Page:History of Oregon Newspapers.pdf/348

339 Gladys Sutton, wife of C. M. Sutton, editor of the Dayton Tribune, purchased the paper from James W. Gould, who succeeded Black. Mrs. Sutton is still conducting the Carlton paper.

Canyon City.—The county seat of Grant county always has been a quaint old place with a lot of history, and the home of news papers of picturesque, distinctive quality. Changes of newspaper names and ownerships were frequent in the earlier years.

The first paper published in Grant county was issued in Canyon City in October, 1868, under the name City Journal, R. H. J. Comer editor and publisher. Comer took his equipment in from The Dalles by pack train. The animals probably were not overloaded; the equipment consisted of a job press and enough ad and body type to throw together a tiny paper.

The old City Journal was a three-column folio, 7¾ by 10¼ inches over all, with the then standard 13-em columns. No ambitious promises were made by the publishers as to just when the paper would come out. It was to be "published semi-occasionally by the Typographical Society for the proprietors." It was the fourth issue, June 28, 1869, before R. H. J. Comer announced himself as the printer of the paper, the first printer of Canyon City (105).

The salutatory, a gem of frankness, flashing a dry humor which has not been lost by subsequent Canyon City editors, was en titled "Our Say." It read as follows:

Believing that the time is far distant when the public interests of Grant county will justify the publication of a large-sized paper, the proprietors of the City Journal have, at a small expense, determined to issue a paper whenever they feel so disposed, and we hope our brethren in the same calling will do as they have a mind to.

To the generous public, we will say that it is our intention to have a large circulation, but if they do not wish to read the Journal they can throw it out of their (we hope) peaceful homes; and our terms are such that all can have it in their libraries for future reference.

The latest news our readers will, in all probability find in the Mountaineer, Oregonian, Herald, N. Y. Tribune, La Crosse Democrat, or any other paper they are in the habit of picking up and reading.

Local news being of such a nature that everybody, or any other man, knows every other person's business, except their own, we shall publish only such as suits our purpose.