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Colfax Gazette

Table of Contents [Hide/Show] Title    Digitization plan    History    Essay Draft       Essay Notes    Research Reel    Notes    Evaluation       Totals

Title¶

• Ayer Annual¹; Chronicling America record³
  • Publish day: Friday
  • Content: Republican
  • Established: 1877; 1893-1932 ³
  • Pages: 8
  • Size: 15x22 in.
  • Editor: Ivan Chase
  • Publisher: Ivan Chase; Colfax Gazette Co.³
• Frequency:
• Coverage
  • Region: Southeast
  • County: Whitman
• Unique ids
  • SN: sn88085460
  • OCLC: 17401202
    

Digitization plan¶

2008-2009 grant

• WSL ordered duplication and testing of 1900-1912 (8 reels) from Proquest
• Received order 2008-12-01
  

History¶

• Preceding: Palouse Gazette (Colfax, Wash) 1877 - 1893³
• Related Title: The Colfax Commoner (Colfax, Wash) 1911 - 1932 ³
• Succeeding: The Gazette-commoner (Colfax, Wash) 1932 - 1958 ³
• WSL publish history chart: http://www.secstate.wa.gov/library/docs/iii/charts/whitman.htm
  

Essay Draft¶

Charles B. Hopkins and Lucien E. Kellogg were delayed in starting their new enterprise, the Palouse Gazette [LCCN: sn 88085456]. During the spring and summer of 1877, news of the Nez Perce war sent a wave of panic through the white settlers of Palouse region of Washington Territory. Farmers abandoned their homesteads, seeking protection in the towns from a rumored uprising among the Palouse, Couer d'Alene and Spokane Indians. The tribes, for their part, were troubled by the sudden activity among the settlers. Fortunately, the misunderstanding was resolved without violence and the newspapermen were able to start the first weekly paper in the town of Colfax by the end of September. The paper was renamed the Colfax Gazette in 1893 following its sale to Ivan Chase.

The town of Colfax is located on the Palouse River and near the Mullan Military Road. The road connected Walla Walla and Fort Couer d'Alene and was important to settlers in the 1870s. The period immediately following the Nez Perce War was a time of rapid growth in the Palouse region. Much of the native bunch grass prairie was converted to wheat farms by 1900. In 1890 Colfax was one of several communities considered for the site of the Washington State College campus, but lost the competition to nearby Pullman. Colfax College (later called English's Collegiate Academy) was a small, private college located in the the town and is frequently mentioned in the paper. The Colfax Gazette covered local news in detail and commented on current events from the republican perspective. All legal notices were published in this "official paper" of Whitman County. News of wars abroad, national economic issues, and features related to the agriculture industry and transportation infrastructure development were the most likely to be included in this paper. The digitized selection includes coverage of a major local flood in 1910.

L. E. Kellogg, co-founder of the paper, sold his share in 1879. He then founded the North West Tribune [LCCN: sn 88085248] and the Big Bend Empire [LCCN: sn 87093138], owned the Wenatchee Advance [LCCN: sn 87093051] from 1893-1895, and a started another paper in Chelan Falls, WA, before leaving the newspaper industry in 1897. C. B. Hopkins installed the first long-distance telephone line in eastern Washington and became so involved in his new venture, the Inland Telephone and Telegraph Company of Spokane, that he sold the Palouse Gazette to Ivan Chase, a member of the newspaper's staff, in 1888. Chase changed the name of the paper to the Colfax Gazette in 1893. Brothers Howard and Charles Bramwell worked in the job printing department and built up that part of the business, eventually buying the paper upon Chase's retirement in 1910. In 1932 the Bramwell brothers and Allen Lacey, publisher of the Colfax Commoner[LCCN:sn 88085461] merged their companies into one and formed the Colfax Gazette-Commoner[LCCN: sn 88085459]. In 1958 the name changed back to the Colfax Gazette[LCCN: sn 88085458] and is currently known as the Whitman County Gazette[LCCN: sn 92038255].

Essay Notes¶

• Charles B. Hopkins - his father was the US Marshall for the Washington Territory - Page 1, Puget Sound Weekly Argus (Port Townsend : 1876), August 31, 1877
• Palouse gazette vol 1 issue 1 Sept 29, 1877, by Lucien Ezra Kellogg and Charles B Hopkins. Subscription price $3/year
• June 13, 1879 dissolution of partnership announced. Hopkins continues with paper.
• "Pioneers I have known" by SC Roberts of Pullman, Colfax Gazette-Commoner, May 8, 1936 (accessed through Dubuar scrapbooks)
  • 1884 Hopkins installs first telephone line in eastern Washington in order to facilitate gathering news for his paper. Over next 15 years his company grew to be the Inland Telephone and Telegraph Co of Spokane.
  • Hopkins sells paper (year?) to Ivan Chase, who had worked on gazette staff for several years. Name changed to Colfax Gazette.
  • Bros. Howard and Charles Bramwell worked in job dept. of gazette office. They bought the job equipment, built large business. Bought out Mr. Chase (year?)
  • In 1932 gazette merged with the Colfax commoner (controlled by Mr Allen Lacey). Name change to Colfax Gazette Commoner, firm name Bramwell, Lacey, and Bramwell. Bros. Bramwell die in 1930's and their wives take over their share of the paper.
    

• From Meany Pioneer File (special collections biography file)
  • Charles B Hopkins,
    • born 1855-July 18, San Francisco. Served as US marshall in Seattle. Newspaper in Colfax. Known for building first long distance telephone line. Died in Rochester Minnesota following an operation at age of 65 (PI 1920-02-05 obit)
  • Lucien Ezra Kellogg (Wenatchee Daily World, 1930-05-05 obit)
    • Born in ohio. Died in Sunnyslope of apoplexy at age 79. Apprenticed as a printer. Came to WA in 1877. Nez Pierce War delays start of paper in Colfax. Sells his portion and starts NW Tribune in Cheney, WA. Sell, moves on to Big Bend Empire at Waterville in Mar 1888. Starts Wenatchee Advance in 1893. Starts a paper in Chelan Falls in 1895. Leaves newspaper industry in 1897 to start land office job.
      

• From Newspapers of Washington Territory, Washington History Quarterly Vol XIII, XIV, by Edmond Meany
  • Quoted from the Aug 3, 1888 Palouse Gazette: "The paper was issued in its original size until May 1878, when it was enlarged to seven columns, and in June 1879, the patent inside was discarded, since which time it has been an all-home production. LE Kellogg, the senior partner, retired from the firm at this time. In the winter of 1880-1881 the growing business demanded increased facilities, and a steam press was accordingly added to the plant, the paper being enlarged to eight columns. In May 1882, the business was further enlarged by the addition of a book bindery. This adjunct had a brilliant though brief career, the plant being destroyed in the great fire three months later. In February 1887 the firm of Hopkins and Chase took charge and four months later the paper passed in to the hands of the present management. The third enlargement became necessary in 1887, when another column was added, making nine tot he page, and the largest four-page paper in the territory."
• The History of Spokane and Spokane County via Google Books
• Whitman County Press
• Historylink.org
  

Research¶

1. N.W. Ayer & Son's American newspaper annual -- 1900 -- 849
2. NDNP Candidate Title List (Appendix A1.2)
3. Chronicling America record (LOC) - Colfax Gazette
4. WorldCat record - Colfax Gazette
5. WSL record - Colfax Gazette
6. UW record - Colfax Gazette
7. National Newspaper Directory and Gazetteer, 1899
   

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Reel¶

• Filmed by: WSL
• Positives held by: WSL
  • Location: WSL
  • Call Number: NEWSPAPER 6/39
  • Lib. has 1894 - 1933 Aug 25
• Negatives held by: Proquest
  

Notes¶

Evaluation¶

See Colfax Gazette eval spreadsheets (Google)

Totals¶

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