The history of Columbia county, Wisconsin, containing an account of its settlement, Part 81

Author: Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899, [from old catalog] ed; Western historical company, chicago, pub. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago, Western historical company
Number of Pages: 1104

USA > Wisconsin > Columbia County > The history of Columbia county, Wisconsin, containing an account of its settlement > Part 81

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" In 1855," continues Mr. Turner, " we arrived in this city with a capital of just ten cents, without friends and a total stranger to nearly every person in the county. We found employ- ment as compositor in the Independent office, of which ' Shanghai ' Chandler was the proprietor, and in the columns of this paper, in that year, appeared our first articles for the press. In 1856 and '57, we were employed in the composing room of the State Journal, at Madison, and for a few months served as legislative reporter and local editor of that paper. In the spring of 1857, we returned to Portage and were associated with Dr. M. M. Davis, as one of the editors of the Portage City Record, published by the Hon. R. B. Wentworth. Mr. Wentworth had pur- chased the Independent office of Mr. Chandler, and given it the name above mentioned, and Mr. Brannan, who had about this time returned from California, held a case in the Badyer State office, published by John A. Brown and C. C. Britt. In the spring of 1861, Mr. Brannan purchased the Badger State office and commenced the publication of the Wisconsin State Reg- ister. About a month later, A. J. Turner purchased the Record office, and the papers were consolidated with I. Holmes as one of the partners. In April, 1864, Mr. Holmes disposed of his interest in the office to his partners, since which time the paper has been published continu- ously by Brannan & Turner. At the end of seventeen years, the whirligig of time has brought a new revolution, and henceforth the readers of the State Register will receive their news pabulum from other hands. * We have paid to our compositors, for paper bills and other incidental expenses of the office, more than $60,000. We have, with unfailing regularity, paid our employes every Saturday. We have never suffered a paper bill or any other bill to go past due; we have held tax receipt No. 1 for many years ; we generally stand recorded as No. 1 on the poll list at each election, and we have paid our pew rent promptly and cheerfully, and have most unselfishly permitted other people to occupy that pew more than we have ourselves, if we are not mistaken."

Mr. Brannan, when the transfer of the Register was concluded, was absent in Colorado for his health, but the sale was made with his entire approval, he having left the matter in the hands of his partner.

When he received information of the change, he wrote from Denver as follows : * * * "I trust I may be pardoned for a word of allusion to the services which I think we have rendered in graduating from our office so many young men who have taken high rank and honorable positions among their fellows. Robert Campbell, R. J. Flint, E. H. Weber, B. F. Goodell, W. R. Finch, F. O. Wisner, Henry Marvin and Rody Keegan are but a few of the goodly number of good boys whose remembrances come to me now, who have gone forth rising men, due to good tuition, and, may I not say, the excellent example set before them. Poor Jimmy Dempsey, ever glorious and true, sleeps in Dixie's land, a martyr to the slave- holders' rebellion, while faithful and true-hearted W. F. Ward reposes in Silver Lake Cemetery, a victim of disease engendered in the tented field. May green ever grow the graves on the little mounds which rise over them.

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" In looking over the past, I do so without descrying here and there little paragraphs which I would gladly blot out, but I may truthfully say, never a line which has been written was ever inspired by malice toward a fellow mortal.

"'Farewell, my friends, farewell, my foes ; My peace with these-my love with those.'"

The new proprietors of the State Register entered upon their duties with that spirit of determination which is generally rewarded with success. Mr. Clark took his position at the editorial helm, while Mr. Goodell assumed charge of the mechanical departments. The editor, in his salutatory, after briefly reviewing his pioneer experiences in Columbia County, says : " I have been a subscriber to this journal from the beginning, and feel the same attachment as such patron to it that you feel. It is one of the established institutions of Columbia County. Indeed, the county would hardly be itself without it. I do not propose to change the name, for the reason that it must still have a name, and I am satisfied with the old one. I do not propose to change its politics, for with them I have been generally in hearty accord. It will still advocate the principles of the Republican party, and endeavor to secure and maintain the supremacy of that party. At the same time it will be unsparing in its efforts to keep that party pure and worthy of support. * Great inconvenience and losses result from changing one's business, but there are some compensations. You know how it is in your neighbor's calling when you have been there yourself. If you have been a lawyer, you know how to sympathize with them, how things appear from his standpoint. If you have been a lender of money, you know how to sympathize with him. If you have been obliged to be a borrower, paying high interest, you can feel for him. If you have been a farmer, working hard to compel Mother Earth to bring forth her increase, and just as you have been upon the point of securing it, some vile bug has snatched it from your hand, making all your labor vain, you can appreciate the condition of the farmer during these few past years. You have learned that when the orator at the fair says : 'Tickle Mother Earth with a hoe, and she will laugh with a harvest,' he is reciting poetry. I cannot expect to agree on every subject

which will be discussed in these columns with all my patrons, because I know too many of them are independent thinkers, and such can never entirely concur ; but I will endeavor to treat every topic introduced, candidly, and truly represent the position of the opposite side. *

* I fully realize that this paper has been a power in this county and State, and hope it will remain such. Encouraged by the large list of subscribers already on the Register's list, and hoping the old ones will stand by it still, the time has come when the ' I' must be exchanged for a 'we,' and 'we' must take off 'our' coat and go at the work."

Just how far the efforts of the present publishers to make an acceptable newspaper have been seconded by the intelligent citizens of Columbia County is illustrated in the extent of patronage they have received ; and the measure of patronage is shown by the recent enlarge- ment of the paper from thirty-two to thirty-six columns and the purchase of a handsome outfit of new type. The Register wore its new dress for the first time on the morning of the 10th of April, 1880. Most of the old material composing its former habiliments had been in use for a quarter of a century.

Politically, the Register still adheres to its original faith, and is as soundly Republican in all its teachings and aspirations as any organ of the party in the State. Locally, the Register is singularly complete and reliable. It also claims the somewhat unusual distinction of being a purely home-made paper, which means that both sides are printed at home.

Portage Democrat .- In March, 1877, at the solicitation of Democratic friends in Portage, Henry D. Bath, editor of the Columbus Democrat, and his brother, W. E. Bath, * established the Portage Democrat, a seven-column folio. "To-day," said the editors in their salutatory, " for the first time in almost twenty years, a Democratic newspaper in the English language is issued in this city. We are here for the establishment of a legitimate business, and to meet a

* Died in June, 1879.

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need which has long and repeatedly been represented to us as existing in this community. We are not here to encroach upon the province of any other journal, but to do work in an open field. The Register is an old and ably conducted newspaper, which has done very much to advance the material interests of Portage. Its editors are our personal friends, and we hope they will remain so, however divergent the line of our political operations may be. The Advance is not at all in our way, having its own great work to accomplish ; and the Wecker is our ally. We propose, in the interests of Reform-Democracy, and not in subserviency to any ring or clique of it, to make as good a newspaper as we can. To this end, we invoke the co-operation of every member of the party, and will devote our utmost endeavors to render it the most efficient aid within our power. But the political work of a local journal is, after all, but a small part of the labor which it has to do. It should be ever busy in furtherance of the business interests and social welfare of the community where it is published. It is a record of the life of the people in its vicinity ; the chronicler of their joys and sorrows, their successes and reverses. and its general purpose is to do good to those within the circle of its influence, and to be of value to them in the accomplishment of worthy subjects. Such are the aims of the Portage Democrat."

Early in 1878, the health of W. E. Bath failing, Irving Bath, formerly a clerk in the Land Office at Madison, took an interest in the paper, and it is now conducted in his name. In March, 1878, at the close of the first volume, the size and form of the paper were changed to a six-column quarto. Early in April, the publisher purchased an improved Cottrell & Bab- cock press and a three-horse power Bookwalter engine, making it the only steam printing-office in the county. The Democrat has performed its part well toward giving accounts of local occurrences, and is being rewarded in the measure of its merit.

Columbia County Wecker was published by Gustavus A. Selbach, the first number being issued September 1. 1874. The Wecker is a German newspaper, the only one in Columbia County, and was established in Portage at the request of the leading German citizens. It was originally a seven-column folio, but was enlarged a year ago to eight columns. It has a circu- lation of 500 copies, but is probably read by from 2,000 to 5,000 people, owing to an economi- cal custom among its patrons, by which a single copy is perused by several families. Mr. Sel- bach is a veteran journalist, having established a paper in Appleton. the Volksfreund, in Feb- ruary, 1870, and one at Mansfield, Ohio, the Mansfield Courier, in 1872. Politically, the Wecker is Democratic. The name, translated to English, means " wake up," and the editor loses no opportunity to disturb the mental lethargy of his readers.

The Northern Republic was a Whig paper, established in 1851, the first number being issued December 20, by W. W. Noyes, brother of Col. Noyes, of Baraboo. The Republic was well received by the River Times, the Democratic organ, and a period of nearly three full weeks clapsed before the rival editors "locked horns " on political questions. The Republic seems to have met with inferior patronage, as its suspension was soon announced, the material being taken to Baraboo, where it was used in the publication of the Baraboo Republic.

The Columbia County Reporter was established by Carr Huntington, in 1857, as a Democratic paper. Misfortune seems to have frowned upon the enterprise, as the paper suspended in the fall of 1857, the material being sold under Sheriff's execution, on a chattel mortgage. "Shang- hai " Chandler purchased the entire outfit, and removed it to Friendship, in Adams County, where he established a paper. Mr. Huntington went to Beaver Dam, where, in 1858, he com- menced the publication of the Beaver Dam Democrat, which is also defunct.

The Rara Avis was a literary and musical monthly, the first number of which was issued Jan- uary 30, 1857, Horace Norton, editor and proprietor. The Rara Avis was a sixteen-page quarto, very creditable in appearance and very ably edited. Had it been established in a larger city, its success might have been permanent. A year or more of unprofitable labor taught Mr. Norton this, and, in July, 1858, he advertised the entire outfit for sale. A suspension soon fol- lowed.

I Malmith PORTAGE , CITY.

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The Columbus Reporter .- This was the name of the first paper published in Columbus, but diligent search and inquiry have failed us in ascertaining the date of the first number. From all that can be learned in regard to it, it is safe to say it did not exist prior to 1853. Gov. Lewis holds a receipt for subscription, dated June 20, 1854, signed by Carr Huntington, editor and proprietor of the Reporter, as follows: " Received of James T. Lewis four dollars in full for publishing notices, and in full for the Columbia Reporter, for the years A. D. 1853, 1854, and up to the 15th of June, 1855." The Reporter was of the Democratic persuasion in politics. The office of the Reporter was located on Broadway, near the present site of Erhart's harness- shop. The date of its suspension is also unknown. That it did suspend, however, before it had attained any great age or influence, is undoubted, for the editor betook himself to Portage early in 1857, and there re-established his paper, continuing to publish it until the latter part of that year, when the office was sold out under a sheriff's execution. Mr. Huntington is now in- culcating Democracy at Blue Earth, Minn.

The Columbus Journal .- On the 22d day of January, 1855, Daniel Mallo, and liis son- in-law, Delancy L. Thayer, issued the first number of the Columbus Weekly Journal, a seven- column folio, devoted to the interests of the then newly fledged Republican party. The editor promised, in his salutatory, to " studiously avoid at all times intentionally wounding the feelings of those who do not think as we do. It is a well-known fact," continues the editor, "that it is not in the scope of human nature to please everybody, and of the whole human race the con- rluctor of a public journal has the hardest and most difficult task of all." On the 30th of December, 1856, Mr. Thayer retired from the Journal, leaving Mr. Mallo sole editor and pro- prietor. On the 10th of March, 1859, Marcus A. Mallo, a practical printer and a ready writer, became associated with the paper as junior editor, the firm becoming Mallo & Son. This copart- nership was severed on the 4th day of February, 1860, through the death of the son, at the age of twenty-two years and four months. The elder Mallo continued the publication of the Journal until June 6, 1861, when D. H. Pulcifer and J. F. Hazelton, the latter as editor, took charge. In their first issue they mourned the death of Stephen A. Douglas with turned column rules. In April, 1862, Mr. Pulcifer withdrew from the management, and a few months later, Mr. Hazelton did likewise, the old veteran, Daniel Mallo, again assuming charge, and continuing in the capac- ity of editor until the 30th of October, 1864, when death put an end to his toils, his trials and his tribulations. Mr. Mallo was one of the oldest publishers in the Northwest. He was born in York, Penn., November 20, 1799, and commenced his career as a printer upon the York Gazette at the age of seventeen years, coming to Wisconsin in 1842, and taking a position on the Madison Gazette. But one number of the Journal was issued after the death of Mr. Mallo. In it was printed, among other things, the obituary of the deceased journalist, written by E. E. Chapin, whose contributions had enlivened the Journal throughout most of its existence. Henry D. Bath, editor of the Democrat, then a law student in Mr. Chapin's office, put the article in type.

The Columbus Transeript .- Some time in the winter of 1864-65, Valentine Baltuff, who, with his brother John, had been publishing the Lodi Weekly Herald, which suspended Novem- ber 9, 1864, came to Columbus with the material of the defunct journal, and established the Columbus Transcript, unfolding the Republican banner, and pledging himself, beneath its folds, to support the great national party in all that was consistent with the wants of a large constituency. Mr. Baltuff possessed but little literary ability, but wielded a composing-stick with great fluency. There was sufficient local genius abroad, however, to supply the Tran- script with editorial pabulum, and the paper flourished.

In August, 1868, in the heat of summer and a memorable political campaign, a somewhat sudden, but not altogether unexpected, change took place in the office of the Transcript. Mr. Baltuff disposed of the concern, and, soon afterward, went to Floyd County, Iowa, where he re-established in the same line of business.

The Columbus Democrat .- Henry D. Bath was the purchaser of the effects of the Tran- script, and, on the 10th of September, 1868, he ushered into the journalistic world a seven-column

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folio newspaper-the Columbus Democrat-with marked political inclinations, strongly the reverse of those of its predecessor, as was indicated in the names of presidential preferences that floated from the mast-head, and their emphatic indorsement editorially. Mr. Bath, in his " To the Public," said :

"It is already known by many that the Columbus Transcript, which was formerly issued from this office, has changed hands, and to-day, for the first time, we believe, in ten years, the colors of the Democratic party are hoisted by a newspaper in Columbia County."

The editor seems to have been conversant with the difficulties that usually beset interior publishers, and wide awake to the requirements of the important position he had chosen to occupy. "The progress of the times," he says, " has changed, to a great degree, the province of a paper published in the interior. The locomotive and the lightning now labor for men. The daily metropolitan newspapers are dropped in our midst with each revolution of the earth, and from them we learn what Europe was doing only yesterday. They tell us of the status of parties, and to a much greater extent than a country newspaper. But who chronicles our local events-those occurrences which most intimately concern us ? Who makes public the ravages of death and the inroads of matrimony in our midst ? Who speaks of our crops and our mar- kets, our home improvements and questions relating to matters immediately surrounding us ? Who tells us of the good fortune or disaster to our neighbors ? Who does all this and a hun- dred other services ? It is done through the agency of the local press; and any town of the size and enterprise of Columbus, which does not possess a good local paper, loses a powerful auxiliary to its prosperity. We are here for this purpose, and here we propose to remain."

Considering the adverse political circumstances under which the Democrat was established, the editor and his friends have cause for congratulation in the growth and influence of the paper. There has been but one change in its management, and that was only temporary. From October, 1870, to March, 1871, the father of Mr. Bath was associated with the Democrat as publisher. In 1872, the form of the paper was changed to a six-column quarto.

Mr. Bath was, for two years prior to 1868, city editor of the Milwaukee News, resigning his position on account of ill health, and has, therefore, had some of the experience calculated to test one's journalistic qualifications. His views concerning the province of interior jour- nals have been carried out to the extent of making the Democrat a valuable narrator of local happenings. Mr. Bath has been especially industrious in the work of perpetuating the early history of Columbus.

The Columbus Republican .- In the Presidential campaign of 1868, by an adroit maneuver of the Democracy, the material of the Transcript changed hands, and with it a Democratic sheet was started. This was less than eight weeks before election, and the political cauldron was boiling fiercely. There was a strong Republican majority in town and county, and a Demo- cratic paper would not go down, and set well on a Republican stomach. J. R. Decker was at the time publishing the Waupun Times, but such inducements were offered that he sold out that paper and came to Columbus, his route being by way of Chicago, where he bought an entire new printing office, including a job press, something novel in Columbus. The office was estab- lished on the second floor of Shaffer's Block, in the room that for many years has been Squire Farnham's Justice office. The room was soon found to be too small, and after various removals the office is now located on Ludington street, occupying a spacious first floor.

The first issue of the Republican was on October 7, 1868. It was a seven-column folio, ably edited and handsomely printed, several pithy local writers contributing, and giving the new paper a " boost " through the few weeks before election. In the first years of the Republican, Mr. Le Roy Irons, a young man recently arrived from the East, contributed liberally to its local and literary departments. In December of 1869, the local was printed on the first page, as the prominent feature of the paper, and commencing with January of 1870, Mr. Irons' name appears as one of the editors, an arrangement continuing three months. He was a vigorous writer of prose, and a poet of acknowledged merit, but physically he was weak, and he has since passed over the river. In December of 1871, the Republican was enlarged to nine columns to

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a page, the increase of advertising patronage making a larger sheet necessary. These propor- tions were maintained until July of 1873, when an increase in the price of paper and a shrink- age in advertising brought down the paper to eight columns. In 1878, the style was changed to the popular six-column quarto. Finer type was adopted for city and county news, a corps of correspondents were secured throughout the county, and new vigor awakened in the paper. It now ranks among the best of the country papers in the West, especially in point of home news.

Mr. Decker, the editor and proprietor, is a thorough practical printer, having acquired the art when boys had to learn a trade. He has a reputation for fine work that extends throughout the West, and specimens of jobs done at the office have been solicited by artistic printers from as far East as New York, as far South as Georgia, and as far West as San Francisco.

Having received instructions in stereotyping in Chicago, and procured a fair outfit for doing the work, this useful adjunct to a printing office is made to contribute to the completeness of the establishment. The Republican and the Republican job printing office, are institutions of which Columbia County is, and should be, proud.

The Lodi Flag, published quarterly, was first issued in July, 1856, by J. O. & A. Eaton, a small quarto of three columns, only three numbers of which (for July and November of 1856, and for May, 1857) were issued.

· The Lodi Weekly Herald, established February 25, 1863, by Baltuff Bros.,* publishers and proprietors. "We commence," say the editors, in their salutatory, "the publication of a paper, under the above title, in this town ; and, believing the wants of the people to be more for a strictly local journal than a political one, we design the publication of an independent paper." It was a six-column paper, of a very respectable appearance. The first business cards were those of " Richard Lindsay, attorney and counselor at law;" "G. H. Irwin, M. D.," and " J. O. Eaton, Notary Public." On the 2d of March, 1864. the copartnership in tlte establish - ment of the paper was dissolved, and Valentine Baltuff appears alone as editor and proprietor. This event occurred at the beginning of the second volume, but the paper was discontinued after the issuing of the thirty-fifth number, November 9, 1864, which was issued on a half- sheet only.

The Lodi Journal .- In October, 1870, was issued the first number of the Lodi Journal, by Charles H. Fullerton, editor and publisher. It was a five-column quarto, and was edited with ability until April 16, 1873, when the editor said "Good-bye," and the Journal ceased to exist.

The Lodi Valley News was established by Peter Richards, in the spring of 1874, the first issue being on the 22d of April of that year. It has had a circulation, since the close of its first year, of about four hundred copies weekly, and has been published regularly each week, without a single omission, from the start. In its first issue, the announcement was made that the paper would be, in its political complexion, an Independent Republican paper, and it has been the aim of its proprietor to hold it to that character as closely as possible. Its circulation has been very uniform from the start, seldom varying in any two years more than half a quire. The News is well printed, and edited with ability.

The Wisconsin Mirror .- In the fall of 1855, the Wisconsin River Hydraulic Company decided upon founding a new village-Kilbourn City-upon Section 3, Township 13 north, Range 6 east. Alanson Holly, of Warsaw, N. Y., was then West looking for a location, and, visiting the site of the proposed village, he decided at once to settle. A dwelling was hastily erected for his family, and a small building for a printing office (the first houses in the prospective village), and, on the 1st day of January, 1856, the first issue of the Wisconsin Mirror was struck from the press. This issue was gotten up under difficulties. On the 22d day of Decem- ber previous, the building was inclosed, and, while the plasterers were at work, the hands of the office unboxed the type and set up the press. It was so cold the compositors had to bathe their fingers in warm water every ten minutes to make them limber. As the paper was being made ready for the press, a number of friends gathered in the office, and it was proposed to sell the first copy at

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The history of Columbia county, Wisconsin, containing an account of its settlement, Part 81

Author: Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899, [from old catalog] ed; Western historical company, chicago, pub. [from old catalog] Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Chicago, Western historical company Number of Pages: 1104

Author: Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899, [from old catalog] ed; Western historical company, chicago, pub. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago, Western historical company
Number of Pages: 1104