Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 3.djvu/364

354 Goudy, printer. On February 7, 1850, the paper was reduced to sixteen columns on account of a shortage in the paper supply. On April 18, 1850, Robert Moore, then proprietor of Linn City, opposite Oregon City, became owner, Blain being retained as editor. In this issue he says:

We find the opinion that Oregon should be immediately erected into a state much more prevalent than we had anticipated, * * and we feel impelled to warmly urge it on public attention. * * Time was when Oregon enjoyed a large share of public attention, * * but things have greatly changed in the last two years. Oregon has passed almost entirely into the shade. * * We rarely see Oregon mentioned in the papers received from the States, while California, Deseret, and New Mexico engrossed a very considerable part of public attention.

On July 11th the size was increased to twenty columns and on July 25th to twenty-four columns. In this issue appears a prospectus of The Oregon Statesman. After stating what it is going to be in religion, in morals, and in politics, which it says will be democratic, the prospectus goes on to say that "The Statesman will be 116 inches larger than The Spectator," and places the subscription price at the lowest mark—$7 per annum, and $4 for six months. It was to be published weekly at Oregon City by Henry Russell and A. W. Stock well. The Spectator of August 8th contains the announcement that a whig journal—The Oregonian—is to be published at Portland by T. J. Dryer, a "stump speaker of power and a pungent writer." On September 5th Blain ended his career as editor.

Mr. Blain was born in Ross County, Ohio, February 28, 1813. He was graduated at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, in 1835. He completed the full course of study at the Associate Reformed Theological Seminary at Alle-