
and business men organized a company to start another paper, and
November 21, 1878, the _Seattle Weekly Post_ made its first
appearance, being made up from the _Daily Post_, which started on the
15th of the month. Its first quarters were in the two-story wooden
building owned by Hillory Butler that stood on the ground now occupied
by the southwest corner of the Hotel Butler. In passing it may be
added that this building was, from time to time, the home of more
early papers than any other in town--_Dispatch_, _North Pacific
Rural_, _Chronicle_, _Post_, _Times_, _Press_, and others with single
and hyphenated titles long since forgotten.
In the meantime the _Intelligencer_ had been installed in a larger
two-story building then standing on the west side of First Avenue
where it deflects into First Avenue South, and remained there several
years.
About 1879 Thomas W. Prosch and Samuel L. Crawford had acquired
ownership of it. Both had been printers from boyhood, and Mr. Prosch
had gained much experience as a newspaper man in Olympia and Tacoma,
and under their management it continued to grow in value and
influence.
In 1881 the Post Publishing Company began the erection of a
substantial brick building, two stories and basement on the northeast
corner of Yesler Way and Post Street. As it was nearing completion
negotiations were opened for a consolidation of the _Post_ and
_Intelligencer_, and this was effected October 1, 1881, with Thomas W.
Prosch owner of one half and John Leary and George W. Harris each one
quarter. The basement and lower story of the new building were used by
the company and the upper story rented for offices.
This building continued to be the home of the paper under several
managements, until the great fire of June 6, 1889, destroyed it and
most of its plant.
Early in 1886 a joint stock company, consisting of Frederick J. Grant,
C. B. Bagley, Griffith Davies, Jacob Furth, John H. McGraw, E. S.
Ingraham, W. H. Hughes, Thomas Burke, and Dr. Thomas T. Miner, bought
the _Post-Intelligencer_ from T. W. Prosch. Grant continued
editor-in-chief, Bagley was business manager, S. L. Crawford city
editor and reporter, and E. S. Meany had charge of the carrier
service.
Near the close of the same year L. S. J. Hunt purchased the
controlling interest in the paper and assumed management at once. He
had come to Seattle with large financial backing, determined to go
into the newspaper field, and the majority of the stockholders,
fearing he might establish another paper and make it a powerful rival,
sold him their interests. He proceeded to spend money most lavishly
upon it and soon built it up into a great paper.
In May, 1871, a small printing outfit that had been in use at Sitka,
Alaska, was brought to Seattle, and for a few months the _Seattle
Times and Alaska Herald_ was printed from it.
Later this material became the nucleus of the office of the _Puget
Sound Dispatch_, which was established by Beriah Brown and Charles H.
Larrabee. The latter was then a prominent attorney in Seattle. He was
among the killed at the time of an appalling tragedy at Tehachipe
Pass, on the line of the Southern Pacific, between Los Angeles and San
Francisco. He soon retired from the paper, leaving Beriah Brown in
sole control, which he retained with an occasional intermission until
about 1878, when it was merged with the _Intelligencer_.
Mr. Brown was one of the old school newspapermen, who were writers of
editorials worthy of the greatest papers of the United States. He was
a friend of Horace Greeley, the elder Bennett and others of the noted
editors of a half century ago. He rarely wrote anything for his own
paper. His custom was to go to the case and put his articles in type
as he composed them. Few can realize the difficulties occasioned by
the dual processes of thought thus brought into play. Local news is
the life of all newspapers in young communities. This he could not
purvey, nor was his business management a success.
Thaddeus Hanford, the eldest of the brothers of that name, in his
early boyhood showed ability as a writer and after he had passed
through college with honor he returned to Seattle and engaged in
newspaper work. For a year or more he was the owner of the
_Intelligencer_, but sold it about 1879 as is noted elsewhere.
One of the most widely known as well as popular of the old-time
newspaper men was E. T. Gunn. He worked in the _Oregonian_ office as
early as 1851 and was one of its owners for a time. In 1855 he was
engaged in newspaper work at Steilacoom. November 30, 1867, he started
the _Olympia Transcript_ and its publication was continued regularly
until his death in 1883. The _Transcript_ was the neatest and
best-printed of all the early papers and for many years exerted much
influence in political affairs of the territory. A split in the
Republican party occurred in 1867 and was the cause of the
_Transcript_ being started, and for about six years while this schism
continued it championed the cause of the "bolting wing" of the party.
In 1872 an alliance between the bolters and the Democrats resulted in
the overwhelming triumph of the fusion party, Judge O. B. McFadden
being elected to Congress over Selucius Garfield, the Republican
candidate. All the newspapers in Olympia were in sympathy with the
fusionists, and this led to the organization of a company which
established the _Puget Sound Courier_.
This company was under the leadership of Elisha P. Ferry, then
Surveyor-General, who became Territorial Governor in 1873, and the
first Governor of the State of Washington in 1889.
The _Daily Courier_ made its first appearance January 2, 1872, and
the weekly later in the week. During that year H. G. Struve, then
practicing his profession in Olympia, did much editorial work, while
the late Fred Prosch had charge of the mechanical department. In
December C. B. Bagley became business manager and city editor, and in
June, 1873, he bought the office and newspaper. The daily was
discontinued at the close of 1874. Mr. Bagley was appointed
Territorial Printer in 1873, and held that position for ten years. He
continued the _Weekly Courier_ until late in 1884, when he sold out to
Thomas H. Cavanaugh, who changed the name of the paper to the
_Partisan_.
During the period between 1873 and 1883 Olympia had four weekly
newspapers most of the time, while several small dailies appeared from
time to time, but never for more than a few months. Until the Seattle
papers began to take telegraphic dispatches the Olympia papers had
most of their circulation at Seattle and points further down Sound,
but this gradually ceased, and long before the admission of the state
their patronage had become almost wholly local in character.
Steilacoom, until about 1880, when Tacoma began its second growth, was
a favorite field for newspaper ventures. Mr. Charles Prosch held the
field there nearly six years, much longer than anyone else, and while
some of his early contemporaries manifested more vigor and
belligerency in their editorial columns, none of them gave so much
local news or possessed one half the literary merit of the _Herald_.
Francis H. Cook also moved from Olympia to Tacoma, with a newspaper
plant, on which he had for a time published the _Echo_. This paper was
started in 1868 by Randall H. Hewitt, and that year in its office the
writer began work as a printer. James E. Whitworth, now of Seattle,
Nathan S. Porter, of Olympia, and Ike M. Hall worked together in that
office. Hundreds of the older residents of Seattle remember Judge
Hall, who died here about ten years ago. Early in 1869 C. B. Bagley
became the owner and publisher of the _Echo_ for about a year. Like
most of its fellows, it underwent all manner of changes of ownership,
of form and place of publication during an erratic career of about
eight years.
During the eight or ten years following the founding of Tacoma in
1873, many attempts were made to establish newspapers there, but most
of them were far from profitable to their backers. In fact, it has
been frequently reported that their more pretentious successors have
not been far from financial stress.
The _Beacon_ was brought from Kalama by Mr. and Mrs. Mooney, which had
been the organ of the Northern Pacific Railroad. This soon died. In
1880 there started the _North Pacific Coast_, but its life was brief.
R. F. Radebaugh, of San Francisco, and H. C. Patrick, of Sacramento,
came to Tacoma and started the _Weekly Ledger_ April 23, 1880. April
7, 1883, the _Daily Ledger_ was started, and both the weekly and daily
are still appearing regularly, having long passed the usual period
that has been fatal to so many papers on Puget Sound.
Mr. Patrick left the _Ledger_ in 1882 and bought the _Pierce County
News_, which had been started August 10, 1881, by George W. Mattice.
Mr. Patrick changed the name to _Tacoma News_, and it appeared as a
weekly paper until September 15, 1883, when he started the _Daily
News_. It continues to occupy the evening field, while the _Ledger_
retains the morning field.
The limits of this article do not permit mention of many papers which
have appeared from time to time in every town and almost every
village. In the writer's collection there are not less than one
hundred publications, daily, weekly, or monthly, that have sprung
into life since 1852. Most of them are forgotten in the communities
where they appeared. Success has come to but here and there one.
Kirk C. Ward was a fluent writer and a promoter of no small sagacity.
Having lost control of the _Post_, he soon induced some friends to
back him and started the _Chronicle_. It had a variegated career and
finally became the property of one of the leading law firms of the
city, McNaught, Ferry, McNaught & Mitchell. They employed a Bohemian
from Kansas, named Frank C. Montgomery, as editor, who conducted it
until May 1, 1886, when Homer M. Hill, who is now engaged in other
business in Seattle, bought it.
The Hall brothers were conducting the _Call_ and the two papers were
consolidated, and on Monday, May 3, 1886, the paper came out with Vol.
1, No. 1 of the Seattle _Daily Press_. A weekly paper was also run in
connection with the daily. Mr. Hill ere long acquired the entire
ownership of the paper. He was a shrewd, capable business man of
untiring industry, and under his management the paper became a
valuable property. Interests in it had been sold and bought back from
time to time, and at the time Mr. Hill closed out his ownership Harry
White held some of its shares. At that time the paper was absolutely
free from debt and had a good bank account and was making money for
its owners.
Mr. W. E. Bailey, a wealthy young man from Philadelphia, had large
interests here, and he became the victim to an ambition to conduct a
big newspaper. Under these circumstances Mr. Hill had no difficulty in
getting his price for the _Press_. Mr. L. S. J. Hunt of the
_Post-Intelligencer_ conducted the negotiations and made the purchase
and at once transferred the property to Mr. Bailey. He made important
additions to the mechanical department and engaged a large news and
editorial force, whose chief instructions were to make a clean, live
newspaper.
At the time Mr. Hill bought the _Chronicle_ it owned the Associated
Press evening franchise, which was its most valuable asset.
In passing, it is proper to note the fact that the present _Times_ is
the lineal successor of the _Chronicle_, and while for a brief period
there was a break in the legal succession, it may be truthfully said
that the historical succession to the Associated Press franchise is
derived from the _Chronicle_ down through the _Press_ and the
_Press-Times_ to _The Times_ of to-day.
The consolidation of the _Chronicle_ and _Call_ threw a lot of
printers and newspaper men out of employment, including Thomas H.
Dempsey, the foreman of the _Chronicle_ office. The latter was a keen
business man and a competent printer. He and the late Col. George G.
Lyon and James P. Ferry at once organized a new company, and secured a
printing outfit that served their purpose temporarily. The same day,
May 3, 1886, that the _Press_ was issued, No. 1, Vol. 1 of the _Daily
Times_ also appeared. Seattle, then a little city of about 10,000
population, was thus the proud possessor of three daily papers.
The starting of these two papers just preceded the "boom" in Seattle
real estate, when the volume of advertising was vastly increased as
well as population of the city, and both papers made money rapidly.
February 10, 1891, Mr. Bailey bought the _Times_ from Lyon and
Dempsey, paying for it $48,000. He had paid somewhere from $20,000 to
$25,000 for the _Press_. He consolidated the two under the name of the
_Press-Times_.
The period of financial depression which followed a couple of years
later bore heavily upon Mr. Bailey and and he was finally compelled
to give up the paper to his creditors, having lost not less than
$200,000 during his journalistic career.
The history of its subsequent vicissitudes and difficulties would fill
a volume, but can be touched upon but briefly here. The paper was on
the market for a long time. John Collins had it for a time and sunk a
lot of money in it, having acquired it through a mortgage of $15,000.
John W. Pratt, whose recent lamented death is fresh in the memories of
a host of friends, secured control of it for a time. At times it was
published by a receiver. Hughes and Davies came into possession of it
through ex-Sheriff James Woolery, who had taken it over under the
mortgage given to John Collins.
During this troubled period among other happenings the name was
changed back to _The Times_, and also the Associated Press franchise
was surrendered and that of the United Service taken over. Later, and
subsequent to the mortgage of $15,000 given to John Collins, the
Associated Press franchise was again secured, and this was a vital
point in the legal contest that arose, The Times Printing Company,
headed by Col. A. J. Blethen on one side, and Hughes & Davies on the
other.
Colonel Blethen bought _The Times_ August 7, 1897, and his first
editorial appeared in it three days later. He came well equipped for
newspaper work and management by reason of wide experience in other
fields, and month by month he and his sons, Joseph and Clarence B.,
have made it better and better, and to-day is one of the most valuable
newspaper properties on the Pacific Coast and one of the great dailies
of the United States.