The Oregon Spectator, was a newspaper published from 1846 to 1855 in Oregon City of what was first the Oregon Country and later the Oregon Territory of the United States. The Spectator was the first American newspaper west of the Rocky Mountains and was the main paper of the region used by politicians for public debate of the leading topics of the day. The paper's motto was Westward the Star of Empire takes its way.[1]
Although small publications were printed in California from 1834, there were no newspapers published in that territory until after American triumph in the Mexican–American War of 1846 — several months after establishment of the Oregon Spectator.[2]
The Oregon Printing Association (OPA) was formed in Oregon City with the purpose of establishing a newspaper. The OPA consisted of a group of seven, including William G. T'Vault, James W. Nesmith, John P. Brooks, George Abernethy, John H. Couch, Robert Newell, and John E. Long.[4] It formally declared that the press they acquired was never to be used "...by any party for the purpose of propagating sectarian principles or doctrines; nor for the discussion of exclusive party politics." The group secured a press from New York.[5][6]
The OPA produced the first issue of the Oregon Spectator on Thursday, February 5, 1846.[4] The publication thereby became the first newspaper published on the Pacific coast of the United States.[2]
T'Vault served as president and the first editor of the paper.[4] Most of the owners of the paper had roots in the Methodist Mission which had dominated Oregon politics prior to the establishment of the Provisional Government in 1841.[7] T'Vault was succeeded in a matter of months by Henry A. G. Lee, who was the Association's original choice, but had not been hired due to differences over his salary. Lee also remained for only a few months, and was succeeded for another two months by John Fleming, the paper's printer.[5]George Law Curry, who succeeded them, lasted into 1848, when he resigned due to a dispute with the Association over his wish to adopt a "firm and consistent American tone."[5] The United States formed the Oregon Territory in August 1848, with Oregon City—the home of the Spectator—serving as the seat of government for its first three years.[8]
After Curry's departure, Aaron E. Wait of Massachusetts, became the editor. On February 10, 1848, Wait enlarged the paper to twenty-four columns.[5]
The first edition was only four tabloid pages; their contents were described by Himes in 1902.[3] It was printed on a hand press which was purchased in New York City and shipped by sailing vessel around Cape Horn. The paper was initially published semi-monthly, with pages of 11 by 15 inches (28 by 38cm), arranged into four columns.[2]
Development
Tablet unveiled Aug 9, 1919 commemorating the Oregon Spectator.
For the first four years the owners did not allow sectarian political discussions in the paper.[3][1] This lack of partisan politics from the Spectator's pages does not mean it did not have an overt political line, however, as throughout its existence the paper took a consistent stance agitating opposition to Hudson's Bay Company.[2] In the view of pioneer Western American historian Hubert Howe Bancroft, the Spectator might reasonably be viewed as the organ of the American merchant class against its British competitors.[2] During most of the provisional government period, it was the only newspaper published in Oregon.[10] The paper also advocated in favor of the principles of morality, temperance, and education among the European-American immigrant population of the Oregon Territory.[2]
Owing to transportation and communications difficulties, "current" national news in the Spectator was usually at least 6 months out of date, consisting of rewrites of material covered in newspapers brought into Oregon by annual migrations of settlers or by ship via the Hawaiian Islands.[2]
After 5 issues T'Vault was dismissed as editor for his moderate temperament, to be replaced by Henry A. G. Lee.[2] Lee lasted for 9 issues in the formal editor's role before he was himself replaced in favor of a period of collective editorship.[2] Effective with issue 18 George Law Curry formally took over the editorial reins.[4] He remained on the job until he was removed in 1849, to be replaced briefly by Aaron E. Waite,[4] who was followed as editor by Wilson Blain.[2]
In 1850 the Spectator and the press on which it was produced were sold to Robert Moore, who continued with Blain at the editorial desk.[2] Blain was subsequently removed by D. J. Schnebley, who purchased the publication and edited it for a time in conjunction with C. P. Culver.[2]
The Spectator was sold one final time, with C. L. Goodrich buying the paper in March 1854 and continuing it until its termination in March 1855.[2]
Demise
Oregon City's position being eclipsed by that of nearby Portland as the center of commerce and Salem for politics, the paper's fortunes faltered, and publication ceased in 1855.[2]
Controversies
As the main newspaper in the region, the Spectator was often used to inform the populace of current topics, such as the debate over banning the manufacturing and sale of ardent spirits by law of the Provisional Legislature where Samuel Parker and James Douglas debated the proposed law.[4] Parker accused Douglas and the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) of selling rum at Fort Vancouver with Douglas asserting the sovereignty of the HBC over its own people, but pledging to enforce any laws of the Provisional Government against all other parties.[4]
Under George Curry's editorship, the paper attacked Jesse Quinn Thornton when Thornton was sent to Washington, D.C.[4] He had been sent as a representative of the government, but Curry accused Thornton of actually trying to secure favorable federal appointments for himself and his political allies.[4]
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Gray, William H. A History of Oregon, 1792-1849, Drawn from personal observation and authentic information. Harris & Holman: Portland, OR. 1870
"Washington Handpress". History of the School of Journalism and Communication. Eugene, Oregon: University of Oregon. 2006. Archived from the original on 2006-09-01. Retrieved 2006-12-24.
George Abernethy was an American politician, pioneer, notable entrepreneur, and first governor of Oregon under the provisional government based in the Willamette Valley, an area later a part of the American state of Oregon. He traveled to Oregon Country as a secular member of the Methodist mission, where he became involved in politics and helped found the first American newspaper west of the Rocky Mountains.
The Cayuse War was an armed conflict that took place in the Northwestern United States from 1847 to 1855 between the Cayuse people of the region and the United States Government and local American settlers. Caused in part by the influx of disease and settlers to the region, the immediate start of the conflict occurred in 1847 when the Whitman massacre took place at the Whitman Mission near present-day Walla Walla, Washington when thirteen people were killed in and around the mission. Over the next few years the Provisional Government of Oregon and later the United States Army battled the Native Americans east of the Cascades. This was the first of several wars between the Native Americans and American settlers in that region that would lead to the negotiations between the United States and Native Americans of the Columbia Plateau, creating a number of Indian reservations.
The Statesman Journal is the major daily newspaper published in Salem, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1851 as the Oregon Statesman, it later merged with the Capital Journal to form the current newspaper, the second-oldest in Oregon. The Statesman Journal is distributed in Salem, Keizer, and portions of the mid-Willamette Valley. The average weekday circulation was 27,859, with Sunday's readership listed at 36,323, in 2012.. It is owned, along with the neighboring Stayton Mail and Silverton Appeal Tribune, by the national Gannett Company.
George Law Curry was a predominant American political figure and newspaper publisher in the region that eventually became the state of Oregon. A native of Pennsylvania, he published a newspaper in St. Louis, Missouri, before traveling the Oregon Trail to the unorganized Oregon Country. A Democrat, Curry served in the new Oregon Territory's government as a representative to the legislature and as Territorial Secretary before appointment as the last Governor of the Oregon Territory. Curry County in Southern Oregon is named in his honor.
Jesse Applegate was an American pioneer who led a large group of settlers along the Oregon Trail to the Oregon Country. He was an influential member of the early government of Oregon, and helped establish the Applegate Trail as an alternative route to the Oregon Trail.
Ewing Young was an American fur trapper and trader from Tennessee who traveled in what was then the northern Mexico frontier territories of Santa Fe de Nuevo México and Alta California before settling in the Oregon Country. Young traded along the Santa Fe Trail, followed parts of the Old Spanish Trail west, and established new trails. He later moved north to the Willamette Valley. As a prominent and wealthy citizen in Oregon, his death was the impetus for the assemblies that several years later established the Provisional Government of Oregon.
The Oregon Lyceum or Pioneer Lyceum and Literary Club was founded in Oregon City, Oregon Country around 1840. The forum was a prominent fixture for the leading pioneer settlers during its brief existence. It would begin publishing the first American newspaper west of the Rocky Mountains in 1846 and had several names during its existence.
The Provisional Government of Oregon was a popularly elected settler government created in the Oregon Country, in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. Its formation had been advanced at the Champoeg Meetings since February 17, 1841, and it existed from May 2, 1843 until March 3, 1849, and provided a legal system and a common defense amongst the mostly American pioneers settling an area then inhabited by the many Indigenous Nations. Much of the region's geography and many of the Natives were not known by people of European descent until several exploratory tours were authorized at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries. The Organic Laws of Oregon were adopted in 1843 with its preamble stating that settlers only agreed to the laws "until such time as the United States of America extend their jurisdiction over us". According to a message from the government in 1844, the rising settler population was beginning to flourish among the "savages", who were "the chief obstruction to the entrance of civilization" in a land of "ignorance and idolatry".
The Provisional Legislature of Oregon was the single-chamber legislative body of the Provisional Government of Oregon. It served the Oregon Country of the Pacific Northwest of North America from 1843 until early 1849 at a time when no country had sovereignty over the region. This democratically elected legislature became the Oregon Territorial Legislature when the territorial authorities arrived after the creation of the Oregon Territory by the United States in 1848. The body was first termed the Legislative Committee and later renamed the House of Representatives. Over the course of its six-year history the legislature passed laws, including taxation and liquor regulation, and created an army to deal with conflicts with Native Americans.
Jesse Quinn Thornton (1810–1888) was an American settler of Oregon, active in political, legal, and educational circles. He served as the 6th Supreme Judge of the Provisional Government of Oregon, presented Oregon's petition for official territorial status to Congress, served in the Oregon Legislature, and wrote the state's motto.
William Green T'Vault (1806–1869) was a pioneer of the Oregon Country and the first editor of the first newspaper published west of the Missouri River. T'Vault led a wagon train of 300 that arrived in Oregon in 1845, after traveling on the Meek Cutoff, a branch of the Oregon Trail. He settled in Oregon City, and was appointed Postmaster General by the Provisional Government of Oregon.
Henry A. G. Lee was a soldier and politician in Oregon Country in the 1840s. A member of Virginia's Lee family, he was part of the Fremont Expedition and commanded troops during the Cayuse War in what became the Oregon Territory. He also was a member of the Oregon Provisional Government and the second editor of the Oregon Spectator.
Albert E. "A.E." Wilson was an American pioneer and merchant in Oregon Country. Raised in the United States, he moved to what would become the U.S. state of Oregon where he operated stores, was involved in politics, and was elected as the first judge of the Provisional Government of Oregon.
Albert E. Tozier was an American newspaper editor and local historian in Oregon. A native of Nebraska, he moved to Oregon as a child with his parents, settling in Hillsboro. His father, Charles T. Tozier, served as mayor of the town and in the Oregon Legislative Assembly. Albert worked as editor of The Hillsboro Argus and curator of the museum at Champoeg.
For a useful starting point goto Oregon Encyclopedia of History and Culture (2022). Not yet in print format; it is online here with 2000 articles.
Fort Cowlitz or Cowlitz Farm was an agricultural operation by the British Puget Sound Agricultural Company (PSAC), a subsidiary of the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC). It was located on the Cowlitz plains, adjacent to the west bank of the Cowlitz River and several miles northeast of modern Toledo, Washington. The farm was begun during spring of 1839, and its produce soon supplied HBC posts in New Caledonia and Columbia Departments. In the RAC-HBC Agreement, the Russian-American Company received at Novo-Arkhangelsk grain and dairy products from the PSAC along with manufactured goods. Fort Cowlitz produced most of the Company wheat quotas, and its fellow PSAC station Fort Nisqually tended most of the sheep and cattle flocks. By the expiration of the agreement in 1850, Cowlitz Farm wasn't able to meet Russian supply demands.
Oregon Deutsche Zeitung, launched in 1867, was the first of several German language newspapers published in the U.S. state of Oregon.
Journalism in the U.S. state of Oregon had its origins from the American settlers of the Oregon Country in the 1840s. This was decades after explorers like Robert Gray and Lewis and Clark first arrived in the region, several months before the first newspaper was issued in neighboring California, and several years before the United States formally asserted control of the region by establishing the Oregon Territory.
Oregon Exchanges was an American newspaper published by the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communications (SOJC) in the early 20th century. It initially described itself as a "Newspaper for Newspaper Men"; by 1930, it had adopted the gender-neutral slogan "For the Newspaper Folk of the State of Oregon." Its first issue was published in June 1917, the year after the school's founding. By the October issue, it was announced that students in the editing class would edit the publication. By 1920, students were producing the newspaper as part of their coursework in a course titled "Practical Editing." The paper was reportedly greeted with much praise at a 1922 convention of Sigma Delta Chi, a national journalism society.
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