The Sidney herald., 1956-07-19

daily gives its readers a re-
view of Frontier Editor"
Dan MILESTONE
Writes . Book
A book has just come off the
press of the Hastings House Pub
fishers of New York that many
people in Montana viii wish to
read and all who read it viii
greatly enjoy. The title is From
tier Editor and the author is Oar
milestone, founder of the Cut
Bank Pioneer Press in 1909 and
still the editor of that sprighly
weekly newspaper. The contents
of this book should, and doubt
less will, form an authentic d
interesting chapter of the history
of Montana. 1t is the story OF a
period in the life of the Treas
IRE State which has never been
so well told before and deals IN
delightful fashion with a dozen
or so characters whose like could
have been found in many other
sections of Eastern Montana dur
ing those times, but in not such
numbers in any other part of this
entire country.
1t required a keen wit, an ap-
probation of human nature In the
raw and a penetrating insight In
to the impulses that separate peo-
ple into individual cells of hu-
mainly to write the sort of book
that has come from the pen of
this country editor. These advan-
tages Dan Wholesome possesses.
He was typical of many OF his
profession who were lured to
Montana during those days by a
spirit of adventure, the desire for
change from environments that
were too deadly commonplace to
intrigue their interest and an
ambition to discover new eco
nomic opportunities.
They were called by the too
a~Il-inclusive title of printer
Journalists" They were in truth,
printers in the accepted sense of
that term, in that they could
perform most of the manual labor
incident to getting out the sheet"
- set type by hand, kick" a
Job press and feed the flatbed;
and could also collect and write
the news and make some sort Of
a hand at producing an editorial
column that reflected their views
of people and events, usually con-
corning matters of local interest
that were often couched in lam
guage more forceful than ele-
CANT.
Although, with the passage of
half a century, Dan MILESTONE
widened the horizon of his activ-
tiles, interests, associations and
expanded the scope of his edl-
toriaI disquisitions by becoming
identified with the higher eche-
Ions of political leaders IN his
WI state and the nation, he Is
still at heart the country editor.
But where scores of others of his
tribe failed, he had what it takes
to build a substantial newspaper
property and printing business,
attain a measure of economic
success that does not often re-
ward the labors of the members
of his calling and gives him the
leisure for doing whatever may
happen to strike his fancy at
tend state and national political
conventions, act as unofficial
host to friends in the newspaper
and literary world who visit Gla-
cier park during the tourist sea
son, spend a few weeks each
winter in Arizona and contribute
sane observations on whatever
subject that zones to mind for
his paper in Cut Bank.
Abandoning an earlier m
bition to become a school teach
er, Dan Milestone decided to be-
come a newspaper man. After
learning the printers trade, he
purchased his hometown news
paper, the Tribune of Franklin, /
MINI. But life there proved too !,
tame for the budding journalist
and, after selling his Minnesota
paper, he sarted westward in
search of a new location. Passing
through North Dakota, he en-
tered eastern Montana and grad {
ually worked his way northward, {
stopping for brief visits in Miles :
City, Billings, Lewistown and !
Great Falls. His meanderings fl 1
nally landed him at Cut Bank, a
new division point on the main .
line Of the Great Northern. 1
His welcome to Cut Bank with :
the announced intention of start :
ing a newspaper was not 100 :
percent encouraging. One of the !
several saloon operators :
expressed his opinion of the pro- ;
enterprise as follows: Eel :
La, if you start a paper here first ;
thing we know Wen have chur- !
ches, ladies' aids, temperance .
spielers and moves to shut up the !
saloons. II that happens, me for
Alaska or South America" Dan 9
did start his paper and most of :
the predictions made by the mem :
Der of the unwelcome commit 8
tee did come 10 pass. :
To obtain the full flavor of this s
book, one will have to read it b
cover to cover. The changes :
wrought throughout Eastern Mon n
by the influx of the home S
4