West Shore (magazine)

Last updated
West Shore
West Shore cover, 5 Oct 1889.jpg
West Shore cover, 5 October 1889
EditorHenry L. Wells
FrequencyMonthly 1875-1889; then
weekly 1889-1891
Circulation 15,000 (peak)
PublisherLeopold Samuel
First issueAugust 1875
Final issueMay 1891
CompanyWest Shore Publishing Company
Country United States
Based in Portland, Oregon
Language English

The West Shore was a literary magazine published in Portland, Oregon, United States from 1875 to 1891. It was founded by Leopold Samuel to promote a positive image of the Pacific Northwest and to encourage economic growth in the region. The magazine was known for publishing excellent articles by well-known authors and for its many high-quality illustrations. As a result, West Shore became one of the most successful publications in the Pacific Northwest. Its finely executed illustrations showed the scenery, architecture, and commerce of Oregon, Washington, California, Idaho, Montana, British Columbia, and Alaska. Today, West Shore illustrations provide a detailed record of the Pacific Northwest as it existed in the second half of the nineteenth century.

Contents

Masthead from Vol. 1 The West Shore masthead.png
Masthead from Vol. 1

History

West Shore was founded by Leopold Samuel, a German immigrant who settled in Portland in 1871. Shortly after arriving in Portland, Samuel published an Oregon travel guide. Samuel then compiled and published an illustrated directory for the city of Portland. The directory was modestly successful. After publishing three annual editions of the directory, Samuel decided to begin publishing a monthly literary magazine, West Shore. The first edition of the magazine was published in August 1875. [1] [2] [3]

In the first issue of West Shore, Samuel announced his goal was to create the best literary journal in the Pacific Northwest by securing contributions from the brightest intellects and writers in the region. Samuel followed through on his promise by publishing poetry by Joaquin Miller, essays by historian Frances Fuller Victor, scientific studies by paleontologist Thomas Condon, and history articles by pioneer Lindsay Applegate and former Governor of Oregon Joseph Lane. George H. Himes, secretary of the Oregon Pioneer Association, was a regular contributor to West Shore. [1] [2] Himes was later a founding member of the Oregon Historical Society and served as the society's curator for twenty-five years. [4]

The magazine's original format was an eight-page newspaper layout with four columns of text per page. Its illustrations were stock wood cuts purchased from eastern printing companies or from engravers in San Francisco. Nevertheless, the magazine was very successful. In less than two years, West Shore was being sold in thirty-two states, Canada, England, and Scotland. By 1878, the magazine's circulation was 8,160, the largest of any publication in the Pacific Northwest. [5] [6]

West Shore illustration of the Tacoma on the Columbia River Steamship Tacoma, West Shore magazine, 1887.jpg
West Shore illustration of the Tacoma on the Columbia River

In September 1878, the magazine was increased from eight to thirty-two pages and high quality lithographic illustrations were introduced. Over the next few years, stock illustrations were phased out and replaced with original illustrations produced by the West Shore staff artists. In 1883, Samuel hired a full-time editor, Henry L. Wells. As editor, Wells increased the magazine's news and information content, focusing on feature story about the Pacific Northwest rather than literary articles. In January 1884, the magazine was increased to forty-eight pages per issue. Three years later, the format was enlarged to match Harper's Magazine and the magazine was expanded to seventy-two pages. In 1888, West Shore changed to a quarto format. In September 1889, Samuel decide to begin publishing West Shore as a weekly magazine. [1] [6] At about this time, noted author and poet Ella Higginson edited a women's department for the magazine. [7]

West Shore reached its peak circulation of about 15,000 in 1890. In August of that year, Samuel enlarged the size of the pages. That turned out to be the magazine's last format change. In September, the West Shore Publishing Company was reorganized. Samuel remained president and general manager, but was forced to report to a board of directors made up of Portland area businessmen. Following the reorganization, plans for expanding the publication were announced along with new advertising contests and upcoming special editions. However, the magazine's advertising revenue was insufficient to cover the cost of the high quality illustrations and expensive paper that readers had come to expect from West Shore. As a result, Samuel resigned in February 1891. The new general manager, J. M. Lawrence, announced additional changes, but without Samuel's vision and drive the public quickly lost interest in the magazine. West Shore closed its doors on 2 May 1891. [8]

Illustrations

West Shore magazine produced many finely executed illustrations of scenery, architecture, and commerce in Oregon, Washington, California, Idaho, Montana, British Columbia, and Alaska. [1] [2] [9] [10] However, its original illustrations were limited to small black and white wood engravings. It added lithography in 1878. Color lithography illustrations were introduced in 1886. Finally, the magazine switched to halftone photoengraving just prior to closing in 1891. [1]

After the first few years of publication, the magazine began using itinerant artists and engravers to produce local illustrations. In 1881, the magazine hired its first full-time artist, Henry Epting. His first illustrations appeared in the July 1881 issue. Illustrator Junius F. Whiting joined the staff in early 1882, and Albert B. Burr was hired a year later. These excellent artists produced numerous illustrations for each addition of the magazine. In 1883 alone, there were 282 illustrations used in the magazine's twelve regular issues. In 1884, Clarence L. Smith, another excellent artist and lithographer, joined the staff as head of the art department. Two years later, William H. Byrnes replaced Epting, allowing the flow of illustrations to continue without interruption. [1]

Samuel also run the West Shore Lithographing and Engraving Company, using the magazine's art staff to produce illustrations for catalogs, maps, portraits, printed labels, and business forms for banks and others commercial enterprises. Samuel regularly advertised this business in issues of West Shore, allowing the magazine illustrations to highlight the quality of the lithography and engraving work his company produced. [1] [11]

In 1886, Smith, Epting, Burr, and Byrnes were among the founding members of the Pacific Northwest's first artist organization, the Portland Art Club. Samuel, though not an artist, was also a founding member of the club. West Shore announced the formation of the new art club in its February 1886 edition. Other members of the Portland Art Club who contributed works to West Shore included Cleveland S. Rockwell, James E. Stuart, Charles Clyde Benton Cooke, Edward Lincoln Espey, and Grafton Tyler Brown. [12]

Over the years, the illustrations originally published in West Shore have been reproduced in a wide variety of books and articles. Today, the magazine's illustrations provide a detailed record of the Pacific Northwest as it existed in the second half of the nineteenth century. The original prints also retain value as artwork and are sold in many antique print galleries, particularly in the Pacific Northwest. [1] [9] [13]

Notable contributors

Related Research Articles

The Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railway (SLS&E) was a railroad founded in Seattle, Washington, on April 28, 1885, with three tiers of purposes: Build and run the initial line to the town of Ballard, bring immediate results and returns to investors; exploit resources east in the valleys, foothills, Cascade Range, and Eastern Washington in 19th-century style, attracting more venture capital; and boost a link to a transcontinental railroad for Seattle, the ultimate prize for incorporation. The historical accomplishment of the line was Seattle to Sumas at the border, with British Columbia, Canada, connecting with the Canadian Pacific transcontinental at the border at Huntingdon, British Columbia, now part of the City of Abbotsford.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway</span> Defunct American Class I railroad (1908–1970)

The Spokane, Portland & Seattle Railway (SP&S) was a railroad in the northwest United States. Incorporated in 1905, it was a joint venture by the Great Northern Railway and the Northern Pacific Railway to build a railroad along the north bank of the Columbia River. Remnants of the line are currently operated by BNSF Railway and the Portland and Western Railroad.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Weinhard</span> Oregon brewer

Henry Weinhard was a German-American brewer in Portland, Oregon. After immigrating to the United States in 1851, he lived in Philadelphia, Cincinnati, St. Louis, and Sacramento before settling in the Portland area. Weinhard worked for others in the beer business before buying his own brewery and founded Henry Weinhard's and built its brewery complex in downtown Portland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Portland, Oregon</span>

The history of the city of Portland, Oregon, began in 1843 when business partners William Overton and Asa Lovejoy filed to claim land on the west bank of the Willamette River in Oregon Country. In 1845 the name of Portland was chosen for this community by coin toss. February 8, 1851, the city was incorporated. Portland has continued to grow in size and population, with the 2010 Census showing 583,776 residents in the city.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Oregon</span> History of the US state of Oregon

The history of Oregon, a U.S. state, may be considered in five eras: geologic history, inhabitation by native peoples, early exploration by Europeans, settlement by pioneers, and modern development.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lewis A. McArthur</span> American historian

Lewis Ankeny McArthur, known as "Tam" McArthur, was an executive for Pacific Power and Light Company. He was also the secretary for the Oregon Geographic Board for many years and the author of Oregon Geographic Names. His book, now in its seventh edition, is a comprehensive source of information on the origins and history of Oregon place names. It is a standard reference book in libraries throughout Oregon and the Pacific Northwest. Tam McArthur Rim in the Cascade Mountains is named in his honor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samuel B. Huston</span> American politician

Samuel Bruce Huston was an American politician and lawyer in Oregon. Originally a Democrat and later a Republican, he served in both chambers of the Oregon Legislative Assembly and was twice the mayor of Hillsboro, Oregon. A native of Indiana, he served in the state senate as a Democrat from one county his first term, but moved and changed parties by his second term 20 years later.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eva Emery Dye</span> American writer, historian, suffragist

Eva Emery Dye was an American writer, historian, and prominent member of the women's suffrage movement. As the author of several historical novels, fictional yet thoroughly researched, she is credited with "romanticizing the historic West, turning it into a poetic epic of expanding civilization." Her best known work, The Conquest: The True Story of Lewis & Clark (1902), is notable for being the first to present Sacagawea as a historically significant character in her own right.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frederick Van Voorhies Holman</span> Lawyer and civic leader from Portland

Frederick Van Voorhies Holman was a prominent lawyer and civic leader of the late 19th and early 20th centuries in Portland in the U.S. state of Oregon. Legal counsel for the Portland Railway, Light and Power Company and other businesses, he was active in Democratic Party politics and in civic organizations. President of the Oregon Historical Society from 1908 to 1927, he was known for his biography of John McLoughlin. A great admirer of roses, Holman helped organize the Portland Rose Society and is credited with giving Portland one of its nicknames, "Rose City". A parcel of land once owned by Holman became Holman Park, which was later merged with other parks and parcels to form Portland's Forest Park in 1948.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bibliography of Oregon history</span>

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.

The Portland Street Railway Company was the first mass transit company and streetcar line in Portland, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1872 by transportation magnate Ben Holladay, it operated horsecars on a two-mile (3.2 km) narrow gauge line on First Street, from a barn on Glisan Street in the north to Porter Street in the south.

The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Portland, Oregon, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ella Rhoads Higginson</span> American poet

Ella Rhoads Higginson was an American author of award-winning fiction, poetry, and essays characteristically set in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. She was the author of 2 collections of short stories, 6 books of poetry, a novel, a travel book, well over 100 short stories, over 400 poems, and hundreds of newspaper essays. She was influential for the ways her writing drew international attention to the then little-known Pacific Northwest region of the United States. She served as an officer of the Pacific Coast Women's Press Association.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ella E. McBride</span> American photographer (1862–1965)

Ella Etna McBride was an American fine-art photographer, mountain climber, and centenarian known for her career achievements after age sixty. In addition to running her own photography studio for over thirty years, she also spent eight years running the photography studio of Edward S. Curtis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George H. Himes</span> American Oregon pioneer

George Henry Himes was an Oregon pioneer and the first curator of the Oregon Historical Society. His collection of diaries and notebooks preserved the details of the lives and experiences of many pioneers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Maynard (photographer)</span> Canadian photographer

Richard Maynard (1832–1907) was a Canadian photographer known mainly for his landscape views taken throughout British Columbia, along coastal Alaska and on the Pribiloff Islands of the Bering Sea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Virginia Cleaver Bacon</span>

Virginia Cleaver Bacon was Oregon State Librarian.

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.

Eli Sheldon Glover was an artist and publisher of perspective maps, including maps of cities in the Midwestern and Western United States and Canada. Glover was active in San Francisco, Chicago, and Tacoma. He was also an inventor, and he wrote The Diary of Eli Sheldon Glover.

The following is a timeline of the history of Oregon in the United States of America.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Cleaver, J. D. (1993). "L. Samuel and the West Shore: Images of a Changing Pacific Northwest". Oregon Historical Quarterly. Portland, Oregon: Oregon Historical Society. 94: 167–224.
  2. 1 2 3 Jette, Melinda, "Brick Making, Near Portland, Oregon", The Oregon History Project, Oregon Historical Society, 2003. Retrieved June 17, 2016.
  3. ↑ Tucker, Kathy, "News Editorial, A Prosperous Future", The Oregon History Project, Oregon Historical Society, 2002. Retrieved June 17, 2016.
  4. ↑ Wexler, Geoffrey, "George Himes (1844-1940)", Oregon Encyclopedia, Portland State University, Portland, Oregon, 30 October 2010.
  5. 1 2 Cleaver, J. D., "L. Samuel and the West Shore: Images of a Changing Pacific Northwest," Oregon Historical Quarterly, Oregon Historical Society, Portland, Oregon, p. 173.
  6. 1 2 "The Daily Bee", Access Genealogy.com, Columbus, Georgia, 28 October 2010.
  7. ↑ "Ella Rhoads Higginson"  . A Woman of the Century  . Charles Wells Moulton. 1893.
  8. ↑ Cleaver, J. D., "L. Samuel and the West Shore: Images of a Changing Pacific Northwest," Oregon Historical Quarterly, Oregon Historical Society, Portland, Oregon, p. 216.
  9. 1 2 Burdon, Elisabeth, "The West Shore Magazine Published in Portland, Oregon 1875-1891", oldimprints.com galleries, Portland, Oregon, 2009.
  10. ↑ Samuel, L., "Any Person" (advertisement), West Shore, West Shore Publishing Company, Portland, Oregon, July 1887, p. 487.
  11. ↑ "West Shore Lithographing and Engraving Company" (advertisement), West Shore, West Shore Publishing Company, Portland, Oregon, August 1887, p. 572.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Cleaver, J. D., "L. Samuel and the West Shore: Images of a Changing Pacific Northwest" (Footnote 44), Oregon Historical Quarterly, Oregon Historical Society, Portland, Oregon, p. 222.
  13. ↑ West Shore images, Lewis and Clark College Digital Collection, Lewis and Clark College, Portland, Oregon, 1 November 2010.
  14. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Cleaver, J. D., "L. Samuel and the West Shore: Images of a Changing Pacific Northwest," Oregon Historical Quarterly, Oregon Historical Society, Portland, Oregon, pp. 169-170.
  15. ↑ Benson, Henry L., "Grant’s Pass and Vicinity", West Shore, West Shore Publishing Company, Portland, Oregon, November 1887, pp. 793-797.
  16. 1 2 3 Skinner, Jermy, "Book Publishing", The Oregon Encyclopedia, Portland State University, Portland, Oregon, 2008.
  17. ↑ Evans, Gail H. E., "Gilman Expeditions", Historic Resource Study Olympic National Park Washington, Cultural Resources Division, Pacific Northwest Region, National Park Service, United States Department of Interior, Seattle, Washington, 1983.
  18. ↑ "Ella Higginson Papers", (biographical information from The Lyric Singer: A Biography of Ella Higginson by Dorothy Koert) Center for Pacific Northwest Studies, Western Washington University, Bellingham, Washington, 1985.
  19. 1 2 Cleaver, J. D., "L. Samuel and the West Shore: Images of a Changing Pacific Northwest," Oregon Historical Quarterly, Oregon Historical Society, Portland, Oregon, p. 215.
  20. ↑ Stenzel, Franz, Cleveland Rockwell Scientist and Artist 1837-1907, Oregon Historical Society, Portland, Oregon, 1972, p. 61.
  21. ↑ Evans, Gail H. E., "First O'Neil Expedition", Historic Resource Study Olympic National Park Washington, Cultural Resources Division, Pacific Northwest Region, National Park Service, United States Department of Interior, Seattle, Washington, 1983.
  22. ↑ Mark, Stephen R., "Early Efforts to Establish Crater lake National Park: 1885-1893", Administrative History Crater Lake National Park Oregon, Crater Lake National Park, United States Park Service, United States Department of Interior, Washington, D.C., 1984.
  23. ↑ "William Steel (1854-1934)", The Oregon History Project, Oregon Historical Society, Portland, Oregon, 2002. Retrieved 2016-06-17.

Commons-logo.svg Media related to West Shore (magazine) at Wikimedia Commons

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.