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The first newspaper published in Gallatin County,
one of the early publications of the territory, was the "Montana
Pick and Plow," published and edited by H. N. Maguire in Bozeman.
Mr. Maguire had been connected with the "Montana Post," the first
newspaper of the territory, published in Virginia City. A copy of
the first number of the Pick and Plow, issued December 31, 1869, and
preserved for 60 years by Mrs. W. J. Beall, an early pioneer who
died in 1930, was presented to Mrs. E. L. Houston, secretary of the
Pioneers' Society of Gallatin County, whose father, W. W. Alderson,
was one of the stockholders of the company publishing this first
paper, which suspended at the end of 18 months, as Mr. Maguire
wished to engage in other business. He sold the plant to Colonel L.
M. Black. The subscription price of this first Bozeman paper was $8
for one year, $4 for six months, $1 for six weeks.
The first number of the paper contains a salutatory
stating the paper is free from partisan and political shackles.
Nearly a page is given to a digest of the latest general news culled
from exchanges. On the local page, the most important item is the
report of "A Brilliant and Fashionable Ball," given Christmas Eve,
with 150 couples attending, the proceeds, more than $700 being for
the benefit of the "Montana Pick and Plow." The address given at the
ball by Mr. Maguire, occupies two columns on the first page of the
paper.
Among the advertisers are names familiar to old
timers; A. Lamme & Co., Black and Story; C. W. Hoffman, Blum and
Engesser, Walter Cooper, Harper and Finch, Willson and Rich, Davis,
Sperling & Co., Spieth and Krug, and F. F. Fridley. A long list of
letters uncalled for at the post office is signed by Joseph Roth,
postmaster. The marriages of William P. Parsons and Miss Mary E.
Street, and also of T. M. Carr and Miss Ella Church, are reported,
and the death of Mrs. Joseph J. Davidson at the Canyon house near
Gallatin City. The retail family market report shows, butter one
dollar a pound, eggs one dollar a dozen, and flour $6.00 and $7.00
per sack of 98 pounds. A warning was given by T. B. Gray, county
treasurer, to taxpayers to pay their taxes at once and save costs.
The Avant Courier
With the help of the stockholders of the Pick and
Plow, Joseph Wright secured the newspaper plant and started the
Avant Courier, September 13, 1871. In 1877, W. W. Alderson purchased
the paper and continued its publication with the aid of members of
his family until 1904, when it was combined with the Gallatin County
Republican, and the paper is now known as the Bozeman Courier. Mr.
Alderson was editor until his death in October 1906.
The Bozeman Chronicle
The Bozeman Chronicle was started in January 1883,
with Samuel Langhorne editor and A. K. Yerkes, business manager. Mr.
Yerkes later became editor. The paper has continued, and since
December 4, 1911, the company has published a daily paper with full
Associated Press report, besides publishing the weekly with local
news from the daily. James P. Bole has been editor for many years
and H. H. Howard manager of the Chronicle Publishing Company. Other
papers have been established in the county during recent years, and
some have been published for brief periods in Bozeman. |
