Page:History of Oregon Newspapers.pdf/63

54 bombastic patriotic boast: "As far as breeze can bear, or billows foam, survey our empire and behold our home." A salutatory editorial three-fifths of a column long expressed confidence in Oregon's future, with "all the elements requisite for a great commonwealth, unsurpassed by any state in the union. . . Who shall set bounds to our advancement and prosperity?"

At the time the paper was started, Milwaukie was a year old and had 500 inhabitants, about the same size as Portland. Business and industrial establishments included three stores, two sawmills, a tin-shop, a shoe-shop, a cabinet manufactory, a blacksmith shop, a printing office, a warehouse, three taverns. A sawmill and a grist mill were under construction, also a steamboat to ply the river between Oregon City and Pacific City.

The equipment for the paper was brought "direct from New York" by the bark Desdemona.

The prospectus promised, among other things, that "The ladies will always find something in our columns for their especial entertainment and profit; as we shall be assiduous in our endeavors to cater for their taste."

"In conclusion," it was further promised, "permit us to say that we shall combat error and war against vice in every form; and shall give the weight of our influence on the side of Christianity and virtue. We shall be strenuous advocates of Education, and our labors shall be devoted to the Enterprise, Prosperity, and Welfare of Oregon and our common country." The prospectus was signed by Lot Whitcomb.

The first issue was heavily miscellany, editorial, and advertising. The nearer the news to the seat of publication, apparently, the less attention was paid to it. Of 24 columns in the paper, less than one full column was devoted to local happenings. A line on the nature of the local news and the editor's news judgment may be obtained from the following brief outline: 250 words on the Milwaukie young men's lyceum meeting, at which the negative won a debate on whether representatives are bound in all cases to obey the wishes of their constituents; 75 words on the weather; 40 words on improving the rapids below Oregon City; 75 words on a move for a free ferry at Portland; 100 words on a new Whig paper (the Oregonian) at Portland; 160 words on the shipping arrivals in the river. As in most of those early newspapers, "miscellany" predominated in the Star. Four columns of the first page were made up of a short-story entitled "The Murderer, a Thrilling Tale," while shorter material clipped from other newspapers and magazines occupied the remaining two columns. Local news and editorials were placed on page 2, American and foreign news and advertising on page 3; and the back page, almost entirely miscellany, including a 2-column story, "Na-