Page:Newspapers of Washington Territory from WHQ July 1922.djvu/3

Rh mentous event. The bill was under debate and the name of the proposed Territory was being changed from Columbia to Washington, when the memorial of the Monticello Convention and the proceedings of that Convention in the Columbian arrived at the National Capitol. For a full discussion of these two Conventions, see the Washington Historical Quarterly, Volume XIII., No. 1, (January, 1922,) pages 3 to 19. All this does not detract from the evident purpose and energy of the Columbian. It simply transfers some of the credit of achievement to the Cowlitz Convention and to two other pioneer newspapers.

The records of such important makers and chroniclers of history should be saved. Unfortunately that is not an easy thing to do. However much faith and hope may inspire the editor, he is not always careful of his files. The short-lived papers frequently vanish completely. Successors to the earlier publishers are often slow in recognizing that what had gone on before in the papers they had acquired was worth preserving for the sake of future needs of history. It is frequently difficult and often impossible to get information about the early files.

A number of efforts have been made in the past to assemble information about the pioneer papers of Washington Territory. Among these should be mentioned the following: The Washington Press Association Proceedings, 1887-1890, contains a brief history of the press of Washington by Charles Prosch under the date of August 15, 1889. This covers pages 23 to 45. In the same pamphlet, for the year 1890, Edwin N. Fuller gives an article entitled "Historical Newspaper Sketches." He specializes on first numbers and a compilation of newspapers established, year by year, from 1882 to 1890. In that same year 1890, Herbert Howe Bancroft's History of Washington, Idaho and Montana appeared, carrying a compact history of early newspapers on pages 377 to 380. Clarence B. Bagley, himself a pioneer newspaper man, wrote an article on "Pioneer Papers of Puget Sound," which appeared in The Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society, Volume IV., No. 4, (December, 1903,) pages 365 to 385. Several of the county and sectional histories of the Territory and State contain references to the newspapers. These are all valuable and the essential facts are drawn together in this present effort to make a more complete record of those important sources of historical materials.