Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 4.djvu/381

Rh need be. He was editorial writer, local reporter, business manager, and mailing clerk. A "job office" was usually a part of the printing establishment and he, perforce, must be his own job printer and pressman as well.

During all the earlier years there were no telegraphic dispatches, the "news" being selected from the weekly issues of the Tribune or Herald of New York City, which came by mail steamer to the Isthmus of Panama, thence across and by steamer to San Francisco, and thence with the utmost irregularity by steamer to Portland, from there down the Columbia and up the Cowlitz River and by pack animal or mud wagon to Olympia.

Under all these adverse circumstances it is remarkable what good newspapers were issued. They were usually on paper 24x36 inches in size, which was about the limit for hand presses then in use. The editorial matter was vigorous and able, the typography and presswork equal to that of the present day, the selection of news and literary matter unexceptionable. It is not a matter of surprise that men capable of accomplishing such good work in the face of such difficulties should have wielded a powerful influence in the pioneer work of the territory.

Of the pioneer newspaper men of Oregon and Washington there are many in Seattle. First in age and experience is Charles Prosch, with over forty years to his credit. Rev. John F. Damon comes next in seniority of service. Judge Orange Jacobs had much editorial experience in Oregon before coming here. Henry G. Struve, Esq., was an editorial writer for years prior to 1873, in Vancouver, Clarke County, and in Olympia. Ex-Governor Semple spent many years in all kinds of newspaper work in Oregon and Washington, beginning about 1870. Thomas W. Prosch learned to be a printer as he learned to read on the Herald at Steilacoom and the Tribune in Olympia. C. B. Bagley began newspaper work in 1868