Type | Daily newspaper |
---|---|
Format | Broadsheet |
Owner(s) | Gannett |
Founder(s) | B.H. Evans |
Publisher | Amy Lanier |
Editor | Skye Kinkade |
Founded | 1878 (as Scott Valley News) |
Language | English |
Headquarters | 309 South Broadway, Yreka, California 96097, United States |
ISSN | 1094-9763 |
OCLC number | 28683624 |
Website | www |
The Siskiyou Daily News is a daily newspaper serving Yreka, California, United States. [1] It is owned by Gannett. Former owner GateHouse Media acquired the paper from Hollinger in 1997. [2]
In August 1878, B. H. Evans published the first issue of the Scott Valley News in Fort Jones, California. [3] At some point Frank Norcross became an owner and sold his stake to his partner Samuel P. Curtis in September 1879. [4] A year later Ed. S. Culver bought a half-interest. [5] Culver retired and was succeeded by Frank Markey on Jan. 1, 1883. [6] In May 1886, Curtis skipped town. He left for Ukiah, taking all the business' available funds and leaving it $500 in debt. Markey struggled to run the paper on his own and decided to close it that August due to financial problems. [7]
About four months later, L.D. Clark, founder of the Oroville Mercury, relaunched the News. [8] Clark continued to operate the paper in Fort Jones and invented an automatic hand-press frisket to improve production. He got it patented it in December 1891. The Scientific American published an article on Clark's device a year later. [9] In May, 1894, Clark sold the paper to E. H. Ellsworth. [10] In June 1895, J. N. Bohen joined Ellsworth as a co-owner and the two moved the Scott Valley News to Yreka and changed its name to the Siskiyou News. [11] In 1897, their partnership dissolved and Bohen exited. [12] In 1898, W. J. Balfrey bought the News for $2,150. [13]
Ten days after selling the paper Ellsworth was stopped by Constable E. E. Dixon while attempting to board a train in Montague with his family to San Francisco. At the time Ellsworth was being sued for libel by local citizens and for unpaid wages from an employee. [14] He posted bail but another warrant for his arrest was issued stemming from another libel case. [15] Ellsworth refused to be detained and shot Dixon, who later died from his injuries. [14] Ellsworth was later found guilty of second-degree murder and sentenced to 21 years imprisonment. [15]
In 1900, W. S. O'Brien paid Balfrey $2,850 for the business. [16] A year later W. D. Crow bought the paper from O'Brien. [17] Crow sold it in 1905 to brothers Frank E. and Horace Holbrook, former owners of the Times-Index. [18] [19] Horace sold out to his brother two years later. [20] In 1923, Frank Holbrook sold the News to Herbert G. Moody, who had been editor The Searchlight in Redding. At that time the News had a 2,000 circulation and 17 paid correspondents. [21] The Redding paper was owned by Moody's father, which he sold to his son in 1925. [22] In 1929, H. G. Moody sold the News to his father H.L. Moody. [23] A year later business was acquired by the Siskiyou Publishing Company for $18,000. [24]
On Oct. 2, 1941, the Siskiyou News, owned by Albert Wedin, and the Yreka Journal, owned by Walter B. Stafford and William G. Bailey, were merged to form a daily called the Siskiyou Daily News. [25] In 1948, Wedin sold the Daily News to E. Glenn Drake, [26] [27] who was succeeded as publisher in 1951 by Edgar J. Foss. At that time business operations were moved to Turlock. [28] In 1979, the chain Thomson Newspapers Inc. bought the paper from Foss. [29] The company owned more than 100 papers by 1993 when it sold the Daily News and four others to Hollinger. [30]
In 1997, the Daily News was among the 167 papers acquired by Leonard Green & Partners from Hollinger for $310 million. [31] A year later the investment firm formed Liberty Group Publishing to manage its publications. [32] In June 2005, Fortress Investment Group bought Liberty for $527 million. [33] The company was then renamed to GateHouse Media. [34] In 2019, GateHouse merged with Gannett. [35]