The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-03-24


A State of Newspapers.
Montana is remarkable for its news
paper readers and newspaper reading.
one would rake the state with fine
tooth comb TO find a resident who does
not subscribe for at least one of the
daily papers-ma1y take them all. The
weekly press also has an astonishing
patronage. Briefly, Montana is a news
paper reading community, and the
money that is paid over the. business
office counter is not begrudged.
Inc history of newspaper making in
Montana is an extremely interesting
one The initial news publication made
its appearance in Bannack City, Mon
tana s first capital 1t was called Lew
is News Letter, and was of the size
or a sheet of note paper. When there
was not enough type in the office, -
which. according to all accounts, was
in butcher shop. the editor supplied
the deficiency by filing the vacant
space with his pen. The first real news
paper was started i'm Virginia City in
1864. 1t was a creditable journal at
tracuve in appearance and especially
Wen edIted- Famous men contributed
to the Montana Posts editorial COL
umns. The late Colonel Wilbur F San
ders, Colonel Dimsdale. Judge Henry
y Blake, ID. ". Tiiton and many other
vigilante-day pioneers welded facile
and vitriOlic pens, and the Post did
much toward bringing law and order
out of condition of chaos and turbu-
lence.
The New Northwest began its career
in the city of Deer Lodge in 1866, and
hourished for many years. 1t passed
into history only a few years ago. The
late Captain James H. Mills was its
editor. and the paper exercised a pow
erful influence for good The Helena
Herald was a pioneer in the field of
journalism. 1t. too, was started in the
sos, and continued until its absorption
in 1902 by the Montana Daily Record.
Another pioneer is the Fort Benton
River Press. published at the head of
navigation of the Missouri, and at one
time paper of high rank. With the
coming of the railroads, steamboat
transportation on the Missouri waned
and with it Fort Benton. The Press,
however, survives as small daily.
In the Larger Fields.
OF the four-papers Of first class that
serve Butte. the Miner probably stands
at the head, with ;he Anaconda stand
ard second. The Miner is the property
home i'm a handsome structure in West
Broadway Ii is equipped with mechan-
zeal facilities Of the first order. Its
press is a doubIe-deck color machine,
Of high speed and capacity. Through
out. the Miner office is furnished in
the style of a modern newspaper office.
The Miner is intensely Democratic. and
is an indefatigible booster for Butte,
Montana and the west. The Anaconda
Standard has an extensive plant i'm the
city of that name. 1t was started on
Sept. .. 1889, as a political organ for
Marcus Daily. 1t is delivered to thou
sands OF subscribers in Butte, whittier
it is sent each morning on a train
placed at its disposal by the Amaiga-
mated company's railroad. The Butte
lnter-Mountain is en- afternoon paper.
Formerly it was owned by former Sen
dtoT Lee Mantle. out now it is the prop
Crty of the Amalgamated Copper COM
pany, whose organ it is; it is ROn-par-
tsan i'm politics. The Butte Evening
News is owned by +. AugJ stus Heinze.
Supplying the News.
During the shutdown of the Mon
tana newspaper plants, the people of
Butte have been served with more or
less success by tn Helena papers and
the Muscular. published a NIissoula
a hundred miles away in western Mon
tana. The Helena Record Is owned by
a syndicate of Republicans composed of
about 800 stockholders. The Indepen-
dent is a Democratic paper owned by
John :. NJ NeiII The Muscular is
controlled by Senator Dixon. although
he does not own it outright Train
schedules have been such that the Hell
ena papers reached Butte from three to
five hours after publication. and the
MisSOUliau in about the same length of
time. Special bureaus have been main
tanned in Butte by these papers during
the period of suspension.
Newspapers Are Numerous.
In addition to the daily papers men
toned, there are two at Great Falls.
the Tribune and the Leader: three at
Billings, the Gazette. Journal and
Times; one at Miles City, the Yellow
stone Journal, edited by noted writer,
Colonel Sam Gordon. The weekly press
of Montana is a credit to the state.
There are semi-weeklies at Bozeman,
Lewiston and Kaiispell. There are ex-
cellent weeklies in Livingston. Miles
City, Glendive, Red Lodge, Hamilton.
Havre, Kalispell, Dillon, Virginia City.
Lewiston, and many smaller weeklies
scattered through the state. As a rule,
they dit All III Il prosperous cbilulllOll.
A particularly unfortunate phase of
the newspaper shutdown has been the
hardships that have fallen upon mon
COmbatants." editors, reporters. clerks.
carriers and other employees. Many
former workmen in newspaper offices
here have sought and obtained situa-
tiOns elsewhere. but the greater por-
ton remained in the hope of early re-
sumption.