The Powder River County examiner and the Broadus independent., 1921-02-11

Watterson, Of the Louisville Courier.
retained his editorial influence to the
day Of his death . year or two ago.
In the west few names Of notable
editors that are readily recalled are
the late G. G. Goodwin Of Salt Lake,
Harvey Scott of the Portland Oregon
ian, Otis of the Los Angeles Times
and Atkins OF the Rocky Mountain
News Of Denver. These men influ-
enced affairs of their time and were
great factors in the development of
their communities. Today, excepting
in the smaller towns, editorial in
fluence is far less marked. The news
paper is greater than ever in its op-
portunities for public good, but It is
the newspaper-not the editorial
writer,
One Of the surviving editors Of
wide personal influence in Montana.
of the western school, fast passing,
that included Goodwin, Scott and
Atkins, is William NJ. Bole of Great
Falls, editor of the Daily Tribune of
that city. In appearance, in char
acter and in ability as deep thinker
and lucid, convincing writer, he re-
calls the type Of great newspaper edi-
tors of past generati0n-menw whose
names were household words and
whose influence was widely felt.
For thirty years Editor Bole has
been an influence in Great Falls and
Northern Montana, and the Tribune,
whose editorial course he has piloted
during the greater part of that time,
occupies place in its field that. is
equaled by few newspapers in the
| west.
Mr.. Bole's career has been an in
teresting one. Born in the village
of South Ryegate, Vermont, in 1858.
he was the son of the Rev. John Bole,
NJ. A., clergyman of the Presby-
terian church of Scotch birth. When
he was four years old his parents
removed to Glasgow, Scotland, and in
that city and in Belfast, Ireland, he
received his early schooling. At the
age of ~ he returned with his par
ents to Vermont, his father occupy
ing the pulpit of the church in the
beautiful little village of West Bar
net. Today there is a memorial win
dow to the Rev. John Bole, and the
home that they occupied there is still
owned In the family and occupied by
q sister of William Bole as q sum-
mer home.
At the age Of Is young Bole en-
tered the office of the st. Johnsbury,
VT, Caledonian, to serve an appren-
ticeship at the printers trade, which
he completed. In 1881 he went west
to St. Paul, and shortly after acQuir.
ed an interest in weekly newspaper
of which he became editor and event
ually sole owner. During the years
that st. Paul was growing rapidly
from small town into a city, he had
an opportunity to invest in real es.
tate that soon became much more
valuable, and by 1889 he had prop
erty that represented fortune of be-
tween 100000 and $15O,000.
In those days such sum repre-
sented as much wealth as the average
man expected to accumulate in life
time, and Mr.. Bole made up his mini
to improve himself by travel ant
study while yet young man. HI
went to England and started on !;
tour of the British Isles on foot tina
took him through parts of England
Ireland and Scotland. He was parti
cularly interested in conditions il
Ireland, and he strengthened hi!
knowledge of Irish affairs by contac
at first hand. He stopped at inns il
!. small villages, met the people of the
soil. the parish priests, the agents o.
the landholders and some of the
owners, as we'll. He found the ex
iperience interesting, and his tour was
a most enjoyable one.
But his return to St. Paul was 9
less pleasing experience. On arriv
ing there he found that the rea
estate boom had collapsed his proper
ty for the time almost valueless be
cause of the depression in business
and his affairs so involved that hi
was forced to liquidate his holding!
on basis that left him penniless.
He then made up his mind to gt
farther west. and shipped west with {
Great Northern construction crew
Arriving at Great Falls eventually
he decided to cast his anchor there
for the time being and secured EN-
ployment on the Great Falls Leader
first as q printer and then as a re
porter. Later he became city editor
of the Great Falls Tribune.
The affairs of the Tribune were a,
q low ebb, and in 1895 Mr.. Bole ant
10. s. Warden, the latter bookkeepel
Of the paper, bought the Tribune fol
$1,000. Today the Tribune and cor
porations affiliated with it that are
owned by Messrs. Bole and Warden
have a value running into the hun
dreds of thousands of dollars.
From the time of his first associa
tion with the Tribune, Mr.. Bole's in
fluence in the community has beer
big. He was possessed of natural at
tributes as an editor that soon made
the paper stand out as q factor il
Montana affairs. Under his editoria
/ guidance the influence of the Tribune
L. ~