THE PRESS OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY

The newspapers of any region must always be given prominence in any history of it as being one of the great constructive forces as well as constituting the indispensable record of events. Besides these fundamental functions, there is usually found in connection with the press of a new region a group of men alive to the needs and opportunities and hence concerned in those varied interests which always take shape in new places. Add to this the fact that generally there are found among newspaper men odd, unique, and entertaining characters, and we evidently have all the material for one of the most interesting sections of any history. Walla Walla has had, even more than most places, several unique and marked personalities among her "knights of the quill." In dealing with them, as with other parts of this work, we feel regretfully the pressure of the inexorable limits of space and are compelled thereby to omit the portrayal of some of those amusing, odd, and racy characters and events which might enliven the sober pages of history.

We have had occasion to refer many times to the Statesman as authority for early events and have also said something of its first appearance and early management. Appearing under the names of Washington Statesman and Walla Walla Statesman, it continued for many years to fulfill its mission in the Walla Walla country and more than any other may be considered as the historic paper of this section. The Statesman had a kind of a double origin. For in September, 1861, two brothers, W. N. and R. B. Smith, set on foot an enterprise through the acquisition of an old press from the Oregon Statesman and sent it to Walla Walla. Rather curiously, apparently without knowledge of the other design, N. Northrop and R. R. Rees started a similar enterprise only two days later. They had obtained a press of the Oregonian, and it was doubtless the first press in the Inland Empire, after that used by Rev. H. M. Spalding at Lapwai. Discovering each other's plans the two parties speedily coalesced and began the publication of the Washington Statesman. The first issue appeared on November 29, 1861. The editors and proprietors are announced as N. Northrop, R. B. Smith and R. R. Rees. We have given in an earlier chapter copious extracts from the first number. Several numbers in April, 1862, were on brown and yellow paper, for which profuse apologies are offered. On May 10, the editor has the following quaint "kick": "Our patrons, in sending us gold dust on subscriptions, or otherwise, will confer an especial favor by making a proper allowance for the weight of the sand. We can't make those who buy the dust of us believe that the sand is as valuable as the gold; nor do we believe it, either. Besides, in disposing of the dust, we are compelled to see it 'blowed' and 'magnetized' until it is properly cleaned, and the result is that that which we receive for $5 sometimes dwindles down to $2.50."

By the retirement of Mr. Smith in January, 1862, and by the death of Mr. Northrop in February, 1863, the Statesman became the property of R. R. Rees, but in association with his brother, S. G. Rees, whose name appeared for the first time in the issue of October 11, 1862. In the number of May 9, 1863, the firm name appears as R. R. and S. G. Rees. In the number of September 2, 1864, the name Walla Walla Statesman was substituted for Washington Statesman, but without comment.

The firm name of R. R. and S. G. Rees was continued till November 10, 1865, when a notable change occurred. Wm. H. Newell became proprietor. In the paper of that date he makes his debut in an editorial which indicates his strong personality and his fine command of good English. It is a just tribute to Major Rees to say that his management of the Statesman, like that of the many other enterprises which made him one of the conspicuous figures in early Walla Walla, was broad, intelligent, and patriotic.

Mr. Newell was a character, bold, energetic, caustic, and as a writer, incisive and forceful. It is related that once having a joint debate with Judge Caton, he began by saying: "Fellow citizens, it is a disagreeable task to skin a skunk, but sometimes it has to be done. I am going to skin N. J. Caton." Judge Caton reached for his hip-pocket and the meeting broke up in a general row, though it does not appear that any one was seriously hurt. The Statesman under Mr. Newell was democratic in politics and during the embroglio between President Johnson and Congress it was an active supporter of the former. It is said by some that its attainment of the place of United States official paper in the territory was due to that support. In 1878, the Statesman became a daily, the first in the Inland Empire. But on November 13th, the active, scheming mind of the editor was stilled by death. After a month's interval, Frank J. Parker, a son-in-law of Newell, and himself as unique a character as the former editor, began his long career as a journalist. The daily was somewhat in advance of the times and was discontinued within a short period but in February, 1880, was again undertaken, not to be discontinued so long as the Statesman was a separate paper. Colonel Parker owned the Statesman till June, 1900, in which year it went into the hands of the Statesman Publishing Co., Dr. E. E. Fall being the leading member of the company.

During a large part of that portion of the career of the Statesman Walter Lingenfelder was editor in chief. He was a man of much journalistic ability, and later entered upon a brilliant literary career in New York.

The Walla Walla Union was the next newspaper to attain a permanent standing in Walla Walla. This was the uncompromising radical republican organ and was the natural counterpart of the Statesman. It was founded in 1868 by a group of strong supporters of Congress in the great reconstruction struggle then in progress.

The first number appeared on April 17, 1869. H. M. Judson was the editor, but the policy of the paper was under the control of a committee consisting of P. B. Johnson, E. C. Ross, and J. D. Cook. Within a short time R. M. Smith and E. L. Heriff became the owners of the paper and E. C. Ross became editor. In 1878 Capt. P. B. Johnson succeeded Mr. Ross as editor, and with his entrance into the field of journalism there began one of the most forceful and influential careers in the journalism of Walla Walla. Captain Johnson was a man of intense and dominating personality and possessed much ability with the pen. His politics were those of the stalwart republicans. He had been a soldier and officer of the Civil war, and the great conflict had so burned its traces upon his mind that it was difficult for him to think in terms of patience of any other policies than those which had saved the Union and freed the slave. He acquired the property control of the Union and until 1890 was sole owner and proprietor. In that year he disposed of his interest to Charles Besserer, who had for some time been publishing the Walla Walla Journal. And as soon as we name Charles Besserer old-timers will at once recognize the fact that we have arrived at the uniquest of the uniques. Nature broke her mold at that point and never made another of the same kind. German by birth, though as he once told the author, of Spanish origin, well educated in his home land, a soldier in the Crimea, in the Civil war in this country, and in various Indian wars, fulfilling at various times the functions of manager of a bakery, a distillery, and a hotel, a postmaster, a justice of the peace, a sheep man, a farmer, and finally an editor, Mr. Besserer maintained under all circumstances his characteristic self. He wielded a trenchant pen and though his obituaries were sometimes of a type to add pangs to the thought of approaching death on the part of citizens of old Walla Walla, he had a high conception of the responsibilities of journalism and of the requisites of a well managed newspaper. In 1896 the ownership of the Union passed from Mr. Besserer to Herbert Gregg and Harry Kelso. It was conducted by them as a bed-rock republican paper and disposed of three years later to J. G. Frankland, Lloyd Armstrong and Bert La Due. After conducting the paper with success for a year the firm disposed of it to a group of leading republicans, among whom was D. B. Crocker. J. Howard Watson, well known over the state as a brilliant writer, for some time a correspondent of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, was installed as editor in 1900 and held his place with conspicuous editorial ability until failing health compelled him to retire. He made his home for a time on a beautiful place on Lake Chelan, but finally succumbed to an untimely death from tuberculosis. Mr. Watson was succeeded in 1902 by A. F. Statter, a man of many accomplishments, who conducted the Union with great ability for several years and then became private secretary to Sen. Levi Ankeny, from which post he attained a national position, becoming assistant secretary of the treasury in 1907. Eugene Lorton followed Mr. Statter as managing editor in September, 1903. In 1907 a marked change occurred in the status of Walla Walla newspapers, for in that year the Union and Statesman were brought under the one control and ownership of the Washington Printing and Book Publishing Co., with Percy C. Holland, who had been for some time connected with the Union, as manager. For sometime after the merger, Carl Roe acted as editor of the Union, which continued as a morning paper, while the Statesman, still an evening paper, was edited by Seth Maxwell. During several years following Dr. E. E. Fall became one of the chief owners and the manager of the Union, and there were a number of editorial writers and city editors of variable and some of them of transient careers. Among them was Walter Lingenfelder already mentioned in connection with the Statesman, who has become prominent in the East; Scott Henderson, who subsequently became assistant attorney-general of the state; Wm. Guion, who was known as a capable editor and brilliant writer, and Harold Ellis, now city editor of the Bulletin. While those changes were in progress, a new afternoon daily, destined to be a great factor in subsequent journalistic history, had been launched by Eugene Lorton. This was the Walla Walla Bulletin, and its first number appeared on February 12, 1906. Another stage of importance occurred in 1910. In that year the publication of the Statesman was discontinued. That pioneer paper, a monument to the enterprise and capacity of Major Rees, and later of W. H. Newell and Colonel Parker, having had many ups and downs, but entitled to the leading place among the journals of the Inland Empire, thus closed its career after forty-nine years of active participation in the foundation period of Walla Walla.

Dr. E. E. Fall still continued as manager of the Union, but in December, 1912, he disposed of his interests to Berton La Due and D, W. Ift, while John H. McDonald acquired the ownership of Mr. Ankeny's share of the paper. In 1916 Mr. McDonald disposed of his share in the company to E. G. Robb. At the date of this publication the Union is therefore the property of Messrs. La Due, Ift, and Robb. Of the many who have been connected with the Union it may be said that Mr. La Due is the dean in service, having been connected with it for eighteen years. Most of the others have had brief tenures. The Washington Printing and Book Publishing Company are not only providing a first-class newspaper in the Union, but do an immense printing business of the best grade.

The Walla Walla Bulletin, founded, as we have seen, by Eugene Lorton in 1906, was acquired by John G. Kelly, formerly of Omaha, Neb., on February 1, 1910. Under his management the Bulletin has become one of the successful and influential daily newspapers of the Northwest. It is an independent newspaper. It has always stood for definite purposes and for the advancement of the general good as against special interests. It has been the leader in many movements for public betterment, notably the commission form of city government for Walla Walla, adopted in 1911, and for state-wide prohibition, which attained a sweeping triumph in both 1914 and 1916. The Bulletin appears every afternoon except Sunday and has the full leased wire reports of the Associated Press. The Sunday morning edition has the full leased wire report of the United Press Association. The independent policy of the Bulletin backed up by its superior news including telegraph, local news and correspondence from nearby towns, together with a splendid distribution service, has brought to it the largest circulation of any publication in Southeastern Washington and Northeastern Oregon. The Bulletin has a strictly modern mechanical plant. A site for a permanent home has been secured at the northwest corner of First and Poplar streets and there a first class modern newspaper building will soon be erected.

The Statesman, the Union, and the Bulletin may be regarded as the leading general newspapers of Walla Walla. But a number of others have been founded with more specialized aims which have played important parts for comparatively limited time, yet are well worthy of a place in a historical record. A brief item about each of these is due to history.

The Spirit of the West was founded by J. M. Ragsdale in 1872. Charles Humphries assisted as editorial writer. He was succeeded in turn by L. K. Grimm and Charles Besserer. Mr. Besserer becoming owner in 1877 changed the name. to Walla Walla Watchman, to be changed in turn to Walla Walla Journal. The Journal in time, as already noted, became merged with the Union, and for a time the paper, known as the Union-Journal, was under the ownership of Mr. Besserer.

Mr. M. C. Harris was for a time concerned in newspaper ventures, publishing the Morning Journal in 1881 and the Daily Events in 1882. In the latter year also appeared the Washingtonian, published by W. L. Black, an accomplished writer, who also conducted Town Talk.

In April, 1894, W. F. Brock started the Garden City Gazette and in the next year J. J. Schick brought out the Watchman. In the Garden City Gazette Mr. Brock undertook the establishment of a distinctively local and social department, which Mr. Schick carried on into the Watchman. In 1900 the owners of the Union, Messrs. La Due, Frankland, and Armstrong, acquired the plant of the Gazette and the Watchman and continued the publication under the name of the Saturday Record.

In 1898 Walter Lingenfelder and C. H. Goddard started the Argus. This paper had the avowed aim of exposing abuses and humbugs and grafts, and fulfilled its mission by causing cold chills on the part of many who were conscious of belonging in those categories. It became ultimately the sole property of Mr. Lingenfelder, but he left it to become associated with Doctor Fall in the Union.

In 1900 A. H. Harris brought out an excellent monthly, maintained for several years, known as the Inland Empire.

In 1916 there was founded at Walla Walla, as a democratic campaign advocate for the re-election of President Wilson and Governor Lister, the Walla Walla Democrat. The managers were Charles Hill and Ernest W. Lanier. Russell Blankenship and W. D. Lyman were regular editorial contributors during the campaign. The triumph of the cause in the election of both the democratic President and democratic governor was a sufficient encouragement to Mr. Lanier to maintain the publication, and it is accordingly continued with vigor and success. At the present date Mr. Fred H. Butcher is associated with Mr. Lanier in the ownership and management of the Democrat. They maintain a well equipped printing establishment, in which they make a specialty of embossed printing.

The first issue of the Garden City Monitor (weekly) was dated October 10, 1908. This paper was established by Jesse Ferney to represent the interests of union labor in Walla Walla and Southeastern Washington. It has been the official organ of the Walla Walla Trades and Labor Council since its inception. In 1910 L. F. Clarke purchased a half interest in the paper. Ferney & Clarke, the publishers, have endeavored to make the paper progressive yet represent the conservative rather than the radical forces of union labor. A feature of the publication is an illustrated annual edition appearing on Friday before Labor Day each year.

One of the notable publications of Walla Walla, filling a field not occupied by any other, is the monthly Up-To-The Times Magazine. This valuable publication was founded in November, 1906, by R. C. MacLeod, and he has been editor and manager to the present date. Mr. MacLeod is entitled to great credit for his faith in the appreciation of a community which ordinarily would hardly be regarded as possessing sufficient population to justify a monthly magazine.

The aim of the magazine is to secure greater efficiency in education, agriculture, commercial, and industrial life. It also maintains a department devoted to historical and pioneer subjects. Today, the magazine, independent of any subsidy from any source, is the only publication of its kind in the interior Northwest. Its success has been due to the steady maintainance of high literary as well as business ideals.

The importance of Up-To-The-Times as a publication may be inferred from the fact that it has paid for printing to one firm of Walla Walla printers the sum of $40,000, and that its half tone cuts of local scenes and industrial and agricultural life have called for an expenditure with a Spokane engraving house of $5,000. The cuts accumulated during the years of its existence constitute by far the most extensive and valuable collection of pictorial matter in this section of the state.

The field of Up-To-The Times is some eight counties of Washington and Oregon, but it may be noted that it has subscribers and readers in many other parts of the United States and Europe. The staff of the magazine at the present date consists of Mr. MacLeod as editor and manager, and A. F. Alexander, as secretary and circulation manager. There are a number of regular correspondents and contributors in Walla Walla and elsewhere.

In addition to the publications in Walla Walla City, this is the proper place to name the pioneer papers of the other towns of the old county. We turn first of all to Waitsburg in respect to its leading paper.

WAITSBURG TIMES

This has been the leading paper and most of the time the only paper of Waitsburg for a period of thirty-nine years. This paper originated in a joint-stock company formed in 1878, a number of local business men feeling that the little community should have a weekly spokesman. The first editor was B. L. Land and the first issue appeared in March, 1878. A few months later the plant was leased to D. G. Edwards, and later to J. C. Swash. The following year C. W. Wheeler was induced to lease the plant and he liked the work so well that the next year—1880—he purchased the property from the stockholders. Under the influence of C. W. Wheeler the Times became an influence in the community and in Walla Walla and Columbia counties. The paper continued under the management of Mr. Wheeler until 1900 when he leased the plant to two of his sons—E. L. and Guy Wheeler—so that he might enjoy a well-earned rest from the grind of newspaper work and take up the work of traveling lecturer for the Woodmen of the World fraternity, that he might be able to fulfill his desire to travel in the West extensively. These two sons having been practically raised in a printing office, were able to take entire charge of the paper. A couple of years later E. L. Wheeler, the older son, purchased the paper and plant from his father, and has been sole editor and proprietor since.

The Times boasts of one of the finest country plants in the state at the present time, owning its brick building and being equipped with modern presses, two magazine intertype type-casting machines, electric and water power and all other conveniences of present day journalism.

Not since the day that C. W. Wheeler took charge of the paper has the Times missed an issue.

In politics the Times is republican.

There was published for a short time in Waitsburg a democratic weekly, the Gazette. Its first issue appeared on June 29, 1899. R. V. Hutchins was proprietor and editor. In the next year C. W. McCoy acquired the Gazette, but in less than a year he in turn sold out to J. E. Houtchins, by whom the paper was conducted for some years, to be discontinued in 1905.

The pioneer newspaper of Dayton, while it was still in Walla Walla County, was the Dayton News, founded in September, 1874, by A. J. Cain. In April, 1878, county division having come in the meantime, E. R. Burk began publication of the Chronicle, still one of the leading papers of Columbia County. H. H. Gale was first editor. In 1879 O. C. White became owner of the Chronicle. In 1882 T. O. Abbott started the publication of the Democratic State Journal. It was designed to maintain the banner of democracy in Columbia County which had been lost when the Dayton News plant was destroyed by fire in 1882.

The first newspaper in what is now Garfield County was established at Pomeroy on April 12, 1880, by F. W. D. Mays, and named the Washington Independent. The Pomeroy Republican came into existence March 4, 1882, founded by Eugene T. Wilson, who admitted F. M. McCully to an equal partnership two months later. The ambitious little Town of Pataha became also the home of a newspaper, the Pataha Spirit. Its founder was G. C. W. Hammond and its first issue was in January, 1881. The next year it came into the hands of Dr. J. S. Denison and Charles Wilkins. Both the Pomeroy Republican and the Pataha Spirit were republican in politics, the Independent being generally true to its name, though inclining to democratic and populistic views.

The publications named may be regarded as the pioneers in the parts of the old county now comprising the three counties outside of Walla Walla. During the years following county division a number of others came into existence and now represent the press of their respective towns, and of them we shall make mention under the different counties.

The quest for journalistic history in the present Walla Walla County outside of Walla Walla City and Waitsburg leads us to the editorial sanctum of the Walla Walla Spectator of Prescott, presided over by Charles H. O'Neil, a native son of the "Valley of Waters," and a leading spirit among the pioneers and "Boosters" as well as the newspapermen of this section. The Spectator was established November 22, 1902. Mr. O'Neil has followed the occupation of printer during almost his entire business life, having spent a number of years in the printing establishments of Walla Walla before entering upon his independent venture. The Spectator has performed a service of conspicuous importance for the rich farming region in which it is located by helping organize public sentiment in the direction of community enterprise and civic advancement. As a result of these enlarged ideals through the schools, church, business men, and homes of the town, as well as the part borne in the same direction by the Spectator, Prescott has become somewhat remarkable, for a town of its population, for its high community spirit.

The veteran journalist of the west end of Walla Walla County is R. C. Julian of Attalia. Mr. Julian has been connected with several newspaper enterprises and at the present time is the owner and manager of the Wallula Gateway, the Attalia News-Tribune, and the Helix Advocate, at Helix, Ore. The Wallula Gateway was launched on December 25, 1905, by Harter and Julian. After a few months Mr. Julian bought out his partner and has since conducted the paper alone. On May 11, 1907, he started the Touchet Pioneer, selling it after a year to A. M. Cummins. After sundry ownerships, the Pioneer became the Touchet-Gardena Empire, and is at the present time published by Ferney and Clarke of Walla Walla. The Attalia News-Tribune was the successor of the short-lived Two Rivers Tribune, which was started in 1908 by A. B. Frame to "boom" the land project at Two Rivers. The plant of the latter paper was secured by D. D. Swanson, formerly of Minneapolis, and in May, 1909, he entered upon the publication of the News-Tribune at Attalia. After three months Mr. Swanson retired, disposing of his establishment to Messrs. Cummins and Julian. Within another short period Mr. Julian became the sole owner and has so continued to this day. Looking still further, Mr. Julian started yet another weekly journal at Helix, Ore., the Helix Advocate. Having disposed of it in 1915 to J. J. Lewis, Mr. Julian reacquired possession in August, 1917, and thus is now the sole proprietor of the three weeklies.