Kansas Historical Quarterly

First Newspapers in Kansas Counties
Part 2 of 4: 1865-1871

by G. Raymond Gaeddert

     THE Plaindealer probably made its appearance sometime during the last two weeks in March, 1865. This statement is based on newspaper reports found in the Leavenworth Daily Conservative and the Lawrence Kansas Daily Tribune of 1865. On April 5 the Conservative wrote: "Plaindealer is the name of a paper just started at Garnett, Anderson county, Kansas. The first number presents a creditable appearance." The following day the Tribune stated: "I. E. Olney, who last year published the Hampden Expositor, has taken his printing materials to Garnett, Anderson county, and has commenced the publication of the Garnett Plaindealer." The Emporia News did not announce the Plaindealer until May 13. It wrote that the paper "commences under favorable auspices, with all the prestige and character of the Hampden Expositor. It is being published on the same type and edited by the same editor." Andreas, the First Biennial Report and the author of History of Anderson County all stated that the Plaindealer was established in January, 1865. [1] They may have had in mind the establishment of the newspaper plant rather than the date of the first publication.

     I. E. Olney, who formerly published the Hampden Expositor, was editor and publisher of the Plaindealer until his death in the fall of 1866, after which Mrs. Olney carried on until 1870, when the office was purchased by Leslie J. Perry. The regular issues of the Society's file of this paper do not start until January 7, 1876.

     The year 1867 was eventful for Salina. In February B. J. F. Hanna gave the town and county its first newspaper, the Salina Herald, and in April the Union Pacific railroad reached the town. [2]

     Andreas wrote that the Herald, "the oldest newspaper in the county, was established at Salina in 1866." This statement may have been based on an account which appeared in the Herald March 16, 1878: "The oldest established newspaper is the Herald, which is now approaching its thirteenth year." If regularly issued this would mean the first number appeared in 1866. The Herald must be mistaken. The Society has an early issue dated December 18, 1869, listed as volume III, number 45. Retracing its issues, if regularly published, would make the first number February 13, 1867. The First Biennial Report gives this as the date of the first issue. [3] Moreover, the Junction City Weekly Union of February 9, 1867, wrote: "We understand the Salina paper will come out this week. We are anxious to see that which has advanced beyond us westward." On February 23 the same paper wrote again: "The Salina Herald has failed to come to hand. We, however, have seen a copy. It is a sprightly sheet, full of interest and earnestly devoted to the 'material interest' of Saline county." In the same issue the Union quoted from the Salina Herald. On March 1, 1867, the Emporia News described the first issue of the Herald as follows:

     We have received No. 1 of the Salina Herald, a new paper printed at the thriving town of Salina, Kansas. It is one of the best looking and ablest country papers in the state, and if the first number is a specimen of what the paper is to be, it will be of great benefit to western Kansas. Mr. Hannahs is the editor and publisher.

     While the exact date is still unknown, it is likely that the first issue of the Herald appeared sometime during the second or third week in February, 1867.

     A recent publication in a colorful but erroneous description asserted that Hanna established the paper after the Union Pacific railroad reached the town. The statement reads:

     It was a great day in Salina history [when the railroad reached Salina] and marked the beginning of a new era. Before long settlers began to arrive by rail and one of these newcomers, F. B. J. Hanna, brought type and a printing press and began to publish the Herald, Salina's first newspaper. [4]

     It has already been pointed out that the railroad did not reach Salina until sometime in April, 1867. By this time the Herald office had published its paper for more than a month.

     It will sustain the present reconstruction policy of Congress, and such other measures as in its wisdom shall be deemed necessary for the protection of the loyal people of the South, whether black or white; and we trust that Congress, through its commanders of departments, Johnson and Stanberry to the contrary notwithstanding, will hold a firm grip until the same respect is shown for law and order as in the northern states; until they relinquish their pastime amusement of shooting negroes, and getting up New Orleans massacres, and Mobile and Memphis riots.

Baxter Springs Herald.-This is the title of a new, six-column paper in Cherokee county. It is Republican in politics, and constitutes and appoints itself "the especial advocate, without fee or reward, of the claims of every good, honest settler upon the Cherokee Neutral Lands, to his home, and promise to do all in our power to secure his title for him." Henry T. Sumner is the editor, and B. R. Evans publisher. It is a neat and spicy sheet, and will materially benefit the settlers. Success to the enterprise.

     and listed as Volume I, number 18. If issued regularly the date of she first number should have been October 12, 1867. However, by October 9 the Fort Scott Monitor had already received the first issue. A rival paper had been contemplated by P. A. Russell, formerly f the Paola Free Press. On August 14, 1867, the Monitor wrote: A weekly journal is soon to be started in the above named county, by P. A. J. Russell, formerly of the Paola Free Press." In the next ssue, however, the Monitor spoke of the failure of this project:

Mr. Russell says the arrangement between himself and D. C. Finn of Cherokee county, relative to publishing a paper at Pleasant View, is "busted"-the atter failing to "come down with the stamps." Mr. Finn called on us yesterlay, and said his part of the contract was for and in behalf [of] the Pleasant View Town Company. He thinks the Crawfordville people will try and secure Mr. Russell's press.

     This gave the Baxter Springs Herald undisputed claim as the first paper in the county.

     Floyd B. Streeter, librarian at Fort Hays Kansas State College, who has a framed copy of the first issue of the Advance, the only known copy of this number in existence, wrote that the date of the first issue is November 9, 1867. [7] The secondary authorities, except Wilder, were uncertain about it, listing merely the year. Wilder gave the date of the first issue as November 5, 1867. [8] The Junction City Union announced the first issue on November 16. The announcement read:

     The Hays City Railway Advance is the name of a tri-weekly paper which has made its appearance at the terminus of the road, and published by Joseph Clark, W. H. Bisbee and Willis Emery, all of Leavenworth. The thing looks like a huge joke, considering all things. They advertise for a boy to learn the business and add "one from the country preferred, of course." They evidently mean that they want a young Cheyenne.

     The paper expired the following year.9 The Society has one issue of the Advance, dated June 23, 1868, and listed as Vol. 1, No. 66. At that time the paper appeared twice a week.

     The Topeka State Journal, March 13, 1941, had an interesting article on the Railway Advance with quotations from the first issue. Among the statements made was one which needs further explana-

tion, viz.: "Thus began the first newspaper in Kansas west of Junction City." The writer of the article no doubt had forgotten about the Salina Herald which made its appearance sometime in February, 1867, making the Railway Advance the second paper west of Junction City. Hays City, at the end of the Union Pacific, Eastern division, was only three months old when the Advance appeared.

     The First Biennial Report stated that "In April, 1868, P. H. Hubbell started the Ellsworth Advocate, which existed for six months. [11] to Andreas, who gave quite a detailed account of the history of Ellsworth, made no mention of this paper. The Junction City Weekly Union on March 14, 1868, reported:

     The Ellsworth Advocate is the name of a new weekly paper just started at Ellsworth, with Mr. P. H. Hubbell as publisher. The Advocate presents a fine appearance, and it is in every respect a "live journal." It is neutral in politics and its columns are devoted to morals, education, art, science, literature, and the general interests of the county and state it represents.

     The First Biennial Report apparently was in error as to the month the Advocate appeared. While the exact date is still unknown, it is likely that the first issue appeared sometime during the first or second week in March, 1868. The Society has no copy of this paper.

     This paper enjoyed the unusual reputation of having been claimed by three counties: Labette, Crawford and Neosho. It was published at Jacksonville, located where the counties joined. The corporation records show that the town was located on parts of sections 34 and 35, T. 30 S., R. 21 E., and on part of section 3, T. 31 S., R. 21 E. Section 34 is in Neosho county, 35 in Crawford county, and 3 in Labette county." The U. S. Register of 1871, however, located the postoffice of Jacksonville in Neosho county, and according to W. W. Graves, who has written a History of Neosho County Newspapers, the Eagle was published in that county. [12] The Kansas Daily Tribune, Lawrence, May 7, 1868, announced the paper and substantiated Graves' statement. It reads:

     The Neosho Valley Eagle is the title of a new weekly paper issued at Jacksonville, Neosho county, the first number of which we have received. B. K. Land, Esq., is editor and proprietor.

     The only known file of this paper is preserved in the vault of the Erie Record.

     The history of this paper reveals many changes, typical of frontier newspapers. Graves, who has examined the issues of the Neosho Valley Eagle, wrote that "Land was one of those fighting editors who did not feel good unless he was shooting broadsides at the Osage Mission Journal, so much so that his paper contained almost no local news." [13] Land claimed that the citizens of Jacksonville had made guarantees which they neglected to keep. He brought suit against those who had failed him and moved the paper to Erie. He published the first issue of the Neosho Valley Eagle in Erie on October 24, 1868. He continued the paper until May 11, 1869, when he sold it to E. E. Kimball and C. G. Burton, a law firm. The Eagle continued under the old name until May 25, 1869, when it was changed to the Neosho County Dispatch. On December 9, 1870, the Dispatch passed into the hands of J. A. Trenchard who converted it into an anti-monopolist paper, with the cry of "down with Land Monopolies and up with Settler's Rights." The paper continued to change hands and titles. In 1871, J. A. Wells published it as the Erie Ishmaelite. Wells sold it to J. H. Scott and H. T. Perry, who moved the plant to Osage Mission in 1871, and used it "in reviving the [Osage Mission] Journal which had been asleep for a month." [14]

     The town of Jacksonville is no longer on the map. It was overtaken by adversity in the midst of prosperity. Neighboring railroad towns played havoc with it, so that by 1883 Andreas could write that "today nothing remains to mark the site where it stood, excepting a postoffice, in a lonely farmhouse." [15]

     Three newspapers have contended for first place in this county: The Chetopa Advance, the Neosho Valley Eagle, Jacksonville, and the Oswego Register. Daniel W. Wilder, in the Annals o f Kansas for February 18, 1880, referred to A. S. Corey as having "started the Chetopa Advance in 1867." [16] That he was mistaken is gathered

from a statement found in the Emporia News, January 15, 1869, which reads: "We have received the first number of the Chetopa Advance, a very creditable looking six-column, Republican paper, just started at Chetopa, Labette county." This statement, substantiated by the First Biennial Report, eliminates the Advance as a contender. [17]

     The First Biennial Report listed the Neosho Valley Eagle as the first paper in the county. Its statement reads: "The first newspaper published in Labette county was the Eagle, published at Jacksonville in April, 1868, by B. K. Land." [18] The Eagle ante-dated the Oswego Register, but in this case another factor must be considered, namely, the location of the place of publication. The Eagle of Jacksonville was claimed by three counties because the town was located on parts of Neosho, Labette and Crawford counties. This question, considered in the article on Neosho county, was decided in favor of that county. The author accepted the statements of Graves and the Kansas Daily Tribune, Lawrence, that the office of publication of the Eagle was in Neosho county, thus eliminating it for first place in Labette county. The Oswego Register, therefore, is considered first in the county. The date of the first issue, however, remains undetermined. The secondary authorities agreed that the Register was established in 1868, and was the first newspaper published in Oswego, but failed to give the day or month of the first issue. [19] A part of this information was found in a contemporaneous newspaper published in Franklin county. On June 11, 1868, the Western Home Journal, Ottawa, announced the Register in these words:

     The Oswego Register is the name of a new paper that has come to us, published at Oswego, Labette county, Kansas, and edited by E. R. Trask. It is neatly gotten up, and no doubt will be liberally patronized in their flourishing county of Labette. The names of Grant and Colfax at its masthead, show that it is the right stripe. . . .

     It is safe to say that the Oswego Register made its appearance either during the latter part of May or the first days in June, 1868. The Society has only four issues. The first is dated July 30, 1869, and listed as Vol. II, No. 3.

     The Herald was the first journalistic venture in the county, although secondary writers disagree on the date of the first issue. Andreas wrote that "Its first issue bears date August, 1866, and has the motto `Be sure you're right-then go ahead.' " The First Biennial Report stated that the first number "was issued July 4th, 1868," whereas Wilder's entry for July, 1868 is: "S. G. Mead starts the Eureka Herald." [20] George G. Wood, the present editor and publisher of the Eureka Herald and owner of its early files including Vol. 1, No. 1, writes that the first issue is dated July 10, 1868. [21]

     The Fort Scott Weekly Monitor of July 22, 1868, announced the paper in these words: "New Paper-The Eureka Herald is the name of a new paper published at Eureka, Greenwood county, by S. G. Mead. It presents a neat appearance, and it gives us pleasure to place it on our exchange list."

     The Society's regular file of the Herald does not start until January 27, 1876, but it has three earlier issues, the first listed as Vol, I, No. 16, and bearing the date October 30, 1868. The Society is now arranging to have film copies made of the Herald's early Volumes.

     This paper no doubt made its appearance in October, 1868, although the secondary authorities give the date as October, 1869. [22] This statement is based on the announcement of publication found in the Kansas Weekly Tribune, Lawrence, October 29, 1868. It reads as follows:

     The Frontier Democrat is the title of a new paper published by I. B. Boyle, at Neosho Falls. It is intensely Democratic in politics, and makes a fierce onslaught on the Republican state nominees, by giving copious extracts from one of our city contemporaries. The outside is printed at Chicago, and the inside at Neosho Falls.

     The paper changed to the Neosho Falls Advertiser "about January, 1870," according to the Society's History of Kansas Newspapers, [23]

and became the Woodson County Post in 1873. It is still published, but at Yates Center. Harry L. and Cranston M. Covert are the present editors and owners. The Frontier Democrat was printed on a Washington press, according to Paul I. Wellman, feature writer of the Kansas City (Mo.) Star. His statement reads as follows:

     The Washington press upon which it [the NeoshoFalls Post] was first printed was originally brought to Leavenworth, Kan., for free state service in the John Brown days, taken to Lawrence for a similar purpose, and thence to Burlington when the Patriot was founded there. Afterwards it went to Le Roy, and finally to Neosho Falls, when I. B. Boyle founded the Frontier Democrat. The following year W. H. Sains purchased the Democrat and changed its name to the Neosho Falls Advertiser. It became the Woodson County Post subsequently, and after the removal of the county seat was once more renamed the Neosho Falls Post by a new owner, Nathan Powell. [24]

     The writer has not checked sufficiently on the statement regarding the historic Washington press mentioned above to be in a position to affirm or challenge it. It may be that its history is shrouded in mys tery like that of the Meeker press. There must have been a number of Washington hand presses in Kansas at that time. They were manufactured by Robert Hoe and Company. [25] The significance of the name lies in the make of press. It obtained its power from the straightening of a toggle joint, the knee-joint being pressed in. The Society has no issues of the Frontier Democrat or of the Advertiser, but it has a file of the Post beginning September 24, 1873.

     "Be Just, and Fear Not," was the maxim of M. J. Kelley, editor of The Western Observer, Washington county's first newspaper. In the first number, dated March 25, 1869, he professed to be "a live, wide awake, Radical Republican," ever ready to battle "for liberty, freedom to all, regardless of race or color; and also, favoring universal, or in other words, Female Suffrage." [26] That he had the courage of his convictions is evidenced by the fact that on at least one occasion he refused to publish "a communication from Waterville," on account of its personalities. He warned that those sending him communications should please remember "that we will not pub-

-lish abusive letters. . . . We do not propose to allow one or the other to be abused through these columns." [27]

     The Observer was a small, four-column, four-page, paper. Kelley wrote that it was started on a small scale "for one of the best reasons in the world-that is, we had not the money to make it larger." He hoped that the paper would be well received so that he might enlarge it in the near future.

     Commenting on the rapid growth in population, he wrote:

     Three years ago we passed through the western part of this and Republic county. In passing through Washington county we saw but four houses on the road, the entire length of the county. Now, passing over the same road, we see near one hundred neat little farms opened and appearance of plenty. In Republic county we did not see a house, and now on the same road we count upward of fifty. . . [28]

     Andreas credited the Observer with having drawn to Washington "some of her most influential citizens." [29]

     Kelley also published other papers. On August 21, 1869, he started The Little Blue, at Jenkins Mills, Nebr., and October 19, 1870, he published the first issue of the Washington Kansas Daily Republican. The Society has a good file of these three papers including the first issue of each.

     was ever published. In the Fort Scott Monitor of April 7, 1869, appeared the following statement:

     Paper in Crawford County. -- We received a call from Mr. Cole, of Girard, last week, who informs us that he contemplates, in connection with J. H. Scott, of the Mission Journal, starting a paper at Girard. They have not yet decided upon a name, although Mr. Cole says they may call it "The Tender," as it will be after Maj. Cox's Locomotive.

     If this statement foreshadowed the Times, it would indicate that the paper started in 1869 rather than 1868.

     Years later this same C. E. Cole wrote an article published in the Wichita Daily Eagle, February 3, 1907, which leaves the question in confusion. He wrote it in answer to an article in an unnamed eastern paper which he called "a very incorrect account of the early days in Girard and Crawford County." He said he was on the scene "in the stirring events of those days" and would give "some inside history yet unpublished." Referring to the county-seat contest, he wrote

     At that time Crawfordsville, a little town then the seat of government, lay three miles to the eastward along the banks of Cow Creek. During the winter a court order was issued calling an election to be held the last of April, to decide which should be the county seat: Crawfordsville or Girard. In the contest the latter town was chosen by a small majority.

     He then proceeded to explain why Girard won the election:

     I saw there was one thing lacking, and very much needed for our success, and that deficiency was a newspaper. Our rival had Such a small sheet called the Crawfordsville Times. I made our wants known to Mr. Hull and others. The matter was left to me. In the meantime I had learned there was a second-hand Washington hand-press and a few fonts of type for sale or trade at the town of Osage Mission. I borrowed a horse and struck out for the coveted prize. In due time I arrived at my destination, and soon made a bargain with Mr. Oliver, the owner, for a half interest.

     Two days later found us unloading and setting up our printing outfit in a modest board house, 12 x 16 feet, in the rear of Senet and Vickers's store. My partner, Mr. Oliver, took charge of the labor and mechanical end of the business, and your humble servant assumed the roll of editor and manager. Everything being in readiness on the 10th day of April, 1869, the Girard News, fresh from a Washington hand-press, went forth dressed in its spring garb of mechanical and editorial beauty to the waiting throng on the outside as the first paper published in Girard, and was considered by all a masterpiece of mechanical and editorial beauty; this five-column 12 x 16 sheet.

     This article, although full of errors, raises the question whether Crawfordsville ever published a newspaper, and if so, when? On August 21, 1867, probably the first contemporaneous statement pertaining to a Crawfordsville paper appeared in the Fort Scott Moni

     The late E. A, Wasser was a citizen of Crawfordsville for a time against his will. Mr. Eddy tells the story: [This has reference to William L. Eddy, a merchant there.]
"Wasser came to Crawfordsville with the intention of starting a paper. A fellow with him was to get the money from friends or relatives. The money seemed slow coming and Wasser's partner borrowed a pony from me to ride to some point over in Missouri. He wanted to hurry the funds along. Several weeks later nothing had been heard from him or the money. One day the pony was brought back to me more dead than alive. The fellow never appeared.
"Wasser stayed. He couldn't leave. One day Jones came to me and asked if I had any money to spare. He said that Wasser had a chance to go to Fort Scott and get into the newspaper business but that he had no money with which to pay his board bill and Dr. D. W. Crouse, with whom he boarded, wouldn't let him leave town without paying the bill. I advanced the money and Wasser got out of town." [33]

     Cole's memory apparently failed him on several major points. The election on the county-seat question was held in December, 1868, and not in April. Moreover, Cole refers to the Girard News "as the first paper published in Girard." There was a Crawford County News published at Girard but it did not make its appearance until August 6, 1875, published by T. P. Fulton and C. C. Covell. The Girard News was not established until December 13, 1878. Cole's statement therefore does not fit into the picture unless we overlook a number of important factors.

in its Newspaper History has it that this paper was "a continuation of the Fort Scott Press, a Democratic paper published in the late '60s in Fort Scott." In 1869 Warner and Wasser moved it to Girard, changed the name to the Girard Press and established it "as an independent paper politically." The Society has several issues of the Press prior to May 28, 1874, when its regular file of this paper begins. The earliest is dated January 6, 1870, and is listed as Vol. I, No. 9, for Girard, and Vol. IV, No. 46, for Fort Scott and Girard, inclusive.

     The first effort at journalism in this county was made by E. R. Trask in the publication of the Independence Pioneer. The paper was Republican in politics. The Fort Scott Monitor, September 29, 1869, announced its appearance as follows:

     We are in receipt of number two, of the Independent Pioneer, published at Independence, Montgomery county. It is edited by E. R. Trask, who is also the editor of the Oswego Register, and the former is probably an offshoot of the latter paper. May they both meet with success.

     According to Andreas, the Pioneer was printed at Oswego until March, 1870, after that in Independence "with David Steel as editor." [34] Several other papers followed closely in the wake of the Pioneer, the Westralia Vidette, started at Westralia, by McConnell and McIntyre in the spring of 1870, and the Parker Record, by G. D. Baker, at Parker, June, 1870. [35] The Society has no issues of the Vidette or Record, but it has two of the Pioneer. The first is dated November 13, 1869 (Vol. 1, No. 10), and the other, January 1, 1870. If published regularly the Pioneer should have made its appearance September 11, 1869. The First Biennial Report gave the date of the first issue as September 4.36 The paper made its appearance, no doubt, sometime during the first two weeks of September, 1869. Independence, in 1869, was still very much in the pioneering stage, but it was a growing town. On January 1, 1870, the Pioneer wrote:

     Independence is growing. Forty frame buildings have been erected in as many days. Since our saw mills have been turning out lumber, the work of building has went on right merrily, and substantial frame buildings have taken the place of booths, tents and hay houses, that a few weeks ago were scattered

promiscuously over our beautiful town site. Four months ago, the tall prairie grass waved where to-day are rows of buildings and the scenes of busy life. Since the first of September last, more than one hundred families have settled in this place, and every day witnesses new arrivals.

     In the issue of November 13, 1869 (the inside of which bears the date of November 27), the editor told about an interesting incident that happened to a resident of Montgomery county the previous week. The story reads as follows:

     In the night he [the resident] was awakened from his slumbers by the cries of his first-born, and upon feeling found that it was not in bed. He struck a light, and continued his search, but failed to find it in the house. Upon the suggestion of his wife, he looked out doors, and found it upon the ground, where it had fell, having rolled off the bed between the logs of the house. Since the above occurrence, the woman of the house says the old man must stay at home now and chink and daub the cracks of his house instead of fooling around about the county seat.

     Those were the "good old" frontier days.

     The secondary authorities agree that the Courier was the first newspaper in the county. John R. Jennings was the editor and publisher. The paper was Republican in politics. [37] On January 28, 1870, the Kansas Daily Commonwealth announced The Wilson County Courier as a new paper, and thereby confirmed the statements of the secondary authorities that it made its appearance in January, 1870. The Commonwealth referred to the Courier as presenting "a creditable appearance, barring its ill-proportioned length." It advised "Brother Jennings to cut off about four inches from the bottom."

The History of Kansas Newspapers contended that the Courier was first published at Le Roy by William J. Kent and William Higgins during the years 1866 to 1868, when it was suspended; that on October 30, 1869, the second Le Roy Courier was established by John R. Jennings, "who used the old stereotyped heading of the first Courier, which he found in the town and appropriated to his use for economy's sake. This paper was continued until January, 1870, when it was discontinued and the office moved to Fredonia, where it passed into the hands of Messrs. Peffer and Wellman." [38] The Com-

     This was the first newspaper published in Dickinson county, Andreas' statement to the contrary notwithstanding. [40] The Society has a photostatic copy of Volume one, number two, dated January 28, 1870. In several advertisements of this issue appeared the date "Jan. 20-tf." Since the paper was published every Friday, as listed in the masthead of the second issue, the first number should have made its appearance January 21, 1870, although the date on the advertisements would place it on the 20th. The First Biennial Report stated that The Western News and the Abilene Chronicle both made their appearance in February, 1870. [41] The Society has volume one, number two, of the Chronicle, dated March 3, 1870. If regularly issued this would place the first number on February 24, 1870, which is also the date given by Wilder. [42] It follows, therefore, that The Western News was established about a month earlier than the Abilene Chronicle. In addition to the photostatic copy of The Western News, the Society also has the issues of February 11 and July 5, 1870.

     The News was started by A. W. Robinson during the last county-seat fight in Dickinson county. The paper was full of the contest. Among the remarks noticed in the issues were the following: "COUNTY SEAT or BUST," "ABILENE is DEAD, will be BURIED next TUESDAY NIGHT." Shortly after the election, however, it was the News that gave up the ghost.

     Andreas and the First Biennial Report agree that the first number of the Times was dated March 4, 1870. The First Biennial Report regarded it as the first paper published in the county. [43] The earliest contemporaneous information appears in the Emporia News, January 21, 1870. It stated that "T. B. Murdock has returned, and says their printing establishment for Eldorado ought to be here this week, if it is not delayed on the route. The paper, we learn, will be called Walnut Valley Times." On February 11, the News reported again: "The printing material for the Walnut Valley Times passed through town, on Wednesday, en route to Eldorado. We will look for the new paper in about three weeks." On March 18, the same paper announced the new paper: "The second number of the Walnut Valley Times reached us yesterday. It is the liveliest and best printed paper in the country. Bent and Dan are a newspaper team." The News had reference to T. B. Murdock and one Danford as the editors and publishers. The first issue the Society has of this paper carries the date of July 1, 1870, listed as volume one, number eighteen. If it was issued regularly this would place the first number on March 4, 1870, which agrees with the date given by the secondary authorities. The information points to the conclusion that the Walnut Valley Times appeared during the first or second week of March, 1870. The Times was published until April, 1918, although Murdock severed his connection with it in March, 1881.

     This newspaper, now known as the Concordia Blade-Empire, was established by Henry Buckingham at Clyde, May 31, 1870. It was Republican in politics. Andreas and the First Biennial Report merely gave the year 1870, and regarded the Empire as the first newspaper published in Clyde. [44] Years later Henry Buckingham wrote that it was "the first paper established in that region," but failed to qualify the word "region." [45] Unless further information disproves the statements of the above authorities, the Republican Valley Empire must be regarded as the first newspaper in Cloud

county. Twenty-three issues were published at Clyde, when the paper was moved to Concordia, which meanwhile had become the county seat. The Empire has been published there ever since, although under different names. The last issue published at Clyde was dated November 1, 1870, the first published at Concordia was dated December 24, 1870.

     In the first issue, now in the files of the Society, the editor described the site of Clyde as "a beautiful one," located "on the great highway to points in the far west." Clyde was featured as a natural center of trade. It boasted three hotels, three stores, a drug and hardware store, two blacksmith shops, a tin shop, a fine steam saw and grist mill. A large kiln of brick was being put up. The town company offered to give "a lot 65 by 150 feet" to any person who would "put up a building worth $150." Into this thriving little town Buckingham brought his press and material. They were hauled from Manhattan by Messrs. E. Kennedy, E. Kline and Charles Davis. Buckingham placed the press in a log cabin built by the Heller brothers, a building about twenty feet square, the first erected in Clyde. It had been used as "a dwelling, post office, hotel, store and court house." [46] The editor of the Empire was a liberal Republican. In the editorial of the first issue he wrote:

     We are in favor of: 1. Universal suffrage; 2. Universal education; 3. Universal emancipation; 4. Universal temperance. We had seriously thought of adding universal Salvation, but when we think of the rascally thieves in our state, who have stolen thousands "in the name of liberty," and not one of them has returned a dollar of "conscience money," (a custom which is getting popular) we do not think it would be doing justice to the rest of mankind to add the plank to our platform.

     The Society has a good file of the Republican Valley-Empire from May 31, 1870 (Vol. 1, No. 1), to November 23, 1872, but lacks the issues from November, 1872, to January, 1876.

     On August 13, 1870, the Wichita Vidette unfurled its banner to the breeze. W. B. Hutchison and Fred A. Sowers were the editors and publishers. The paper was Republican in politics. Since the Society has a file of the Vidette, including volume one, number one, there is no question about the date of its appearance, although An-

-dreas and the Wichita Eagle gave the date of the first issue as August 15 and 18, 1870, respectively. [47]

     The project for a Wichita paper was started by the Wichita town company. They offered Joe Clarke of Leavenworth, editor of the Leavenworth Daily Call, a bonus if he would start a newspaper. Clarke, who had a similar offer from Parsons, referred the propositions to Fred A. Sowers, formerly his co-worker on the Daily Times. They reached an agreement by which Clarke would furnish the material and receive the bonus money. They selected Wichita and Sowers took charge of the office. "The material of the Vidette was hauled by one of Wm. Griffenstein's teams from Fort Hays. Mr. Wm. B. Hutchison, after the contract had been made between Messrs. Clarke and Sowers, was selected by Mr. Sowers and given a half interest in the office as publisher, he being a practical printer."

     Together they issued the Vidette for six months when Sowers sold out to Hutchison and returned to Leavenworth. In May, 1872, Hutchison sold the paper to one Rev. Perkins, who died in the fall of the same year. "The Vidette was then sold to parties in Wellington where it was taken and issued for a short time under the name of the Wellington Banner." [48]

     The word "vidette" is French, but spelled "vedette." It has been defined as "an outpost, or picket," or rather "sentinel on horseback." The editors were conscious of the fact that they had changed the spelling of the word and asked the critics to be reasonable. They regarded their paper as "the sentinel or picket of journalism in southwestern Kansas," and assumed the right to spell the word as they saw proper. [49]

     The Vidette reflected the life and spirit of the time. Many farmers in Sedgwick county were contemplating planting cotton and hoped to harvest a bale to the acre. Red Turkey wheat was still unknown in Kansas, and farmers were experimenting with crops. The Texas cattle trade was in its glory. The Vidette reported that three thousand head of cattle had passed "over the trail on Friday morning. A large herd came in this morning." The paper also spoke of the great need of "a daily mail, every interest demands it; and as we have two stages running daily between this place and Emporia, it can be obtained if the proper efforts are made." [50] In another column the editors recounted a highly successful fishing trip:

     Last week, we in company with J. C. Burke and Captain Payne, "went fishing" in the Little Arkansas about a mile and a quarter above town. We had Mr. Burke's net and fish-rack. This rack consists of narrow plank framed together, and when a haul is made the fish is taken from the net and placed in the rack, which is floated after the net. We made five hauls and took out about 500 pounds of fish, the largest cat-fish weighing fifty-two pounds gross. We like fishing when we can do as well as we did this time. . . [51]

     In a later issue the editors admonished their patrons to trade at home, writing: "Those who are compelled to go to Emporia to purchase goods, will do well to examine our advertising columns before starting. They will find the names of some firms among them it will pay to call upon." [52]

     Among the firms advertising in the Vidette were the following: R. C. Haywood & Co., wholesale and retail dealers in common, parlor and chamber furniture; Matsell & Hubbard, dealers in general merchandise, dry goods, groceries, hardware, tin ware, saddlery, &c.; J. B. Albaugh, wagon, carriage and blacksmith shop, and many others. The Society has twenty-two issues of the Vidette, including the first eighteen.

     The Cowley County Censor is the name of a paper published at Winfield, in this State, the first number of which appeared last week. It is a vivacious little sheet, and in every respect a credit to the lively town of Winfield.

although printed in Butler county, entitles it to first place in Cowley. The Telegram gave the following history of the Censor:

     On the third day of June, 1871, L. J. Webb succeeded Patrick as its editor, and on the 5th of August following Webb and Doud bought out Patrick, and continued the publication of the paper until the 26th of the same month, when E. G. Nichols succeeded Doud, and the firm became Webb & Nichols. January 6th 1872, Webb & Nichols sold to W. H. Kearns, and the Censor ceased to exist. [56]

     The Society has no copy of this paper.

     The Arkansas City Traveler should be mentioned as a very close second. It probably made its appearance the last week in August, 1870, for the Emporia News reported, September 2, 1870, that it had received the first number of the Traveler. The earliest number the Society has of this paper bears the date of January 26, 1876.

     The first newspaper published in this county was The Solomon Valley Pioneer, which must have appeared about the second week in September, 1870. Little is known about it except what can be gathered from secondary authorities and contemporaneous newspapers. Andreas failed to mention it, but the First Biennial Report wrote that it was the "first paper published in Ottawa county, was issued at Lindsey, in September, 1870, and continued until May, 1873." [57] On September 17, 1870, the Junction City Weekly Union described the first issue as follows:

     We have received the first number of the Solomon Valley Pioneer, published at Lindsay, Ottawa county, "Westward the Star of Empire," &c. A handfull of people get together in this country, and the first thing they want is a newspaper, which is correct, provided they pay for it. But the people of the Solomon Valley are liberal, and we predict for the Pioneer a comfortable time.

     Lindsey at one time was the county seat of Ottawa county, but lost it to Markley's Mill, now Minneapolis. At present it is all but extinct. A map based on the 1940 census gives its population as 15. The Minneapolis Independent made its appearance October 25, 1870, and was a close second to the Pioneer. George MacKenzie was the editor and publisher. The Society has the first issue of the Independent but has no copy of The Solomon Valley Pioneer.

     In 1875 The Marion County Record, of Marion Centre, published a history of the Marion county press. In it appeared the following statement:

     In July or August, 1869, an organization was effected in Marion Centre, county-seat, for the purpose of securing a paper for the county. The organization consisted of the following named gentlemen: J. N. Rogers, J. H. Costello, A. E. Case, Levi Billings, W. H. Billings and A. A. Moore.
Arrangements were soon effected with A. W. Robinson to remove his office from Detroit, Dickinson county, to Marion Centre, which he did in the fall of 1869; receiving a small bonus and in September, 1869, the first paper in Marion county was born, and christened The Western News.
In 1871 the name of the paper was changed to The Western Giant and later it became The Marion County Record. [58]

     According to contemporaneous newspapers the Record was mistaken in the date of birth of The Western News. On September 23, 1870, the Emporia News announced the first issue as follows:

     We have before us the first number of the Western News, printed at Marion Center, in Marion County. We hope this paper will prove a valuable aid to the development of that excellent county.

     On September 21, 1870, the Daily Kansas State Record of Topeka wrote: "Mr. A. W. Robinson has removed his Western News to Marion Centre, Marion county." The First Biennial Report, no doubt, had taken its information from The Marion County Record, for it also gave the date of the first issue as September, 1869. [59] The Western News was small enough to be designated a "Handkerchief Sheet," and was printed on an inferior jobber. These early papers had their financial difficulties. As late as 1875 The Marion County Record, successor of The Western News and Giant, wrote: "If our employees were cannibals we'd feed 'em awhile on delinquent subscribers." This drew from the Southern Kansas Gazette, Augusta, the remark: "Ugh! tough eating." [60]

     The Society has no issues of The Western News nor of The Western Giant. Its first issue of The Marion County Record is of July 23, 1875, listed as Vol. IV, No. 35.

     The first issue of this paper made its appearance September 30, 1870, rather than September 20, as recorded in Andreas and the First Biennial Report. [61] This assertion is based on information received from A. Q. Miller, present publisher of the Telescope. James Humphrey was the editor. Mark J. Kelley announced the first issue in his paper, the Kansas Washington Republican, Washington, October 6, 1870, as follows:

     We have got a Telescope; that is to say when the mail came in from the West on Tuesday we received No. 1 Vol. 1 of the Bellville Telescope, published at Bellville, Republic county, by J. C. Humphrey. It is published on the same press and type with which we published the Western Observer in this city nearly two years ago and is the same size of the old Observer. From its columns we get a Telescopic view of Bellville and surrounding county. Its local columns are well filled with local matters, while in his editorials, Mr. Humphrey, displays rare ability. He is one of the best practical printers in Northern Kansas, and we hope to ere long see him sending forth from that remote region, a sheet equal in size to the Republican. We heartily wish Humphrey and his Telescope success.

     On June 28, 1901, Humphrey sold his paper to A. J. Basye, and in his "Farewell" he wrote: "Thirty-one years ago the thirtieth day of the coming September we established the Telescope, and with but two short intervals have published it ever since."

     J. C. Humphrey's newspaper maxim for the first years was, "Hew to the Line, Let the Chips Fall Where They May." By April 6, 1876, however, he had abandoned it. In the "Farewell" mentioned above, he wrote:

     Of course we have made enemies, but we have no apologies to make, for when we gave any one a swat we generally got one in return; nor are we going to say that if we have made mistakes they were "mistakes of the head and not of the heart," for we have always endeavored to track head and heart in the same class. We have no sore spots to heal as a result of our newspaper career, and we know of no wounds we have inflicted that require special treatment at our hands, hence we step down and out with the kindest of feeling toward all.

     The Telescope is still one of the prominent newspapers in Kansas. At first Belleville was spelled with only two "e's" (Bellville). The Society has several issues of the Telescope of the years 1870, 1871 and 1872, which omitted the middle "e." The issue of April 6, 1876,

also in the Society's file, conforms to the present spelling. The Society's continuous file of the Telescope starts April 6, 1876, except for a gap of twenty-five issues between October 12, 1876, and April 5, 1877.

     The First Biennial Report stated that the Elk Falls Examiner was established by C. L. Goodrich in the fall of 1870. Andreas wrote that Goodrich began his publication "in the spring of 1872." [62] The Daily Kansas State Record, Topeka, September 13, 1870, stated: "A newspaper is being `talked up' for Elk Falls, Howard county." On September 21 the same paper wrote again: "Mr. Meade, of the Eureka Herald is to issue a new paper at Union Centre, Howard county." Nothing further was found in the contemporaneous papers, however, until February 17, 1871, when the Neodesha Citizen reported

     We are in receipt of the first number of the Elk Falls Examiner, a neatly gotten up paper of 24 columns, published at the young but promising town of Elk Falls, in Howard county, by C. L. Goodrich & Co. . . .

     This would indicate that Andreas and the First Biennial Report were mistaken in the date of the first issue. The Society has no copy of the Examiner. A close second to the Elk Falls Examiner was the Howard County Ledger, published at Longton. The first issue must have appeared between the dates of March 25 and April 24, 1871. Adrian Reynolds was the editor. Andreas claimed the Ledger as the "first newspaper printed in Howard county." He wrote that Reynolds began publishing it "in the spring of 1871." [63] He was mistaken about the Examiner but correct in the time of the Ledger. The First Biennial Report wrote that the Ledger was established in September, 1870. [64] This statement is not substantiated by contemporaneous accounts. On February 18, 1871, the New Chicago Transcript wrote: "A. Reynolds, formerly of the Garnett Plaindealer, intends to start a paper at Longton, Howard county, soon." On March 25 the Transcript wrote again: "A new paper, called the Ledger, is to be started at Longton, Howard county, by A. Reynolds who represented Howard county in the last Legislature." On April 24, 1871, the Daily

     Kansas State Record, Topeka, quoted the Ledger. While the exact date of the establishment of this newspaper remains undetermined, sufficient information has been found to discount Andreas' claim that it was the first newspaper printed in Howard, now Elk county. The credit goes to the Elk Falls Examiner. The Society has no copy of the Ledger.

     The first newspaper in Mitchell county was the Mitchell County Mirror. Its initial number appeared sometime during the first or second week in April, 1871. Andreas and the First Biennial Report gave the date of the first issue as April 5, 1871. [65] The Society has two issues of the Mirror, the earliest is dated May 17, 1871, and listed as volume one, number six. If regularly issued this would place the first number on April 12. The Republican Valley Empire of Concordia, on April 15, 1871, announced the first issue of the Mirror. The exact date of the first number, therefore, is still unknown. A. B. Cornell was the editor and publisher. The paper appeared irregularly. In 1879, the Beloit Gazette characterized it as "issued somewhat irregularly and 'semi-occasionally' for several months and then died from exhaustion." [66]

     The pioneer settlers of this county braved great hardships. In 1879 the Beloit Gazette gave a vivid description of the Indian troubles.

     There was neither poetry nor romance in living in Mitchell county nine years ago, for many reasons; the noble red man was entirely too familiar, and showed neither the slightest hesitancy nor the smallest compunctions of conscience in incontinentally letting the life-blood out of every pale face he met, and many a true and worthy citizen sleeps beneath the sod of the prairie, cut off in the prime of life by the unerring bullet of the unseen, stealthy, treacherously savage foe.

     Into this environment Cornell brought the Mirror. Here less than a year earlier, on May 9, 1870, the savage Cheyennes had killed W. P. Kenyon and Solomon Meisser, pioneer settlers of western Mitchell county, and in the same month, May 29, another band of Indians "drove off the largest part of the horses in that part of the county." [67]

     The first paper in this county evidently was the Oxford Times, edited and published by W. H. Mugford and E. S. Hughes. The first issue is said to have appeared June 22, 1871. In 1883 John P. Edwards published a brief description of the Times in the Historical Atlas of Sumner County, Kansas, here quoted in part:

The first newspaper issued in Sumner county was the Oxford Times, the initial number of which appeared at Oxford, then a village of less than a dozen houses, on the 22nd day of June, 1871. The Times was a seven column folio and presented a very neat appearance. . . . It was edited and published by W. H. Mugford and E. S. Hughes, both excellent printers and writers. The material was a conglomeration of several of the first newspaper offices brought into the Territory of Kansas, among which were the heads of the Wyandotte Democrat and The Herald of Freedom. The Washington hand press belonging to the office had been thrown into the Mississippi river twice and as often recovered, and again used in disseminating free state doctrines. It was afterwards captured by Gen. Price, in 1864 and used for a time in the interest of the rebellion. Finally it settled down at Pleasanton, in Linn county, where it rested until purchased by Mugford & Hughes about June 1, 1871. . . [68]

     Andreas and the First Biennial Report wrote that the Times was started in June, 1871. [69] The Kansas Daily Tribune, Lawrence, of June 30, 1871, wrote that it had received the first number of the Oxford Times. It described it as a twenty-eight column sheet, "filled with select reading and local news." The Society has no copy of this paper but the Wellington City library has a good file.

     The First Biennial Report listed the Independent as the first paper in the county, and its statement appears correct. [70] On February 18, 1871, the Republican Valley Empire, of Concordia, stated that it had received the prospectus of "a paper to be issued at Clay Center on or about March 23, to be called the Clay County Courier, by M. C. Davis. It is to be Republican in politics." On July 29 the same paper reported that for some reason the project of the Courier had miscarried. The same issue also stated that "a press and type have been shipped to Clay Center," and that "in a few weeks a paper will be issued." It was not until September 2, 1871, that the

     Republican Valley Empire announced "the first number of the Clay County Independent, published at Clay Center by Messrs. [E. P.] Huston & [David] Downer." The paper was independent in politics. The secondary authorities give the date of the first issue as August 20, 1871. [71] The Clay Center Times, January 5, 1882, also stated: "Ten years have come and gone since the first paper of these files was published-Aug. 20th, 1871, E. P. Huston and David Downer, publishers. . . ."

     The Historical Society has one issue of this paper, dated October 12, 1871, listed as Volume I, number 7. If issued regularly the first number should be dated August 31, 1871, rather than August 20, as reported by the secondary authorities. As the writer has no way of telling whether the paper was issued regularly, the date of the first issue remains undetermined.