Page:History of Oregon Newspapers.pdf/221

212 it as merely a means of getting whatever the 1854 equivalent of "deserving Democrats" happened to be, into more offices. The Oregonian referred derisively to the new Multnomah county as "boot" county, from its odd shape.

Forest Grove takes the palm from its neighbor cities of Washington county as the seat of the first publication after the establishment of the county.

Forest Grove and Hillsboro.—Pacific University, in its Forest Grove Monthly, had a little four-column publication, practically a magazine, in existence as early as the fall of 1868—five years after Harvey Scott's graduation. The Oregon Historical Society has a copy of volume 2, No. 3, dated September, 1869.

The first actual newspaper was the Forest Grove Independent, a Thursday weekly, launched by Wheeler & Myers, March 22, 1873. The third issue, dated Saturday, April 5, 1873, carries under the title on page 1 the expressed purpose of the paper: "Our Aim, the Development of the Resources, Agricultural, Commercial, and Educational, of Washington County."

It was a four-page, seven-column paper at the start, with frequent later changes of format in those days when papers occasionally went to a nine-column blanket sheet. The front page carried the usual miscellaneous matter clipped from eastern publications. There was three-quarters of a column of advertising of the card type in the left column. Page 2 carried three columns of advertising; page 3, two columns, including a full-column "office ad" for commercial printing by the Independent —the ad, incidentally of the same size and style as one for W. I. Mayfield, Portland printer. Two columns of ads were carried on page 4. This was not very heavy advertising patronage—which may have had something to do with the early shift over to Hillsboro.

The name of Frank F. Myers was carried in the issue of May 24 as proprietor. The name was gone before November.

In a September issue the Independent copied not only the long telegraphic story from the New York Herald of August 20 on the execution of two murderers at Baltimore but also the eight-section head, which was credited also to the Herald, including such phrases as "Foul Murder," "Human Wolves," "Terrible Crime," "Salvation Made Easy."

By December 18 (volume 2, No. 38 in the file) the paper, now known as the Washington Independent, was dated out of Hillsboro with H. B. Luce editor and proprietor. The format had been changed to four-page, six-column. For advertising Luce was charging $1.50 a square (about 12 lines) a week (figuring about 75 cents an inch or $10 by the column). A square would be run for a year for $10; in those days of hand composition the advertiser was allowed a premium for continuous unchanged copy. Label ads, without life or