South Dakota

[119]See no. 65 in Thomas W. Streeter'sAmericana—Beginnings(Morristown, N.J., 1952). The Library of Congress possesses one copy, not two as here reported.[120]Quoted from Douglas C. McMurtrie's "Pioneer Printing in Nebraska" inNational Printer Journalist, vol. 50, no. 1 (January 1932), p. 20-21, 76-78.[121]Ibid., p. 76.[122]P. 99.[123]The latter title is indicated as wanting in a collective entry for Council and House journals in theCatalogue of Books Added to the Library of Congress, from December 1, 1866, to December 1, 1867(Washington, 1868), p. 282.

[119]See no. 65 in Thomas W. Streeter'sAmericana—Beginnings(Morristown, N.J., 1952). The Library of Congress possesses one copy, not two as here reported.

[120]Quoted from Douglas C. McMurtrie's "Pioneer Printing in Nebraska" inNational Printer Journalist, vol. 50, no. 1 (January 1932), p. 20-21, 76-78.

[121]Ibid., p. 76.

[122]P. 99.

[123]The latter title is indicated as wanting in a collective entry for Council and House journals in theCatalogue of Books Added to the Library of Congress, from December 1, 1866, to December 1, 1867(Washington, 1868), p. 282.

In 1858 the Dakota Land Company sent out from St. Paul to Sioux Falls a newspaper editor named Samuel J. Albright, a printer named J. W. Barnes, and a printing press which Albright later insisted was the original Goodhue press (see above, p.68), despite conflicting accounts of its history. If his testimony is correct, the same press introduced printing in Iowa, Minnesota, and South Dakota. It appears to have been first used at Sioux Falls to print a small election notice dated September 20, 1858; in the following summer, it was used to print South Dakota's first newspaper,The Democrat.[124]

Establishment of the Territory of Dakota in 1861 attracted a second Dakota press to the new Territorial capital at Yankton. The earliest Dakota, or South Dakota, printing in the Library of Congress is from the newspaper associated with that press,The Dakotian, first published on June 6, 1861, by Frank M. Ziebach and William Freney of Sioux City, Iowa. The Library's earliest holding is the 13th number, which is dated April 1, 1862, and exhibits the paper's motto: "'Let all the Ends thou aims't at, be thy Country's, thy God's and Truth's.'—Wolsey." This number follows upon a transfer of the editorship and proprietorship to Josiah C. Trask of Kansas, who announces,

We have secured the interest which Mr. ZIEBACH, the former publisher of this paper, held in the office, and have made extensive additions for book work, &c.—We are now engaged in executing the incidental printing of the Legislative Assembly of this Territory under peculiar disadvantages; yet we believe it will compare favorably with the work of many older Territories. We are prepared to execute any style of printing to the satisfaction of patrons.

By using fine print, Trask was able to present much material in this four-page issue. Among its contents are the text of the Governor's message to the first Territorial legislature and several U.S. laws passed by the first session of the 37th Congress. The lead editorial, "What We Mean to Do," contains the following statement of policy regarding the Civil War:

At present, there is no room for disagreement in politics. So far as our knowledge extends, all parties join heartily in an indorsement of the truly patriotic and conservative course adopted by the President in the management of this war. He is not a patriot who will allow any slight disagreement te [sic] turn him from a straightforward opposition to the ambitious men who are now heading a Rebellion to destroy the fairest Government ever known. Until this war is ended by a suppression of the Rebellion, unless a change is forced upon us, we shall walk with men of ALL parties, in an earnest, honest purpose to do what we can to strengthen the arms of ABRAHAM LINCOLN, in whatever acts he may deem best for the people who have called him to his present proud position. In this determination we feel that all our patrons will sustain us.

The editorial concludes with an appeal to support the paper:

Few persons can know the expense and care requisite for a publication like this so far West. We feel that our Territory cannot support more than one or two papers. One of these must be at the Capital, and we shall endeavor to make this one worthy the support of all. We expect to receive pecuniary encouragement from men of all parties and all parts. After a few weeks, when we are better acquainted and our paper is better known, we shall ask for the assistance which will be due us from those whom we labor to benefit.

A Library of Congress bound volume contains an incomplete but substantial run ofThe Dakotianfrom April 1, 1862, to December 17, 1864, without any marks of provenance. In addition the Library owns a file of South Dakota's third newspaper,The Dakota Republican, beginning with volume 1, number 31, published at Vermillion on April 5, 1862. This newspaper has for its motto "Our Country If Right, If Wrong, God Forgive, But Our Country Still!" The Library's issue of April 12, 1862, is inscribed "Wm H James"—this would be William Hartford James of Dakota City, Nebr., who served as Acting Governor of Nebraska in 1871-1872—and some of its 1868 and 1869 issues are inscribed "Dept of State." All ofthese papers are accounted for inA Check List of American Newspapers in the Library of Congress(1901).

The Dakotian(The Dakotian)

(The Dakotian)

From the year 1862 the Library also possesses four books printed at Yankton all bearing the imprint of Josiah C. Trask, Public Printer:Council Journal of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Dakota, to which is Prefixed a List of the Members and Officers of the Council, With Their Residence, Post-Office Address, Occupation, Age, &c.;House Journal of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Dakota, to which is Prefixed a List of the Members and Officers of the House...;General Laws, and Memorials and Resolutions of the Territory of Dakota, Passed at the First Session of the Legislative Assembly, Commenced at the Town of Yankton, March 17, and Concluded May 15, 1862. To Which are Prefixed a Brief Description of the Territory and its Government, the Constitution of the United States, the Declaration of Independence, and the Act of Organizing the Territory; andPrivate Laws of the Territory of Dakota, Passed at the First Session of the Legislative Assembly....[125]Single copies of the Council and House journals were in the Library by 1877. The Library has four copies of theGeneral LawsandPrivate Laws, bound together as issued; two copies are probably 19th-century accessions, the third came from the Department of Interior in 1900, and the fourth was transferred from an unspecified Government agency in 1925.

[124]See Douglas C. McMurtrie,The Beginnings of the Press in South Dakota(Iowa City, Iowa, 1933). On the disputed history of the Goodhue press, see M. W. Berthel,Horns of Thunder(St. Paul, 1948), p. 26, note 3.[125]These are nos. 7, 9, 4, and 5, respectively, in Albert H. Allen'sDakota Imprints 1858-1889(New York, 1947).

[125]These are nos. 7, 9, 4, and 5, respectively, in Albert H. Allen'sDakota Imprints 1858-1889(New York, 1947).

Joseph T. Goodman, editor of the Territorial Enterprise. Courtesy of the New York Public Library.Joseph T. Goodman, editor of theTerritorial Enterprise.Courtesy of the New York Public Library.

Joseph T. Goodman, editor of theTerritorial Enterprise.Courtesy of the New York Public Library.

Nevada owes its first printing to W. L. Jernegan, who in partnership with Alfred James established a weekly newspaper, theTerritorial Enterprise, at Genoa, then in western Utah Territory, on December 18, 1858. Jernegan had transported his printing equipment across the Sierras from Yolo County, Calif.[126]

The earliest Nevada imprint in the Library of Congress dates from 1862, the year after Nevada's establishment as a separate Territory:Second Annual Message of Governor James W. Nye, to the Legislature of Nevada Territory, November 13, 1862. Together with Reports of Territorial Auditor, Treasurer, and Superintendent of Public Instruction.Printed at Carson City by J. T. Goodman & Co., Territorial printers, this publication has 48 pages, not including the title page printed on its yellow wrapper. Joseph T. Goodman was not only involved with official printing at this time, but he was also editing theTerritorial Enterprise, which was then located at Virginia City and had become a daily paper. He is perhaps best rememberedfor launching Mark Twain on a literary career when he employed him as a reporter in August 1862.[127]

Governor Nye'sSecond Annual Messagecovers an important period of national history. Strongly pro-Union, it gives an optimistic account of the year's events in the Civil War and bestows high praise on Lincoln's preliminary Emancipation Proclamation of September 22, 1862: "As an engine of war, its formidability is a powerful warrant of early peace, and as a measure of humanity, the enlightened world receives it with acclamations of unbounded joy." Part of the message concerns expected consequences from a bill recently passed by Congress authorizing construction of a Pacific Railroad, which would profoundly affect life in Nevada:

No State nor Territory will derive such inestimable advantage from the road as the Territory of Nevada. Situated, as we are, in what, during a great portion of the year, is an almost inaccessible isolation of wealth; with mountains covered with perpetual snow frowning down directly upon us at the west, and with a series of ranges, difficult to cross, at the east of us, with a wilderness fit only for the original inhabitants of the waste, stretching away a thousand miles, and intervening between us and the frontier of agricultural enterprise; and with no means of receiving the common necessaries of life, except through the expensive freightage of tediously traveling trains of wagons; the value of the road to us will be beyond calculation.

The inscription "Library Depr State" on the Library of Congress copy indicates it must have been submitted to the Department of State, which in 1862 was still in charge of the United States Territories. A date stamp on its wrapper suggests that it was transferred to the Library of Congress by December 1900, while a stamp on page 2 reveals that it was in custody of the Library's Division of Documents in September 1907.

[126]See Richard E. Lingenfelter,The Newspapers of Nevada(San Francisco, 1964), p. 47-49.[127]See Ivan Benson,Mark Twain's Western Years(Stanford University, Calif. [1938]), chapters 4-6.

[126]See Richard E. Lingenfelter,The Newspapers of Nevada(San Francisco, 1964), p. 47-49.

[127]See Ivan Benson,Mark Twain's Western Years(Stanford University, Calif. [1938]), chapters 4-6.

The Weekly Arizonian(The Weekly Arizonian)[Click on image for larger view.]

(The Weekly Arizonian)[Click on image for larger view.]

Printing began in Arizona with the establishment ofThe Weekly Arizonian, at the mining town of Tubac, on March 3, 1859. The Santa Rita Mining Company, which owned this newspaper, had imported the first press from Cincinnati, and the first printers are said to have been employees of the company named Jack Sims and George Smithson.[128]

The Library of Congress file of theArizonianstarts with the issue of August 18, 1859, the earliest example of Arizona printing now held by the Library. The paper had removed from Tubac to Tucson shortly before that date under rather dramatic circumstances. Edward E. Cross, its first editor, vigorously opposed a movement in favor of separating Arizona from New Mexico and organizing it as an independent territory. In attacking population statistics put forward by Sylvester Mowry, the leader of that movement, Cross impugned Mowry's character, whereupon Mowry challenged him to a duel, which was fought with rifles on July 8 without injury to either party. Mowry subsequently purchased the printing press and moved it to Tucson. Under a new editor, J. Howard Wells, theArizonian's positions were completely reversed.[129]

The issue of August 18 supports the candidacy of Sylvester Mowry for delegate to Congress, in an election scheduled for September 1. In view of past events it was understandable that the paper should encourage a heavy vote, not only to demonstrate the unity of Arizonians desiring Territorial status, but also to indicate the extent of the population. The following short article relates to the recurrent topic of numbers:

A SLIGHT MISTAKEWe understand Col. Bonneville says he has taken the names of all the Americans, between the Rio Grande and the Santa Cruz, and they number only one hundred and eighty. Come and pay us a longer visit, Colonel, and count again. There are nearly that number in and around Tucson alone, and there are a good many of us that dislike to be denationalized in so summary a manner. The Overland Mail Company alone, employs some seventy five Americans, between here and the Rio Grande, and they justly think, they have a right to be included, as well as the farmers living on the San Pedro and the Miembres rivers, it is hardly fair to leave them out. It isnearly as bad as cutting down the Americans on the Gila and Colorado to twelve. When there are ten times that number. Try it again Colonel, for evidently there is a slight mistake, some where.

A SLIGHT MISTAKE

We understand Col. Bonneville says he has taken the names of all the Americans, between the Rio Grande and the Santa Cruz, and they number only one hundred and eighty. Come and pay us a longer visit, Colonel, and count again. There are nearly that number in and around Tucson alone, and there are a good many of us that dislike to be denationalized in so summary a manner. The Overland Mail Company alone, employs some seventy five Americans, between here and the Rio Grande, and they justly think, they have a right to be included, as well as the farmers living on the San Pedro and the Miembres rivers, it is hardly fair to leave them out. It isnearly as bad as cutting down the Americans on the Gila and Colorado to twelve. When there are ten times that number. Try it again Colonel, for evidently there is a slight mistake, some where.

In the same issue is a notice illustrating the production difficulties characteristic of a frontier press:

We have to apologize to the readers of the Arizonian, for the delay in issuing this our regular number; the detention has been unavoidably caused, by the indisposition of our printer. We hope it may not occur again, and will not as far as lays in our power to prevent it.

When examined as recently as 1932, a Library of Congress binding contained 10 issues of theArizonianfrom the year 1859, beginning July 14; however, that early issue has been missing from the binding at least since 1948. One mark of provenance occurs among the remaining issues: an inscription on the issue of August 18, the upper half of which has been cut away but which unquestionably reads, "Gov Rencher." The recipient was Abraham Rencher (1798-1883), a distinguished North Carolinian who was serving as Governor of the Territory of New Mexico in 1859. By whatever route, these issues reached the Library early enough to be recorded inA Check List of American Newspapers in the Library of Congress(1901).

Column from Arizonian(Column fromArizonian)

(Column fromArizonian)

[128]See Douglas C. McMurtrie,The Beginnings of Printing in Arizona(Chicago, 1937), p. 31, note 9.[129]See Estelle Lutrell,Newspapers and Periodicals of Arizona 1859-1911(Tucson, 1950), p. 7-8, 63-64. For more on Cross and Mowry, see Jo Ann Schmitt,Fighting Editors(San Antonio, 1958), p. 1-21.

[128]See Douglas C. McMurtrie,The Beginnings of Printing in Arizona(Chicago, 1937), p. 31, note 9.

[129]See Estelle Lutrell,Newspapers and Periodicals of Arizona 1859-1911(Tucson, 1950), p. 7-8, 63-64. For more on Cross and Mowry, see Jo Ann Schmitt,Fighting Editors(San Antonio, 1958), p. 1-21.

The earliest examples of Colorado printing are the first numbers of two competing newspapers, which were issued at Denver on April 23, 1859, only about 20 minutes apart.[130]Taking precedence was theRocky Mountain News, published by William N. Byers & Co. and printed with equipment purchased in Nebraska. Its printers were John L. Dailey of Ohio, a member of the company, and W. W. Whipple of Michigan.[131]

The Library of Congress recently acquired its earliest example of Colorado printing, a broadside entitledLaws and Regulations of the Miners of the Gregory Diggings District, attributed to the Byers & Co. press. Printed sometime after July 16, 1859, it is one of but two located copies of the first extant Colorado imprint other than a newspaper or newspaper extra.[132]The laws, passed at miners' meetings on June 8 and July 16, apply to the district named for John Gregory, whose successful prospecting helped to stimulate the famous Pike's Peak gold rush. They were placed in historical context by Peter C. Schank, assistant chief of the American-British Law Division in the Library of Congress, in an article announcing this acquisition:

the laws themselves are intrinsically valuable because they served as a model for much succeeding legislation, not only for other mining districts, but for State and national enactments as well. Despite the promulgation of California district laws 10 years earlier, the Gregory laws, perhaps because of the district's fame, the presence of prospectors with previous experience in other mining areas, and the imminent adoption of the first national mining statute, had a unique influence on the development of mining law in this country.[133]

The lower margin of the Library's copy is inscribed, "Favor of Stiles E Mills, July 20th 1863." Neither the identity of Mr. Mills nor the intervening provenance has been established. In recent years this copy belonged to Thomas W. Streeter (1883-1965) of Morristown, N. J., owner of the most important private library of Americana assembled during the 20th century. The Library of Congress paid $2,800 for the broadside at that portion of the Streeter sale held by Parke-Bernet Galleries on April 23-24, 1968.[134]

Previously the Library's first example of Colorado printing was the second issue of a small newspaper sheet,The Western Mountaineer, published at Golden City on December 14, 1859. This newspaper was printed on the same press, actually the first to reach Colorado, that under different ownership had lost the close race to print the first newspaper at Denver. Gold is a prominent topic in this particular issue, which includes an interesting account of the prospector, George Andrew Jackson, based on information he himself supplied. The Library's copy seems to have been detached from a bound volume, probably before its listing inA Check List of American Newspapers in the Library of Congress(1901). Penciled on its front page are the name "Lewis Cass [Esquire?]" and what appears to be another name beginning with "Amos." Lewis Cass was Secretary of State at the time of publication.

Laws and Regulations of the Miners of the Gregory Diggings District(Laws and Regulations of the Miners of the Gregory Diggings District)[Click image for larger view]

(Laws and Regulations of the Miners of the Gregory Diggings District)[Click image for larger view]

[130]See Douglas C. McMurtrie and Albert H. Allen,Early Printing in Colorado(Denver, 1935).[131]SeeHistory of the City of Denver, Arapahoe County, and Colorado(Chicago, 1880), p. 395 and 641.[132]See no. 68 in Thomas W. Streeter'sAmericana—Beginnings(Morristown, N.J., 1952).[133]U.S. Library of Congress,The Quarterly Journal of the Library of Congress, vol. 26 (1969), p. 229.[134]It is described under no. 2119 inThe Celebrated Collection of Americana Formed by the Late Thomas Winthrop Streeter(New York, 1966-69), vol. 4.

[130]See Douglas C. McMurtrie and Albert H. Allen,Early Printing in Colorado(Denver, 1935).

[131]SeeHistory of the City of Denver, Arapahoe County, and Colorado(Chicago, 1880), p. 395 and 641.

[132]See no. 68 in Thomas W. Streeter'sAmericana—Beginnings(Morristown, N.J., 1952).

[133]U.S. Library of Congress,The Quarterly Journal of the Library of Congress, vol. 26 (1969), p. 229.

[134]It is described under no. 2119 inThe Celebrated Collection of Americana Formed by the Late Thomas Winthrop Streeter(New York, 1966-69), vol. 4.

The oldest relics of Wyoming printing are June and July 1863 issues of theDaily Telegraph, published at Fort Bridger in what was then the Territory of Utah. The printer and publisher of this newspaper was Hiram Brundage, telegraph operator at the Fort, who had previously been associated with the Fort KearneyHeraldin the Territory of Nebraska.[135]No printing is known to have been performed in Wyoming between 1863 and 1867, with the possible exception of a disputed imprint dated 1866,[136]and the first permanent Wyoming press dates from the founding of theCheyenne Leaderin September 1867.

The earliest example of Wyoming printing in the Library of Congress is a 24-page pamphlet printed at Green River by "Freeman & Bro., book and job printers" in 1868:A Vocabulary of the Snake, or, Sho-Sho-Nay Dialect by Joseph A. Gebow, Interpreter. Second Edition, Revised and Improved, January 1st, 1864.It was printed on the press of theFrontier Index, a migratory newspaper which commenced when the Freemans bought out the Fort KearneyHeraldin Nebraska. This press moved westward from place to place as the Union Pacific Railroad penetrated into southern Wyoming, and it stopped at Green River for about two months in 1868.[137]

The first edition of Gebow'sVocabularywas printed at Salt Lake City in 1859, and the first printing of the second edition at Camp Douglas, Utah, in 1864. The vocabulary proper is prefaced only by the following statement:

Mr. Joseph A. Gebow, having been a resident in the Mountains for nearly twenty years, has had ample opportunity of acquiring the language of the several tribes of Indians, and offers this sample of Indian Literature, hoping it may beguile many a tedious hour to the trader, the trapper, and to any one who feels an interest in the language of the Aborigines of the Mountains.

Even for those unfamiliar with the native dialect, the words and phrases in English can be beguiling. Among the phrases chosen for translation are "Go slow, friend, don't get mad" and "You done wrong."

A Vocabulary of the Snake, or, Sho-Sho-Nay Dialect by Joseph A. Gebow, Interpreter. Second Edition, Revised and Improved, January 1st, 1864.(A Vocabulary of the Snake, or, Sho-Sho-Nay Dialect by Joseph A. Gebow, Interpreter. Second Edition, Revised and Improved, January 1st, 1864.)

(A Vocabulary of the Snake, or, Sho-Sho-Nay Dialect by Joseph A. Gebow, Interpreter. Second Edition, Revised and Improved, January 1st, 1864.)

The present Library of Congress copy is inscribed to the Smithsonian Institution, and to judge from a date stamp it was added to the Smithsonian Library by May 1870. Later it was transferred to the Library of Congress through the Smithsonian Deposit (see above, p. 52). It is in an old library binding with the original printed wrappers bound in.

[135]See Douglas C. McMurtrie,Early Printing in Wyoming and the Black Hills(Hattiesburg, Miss., 1943), p. 9-10.[136]Ibid., p. 10, note 1.[137]Ibid., p. 39. On p. 48 McMurtrie argues that the pamphlet was printed in the month of October.

[135]See Douglas C. McMurtrie,Early Printing in Wyoming and the Black Hills(Hattiesburg, Miss., 1943), p. 9-10.

[136]Ibid., p. 10, note 1.

[137]Ibid., p. 39. On p. 48 McMurtrie argues that the pamphlet was printed in the month of October.

Authorities do not agree on when or by whom Montana's first printing was undertaken. It was either at Bannack or Virginia City, both gold-mining towns, probably in October 1863.[138]

The earliest Montana imprints in the Library of Congress were printed at Virginia City in 1866 by John P. Bruce, who ownedThe Montana Democratand was designated Public Printer. Of these, the first may be an eight-page pamphlet,Reports of the Auditor, Treasurer, and Indian Commissioner, of the Territory of Montana. The latest document incorporated in the text is dated February 22, 1866, and the pamphlet was printed in the office ofThe Montana Democratprobably not long after that date. Most likely the second Montana imprint in the Library is theMessage of Governor Thomas Francis Meagher, to the Legislature of Montana Territory, Delivered on the 6th Day of March, 1866. Three thousand copies were ordered, according to a printed note on the eighth and final page of this work. Neither of these two imprints bears any mark of provenance, and both appear to have entered the Library before the turn of the century.

Another early example of Montana printing in the Library is the 22d number, dated April 12, 1866, ofThe Montana Democrat, a sizable four-page sheet displaying the paper's motto: "Be faithful in all accepted trusts." It is addressed in pencil to the State Department. From about the same time the Library can boast two copies ofLaws of the Teritory[sic]of Montana, Passed at the Second Session of the Legislature, 1866. Beginning March 5, 1866, and Ending April 14, 1866, a work of 54 pages. Although copy one is imperfect, lacking pages 49-54, it is of interest for the penciled inscription on its title page: "President Johnson."

REPORT OF THE AUDITOR OF THE TERRITORY OF MONTANA.(REPORT OF THE AUDITOR OF THE TERRITORY OF MONTANA.)

(REPORT OF THE AUDITOR OF THE TERRITORY OF MONTANA.)

The Library of Congress also owns three copies of a celebrated Montana book published at Virginia City in the same year by the proprietors ofThe Montana Postpress, S. W. Tilton & Co.:The Vigilantes of Montana, or Popular Justice in the Rocky Mountains. Being a Correct and Impartial Narrative of the Chase, Trial, Capture and Execution of Henry Plummer's Road Agent Band, Together With Accounts of the Lives and Crimes of Many of the Robbers and Desperadoes, the Whole Being Interspersed With Sketches of Life in the Mining Camps of the "Far West;" Forming theOnly Reliable Work on the Subject Ever Offered the Public.The author, Prof. Thos. J. Dimsdale, was an Englishman who served Virginia City as a teacher and as editor of thePost, where his work originally appeared in installments. This first edition in book form contains 228 pages of text. The Library date-stamped copy one in 1874. Copy two was deposited for copyright in 1882, the year that D. W. Tilton put out a second edition. Copy three bears the signature of Henry Gannett (1846-1914), geographer of the U.S. Geological Survey and at the time of his death president of the National Geographic Society. It contains a "War Service Library" bookplate and an "American Library Association Camp Library" borrower's card (unused). The Library of Congress received the copy from an unknown source in 1925.[139]

[138]See Douglas C. McMurtrie,Pioneer Printing in Montana(Iowa City, Iowa, 1932); the Introduction to McMurtrie'sMontana Imprints 1864-1880(Chicago, 1937); and Roby Wentz,Eleven Western Presses(Los Angeles, 1956), p. 49-51.[139]Three Virginia City imprints dated 1866 are excluded from the present account. One of them (McMurtrie 19) cannot have been issued before January 10, 1867. The others (McMurtrie 130 and 131) were actually printed in Maine according to McMurtrie's bibliography. None of the Library of Congress copies of these imprints has a notable provenance.

[139]Three Virginia City imprints dated 1866 are excluded from the present account. One of them (McMurtrie 19) cannot have been issued before January 10, 1867. The others (McMurtrie 130 and 131) were actually printed in Maine according to McMurtrie's bibliography. None of the Library of Congress copies of these imprints has a notable provenance.

FRONTIER SCOUT. Capt. E. G. Adams, Editor. LIBERTY AND UNION. Lieut. C. H. Champney, Publisher Vol. 1. FORT RICE, D. T., AUGUST 10, 1865 No. 9.FRONTIER SCOUT. Capt. E. G. Adams, Editor. LIBERTY AND UNION. Lieut. C. H. Champney, Publisher Vol. 1. FORT RICE, D. T., AUGUST 10, 1865 No. 9.

FRONTIER SCOUT. Capt. E. G. Adams, Editor. LIBERTY AND UNION. Lieut. C. H. Champney, Publisher Vol. 1. FORT RICE, D. T., AUGUST 10, 1865 No. 9.

As early as 1853 a printing press is said to have been at the St. Joseph mission station, site of the present town of Walhalla, but there is no evidence that the press was actually used there. The first confirmed North Dakota printing was done on a press which Company I of the 30th Wisconsin Volunteers brought to Fort Union in June 1864. In July of that year a small newspaper, theFrontier Scout, made its appearance at the fort, and extant issues name the Company as "proprietors" and identify (Robert) Winegar and (Ira F.) Goodwin, both from Eau Claire but otherwise unknown, as publishers.[140]Possibly antedating theFrontier Scoutis a rare broadside notice which either issued from the same press (not before June 17) or else could be the first extant Montana imprint.[141]

With its early North Dakota newspapers the Library of Congress has a facsimile reprint of theFrontier Scout, volume 1, number 2 (the first extant issue), dated July 14, 1864. The Library's earliest original specimen of North Dakota printing is a copy of theFrontier Scout, volume 1, number 9 in a new series of issues at the paper's second location, Fort Rice. Dated August 10, 1865, this issue names Capt. E. G. Adams as editor and Lt. C. H. Champney as publisher. The Library's copy is printed on a four-page sheet of blue-ruled notebook paper.

The contents of the August 10 issue are almost entirely from the pen of Captain Adams, who saw fit to run the statement: "Every article in the paper is original and sees the light for the first time." A long poem about Columbus, which he entitled "San Salvador," occupies most of the front page. More interesting is a second-page editorial headed "Indian Impolicy," rebuking the authorities in Washington for not allowing General Sully a free hand in his current operations against the Indians (whom the editor calls "these miserable land-pirates"). From this issue one gains an impression that Fort Rice must have been a dreary post. The following is under date of August 6 in a section captioned "Local Items":

By the Big Horn and Spray [vessels] the Q. M. Dept. at Fort Rice receive 4500 sacks of corn. The Mail arrives. The wolves are howling on all sides tonight; we can see them, some of them are as large as year old calves. The first cat arrives at Fort Rice. There are so many rats and mice here it is a great field for feline missionaries.

The Library of Congress obtained its copy of this issue of theFrontier Scoutthrough an exchange with the South Dakota Historical Society in November 1939.

[140]See Douglas C. McMurtrie, "Pioneer Printing in North Dakota,"North Dakota Historical Quarterly, vol. 6, 1931-32, p. 221-230.[141]See no. 2036 inThe Celebrated Collection of Americana Formed by the Late Thomas Winthrop Streeter(New York, 1966-69), vol. 4.

[140]See Douglas C. McMurtrie, "Pioneer Printing in North Dakota,"North Dakota Historical Quarterly, vol. 6, 1931-32, p. 221-230.

[141]See no. 2036 inThe Celebrated Collection of Americana Formed by the Late Thomas Winthrop Streeter(New York, 1966-69), vol. 4.

Printing is not known to have been undertaken by the Russians in Alaska,[142]nor can a broadside notice of 1854 printed by an English searching party aboard H.M.S.Ploverat Point Barrow[143]be properly considered as Alaskan printing. The first printing in Alaska evidently followed its transfer to United States rule on October 18, 1867.

Despite the absence of a bibliography or trustworthy history of early Alaskan printing, it seems safe to say that the earliest imprints were the orders issued by the Military District of Alaska beginning with General Orders No. 1, dated October 29, 1867.[144]The District headquarters were at Sitka. There is no statement on the orders about place of printing, but it is difficult to imagine how they could have been printed elsewhere than Alaska and still have served their immediate purpose.

The earliest Alaskan printing in the Library of Congress is a series of general orders dating from April 11, 1868, to July 1, 1870. These orders, printed as small sheets and leaflets, are mostly of a routine character, the majority reporting courts-martial held at Sitka. In the General Orders No. 1, of April 11, 1868, Jefferson C. Davis announces his assumption of command of the Department of Alaska, which superseded the Military District of Alaska on March 18, 1868, and he names the members of his departmental staff. The orders are printed on different kinds of paper, including blue-ruled, and many of them carry official signatures in manuscript. General Orders No. 13, of December 31, 1868, is stamped: "Received Adjutant Gen'ls Office Apr 6 1870." The whole series is bound into a volume, now destitute of both covers, which was weeded from the Army War College Library sometime after World War II. The National War College transferred it to the Library of Congress in or about 1953.

Since the facts surrounding the Army press have yet to be documented, it may be well to consider the civilian printing of Alaska also. This apparently began with the initial issue ofThe Alaskan Times, dated April 23, 1869, and printed on a press obtained from San Francisco.[145]TheTimesceased publication in 1870. Apart from the general orders of 1868-70, the earliest Alaskan printing in the Library is its file ofThe Sitka Postbeginning with the second issue, dated November 5, 1876. ThePost, published in a small six-page format on the 5th and 20th of each month, was the second newspaper to be printed in Alaska. Neither theTimesnor thePostidentifies its printer.

Featured in the November 5 issue is "The Cavalry Fight at Brandy Station," an extract from L. P. Brockett'sThe Camp, the Battle Field, and the Hospital(Philadelphia, 1866). Following this is a forceful editorial on "The Indian Campaign," which advocates committing a greater number of U.S. troops to the war against the Sioux. Certain advertisements in this issue are noteworthy because they relate to the paper itself. One is on the fourth page:

We wish to call the Attention of all BUSINESS MEN who intend to Trade in Alaska to the fact that The Sitka Post is the Only Newspaper PUBLISHED in the TERRITORY. It is devoted entirely to the Interests of ALASKA; will never be made the organ of any party [o]r ring, political, commercial, or otherwise; and will make it its object to give the news of the TERRITORY. ALL ENTERPRISING MEN who wish to bring their BUSINESS before the Public of Alaska Territory cannot do better than by ADVERTISING in The Sitka Post.

Another appears on the last page:

MEN OF ENTERPRISE! TAKE NOTICE! The SITKA POST Is the only Paper printed in Alaska. It is the best medium of Advertising. It circulates in Sitka, Wrangel, Stikeen, Kodiak; Portland, Oregon; San Francisco, Cal; Baltimore, Md, and Washington, D. C. Send your Advertisements to J. J. Daly Editor, Sitka Post, Sitka, A.

And there is a brief appeal at the end of the last page:

Wanted—More subscribers and contributors to this paper.

Orders issued by the Military District of Alaska(Orders issued by the Military District of Alaska)

(Orders issued by the Military District of Alaska)

The Library of Congress file of thePostis in an old Library binding and extends from number 2 without break to the 14th and final number, dated June 5, 1877. The first page in the volume bears a Library date stamp of 1877. Also on the first page is the signature "M. Baker," preceded by the words "Purchased by" in a different hand. Thus the file was apparently assembled by Marcus Baker (1849-1903), a noted cartographer and writer on Alaska who was employed from 1873 to 1886 by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. Some issues are addressed in pencil to individual subscribers, three of whom can be positively identified from company muster rolls at the National Archives as members of the 4th Artillery, U.S. Army, stationed at Sitka. They are "Ord[nance] Serg[ean]t [George] Go[l]kell"; "H[enry] Train," a corporal in Company G; and "W[illiam] J. Welch," a bugler in Company G.

[142]See Valerian Lada-Mocarski, "Earliest Russian Printing in the United States," inHomage to a Bookman; Essays ... Written for Hans P. Kraus(Berlin, 1967), p. 231-233.[143]See no. 3525 inThe Celebrated Collection of Americana Formed by the Late Thomas Winthrop Streeter(New York, 1966-69), vol. 6.[144]See ibid., no. 3531.[145]Photostat copy in the Library of Congress examined.

[142]See Valerian Lada-Mocarski, "Earliest Russian Printing in the United States," inHomage to a Bookman; Essays ... Written for Hans P. Kraus(Berlin, 1967), p. 231-233.

[143]See no. 3525 inThe Celebrated Collection of Americana Formed by the Late Thomas Winthrop Streeter(New York, 1966-69), vol. 6.

[144]See ibid., no. 3531.

[145]Photostat copy in the Library of Congress examined.

Transcriber's NotesThe images have not been cleaned up in order to keep the worn look of the old documents. The texts within the images have not been transcribed with the exception of some titles. Image descriptions, added for convenience, are within parentheses below the images. Captions found in the original book are not enclosed in parentheses.All [sic] notes were from the original book.Retained spelling variations found in the original book.

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