The Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society Part 30

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 a.s.sumed 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 Pa.s.s, 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 pa.s.sed 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 pa.s.sed 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 & Mitch.e.l.l. 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 circ.u.mstances 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 a.s.sociated Press evening franchise, which was its most valuable a.s.set.

In pa.s.sing, 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 a.s.sociated 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 a.s.sociated 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 a.s.sociated 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.

FOOTNOTES:

[41] The Ramage was so called because it was constructed by Adam Ramage, who went to Philadelphia about 1790, and is believed to have been the first press builder in America. For many years he constructed all the presses used in this country. The posts and cross-pieces of the larger sizes of his early presses were made of wood, and the bed, platen, tracks, springs, screw, lever, etc., of iron. The largest Ramage press I ever saw had a bed 22x32 inches, with platen 16x22 inches. This was used in printing the _Oregonian_ for the first four months of its life, December, 1850, to April, 1851, and required four impressions to perfect a paper--an impression for each page. Sixty to seventy perfect papers per hour was the limit of a pressman's capacity. During the summer of 1853 a wooden extension was added to the platen of the press by an Olympia (Wash.) mechanic, thus doubling its capacity. The extra strain upon the muscles of the pressman as a result of this enlargement caused the old machine to be dubbed a "man-killer."--GEORGE H. HIMES.

IN MEMORIAM OF WILLARD H. REES.

It is a labor of love to say that when the writer first met W. H. Rees in 1844, the latter was, for a man in his twenty-fifth year, in advance of his general surroundings. His intelligence and manner of telling what he knew on any subject drew men near his own age to him strongly. There were, I found on riper acquaintance, family reasons for part of this. His father (then a citizen of Hamilton County, Ohio), had been a member of the legislature of his native state of Delaware, and his mother had a place in the _literati_ of her day. The father was of Welsh stock, and judging by the son, an active, ardent member of the Whig party at the time. Willard and I were thrown together in the tide of emigration setting out from Saint Louis towards the rendezvous of proposed emigrants to Oregon. The boat we were on landed at Weston, and from thence we hired a team belonging to other emigrants to haul our effects, and we walked to Saint Joseph.

From thence Rees and I footed it ten miles higher up the Missouri to the camp of the emigrants under Gilliam's leadership. Learning there that a man living but three miles off needed two a.s.sistants to get his family and effects to Oregon, we were at his residence next morning as he rose from breakfast, and within five minutes were engaged to come to Oregon with him as his a.s.sistants. Within twenty-five minutes, mounted on a good horse, with gold coin to purchase breadstuffs for ten persons for three months' journey, Rees was on his way back to Saint Joe. He and I then began a year of such intimate relations to each other as leads me to say Capt. R. W. Morrison, our employer, made no mistake in trusting Mr. Rees with the most important acts in conducting his preparations for the journey to Oregon. When we effected a military organization for the trip, no mistake was made in the election of Rees as first sergeant, with the duties of adjutant.

And when, after arrival in Oregon, fifteen of us near the same age were employed logging and running Hunt's saw mill, on the Lower Columbia, Rees was easily our leader. Leaving that in June, 1845, and coming to Oregon City to vote, he still, without effort on his part, was by common consent in the first place. There were at Oregon City two young men I might claim as his peers at that date--Charles E.

Pickett and J. W. Nesmith. It was the former and Rees, I believe, who led to the formation of the first literary a.s.sociation. Mr. Pickett was at that time reader from the public news box. The contents were volunteer contributions, each writer choosing his subject, and of course extending from harmless fun to the most serious questions. This suggested the formation of the literary society, naturally.

J. W. Nesmith stood among the young men of 1843 immigration to Oregon as W. H. Rees stood among those of 1844. Both observers and helpers in the history being made, the former watching and partic.i.p.ating personally in almost every forward movement, the latter wielding perhaps a greater personal influence, but manifesting no ambition for personal advancement. Mr. Rees worked as a carpenter at Oregon City from June, 1845, to June, 1846 (the exact dates are not remembered), but between these dates had purchased a claim in the northern portion of Champoeg, [Marion] County. At the finishing of Doctor McLoughlin's flouring mill he with other American mechanics celebrated the occasion with a ball, which was attended by most of the leading people of parties having interest in the Oregon Boundary Question. Lieut. Wm.

Peel was there using his tongue, eyes and ears, we may suppose, to give reliable information in regard to Americans in Oregon to his father, then premier of the British Government. Lieutenant Peel was of the British navy, but not of the _Modeste_ whose officers generally were in company with him when mingling with Americans as on this occasion. There was no dancing going on. It was a time of social relaxation. Doctor Newell, a Rocky Mountain doctor, and a man of sterling good sense, had been giving his opinion of some of Peel's social behavior as not such as was beyond criticism among Americans.

Peel replied, "Well, Doctor, Americans believe in the rule of majorities, and I think the British are in a majority here." Mr.

Newell thought not. A Britisher will settle any question by a bet, and Mr. Peel offered the bet of a bottle of wine that a majority of those then present were for the British side of the Oregon Boundary Question. Doctor Newell took the bet. A count was made and Mr. Newell won. Peel on this, looking at a man across the mill floor, offered another bottle on that particular man fighting for the British side in the contingency of war over Oregon. William Penland, an Englishman, put the question: "Sir, which flag would you support in the event of war over Oregon?" Rees replied, "I fight under the Stars and Stripes, sir." Mr. Rees, no matter what his garb, was always comparatively neat, and might well be taken for a middle cla.s.s Welshman.

Newell and he already neighbors, from this time forward had a potent influence among the French-Canadian farmers. Both were admirers of Doctor McLoughlin, and Rees' influence was greatly enhanced by his taking the finishing of the Catholic Church at Saint Louis, and by writing brief tributes to their lives as they pa.s.sed to the other side. From his genial social nature it was easy for Mr. Rees to give these retired engagees of the Hudson Bay Company information as to what these newly formed relations to the United States Government required of them, in which he was aided by neighbors and friends--Doctor Newell and F. X. Mathieu. It was his pleasure and pastime to learn of the later life, death and burial in the French settlement of two of the gallant band, Philip Degrett and Francis Rivet, [The authoritative lists of the Lewis and Clark Company does not contain these two names.--ED.] who followed the lead of Lewis and Clark from the sources of the Columbia to the ocean in 1805, and to give to the historian a transcript of the first Catholic parish registry, including the names and ages of Gervais, Lucier, Cannon, Labonte, and Dubruil, who came with Hunt in 1811.

In 1847 Mr. Rees was elected as a colleague of his friend Dr. Newell.

Wm. H. Rector, A. Chamberlain and Anderson c.o.x being the other members representing Champoeg County in the lower house of the Oregon legislature. From the foregoing causes and his steady patriotism Mr.

Rees became a potent influence in sending young men from the French settlement to the fighting field in the Cayuse country on the Whitman ma.s.sacre, himself going as regimental commissary agent.

As the troops were retiring from the Cayuse country, gold was discovered in California and many of the soldiers were amongst the first to go to the mines, Willard H. Rees of the number. A larger proportion of the French half-breeds never returned than of the Americans, and from 1849 the Canadian settlement began to disintegrate. As the pioneer settlement died, Rees's ready pen gave them kindly notice. In the period between 1850 and 1860 he was watchful and active, but never for himself; being of Whig antecedents it was natural for him to help in the formation of the Union party, and that he did; also, being a leader in the formation of the Pioneer a.s.sociation, the pages of its annual publications will furnish the future historical gleaner many valuable points there inserted by the pen of Willard H. Rees.

The death of his body at 83 years is not reasonable cause of mourning; his nearest friends have had cause for sadness in the slow and gradual mental decay which was perceptible to them for many years before the final end. A change, slight and unperceived by ordinary observers, was noted by his intimate friends as far back as 1879, when a few lines in the annual address to the pioneers prepared by him but which he was unable to attend and deliver, and were well read by F. M.

Bewley, seemed unlike the Rees of 1859. Yet in that address he characteristically goes to the very beginning of social free and easy interchange of personal views on the life of the times of 1845-6. This early social life expressed itself through an organization called the Pioneer Lyceum and Literary Club, and he thus speaks of it: "The following are the names Charlie Pickett had on the membership roll.