In the promotion and conservation of advancement in all the normal lines of human progress and civilization there is no factor which has exercised a more potent influence than the press, which is both the director and the mirror of public opinion. Idaho, both as a territory and a state, has been signally favored in the character of its newspapers, which have been vital, enthusiastic and progressive, ever aiming to advance the interests of this favored section of the Union, to aid in laying fast and sure the foundations of an enlightened commonwealth, to further the ends of justice and to uphold the banner of the “Gem of the Mountains.” In a compilation of this nature, then, it is clearly incumbent that due recognition be accorded the newspaper press of the state, and in view of this fact this chapter is thus devoted, in appreciation of the earnest labors of those who have represented Idaho journalism in the past and who represent it in these latter days of the century.
The Idaho Daily Statesman
The press has not only recorded the history of advancement, but has also ever been the leader in the work of progress and improvement, the vanguard of civilization. The philosopher of some centuries ago proclaimed the truth that “the pen is mightier than the sword,” and the statement is continually being verified in the affairs of life. In molding public opinion the power of the newspaper cannot be estimated, but at all events its influence is greater than any other single agency. In the history of Idaho, therefore, an account of the paper whose name heads this article should form an important factor. The oldest newspaper in the state, for thirty-five years it has sent forth accounts of the “Gem of the Mountains,” its splendid resources, its rich mineral deposits, its arable lands, its valuable forests, its splendid climate and beautiful scenery, and has thus attracted to the state hundreds and thousands of her best people.
But this is not all the work accomplished by the Statesman during the thirty-five years that have come and gone since there drove into the little mining town of Boise three men, who halted their two bull teams in the sand and gravel of Main street. These men all bore the name of Reynolds. The eldest, however, was from Maine, James S. Reynolds. He was about forty years of age, angular, over six feet in height and having the hardihood that came through labor in the lumber camps of the Pine Tree state. He, however, possessed intelligence and great force of character, and for a number of years remained at the head of the Statesman, meeting with excellent success in its conduct. His two companions were much younger, brothers of twenty and eighteen years. The elder was a merry-faced, brown-eyed young man with long, dark curly hair: the younger was of shorter stature, light complexion, blue eyes and in manner more quiet and reserved. They were from Missouri, and the date of their arrival was July 15, 1864. In talking with some of the men of the town it was learned that the Messrs. Reynolds had a printing outfit in their two wagons, which they were transporting from The Dalles, Oregon, to Idaho City, then called Bannack where they expected to establish a printing-office. Riggs & Agnew, at whose place of business the conversation occurred, and who were members of the town-site company, knew the value of a newspaper in building up a town, and in connection with other leading citizens of Boise induced the owners of the printing outfit to remain in the capital city, then a mere hamlet.
The only building that could be procured by the Messrs. Reynolds as a place in which to begin business was a small structure of cottonwood logs, containing two rooms, the rear one with a back entrance like the open end of a sawmill.
On the 26th of July the first copy of the paper was issued. It was a small, four-column paper, christened the Idaho Tri-Weekly Statesman. The senior member of the firm was a stanch abolitionist and Union man; the brothers were from Missouri, and their sympathies were strongly with the south; but though their views were so diametrically opposite they managed to avoid all disturbances in their business, and the little paper flourished. The subscription price was one dollar a week by carrier or twenty dollars a year by mail, and three dollars a square for each insertion for advertisements and twenty-five dollars a thousand for bill-heads, with other work in proportion.
The Statesman Company not only prospered but made money very rapidly. In its first issue the following paragraph appeared in the salutatory: “We shall in the first place try to make the Statesman a newspaper that everybody in the territory can afford to buy, and if possible one that few can afford to be without. We shall undertake to so conduct the Statesman as shall best advance the interests of this community and this territory, knowing that in so doing we shall best secure our own.” Thus was outlined a policy that has been carried out to the letter through all these years. While of marked Republican sympathies, it has always endeavored to give all the news and to deal justly and fairly by all, and it has been in the best sense of the term a newspaper. In the interests of the Republican Party, however, it has labored most earnestly. In its first issue the name of Abraham Lincoln stood at the head of its editorial columns, and every four years since, the name of the standard-bearer of the Republican Party has occupied that place.
The paper was published as a tri-weekly for some years. Almost continually A. J. Boyakin has been connected with the paper, and on the occasion of the thirty-fourth anniversary of its establishment he wrote an account of the States-man, in which appeared the following: “In getting out the paper on time we worked nearly all night, and frequently the Boise Basin stage would pull out ahead of us and we would have to send Dick Reynolds to overtake it on a horse with the mail packages for the different mining camps. The war news made a big demand for the Statesman, and we ran off an edition of a thousand copies each issue. When the details of a great battle came we would get out an extra, print several hundred, and send a man on a fleet horse with them to the Boise Basin, where they sold for from fifty cents to a dollar.”
In the summer of 1866 T. B. and R. W. Reynolds sold their interest in the Statesman to the senior member of the firm and returned to Missouri. In 1867 James S. Reynolds sold out to H. C. Street, Claude Goodrich and A. J. Boyakin, but after a month they resold to Mr. Reynolds, who continued as owner and editor until 1872, when it was purchased by Judge Milton Kelly, one of the supreme justices of Idaho, who con-ducted it as a tri-weekly until 1888, when it was changed to a daily. The following year it passed into the hands of the present management. The Statesman Printing Company.
The Statesman is the oldest paper in the state, and from the beginning has never missed a publication. Prosperity has attended it from the start, and it has been the mirror sending the reflection of Idaho’s beauty, development, history and opportunities throughout the world. It has also been characterized by a broad national sympathy, and perhaps we cannot better indicate its patriotic spirit than by quoting from the editorial in the issue of July 26, 1898, the thirty-fourth anniversary of its founding: “The Statesman was born while the country was in the throes of the civil war. The people of this country were divided, apparently hopelessly so; black clouds overshadowed the nation and the people were shaken by storms of dissension. Although far removed from the actual scenes of warfare, the infant paper uttered its first cry in the midst of a community the majority of whose people were moved to bitterness against their country’s flag; but that cry was nevertheless for Old Glory. Surrounded on all sides by bitter enemies, the sturdy little journal raised its voice for the Union cause and prophesied ultimate victory for the forces of freedom. Today it is a most gratifying reflection that the Statesman celebrates its thirty-fourth birthday with a united people engaged in a warfare against the enemies of liberty in a foreign land. It has witnessed the healing of the old wounds; it has seen the gradual reuniting of the people, and, on this anniversary of its natal day, it beholds the north and the south hand in hand and shoulder to shoulder, fighting a common enemy that the tree of liberty may be planted in a foreign land, the shade of which will protect foreign brothers from the blighting sun of tyranny. It looks to the west and it sees the stars and stripes kissed by the breezes that wave the tropical foliage of Hawaii, and it rejoices with the people in the extension of American power and in the knowledge of the possession of national forces that guarantee maintenance of American prestige gained and to be gained.”
The Daily And Weekly Patriot
The Patriot is published at Lewiston by Frank M. Roberts, having made its first appearance be-fore the public on the 1st of September 1897 as an independent paper, with strong Republican proclivities, but devoted to the upbuilding of Lewiston and Nez Perce County. From the beginning it has met with very flattering and satisfactory success, and is a bright and entertaining journal, ably edited by its owner, Frank M. Roberts.
This gentleman was born in Lancaster, Schuyler county, Missouri, on the 28th of August, 1846, was educated in the state of his nativity, and acquired a knowledge of the “art preservative of all arts” in the office of the old Jacksonville Journal, of Jacksonville, Illinois. When only eighteen years and four months old he responded to his country’s call for troops, and enlisted as a defender of the stars and stripes, in December 1864, as a member of Company K, One Hundred and Fifty-fourth Volunteer Infantry. Some of his relatives were in the Confederate army, but he valiantly served the Union cause until honor-ably discharged, at Nashville, in September 1865, after the close of hostilities.
Since that time Mr. Roberts has devoted his energies entirely to journalistic work, in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, New Mexico, Oregon and Idaho, and for some time was in the government printing office in Washington. He has established many successful papers in the states mentioned, and is familiar with the printing business and with newspaper work in every department and detail. Perhaps had he been less conscientious he would have been more successful as the world judges success, but he has preferred to write as he believes, to support the measures which tend to promote the public good, and to oppose all which are detrimental to the best interests of society, of the government and the welfare of mankind, regardless of the financial results that may follow his course.
In 1872 Mr. Roberts was united in marriage to Miss Lydia A. Boyce, who died in 1882, leaving one child, a son. Coral F. In August 1897, he was again married, Mrs. Anna Myers, of Lewiston, becoming his wife. He is a well known citizen of northern Idaho and has been a resident of the northwest since 1893. In that year he lost much of the property he had acquired, through the failure of a bank in Kansas City, and for some time thereafter he devoted his attention to prospecting in the mountains of Washington and Idaho. He also was engaged in making explorations of the cliff dwellings of New Mexico and made many valuable discoveries of great benefit to the scientific and historic world. Since coming to Lewiston he has been accorded a place among her foremost citizens, and The Patriot ranks among the best journals of this section of the state.
The Owyhee Avalanche
This very influential paper was established as early as August 1865, by the Wasson brothers and J. C. Hardin. The last named withdrew from the firm a year later and the Wassons continued the publication a year longer. On the 17th of August 1867, they sold out to W. J. Hill and H. W. Millard, and these men subsequently sold the concern to John McCongle, November 7, 1868, and he managed it until October 19. 1870, when Messrs. Hill and Millard repurchased the property, and at the same time purchased the Tidal Wave, a paper which had been in existence a year or more, under the ownership and management of the Butler brothers. The two papers were on this occasion consolidated, under the name of the Idaho Avalanche. A few weeks afterward Mr. Hill bought out his partner and became the sole proprietor.
In October, 1874, during the flush times of Owyhee, Mr. Hill established a daily paper, which he continued for about a year and a half. In April 1876, he leased the concern to Major J. S. Hay, who a year later purchased it and continued to manage it until October 16, 1880, when he disposed of it to Guy Newcomb and Dave Adams, who formed a partnership, under the style of Newcomb & Adams. These gentlemen ran the paper until May 20, 1882, when Mr. Adams disposed of his interest to C. M. Hays, who also bought out Mr. Newcomb, on the 9th of December 1882. Mr. Hays published the paper until November 8, 1890, when he leased the office to John Lamb and L. A. York, who controlled the publication until the spring of 1892. Mr. Lamb then retired and Mr. York again leased the plant, and on June 1, 1894, purchased it.
August 20, 1897, the beginning of the thirty-third volume, the name of the paper was changed from the Idaho Avalanche to the Owyhee Avalanche, the name, indeed, under which it first appeared, August 15. 1865. The Owyhee Avalanche was never better than today, and never had so bright a future. In politics Mr. York is a “silver” Republican, and in local affairs independent. The paper is issued every Fri-day, at Silver City, at the subscription price of three dollars a year, and is noted for its reliability in giving the news.
The Lewiston Tribune
A daily and weekly paper published at Lewis-ton, Idaho, the Tribune is the principal organ of the Democratic Party in the state. It was established by A. H. and E. L. Alford, in August 1892, and entered upon a prosperous existence. The Alford brothers were reared in Dallas, Texas. A. H. Alford acquired his newspaper knowledge in the office of the Dallas Morning News, with which paper he was connected for two years, after which he was employed on the Tacoma Morning Globe, of Tacoma, Washing-ton. On severing his connection therewith he came to Lewiston, and in partnership with his brother established the Tribune, the paper and its proprietors at once becoming prominent factors and taking a leading position in the affairs of Idaho. The efforts of the brothers have met with very gratifying success. They have also been interested in various mining enterprises and in Lewiston real estate, which is rapidly rising in value.
In 1896 A. H. Alford was elected to the state legislature and had the honor of being chosen speaker of the house, filling that important position with marked ability and fairness. He is now one of the regents of the Idaho State University and is president of the State Editorial Association. Both he and his brother are active members of the Masonic fraternity, E. L. Alford having attained the thirtieth degree in the Scottish rite, while A. H. Alford is a Knight Templar Mason. Through the columns of the Tribune they wield a power in political circles that is im-measurable, and the cause of Democracy owes much to their efforts in its behalf. A. H. Alford is a most progressive citizen, giving a loyal sup-port to all measures which he believes will prove of public benefit, especially to all that tend to advance the educational status of the state.
The Times-Democrat
An effective exponent of the general interests of Latah County, the Times-Democrat was established in the city of Moscow on the 1st of March 1891, as the organ of the Democratic Party in northern Idaho. William Taylor, who was its founder, continued its publication for a period of four months, when he sold the property to Samuel T. Owings, who presided over the destinies of the paper for three months, when it passed into the hands of J. L. Brown, who effected its purchase on the 1st of October, 1891. On the 1st of April 1892, Mr. Owings again be-came the editor and publisher, and so continued until the 1st of June 1899, when another change was made in the management of the journal, the property being then leased to the present editor and publisher, Hon. Samuel C. Herren.
Samuel T. Owings, who is the owner of the plant and for the longest period identified with the publication of the paper, and who will take charge again, January i, 1900, is a native of Baltimore, Maryland, where he was born on the 1st of September, 1868. He has been active in various business enterprises and has ever maintained a public-spirited interest in all that has conserved the development and material progress of Moscow and Latah county, as well as the state at large. He received his educational discipline in his native state, and became a resident of Moscow in September 1888. Here he is at the present time engaged in the grocery business, and he has large mining interests in British Columbia. He has erected several residences in Moscow and has otherwise contributed in many ways to the progress and substantial upbuilding of the city, being recognized as one of its successful and representative businessmen. The plant of the Times-Democrat is valued at thirty-five hundred dollars, and this is but one of his property interests in the city. The paper is issued on Thursday of each week, being a five-column quarto, and in its letterpress and general mechanical appearance is a model country paper.
The Nugget
The Nugget is the appropriate name of a four-page, five-column weekly paper edited and published at DeLamar. Owyhee county, by John Lamb. It was established in May 1891, by the present proprietor and L. A. York, and since 1893 has been run solely by the present owner. It is independent in politics and devoted to local and mining interests.
The publisher is a native of Pennsylvania, born in 1838, of north Irish stock, both of his parents having been born in the Keystone state, of Irish parentage. The subject of this sketch received his education in the public schools and Waterford Academy, in his native state, and after leaving home resided for a few years in Alabama, whence he went to St. Louis and engaged in journalism, and was for four years connected with the state board of immigration of that state. After a dozen years spent in Missouri, he came to Idaho, in 1888.
In politics Mr. Lamb is a “silver” Republican. In respect to local responsibility he has been a justice of the peace in his county almost continuously since his residence there, giving general satisfaction, he never having had a case appealed from his court. He is an accomplished descriptive writer, and is recognized as a prominent factor in the upbuilding of the interests of the state through the use of his pen.
The Moscow Mirror
This vital and ably conducted weekly has the distinction of being the pioneer paper of Latah county, its first issue having been run from the press in July, 1882. The Mirror is issued on Friday of each week and is devoted to the interests of Moscow and contiguous districts and to promoting the development of the great state of Idaho. It is worthy of note that the paper has never missed an issue. Ex-Congressman Willis Sweet was its editor for a time, and in 1883 C. B. Reynolds purchased the plant and business and continued the publication of the paper until 1889, in which year it was purchased by the Jolly brothers, who have since been the proprietors and publishers. The three brothers have given the enterprise their personal attention and have made the venture a genuine success, Elmer E. Jolly being the editor and manager. The original publisher of the Mirror was C. B. Hopkins.
Elmer E. Jolly was born in the state of Minnesota on the 23d of May, 1861, representing sturdy Pennsylvania ancestry. In the town of Dunlap, Iowa, he learned the printer’s trade, becoming familiar with the varied details which go to make up the “art preservative of all arts,” and acquiring a knowledge of the mechanical processes which are employed in the makeup and issuing of a modern country newspaper. For a number of years he “held cases” on the Logan Observer, at Logan, Iowa, after which he came to Moscow and became foreman of the Mirror office, in the employ of Mr. Reynolds. His brother, Thomas H. Jolly, learned the trade in the office of the Mirror, and another brother, James D., also worked in the office. The brothers eventually purchased the property, and by discrimination, careful business methods and by supplying to subscribers a paper which stands as an exponent of local interests, offering the news in acceptable form, they have made the enterprise a success. Thomas H. Jolly is now a practicing lawyer in Moscow. The Mirror is edited with ability, and its mechanical work is so carefully handled that it is attractive and neat in appearance, being creditable alike to the publishers am. to the town with which it had practically a simultaneous birth, and to whose advancement it has contributed in every possible way. The political policy of the Mirror is Republican.
The Kendrick Gazette
The Gazette is a weekly newspaper devoted to the interests of the Potlatch country, and is the organ of the Democratic party of Latah County. It was founded on the 14th of January 1892 by Joseph S. Vincent, who has since been its editor and proprietor. The paper is issued on Friday of each week and the subscription price is one dollar and a half annually. In his efforts Mr. Vincent has met with very gratifying success, and the paper has never missed an issue. The office was burned out August i6, 1892, the fire occurring on Thursday night, but he saved the forms and issued his paper on time the next day. Again the Gazette went through a fiery baptism, March 16, 1894. That also occurred the night before the time of publication, but he got everything out of the building and the paper was is-sued as usual, a fact which indicates the indomitable enterprise of the owner.
Mr. Vincent is a native of Idaho and one of the first white children born in the state, his birth occurring in Lewiston, April 24, 1866. He is the son of Judge Vincent, now of Mount Idaho, who was one of the pioneers of California and Oregon, as well as of Idaho, the “Gem of the Mountains.” Our subject acquired his education in his native city and learned the printer’s trade in the office of the Lewiston Teller, under the direction of his grandfather and his uncle, Alonzo and C. F. Leland, who were the founders of that paper. He remained with them for five years and then came to the infant town of Kendrick, in January 1891, where he leased the Advocate, the pioneer journal of the place. He continued its publication until the fall of 1892, when it ceased to be issued, but in the meantime he had founded the Gazette and conducted both papers for six weeks.
On the 23d of January 1893, Mr. Vincent was united in marriage to Mrs. Alice York, a native of Corvallis, Oregon. She was the widow of A. F. York and the daughter of J. B. Springer, a respected Oregon pioneer. They have a bright little daughter, whom they have named Katherine M. Mr. Vincent is an Episcopalian, and his wife is a member of the Presbyterian Church.
Mr. Vincent’s name is on the membership roll of the Knights of Pythias fraternity and he was the first chancellor commander of the lodge in Kendrick. In 1897 he was representative to the grand lodge of the state, and was re-elected representative to the session of 1899, a fact which indicates his popularity among the Knights and his fidelity to the principles of Pythianism. He was chairman of the Democratic convention of Latain County in 1896 and was also made chairman of the fusion convention. He has served three times as city clerk of Kendrick, is now the trustworthy and capable city treasurer and was appointed by Governor Steunenberg one of the commissioners to the Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition. As a journalist he ranks high and has not only been successful in the publication of the Gazette, but through its columns has also materially promoted the interests of Kendrick.
The Pocatello Tribune
This news organ, the leading paper in south-eastern Idaho, is owned and conducted by Ifft & Wallin, who own and operate the most complete printing and publishing house in the state outside of Boise City.
The paper was founded, as a weekly, on the 14th of August 1889, by a stock company, and began its career as a distinctly Republican organ. For the first several years it passed through the hands of half a dozen different managements, until January 1, 1893, when it was purchased by George N. Ifft and William Wallin, who have conducted the enterprise ever since. Messrs. Ifft and Wallin are both experienced newspapermen. On taking possession of this property they at once set to work to make the Tribune a first-class newspaper in every respect. While remaining always a Republican organ, the journal stands as an exponent for that class of Republicans who believe firmly in silver, and it has be-come recognized as the leading exponent of the issues of the ‘”silver” Republicans of the state.
In keeping with the competition characteristic of the times, the Tribune, in March, 1897, joined the Associated Press and began the publication of a daily edition; but, after an experience of about two months in this enterprise, the undertaking was ascertained to be unprofitable and was accordingly discontinued. The proprietors then began the publication of a semi-weekly edition, which is still continued.
In May 1897, the company purchased the plant and good will of the Idaho Herald, a weekly newspaper which had been published in Pocatello since 1885, and incorporated it with its own journal, and thus the Herald was merged into the Tribune. On January 1, 1890, the Tribune, in connection with its semi-weekly edition, began the publication of a weekly.
The Genesee News
The value of the local newspaper in the up-building of the best interests of any community is universally conceded. The rule is that good papers are found in good towns, inferior journals in towns of stunted growth and uncertain future. It is not so much a matter of size as of excellence and of adaptability to the needs of its locality. These conditions given, in an appreciative and progressive community, the size of the paper will take care of itself in a way mutually satisfactory to publishers and patrons. This has been proven in Genesee. The Genesee News was first issued in 1889. In 1892, when it came into the hands of Messrs. Hopp & Power, its present enterprising owners, publishers and editors, it was a five-column folio. They improved it in every wav toward perfection as a local newspaper and have enlarged it to a six-column quarto, and their progressiveness has been appreciated and rewarded by an increase of patronage, in both the subscription and advertising departments, which more than recompenses them for their increased outlay in its publication.
Messrs. Hopp & Power are newspapermen of experience, taste and discrimination. They believe that first of all a local journal should be distinctively local and should command all worthy home interests. They believe that a home paper to be successful must be adapted to the needs of the whole family. They believe that a family paper should be a pure paper, so clean in every line that it will not offend the nicest taste, and that its publisher should so respect his constituency as to assume that such is the kind of paper it would place in the hands of its boys and girls fifty-two times in the year, fifty-two incentives to higher ideals, never one suggestion that can debase or contaminate. So believing, they have made the News a strong local paper, they have made it a family paper and they have made it a clean paper. Beyond this they have given it an attractive guise, print it nicely and manage its affairs in a business like manner that make the publishers as well liked in the community as is the paper.
The News is an independent paper politically and is published in the interests of the people of Genesee and its tributary territory, without regard to political or religious affiliations. It is the aim of the publishers to help every worthy home enterprise, to advocate every proposition, without regard to source, which seems to them to offer anything for the benefit of the place. It is their aim to so set forth the advantages of Genesee as a place of residence and for business in-vestment as to bring to it men and women who are likely to advance the interests of the city by working intelligently to advance their own.
The News establishment is one of the best equipped printing houses in this part of the state, and the job printing of all classes done by Messrs. Hopp & Power is artistic in design and well done in every way, and their facilities are such that they are able to compete in prices with any printing concern in the state.
The Genesee News is published every Friday, at two dollars a year. Its issue for February 25, 1899, was a special illustrated number, devoted to home projects and enterprises and of a character, in a literary way and mechanically, to reflect the greatest credit on its publishers.
The Salubria Citizen
This journal was founded in the year 1887, by Dr. S. M. C. Reynolds, under the name of the Idaho Citizen. It was a five-column folio paper and issued weekly, and during its early history the proprietorship was changed several times. In April 1891, and while owned by a stock company, the plant was consumed by fire in a conflagration that did considerable damage to the town. After this Eugene Lorton purchased a complete new outfit and continued the publication of the journal, changing its name to the Salubria Citizen, its present title. On the 1st of November 1896, Thomas Nelson, an experienced newspaper publisher and editor, purchased the paper and has ever since owned and conducted it. It is now a five-column, eight-page weekly, devoted to the interests of the Salubria valley, while it is independent in politics. Being ably managed and well supported, it has become an important factor in the development of the locality and in the increase of general intelligence. It is really a good newspaper.
Mr. Nelson is a native of the state of Illinois, born April 16, 1869, and has been a printer and newspaper man continuously ever since the fourteenth year of his age. He learned the printer’s trade in the office of the Rocky Mountain News, at Denver, Colorado, and was employed on that paper for a period of four years. He then removed to southern Colorado, where he founded the Lajara Tribune and continued its publication for nearly a year. Next he worked as a journey-man job printer until 1891, for two and a half years of the time being the foreman of the job department of the Heppner Gazette, in Oregon, for some time he also ran a job printing office at Pendleton, Oregon, since which time he has been connected with his present enterprise, as already stated.
He is a gentleman thoroughly posted in newspaper work and is enthusiastic in his support of the interests of Washington County. He is one of the organizers of the Washington Fair Association, and has published a neat pamphlet setting forth the resources of the county in an attractive manner. He has also published an exhaustive article on the same subject in the issue of his paper dated May 18, 1898.
In his political principles Mr. Nelson is independent. He is a member of the Woodmen of the World, the Knights of the Maccabees and of the Typographical Union. January i, 1894, he was united in marriage to Belle Oswald, of Freeport, Illinois, the daughter of James Oswald, of that city. They have two interesting little girls, Ruth and Myrtle. Mrs. Nelson is a prepossessing and amiable little lady. The family deserve and enjoy the highest esteem of the community.
The Wood River Times
This enterprising daily and weekly is published at Hailey, Blaine county, by T. E. Picotte, who founded it June 15, 1881, the very year in which the city itself was started, as a small village of tents. The principles emphasized by the founder were announced to be independence, impartiality and fearlessness, but not sensationalism, and fair wages, fair prices and fair living.
The weekly is a four-page sheet, twenty-four by thirty-six inches and seven columns to the page, and placed at three dollars a year; while the daily is twenty-two by thirty-three inches in dimensions, with six columns to the page, and sold at ten dollars per annum. Politics, “silver” Republican.
Mr. Picotte has been a newspaperman from boyhood. He was born in Montreal, Canada, October 26, 1848, began his apprenticeship at the printer’s trade at the age of fourteen years, in New York city, and when the civil war broke out enlisted, but was rejected on account of his youth. A little later, however, he succeeded in entering the New York City National Guards, in Company K, One Hundred and Second Regiment: and he was in active service for four months. After this he was telegraphic editor on the Courrier des Etats Unis, of New York, the leading French paper in the United States; next he was proof-reader on the Chicago Republican, now the Inter Ocean; and from Chicago he went south and was assistant foreman of the New Orleans Daily Republican, Thence he went to Austin, Texas, as superintendent of the state printing. Returning to Montreal, he formed a partnership with his brother as a contractor for masonry and cut stone, and after a time he came west and published, in Denver, Colorado, the Daily Programme and a weekly, the Colorado Real Estate and Mining Review. Next he was mining reporter on the Virginia Chronicle, at Virginia, Nevada, two years, and for a year was local editor of the Daily Independent, at the same place. He was the founder of the Sutro Independent, at the mouth of the Sutro tunnel, and was also editor and proprietor of the Lyon County (Nevada) Times two years. In 1882-3 he brought to Hailey the telegraphic dispatches from Blackfoot, the nearest point on the railroad a hundred and seventy-five miles distant, and published the contents, for six months, during which time the price of his daily was at the rate of twenty-six dollars a year.
In 1881 he came to Hailey then a village of a few tents, where he founded the Wood River Times. His varied experience in life, the high responsibilities he has so often carried, and the shrewd insight he naturally as in the affairs of men, have combined to qualify him for the best management of a public journal. He is also interested in various mines, has built a good dwelling in Hailey, and is esteemed as one of the most valuable citizens.
In October 1863, he was united in marriage with Mrs. E. J. Taylor, who by a former marriage had a son and a daughter. Mrs. Picotte departed this life in 1891, and Mr. Picotte has since remained single. He is giving his stepson and daughter a liberal education. As to the fraternities, he is an active member of the Grand Army of the Republic, of which he was adjutant general in 1891-2 for the department of Idaho; and of the Ancient Order of United Workmen he was the first deputy grand master workman and the first past master of the oldest lodge of the order in the state.
Idaho Falls Times
The Idaho Falls Times, Hon. George Chapin, publisher, is a six-column quarto weekly. Democrat in politics, devoted to the local interests of Idaho Falls and Bingham County. It was first is-sued in 1890, by the Times Publishing Company. A year later it was purchased by James Lameraux, from whom, after he had published it six months, Mr. Chapin bought it. It was first issued by Mr. Chapin in January 1892, and since then has appeared regularly and on time, every Thursday, and has taken a leading place among the county papers of the west. Its plant is first-class in every respect, fitted up with modern machinery and with type of new and attractive faces, and its facilities for turning out good job work, large or small, in any quantity, are in all ways adequate to any probable demand. Hon. George Chapin was born in Rochester, New York, April 3, 1839. He was educated in New York and Brooklyn and began his literary career as a cor-respondent for several eastern papers. During the civil war he was in the transport service, moving materials of war for the United States government. After the war he was connected with important steamboat enterprises in the east until 1870. His health declined and he was advised to subject himself to the influence of a mountain climate. He came west, and in the mining camps found the physical improvement he sought. He mined on Snake River, in Boise basin and at Rocky Bar, but met with only partial success. He was one of the historic six men who took the copper plates into the big canyon and were the first to use that method to secure the fine gold.
After mining for five years, Mr. Chapin engaged in the stock business, running as many as fifteen hundred head of cattle on the ranges, and was fairly successful until the feed became poor and the mortality among the cattle in the winter became ruinous, from the ordinary loss of three to five per cent. Mr. Chapin sold out his cattle interests, bought the Idaho Falls Times and has since devoted himself to the building up of the paper and of the town, fostering all local interests by every means at his command and making his paper of the greatest interest to the agricultural class in all the country round about.
Mr. Chapin was married, in 1861, to Miss Delphine Henion, daughter of Captain Henion, of New York. Their daughter Cornelia is the wife of A. R. Hutten, of Brooklyn, New York; Charles D. Chapin, one of their sons, is a civil engineer; Clarence, the other, is a printer and is employed in his father’s establishment.
A lifelong Democrat, Mr. Chapin has been called to places of trust and responsibility. In 1878 he represented his county in the legislature. He is an Odd Fellow and a Knight of Pythias, and he and his family attend the services of the Episcopal church.
The Shoshone Journal
The Shoshone Journal was found in 1882, by W. C. B. Allen. At first this paper was only a two-page weekly; but its career from the be-ginning to 1894 we are not able to give. In the latter year it was purchased by a stock company of Republican gentlemen and since then it has been the organ of their party for Lincoln county. It is now leased by R. M. McCullom, and the same policy of the paper is continued. Its greatest specialty, however, consists in faithfully giving the local news and in aiding the development of the material resources of its section of the country. For these purposes it is indeed a vigorous sheet.
Mr. McCullom is a newspaperman of lifelong experience, having learned the printer’s trade when a boy, and having adhered to his favorite vocation to the present time, including editing and publishing. He is practically identified with the best interests of the town, is married and has his home here. After an absence of twenty-nine years from his old homo at Ypsilanti, Michigan, he recently made a visit there, which was particularly interesting, in view of the many changes in the country in that time.
The Elmore Bulletin
This able journal, owned, edited and published by George M. Payne and his daughter, Mabel, is a four-page, seven-column weekly newspaper, the Democratic organ of Elmore county, devoted to the interests of the town of Mountain Home and Elmore county. Mr. Payne established this paper in 1888 and has ever since controlled its publication, meeting with success in the enterprise. In 1894 he associated with him his daughter, Mabel, who is now its business manager, while her father is the editor and the publisher.
Mr. Payne is a native of Virginia, born in Culpeper County, November 27, 1834, of English ancestry whose first American representatives were early settlers in that state. His parents, Richard and Susan (Asbury) Payne, were natives also of the Old Dominion and were Methodists in their religion. His father, a planter, died in the thirty-eighth year of his age, and his mother survived until her fifty-sixth year. Of their five children only two are now living. The fourth of these, the subject of this outline, was educated in the public schools in Alabama, and at the age of twelve years began to learn the printer’s trade, and ever since then, excepting a few years’ mining in California, he has been connected with newspaper work. In California he founded and for a number of years published the Amador Dispatch, until he was elected a member of the legislature of that state. In i86q he removed to Nevada, where he was a compositor on the Virginia City Enterprise; next he was the foreman of the office of the Elko Chronicle.
In 1869, after a visit to his relatives and friends in Alabama, he went to Louisville, Kentucky, where, April 16, 1872, he married Miss Ada Cole, a native of that city. After this he spent eight years in Nevada, where he was foreman of the Eureka Sentinel, and in 1882 came to Hailey, Idaho, where he had the position of foreman of the News-Miner office. In 1887 he came to Mountain Home and purchased the Range and Valley, a small publication owned by Frank Mason. From this nucleus he developed his present enterprise, the Elmore Bulletin, which is an influential organ of local interests.
Mr. and Mrs. Payne have but the one child, already mentioned. She was born in Louisville and reared here in the west. The family have a nice home and are highly esteemed by the citizens of Mountain Home and vicinity, in the interests of which they are so enthusiastically engaged.
The Blackfoot News
The Blackfoot News was established by Colonel John W. Jones in June, 1887. It is a Democratic local paper, edited with much discrimination and dressed and printed with taste and care. Its subscription price is two dollars a year. For twelve years it has been preaching Democracy and helping to build no Blackfoot and the surrounding country. It has never missed one issue, and only one issue has been delayed. A delay of two days occurred in January 1894, occasioned by the death of Mrs. Jones.
Colonel John W. Jones was born in Virginia, September 12, 1839, and is descended from English ancestors. His grandfather, Worthington Jones, fought for America in the Revolution and again in the war of 1812. Worthington Jones’s son, W. B. Jones, father of Colonel John W. Jones, was born in Virginia and became prominent there as a physician. He died in 1842. Colonel Jones was educated in the Old Dominion and passed his youth and young manhood in that state. He enlisted in the Confederate service, in the Fifth-sixth Virginia Volunteer Infantry, and was elected captain of his company. He fought at Fort Donelson, in the seven-days fight in the Wilderness, at Gettysburg, and in many less important engagements, and was wounded four times and promoted for his good soldierly qualities to be colonel of his regiment. His regiment was attached to Pickett’s division of Longstreet’s corps, in command of General Robert E. Lee, and laid down arms at the historic surrender at Appomattox. After the war Colonel Jones was president of a female college in Arkansas and was elected to the legislature of that state. He came to Idaho in 1885, and two years later established the Blackfoot News. In 1893 he was appointed by President Cleveland receiver of the United States land office at Blackfoot. In 1898 he was commissioned, by the governor, as lieutenant-colonel of Idaho troops, and went with his command to Manila and was there at the time of Admiral Dewey’s great victory. But his health failed soon afterward, and he was permitted to resign his commission and return to the more favorable climate of Idaho.
In i860, Colonel Jones married Miss Anna Gregory, a native of Virginia and daughter of one of the most distinguished physicians of the south. Mrs. Jones was a woman of many graces and rare accomplishments, and her death was a blow not only to her husband and children but to the entire community, in which she had striven loyally to help in such works as commended themselves to her excellent judgment. The family consisted of five sons and two daughters. Norman, the eldest son, is in the cattle business in Wyoming. Percy is now the active publisher of the Blackfoot News. Gregory is clerk and stenographer in the United States land office at Blackfoot. John W., Jr., is a recent graduate from the law department of the Washington and Lee University in Virginia. Blanche is her father’s housekeeper.
The News-Miner
This is a daily and weekly paper published at Hailey, Blaine County. The daily is issued every morning except Monday, and the weakly every Friday. In dimensions the latter is twenty-two inches by thirty-two in size, a folio of six columns to the page, while the daily is twenty inches by twenty-six, with five columns to the page.
As the name implies, this periodical is devoted to mining and local news. In politics, since 1892, the publishers have advocated the cause of the People’s party. It was first published in Bellevue by Frank A. Harding, under the simple name, The Miner. The News was started in Hailey, by C. H. Clay, and in 1883 these papers were combined and passed under the control of the present owners, Richards & Richards, who changed the name to the News-Miner. The price of the weekly is two dollars a year, while that of the daily is ten dollars: and they both have a good circulation.
E. R. Richards has had charge of the journal for the past four years. He has been a news-paper man all his life, in the east and in the west.
He learned the printer’s trade when a young man, in the state of Maine, of which state he is a native. As newspapermen here they have done all in their power to advance the material interests of Hailey and Blame County.
The Pocatello Advance
This periodical was founded in Pocatello in February 1894, a weekly seven-column folio, and is the organ of the Democracy of Bannock county and the state of Idaho. It was established by Frank Walton, who conducted it for the Advance Publishing Company. In March 1898, it was purchased by Messrs. Moore & Wright, who now manage the journal.
H. A. Moore was formerly the publisher of the Herald here. He learned the printer’s trade in Kansas and Nebraska, and is a very active and able newspaperman.
C. E. Wright, the junior member of the firm, has long been in the newspaper business, in Iowa and Nebraska. He came to Idaho in 1894, and published the Elmore County Republican, at Mountain Home, for three years.
Both of these gentlemen are exerting their best energies for the material interests of their community, and are accordingly held in high esteem by the citizens.
The Kendrick Times
A weekly newspaper published at Kendrick, Idaho is the Times, which was established in 1893 by the Treisch brothers. It was issued on Friday and was an independent journal, devoted to local news and to the upbuilding of Kendrick and the surrounding country. Its founders con-ducted it for two years, and it was then published by E. H. Thompson for a year. On the 1st of June 1897, E. E. Aldeman became the editor and proprietor and has since remained in charge. In 1898 he also began the publication of the Canyon Echo, which is issued on Tuesday, while the Times comes out, as usual, on Friday. Mr. Aldeman is a stanch Republican in his political views, and edits his paper in the interests of that party.
He is a native of Ohio, was educated in the public schools of that state and in Hiram College, and during the greater part of his life has been engaged in the manufacture of lumber, his present enterprise being his first venture in the field of journalism, but he is meeting with very satisfactory success and has a large patronage from the business public. He was prominently connected with educational affairs while residing at Hart’s Grove, Ashtabula county, Ohio, and served as school director for a number of years. In 1874 he became connected with the Masonic fraternity and took an active part in the work of the order, serving as junior warden of his lodge. He is now a member of the city council of Kendrick and is a valued citizen.
The Southern Idaho Mail
The Southern Idaho Mail is an eight-page weekly paper, Republican in politics, which was first issued at Blackfoot, Bingham County, Idaho, by the Mail Publishing Company (Willis Earl Smith, editor and publisher) May 24, 1899. It is published on Wednesday of each week in the interest of Republicanism, the city of Blackfoot and Bingham County. It is ably edited and well printed and is a high-toned home journal, giving all the home news and advocating all measures calculated to advance the interests of Blackfoot and its tributary territory, its reception by the people of Blackfoot has been cordial and encouraging and its future seems bright with promise.
Willis Earl Smith is a native of Shellsburg, Iowa, and was born February 26, 1869. He received his primary education in the Waco, Nebraska, high school and was graduated from the college at York, Nebraska, in the class of 1888. He learned the printer’s trade in his native town and has been a newspaperman since he left school. Before establishing the Southern Idaho Mail he published the Herald at Wallace, Nebraska, and the World, at American Fork, Utah. Mrs. Smith has established a prosperous millinery business at Blackfoot. Mr. and Mrs. Smith are popular in society and leaders in many good works.
The Elmore Republican
This lively journal was established in 1889, by a man named Abbott. At first it was an eight-page five-column weekly, devoted to the interests of Elmore County and the Republican Party in general. Later it was purchased by a company. In 1894 the office was destroyed by fire and the files of the paper were lost. This misfortune has deprived the historian of many desirable items in connection with the career of the paper, as well as of the community generally. It is now owned and published by the Simpson brothers, George E. and Lawrence E. Simpson.
The Simpson brothers are natives of the state of Indiana and are both practical newspaper men of years of experience, both at the printing trade and as publishers. George E. Simpson was employed on the Idaho Statesman eight years, and had been a part owner of the Marion County (Iowa) Reporter; and Lawrence E. was for a time proprietor of the Pleasantville (Iowa) Telegraph. George E. has a wife and two children, while Lawrence E. is single. The latter is a member of the order of Knights of Pythias and of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and also of the Order of Daughters of Rebekah. Both these gentlemen are capable, agreeable and obliging young men and are giving their best energies to the upbuilding of the town and county.
The Idaho Mining News
The News is published monthly, at Boise, by the Idaho Mining Exchange. The first issue, in March, 1896, was devoted to the Boise gold belt. In that instance, through absence of snow at the time, the Exchange was able to employ a writer to visit each individual property and describe it, and this plan has been followed as far as practicable throughout the various other mining districts of the state. In the edition of the News for May 1896, its aims and purposes are thus briefly defined: “The News has for its goal a complete description of the mines and mining of the whole state of Idaho. Its contributors will be the mining men, its editors ‘the committee on development, information and advertising’ of the Idaho Mining Exchange. The magazine does not represent any clique or locality other than all the inhabitants and the whole of our state. Its circulation includes the mining men, engineers, brokers, companies, bankers, prospectors, hotels and exchanges of America.”
The Keystone
The Keystone is the appropriate name of a sprightly newspaper published weekly at Ketchum, Blaine County, this state. It was founded in 1881, by George J. Lewis, later the honorable secretary of state of Idaho, and was ably man-aged and edited by him, in the interest of Blaine county and the then very prominent mining enterprises of the Wood River valley. At length the establishment was burned down, and Mr. Lewis rebuilt and set up again a printing office, wherein he continued the publication of the journal.
In 1886 Isaac H. Bowman, the present proprietor, purchased the concern, since which time he has been the successful editor and manager of the paper. This organ was for a time independent in politics, but it is now a Democratic advocate, still devoting, however, most of the space to local news.
Mr. Bowman is a native of the state of Virginia, born February 6, 1S40, was educated in the Old Dominion and learned the printer’s trade there, and came to Idaho in 1862, and thus be-came one of the pioneers of the Boise Basin. In 1864 he purchased the Boise News and made it the Idaho World, and controlled its publication successfully during all the formative period of the territory and during the height of the mining excitements. In 1874 he sold out and removed to Oakland, California, where he conducted a job-printing office and was the founder of The Mail, an independent paper. After running this paper for two years he sold it and returned to Idaho, locating in Ketchum, where he has been engaged as already outlined.
He is a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen and a popular man in social and business circles, but he devotes his time principally to the favorite Keystone.
The Grangeville Standard
The Standard, a weekly paper, published at Grangeville, is issued on Friday of each week, having been established March 25, 1899. It is published in the interests of the town and of Idaho County by the Standard Publishing Company, which is composed of G. W. Goode and C. F. Lake. The subscription price is two dollars per annum, and the journal has already become a welcome visitor at many homes in this locality.
Mr. Lake, who is the managing editor, is a newspaperman of experience. He was born in Wisconsin, July 21, 1859, was educated in southeastern Minnesota and entered a printing office when fourteen years of age. He then thoroughly mastered the trade and since that time has been continuously engaged in journalistic work. He has been connected with various papers in the east, and published the Spokane Opinion for a time, after which he became one of the founders of the Spokane Daily Times. From that place he went to Moscow, in 1895, and from there came to Grangeville and founded the Standard, becoming its managing editor. The paper is a clean, bright, newsy and well printed sheet, and from the beginning has received a good advertising patronage.
The Republican
The Republican, a weekly newspaper published at Preston, is issued every Wednesday and is an eight-page, four-column quarto, devoted to local interests and to the advancement and promulgation of Republican principles. The publishers are R. H. Davis and W. H. Peck. The former is a newspaperman of marked ability and wide experience. He is owner of the Caldwell Tribune and the Malad Enterprise, in addition to his partnership interest in the Republican. Mr. Peck, the junior partner, learned the printer’s trade in the office of the Enterprise at Malad City, where he was employed for years. He then worked on the Caldwell Tribune for two years, after which he took charge of the Republican, in January 1899. Messrs. Davis & Peck are now building a good office at Preston and are enlarging their plant. Theirs is the pioneer paper of the town, and it was first published in 1893, by B. N. Davis, a brother of R. H. Davis, who called it the Standard, under which name it appeared for two years. It was then leased to L. R. Whitney, who changed the name to the Republican. Mr. Peck, the present manager, is a bright young newspaper man, an able and intelligent worker and has made his paper a paying investment.
Juliaetta Newspapers
The first paper published in Juliaetta was the Juliaetta Gem, whose initial number was issued May 18, 1889, with W. L. Taylor as editor. Mr. Taylor was a young man of talent, and was a stepson of Judge Piper. He continued his identification with the Gem only eighteen months, when the enterprise was temporarily abandoned, being practically resurrected in the issuing of the Potlatch, which made its first appearance in June, 1891, with Collins Ferryman as business manager and J. M. Bledsoe as editor. Mr. Perryman managed the paper with much energy and ability, securing to it a good patronage and making a success of the venture. After the lapse of somewhat more than one year the newspaper was sold to William R. McCracken, who rechristened it the Juliaetta Advance. He continued the publication of the Advance for two years, when it was discontinued by reason of the general depression in financial affairs. Somewhat later the Potlatch Press was started here by the Alford Brothers, now publishers of the Lewiston Tribune. They conducted the business with marked ability, making the Press a live, newsy journal. At the expiration of one year F. J. Bratton became proprietor and published the paper two years, after which he sent the press to Spaulding. The Juliaetta Register made its first appearance on May 1, 1899, M. P. Stevens presiding over its destinies. He is a lawyer by profession, and is the incumbent of the important offices of justice of the peace, city clerk and city attorney. Mr. Stevens is making the Register an excellent paper, devoted to the interests of the town and surrounding country, and it merits the support of all residents of the community.
The Idaho County Free Press
The Free Press is a weekly publication, and was founded by A. F. Parker, its present editor and proprietor, in June 1886, as an independent journal devoted to the interests of the town of Grangeville and of Idaho County. Mr. Parker is a gentleman of considerable literary talent and ability, and has met with such eminent success in the conduct of his journal that in January, 1899, he was encouraged to produce the first issue of the Daily Press, which is a wide-awake and popular paper, full of general and raining news. He is an energetic, progressive and capable journalist and has done much for the welfare of the state in setting forth its advantages and re-sources in the columns of his papers.
A native of England, he was born in Wells, Somersetshire, March 16, 1836, and when only twelve years of age shipped before the mast, following a seafaring life until 1873. In 1876 he made a voyage around Cape Horn to the Pacific coast, and came directly to Idaho, engaging in quartz mining in the Brownlee country, in Big Snake river canyon. He followed that pursuit until advised to quit on account of the Nez Perce Indian outbreak in 1877, when he entered the service of the government as scout, courier and guide. He also served in the same capacity at the time of the Bannock Indian outbreak, in 1878, and in the Sheepeater Indian campaign of 1879.
The following year Mr. Parker located in Lewiston, and published the Nez Perces News from January 1880, until September, 1883, when he sold out and joined the throng making its way to the Coeur d’Alene district. He established the Coeur d’Alene Daily and Weekly Eagle, at Eagle City, in February, 1884, and served as postmaster and deputy recorder there through-out the excitement, making sometimes as high as one hundred and fifty dollars per day through his labors in the recorder’s office. Since that time he has engaged in the publication of The Idaho County Free Press, and in the management of his investments. He has various mining interests in Idaho, Nez Perces and Washington counties and owns a large amount of stock in the Cleveland group of mines, eight miles south of Elk City, where considerable development work has shown up a very valuable property. He also has realty interests in Grangeville and has erected a number of buildings in the town, thereby advancing the work of public improvement.
On the 4th of February 1890, Air. Parker was united in marriage to Miss Mary S. Newman, the youngest daughter of Horace S. Newman, formerly general claim agent of the Union Pacific Railroad Company. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Parker have been born four children, but they lost their eldest in her fourth year. The living are Foster C, and Lydia and Sylvia, twins. They have a delightful residence in Grangeville and are numbered among the most highly esteemed citizens there.
In politics Mr. Parker has always been a stalwart Democrat, but his publications are strictly neutral, and are conducted on strictly business principles. He was, however, a Democratic member of the convention which prepared the state constitution, which was adopted in convention in Boise, August 6, 1889, and which is now the organic law of Idaho. He is one of the two oldest representatives of the Knights of Pythias fraternity in Idaho, and is also a member of the Woodmen of the World and the Masonic fraternities.
The Idaho Falls Register
The Idaho Falls Register, a newsy, eight-page, six-column paper, published by William E. Wheeler, is devoted to the interests of the city of Idaho Falls and the county of Bingham. It is Republican in politics, gives all the local new and pays much attention to the county’s agricultural interests. It is ably edited and well printed and has had a powerful influence upon the development of the county. Mr. Wheeler issued the paper first at Blackfoot, July i, 1880. He removed it to Idaho Falls in 1884, and it at once became a potent factor in the progress and prosperity of the field in which it circulates.
William E. Wheeler was born at Peacham, Caledonia county, Vermont, August 29, 1844, and is descended from a family which settled early in Maine, where his father, Samuel Dexter Wheeler, was born. His grandfather. Colonel William Wheeler, fought in the war with Mexico. Samuel Dexter Wheeler married Sarah Jane Baily, a native of Peacham, Vermont, and they had live children, of whom only three survive. Mr. Wheeler was a shoemaker and farmer and he and his wife were Seventh-day Adventists. Mr. Wheeler died in his fifty-eighth year. His widow has now reached the advanced age of seventy-eight.
When William E. Wheeler, the eldest of the children of Samuel Dexter and Sarah Jane (Baily) Wheeler, was fifteen years old, the family re-moved to Illinois, where the boy finished his education. He was not yet seventeen when the civil war began, but he tried to enlist in the Ellsworth Zouaves and was rejected because he was not of legal military age. In 1864, when he was twenty-one, he tried again to enter the army, and was accepted as a member of Company B, One Hundred and Forty-sixth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and did provost and guard duty in southern Illinois and Kentucky. He was at Springfield, Illinois, at the time of the funeral of President
Lincoln, and helped to guard the state house while the remains of the martyred president were lying in state in that building. He was honor-ably discharged and mustered out of the service at Springfield.
Mr. Wheeler began his journalistic career at Evanston, Wyoming, where he published the Evanston Age until 1880. He then removed to Blackfoot, Idaho, where he established the Register, which he later brought to Idaho Falls and made an influential journal. He has made the Register a success from every point of view and has never been stintful of time or means in pro-claiming to the world the advantages of this part of Idaho for residence and investment. His public spirit has been recognized by his fellow citizens and he has received a liberal patronage. He has built up a fine printing and publishing plant, and it is as well equipped for development and success as any newspaper in the state.
Mr. Wheeler was married, in 1883, to Miss Elizabeth W. Dougherty, a native of Elgin, Illinois, and a daughter of Michael Dougherty who came to the United States from Ireland. Mr. Wheeler was made an Odd Fellow in 1865.
The Standard
The Standard, an interesting journal issued each Friday, in Preston, Oneida county, is a four-page, six-column quarto, published by W. H. Kenner. It is devoted to local interests and is the organ of the Oneida stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It was first published in 1895 as the New Era, and in 1896 was sold to Sponburg & Barnes, who changed the name to Oneida Herald and made it the organ of the Democratic Party. In 1898 it was repurchased by the original company and assumed the name of the Standard, under which title it is still published.
Mr. Kenner, its editor, was born in St. Francisville, Clark County, Missouri, January 19, 1860, and went to Salt Lake as an emigrant. He was employed by Mr. Ford in a job-printing office in Salt Lake City, later worked on the Herald and subsequently on the Tribune, and has done much newspaper work in Utah, Idaho and Wyoming. He has had wide experience in the field of journalism and is a man of marked ability in the newspaper field. He is now serving as a member of Governor Steunenberg’s staff, and is a notary public. He was married in 1883 to Miss Ida V. Conover, daughter of Peter Conover, who emigrated to Salt Lake in 1848 and was a member of Joseph Smith’s body guard. He was the founder of Provo City and built the first house there. In the Indian war he served as a colonel of the Utah militia, and lived to the ripe old age of eighty-five years. Mrs. Kenner has learned the printer’s trade with her husband, and is his able assistant in the office. They now have two daughters, Katie and Ada.
The North Idaho Star
This is a weekly paper published each Friday in Moscow, and is the property of Henry C. Shaver, who is both editor and proprietor. The paper is published in the interests of the Republican Party and of northern Idaho, and was established October 1, 1887, by J. L. Brown, who continued its publication for three years. He then sold to the Star Publishing Company, who continued in control until October 9, 1893 at which time the journal was purchased by its present owner.
Mr. Shaver is a newspaperman of experience and ability. He was born in Kendall County, Illinois, August 8, 1858, and when a child removed with his parents to Iowa. He was educated in the public schools of that state and first began to learn the printer’s trade in the office of the Re-publican, at Waverly, Iowa. After completing his apprenticeship and acting as compositor and performing other duties in connection with printing for some years, he purchased the Cedar Falls Recorder, at Cedar Falls, Iowa, which was his first business venture of importance. He continued the publication of that journal for four years and then removed to Des Moines, Iowa, where he became identified with the Des Moines Daily Leader, first as manager of the job department and later as manager of the subscription department. He was then promoted to the reportorial staff, subsequently became city editor and finally editor in chief, holding the last named responsible position for six years, when he re-signed in order to devote his entire time to the Iowa interests of the Chicago Herald, with head-quarters at Des Moines. That position he held until June, 1893 when he resigned to accept a business offer from the Des Moines Leader, making him its correspondent in Washington, D. C. At the same time he acted as correspondent for the Omaha World-Herald and the Indianapolis Sentinel. That work he continued until the following autumn, when he decided to come west and cast in his lot with the residents of Latah County, Idaho. Since becoming the owner and editor of the Star the paper has materially advanced in business prosperity and journalistic standing and has become a very potent factor in promoting the interests of Moscow and the county.
Mr. Shaver is thoroughly identified with the interests of his adopted town and county, and. with a full appreciation of their excellent ad-vantages and resources, he has put these before the public through the columns of his paper and has been particularly active in calling attention to the wonderful white-pine belt in the eastern section of the state, which is a source of great wealth, as yet undeveloped. One result of his labors in this direction has been the organization of a company which now has its plans consummated to build a railroad to the center of the pine belt, that it may be advantageously worked. In the near future the work of construction will be instituted, and when the road is completed the future of Moscow as a large manufacturing town is assured.
Mr. Shaver was married, June 1, 1893 to Miss Emilie Cozier, a daughter of Rev. B. F. Cozier, a prominent minister of the Methodist Episcopal church, and a sister of United States Attorney Cozier. They have one child, Seymour. Mrs. Shaver is a valued member of the Methodist church. In politics Mr. Shaver is an inflexible adherent of the Republican Party and does all in his power to promote its growth and insure its success. He belongs to the Modern Woodmen of the World, and is a popular and representative citizen of northern Idaho.
The Post
An excellent weekly newspaper published at Paris, the county seat of Bear Lake County, is the Post, which is a five-column quarto. Republican in its political proclivities, and the official organ of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Idaho. The paper was established in 1880 by the officers of the Bear Lake stake, a division of the church as to territorial jurisdiction, and it has been continued under the same management up to the present time. During the years of its publication two judges have “graduated” from the office of the Post, Judge Charles H. Hunt, who was employed in the office in 1881; and Judge Rolapp, of Ogden, Utah, who was connected with the enterprise in 1885.
In the years 1881 and 1882 James H. Wallis figured as editor and publisher of the Post, again becoming the manager of its destinies in 1885-6, and after an interim again assuming its management in 1892, since which time he has been at the helm. In the meantime he had been employed on the Salt Lake Herald. During the entire period of its existence the Post has been a potent factor in promoting the interests of Paris and Bear Lake County, as well as of the Republican Party and the church, and its affairs have been ably handled. James H. Wallis, who has so long been the editor and publisher of the pa-per, is a native of London, England, having been born in the famous Tower of London. His father, James Wallis, was camp artificer for the English government, and resided in the historical tower, of which the latter’s father was turnkey, so that it was long occupied by the family. James H. Wallis was born on the 13th of April, 1861, and received his education in his native city, after which he served the full bound-apprenticeship of seven years at the printing trade, in which he became as thorough and skillful a workman as only the old system can insure. He eventually embraced the faith of the Church of Christ of Latter Day Saints, and sailed for the United States in April 1881, making this change of residence by reason of his religious convictions, the doctrines of the church being to gather its adherents together. At first he was employed by George O. Cannon, in Salt Lake City, whence, in October of the same year, 1881, he came to Paris, where he became interested in political affairs. His management of the Post has been such as to make it a strong defender of the rights of the people. He was a Democrat until Cleveland’s second administration, when he became identified with the Republican Party, of whose principles he has ever since been a stanch advocate. Mr. Wallis graduated in the law department of the Nebraska State University, and in 1890 was elected prosecuting attorney of Juab County, Utah. He is now United States commissioner for the state of Idaho, receiving the appointment from the federal judge, and in the sessions of the state senate of 1898-9 he held the office of general committee clerk. He is also a member of the national executive committee of the Republican Party.
In 1881 Mr. Wallis was married to Miss Elizabeth Todd, of London. They crossed the Atlantic together and were married in Salt Lake City. They became the parents of eleven children, and all save one of the number are still living.
Mr. Wallis is a man of marked intellectuality, is a bright journalist and able statistician, and is well and favorably known throughout the state.
The Lewiston Teller
The Teller is an independent weekly newspaper which was founded in 1876 by A. Leland and his son, C. F. Leland, the terms being five dollars per annum. Those gentlemen published the pa-per successfully until 1890, at which time it was purchased by C. A. Foresman, who has since conducted it as a Republican journal, and since 1898 has issued it bi-weekly. It has a wide circulation in Latah, Nez Perce and Idaho counties, and is one of the strongest and most influential Republican papers in the state, having been a potent factor in the growth and upbuilding of this section of Idaho.
Mr. Foresman, the editor and proprietor, was born in Indiana, May 29, 1859, was educated in the State Normal School and came to Idaho in 1889. Here he was principal of the Lewiston schools for six years, and in 1894 he was elected state superintendent of schools. He is a man of scholarly attainments and broad general culture, and has given to the school system of the state an impetus whose effect will long be felt. His strong mentality is shown through the columns of the Teller, which is a most interesting journal, faithfully mirroring forth the events of the locality, state and nation. Air. Foresman has built a nice home in Lewiston, is married and has two children. His wife is a member of the Methodist church, and he is past grand chancellor of the Knights of Pythias fraternity of Idaho. He and his family are held in high esteem in Lewiston and he is justly regarded as one of the prominent and representative citizens of his adopted state.
The Montpelier Examiner
The ancestors of Charles E. Harris, editor and proprietor of the Montpelier Examiner, settled at Jamestown, Virginia, in the seventeenth century and he was born in West Virginia in 1866. He has been thirty years in the west and fifteen years a newspaperman in Oregon, Montana, Wyoming and Idaho, and during that time has established four papers.
The Montpelier Examiner was first issued in March 1895. It is an eight-page, six-column sheet, Independent-Democratic in politics, and is the official paper of the city of Montpelier, which has a population of nearly two thousand, and of Bear Lake county, which has a population of ten thousand, and it covers the whole field. Its subscription price is two dollars a year and it circulates in three states, Idaho, Wyoming and Utah. It has the most complete plant in southern Idaho, and the office turns out fine job printing in all branches.
Mr. Harris was married, in 1895, to Mary Robinson, of Park City, Utah. He is a citizen of much public and personal popularity, and is a member of the Knights of Pythias, Odd Fellows and Woodmen of the World. He is a member of the board of regents of the University of the State of Idaho and was nominee on the Democratic ticket, in 1898, for the office of state senator, being defeated by a majority of only seventy-three. He is regarded as one of the rising men of this part of the state, and those who have been watching events closely in Idaho predict that he will come to the front in an unmistakable way as soon as local conditions are favorable.
The Enterprise
This is a weekly, five-column quarto newspaper, published every Saturday at Malad, Oneida county, in the interests especially of its city and county, and in general politics it is a Re-publican organ, wielding a great influence in the advancement of Republican principles. The paper was founded by J. A. Streight, in September, 1886. After he had conducted it a year he sold it to R. H. Davis, a gentleman of considerable ability, who has since been its publisher; and since 1896 W. E. Beers has been its successful manager.
Mr. Beers is a native of Kentucky, born at the capital of that state. He acquired a practical knowledge of the printer’s trade while a boy: and his business life since then has been such as to make him an accomplished newspaper manager. After coming west he was a reporter for the Oregonian and other Oregon papers in the Idaho legislature during the session of 1896-7 coming to this state for that purpose. He has since been located at Malad, where he has a home and family: and he has located here with the intention of making this his permanent abode. He is considered by the citizens a valuable acquisition to the community.